Asatru Folk Assembly - Winter Nights & the Disir October 2008

00:00:00.000 Hi, I'm Steve McNallan, and if you've been watching any of our other videos, you know by now that

00:00:11.340 I had an organization called the Asatru Folk Assembly. Now, Asatru is a native European religion.

00:00:19.380 It's what our ancestors were doing before the coming of Christianity. And to learn more about

00:00:24.960 Ausatru, you could go to our website at www.runestone.org. Now, in Ausatru, we have many

00:00:35.380 different seasonal festivals. One of these is called Winter Nights, and it comes in the middle

00:00:40.960 of October. Winter Nights is all about the desir. You can think of the desir as being, well, our

00:00:48.820 female ancestors, all those strong women of your family line, all those wonderful women running

00:00:55.740 back through the centuries, those collectively we think of as the Deesir. Winter Nights is also

00:01:04.200 about the goddess Freya. Freya, as you may already know, is our goddess of beauty, of love, of

00:01:11.040 fertility, of joy, prosperity, all of these positive kinds of things.

00:01:17.660 Well, you may well wonder why, in fact, anyone would want to honor their female ancestors

00:01:23.220 or any other kind of ancestors for that matter.

00:01:25.820 What's it got to do with us today?

00:01:27.380 What's it got to do with here and now and the lives we lead and our problems and our

00:01:31.800 victories and our successes?

00:01:33.060 in traditional religions like also true we believe that the ancestors are not

00:01:40.560 really separate from us they're always with us they're invisible but they're

00:01:46.500 still in many ways a part of our community death is not seen as a brick

00:01:52.620 wall death is considered more of a thin gauzy curtain that can be parted it can

00:01:59.120 be separated and through which messages of love and care and concern can still pass in both

00:02:05.580 directions. The de-seer, and for that matter all of our ancestors, are still concerned with us,

00:02:13.540 still involved with us. They're on the other side, concerned about what we're doing, 0.96

00:02:19.820 sending messages of love, sending inspiration, sending guidance down across the ages and through

00:02:27.900 to us. Our responsibility, in turn, is to remember them, to honor them, and to tell

00:02:36.820 their stories, particularly to tell their stories to our children, our grandchildren,

00:02:44.400 our great-grandchildren, and so forth, because, after all, some of those children, grandchildren,

00:02:50.800 and great-grandchildren just might be some of those ancestors reborn into the family

00:02:56.620 line. In many ways, winter nights is much like the Celtic festival of Samhain, which

00:03:03.720 also comes in October, towards the end of October, which of course in America has become

00:03:09.160 a not very serious holiday called Halloween. Both in Samhain and in winter nights, we have

00:03:18.820 the concept that the gauze between the worlds is thinner somehow, that the other side is

00:03:26.520 more accessible, that the ancestors can access us more easily, and we in turn can access them

00:03:33.500 more easily. We don't see this at all as a scary thing or a threatening thing. Quite the contrary,

00:03:40.740 there's nothing spooky about it. We think of it as something that is positive, something that is

00:03:45.900 warm, something that is comforting, and in fact you might think of it as a sort of family reunion

00:03:51.900 across the barrier of life and death.

00:03:58.180 Some years ago, I wrote a poem in honor of Freya,

00:04:03.620 our goddess of love and of beauty,

00:04:06.480 and in honor of the Deesir, those female ancestors of ours,

00:04:11.520 and, strangely enough, also in honor of an American writer named Ray Bradbury.

00:04:17.380 Mr. Bradbury, as you may know, has written lots of short stories and books

00:04:21.600 many of which have a theme that deals with October, with this particular time of year.

00:04:29.080 And it seemed very fitting somehow to combine these three things together.

00:04:33.160 What I would like to do in the next few minutes is to read you that point, which I have here,

00:04:38.880 along with the introductory little paragraph that kind of runs into it.

00:04:44.440 So, in that spirit, I give you October women, in honor of the Deeser.

00:04:50.840 at winter nights. 0.97

00:04:55.980 October is just right for the Deesir, 1.00

00:04:58.600 for the women ancestors who have left Midgard 1.00

00:05:01.580 and who look on from beyond our world. 0.96

00:05:04.880 It's perfect, too, for Freya's somber side,

00:05:08.060 which we honor at this time of year.

00:05:10.600 And if you have ever read any Ray Bradbury,

00:05:13.180 you know that he is the poet laureate of the October spirit.

00:05:17.900 Here's my tribute to Freya, to the Deesir, and to their special bard, whose stories have meant so much to me.

00:05:29.600 Can you hear her?

00:05:33.300 Can you hear them?

00:05:36.080 Shut your eyes and listen through the dark.

00:05:40.420 Rustle, crackle, crunch on the leaves.

00:05:43.980 Once green, now brown, like Freya's cloak.

00:05:49.260 Green cloaks are for growing things and for tossing on the grass for a love bed.

00:05:55.620 Brown cloaks, like fallen leaves and bare earth, are for covering and for concealing for October.

00:06:04.260 Ray Bradbury knows about October, but he doesn't know about her,

00:06:07.960 or it wouldn't be his thumbs that prickle when Frost circles the moon like her necklace.

00:06:13.220 and it's too cold to make love on the stark ground.

00:06:17.920 Maybe he hears the ones behind her and fears the deeser,

00:06:24.220 creaking bones, dried up skin bags, wrinkles like old apples in the straw.

00:06:32.820 But Bradbury's got October right, at least as far as he goes.

00:06:37.160 summer's end no more long days to run in the sun and play in the fields like children

00:06:44.440 it's adult time now indoors school books open turn pages turn inward and keep the fire lit

00:06:56.600 all night falling leaves turn to falling snow but the ancient ladies ignore the chill

00:07:04.420 Out in the paddock stand the burial mounds, stones all icy 0.98

00:07:10.540 But the Deesir don't care 0.78

00:07:12.240 They cackle and call as though the air was warm

00:07:15.940 And flowers bedecked the barrow in the sun

00:07:18.740 You can hear them better this time of year

00:07:21.740 Without the humming of the insects

00:07:24.240 Or the sighs of lovers moving over the grass

00:07:27.620 The Deesir, those ancient women, call to you

00:07:32.480 Mothers, grandmothers, cousins and kin of old

00:07:36.860 They hail and halloo as though they never left the fireside

00:07:41.100 Remember to feed the animals, the desir say

00:07:44.520 And brew the fine beer that will keep you cheery

00:07:47.720 It's not too cold to take off your clothes under the cover

00:07:51.500 Especially if you've someone to snuggle with

00:07:54.360 Keep a log on the fire of family's honor

00:07:57.680 And know that summer lies beyond the snow

00:08:01.040 Creaking bones 1.00

00:08:05.000 Leathery skin 1.00

00:08:07.080 Wrinkles 0.99

00:08:08.260 Cracked voices

00:08:09.800 Aged dulled eyes 1.00

00:08:11.580 Mr. Bradbury should know Freya better than that

00:08:15.640 October is now

00:08:18.340 But springtime is forever

00:08:20.680 And the Deeser call us from verdant vistas

00:08:25.100 Their eyes shine brightly

00:08:27.400 And their supple bodies twist and weave

00:08:29.880 as they dance in the sun.

00:08:32.100 You can make it, they say.

00:08:34.860 And as usual, they're right. 0.88

00:08:40.120 Thank you, and may those wonderful women

00:08:43.600 of your own family line be with you

00:08:46.900 this winter nights and always.

00:08:59.880 You

Asatru Folk Assembly - February 01, 2021

Winter Nights & the Disir October 2008

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