(1,2,3) 'Heaven' with the Remo Drum Circle honor the Sea with a sacred dance during the  closing ceremony of the World Festival of Sacred Music at Santa Monica Beach on Sunday, September 28, 2008. (4) Halau Keali'i O Nalani honor the Sea with a sacred Hawaiian dance. (5) Members of Viver Brasil honor the Sea with flowers. (6,7) Haize Rosen  and Justin Ayres, 39,  from  Viver Brasil honor the Sea  during the closing ceremony.   --  About three hundred artists  presented sacred traditions from seven lineages of world cultures. The opening procession  resounded with the festive sounds of the brass Banda Juvenil Solaga from Oaxaca and the Pasadena Scottish Pipes and Drums ensemble. One hundred dancers led by Keali’i Ceballos and Sissy Kaio chanted and danced on the sands in reverence of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian deity of the ocean. Swing Brazil welcomed their guests Viver Brasil, Capoeira Batuque, Seara de Caridade do Cabolo Tupinamba and the Elders of the Diaspora and lead  in celebration of Yemanja, the Afro-Brazilian sea goddess. Drummers and dancers from Burkina Faso led by Olivier Tarpaga and DAFRA will payed homage to the Yuroba Orisha. Playing a central role is Cindi Alvitre and Ti’at Society. The traditional canoe of the Tongva, wass paddled beyond the breakwaters, carrying the offerings to the sea and sacred blessings to the four corners of the Earth, guided by energy of the Agape Choir and the rhythms of Remo Drum Circle facilitated by Christine Stevens.

Santa Monica Mayor Herb Katz (right) and Ben Franz-Knight, Santa Monica Pier Executive Director, activates the timer which commenced the official countdown to the Santa Monica Pier's Centennial on Tuesday, September 9, 2008.  The countdown clock began ticking down, towards the Centennial Celebration for  the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. The pleasure pier, seen in hundreds of movies and enjoyed by millions of visitors each year, turns 100 years old on September 9, 2009.  Community leaders, local personalities, and centennial celebration organizers gathered  to begin the historic countdown.  The kickoff included a sneak peek at the upcoming years’ activities and a ride on the futuristic “Sand Tram”, a revolutionary new mode of transportation on the beach that will make destinations along Santa Monica’s beach more accessible from the parking lots and coastal access points. The prototype Sand Tram, a 60-foot-long beach trolley capable of carrying 100-plus passengers, typifies the Centennial’s theme of “100 years in the past, 100 years in the future.”  The natural gas powered vehicle will travel on the sand and transport beachgoers between the parking lots, the Pier, and the new Annenberg Beach House; restoring popular beachfront transportation once provided by electric trams until the 1960s.

Beach goers shower at Santa Monica Beach while dozens wait their turn on Saturday Aug 30 2008.