Lebanon Valley College Samhain Banquet for Allelieweziel

[Rob]

On October 30, several of us were able to participate in (or to attend) a Samhain Banquet at Lebanon Valley College. We (Deb, Pete, Dennis, and I) were representing the Heathens within the context of Urglaawe. This event included adherents to a variety of traditions in addition to Heathen: Wiccan, ADF Druid, Druid, Earth Spiritualist, Pagan, etc. We had been working on devising a "mock" ritual that allowed Heathen, ADF Druid, Druid, and Wiccan beliefs and practices to be displayed.

The event went pretty well. There were a few little glitches, but, overall, the mock ritual presented the desired points. We had new rune banners made for when we intoned runes (Jera, Mannaz, Uruz).

The question and answer portion was very active, and the audience was great. Prior to ticket sales, the press release for this event had made a reference to elements of Pennsylvania German Powwow (which I'd prefer to call the Deitsch Elder Tradition of Braucherei). This seemed to attract quite a few of the people in the audience. Indeed, Braucherei does contribute a significant portion of the Allelieweziel lore to Urglaawe. The audience asked quite a few questions about each path as well as about Braucherei.

We are grateful to the Chaplain and to everyone at Lebanon Valley College for this opportunity. We would also like to thank everyone in the group, which we call Keepers of the Old Ways. We hope to keep this group together to find other opportunities to foster communication among people of all faiths. The blog site of the group is http://keepersoftheoldways.blogspot.com, and the group's e-mail address is [e-mail].

There is more about our Allelieweziel observance, which I will write about at a later time. :)