The Wedding of Trees

The Wedding of Trees -- Emily and Kalpabatta

Today I did a collaborative piece with the artists from Orissa... We had a marriage between my daughter the tree and Kshitish's son the tree. (My tree's name was Emily) Why would we marry trees? Welllllllllll.... in India there is a tradition of marrying trees...(true story!) If someone wants to marry his or her love and there is a problem with their horoscope, if they marry the love, the love will die. SO they first marry a tree (there are male and female species of trees...bet you didn't know that!!) The wedding is the real thing complete with guests, food, music, priest, the works. The tree apparently absorbs the the bad stuff and allows the person to marry their love without knocking them off.

THEN, once married, if the couple is having trouble getting married, are unhappy, having any sort of problems, they call upon the trees again. This time, they have a marriage between a male tree and a female tree (again, full-blown marriage)... they plant the trees together ... and they, once again, do their magic (a lot cheaper that infertility treatments or marriage counseling, eh??)

So, we had a marriage between two trees (I crocheted a LOVELY red and gold outfit for the bride)... It was really cool... they went through an entire (but small) Hindu wedding ceremony.... took red paste and put between our eyes and then pressed rice into it... then did to all the guests (we had 20 or so... an intimate affair, you know)

The priest chanted in Hindi... some of the artists played drums and tamborines and sang in the background... the priest had us put marriage crowns on the trees, and thread bracelets... the lady who hosted the wedding brought the tree couple gifts of bangles and saris and material and money.... she danced and sang whenever the mood struck her... others in the audience joined in... we danced with the trees around the wedding table (a low table with red cloth... oranges on 3 corners, grapes on the 4th... a spiral shell filled with red liquid and a flower -- obvious reference to virginity -- a small God figure) seven times and then the woman put tikkas on the trees brows and voila! the marriage was over!

Afterwards (during the many obligatory photos after any event that involves white people) the lady and I talked and both agreed that what would really be happening at that point is that the bride would be crying and begging her mother not to make her go live with the groom.... we were wailing while Kshitish tugged on "Emily" ..hilarious.

The drummers led our dancing wedding party to the place where we planted the trees (down a dirt path, through the kitchen tent where 3 cooks were stirring massive pots of rice and vegetables). The trees were planted together in one hole, intertwined... and we all dumped panfuls of water on them while the drummers drummed and the men wrapped their arms around each other and danced around the tree... then the women joined in and I am now, once again, the "dancing white woman"..adored by all... One Indian artist said, "When you dance you are like a flower slowly opening.." Hahaha... sooo sweet!

Art Karavan stop #2 -- Kolkata

Tying crocheted bracelets on the wrists of my new brothers and sisters for my on-going project during Art Karavan

My favorite cook sitting in front of daily fare for Art Karavan in Kolkatta...yumm!?!??
Puja, her mom and friend at home in New Market slum

Kata with some of her dancing friends in the New Market slum

Tying bracelets on the arms of India

Entrance to wedding hall

Small yarn bomb of the hostel door beneath the stadium

Friends of Kolkata

Kshitish, artist from Orissa, during performance

Lunchtime friends

Gopal, from Assam, with his installation

Jeetin, from Bangalore, and Ondi, from USA (under red cloth) perform in Kolkata streets

Jeetin during Kolkata performance

India is great DANGER

Drummer girl

Kata dancing in slums of Kolkata

Dhobie wallah (laundry man)

Bare-bottomed beggar boy with stuffed doll

Kata Lengyel of Hungary in blue space where she danced and I filmed...very beautiful!!

Local lady showing me how crocheting is done!

Chicken choppers in New Market slaughterhouse, which is tastefully connectd to the main shopping "mall".... gives a special sort of olfactory ambience

"Blue Water" a small piece of hope created to inspire clean water to flow from my faucet

February 16, 2010 --Kolkatta

The train journey from Shantiniken to Kolkatta was 3 1/2 hours long and was highlighted by a dance through the train cars by Kata... the local passengers looked at us (her dancing, me filming) with surprise and smiles. It got more raucous when she did a dance over and around the seats filled with Art Karavan artists... good fun.

Our new quarters for the week are under a HUGE STADIUM in the Salt Lake section of Kolkatta... like the catacombs...numerous rooms and dormitories tucked along the circular hallway surrounding the stadium. However, our rooms are AIR CONDITIONED and relatively clean with western toilets and hot water! Can’t beat that! (Although some of the rooms host swarms of mosquitos and some huge cockroaches and there are a few rats scuttling down the hallways).

My room’s terrific because I’m by myself and can snore in solitude without worrying about disturbing any roommates. Kata has a room on the exterior of the building, however, and the mosquitos can’t be kept out. (So I am now sitting in her “new” interior room while the resident repairman hacks up the doorjamb trying to fix the slide bolt so she can lock her door. Of course this comes after the two electricians who were in to install lights in the bathroom....and they are working on getting us some mosquito nets... ahhhh! all in a day’s work!)

Last night after we arrived we took a walk with our Bangalore artist friend Jeetin. At the end of our road was not only a wedding in full swing, but also a techno-rock concert! It was tough to decide which one to crash, but we opted for the concert. However, it was for college students only and they wouldn’t let us in (hard to believe... TWO white females!! and they won’t let us in!?!?)

So we stood outside the gate and I began to dance... soon I was dancing with 20 or so college boys (Kata was hiding behind Jeet)... and before we knew it, one of the Security Guards came over and asked if we’d like to go into the concert (yes, we would, thank you!) He led us around to the VIP area right in front of the stage. The music was BLASTING! and I enjoyed it thoroughly... dancing and taking photos. The band’s name is “Fossil” and is “the BEST techno-rock band in Kolkata,” we were told... It seems that there will be another concert tomorrow night week and we, of course (now that we have established our reputation) are invited to it along with as many of our friends as we desire.

Time has slipped away from me today.... it’s already 3 pm and I’ve done very little. (Kata went out for a walk and some random man on the street exposed himself to her)... The repairman is finished, so I think I’ll head out into the streets myself...