After the Russian Revolution, the new Bolshevik government conceived a system of socialist rituals and civic ceremonies to encourage a new and modernist culture. For example, instead of baptism, babies were “octobered” and given names like Electrifikatsia (Electrification) to represent the values of the new society.

This Octobering workshop is about rituals and ceremonies and how—through special images, gestures, objects, and spaces—they shape how we see and act in the world. In the last few weeks, our ways of living have radically changed, and shifting personal and social values are foremost in our minds, from the human costs of economic growth to the importance of “unskilled” workers.

Join us to discuss the values that are important to us now through the conception of new rituals. We will start the workshop by renaming ourselves with an Octobering ceremony, and then we’ll invent a new ritual that helps us create the kind of world we want to live in.

Free, but spaces are limited. Please reserve your place by email at rsvp@cca.qc.ca.