World Labyrinth Day

Classical labyrinth (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tomorrow it is World Labyrinth Day. I wasn’t going to do anything about it, but suddenly, just an hour or two ago, I had the idea that I might be able to contribute to this annual event initiated by The Labyrinth Society, and at the same time do something useful towards a labyrinth event I am planning for next month, here in Devon. I have left it rather late to register officially, so it is going to be a casual unplanned sort of thing.

The Labyrinth Society’s mission is to support all those who create, maintain and use labyrinths, and they have a fascinating and comprehensive website including a research section and a world-wide labyrinth locator.

World Labyrinth Day is celebrated every year on the First Saturday in May, when people from all over the world join in walking labyrinths at the same time on the same day for the good of all.  The idea is for everyone to walk at 1pm in their own time zone, with the intention of spreading harmony and peace. Walk as One at 1.

For my own particular event in June, I have to try to work out roughly how may small twigs and sticks I will need to lay out a good-sized seven-track labyrinth . “Aha”, I thought, “I shall lay one out with string. Then I should be able to see how much string can be covered with one sackful of twigs, and just multiply… “

I am sure there are easier ways of doing this job. Some people are good at mathematics, some people are good at measuring and calculating… but what I am good at is crawling around on the ground with large quantities of string and sacks full of sticks.

So tomorrow morning I shall set off with bags full of thick yellow twine and maybe a sack or two of sticks and my special home-made nifty measuring devices – and I shall lay out a labyrinth on the grass near the beach. I am sure there will be  people around, and they are most welcome to walk the labyrinth paths – though ostensibly the purpose of the exercise is  to get a bit of practice and see how much string it takes, so I can work out the quantity of sticks I am going to need. I will make sure to do a special walk at 1pm, thinking of peace, and of all the folks around the world who are doing the same thing at 1pm in their own time zone.

Almost one year ago, I carried out a cross-Atlantic labyrinth project in collaboration with American artist Carol Maurer. If you click ‘Here and There‘ at the top of this blog, that will take you to my report on the project. It includes some delightful images and videos, as well as a rather long detailed account of how we managed to run simultaneous labyrinth walks with live online coverage.

Labyrinth at Delaware Art Museum. Photo: Carol Maurer

Carol is Secretary of The Labyrinth Society, so I am sure she will be greatly involved with World Labyrinth Day tomorrow, and am very much looking forward to hearing of her experiences.

Related articles

• Wilson College to host World Labyrinth Day activities (cumberlink.com)
• Labyrinth (sawabundance.wordpress.com)