An Easter rebirth

This has been posted here before, but several years ago I started a project about faith rituals - I was just interested in how across all different kinds of cultures, religions, time periods and geographic areas people somehow felt the need to perform various rituals and actions as an expression of faith.
I photographed more variety than I thought possible in a mid-sized Canadian city, but the past year or so it’s been dormant.

Fittingly, in the season of Easter a rebirth of sorts occurred with 2 events connected to the Christian holiday. The festival of Salubong, a procession of religious statues held by the local Filipino community, was held on Easter Sunday morning and the 35th annual Way of the Cross procession was held by the local Catholic archdiocese on the morning of Good Friday.
Salubong was especially gratifying to photograph, as it was the first ritual I photographed in 2018 when I first conceived of this project.

From now, I hope to continue where I left off with this project and pursue other rituals in a variety of faiths. I’m as interested in the regular commonly held ritual - aspects of the everyday like a Christian baptism or candles in a Hindu puja or prayers in a Jewish or Muslim service - as I am in special events or rarer holidays.
If you have a suggestion for this project, please use the Contact form on my website to send me an email, or message me via my Instagram account if you prefer.

A congregant at St. Edwards the Confessor Catholic Church takes part in a procession early Sunday morning as part of the church’s Salubong event.

The sunrise shines over the cross marched on a procession in the 35th annual Way of the Cross Event, Friday morning at the University of Manitoba campus.

Hundreds of people walk quietly in the Way of the Cross event, on Good Friday morning, the only sound moving over the crowd a repeated prayer chant.

The cool twilight of the early Easter morning is punctuated by the warmth of a candle held by an adult chaperoning a children's choir in the city’s North End during the Salubong event.

Canada geese waddle away from a procession of hundreds quietly marching behind a wooden cross on Good Friday.

One of the stations of the cross marks a pause in the 35th annual Way of the Cross, Good Friday morning.

A children’s choir ascends the steps of St. Edwards the Confessor church on Easter Sunday morning.

Salubong event, Easter Sunday morning.

Salubong procession, Easter Sunday morning.

Prayers

For the past several years, I’ve been pursuing a personal project on faith and rituals - producing images of the various things different peoples do to show their faith.
One of the first places I went to was St. Vladimir’s and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in the city’s North End. I was warmly welcomed and the priest was encouraging and open to my project. It was an invaluable confidence builder and paved the way for any subsequent work I did.

It was this familiarity that I took into returning to the beautiful landmark cathedral this weekend, as prayers were given new urgency with the war continuing in the Ukrainian homeland. I wanted to continue my work documenting faith but also see the faith being offered to those suffering from the current conflict.

By coincidence, a rally for Ukraine at the provincial Legislature was also taking place later that day, a chance for prayers of a different sort at a different landmark building — a ritual of faith to strengthen a common bond.

For those wishing to help, St. Vladimir’s and Olga Cathedral is accepting donations for Ukrainian citizens suffering under war. And of course, the Canadian Red Cross is also a trustworthy, effective organization to help those in need.

Kosmii and Mykhaila Liuba offer silent prayers at St. Vladimir’s and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral during Sunday mass.

Angels symbolizing peace adorn the altar as a congregant lights candles at St. Vladimir’s and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral during Sunday mass.

A rally at the Manitoba Legislature Sunday afternoon drew members and supporters of the city’s Ukrainian community.

Blessings in the time of Covid

Several years ago, I started a personal project on rituals — acts of faith unique to a religion or faith community that have a tradition going back centuries or more. It was a rewarding idea and the more I worked on it, the more I was convinced it was a solid pursuit. And beyond that, it was something I got a lot of personal fulfillment out of - I was fortunate to witness moments I couldn’t have predicted or imagined and met a lot of new people.

And then Covid-19 happened.

Almost overnight, most faith centres closed in order to limit the spread of an airborne contagion (something a few people seem to have difficulty understanding) and my idea that slowly but surely began to gain momentum ended abruptly.

But as people begin to find their way through this uncertain time, some organizations figure out how to exercise their faith in ways to keep everyone as safe as possible. One example of this was the annual ritual in the Ukrainian Orthodox faith of the blessing of the Easter baskets, and how the faithful in the Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral of Sts. Vladimir and Olga made it happen in 2021.

Taking advantage of a beautiful spring day, they held the service outdoors, kept everyone well distanced and had people cycle through quickly so as not to linger. It was a heartfelt display of faith, and a quietly dignified rebuke to those who’ve used religion as a ruse to ignore the reality of public health measures.

On a personal note, it felt good after over a year to be making photographs for this project again. It very likely will be a long time before this project can be picked up again in any substantive, consistent way. But for one beautiful spring day, new images were being made and the idea lived on.

Father Ihor Shved sprinkles holy water upon the Easter baskets brought by sisters Ruslana and Svetlana Kashyna, during a special Covid-compliant service of the ‘Blessing of the Baskets’, a highly of the Orthodox calendar.

Volunteers helped create a makeshift altar and worship area outside the North End cathedral, including the iconic Easter eggs so closely associated with Ukrainian culture.

Father Ihor Shved tests a webcam set up to bring the service to faithful in their homes. The web savvy is one adaptation many churches are making to the health measures needed to keep their communities healthy.

After the basket ceremony outside, attendees could make a brief visit to the altar to round out their Easter observances.