Religion, History, Community and Joy

On Tuesday, April 28, Bob and I attended the Historica school fair in Dunnville.

These events started in 1993 and now involve about 275,000 students in 1000 communities across Canada. Dunnville’s event is a relatively new one, starting as an in-house event at the Dunnville Christian School five years and expanding to a region-wide event in more recent years.

Students create exhibits or other kinds of presentations on various aspects of history and are awarded prizes for different categories, including genealogy and the history of science and technology. Judges also select four winners who travel to Ottawa to compete at the national fair.

As the Historica website points out, school fairs are as unique as schools and communities that sponsor them. I haven’t been to any other Historica fairs, but if Dunnville’s is an example, they are pretty spectacular events.

When I first learned that Dunnville Christian School was hosting the fair I was a little skeptical. I had visited public and Christian schools before, as guest speaker, and I found the students in Christian schools to be exceptionally attentive and well behaved. But I have to confess I was still a little biased.

As a lapsed Catholic who sometimes describes herself as a “born-again pagan” I have a number of issues with organized religion, especially if it’s the in-your-face evangelical variety.

Spirituality is another matter – that I understand. And I will admit I sometimes envy those whose faith is so strong that it suffuses their lives.

Well, last year’s Historica fair quickly dispelled any worries. And this year’s was absolutely transcendental.

There is obvious evidence that this is a Christian school, including quotations from scripture on some of the walls. The day’s events started with a prayer, as well “O Canada.” But, other than that, we might have been in any school in the country.

Or maybe not. Because the atmosphere was wonderful, starting with a smile from one of the older boys who greeted us in the parking lot and carrying on throughout the day. At one point, Bob and I were standing outside when another car approached. One of the boys on parking lot duty took a quick look at the driver and front-seat passenger, surveyed the nearly packed lot, then indicated a space right by the front door. “They should park here, because they’re elderly.”

How often do you hear that kind of consideration from a young adolescent?

Students and staff were extremely helpful, offering to carry our equipment and presentation props, offering directions, smiling and saying hello. Everyone seemed excited, and that excitement was contagious, judging by the chatter and socializing among the judges and presenters during lunch.

A lot of the credit for the school’s welcoming atmosphere has to go to the dedicated staff, headed by principal Joyce Koornneef. Joyce hurt her knee in a skiing accident, was still on crutches and was officially on sick leave. But there was no way on earth she was going to miss this day.

The main purpose of the Historica fairs is to foster understanding and appreciation of Canada’s rich heritage. The diversity of exhibits at the Dunnville event certainly accomplished that. They ranged from exhibits on the Avro Arrow and the Feeder Canal to Robert Munsch, Harriet Tubman, the War of 1812 and the history of fur-trapping. A number of awards were given out, and four exhibitors will be going to Ottawa to compete at the national fair.

But the event is also about bringing the community together. Although the Dunnville event started out small, it is now open to students right across Haldimand and Norfolk. Many of those schools have been slow to respond, possibly because of the same prejudices I had, but this is gradually changing.

Aside from bringing in students and teachers from other schools, the fair brings in adults, either as presenters or judges, as well as any family and friends who want to visit. So, during the afternoon, the gymnasium was buzzing as parents, grandparents and interested neighbours stopped by to see what the kids were up to and maybe discuss their own experiences of some of the topics.

However, the highlight of the event had to be the native dancers, a young man from Six Nations, and a young woman whose heritage is Ojibway and Cree. Their costumes immediately attracted attention, and perhaps for some of the younger students, that was the main focus. But the young man’s introductory remarks explained the spiritual component of their dances, and how dancing was part of his journey of self-discovery as well as a means of recovery from substance abuse.

The young woman made a similar statement. Her shimmering costume included a shawl, symbolizing a butterfly and spiritual transformation. Both the dress and shawl were decorated with grapes and grapevines, and afterwards she told me that they were a reference to a Biblical passage, John 15:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ...

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Now it wasn’t all serious. The young man made a few jokes, including one where he explained that there wasn’t enough room on stage for singers, so they’d “packed them up tight” in a CD.

The dancing, the drum beat, and the native singing entranced the audience, and that alone would have been a great ending to the day. Then the young man took up a drum and had everyone form two circles, one within the other, demonstrated the step, and instructed the people in one circle to move clockwise, the other to move counterclockwise. The young woman joined the outer circle, the young man pounded a heartbeat rhythm on the drum and began to sing.

It was a joyful celebration of community, an appreciation of a tradition that is part of Canada’s collective heritage, and deeply spiritual – and it will likely stay with many of those present for a long time to come.