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Samhain
and The Feast of the Dead
Friday October 29th - Sunday
October 31st, 2010
Stay tuned for 2010 updates!
Samhain is upon us. The days are colder now, and the trees burst with
the colors of autumn before they are plucked away by the wind. And
if you stop and listen, amongst the crackles and the whistling wind
you might just hear the voices of the Ancestors calling out to you.
This Samhain, our ritual will focus on those that have passed, and
what messages they might share with us, on that one night when the
Veil is thinnest...
Come
prepared for a ritual that begins with a Feast for the Ancestors,
held in respectful silence, and leads directly into the ritual. Come
prepared to speak the names of your honored dead.
Come prepared to call
out to the Ancestors, and hear them call back to you.
A sample from Samhain 2009-
Four Quarters' Spiritualist Service
Friday Night
The yearly Samhain Spiritualist Service
is Friday evening, October 30. It is our opportunity, while the veil
between the worlds is thin, to communicate with Ancestral spirits
of our families in a candle-lit ceremonial setting similar to a Seance.
Please bring a white head covering, and white clothing if you wish,
to this reverent and beautiful ceremony. Offerings of cigars, flowers,
or white candles are welcome. Beginning about 9 PM.
Labyrinth Construction
Saturday
11am-3pm the Four Quarters
Labyrinth Project will attend to the grounds and accoutrements of
the Labyrinth, with an eye to the last bit of trimming and tidying,
and storing the gear for the winter. Join us as the care and maintenance
of the Labyrinth continues.
Jack-O-Lanterns, Mad Hats & Harvest
Sing
Noon-1pm
Pumpkin Party with Rena Damsky. Tools and the ghoulish gourds will
be provided. Kids will carve and paint pumpkins for decoration of
the Feast tables and Ancestors’ Altar. Parents are encouraged
to come and share Samhain/Hallow's Eve/Ancestor stories. Tools and
the ghoulish gourds will be provided.
Noon-1pm
Spooky Song-Sharing with Patricia Althouse and Kit Hargreaves. Bring
your ghostie-ghoulie melodies for a sing-along and sharing of seasonal
songs! Lyric sheets are always welcome!
2-4pm
Mad Hatting: Witch Hats with Rena Damsky. Flash is the New Black!
Come mere mortals and conjure the most spell binding Witches Hats
this side of the Stones. Beautiful or beastly, glittered or gorey
you are sure to charm in these conical creations. There is a $3 supplies
fee for this workshop.
Feast of the Dead Saturday Evening
5:30pm Feast of the
Dead-The Dumb Supper with Pamela Alexander. Join us in Silent reverence
to the Ancestors as we share a meal at the Kitchen Pavilion. By remaining
quiet, you will open your heart and mind to those who have crossed
over. The scene will be set, the Ancestors will be called...will you
hear them?
Samhain Ritual Service Saturday evening
Immediately following
the Feast, at the pealing of the Church Bell:
Ceremony in the Stone Circle with Kit Hargreaves
The Burial Crypt within the Stone Circle will be open and alight as
is our Samhain Tradition at Four Quarters.
Please dress in anticipation of the chilly evening! Feel free to bring
a chair if you are unable to stand comfortably.
Celebratory New Year Fire
Followed by a Community
Fire Circle; drumming, dancing, singing, and storytelling. This is
the heart of our community, with space for all.
The Labyrinth is open for unattended meditation walks.
Sunday Morning
10am Biscuits, Gravy, Scrambled Eggs and
Brew with the Starvin’ Artist. Heavy on the caffeine!
.
The limbs that move, the eyes that see,
These are not entirely me;
Dead men and women helped to shape,
The mold that I do not escape;
The words I speak, the written line, these
Are not uniquely mine.
For in my heart and in my will, old
Ancestors are warring still,
Celt, Roman, Saxon and all the dead, from
Whose rich blood my veins are fed,
In aspect, gesture, voices, tone, flesh of
My flesh, bone of my bone;
In fields they tilled, I plow the sod, I walk
The mountain paths they trod;
Around my daily steps arise - the good,
The bad - those I comprise.
Richard Rolle 1300- 1349
Please plan to arrive Friday evening, or by early Saturday afternoon
at the latest. Nights will be chilly but days warm; we have plenty
of unheated floor space under roof and a limited amount of heated
sleeping space. Your telephoned RSVP to our offices will assure your
place if you require heated sleeping space.
The Feast of The Dead will
be served by The Starvin Artist Cafe. Sunday morning continental breakfast
too. Bring your tableware and a donation.
Feel free to bring a small
picture or talisman of your own personal dead to place overnight upon
the Ancestors Altar within the Stone Circle.
Members
$35 and Guests $45
This Samhain is very appropriate for children, and children under
16 are free.
R.S.V.P. if you please, and your phone call will ensure
sleeping space.
Feel free to call ahead with questions, 814-784-3075.
A donation for the Feast of the Dead will be appreciated.
Please RSVP through our on-line shopping cart or by calling our
offices for sleeping space.
Register
for Samhain with
our OnLine shop
Please see our Forum
for Schedule and discussion of Samhain at Four Quarters.
Menu for The Feast of The Dead
Prepared for you by Pamela Alexander
Roasted Root Vegetables: a mélange of glazed
yams, turnips, carrots, parsnips, and sweet onions
Roast Whole Turkey: roasted to perfection
New England Style Sweet Stuffing; with walnuts and raisins
Gravy mmmm, gravy, creamy and lumpless
Butter Horn Rolls with Honey Butter; fluffy, buttery and tender
Green Beans vegetarian and southern style with fatback
Vegetarian Option:
Baked Lentil Comfit French Pink Lentils roasted with seasonal vegetables
and roasted red pepper
Desert:
Pear and Bleu Cheese Tart with Glazed Walnuts. Looks funny, tastes
great!
Hot Tea, Iced Tea, Coffee
Sunday Brunch:
Southern Style Cat Head biscuits with butter, jam and apple butter
Good old Sawmill Gravy, white and sausage-y
Scrambled eggs, what can we say about them, they’re good!
Orange Juice, Hot Tea, Coffee
About the Spiritualist Service
The Spiritualist Service,
is a Kardec-style spiritism mass or seance, and is simular to the
adopted part of Santerian religious practice used to communicate with
Ancestral spirits (Eggun). Samhain, the time of year when the veil
between the worlds is thinnest, is a good time to reach out and communicate
with our beloved dead. We invite anyone who desires to communicate
with the spirits of their departed family members to join us. It is
good and fitting to honor our Ancestors, particularly during this
mystical time in the Wheel of the Year, because they have given us
all that we are heritage, family, life itself; for without them we
would not be.
The Spiritualist Service
proper is made up of recitations of special prayers, songs, or even
poetry, designed to attract and invite the spirit world to join us,
as well as protect the participants from any harmful spirits. Cigars
are smoked, libations are offered, incense is burned and candles are
lit as offerings to our Ancestors. Spirits may come and make their
presence known, by speaking through or appearing to someone present.
In an effort to broaden the scope of our Spiritualist Service we will
adopt an interfaith approach, using prayers, songs and poetry from
different cultures, and we encourage you to bring appropriate prayers,
songs and poetry to share during the Spiritualist Service, along with
a head covering of some sort, preferably white in color.
Come with us and commune
with the spirit realm on this magical evening.
We are closer than you think, 100 miles and less than 2 hours from
Baltimore-
Washington Beltways. About 2.5 hours from State College, Pitt's, Harrisburg
PA and Harrisonburg VA, 3.5 hours from Philly and Wilmington, about
6 hours from NYC, Columbus and Cinn. OH.
Register
for
Samhain with
our OnLine shop
Registration by Credit Card on-line
or by calling our offices at 814-784-3075.
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