Friday, November 23, 2018 at 4:53 PM – 7 PM
North Pointe, Baker Beach
San Francisco, California
Friends, it's been another hard year. It's been a
painful, fearful time. But it's also been a time of fierceness and resilience,
a time of building community and refusing to let our joy be extinguished.
In honor and celebration of the fire within us, we invite
you to join us for the Sixth Annual Festival of Light and Gratitude, our
candlelit labyrinth walk on the northern end of San Francisco's Baker Beach.
Through this alternative to Black Friday, we gather to
deepen the flame we carry that is luminous, radiant, and inextinguishable. We
gather to give honor and love to the elders, mentors, teachers, chosen family,
friends, communities, and loved ones who lift us up when times are hard and
help us find our path when the terrain gets rough. We gather to remember those
we have lost whose warmth still burns bright within us. We gather to be
together on the edge of the sea, lighting the lamps that will shine through the
storm.
RAIN NOTE: We've been extremely lucky to have splendid
weather our first five years, and we're hoping this trend will continue. We'll
post weather updates as we get closer, but we will be there even if it rains!
Even if it's pouring so hard it literally washes away the labyrinth, we'll just
dance in the rain with our lights instead! Please bundle up warm, bring your
umbrellas and your rainboots (we'll make the labyrinth extra-wide for umbrellas
to fit), and come anyway if you can!
COMMUNITY GUIDELINES AND OTHER NOTES:
- This is a family-friendly, community-oriented event.
Please set your intentions accordingly.
- We respectfully request that you move through the
labyrinth in silence, and ask that you be mindful of your volume when you're
close by. There's a whole lot of beach for singing, yelling, and glorying in if
you need to make some noise, but we prefer to maintain a bit of a sense of
reverence at the labyrinth itself.
- The labyrinth is sited at the northern end of Baker
Beach, which is traditionally clothing-optional. Please do be aware that there
is a *possibility* that you will see (respectful and perfectly pleasant) naked
people, especially if you arrive on the earlier side.
- Sundown, the official opening of the labyrinth, is at
4:53 pm. It would be lovely if you arrived in time to share the sunset and the
opening of the labyrinth with us, but the labyrinth will be lit until 7 pm
unless we are forced by park officials or truly foul weather to close it
sooner.
- We always have an altar as part of the labyrinth and
encourage folks to bring items to place upon it if they wish. We'll be placing
it outside the path of labyrinth itself, as we've had lines build up in the
past as people take the time they need to write, reflect, and spend time at the
altar space and we want to try and allow the actual labyrinth walk to remain
flowing as much as possible.
- There's usually plenty of parking, but the 29 Sunset
bus runs pretty much straight to the beach until almost midnight. If you're
coming from the East Bay and generously willing to share your car with other
Festival-goers, please do us the favor of posting in the comments how many
spaces you have and when/where you're leaving from.
- The beach officially closes at dark. Please be mindful
of this when parking in the Baker Beach lot so as to avoid having your car shut
in.
Cost: Free
