News and Views
Let’s Get This Party Started
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Last week I was in Spain. My visit coincided with the 25th annual Moors and Christians festival in Mojacar, and the spirit that infected the town was equal parts pride and joy; it made me realise how lacking we are in similar communal activity in the UK. 2012 saw, supposedly, the largest public celebration in years with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; however, aside from the overwhelming presence of Union Jack flags adorning everything from tea-pots to tennis shoes in shopping centres up and down the country, the community participation was minimal.
Partly, this may be to do with the political aspect of honouring a monarch’s coronation, but a larger part, I’m sure, is to do with a lack of mass celebratory culture across our country in general.
Yesterday, I went to Birmingham for Bollywood 100 Mela - a free
event to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. ‘Mela’ is a Sanskrit
word for a ‘gathering’, or ‘fair’, and we were treated to dance
performances, singers, stilt-walkers and a handful of stalls in the
centre of the Arcadian.
The performances were presented on a stage, which to me signals an
exclusivity that feels at odds with a participatory event (the
stilt-walkers amongst the crowds were a better example of shared
involvement), but it was good to see a range of groups performing,
from schools to dance clubs to professional artists. The technical
abilities vary, but the quality of street events relies on this
inclusiveness; it is the recipe for success.
When I was a child, I used to visit the local Titchfield Carnival every year, and loved the feeling of excitement and group euphoria it created amongst the crowds lining the narrow village streets. When I was at university, I attanded the Ottery Tar Barrel Rollling, and have never forgotten the exhilaration and warmth of feeling that came from being a part of the seething smiling mass of humanity.
Every community should have its own celebration to take pride in and share with the world. It’s a big task to start from scratch, but I have a feeling the idea is going to keep nagging me until I do something about it in my own local area!
‘The truth is that existence wants your life to become a festival because when you are unhappy, you also throw unhappiness all around.’
Most importantly though, to create an event that becomes an essential organ of a functioning community - an event made with and by its people, rather than for them - it cannot be a one-off. Whilst a single event to mark a prominent anniversary might tick some boxes on paper, and result in an entertaining experience for some, it lacks the bonds of common ownership that develop amongst the population in areas with their own repeated celebratory tradition.
The theme of the festive event (Moors and Christians, or Bollywood cinema) is less important than its form and genesis. And, in this era of fearfulness and social reservation, the value of cohesion brought about by carnival-type events cannot be over-estimated.
