The Sicilian Feast of the Dead
A short, informative presentation on the Festa dei Morti traditions of Sicily.
Festival
Ray Bradbury’s “The Halloween Tree”
Stephanie Pouliotte writes for Geek’d-Out! on the origins and various renditions of Ray Bradbury’s classic Halloween story: It’s an important holiday after all, one that allows us to freely explore our obsession with the macabre and the unexplained, to experience “the rawness and nearness and excitement of death” as Bradbury put it. And children, he … Read moreRay Bradbury’s “The Halloween Tree”
The Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images
Taking place during late August of 2024, the inaugural Sky Meadow Mystery School was a free, week-long, residential immersion into wholesome permaculture practice and the mythopoetic mysteries of Life and Death. As an experiment in countercultural community-building, the Mystery School was also a time and place to learn new skills and perspectives. One of our … Read moreThe Sky Meadow Mystery School, Harvest 2024 in a few words and many images
The Sky Meadow Mystery School, Discussed
A conversation about this upcoming residential retreat event in Vermont, which will combine permaculture praxis with mythopoetic art, ritual and philosophy on the memento mori ergo carpe diem theme.
Floralia 2024
Spring has sprung again and I’ve chosen today, with the temperature suddenly balmy at 68 degrees and at the height of the solar eclipse, no less, to “officially” begin the new season of Floralia this year. A lone Great Blue Heron at the riffle, doubtless soon to be joined by others of his kind as … Read moreFloralia 2024
Thanksgiving/Day of the Dead in Cicely, Alaska (Northern Exposure, 1992)
The good people of Cicely, Alaska enjoy their eccentric, Day of the Dead-inflected version of Thanksgiving in this scene from Northern Exposure (1992). As explained by Marilyn Whirlwind (Elaine Miles), the indigenous people of Cicely do not regard the orthodox Thanksgiving as a day of celebration. In fact, they carry a lot of ancestral anger … Read moreThanksgiving/Day of the Dead in Cicely, Alaska (Northern Exposure, 1992)
“This Halloween, Let’s Really Think About Death”
Elizabeth Bruenig writes for The Atlantic: Halloween is no approximation of the firsthand experience of death. But it does foreground the visceral fear of death (occasionally via viscera itself). And it offers an opportunity to engage playfully with the idea of dying, through community celebration rather than solemn contemplation—or jarring confrontations with violence in headlines … Read more“This Halloween, Let’s Really Think About Death”
Memoria 2023
Today is the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere, and the seasons are visibly (and in other ways) shifting. From my own perspective, within my own Way, this marks the unofficial beginning of Memoria; a festival of harvest and remembrance before the onset of the winter months. That festival will “officially” begin when … Read moreMemoria 2023
Day of the Dead Art at the National Museum of Mexican Art (2022)
As part of my annual Memoria activity during late October and early November, I enjoy attending the Día de Muertos exhibition, staged each year by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen. Here’s a gallery of some of the 2022 displays: