Thursday - Jan. 23, 2025 - Monks bless Lytton statue

Author

Grace Kennedy
January 23, 2025

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Good morning!

Given what he wrote yesterday, Tyler seems to be living in the utopian, sci-fi future of parenting. [Editor: Tyler would not describe it as such, despite the baking skills of his daughter.] When it comes to child sicknesses, I am living in the sprint-up-the-stairs-at-the-sound-of-retching era of illness. The “Mom, I need to get to the bathroom” time of life. The “Can you push up my popsicle for me?” phase of care. I know that dealing with sick kids is easier now than it was even a few years ago. But it is still nice to see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Possibly with soft pretzels waiting in the glow.

– Grace

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The Agenda

Three Buddhist monks from the Lions Gate Buddhist Priory were present at the blessing of a new Kwan Yin statue at Lytton’s Chinese Museum. 📷 Lorna Fandrich

New statue in Lytton blessed by Buddhist monks

Three and a half years after Lytton’s Chinese History Museum was burned to the ground, the goddess Kwan Yin has returned to the village.

In a ceremony on Sunday, monks from the Lion’s Gate Buddhist Priory blessed the museum’s Kwan Yin statue. Also spelled Quan Yin, she is the goddess of mercy and compassion. Her effigy was first brought to the site in 1880, when the Joss House was on the property, functioning as a guest house, community space, and religious temple for Lytton’s Chinese community. An altar to Kwan Yin was erected in the building when Lorna Fandrich established Lytton’s Chinese History Museum in 2016. (You can read our story on the history of the Joss House, and the museum itself, here.)

The monks of Lion’s Gate Buddhist Priory held a ceremony for peace and healing each February at the museum until 2021, when fire destroyed the entire town.

The museum, rebuilt and filled with new artifacts from Chinese Canadians, is now nearly set to reopen. It held an open house in December, and has plans for a grand opening this May.

The altar to Kwan Yin sits at the entrance of the small museum. The blessing ceremony was attended by three local monks and Fandrich, the museum owner. Tyler wrote about a brief visit to the rebuilt museum in last October's history edition.

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🗓 Things to do

💬 Trump talk: UFV hosts its next Politalk, Trump 2.0 and the New World Order, today starting at 4pm. The panel will include experts on economics, Canadian foreign policy, history, and environmental planning. Details online.

🎭 Theatre night: Abbotsford's Galley 7 Theatre hosts a slate of performances of Irena's Vow, a play based on a true story about a housekeeper in German-occupied Poland, beginning Friday and running until Feb. 1. Details and tickets online.

💕 Love market: West Langley Hall hosts its Valentine's Market on Saturday from 11am to 4pm. Details online.

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Catch up

Canada's deadliest train cities include Toronto, Montreal, London—and Chilliwack

From November: Nearly 4,000 people have died on Canada's railways in the last 40 years; more than 330 of those deaths have been in just five communities

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