Holy Supper . . . almost here!

Holy Supper is coming up pretty quickly so I want to post about that before I continue with the possession series. I WILL get back to that because I feel it to be a very interesting and important subject.

As most of you know by now Ms. Graveyard Dirt has invited us to participate in Sviata Vechera which simply means Holy Supper. I have been digging into my own roots to figure out how to best invite and celebrate the season with my ancestors. My Grandfather was a Finn born man who later in life immigrated to Russia. From what I can gather, those days the border between Finland and Russia was non existent. It sounds like, from the conversations I have had with my Father, that you could at that time live in Helsinki and work in Kiev. I figured many of the traditions that my Grandfather grew up with were Finnish in nature until I found out that my Grandfather's mother was Ukrainian! So he probably grew up with a mish mash of many things blended into one large snowball.

However for the sake of focus I decided to continue with the Finn side of things. I found myself a nice ham that is sitting in the freezer still ( note to self: take it out of the freezer to thaw.) I found a recipe for glogg, I found a traditional recipe for ginger bread cookies, and got cracking on the sugar plums! Which by the way, are very good. I can see why visions of them would dance in the heads of dreaming children in the depths of a cold night's sleep.

There are loads of things going on in Finnish culture when the nights get long and dark. The emphasis being on gathering of family and friends to bring in the light and warmth.  Being in the way up North of the planet makes for a harsh winter and it's all about keeping up the spirit of things. Of course, gifts were made and exchanged and at least one of those gifts were either new boots or an article of clothing.

The whole season kicks off with Kekri. The last of the harvest is brought in and the hearth and home is literally scrubbed from top to bottom. A Kekri beast is fashioned with the last of the grain harvest and left out as an offering. There is a whole row of chores to complete before Christmas arrives including the care of the animals. They are feasted well and settled into warm barns. Unless you happen to be the sacrificial piglet, whom lives in the smoke house and is treated very well. As the season progresses there are gatherings of glogg parties until the actual day which had been declared a national day of peace. Most of the streets are empty on that day as everyone is quietly celebrating indoors with kith and kin..

So I had to decide how I was going to take these celebrations of my ancestors and weave it together into one celebration. I have been doing things one piece at a time starting with breaking down the house and cleaning it. I have also gone through with my own heath magic and blessing it as I cleaned. I also decided that it would be a good time for ancestor magic. I decided an ancestor mojo was the best way for me to make a good connection with the only Finnish ancestor I know: Grandpa. I took one of my empty decorated match boxes and filled it with my ancestor incense that I had been using all season before. I thought that it would catch his attention. I placed a couple of charms in there to protect the and strengthen the working. I didn't like the way the match box slid opened and knew that it needed an envelope of sorts to keep the contents from spilling out all over the place. I drew circle and invited Grandpa in when the work on the mojo was complete. Interesting things have happened since this working and it has all been very positive.

My ginger bread cookies turned out very yummy, however there was a price to be extracted. As I was placing them in the pantry for later, I literally ran over my toe with the door. I thought at first the damage was far worse, as it turns out I only peeled off the top. Whew! I'm telling you, they had better go well with glogg and a bonfire! Those cookies are now worth a million magic points!!!!!

Of course as I have been baking and making treats to go with the Holy Supper I have been leaving a bit of what I have made out for offering to the faeries. I hope they are happy with the little treats! As far as being able to leave my Holy Supper out all night, that's not doable in this house. It is guaranteed to be disturbed by little furry babies. Instead of leaving it out all night, I plan on opening the invitation for my ancestors to join the celebration and then leaving a meal in a place where it won't be gotten to overnight. I think I really want to make it a time where the living, dead and fae mingle to enjoy the season. As much as I like the eerie feeling and look of a feast sitting in the dead of night, the last time I did something like that the house was a disaster!

In the mean time, before the feast I still have nine linen skeins of work to do. Ok maybe it's closer to three or four left, but there is still work both magic and mundane left. Hopefully come the new year my shop will show for the work.

Blessed Holidays to you and yours. I hope that it is warm and bright!