FREDERICK, Md. – Over the last three years, public health measures and concerns associated with the Covid-19 pandemic have forced groups and organizations across the globe to radically re-think how people get together.
Irene Glasse
The Family Ancestors Altar – Image credit: I. Glasse
In Pagan communities, for whom gatherings like Pagan Pride events and public rituals are integral parts of community life, planners and organizers have worked hard to create events that balance the realities of social distancing and the need for ventilation with satisfying the desire to gather and do all the things that make a community what it is.
In the fall of 2021, the members of Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (FCUUPS), located in Frederick, Maryland, took on the logistical challenges posed by the pandemic and crafted an entirely new, fully outdoor ritual called, “The Samhain Ritual: an Underworld Journey.”
“The ritual was created out of the necessity to have an outdoor ceremony,” explained FCUUPS president Irene Glasse. “That necessity resulted in an absolutely beautiful ceremony that we’re excited to revisit this year.”
Irene Glasse – Courtesy
Frederick CUUPS, which Glasse describes as a non-Tradition-specific congregation that includes, “Heathens, Hellenics, Celtic reconstructionists, witches, Wiccans, and more.”
The group offers holiday rituals following the Wheel of the Year, monthly services and events such as Earth Centered Spirituality Services and Full Moon Labyrinth Walks, as well as larger social events hosting Frederick Pagan Pride Day and the Midwinter Night’s Dream Masquerade Ball fundraiser annually. Glasse said that the masquerade ball is jokingly referred to as, “Pagan Prom.”
During the Samhain ritual, participants will be invited to make their way along a path, circling the entire property, while volunteers guide them safely through the Underworld.
Irene Glasse
Terra Phillips-Wackett at the gate to the Underworld – Image credit: I. Glasse
“Along the way,” said Glasse, “they will encounter different kinds of ancestors, such as non-human ancestors – the pets who loved us, ancestors of the Order – those who share a life path with you, family ancestors – by blood as well as choice, and ancestors yet to come – our descendants whether of blood, Order, or choice.”
Altars honoring each different set of ancestors will be set up at waypoints on the path at which volunteers will explain what the altar represents and welcome them to reflect before moving on to the next station.”
Irene Glasse
Animal ancestor altar – Image credit: I. Glasse
Early in the journey, participants are given the opportunity to write the names of their ancestors on strips of cloth, which are then tied to a tree in a part of the property that would become known as the Mourning Grove for the night of the ritual.
Glasse said that this specific image provided the inspiration that blossomed into the complete ritual.
“It came to me in a vision while I was washing dishes, of all things,” Glasse told TWH. “In the vision, I saw the area of the ritual we refer to as the Mourning Grove. A group of trees filled with lights and flickering ribbons appeared to me. A figure walked out of the darkness, tied a strip of ribbon to a tree branch, stopped to regard it, then walked back into shadow. It was breathtaking, and my chest ached with the grief and beauty of it. The rest of the ritual flowed in both directions from that central point.”Glasse said that once she finished the rough draft of the ritual she sent it to the Dragons, a group of board members and other individuals who create and support rituals at FCUUPS, for feedback.
“One of the wonderful things about FCUUPS,” Glasse said, “is that although ritual ideas can start from one person, they are all ultimately a creation that results from collaboration. The Dragons, as always, had some incredible ideas that were added to that draft.”
For Glasse, the idea of the ritual taking the form of a journey is both fitting and important.
“The most resonant part of Samhain for me is the connection to our ancestors,” she explained. “We all have different ways of connecting to the change of seasons, but one thing we all have in common is being someone’s descendant. Grief is one of the few commonalities of the human experience.”
Glasse continued, “Our ancestors are always connected to us, but in order to really reach them, we need to travel to a place where the living and the dead can communicate more easily. Ritual should change us as well, even if it’s only in incremental ways. By taking a path through sacred darkness, we not only travel to a point where communication with our beloved dead is easier. We also travel through our own grief and feelings about mortality and emerge on the other side different for having taken that journey.”
Glasse pointed out that as the person leading the ritual, she does not have the chance to experience it in the same way that participants do. However, she is able to get a sense of what the participants encountered on their individual Samhain journeys.
Irene Glasse
The Mourning Grove – Image credit: I. Glasse
“Last year, at the very end, after the last person passed through the gate to the Upper World and only Dragons remained on site, I walked to the Mourning Grove and got to feel an echo of the experience the attendees had,” she said. “There is so much love between the living and the dead, so much connection. It was hanging in the air, flickering through the ribbons hanging from the trees.”
In fact, those ribbons present Glasse and the FCUPPS Dragons an opportunity to truly close the circle at the end of Samhain.
“The ribbons in the Mourning Grove each hold a name,” said Glasse. “A few of us Dragons gathered the weekend after the ritual and consigned them to the fire, reading each name aloud and making grain offerings as we burned the fabric. One of the names was my father’s. The dead connect us all.”
FCUUPS Samhain Ritual: An Underworld Journey will be held on Saturday 10/22, from 7:30 pm to 9 pm.
FCUUPS is located at 4880 Elmer Derr Rd, Frederick, MD 21703.
More information can be found on FCUUPS Facebook Event page.
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