CAPRA & the MAGICAL GOAT BLANKET PROJECT
By: Mimi Foxmorton c. 2010
FOXMORTON’S CAPRA PROJECT
~A Universal and Creative Adventure
Won’t you join me?
Hail Fellow Goat Lovers!
Welcome to my CAPRA and the MAGICAL GOAT BLANKET project!
After 50 years of never taking much notice, the Universe gave me a (firm) nudge in the direction I now know I was meant to travel. On a rare Autumn day the Universe sent me...goats! Lovely, wonderful, snuzzly, wise goats!
But there’s also a catch. I live in a townhome. Uprooting, selling and buying a farm isn’t something that can be done in a weekend...especially if you live alone. And while I have no doubt that the Universe means to see me through to goat fruition I’ve been forced, in the meanwhile, to become a Goat Borrower. Not all that easy.
Luckily the Universe sent me a life long, area goat farmer, Lyle Young, who turned out to be pretty amiable about letting me Goat Borrow. And, fortuitously, was agreeable to working together to combine my costumed storytelling career with his goats. You really have to thank a guy who’ll let you put a hat on his goat.
In the first of my crazy adventure we appeared with one of his billys at a Yule Goat event I designed. (Which you can read about at www.thegoatborrower.blogspot.com)The rest, we’re hoping will be history.
So...here’s my plan:
It is my intention to make a wondrous CAPRA BLANKET for use in the upcoming 2011 Yule Celebration. A Capra Blanket is a colorful cover for either the actual goat or a Symbolic goat and used in the honorable Romanian tradition of Dancing Capra. (There are many, many wonderful videos that can be seen on YouTube...a raw and beautiful ceremonial dance which celebrates and honors the rebirth of living things and the eventual coming of the sun and the renewal which is Spring.)
When I first set out to make this blanket I knew I’d have no problem as my scrap bag is chock full of fabric and trim from past projects. If you sew at all you know what I mean! But then I got to thinking how wonderful and magical this blanket could be if it were created from scraps of fabric from the Four Quarters! That is, the smallest of scraps sent from people from Thither & Yon who would like to be a part of this goat magic!
So...I send this request out to the Universe and ask that anyone who would like to be a part of my Capra Project please send me a small scrap of fabric , trim or bead that has special meaning to you. It needn’t (nor shouldn’t) be bigger than a basic envelope size and should pose no problem to send. I ask for no last name or return address and want to be very clear about that as I seek no personal information regarding the sender. But if you would like to include a story about the history of the scrap that would be wonderful as I intend to keep a log of location and story to post on my blog as the blanket progresses.
It is my hope that the final outcome will tell a story of unity.
Why? While I was sorting scraps to begin the blanket the idea came to me and I thought how grand such a blanket could end up being and how like the tradition of Yule. A simple joining together of those near and far into a blanket of peace, love & celebration. I’ve found that goats are wise and open their hearts to all who seek to know them. Perhaps this blanket could be a reflection of that.
And that’s my story. As simple as a scrap. And as big those with stories to tell.
You can read my story and follow the progress of the Capra Blanket at
www.thegoatborrower.blogspot.com and contact me there.
Scraps can be sent to:
The Town of Clay
THE CAPRA PROJECT
Att: Recreation Department
4401 Route 31
Clay, New York 13041
If you like this please feel free to pass it along so we can make this project as Universal as it should be.
My sincere thanks for indulging me in this project.
*Mimi Foxmorton
*Mimi Foxmorton is in reality Chrissy Clancy, a Recreation Department employee at the Town of Clay since 1991. She thanks the Universe, and the town, every day for allowing her the freedom of creativity in her job to bring unique and diverse programs and projects to the community. She believes that discovering new cultures and new stories is the key to a better world. She also believes in the power of the oral tradition of folklore and thinks we can become all the better for discovering new tales. The Capra Blanket Project, she believes, will be a tangible joining together of the many stories that make up our community and our world.
This project is dedicated to The Town of Clay Wanderers, her group of wandering senior citizens, who follow her each week on a new adventure of discovery. She appreciates their support more than they can imagine as they indulge her in each new journey and keep to their motto: “All who wander are not lost.” (Tolkien)
This is not the first of Chrissy’s wild adventures...nor will it be her last. C.2010
