Stories and Articles
The following articles are a selection chosen from different newspapers and journal who have passed on the Matta torch to the community through words and pictures. Thank you for being a valuable link of love for Matta
There’s something special about Matta Fest
By Susan Thompson Vault Magasine 2013
Matta Fest is more than just an outdoor market, a day of dancing, live music and drumming, or a celebration of spring, although it’s all of these things too. The annual event at Dunvegan feels sacred, like a spontaneous ritual gathering, thanks to the wise and loving leadership of organizer Christina Cedar. It’s not something that is easy to put into words, especially the words we normally use in news articles. There is something magical about it that can only be explained by experiencing it.
Every year, on the first Sunday in May, people gather on the grass by the river, wearing colorful, flowing clothes, sometimes even items that would be considered costumes anywhere else. There is no judgement here. Drum circles happen spontaneously. Musicians gather together under a tree to play. Adults hoop and play with props. Vendors sell their wares at tables in a large circle on the grass, from the Labyrinth Workshop’s handmade masks to a medieval re-enactor’s rack of Middle Eastern clothes.
Psychics and empaths give readings; my husband gets me a session and a woman with a circlet on her head dressed in blue robes puts her hand on my heart and tells me I need to release the pain of being taunted as a child, and realize that I am safe. To my surprise I find myself crying uncontrollably. I know I should be embarrassed to cry in front of a stranger, but her words have hit something in me like an arrow hits a target.
For about five minutes, I have no choice. She tells me it’s okay to cry, that it honours my feminine self, honours my life. When it subsides, she hugs me and I put money in the donation box, suddenly certain that any paltry amount I leave is not enough. Something has lifted from me through her empathy and compassion, something I didn’t even realize I was carrying.
Performers, including hooper Amanda Syryda, and belly dancers entertain the crowd. Spontaneous belly dancing to the live drumming happens off and on throughout the day, led by Carrie Charon of Mystic Belly Dance. This is an annual tradition at Matta Fest and it makes my hips happy to dance outside for the first time in eight months.
At the centre of all of this stands the maypole, and soon it is time for the central moment of the day, the maypole dance. Dancers learn to weave around each other, weaving the ribbons in their hands around the pole at the same time, in an ancient tradition of celebration and community. Charron leads a line of giggling children by the hand in a giddy snaking dance of their own around the central maypole dancers. When the pole is complete everyone cheers. Amazed at their own complex handiwork, people take pictures, touching the woven ribbons on the pole, feeling connected.
Later in the day, Cedar gathers a final group with her around the pole. She takes me by the hand and leads me and the rest of the group in dancing chants and songs, her long white hair shining in the sun. We touch the earth and sing that she is our mother and takes care of us; we sing that we will take care of her in return.
To finish, Cedar encourages each of us to dance alone around the circle. Each dance is different, each dancer unique. When it is my husband’s turn, he does a sort of elbow strutting dance that reminds me of a cross between an aboriginal powwow dance and punk moshing. I worry about what I will do—until the moment comes, and I find myself dancing up to each person in the circle, offering them each a movement as a gift. To my surprise it feels natural, beautiful, not embarrassing at all.
When I return to my place in the circle, the woman after me, the final dancer, takes her turn. She goes up to each person around the pole and bows to them, laughing loudly. When she comes to me and bows, her joyful laugh suddenly reminds me of a Buddha statue. She seems completely overtaken with the joy of compassion, and I wonder if she has spontaneously reached some sort of ecstatic enlightenment. I laugh with her and it feels like a spiritual act.
Finally, Cedar leads a huge circle in a slow round dance and then we touch the earth and throw our hands to the sky—releasing the energy, Cedar says.
Afterwards, we slowly disperse. I spend some time talking with friends in the sunshine, realizing we are all burned a deep red and not even caring—we’re just so grateful that winter is over.
We see our friend Kurt drumming high on a cliff on the Dunvegan hills. He’s a tiny figure silhouetted on a bluff, and we realize he is up there naked, beating a rhythm to the hills.
Then we go down to Dunvegan gardens for ice cream, and an old man dishes it out to little girls in pink dresses and tattooed punks with devil horns in their hair alike. The mood is peaceful and happy, and everyone seems to get along, as if the world has become some kind of temporary utopia. But it’s just Matta Fest; and it’s spring.
Matta Fest celebrates Mother Earth
Peace Country Sun Editor
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
A celebration of the earth, the turning of the seasons to warmer weather and a gathering of visual and performing artists takes place May 7, as the seventh annual Matta Fest celebration gets underway at Dunvegan Historical Park.
"So often in today's world we hear about respecting the earth," says Matta Fest organizer Christina Cedar. "This festival is about encouraging respect for the earth and life through creating a bond celebrating our union. When a bond is present, respect springs forth with the strength of free will."
The root of the festival lies in the gypsy word, matta, which means Mother of All and as a celebration of Mother Nature, Cedar notes the festival works with the cards she deals.
"Last year we had a very good year because of the warm weather, and we really needed it," she says, noting with a chuckle that in past years the event could have been named 'the festival of the cold.'
"It's very based on what Mother Nature decides to give us," she says. "It happens no matter what, so we always say that the bold and hearty will be there."
Over the past seven years, Matta Fest had continued to grow with close to 400 people attending last year's festival.
As in past years, this year's event will include performances by local musicians, drumming, belly dancers, a circle dance, art and craft booths, food booths, as well as the traditional dancing around the May Pole.
"No matter what our religious or spiritual beliefs, we all walk this earth together. We breath the air together, and holding hands to dance around the May Pole helps us let go of our illusions of separation, joining as a mosaic of joyful movement," says Cedar.
She notes that in her grandmother's day, the May Day celebrations and dancing around the Maypole were very popular. "It's just died off and is something I'd like to see come back as perhaps a statutory holiday."
Cedar adds that Dunvegan Historical Park is a perfect venue for a celebration of this nature.
"It's nice to be able to have it at an intimate space," she says, adding "It is really fun seeing everyone come together and laugh, and dance beside somebody very different from themselves. There's a wide assortment of people who come."
Matta Fest will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Dunvegan Historical Park on Sunday, May 7.
"This festival is about encouraging respect for the earth and life through creating a bond celebrating our union."
Matta Fest runs at Historic Dunvegan Park Sunday
By Kirsten Goruk,
Grande Prairie Daily Herald Tribune
Friday, May 4, 2012 9:41:04 MDT AM
​
This year's Matta Fest maypole has 22 ribbons,
stands 13 feet high and will serve as the main
attraction at Sunday's celebration of spring at
Historic Dunvegan Provincial Park.
"The circle running around the pole honours
the Earth itself and the pole brings down the
energy from the sky. It's a good time of year
to do this, when we're all trying to get our crops
seeded," said organizer Christina Otterstrom-
Cedar.
Christina's initial interest in starting
Matta Fest first started with a trip down her
family's history.
"That's actually how I got inspired to start doing it,by looking at pictures of my grandmother as the May Queen. And then talking to my Mom, she said that every year they used to practise in school to learn how to weave the maypole," she said.
"I just thought that it was a wonderful thing that I could offer my kids and get the community spirit going."
For years now she, with the help of family and friends, have organized the festival, which brings together members from in and around the Peace Country. In addition to the maypole dance, there is live music and other performances, vendors and crafts.
"We want it to be interactive, so we have lots of vendors. The vendors hold the circle so with that they have not only crafts and things at the tables; they have different activities," Otterstrom-Cedar said.
Volunteers donate their time and talent to help with the event and each year, Otterstrom-Cedar is faced with the task of deciding which vendors to approve. Given that the festival is meant to celebrate the start of spring and Mother Nature, she's always been cautious of the event turning into a trade show of sorts.
"It's almost like a farmer's market code as to what's acceptable. So that they have the right spirit of welcoming spring and interaction of community, all of the vendors participate in the opening and closing ceremony," she said.
"It's about holding hands and remembering that no matter what our nationality, religious or spiritual belief, we all welcome spring."
All of Sunday's activities are free to the public and in years past when the weather has been good, hundreds of people will make their way over to check out the action.
"One time we had a blizzard and we still had 100 people show up. So whatever Mother Nature gives us, we're still going to celebrate. If it's raining, just bring an umbrella."
Otterstrom-Cedar encourages people to bring their own drums or other musical instruments to join in with the jam sessions. Other talents, such as painting are welcome as well.
"Even though it's an earth-based celebration with the maypole, it's still very much open to everybody. Everybody is on the earth. It's quite fun. You see people in cowboy hats standing next to someone with dreads."
Sunday's Matta Fest runs from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. at Historic Dunvegan Provincial Park.
@DHTKirsten
