COVID-19 changing New Year’s traditions
When Peter Rukavina moved to P.E.I. 27 years ago, he had no idea what a New Year's levee was.
For about 12 years since then, he has been the go-to guy when people want to know who is hosting one.
“By accident, yes, but a happy accident,” he said with a laugh.
Every Jan. 1 in P.E.I., with a few exceptions because of the weather, thousands of people venture out for the chance to eat, drink and socialize with other Islanders at levees scattered around the province.
Rukavina said the levee tradition was foreign to him when he arrived on the Island and assumed he wasn't welcome to attend them.
That all changed one year when he and a friend went to about a dozen of them.
At the time, someone kept a photocopied list of the levees but he started compiling his own and published it on his blog.
“I just never stopped doing it,” he said.
Rukavina said there is no formal organization in charge of the levees, which is something he's had to tell people who asked him how they get approval to host one.
That's one of the things Rukavina likes about the levees.
“It's just a tradition and if you fit into the tradition you'll be accepted and if you don't, you won't.”
Rukavina said one thing he learned is now that everyone is welcome to the levees it puts everyone on the same footing.
He reminisced about going to one levee where the pre
mier of the day was waiting ahead of him in line and the lieutenant-governor was behind him.
“It is a great equalizer,” he said.
This coming New Year's Day will be different, with P.E.I.'S chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison saying levees are not recommended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morrison said anyone who
decides to hold a levee must submit an operational plan and respect all public health measures.
Those measures could make it hard for anyone to host an event that is meant to be a large social gathering with people coming into close contact with each other.
Rukavina won't be compiling a list this year and doesn't plan to attend any levees this New Year's Day if any go ahead. He thinks cancelling levees is the right move.
“If there's one thing all the levees have in common it's shaking hands.”
COVID-19 is putting a damper on another New Year's Day tradition in P.E.I., with organizers of the annual polar bear dip in Charlottetown taking a break in 2021.
There is no official entity in charge of the polar bear dip that has been a New Year's Day tradition for several decades.
Cheryl Paynter, who is one of the organizers and has been involved with the swim for about 10 years, is sad about cancelling the event, but the decision was “kind of a no-brainer.”
Paynter said the organizers didn't want the polar bear swim to become a spreader event or potential COVID-19 exposure site.
“That's not how we want to start 2021,” she said.
While the swim is a way for some people to start the new year with a jolt, it also helps collect donations for the Upper Room Food Bank.
With the event on hold, Paynter said the organizers are still encouraging people to make those donations.
“I think it would be really easy to continue that side of the tradition,” Paynter said.