Across all faiths, there is one type of holiday that is celebrated unilaterally.
Equinoxes and solstices. The autumn equinox was here which meant a special celebration on Burnaby mountain. Part of the restoration after the unification war was to create temple regions to gather places of worship into centralized areas.
The thought process was to force cooperation and tolerance due to proximity.
There was no train to Burnaby mountain, only a boat could be taken. Caleb stepped onto the dock in the late afternoon. He was hoping to get a good spot to watch the drummers but first, he wanted to grab some food from merchants row.
There was a merchants row to help supply the temples and of course feed or offer temporary housing to visitors. Caleb saw all the visitors coming in and decided to book a night at the little inn, then he wandered off to get his favourite kebabs.
The path up to temple square was a bit steep but he took his time savouring a food he hadn’t eaten since he had left earth. He wanted to revel in the events, the air, and the food.
He was hoping Professor Bhamra’s work on translating would give them insight on accessing those damn crystals but he doubted it. It’s not like the video played anything to indicate a tutorial.
The person in the video had clearly been agitated while holding up papers with writing on it. Caleb still isn’t sure they were human but there were so many fragments of Sumerian, Arabic, and other ancient languages. Unfortunately, the external body cams didn’t record sound so they didn’t have audio to work with.
The person in the video had a striking appearance with skin so white it looked like paint, the hair and eyes were jet black, and the facial features were delicate like ancient descriptions of elves.
Caleb became aware of his surroundings as the sun was starting to set. Thankfully he was near the top of the hill and hurried to get to the front of the Buddhist temple. He was hoping he would get to see the abbot for the first time in over a decade.
When he was young his nanny would bring him to the temple, the teachings were so calming that he became a Buddhist himself. The sutras gave him a framework to process his parents' absence.
Unable to spot the abbot in the crowd he opted to find a spot near the front so he could watch the drummers. The sky had taken a purple hue as the drummers finished their adjustments. The Red Path temple was always first, it was part of the post-unification rebuilding efforts. Reconciliation with first nations was essential to the future of the union it was said, and thus far it had worked very well.
The dancers were on the raised podium with the storyteller at one end, behind the storyteller were the singers, this part of the celebration was rotated between each temple but this year it was all the Red Path.
As sunset ended the crowd went quiet and the lights pointing to the center of the square lit up. The drums started lightly so we could all hear the story that had been chosen this year, it was a story about orcas from the tsleil-waututh (tslayl-wahtooth) nation.
As the story ended the drummers picked up their pace and the singers started. The hoop dancers were first with some very impressive choreography followed by jingle dancers this year.
Once the dancers were done the drum tempo slowed as the other temples sent their drummers to join. The drums could be felt like the earth’s heartbeat and that was the intention. The solstices and equinoxes were celebrated this way to remind everyone of the sacredness of the earth, humans had nearly destroyed the very place that kept them alive.
With a final thunderous boom, the drums stopped, everyone bowed their head and said the universal prayer:
“Mother earth forgive us for we know the sin we committed.
Mother earth guide us as we correct our wrongdoings.
Mother earth love us as we rebuild.”
The crowd began to disperse down the mountain towards the docks, Caleb was even more grateful that he had chosen to stay the night because now he would get some sleep.
Caleb settled into his room with a light snack and a cup of tea. When he opened his holoscreen he saw a message from Maha title “thesis rough draft”.
He nearly dropped his cup when he read the title, he was so excited he paced as he read the whole thing and a feverish pace.
