Terra Incognito ‘hic sunt dracones’

This Halloween, the 36th Annual Village Halloween Parade will embark on its theme’s voyage to Terra Incognita: “hic sunt dracones.”  This cryptic inscription was engraved exactly 500 years ago in 1510, on the Lenox Globe, that sits within one of The New York Public Library’s private collections.

Terra Incognita means “unknown lands” and cartographers placed the words “hic sunt dracones” (HIC SVNT DRACONES) in these dangerous and uncharted areas to replace the medieval practice of drawing dragons and serpents in these unexplored territories.

Terrestrial globe (Hunt-Lenox Globe). Copper, engraved. Western Europe, ca. 1510.
The New York Public Library, Rare Book Division, from the Lenox Library.

Jeanne Fleming and Alex Kahn organizers of the Annual Village Halloween parade state:

“Our Northwest passage assumes the full dimension of dread and promise that marked the voyages of Champlain and Hudson 400 years ago; except that now, in the immortal words of Peter Schuman, ?We are all in the same boat.’ Together we sail into the uncharted waters of an economy in turmoil and a planet in catastrophic upheaval. At the same time, the winds of change blow us toward new virtual worlds, astounding discoveries, and global communities, bringing us closer to the new and strange than we have ever been before.”

This year’s parade will celebrate the ancient mariners and turn Sixth Avenue into an azure sea of silks, sails and ancient maps. The sea’s waves will unveil creatures and landscapes, zephyrs and legends.

This is a parade that every year is attended by over 2 million people and is one of the nation’s largest public Halloween celebrations.

It is the only parade in the country that has at its heart an artistic base and allows thousands of people to go out in public to perform, celebrate and express their imagination. It offers the people of the city the opportunity to use the open space of their city for a purpose other than work and renews their sense of relationship to the environment, their senses, to movement, freedom and spontaneity. It is also listed as one of the 100 Things to Do before You Die.

Everyone is welcome to join the hundreds of puppets, 53 bands of different types of music, dancers and artists in any costume of your own creation.

Join the parade

If you want to join here are the 5 simple steps:

1. Be Creative – Wear Your Costume!
Only costumed marchers are allowed
in the Parade.
2. Show Up on Sixth Ave bet. Spring &
Broome Sts.
3. Arrive between 6:30 and 8:30 or you
might miss the Parade! The subway
is the best way to get there, parking is
always difficult and the Parade makes it
even worse.
4. Find your friends, good music or a
group to march with.
5. Follow the Crowd up Sixth Avenue
(please do not go down Sixth Avenue,
the police will stop you!)

When you get to the end of the parade at 22nd Street, turn right towards Fifth Avenue, and go out still in  costume to the party at Webster Hall!

Volunteer

If you don’t have a costume, you can volunteer to carry a puppet:

“The 35th Annual Village Halloween Parade is searching for some people who can pull a few strings. Whether you are a veteran of previous Parades, or a newcomer who wants to see the Parade from the inside this year; they welcome you to come and perform with them. No previous experience with 20 foot tall glowing caterpillars or dancing skeletons is necessary.” Click here to volunteer

 The Parade runs STRAIGHT up 6th Ave. from Spring Street to 21st Street

Tips

Don’t bring your car to the Parade!
If you are coming in a group, meet somewhere away from the Line-up and walk to the line-up together.
The Parade takes until 8:15 to move out.
Join the Parade at the beginning and approach the Line-up only from the South and the East. Line-up for those who want to be IN the Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. and runs until 11 p.m.
Streets West of 6th are closed by the Police.

The 36th Annual New York’s Village Halloween Parade
Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 7 p.m. -10:30 p.m.
In New York’s Greenwich Village, on 6th Avenue South of Spring Street & above Canal, right across from HERE Arts Center, the Halloween Parade’s theatrical home in NYC.

New York’s Village Halloween Parade will be telecast LIVE on NY1 News from 8 – 9:30 pm.

New York’s Village Halloween Parade

Resources:

New York’s Village Halloween Parade

Processional Arts Workshop

Terra Incognita

Here be dragons 

See also: Halloween on ‘The Ghost Ship’ USS Intrepid at Pier 86 in NYC

Halloween history: The myth of the Jack-o-lantern and spooky lights