Peace Bus Press Release 13th April: Come Anzac Eve, hundreds of Canberra citizens will be bearing a light for peace in a lantern parade which will go from the top of Mt Ainslie, past the War Memorial to a lantern-lit Vigil in Anzac Parade.
assembling from 5 pm Easter Sunday 24 April 2011
on top of Mt Ainslie, ACT
The Anzac Eve Peace Lantern Parade and Vigil is a project of Canberra people seeking new and artful ways to recall the voices of peace as we express our respect for the war-dead and our heartsickness about the trauma of war in the approach to the Anzac centenary in 2015.
Over 200 candle-lit lanterns have been prepared for the event in community lantern making workshops over the past six weeks. Canberra's A Chorus of Women and Jude Kelly, a Yamajti-Noongar woman from West Australia, have composed new laments for the Vigil and they will be joined by the Ecopella (save-the-world music) Choir and the Solidarity Choir in songs of peace.
"This Anzac eve, we are seeking to evoke the sacred as we remember the war-dead, the environmental destruction of war and the traumatic impacts of war on individuals, families and our culture through generations," said Graeme Dunstan of Peacebus.com, master lantern maker for the event.
"We are concerned about the way Australian history is being militarised and national identity fabricated as a product of the forges of war.
"We will acknowledge the frontier wars and the ongoing suffering of Aboriginal people, refugees and migrants, remembering that almost everyone in this land has a family story of trauma and loss through war," he said.
Singer-songwriter Jude Kelly who is a resident at the Tent Embassy, said: "The effects of war are long and enduring, and with wars come trauma and heartache. With this Lantern Vigil, we hope to rebalance the social equity of our human family and become more humane and tolerant people where words and communication are more valuable than guns and ammunition that kill and divide us."
A community initiative, the project will pay its costs with proceeds from the sale of lanterns on the night. $5 each or donation.
Further information
www.peacebus.com/AnzacLanterns