A Samhain Saining
November 1st, 2008 by Editor BWe worked a little magic in Mid-City today. We gathered on the banks of Bayou St. John and collectively welcomed a new person into our community. (What better place for a baptism than a body of water named for John the Baptist?) We sanctified her and gave her a name. We shared a pomegranate and toasted with beer.
Amazing stuff. I’ve recently become convinced that public rituals such as this, and indeed all celebrations no matter how large or small, have a profound power in them.
Thanks to everyone who was able to come. And for those who wanted to be there but couldn’t make it, we’ll count you present in spirit. I made sure to record the event so we could share the experience with our parents and anyone else who cares to listen. It’s about twelve minutes long.
It was a beautiful day. I had a great time. It was sweet.
Our liturgy, or whatever it should be called, was something I cobbled together from various sources, a secular humanist/neo-pagan mish-mash. But I did write some parts myself, and I was particularly happy with this passage:
We honor not only our immediate ancestors who have passed on, but all those who have come before us, for untold and uncounted generations, beyond memory and beyond history. It is our hope that Persephone will see the entire human family as her family, to embrace the best wisdom from the traditions of the world, and draw upon the rich cultural heritage of every nation.
For the full text, I refer you again to the audio recording.
Thanks especially to Michael, Kalypso, Lily and Anna, Sebastian and Sue, Sean, and Howie, for their help with various aspects of the ceremony.
November 1st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
It was great, Bart. We really enjoyed it. I just posted Grace’s pictures at Flickr.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Wow, Grace’s pix do a great job of telling the story. See them here in sideshow mode:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adrastosno/sets/72157608580567279/show/
November 1st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Could not be there so thanks so much for sending the pic’s and audio file. It was awsome!
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 am
Congratulations. Wish that we could have been there.
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Persephone named! I ate half a pomegranate in her honor yesterday.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
We were there in spirit. We were planning to come but the kiddos were napping and you know what they say about waking sleeping babies (or is it dogs? Whatever.).
Glad it went well. What a beautiful way to welcome your baby girl.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am
We are so glad to have been able to participate and commit to being part of Persephone’s community. Good to see everybody and to make new friends, Laura & Jeff.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Beautiful baby, beautiful name. I’ve been following this blog for a while now, but I ‘ve never commented. Just wanted to let you know that there is a song you might like that you may not of heard of that includes your baby’s name. It’s from a band called Sigmatropic and the song is titled ” Haiku Fourteen (English Version) (Featuring John Grant) “off the album called “16 Haiku and Other Stories (Songs based on the Poetry of George Sefaris)”. John Grant is the lead singer of The Czars- don’t know if you know them or not. Check it out if you can, it’s a fantastic song.
November 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Queen: Fantastic. Thanks for the recommendation — I purchased the tune from Amazon.com and it’s beautiful. I’ve been collecting songs on this theme, but I never would have found this one without your pointer. So thanks again.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
[...] A very brief audio snippet recorded at the Samhain Saining. [...]
January 1st, 2009 at 11:50 pm
[...] invent them, sometimes it’s a blend. One of the highlight of our year was Persephone’s saining on the banks of Bayou St. John, in which we blessed our child and gave her a [...]
May 5th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
[...] year. I wish you could have been here for it. You can experience the next best thing, because I wrote about it, and there are pictures and even audio of the complete ceremony. I hope you can give it a [...]