10:30am, Sunday 31 October 2021
Join us outdoors for our celebration of Samhain!
To register to attend, receive a copy of the ritual 'script' and details of what to prepare and bring on the day, please email us by Wednesday 27th September.
Meeting place
We will meet outside the Cambridge Museum of Technology, facing the river, between 10:15 and 10:45.
Location for gathering
We usually wait for around 10-15 minutes at the location above before heading into Stourbridge Common. To join us if you are running late, walk straight into the Common, keep straight as you pass a children's playground to your right and as you enter the open fields down a wide dirt track, look to your left for a group of trees. Hopefully, you won't miss us!
About Samhain
The word Samhain is pronounced 'sow-inn', and is sometimes written in the Old Scottish Gaelic form as ‘Samhuinn’. It is said that at this special time, the veil that separates the worlds is at its thinnest. So our world, the world of Faerie, and that of the dead blend as one. It is no wonder then that this night has become so wrapped in superstition. It is a night of wonder and magic. (From the OBOD website).
As the weather grows colder, the evenings falling earlier and chilling winds coil leaves across the land, the journey to within our homes and hearts, for the winter period, begins.
This is the time of the third and final harvest of the year, an opportunity to give thanks for the hardy and sustaining root vegetables, of parsnips, turnips and squashes, that will ground and nourish us in the coming months.
We recall our ancestors and others who are no longer with us. In the ever-abiding presence of the great crone, the Cailleach, we invite their presence into our magic working. This is the time when the veil between our world and the realm of the Fae is thinnest: the distant sound of hooves beyond the hills marks the start of the Wild Hunt...
Joining us for the first time
If you have never attended or taken part in a pagan/druidic/OBOD ceremony, worry not! Our ceremonies are flexible, open to whatever you would like to contribute and inclusive of all identities. There are simple ceremony roles to have a go at, with pre-prepared lines to read out, but there is no obligation whatsoever to do so. If you'd like to have an idea of what's involved, please get in touch with us.
If you've registered your attendance, you will be given notice of a few items to prepare/bring, if needed, via an email to all attendees a few days before the gathering. We usually set up the space on the day but everyone who wishes to add items, decoration and ritual tools is welcome to do so. We usually bring spare items for the ritual too, as needed, as well as paper copies of the rite.
Such ceremonies will be conducted with social distancing and other measures will be in place.
After the ceremony
Food and drink (usually alcoholic, sometimes non-alcoholic) are usually brought after an outdoor gathering but there is no requirement to bring anything or to take part in having something to eat and/or drink. We do share mead but again, please don't feel you need to do so.
Gifts of music, poetry and readings for a small Eisteddfod afterwards are always most welcome. We have sometimes visited a nearby cafe or pub after the ceremony (provided such a gathering can be appropriately socially-distanced and safe), when we have previously met outdoors.
We are mindful of the weather and dress appropriately, bringing water, a hat, suntan cream, coat and waterproofs, etc. Come rain or shine, hail or snow, we will meet!
Please get in touch with us if you have questions about access requirements or other queries at: cambridge druidry @ gmail.com.
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