Welcome to this blog. . .

Welcome to this blog made from my blog-type thoughts as Director of Religious Education, or DRE, at the Unitarian Church of Montreal. They are excerpted from the weekly letters I send to all families and helpers in our RE (or Religious Ed) program. If you would like to be put on the e-mailing list for this letter, usually over half full of reminders and announcements, questions and quotes, with occasional thoughtful paragraphs, please contact dre@ucmtl.ca

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Halloween, the best way!

Dusk falls, and people are coming together outside the NDG Food Depot, blocking the street ahead, I see as I bike down Oxford Street to join them.  They are milling about in various costumes, mostly with some sort of white zombie make up, bloody drips and scars, and a whole range of outfits, from blood-stained lab coats to wedding dresses to flower-power hippie gear.  (I myself pull out a huge old velvet cape I made in ca 1970 to wear, but don't have any makeup) . . .
So then they spread out to practice their zombie moves for the "Thriller" dance, there in the middle of the street, the guy in the black and white stripes leading them.  He knows all the moves, gets a front row line up of dancers who really have it down, and they start by rising from squat, "dead" positions, with the boom box on a wagon blasting out the music.  They strut, stagger, wave arms and bums, pivot, jump -- all in synchronized fun, music blaring.  It's Halloween, and the Zombie Dancers are at it again!
My role is to hand out little 1/4 sheet paper flyers, in French and English, reminding people on the streets, in slowing down cars, on doorsteps with Halloween treats, parents supervising little ones, EVERYone, that the Depot's big annual food drive will be the first Saturday in December.  What a blessedly fun way to be part of all the energy --the jack-o-lanterns, lights, cobwebs, gravestones, witches and collection bags-- for this Montreal Halloween night!