At Bread and Puppet Theater, participants release their ‘heavy burdens’ during the eclipse

GLOVER — At Bread and Puppet Theater’s farm deep in the Northeast Kingdom, hundreds gathered in a snowy field for a participatory ritual performance marking the total solar eclipse on Monday.

Peter Schumann, co-founder of the radical theater group, and company members led attendees through song, dance and a snowball fight — against cardboard machine guns labeled “freedom” and “democracy” — prior to three minutes of silence during the eclipse itself.

With the field still fully covered in inches of snow, those without chairs sat on tarps, jackets or pieces of cardboard while watching and waiting for the astronomical phenomenon.

The ceremony also included the burning of cardboard effigies upon which participants pasted scrap paper listing their “heavy burdens and evils” to “burn and release.”

“Now that the evil has been burned, you can start a totally new life!” shouted one company member following the effigies’ collapse into ashes.

When the sky abruptly turned dark, dogs barked and many gasped at the sight, remarking that it was even more incredible than they had imagined.

As the first sunbeams returned to earth following the event, participants cheered, applauded and pounded drums to welcome the light’s return.

Read the story on VTDigger here: At Bread and Puppet Theater, participants release their ‘heavy burdens’ during the eclipse .