Rękawka is a celebration held in Krakow the Tuesday after Easter, so loosely speaking, it is a spring equinox festival. My friend in Krakow calls it “a civic holiday with Pagan roots.” Rękawka is also one name for the tumulus … Continue reading
You know the most-quoted verse from Hávamál: Cattle die, kindred die, Every man is mortal: But the good name never dies Of one who has done well . . . there is a lot more, of course. After you read … Continue reading
I saw this sign last Friday at the public library in Pueblo, Colorado, and I liked it for a bunch of reasons. Sometimes I get tired of the “jolly old elf” and would not mind seeing a more dignified winter … Continue reading
Earlier this month, M. and I were in Taos, New Mexico, for what I think was the fifth annual PASEO outdoor art festival. The interesting thing about PASEO is that it happens mostly at night, in a town with a … Continue reading
Recently I started a post label called “Pagan-ish.” Now maybe I should make one called “animist-ish,” having watched the 2012 Russian movie White Tiger. That is Tiger as in Tiger tank, not the big cat. This is a World War … Continue reading
My “Pagan-ish” blog tag seems mostly to go to Latvian materials, and here is another one, The Pagan King. Set in the 13th century, when the Baltic peoples were to be the last Europeans Christianized at sword’s point, it is … Continue reading
In rural 19th-century Estonia, as depicted in the film November, people did not merely put out food offerings for the Dead on All Souls Day — they fed them. And talked to them. And if the Dead wished to enjoy … Continue reading
Two things I was reading this week came together. One was this article in The Atlantic: “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo Isn’t Really a Makeover Show,” about the Japanese author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art … Continue reading
The old gods live among us, moving unseen, taking new forms, their powers diminished as people no longer honor them. That was the premise of Neil Gaiman’s magical road-trip novel, American Gods, and it is also the backstory to The … Continue reading