MONTREAL — The province that gave the world the Cirque du soleil, William Shatner and poutine hopes to export a brand new phenomenon — International Slowness Day.
It’s a day to toss aside the BlackBerries and cellphones, and roll out the yoga mats and massage chairs, in a once-a-year effort to strike back at the stresses of everyday life.
But, please, don’t fret about having missed this year’s event. It took place Monday and only a few people in Quebec noticed it.
It’s an idea that came to Clemence Boucher, a Montreal community worker, who got together with some friends in 2001 and picked June 21st — the longest day of the year — to kick off her movement.
The mother of three said in an interview that she first thought of celebrating a slowness day during a period when she was under a lot of stress.
“I was inspired by the sun and a slight breeze,” she explained Monday in the Montreal park that was the focal point for the quiet festivities.
“I thought to myself that it would be a great idea to have a collective movement to slow (things) down.”
Her movement is taking off kind of... slowly. Efforts to export the event outside Quebec haven’t quite taken hold yet.
But in Montreal, there were a few dozen participants at a downtown park Monday, all relaxing and enjoying music, art and yoga. Use of electricity was a no-no and there were no blaring loudspeakers to stress anyone out.
There were, on the other hand, free yoga and tai chi lessons.
One group of mostly middle-aged people joined hands, chanted softly, and danced in circles.
Others were treated to relaxing body massages, or sat quietly on the grass and meditated.
Boucher had several suggestions for anyone wondering how to celebrate International Slowness Day.
“Laugh at yourself, don’t take yourself seriously, watch beards grow, gaze at the clouds, have fun, do nothing,” she said.
The idea has actually been picked up by the Quebec auto-insurance board, which also launched a campaign on Monday to try to get drivers to slow down.
“It’s the same idea — take time to slow down in a car,” Boucher said. “We have to find ways to unstress and slow down our pace.”
Francois Gourd, who helped launch the slowness day movement, said he would rather be riding his bike.
“I look at the cars and the drivers are impatient, they go fast.”
Despite all the nervousness, hustle and noise, Gourd said, motorists don’t come out any further ahead.
“I arrive at the red light at the same time as them — and on my bike.”
Boucher says Italy is part of the slowness-day movement and she has friends in Greece who also planned to celebrate, along with people in a few Quebec towns.
There was also talk of starting a slowness day in Ontario, but Boucher says it hasn’t quite caught on yet.
“It takes someone to get it started,” she said. “We do it all with volunteers. There’s no money spent.”
Gourd, who is also a member of the Rhinoceros Party, urged “the whole of humanity” to slow down.
“We try to tell everybody to just relax a bit, enjoy life, you don’t have to run.”
