Spring Equinox Celebration & Market
Come one, come all to join Open Source Arts and a variety of other makers and workshoppers from across Leeds to rejoice new beginnings and the natural world as we celebrate the Spring Equinox and International Day of Forests this Saturday 19th March from 12pm!
The Spring Equinox – equinox roughly translated to ‘equal night’ in Latin – is the solar festival when the day and night are equal in length across the planet. Here in the Northern Hemisphere it marks the coming of Spring, long days, shorter nights, and new beginnings in our natural world as plants begin to flower, animals unfurl from their hibernations, and spring chickens and lambs begin to appear. In other cultures, such as Iranian Culture Nowruz, it represents the start of a new year.
This year the Spring Equinox falls on the 20th March only the day before the International Day of Forests. So, this year we’re not only continuing our ritualistic turning of the seasons celebration tradition but we’re also taking this opportunity to help us all celebrate International Day of Forests.
This celebration brings with it an excellent chance for us all to develop our understanding of, and connection to, the culture, arts and environment together!
Forests and trees mean so much to all the different cultures right across the world. Here in the UK we have become detached from the natural world and the value it brings to our lives. However, many of us turned back to our natural origins and looked towards nature for support and comfort during the pandemic. The daily dose of the outside world became so important for the mental and physical well being of many, but it appears that for some, as our lives have returned to some level of ‘normality’, have lost this connection so let’s rekindle it together.
Today we often refer to Indigenous Communities in Chile, Australia, The Himalayas and beyond and the way they understand trees and nature for lessons on how to craft our relationships. These cultures often see trees as community members; part of the human world with lives, personalities, loves and feelings. This may beautifully capture the importance of recognising that destroying trees is akin to destroying ourselves as we cannot survive on a treeless world. However, acknowledging this often lacks the authenticity and recognition of where these understandings come from. Instead, we must turn to understanding culture and history here in the UK and not continue to extract from the knowledge of Indigenous peoples across the world.
Open Source Arts wants to take this Spring Equinox Celebration as an opportunity for us all to begin to understand our own cultures and histories. In the UK, nature, trees and woodlands have cultural, historical and emotional significance, both in local communities and nationally, and have inspired and often formed the basis of music, art, literature and more for centuries as they have been understood as holding wisdom and power. It is this that allows many today and long into the past to afford nature the respect and protection it deserves and requires.
For this reason it is clear that to begin to respect and care for the nature and trees which surround us we do not need to extract from Indigenous Communities, and must, instead, look to UK histories and cultures. Let us begin this journey to understanding these histories together.
It is time we learn to respect the natural world and there is no better time to do this than on International Day of Forests and the Spring Equinox. So come join us for our celebration!
We’ll have an Arts and Craft Market throughout the day with locally, sustainably and lovingly made arts and crafts with many taking inspiration from the world around us. There’ll be drop in workshops throughout the day hoping to educate, inform and ultimately reconnect us with the natural world as we craft using natural materials, get down to earth planting seeds and learn to identify what trees surround us, as well as a Circus give-it-a-go around 1-3pm and Zine-O-Philia Workshop 2-3:30pm!
We look forward to gathering, connecting and celebrating with you this Saturday!
Contact Us
Open Source Arts
Unit 1a Aire Place Mills
143 Kirkstall Road
LS3 1JL
01132 468 975
