– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

[Music]

Bringing people together these days is a

feat.

Thousands of people coming joyfully

together to create a mile long beautiful

playful spectacle for themselves and

their community is a wonder. Look at our

Hilton Head Island Lantern Parade.

Now, I've thrown like a hundred parades

and I still get misty eyed every single

time. I look out at parade lineup and I

think I just get chills, you know, and I

think, God, people are so wonderful.

People are full of the loveliest

surprises. God, I just I love people.

Now, you know, we do not feel that way

about humanity all that often.

I know you know if you drive in Atlanta

traffic

or read the news.

Parades create a space above and away

from the fray where we come together

simply to delight one another. Whether

you're marching in the parade or

cheering on the sidelines, you are

absolutely delighting each other. It's

these little exchanges between people

are where we are, the community is

seeing its best self. We see that our

collective character can be so sweet. We

see how we all love putting smiles on

the faces of strangers and how we value

making each other laugh.

Parades illuminate the thread of

commonality between us that is dearly

lovable. Seeing the people you share a

city with as playful volumes of light

does a body good. It's restorative. Even

if it's just for an hour, it's life

affirming.

Parades bring us together and raise our

spirits. And that serves our collective

well-being like no other public art

form.

This is my 15th year working in Parade

Arts with my beloved crew of the

Grateful Gluttons based in Atlanta.

[Laughter]

We have seven annual parades rooted in

community participation.

Around 45,000

people participated and attended our

parades in 2024. In the span of our

practice, over a half a million people

have come out to play with us. That is

mind-boggling to me. I can't help but

feel that it meets a need. I think it

taps into deep soul cravings to take

part in collective joy, to celebrate

being alive together, you to dance in

the streets with strangers and be

ritually reminded that humans are full

of love. I know I need that.

We have this parade practice here in

Atlanta because my heart achd for it so

bad when I moved here from New Orleans.

But in the absence of established parade

culture, we have developed a wide openen

style of parading where everyone is

always invited to make a lantern, a

costume or a puppet and just show up and

march with us and the bands for free.

You never know who's coming or what

they're going to show up with. It's

exciting. Like early Martyra day in New

Orleans. What my crew is showing up with

is trucks full of giant illuminated

puppets. We realize the magic between

the lantern puppets and the people from

the get-go. The puppets just like summon

everyone's inner child in a heartbeat.

It's like our imaginations jump at the

chance to believe that there are

friendly giant fish swimming through the

air looking for snacks.

I think interacting with these

fantastical creatures in ordinary places

shifts our ideas about what is possible

here. It's possible that our world could

be full of beautiful surprises we can't

even imagine. It's possible that you can

dream up those surprises.

Our region did not have this kind of

parade culture and now it surely does.

We did that.

We tend to think of cultural heritage as

something outside of ourselves,

pre-existing, fixed. Cultural heritage

is a thing that you were born into or

not. And if you're not born into it,

well, you can't call it yours. As it

turns out, we have the collective agency

to create our culture, and you

personally can contribute to its

character.

Our parades are living cultural heritage

that we are inventing together and

endlessly giving away. It's good public

art, a burst of collective joy on the

calendar that everyone is always invited

to help create and own.

It is especially good parade magic when

people really own their favorite parade.

I was in Whole Foods here in Midtown and

I hear whoy who hoodie who and I I look

up and it's these two sweet ladies who

are always in our Parliament of Owls

lantern parade hooting at me over the

apples. We're the owls. Hoody.

When owls run into each other at the

grocery store, we hoodiehoo.

Parade culture is one remedy to this

loneliness epidemic we're having. I

mean, we're not just better together,

we're hilarious together.

Fun is seriously important to our

well-being.

Chloe here has been dressing up like a

gnome with us since she was a baby.

Chloe doesn't know in Atlanta without

parade culture that she can jump into

anytime she wants. I was chatting with

some college age gnomes this year. They

brought some friends from school home to

gnome. So, I'm talking to the guest

gnomes. was like, "Hey, so you do you

parade where you live?" And they were

like, "No,

we don't have anything like this." And I

see those host gnomes beaming with

pride.

It's good to be proud of your hometown

because of the culture you helped

create. When we lay down joyful, shared

memories together in a place, it's a

blessing on that place. When we have the

time of our lives on that street, in

that park, on that beach, we'll love it

there forever. And we all want to love

where we live. We want to live places

that are loved. Parades connect people

to people and people to place. I often

hear people say, "It's so boring where I

live." And I can't help but think,

"Well, what are you doing about that?"

M here built their 91-year-old grandma

from Orlando a giant peacock puppet

based on a wheelchair for her to come up

here and ride in. And they stole the

show at the Atlanta Beltline Lantern

Parade this year. People cry. I want you

folks to know that your time spent

making a really great lantern or costume

and just showing up and marching every

year is a great gift to your community.

You folks who haven't been to a parade

or thought of them as lifeaff affirming,

go watch a parade. Stand in the front,

clap, cheer loud, yell compliments, and

watch all those people light up when

they pass by you. I believe we have a

common calling to delight one another.

And that is a vital virtue of humankind.

Parades hold a space just for that.

Thank you.

[Applause]

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
parade /pəˈreɪd/ A2	noun - a public procession, often with music and display verb - to march in a procession or display publicly
community /kəˈmjuːnɪti/ B1	noun - a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common
celebrate /ˈsɛlɪˌbreɪt/ B1	verb - to observe a special day or event with festivities
joy /dʒɔɪ/ A2	noun - a feeling of great pleasure and happiness
lantern /ˈlæntən/ A2	noun - a portable light with a protective case, often made of paper or glass
culture /ˈkʌltʃər/ B1	noun - the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society
heritage /ˈhɛrɪtɪdʒ/ B2	noun - property or traditions that are passed down from previous generations
collective /kəˈlɛktɪv/ C1	adjective - done or shared by a group as a whole noun - a group of people acting together as a unit
illuminate /ɪˈluːməˌneɪt/ C1	verb - to light up something so that it becomes bright or visible
magic /ˈmædʒɪk/ A2	noun - the power of apparently influencing events by mysterious forces
imagination /ɪˌmædʒɪˈneɪʃən/ B2	noun - the ability to form pictures or ideas in the mind without direct input from the senses
spirit /ˈspɪrɪt/ B2	noun - the non‑physical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character
delight /dɪˈlaɪt/ B2	verb - to give great pleasure or joy to noun - a feeling of great pleasure or satisfaction
participation /pɑːrˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃən/ B2	noun - the act of taking part in something
love /lʌv/ A1	noun - a deep affection or strong feeling of attachment verb - to feel deep affection for someone or something
humanity /hjuːˈmænɪti/ B2	noun - the quality of being humane; all human beings collectively
creative /kriˈeɪtɪv/ B2	adjective - having the ability to produce new and imaginative ideas
restorative /rɪˈstɔːrətɪv/ C1	adjective - having the ability to restore health, strength, or well‑being