Mother Earth Forest Parade

Sunday 15 September

You are invited to a colourful celebration of care amongst people and the woods. Join us in Hatfield Forest for activities throughout the day, including mask making, a Mother Earth parade, a picnic and the ‘100 Acts of Care’ Treasure Hunt!

As part of their Hatfield 100 creative commission, Kirsty Badenoch with Wayward are hosting a day of fun, frolics, folklore and fantasy to celebrate our rich and varied connections with the woods, with all its creatures, and with one another. We’ll be getting creative, dressing-up and dragging-up in forest campery, telling tales of trees, and parading the less-trodden paths to the sounds of the woods. Activities will be running all day, or feel free to just join for the parade.

The woods are precious and a part of us all. They bring us calm amidst the madness, inspire us and make us smile, encourage us to play and be ourselves. We are all a part of nature and let no-one tell us otherwise! Amidst unstable times, Mother Earth invites us to stand together for freedom, joy and above all, for care. Care for the self, for one another, for our planet and all that transcends the human world. Join us to walk a brand new way through one of the most ancient, treasured and protected forests in Britain, and proclaim your care!

• Free event, but booking advised
• Sign up via motherearthforestparade.eventbrite.com
• Key timings: Mask Making: 10:00–12:00 | Parade: 12:30–14:00 | Treasure Hunt: 10:00–15:00 | Picnic: 14:00–15:00
• Limited tickets for the mask making workshop, so grab yours early!
• For booking or questions email: kirstybadenoch@gmail.com

Key Timings 

10:00 – 15:00: Acts of Care Treasure Hunt
The Shell House will play host a forest-wide treasure hunt. Drop by throughout the day to choose your challenge and embark on a wild, wonky walk through the woods. Each walk is part of the project’s brand new “walking tarot of the wild ways of the woods,” made through conversations with Hatfield Forest’s community. The treasure hunt invites you to participate in a small act that cares for yourself, your community or the forest. Forest prizes to be won!

10:00 – 12:00: Fantastic Mask Making
In preparation for the parade, we’ll be running a mask and totem making workshop in the woodland classroom. You’ll be introduced to traditions of carnival, drag and folklore costumery, and to the basic principles of willow weaving, as together we’ll transform into magical beings of the woods.

Sign-up is essential as places are limited. We’ll provide all the materials you need, or feel free to bring your own favourites. Fabrics, masks, garlands, face paint etc are all welcome, but no organic matter is permitted as we’re in a protected woodland (no leaves, flowers etc).

12:30 – 13:00 Parade Gathering
We invite everyone to come adorned in carnivalesque nature-inspired costumery (this could be your favourite plant, creature, mythology, or drag finery – the weirder and wilder the better!) Arm yourself with garlands, face paint, flags and totems inspired by the wild woods. Or if you don’t feel like dressing-up, then simply bring along a brightly coloured hat, flag or colourful clothes, and a sense of fun! We’ll amass outside the café.

13:00 – 14:00 Forest Parade
And off we stomp, a magical troupe of wild creatures let loose in the woods! Together we’ll walk down rarely-trodden paths to discover the secrets, diversities and wild ways of the woods. We’ll tell tales as we go, learning about the forest and meeting the unusual beings who dwell there.

14:00 – 15:00 Community Picnic
Finally, we end back at the café to share food and stories of our adventure. We invite you to bring tasty treats for yourselves and your companions, and to lay your picnic rugs across the lawn. This will be a chance to meet and make new friends, to talk to the Hatfield 100 artists and the forest volunteers, and to learn about all the amazing work they’re doing to keep one of Britain’s most important forests thriving.

Practical Information

This is a day for everyone – children and pets, grannies and grandpas, fresh-found lovers and the broken-hearted, walking trees and tiny forest spirits – all identities and genders, human and more-than-human are welcome.

What to bring and wear: Bring a spirit of fun and adventure, a costume, a celebratory offering, weather-appropriate clothes and shoes, some snacks and a bottle of water. Food and drinks are available to purchase from the café.

Accessibility: The parade will be held outdoors. We’ll be walking off the main paths and sitting in forest clearings. Although the site is fairly flat, there may be moments where we navigate difficult and potentially muddy ground. If you have any specific access needs then please let us know and we will try as best we can to accommodate these. A cafe and toilets are located by the Shell House, our meeting and ending point.

A Common Way: Project

This event is part of an art commission celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hatfield Forest being gifted to the public. Led by Kirsty Badenoch with Wayward, the project explores relationships with the woods through the lens of queer ecofeminism – an ideology that aims to break binaries and acknowledge the diversity of the natural world and humanity’s connection with it.

Over the summer, Kirsty and Wayward been collecting stories, histories and tales of the Forest, working with communities from near and far, and with people who love, walk, work and volunteer with Hatfield Forest. All of these talks and tales have now been woven into a brand new way of walking: A Common Way: A walking tarot of the wild ways of the woods – a set of walks that invite you to care. Walks that encourage going off the beaten track and getting lost. Walks that change every time you walk them. Walks that inspire wonder and play, and invite you to unite as part of nature, championing freedom of expression, identity and choice across people and species.

kirstybadenoch.com / wayward.co.uk/ www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/essex-bedfordshire-hertfordshire/hatfield-forest

A Common Way is a commission from the National Trust and Essex Cultural Diversity Project, supported by Arts Council England.