Mitigating the Memories

It was hard to decide just where to be for the earthquake commemoration at 12.51 today.  Colleagues were gathering in Latimer Square.  Stephen was ringing his bell in the Restart Mall.  A friend told me she would be at home, alone, eating a mandarin, because that’s what she was doing at 12.51 on 22 February 2011.

I went to The Bricks, the birthplace of Christchurch settlement for both Maori and Pakeha, to join in the River of Flowers commemoration.

Notice at The Bricks

Early this morning I picked lots of flowers from the garden.  Just one rose (for me to toss) because I didn’t want other people to be pricked by thorns.

Flowers for tossing in river

 A crowd of about 200 gathered together.  It was good to find so many people I knew there – neighbours, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances.  Our ceremony was led by Mike Moss, who explained the process, rang a bell for two minutes’ silence, then read a blessing by John O’Donohue:

“…….You are in this time of the interim
Where everything seems withheld.
The path you took to get here has washed out;
The way forward is still concealed from you……”

The children released balloons to carry our hopes out into the universe, and we all threw flowers into the river as a way of letting go of some of the grief and stress.

Flowers floating down the river

 

We were all invited to write a message and tie it to a tree of hope.  These will be collected later and added to the Ceismic archive.

Tree of Hope at The Bricks

 

This was a satisfying way to mark the first anniversary of that terrible day and I’m very glad I decided not to go back to work afterwards.

 

“That day last year we won’t forget.

There’s too much sorrow and regret.”