Minna Hokka held a crying workshop at the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival.
Although people come to festivals to have fun, many of them are still accompanied by the painful experiences of life. This year, sharing them verbally was possible face to face in a crying workshop. I collected crying stories from festival-goers in a box in the canteen lobby. A dozen people grabbed pen and paper. The touching themes inspired me to make up the cries that I performed on Friday morning at the People's Arts Centre.
In the crying workshop, fifteen people talked about their relationship with crying and the shame it can cause. We drew heavily on written emotions, thoughts and life experiences. During the hour, participants took the time to openly share their own humanity. It feels amazingly wonderful how quickly you can experience spiritual intimacy with strangers. We reflected on how crying without crying is a risk factor for depression, perhaps also for heart disease and cancer.
The Voice of the Cryers Association was founded fifteen years ago, and there are now well over two thousand crybaby course participants in Finland. For many men and women, expressing their tears has been a remarkable experience. There are a few crying groups in Finland, where people can come to practise listening and creatively clearing their minds using the Karelian crying tradition. If there is not yet one in your area, there is nothing to stop you from setting up a study group on crying out loud, for example.
Success feels good, and Kaustinen festivals are promoted as the happiest days of the summer. However, there is a flip side to all this, and getting happy involves losing it at some point. Making up a crying song about a difficult subject and performing it with a crying melody in a confidential group can help you get through the feeling. Writing a verbal lyric can lead to a process that can provide new insights into your own life situation or a challenging relationship.
The important thing about crying out loud is acceptance and letting go of demands. Even a sigh is enough; all cries are successful. The human being peels away the hard experiences layer by layer. Liberation happens unforced, when one is ready for it. The courage not to interfere in another person's path and the peaceful, loving acceptance of oneself and others are the keys to happiness in crying out loud, which can be found again and again.
Let's stop, express ourselves and listen to each other with love
Minna Hokka
ITE-artist, crafts and crying instructor
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I collected the crying themes between Tuesday and Thursday. There was an envelope and a box in the festival area, where anyone could anonymously slip their crying topics onto paper. I got some of the topics by interviewing people.
Here are some topics:
At festivals, the fire is always rekindled to make music and play with an existing band, but the busy schedules and distances of five people prevent us from practicing together. It saddens and angers.
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The health centre has scarce resources to rehabilitate people. We see people's distress, but there is no way to help. People are bounced from one door to another and waiting times are absurdly long.
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My neighbour and friend's husband died on Tuesday morning after a serious illness.
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At the dawn of the Second Day
in the first light of dawn my husband lay on the ground
a long time ago the evil one beat me
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Crying and worrying about the elderly mother's illness and whether she will get enough care - what will be the next place to live if she can no longer return home.
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There is also concern about the boy's relationship - whether he can make wise decisions and think about things from another perspective.
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I wonder why she doesn't marry her lover.
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I am an unemployed, single, childless, lost person. No direction, soon no home. No pets. Only health is enough. I want order, love and direction in my life. I've cried enough in my life.
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When all you do is destroy nature... all you do is cut down trees... all you do is sail in sewage at the Olympics... all you do is shoot birds... fish for fun... dig up the earth.
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Water pipes leaking, huge renovation coming / to be done / to be arranged.
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Your own daughter's great heartache after all her relationships have ended unhappily
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Crying for a widow's heart
crying for a child without a father:
became a disease,
man killed
took a bleeding male
I alone with my weeping
without a man to please
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WEEPING FOR THE WIDOW'S HEART I
Great deadly torrents of water of sorrow roll over me.
Now alone, I was left alone.
I lost my precious crutch.
A terrible cold took my dearest,
the most debauched of all, our home's lovely host was mended.
A serious, dangerous ailment stole the best of our nest.
Out of my arms, my heartbeat was forced,
my armour was dashed to its death.
Swim daddy from our lovely Ipanese utu,
our laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing.
The winds of support from our buddies blew our support to stardom.
Daddy's gone, we trust my pet, my pet's gone.
Beyond the light-years, beyond the mountains without sinking
persuaded by our skilled nest of talents,
on the other side of the wind?
Our security was fiercely destroyed by my fire.
Now the devastation of pain is blinding.
Swirls of fear swirl around our little balleros.
No spinning our little one's pies,
not cavorting with your peers.
Can our devil get out of the siege of darkness?
Will our white guardedness be freed to shine again?