David Lertzman and Julian Norris, together known as Bards of a Feather, bring their annual Ecumenical Solstice music to the Good Earth Coffeehouse in Canmore.
The performance is a celebration of the various religious symbolisms associated with the winter solstice, explained Lertzman in an interview with the Outlook.
“We just love being able to celebrate those traditions with honour and with respect and with glee, to create spaces for people to have a good time, in a friendly, family environment, every solstice,” he said. “We’ve done it in museums, in house parties and in other restaurants and cafes, and we’re thrilled to be able to do it in the Good Earth cafe.”
The performance takes place Friday evening (Dec. 21) at 8 p.m.
“The study of comparative world religion is my first academic love, and that’s where I was first exposed to the term ecumenism, and it involves interfaith dialogue,” said Lertzman. “It takes more of an open mind and an open heart.
“In the spirit of ecumenism, you often see Jewish and Christian and Islam, but don’t often see the pagan part.”
With this performance, they hope to take traditional songs and stories of different faiths and work them together.
“These are the traditions that existed in Europe, pre-Christian, and for hundreds of years there was a syncretism with symbols of one religion being re-interpreted with another,” he said. “For example, on our poster is the Green Man.
“He’s a European figure, essentially a nature god, like Mother Earth. He’s that irrepressible life force that’s born in the spring and grows to his fullness and is cut down in the fall, and at the winter solstice the seed of life is returned.”
That pagan tradition is found in Christian celebration, he stressed.
“There’s this interpenetration of traditions and one of the great things about Christmas – and I hope this isn’t offensive to people – is many of the most well-known and celebrated features of Christmas are pagan in origin, but they exist within a shared space between cultures and traditions,” he said. “For example, there weren’t elves in the manger in Bethlehem.
“One of our songs is about reindeer and caribou, which is part of boreal culture around the world. This idea of a magical caribou that can fly through the air goes back to ancient shamanic traditions in Europe, but is also shared by indigenous peoples in North America and Siberia.”
The celebration of the solstice is sacred to many different cultures, he said, as it is universally understood to represent the return of the light to the world.
“Really, it comes down on some level to a recognition that many different religious traditions of the world seem to hallow this time of the year as being very sacred and special,” he said. “The winter solstice was celebrated by our ancient ancestors, and not without some foreboding, because this is the longest night of the year, and it carries within it an elegant, cosmic poetry that out of the darkest, longest night, comes the light. The great mother of the night gives birth to the sun, and it could be s-u-n or s-o-n.”
The placement of the birth of Christ at this time of year was a brilliant move, said Lertzman.
“The transition of going from a Jewish cult to a gentile faith required some work, such as the adoption of the Roman calendar, and some of the festivals and cycles that already existed,” he said. “The sun was already being reborn in those traditions, so some might say it was a convenient or brilliant move to put the holiday at that time of year.”
Lertzman and Norris call themselves Bards of a Feather as an homage to ancient Celtic bards. Their last performance was in August at the Canmore Folk Music Festival.
“We’re called Bards of a Feather – the bard is a cultural figure that comes out of Celtic traditions – and they were trained in the druidic training, extraordinary feats of memory of stories and songs” said Lertzman. “They were the keepers of the oral histories. We’re very much inspired by the bards of old, by those musical storytellers who are able to call forth community in celebrations of renewal. It is, for us, the stuff of life.
“It goes from being musicians to being community members participating in a cosmic dance of celebration and renewal. The winter solstice celebrates the light of the darkest night of the year.”
While he may identify as Jewish, with this performance Lertzman is able to transcend the various traditions, and embrace it all.
“So, even as a Jew, I embrace the Spirit of Christmas, Yule, Solstice, however it is called – I’m actually a real sucker for a good Christmas story, especially my favourite, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,” he said. “I have summed up the above ideas in the lyrics from a song you’ll hear at our Ecumenical Solstice concert, a song I composed called ‘This Time of Year.’
“ ‘In this time of year we give good cheer making prayers for the world; simple kindness reveals the best in all; in this time of year we give good cheer making prayers for the world; people, gather near, in this time of year.’ ”
Doors open at 8 p.m., though arrival in advance may be prudent as seating is limited and there are no advance ticket sales. Admission is by donation.
