World Water Week
Sunday 24th August sees the start of World Water Week, an annual international conference held in Stockholm, now celebrating its 35th year.
The conference runs until 28th August. During these five days, politicians, businesses, planners, activists, researchers and the generally interested come together to help improve the management of this essential resource and to promote a sustainable future for something we so often, in the richer countries, take for granted.
Water Ceremony
Throughout history, we have always held ceremonies and rituals. They are our means of celebrating, marking moments, or making sense of the world we experience. For example, events such as naming ceremonies, funerals and unions (marriages), or more frequently, a football match or gig, are all a form of ritual where we share our feelings. They can include performance and express a sense of mourning or appreciation. Ceremonies are sacred. They are powerful.
Water is sacred in many cultures. Water is fundamental to life. Wherever clean water flows, life grows. Water represents emotions, renewal and life, which all ebb and flow. Constantly evolving, ebbing and flowing, it reminds us that we can too.
How can you connect with your emotions to truly embody water in this ceremony?
Why a Ceremony?
Ceremony brings people into a deeper connection with water, which can be moving and up-lifting. It can bring a deeper dimension to an action, so you can better:
- Create an emotional connection with your local water bodies.
- Connect with the emotions you feel to drive change. Preserve them as your source of hope.
- Continuous outreach – engage your community in devising and publicising your ceremony, then invite the wider public to your event.
- Develop and strengthen relationships with other groups.
- Build a common community purpose.
- Influence local authorities and regulatory organisations.
- Bring people to your Community Assembly.
- Raise awareness and promote a Citizens’ Assembly on Water.
- Filming your ceremony and sharing it as widely as possible can cultivate a greater connection to the issues and inspire others.
Water is Life.
Our waterways are the arteries and veins of the earth. If we pollute those waterways, life will die.
“Nothing on this planet had so forcefully hammered into her the ultimate value of water. Not the water-sellers, nor the dried skins of the natives … Here there was a substance more precious than all others – it was life itself and entwined all around with symbolism and ritual.” – Frank Herbert, Dune
“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” W H Auden, First Things First
“Water is the driving force of all nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Although issues are faced in multiple facets of water, some communities may prioritise different areas, such as flooding or pollution.
The Power of Celebration.
Connection through water, with nature and each other, fosters well-being, through a regenerative and healing relationship, encouraging the flow and exchange of energy and knowledge. Consider making more of an impact by following some of these suggestions:
- Join the open call on 12th August.
- Actively cultivate a sense of curiosity/care/communication/collaboration through creative interactions with the river (e.g. song, music, poetry, arts and crafts workshops or installations).
- Demonstrate vulnerability: create an impactful ceremony to demonstrate your anger, grief and sadness at the state of our waterways and your love for all life.
- Explore: physically get to know your local waters (the source, wells and tributaries) to engage with and care for your local waterway.
- Research: look at wider connections, the history of the local waters and collect local stories and images.
- Consider your catchment area, sewage treatment works, landfills and other sources of pollution. How can you bring awareness of all the different sources of pollution to this waterway?
- Presence: Be present around waterways and feel the energy and power they can give to you.
Further information and ideas for water celebrations can be found in the rebel toolkit. Remember, stay safe!