While the whole city is buzzing with dressed up folks on Halloween night, witches are gathering for the 7th Sabbath of the year – Samhain. The celebration honoring the dark lord and lady, rulers of the underworld, whatever your pantheon is, and all the ancestors that came before us. Witches believe that the veil between two worlds – dead and living, is the thinnest on that day. So while all the kids are getting high on Halloween candy and adults can’t decide which party to get wasted at, for most wiccans and pagans it’s time to remember, honor and talk to your ancestors. It gets dark, very dark. Also it’s very sad because you remember all your loved ones that have journeyed. And that brings out the turmoil of feelings that you think you’ve forgotten. The air fills up with soft sad whispers and you can almost feel them there…listening.
On October 31st I went to Tompinks Square Park in the city, ritual held by Wiccan Family Temple. Most of the folks had costumes on and everyone had to bring a small carved pumpkin. Black tealight candles were given to everyone in the circle specially prepared by Arlene Fried, the high priestess at WFT. The mood got heavy when participants started calling out the names of their loved ones that have passed. But then again the playful invocation of Persephone and Hades turned it all around. The apples and pomegranates were offered to the Gods.
Couple days before that I participate in Alfablót – another Samhain celebration in Ridgeood, Queens with Kenaz Wicca. Alfa means ancestors in Norse and, well, anybody at least little pagan knows what blót is:)
Again, music was fantastic! We all sang a lot. And then the pomegranate was sacrificed under the tunes of orchestra, almost made me wish I was working with motion pictures instead of stills. A potluck dinner and the rune reading followed. I tried (quite a lot) of dandelion wine and probably that’s why only snagged this one shot of the altar throughout the evening.
Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo aris! ( May we live to see this time again! in Gaelic)
Leave a Reply