SEQUIM — For women who utter not a word, they command considerable attention.
Passers-by stare — or avert their eyes.
Drivers, seeing the signs that read “Peace,” honk and wave.
Some say “Thank you.”
Last Saturday, a man booed the group.
When that happened, Kay Snowhook wondered, “How can anyone be against peace?”
Perhaps the man didn’t know what the Women in Black stand for, or he saw them as a group that refuses to allow men into its circle.
Snowhook, a retired teacher from Juneau, Alaska, joined the Sequim Women in Black because she wanted to take time each week to imagine a more peaceful world.
In the small park at the corner of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street, she and the others keep silent for an hour.
Some close their eyes; others gaze out to the traffic whizzing past.
Lately, Snowhook has been watching the leaves fall around her, and thinking about losses on both sides of the Iraq war.
“It’s a time to be prayerful, and to meditate . . . I’m usually quiet. I don’t put my body out there.”
But the time has come, Snowhook said, to stand out.
“I want to promote peace in all areas of life,” she said.
This is part of an international movement. Women in Black hold silent vigils in 37 nations.
On the Peninsula, a group has gathered for years in Port Townsend.
The Sequim women first stood in September, soon after a Port Angeles group formed.
The Port Angeles group can be seen each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., standing before the fountain at Laurel Street off First St.
In Sequim, the group stands at the intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street — the center of town.
The number of women has quadrupled since their first vigil six weeks ago.
They dress in black to signify mourning for the victims of war, said Ellen Patrie, who joined the Sequim women in late September.
“I had the need to do something,” Patrie said.
“I believe there can be peace. We have to stand up for its potential . . . If people come and stand with us, so we have numbers, then numbers are what make things happen with the politicians.”
“Peace has to be a hopeful word, or we’ve lost,” added Patrie, who gives her age as “71 going on 18.”
The Sequim Women in Black numbered six when they started.
By the end of October, the number had grown to 26, which included three men.
A few Saturdays ago, a man on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle walked up and left two eight-packs of bottled water on the sidewalk, said organizer Ruth Marcus.
He was among many who’ve thanked the women for standing together, she said.
“The number of people who thank us is remarkable. That is always moving,” added Marcus.
Patrie said she’s seen the odd gesture from a passing motorist.
“A man kept going around the block and giving us thumbs down. And a girl yelled, ‘Go to hell,”‘ she said.
“I just smile quietly at the ones who are negative. I look right at them.”
Most, Patrie said, offer affirming words. She smiles at them, too.
“You are welcome to join us,” reads a sign beside the women.
That includes men, they say.
“In today’s world, we need to stand together,” said Marcus.
Shared sentiments
Diana Somerville of the Port Angeles Women in Black and Port Townsend’s Laureen Martin agreed.
Somerville said she and Marcus attend the same meditation circle.
They decided at about the same time to begin Women in Black vigils.
Port Angeles’ group started two weeks earlier than Sequim’s, Somerville added, since Marcus had weekend obligations in August.
Forks has a group that gathers from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays at the Forks Transit Center, according to www.WomeninBlack.org.
The women in the Peninsula groups put no endpoint on their weekly vigils.
During the hour, “I am honoring those who have put themselves on the line . . . in warring situations,” said Marcus.
She thinks about how in wartime, and long after, “everyone suffers.”
“Rather than focusing on what you don’t want, there is power in focusing on what you do want,” which is peace.
“I am also asking myself, ‘How peaceful am I?’ [while] I’m observing the responses of people that pass by.”
Patrie admitted that at times she feels helpless.
But “strangely enough, I find it very calming,” to join the silent vigil.
“I’m doing something. I’m putting my face out there and saying peace is possible. If we don’t work for it, we’re not going to get it.”
Patrie, who had bypass surgery and several other operations last year, cannot stand up for the whole hour.
She sits in a camp chair, holding a small sign that reads, “Peace.”
First vigil in Jerusalem
The first Women in Black vigil took place in Jerusalem in 1988.
Israeli and Palestinian women formed lines, usually at busy intersections, in a silent statement against war.
Today large groups of Women in Black hold vigils on Bainbridge Island, in Bremerton and elsewhere across Washington.
“Knowing there are women around the world who are standing together, and that sense of being a global, loosely organized group is very powerful,” Marcus said.
She added that the Women in Black belong to various faith communities.
At the end of the hour, they turn toward one another, hold hands and converse for a few minutes.
“Invite your friends,” Marcus said.
“It would be fabulous to have this whole lawn filled.”