What is the Mary Magdalene Celebration???
Not everyone understands what the celebration is all about. Especially the audience of the organization that will host it and has hosted it for the past few years. I wrote this letter to share with them, and would like to share it with you in the hope it will inspire you to join!
Dear Leticia and friends of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña,
I am so grateful to once again receive the support of this amazing and committed Puerto Rican institution, that has always been here for me and for so many artists in New York, Puerto Rico and the world.
I know the title of this event is a little strange, perhaps mysterious, definitely not traditionally Puerto Rican. But at the same time, it is a fully Puerto Rican event. The artists that participate in the ceremony: Corazon Tierra, Maria Mar, Raquel Z. Rivera and myself are all Puerto Rican. We grew up in Puerto Rico and came to NYC, like most Puerto Rican, as migrants in search of a better future. I came at 15, because my mother decided to come to work here as a teacher, and since then have been going back and forth, always in connection with my roots in the island.
The Celebration takes the form of a Puerto Rican promesa, with altar, candles and songs. Other artistic elements make it a different kind of promesa, but the feeling of hope and gratitude remains.
As people become devoted to certain saints, Raquel and I found Mary Magdalene to be the object of our particular artistic and creative devotion. And we cultivate this devotion through art, music, writing, and creating inspired by the example of a saint who was also a liberated woman, educated, wise, and whose role in Christianity was central. We celebrate her as Our Lady of Lexington, Patron Saint of those who may not believe in anything but believe in the creative power of Imagination.
I hope that you will come and join us this Saturday, July 16 at La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc. Black Box Theater at El Barrio Art Space, 99th street between 2nd avenue and 3rd Avenue. I hope that you will be inspired to add your voice and sing and dance with us. I hope that you will wear some red!
The Mary Magdalene Celebration will take place live and in zoom. This is what will happen from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m EST:
At 3 pm we start with workshops. Maria Mar will be sharing how to create some fun and colorful mandalas. Corazon Tierra will be teaching a beautiful dance choreography that anyone can learn!
Also, we will open zoom at 3:00 pm EST, I will be talking a little about the celebration and what it's about, a little bit of the journey, as an introduction. I will mention and show the live groups getting ready to start their own workshops live in the space (just a brief hello!) Then I will be presenting Dr. Jenny Martin, who will be doing a workshop titled "Mary Magdalene and Sacred Sexuality," and Dr. Seema Khaneja, who will be sharing her art and doing a group card reading based on her images and messages from Mary Magdalene. I will then send everyone who joins in zoom to breakout rooms to participate in the workshops. This is the zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6988512163?pwd=MWN3dFlqcTZ6dUVWdFl3aWxUaTBzUT09
At 4:30 pm. anybody who is still in the breakout rooms, comes back to the main zoom. We will spotlight the celebration and transmit it through zoom for the world to see, with everyone else watching live and in zoom, and it will go as follows:
I will introduce all the participants in the event for the audience to learn about each one and the sequence of the ceremony. I will take this opportunity to mention the zoom special guests and the artisans who will be exhibiting throughout the event.
The performances will flow into each other after this. I do not speak again. Several of my paintings will be shown in an art-altar, where there will also be 7 candles.
After the introduction:
Corazon Tierra will open the space with a dance. She has created a special dance inspired by Mary Magdalene for this event. (She has created several special dances for the celebrations throughout the years and is a partner in creativity for The Mary Magdalene Celebration.)
Poet, Shaman and Performer (and much more) Maria Mar will perform a poem titled "A Banquet of Delights."
A brief musical transition by Legacy Women will prepare the way for Raquel Z Rivera, who will sing from New Mexico through Zoom. She will sing the 7 songs she composed (excerpts of the songs, since she will sing a capella, and she will talk briefly about each song. I will light the 7 candles as she does this.
Once Raquel ends, Legacy Women begin their drumming and singing. They interpret traditional spiritual songs from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The fact that they are women is revolutionary as spiritual drumming in traditional Spanish Caribbean culture is perceived as male only.
Legacy Women's last song invites everyone to dance, the artists, performers, everyone brings the audience into the center to join the communal dance. The audience is welcomed to dance anytime they feel inspired to join throughout the musical performance, but the idea is everyone dances at the end to culminate the ceremony!
All this will be transmitted through zoom and I hope people will turn on their cameras and dance at home too!
This is the vision, let's see how it goes!
I am attaching a flyer, feel free to share the description above and invite everyone!
You can join at Magdalene.org. It's free, and I really look forward to sharing this special creation with you!
LOVE, PEACE and Lots of JOY!
Tanya
Tanya Torres
www.tanyatorres.com
Magdalene.org
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