The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/costa-rica)
The Wild Hunt reviews an ongoing exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery, “Signs and Sounds of Ancient Ritual,” which explores the world of ancient religious ritual through human sensation.
On Sunday, April 12, nearly 100 people gathered together to honor the life of Yuvette Henderson, a 38-year old woman who was killed in Oakland in February. The vigil and march, organized by the Anti Police-Terror Project, is one of the many recent Bay Area social justice actions that have been supported by local area Pagans. In this case, there were at least nine Pagans in attendance. T. Thorn Coyle was one of them and said, “[We] gathered on the corner where Yuvette was killed by Emeryville PD, in Oakland. We then caravaned to deliver letters to Home Depot and the Oakland Police department (who are overseeing the investigation) asking for security tapes.”
The Republic of Costa Rica, nestled in Central America, is a small country home to approximately 4,300,000 people. According to the country’s tourism service, Costa Rica’s small landmass “shelters 5 percent of the existing biodiversity in the entire world.” As such it has become a prime tropical tourist destination for travelers wanting an exotic or natural vacation experience. Much of that may not surprise anyone. However, what is surprising is that Costa Rica is home to a burgeoning Heathen community.
Before we move too far into the future, let’s pause a moment to talk about Halloween. Not the spiritual vigil of Samhain or seasonal harvest celebrations. Let’s discuss the wholly secular, American and Canadian holiday of Halloween, complete with candy, costumes and PVC pumpkins. It’s fair to say that Halloween has a somewhat uneasy place in the family of North American holidays. On the one hand, we, as Pagans, fully embrace the festivities. It is the one calendar event that openly clings to its Pagan origins.