Pagan Ritual

This Halloween I went to the Samhuinn Festival. The festival is a revived pre-Christian tradition that marks the end of summer. The entire event lacked a certain professionalism and commercial appeal, creating the effect of a genuine Pagan ritual. A blue man led a procession of characters wearing leaves, body paint, and also some clothing. Hoisted above the crowd was a green man covered in leaves. The man ate fruit, occassionally throwing pieces to the audience. A small band of bagpipes, drums, and a trombone (actually a pretty cool combination) played the same minor chords in the same repetitive rhythm, giving the event a certain pulse. Rather than distracting from the pulse, the large crowd helped move it. "I feel like we're going to go kill someone," my flatmate Amy said. The procession ended at Parliament Square where the different characters acted out the conflict between Summer and Winter. Right when I thought I'd been swept away to the third century A.D., the performers made a blatant anti-war statement, bringing me back the twenty first century.