HOLEY BLANKET

Fall 2021

Inviting death into life by the ‘hol(e)y blanket’ as a symbol, an example. The ‘hol(e)y blanket ritual’ is a communal experience in which someone (known henceforth as the ‘blanket-holder’) brings a piece of fabric like a blanket (could already be emotionally valued) to a group of people, the community, they trust. Everyone in the group including the blanket-holder cuts out a piece. The holy blanket ritual text is read or sung aloud which invites a conversation about grief. The blanket-holder takes the blanket home and has been given the opportunity to crochet around the holes to accentuate the symbolic meaning. The attendants from the group can take their cut-out and place it on one of their own blankets. A ritual like this can be done at any points in a persons life, also multiple times. No one is to be forced to participate in the ritual.


This synthesis is a result from a long journey of experiments and research into mourning and grief.
Link to the blog

Please oh please, give me, grow me

A hole, a pit, a void, a gap, a crack, a cut, a portal, a tunnel, a hallway - if you will, a window, a niche,

So it is - an opening, a shelter, a silent space to smile, stand, sit, scream or just lay or laugh or walk or

Weep

Tears and tears

Sewing around fears

I’m all ears

So speak, shall we share, it shouldn’t be rare

Everyone mourns

Everyone mourns

The little losses and the grand griefs

The stolen cookies and closed eyes

The lost keys and the cold teas

Fallen mirrors and broken hearts

The trying and the crying

The deep breaths and sauce stains

The maybe’s and the no’s

The fractured limbs and things forgotten

Burned lasagne and raging fires

Being ripped apart and gasping for glue

Our stories are the communal yarn

Each opening; a rebirth

Each cut out; a symbol, a token

A holy blanket

Please oh please, give me, grow me

A hole, a pit, a void, a gap, a crack, a cut, a portal, a tunnel, a hallway, a window, a niche, an opening, a shelter, a silent space to smile, stand, sit, scream or just lay or laugh or walk or

Weep

Tears and tears

Sewing around fears

All ears

Symbolic importance:

Crocheting = time and attention. It takes simply those ingredients to crochet, but also to heal. The blanket-holder is encouraged to crochet so there is an occasion to mourn. The crocheting, additionally, accentuates the hole to show its growth.

Hole = an opening, a window, a niche, an open space to let be. So we can embrace the silence, the shadows and death.

Blanket = warmth, comfort