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Barney Bentall

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Some temporal rituals

November 25, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam, Photos | Permalink

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidThe Encyclopedia Britannica (online edition) says on the subject of rituals:

“A complete analysis of ritual would also include its relation to art, architecture, and the specific objects used in ritual such as specific forms of ritual dress. All of these components are found in ritual contexts, and all of them are nonverbal in structure and meaning.”

“Huh!” – I hear you exclaim… “Where is he going with this?”

“Patience!” – say I. The encyclopedia continues:

“Most rituals mark off a particular time of the day, month, year, stage in life, or commencement of a new event or vocation. This temporal characteristic of ritual is often called “sacred time .” What must not be forgotten in the study of ritual is a special aspect of ritual that is often described as “sacred space.” Time and place are essential features of ritual action, and both mark a specific orientation or setting for ritual. Time and space, whether a plot of ground or a magnificent temple, are ritually created and become, in turn, the context for other rituals.”

What time of the year is more endowed with ritual than the winter festival season that includes – amongst other celebrations – Christmas? And do we not imbue the occasion with timely rituals both old and newly devised?

“Yes!” and “yes” would be appropriate responses to those questions.

Yes – the run in to Christmas is upon us and we each mark the season in our own particular fashions. For example, The Girl and I know that Christmas is shortly to be upon us when it is time to make a festive run up island to partake of luncheon with The Girl’s mother – and other venerable friends – and to exchange the first gifts of the season. This usually happens at about the same point on the calendar as does the annual charitable event that sees Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express pull in to the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney for its annual fundraising concert. I have written about the Cariboo Express repeatedly over the years and I will continue so to do as long as each occasion proves to be the same festival of joy and love to which we have become accustomed… the which it happily continues to be.

Sacred times – sacred spaces!

Here are some boat pictures from our ferry crossing to Mill Bay on our way up island.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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On the other hand…

December 8, 2022 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

In complete contrast to the experience described in my last post – “Every exit“…

Regular ingesters of these random(ish) gobbets will no doubt feel completely familiar by now with Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express – that charitable roadshow of assorted musicians and other performers that makes a three night pitstop at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney each November – raising much needed cash for the Sidney Lions Food Bank. We have been in Canada for over seven years now… we have traveled on the Cariboo Express at least six times since we arrived… I have written posts about it at least five times!

I was not intending to pen another post this year, in the wake of our annual pilgrimage a couple of weeks back. I thought that I had pretty much covered the subject in previous years and the last thing I would want to do is to bore you – the gentle reader…

However…

…each time we surrender ourselves to the oncoming Express – regardless of how tired we may be or how weighed down we are with the burden of the world’s (and our own) problems upon our shoulders – a couple of hours spent in the company of this exuberant assemblage of musicians of all ages… and we find ourselves once again rejuvenated by the spirit of bonhomie and love.

In short – the music and dancing weaves its magic spell and we are once again recharged with a joyous zest for life and all that is good about it.

Those who know me well would never have expected me to be so taken with this particular genre of music (sort of country-ish) and yet I take great delight each year in attending the show and having my faith in live music emphatically restored.

It helps, of course, that the Cariboo Express crew so clearly love doing the whole tour themselves. The ensemble seems to grow larger each year. This time round the cavalcade winding its way around BC comprised some nineteen performers who – at various points – assembled together on the Charlie White Theatre stage.

Good thing it is a particularly wide stage!

To Barney and to the whole crew – thank you again for this year’s fabulous show. See you next year!

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Back on the tracks

December 1, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Regular patrons of these marginalia will doubtless greet as old friends those posts that recur – in some form or another – on a regular basis. Into this distinguished category fall the annual November reports of our most recent outing on the Cariboo Express, courtesy of the engineer in chief – Barney Bentall.

We enjoy these evenings (in support of the Sidney Lions Foodbank) so much that we are quick to purchase tickets each year as soon as they become available. This we did as per usual last year (2020).

On that occasion, of course, the concert did not take place – for reasons that require no further elucidation. The dates were once postponed – and then postponed again. This was deeply sad but necessary. The run-in to Christmas just wasn’t the same without this jolly evening out, but we were not prepared to take any risks that might endanger our (or other people’s) health and well-being.

The final postponement of the event resulted in us being offered the chance to let the tickets spill over to become valid for this year’s equivalent pageant – and fortunately this time the precautions were deemed to be adequate (vaccine passports and photo IDs thoroughly checked) and we were able once again to gather at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney – well be-masked and well-behaved – for a most welcome live performance.

It really was quite moving to suddenly find oneself once again in the proximity of real live musicians and singers – and, of course, in a real audience. An object lesson – I think – in the need that we all (many of us anyway!) have to experience live performance… something else of which we clearly need a regular shot! A good evening was quite clearly had by all!

At this juncture we do not have anything much else of a similar nature in the calendar and – with new COVID variants looming – who knows how things will pan out or when we will next get to sit in a theatre watching a live show.

We are (said he through gritted teeth) determined to remain optimistic…

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