Orange

There are a group of singers who celebrate the winter solstice with traditional folk songs. Every year they would chose a different region of the world – one year it was Appalachia while another it was the CzechRepublic – but would use the same storyline involving the sun being stolen away. Years later the singers took the show outside for the summer solstice and perform two free concerts near the local Children’s Museum.

It was only a matter of time before the other seasons got their due. For the autumn equinox I packed a picnic dinner and brought the kids to the subway. After riding the red line through a few stops we got off and walked to a small park. We set up our picnic blanket and listened to a man play his guitar and harmonica. We watched large puppets be laid out and people dressed all in black congregate around some benches.

A second-line band comes together at the other end other park. We moved over to watch them warm up. The bass drummer let each kid bang on her drum. Several trumpeters offered the chance to blow into their horns. Then the musicians started to play standard New Orleans tunes. The kids danced.

The parade started to form and we followed huge banners with dragons and vegetables flowing from largepoles. We processed through a university campus and ended up along a river. The bridge we were walking towards had risers on the middle where the choir in their black clothes was congregating and large puppets on sticks were swaying on either end. They all faced the setting sun as if the songs and puppetry were wishing the sun a safe journey.

We found a place for our picnic blanket and a fellow audience member immediately offered the kids a bell. The bells were rung after songs were sung. Songs that mentions rivers or water – This Land is your Land, The Water is Wide, Somos el Barco (We are the Boat) to name a few. Elegantly printed song books werepassed around so the audience could join in. The people we sat with sang heartily if not always on key.

During one song my three-year-old gasped and pointed in the opposite direction of the bridge. “Look Mommy!” she said breathlessly. “Look at the colors!” The sun had fallen below the horizon. The sky over the river was orange with a hint of pink. Suddenly all the hand bells along the river started to ring. “Say goodbye to summer!” someone yells.

“Goodbye summer” my daughter says.

“Hello fall” I reply.

“Hello fall” she echoes.

**************************

Allison is hanging with the hip zoo animals today. Normally she writes at Soccer Mom in Denial and that is where you will find Heather’s post also titled Orange. Allison regularly posts her photos at Looking Into and is the mom of twin 7-year-old boys and a 3-year-old girl. Check out other Blog Exchanges here.