The ornate labyrinth that winds black lines across the floor of the Peterborough Town House starts with a lowly plunger. On New Year’s Eve morning, a volunteer affixes the cup to the center of the floor, its handle serving as the center point of a drawing compass. Labyrinth builders stretch a string attached to the handle in a radius to mark the boundaries of a perfect circle.
Next, they mark an abstract grid of dots and dashes within the circle before chalking the lines to make a labyrinth, a replica of the one that adorns the 800 year-old floor of the Notre Dame de Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France.
The lines were covered in black gymnasium tape by 11 a.m., just two hours after the assembly began. Taken as a whole, the network of thick, winding black lines looks professional, but volunteer Shelley Hurlbert pointed out that close up, there are a number of minute flaws – an apt metaphor among many associated with the labyrinth.
“You can’t have it going two ways” a volunteer said, pointing out a gap in the pattern.
A roll of black tape was quickly delivered to erase an accidental ambiguity in the circuit as Beth Corwin gathered the 13 volunteers and one curious newcomer in the center circle, thanking them for setting up the New Year’s tradition for the 21st year in a row.
Walking the labyrinth itself is an apt metaphor for life, according to one volunteer: it looks like a very complicated maze, but as you walk it, it takes you where you need to go. Another added that making space for the other walkers in the labyrinth extends the metaphor. The original design in Chartres is said to depict the pilgrim’s quest to the holy land, one volunteer said. Walk the labyrinth the way you’d want to walk through life, the assembly urged the newcomer.
Michael Ladroga arrived at 1 p.m. to serve the first hour-long labyrinth attendant shift, the “hall monitor” of the event, he said. This is his fifth year working with the labyrinth, he explained as he lit candles in the windows and on the stage and searched for the music most befitting for the large, for-now empty room. Ladroga is from Hollis, and said he appreciates the labyrinth among other cultural events the Peterborough community attracts. For the most part, he said he’s presided over seasoned labyrinth attendees who remove their shoes outside, walk the labyrinth at their own pace, and exit.
“I saw someone once crawl” the entire labyrinth, he said.
The labyrinth is available for the public to walk from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. New Year’s Day.