An age-old sailor’s tradition is coming to False Creek for the fourth year running on Saturday as False Creek Fisherman’s Wharf kicks off the season with the blessing of the fleet and annual harbour appreciation day.
This year, a dozen boats will be blessed as guest speakers and bands entertain harbour-goers. Following the blessing, the boats will circle the closed Kitsilano Coast Guard station and lay on their horns to signal the beginning of the season.
Two locals bands, Preston and Fletcher and the Judys, will be providing entertainment. Graduating students from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts will be barbecuing burgers, led by harbour chef Jack Kines.
Don Sananin, president of the wharf, said the blessing is rooted in the exploratory beginnings of the boats.
“Back in the old days when religion was big and the vessels were leaving to explore the new world . . . it was so huge and Catholicism was so big that they wanted some type of support to get the sailors to go out and feel strength,” he said.
Father John Eason from the Holy Rosary Cathedral will be conducting the blessing. He said the tradition is to ensure safety, even though the risk is a lot lower now than it was when the tradition began.
“It’s a spiritual thing. We’re up against Mother Nature, and Mother Nature is unforgiving,” Eason said. “We’re asking God for a blessing for those in the vessel to be OK.”
Today, the tradition is being revived as a historical nod at the beginning of the season and for good luck on sails ahead.
Sananin said the tradition had been abandoned for almost 50 years before the wharf decided to revive it.
The blessing will continue, Eason said, because a little extra help never hurts.
“It’s a wonderful job to be a fisherman and to come home with a sense of gladness of a job well done,” he said. “This tradition, the blessing of the boat, has always been around and will be until the end of time.”
Sananin said the day is a valuable opportunity for people to experience the wharf.
“It’s just something we wanted to revive,” Sananin said. “We’re just trying to get people to come down here, to know about us a little bit more.”
The blessing and appreciation day is on May 30 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. See the Spring 2015 harbour newsletter at falsecreek.com for more information.
@KathleenSaylors
