I need a bit of global happiness today – if you have read this mornings post you will understand. For what it’s worth here it is  http://bit.ly/brokenhearts2- call it publicity, fuck call it anything but I assure you what I feel right now is not happy and I am going to re claim some of it back. So here goes something. Hey if you are feeling shitty like me -here is a possible antidote.

So,  what’s today’s’ secret to happiness, you ask? Or if you didn’t ask, I will continue to tell you 😀

SECRET TO HAPPINESS: Send -up the pain of your past heart ache  with parody and peace

TRADITION:Festival de Diablos y Congos ( translated as festival of the devils and the congo! )

DATE: two weeks after carnaval

CELEBRATED IN: Portobelo, Panama

The most sinister elements of a human’s story is: expulsion, incarceration  and inequality. We face a past that is unalterable and uncompromising.  The saying ‘that the only thing that is constant is change’- so does this mean that once our various episodes of pain are over is our soul purged and pure again to start again?

I am proud of my heritage and where my roots are. It saddens me to not be-able to communicate in French with her any more -she has Dementia. I’m scared of losing and forgetting the stories of my ancestors. I’ve already lost many stories of my late grandpa. It feels like I am losing a part of my identity, if that makes sense. The lessons of history are so important for a culture/ people to thrive.

When someone has experienced a painful moment, say a betrayal – shame and loss become the new narrative and in turn that persons/ peoples new reality. This new existence can be tyrannical  as slavery.Something tangible. You need the courage of a gladiator to stare down your past. You need to be Clint East wood or some one like him

interestingly, in  Portobelo, panama this festival of devils and Congos , descendants of the Congos celebrate the black slaves that managed to escape from their Spanish colonial masters and flee  into the rain forest ,  almost taking on the form of a chameleon.  This festival is about turning the tables and role playing. Fake slaves’ disperse   into  the crowd and’ kidnap’  them hold them  for brazen ransom (a few coins can help secure a ‘prisoners’ release).  They dress up in colourful rags and put on a great spectacle by mocking the  aristocratic Spaniards attire. They use a type of ‘reverse speech’

Reverse speech is a form of communication arising from the unconscious mind, according to  David John Oates. The unconscious mind, says Oates, is a seat of deep truths, inexorable honesty and hidden meanings. Oates, who credits himself with the discovery of reverse speech, says that the unconscious mind sends out backwards messages to the conscious mind every 10 to 15 seconds. The conscious mind then reverses the reverse message and directs us to speak in forward speech. To grasp the real meaning of our speech we must tape it and play it backwards.

http://skepdic.com/reversespeech.html

This ‘reverse speech’ imitates their ancestors who used to speak in code to create an uprising against the colonials. They reclaim their true identity with art

The sheer number and variety of styles of mask produced by the Congolese over the centuries has led to the country’s recognition as a center of traditional artistry. Masks traditionally are made from a carved wooden base decorated with a variety of materials such as cowrie shells, beads, feathers, animal skins, kaolin and plant fibers. Pablo Picasso was particularly enamored by Congolese masks, using elements of their design and emotional output in his own work. Similarities can be seen between the facial distortions of his painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and those of the Mbuya mask created by the Pende people.

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/traditional-art-congo-22753.html

These types of self portraits often appear grotesque and broken –  framed with pieces of glass. This symbolises both the destruction and ‘picking up of pieces’. These forms of artistic expression (which can take the form of art to street theatre) is a powerful way to pay respect to the past and reclaim it, by accepting all of its parts even the most painful parts. If you are able to keep light-hearted-  it is possible to revisit painful moments.

The message is simple by all means satire your past and your enemies but make a place to find peace with it/them too.