The simple joy of celebration

On Friday night, the Edmonton L'Arche community gathered in a church hall and celebrated its cultural diversity. I invited my neighbour to attend with me, and we were met at the door by a number of welcoming people, one of whom directed us to a table toward the back of the room. After introducing ourselves to the people already seated, we settled in for an evening of entertainment, food and fun. The evening began with a prayer, some jokes and introductions, and a slide show about the L'Arche communities in developing countries for whom the event was being held as a solidarity fund-raiser.

Then there was food from all over the world. Oh my. Everything from English cucumber sandwiches to Lebanese tabouli to Zambian sampo (or was it Kenyan sampo?) An amazing, delicious and delightful array of foods for any and every palate loaded the tables and our plates. The variety rivalled the Taste of Edmonton festival, and my neighbour commented that our tickets for the evening should have cost twice what they did. Had we known the feast we were in for, we would have skipped supper!

After the wonderful sampling of finger foods, the fun began. Little Flower arranged a trivia game that had us all laughing as we guessed everything from favourite tv shows to underwear colours of various community members. The talented Jordan Kaminski got toes tapping with a few selections on his guitar. The Noah House band performed some German dance music and taught us a chorus to sing. A Philippines dance group amazed us with their intricate movements, and Day Program performed an African Dance in international cultural clothing. The evening concluded with the smashing of two pinatas, a very special rendition of O Canada, and more dancing.

Smiles and laughter were everywhere, signs of a little bit of heaven on earth.