A small group of 12, some wearing knit hats and gloves and others carrying instruments, gathered Sunday next to the pedestrian bridge sandwiched between the Boulder Public Library and the Penfield Tate II Municipal Building. At first glance, it would have been easy to mistake them for a bunch of jolly carolers, but this group had not congregated to celebrate — rather, they joined together to grieve.
These members of the Boulder community were marking the opening ceremony of the Community Grief and Gratitude Ribbon Project, in which participants are encouraged to hang ribbons representing their grief or their gratitude.
The project was first started in 2020 by four Boulder residents and friends: Gaia Mika, Cat Pantaleo, Lodi Siefer, and Wendy Kaas.
“There are many cultures that used to have strong traditions of sharing grief,” Mika said of the project’s origins. “After the first year of the pandemic, there was so much grief in the world, and we were inspired by those cultures to come up with a way of expressing our own grief and gratitude.”
“Grief is also an expression of gratitude,” added Siefer. “When you’re grieving, you’re hurting because you are so grateful that this particular person, species, or planet existed. It means that it mattered to you.”
The four organizers saw a need for the ribbon project to continue this year, as well. In 2021, the Boulder community was rocked by a mass shooting that killed 10 people, climate change in the form of wildfires and a shortened ski season, and another year of loneliness and isolation due to the continued pandemic.
During the opening ceremony, attendees gathered in a circle and were encouraged to share poems, invocations, and for one, a personal story of grief.
Sherica Wilson lost her daughter, Lala, to suicide in August. “I wanted to express how grateful I am for this,” Wilson said to the group at large. “Christmas yesterday was really hard for me, but being able to tell my story and hear other stories of grief lets me know that we’re all here to help each other.”
Afterward, in an act of solidarity, the group hung ribbons on the pedestrian bridge — some expressing personal messages, others small and inconspicuous, while 30 large orange and yellow plaid ribbons were provided by the organizers for those who didn’t bring their own ribbons to hang. “Written on these ribbons are 30 names,” Siefer said, indicating the plaid ribbons in her hand. “They are the names of the unhoused people who died in Boulder in 2021.”
Those who wish to participate in the ribbon project can hang a ribbon any time until Jan. 7 on the pedestrian bridge over Boulder Creek, in between 9th Street and Broadway. A closing ceremony will mark the end of the project at 2 p.m. Jan. 8, and anyone is welcome to join.
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December 27, 2021 at 09:31AM
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Boulder residents gather for Grief and Gratitude Ribbon Project opening ceremony - Boulder Daily Camera
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