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Swan Song Festival Chant du Cygne 2021



For mini boat making videos:
Willow Wreath Mini Boat video #1
Willow Wreath Mini Boat video #2
Ideas for making mini boats
Trial launch #1
Trial launch #2
Trial launch #3

Send us your Mini Boat making video!

Community Deathcare Québec attended the Farmer's Market in Wakefield on October 9th 2021
to make mini boats with the local community in preparation for the upcoming Swan Song Festival:




 
Mini Boat Launch to Remember our loved ones who have died
Sunday October 17th, 2021 at sunset
How do we grieve during a pandemic?

As you may know or have experienced since March 2020, the process of grieving the death of a loved one
during a pandemic can be very difficult.  Depending on which stage of a lockdown we are in,
we cannot always come together in person to support one another and be comforted by affectionate touch.
We have at times not been able to gather at all with family and friends to share food, rituals and condolences.

Rituals have two essential aspects that help us in our grieving process - intention and action, or heart and hand.
With our hearts, we set an intention to honour our grief and our loved one, and as we take an action with our hands,
infused with our heart-connected intention, our actions are transformed into a meaningful and comforting ritual.
Rituals can be both specific and personal, and yet they also have a collective or universal meaning.
For example, a boat can represent a vessel for a journey, water, the source of life and sunset can be symbolic of a death or ending. 

We at Community Deathcare Québec invite you to participate in a community ritual to remember our loved ones
who have died during a time when we have not always been able to honour them
or give expression to our grief due to our current lack of social connection.

Join us at sunset on Sunday October 17th in Wakefield at the public docks located
in the centre of River Walk/Promenade Riveraine in between the boardwalk and Peace Park
on the banks of the Te-nagàdino-zìbi/Gatineau River at 6pm.
Whenever physical distance of 2m cannot be maintained, kindly wear a mask to respect
public health recommendations.  If government regulations change in the meantime,
please visit our website to check new public health measures.

OR

at a body of water that has meaning to you from wherever you are.

As daylight fades, our candle-lit mini boats will float out to bring light to the darkness of our grief.
From wherever we are, we will envision the constellation of mini boats built and launched by a community
of those who remember their loved ones who have died.

In the days leading up to the launch, think of your loved one as you make a mini boat of eco-safe materials in their honour.
On October 17th go to the body of water of your choice and at sunset light the candle and launch your mini boat.

If it feels right, take a photo and send it to scmq.cdq@gmail.com to help us create a Mini Boat Flotilla Memorial Page.
Check out the photos and videos from last year's 2020 Mini Boat Flotilla

This community ritual is scheduled to align with the Community Deathcare Canada’s 3rd annual
Swan Song Festival 2021 that links people across the country who are searching for meaningful
and personal ways to reclaim the care of their loved ones when they die.

For more info about us: http://www.scmq-cdq.ca/