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La Quinzou - Assumption Day - August 15th

Assumption Day is arriving soon, and I wanted to share with you all a ritual I do on this day every year.

La Quinzou is the Acadian national day in Canada, and Acadian culture, music and history is remembered and celebrated anywhere Acadian families settled or ended up being deported to. It is distinct from the French Canadian Saint Jean Baptiste Day (June 24th), to celebrate and demarcate Acadian culture as unique from other French Canadian cultures. Originally, the 15th of August was chosen by the Acadians to highlight their ties with France instead of Canada.

Their patron saint, the Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea, also has an important day on August 15th - Assumption Day, where her earthly life ends and she ascends to Heaven to become Queen of the Universe and of the Heavens, being closer to God to act as intermediary between believers and God.

Subtle activities can be done that day if you don't have time for a ritual. You can pray for oceanic health, for mariners, and it's a good occasion to bless guardians with holy water. It's also good to acknowledge the first harvest of the year. This ritual is of my own composition and of how I interpret this holiday. Feel free to expand on it as you learn more on Acadian customs and culture!

Without further ado, here's my own ritual for La Quinzou:

Materials: a sky blue candle, sea salt, a shallow white bowl, holy water, a star-shaped object of your choice, a statue or image of the Virgin Mary, rosemary incense, a fresh white rose or an image of one.

A good idea to take a cold shower before the ritual to simulate being immersed in cold waters of this land, to don blue and white clothing, and to have the ritual take place at twilight when the first few stars appear in the sky. Call the four winds as you see fit, speak from your heart as to what these winds mean to you. The ritual has opened.

''Ave Maris Stella, mother of Jesus Christ and of the whole world, queen of the oceans and stars, you watch over us with warmth and charity. Queen of the Universe and the Heavens, your blue sky greets us every morning, and your starlight protects us in the darkest of nights. Your life was lived in full service to God and humankind, and we are eternally grateful. Your compassion and tenderness warms our hearts, and we know that with your Assumption, we can hope to have you back among us to give to us your Son one day. With your Assumption, we have hope in the eternal life of our souls as well.'' (light the blue candle).

Next, we bless the bowl as the vessel. Take the bowl and pour holy water in it. Place it in your hands and with incense lit underneath, say, ''by the sanctity of air, may you be blessed.''

Take salt and say the same line. Place the salt in the bowl. Take your bells and chime them three times, letting each ring die out before starting anew. This blesses the water, salt and vessel. Extend your hands over the bowl and say: ''Glory be to God for our sister the Moon and for the stars, who shine radiantly in the night sky of your making. Glory be to you, God, for our sister Water, who offers us life, in both ferocity and gentleness. Glory be to God for our brother Fire, in which you give us the light in the darkness. Glory be to God, we thank you and pray that we may serve you in greatest humility with the help of these elements. Amen.''

Place this bowl in your garden or in a pail to be disposed of later (under a tree or whatever strikes your fancy), and say: ''I offer this water to the all-powerful Mother Earth, in which the materials in this bowl come from. The earth offers us her oceans, lakes, rivers and brooks, and cradles us from birth until death. We are one with this Earth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust we are and shall be. Amen.'' Set aside.

Adorn the altar with your rose, rosemary incense, and any star-shaped pieces you may have. After you are satisfied with its outcome, say with palms up: ''Mary, watch over our gardens and our crops so that we may feed everyone by the bounty of the Earth. May your holy waters flow over all living things in need of it and may everything be blessed in your presence.'' Take the rose and offer it up to the sky, say: ''I offer you this rose from the garden of my mind in memory of the purity of your soul and heart.'' Gently kiss the rose, and place it near the statue or image of Mary. Light the rosemary incense and stay there a while enjoying the atmosphere.

Any singing or reciting of canticles, hymns or prayers to Mary can be said here. It's up to you! Feel free to ask her for any favours you might need that day, or confide in her a while.

I hope you'll have have a lovely Quinzou, and enjoy some Acadian music while you're out and about!

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Strabantzerchen : Bilder und Reime - Hans von Volkmann - 1906 - via Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

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Lugh Samildánach’ aspects

Here starts the series of posts about Lugh Samildánach’ aspects. I took the epithets that Lugh has from different myths and associated it with the division of Ireland from the ‘Suidigud Tellaich Temra’ (The Settling of the Manor of Tara): 

knowledge in the west — Scál find (“light phantom”) battle in the north —  Lonnbéimnech/Lonnansclech ("fierce striker") prosperity in the east — Lámfada (“long hand”)   music in the south — Ildánach ("skilled in many arts")  kingship in the centre — Samildánach ("equally skilled in all the arts")

This is how I explain the difference between Ildánach and Samildánach. Ildánach as a potential of Samildánach, young Lugh starting his story. Sam means "together" according to this dictionary. It's all aspects together indeed.

Lugh always has all aspects, I separate them for better understanding in devoting and to follow Lugh’s way of self-improvement. Epithets are associated by their meaning and I’ve never seen such mapping before. I consider Lugh's story in myths as a development path. And that's the path anyone could follow with Lugh's support, as he does support improvement by his nature :)

Here are the parts of myths corresponding to the aspects:

Ildánach is a young Lugh that comes to Tara, telling and proving his skills in ‘The Second Battle of Moytura’. All that “Question me, I am…”. Lugh is called Lonnannsclech and Samildánach in that part of myth, I deliberately choose to name him Ildánach and will explain it later. This is an aspect of an artist and the patron of the arts, the favorite handsome young man that everyone’s loving. It’s similar to Apollo. 

Lugh Lonnbéimnech (or Lonnansclech) is a warrior and trickster from the battle itself in Battle of Moytura and in ‘The Fate of the Children of Turenn’. This aspect is rageful, similar to young Odin and other fierce tricksters, Loki in some way.

Lugh Lámfada is a high king after the victory in the Battle of Moytura. This aspect is related to a calendar myth strongly. He does a lot for nature and he is a balanced ruler. He manipulates the weather, the sun’s movement. He is responsible for the harvest and nature's well-being, Lughnasadh is his festival. This aspect was a tricky one to aggregate. I based my research on this great video by Fortress of Lugh — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLUdqtyxZk and added some parts of myths and legends to it. This will be a long story :) 

Scál find is how I call Lugh’s manifestation after his death. He is the Scál in ‘Baile in Scáil’, and he is called Scál find in this ancient poem https://ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/kings02.html. Also, Find matches Lugh. To explore this aspect fully, I’ve added Lugh’s appearance in myths about Cú Chulainn: ‘Compert Con Culainn’ and a piece of ‘Táin Bó Cúailnge’, where Lugh comes to Cú Chulainn. This aspect of Lugh is very similar to Manannán.

Lugh Samildánach combines all these aspects, just like a high king in Tara must have skills of all 4 parts. And the young Lugh Ildánach demonstrates skills of every Ireland’s part when he comes to Tara: knowledge, battle, prosperity and music.

Lugh is a god of mastering and development. The way he appears in myths is also a path of self-development. There are keys for anyone in myth and I’ll explain all of them. This will be an interesting journey for several months.

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More Lugh doodles!

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🐟🐟🌕🐟🐟🐟🐟 // swallowtail shiners // gouache on hot press paper

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Drifting by

11-2020  American Bison

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A Procession For The Wayfinder

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Grace Lee.

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one of my venerated ancestors is alwayssssss snitching on me when im doing something im not supposed to. she is going to Make Me face the consequences (usually not as bad as i fear, but still). it’s almost always better for me after the truth comes out, but it definitely spikes my anxiety. so anyway, thank you mama d for keeping me in check even when i don’t like it.

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Swallowed by the fog

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Got a little teary eyed looking at Jean-François Millets “Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields” today

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Rich as you are Death will finish you: afterwards no one will remember or want you [...] You will flitter invisible among the indistinct dead in Hell's palace darting fitfully

—Sappho, trans. by Mary Barnard, excerpt of "Fragment 82 ('Rich as you are...')", in Sappho

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Mandrake Magic

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jumping for sunflower seeds