PaganSquare
PaganSquare is a community blog space where Pagans can discuss topics relevant to the life and spiritual practice of all Pagans.
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I’m preparing to teach Basic Folk Dance at Southwest Frith Moot. My time slot between the other things on the schedule is a half hour, so I’ve selected two dances, Hora and Tot Ursi. Tot Ursi is a procession dance and the Hora is a round dance. Tot Ursi is so simple that I can teach it before I teach any actual dance basics, so I can teach Tot Ursi, do a short lecture teaching dance basics, and then teach the Hora. The dance basics I need to teach for the second dance include what “line of direction” means (move to the right, starting on the right foot), how to hold hands (dancing in a circle round, left hand up and the right one down,) and how to cut in.
My mom and I dance with the Ethnic Express Folk Dancers. We dance to bring people together—ourselves, most of all—and to preserve the world heritage of dance. I’m the only heathen in the dance group. Mom and I originally got into folk dance as an activity we could do together when I was in high school. Even when she can’t dance, our folk dance friends are a big part of our life.
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can you teach me and where are you thanks?? -
Babatunde, the moot is in Arizona, but the event is full. I'm in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area. I do plan to teach this dance at the
Folk dance is ritual. Dances are performed for holidays, weddings, the agricultural cycle, and to bring people together. I’m going to teach folk dance at an upcoming heathen gathering.
At the dawn of agricultural, newly settled villagers who needed to work together on farm tasks danced together to learn how to move as a unit and co-ordinate with each other, and to build team spirit. Those are also some reasons for military marching. There are folk dances that actually are forms of military drill, such as the vari hasapikos, a Greek men’s dance for a four man team, that teaches how to read a leader’s hand signals and follow them in unison.
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Dancing Goddesses is a fantastic book. I recommend it.
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My local library has a copy of Dancing Goddesses: folklore, archaeology, and the origins of European dance by Barber. It's a fasc
Solstice-tide blessings to everyone.
Recently published articles concerning the revision of Canada’s Criminal Code on the prohibition of Witchcraft in that country has elicited numerous calls by South African Witches to legalise Witchcraft in South Africa.
Many Pagans and Witches remain under the impression that the practice of Witchcraft as a religion or religious belief system is illegal in South Africa. It is not!
With the passage of South Africa’s first democratic Constitution in 2006, including a Bill of Rights (Chapter Two of the Constitution – see below) and its constitutional guarantee of the right to equality and freedom of religion and belief for all citizens, any and all existing legislation inconsistent with the Constitution *automatically* became invalid (unconstitutional) subject to Legislative review. Effectively, this means that the 1957 Witchcraft Suppression Act, which prohibited, a) professing knowledge of witchcraft, b) the practice of witchcraft and c) the use of divination, effectively became invalid and unconstitutional as of 2006.
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The Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang) moves at a leisurely pace through the forests of Southeast Asia. With her slow and steady hand-over-hand movements, Slow Loris deliberately goes from tree top to tree top. Since She often hangs upside down as well, naturalists first believed that Slow Loris was a relative of the sloth of the Americas. Instead, She is a prosimian, a forerunner of monkeys.
As an omnivore, Slow Loris feeds on leaves, insects and small lizards. Using her keen sense of smell, She hunts at night for insects that are poisonous to many animals. Following the scent trail, Slow Loris tracks the insect. Moving unhurriedly, She sneaks up on her victim unnoticed. Then holding onto one branch with her hind foot, Slow Loris quietly reaches out and grabs her prey with her fingers.
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What is written in Earth, endures.
What the Lake receives, she keeps.
At 14, he climbed down the cliff. On the beach, he built a fire.
He stripped off his clothes.
I AM A WITCH, he wrote, in capitals: in the wet sand between shore and water, for the Lake to take.
He swam out, into the wind, as far as he could. Then he turned and swam back to shore.
He dried himself at the fire. He dressed and climbed back up.
He went back home.
Summer is now in full swing! Today is the Summer Solstice, also known as Litha in Old English or Midsummer, is a festival celebrated as either the beginning or midpoint of summer in many cultures throughout Europe, with parallels across the world in other locations as well. It’s opposite is of course Midwinter, which is celebrated at the same time on the other side of the world.
As always we’ve gathered all of our related posts as well as those we found across the internet that we thought you might enjoy . We hope you have a great time this summer!
-Aryós Héngwis
