Last Saturday, Prudence Priest and I conducted an Asatru sumbel ritual at Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day 2018, at the Unitarian Universalist Church. I acted as gythia (priestess, aka gydhja) and Prudence acted as valkyrie (mead woman.) We were in the workshop space, rather than the speaker space, because sumbel is an audience participation ritual where everyone makes a toast. Our ritual was packed, and went very well.

Before beginning the ritual, while waiting for all participants to assemble, I explained the Heathen Visibility Project (see my post with that title) and let participants know where to sit or stand if they wished to be in the photos or to not be in the photos. More photos of this event are available on my Facebook, Twitter, and DeviantArt pages.

We had two horns for the sumbel, one containing alcohol and one containing a non-alcoholic beverage for those who preferred not to drink alcohol at that time. The alcohol horn had my home grown Northern Lights Goddesses Brew in it; several participants expressed appreciation of the Brew.

In the video below, Prudence is singing her Valkyrie song while I use my knife Lalaknifr to break the seal on the non-alcohol bottle. I am wearing full ritual robes while Prudence is in a more understated dress as she had to leave for the airport right after the ritual. This video was taken by Raven.

I received positive feedback after the ritual. Thank you to all the participants and to those who made this event possible.

Image: Prudence (far left) holding one of the horns while a participant uses the other horn to make a toast. Photo by Cathy.