Faining Galdor, Sunnauuenda 2010

Lord of storms, master of Mjollnir

Mighty Æsir, scourge of the Etin-foe

We share our feast with you.

It is you, Thunderer, that chooses where the rain will fall

You decide which men to bless

With these deeds and these offerings

We ask that you share your blessings with us

The summer sky rumbles and echoes

When you swing your holy hammer

We honor you, Asa-Þorr Uuis thû hêl!

Grandfathers, Grandmothers

Those who have gone before

Ancient kin who wait for us

In eternal halls

Kin who sit silently beside us

And guard our earthly steps

Farmers, farriers, warriors

For each step you took

For each step we take

We make this offering to you!

Uuesad gî hêl!

Alfe and idise

Landuuite, hausuuite

Spirits that surround us

We thank you for your gracious hospitality!

Uuesad gî hêl!

Ancestor's Prayer

(Invocation to ancestors, spoken over the plate at Sunnauuenda)

We greet you now, our ancient kin

Your place at our table is set

We ask you, grandfathers, grandmothers

All who have gone before

Come to our table, join our feast.

Bring with you, your might and main

Bring with you, your memories and magic

Share them here and we share our bounty

It is freely given to those who gave us life

Bring us your favor in these bright summer days.

Invocation over Þorr's plate

The Wheel turns

the brightest days of summer

shine down upon these people

The world is green

and rich with life

Days are long and plentiful

and the people can be glad

Þorr, we have honored you

with sport and with mead

We honor you now

with the first choice of our feast

The best of our bounty is yours

Closing Prayer

Mighty Æsir

Horns have been raised

to your greatness

Ancestors, Heroes

Your names and deeds

Are remembered here tonight

Boasts and brags

Have been spoken

at this holy time

Into the well of Urð

New layers are laid

Gods, we have honored

Heroes, we have remembered

We gather here

Bound by love and friendship

And make these offerings.

To the mighty Æsir... Uuesad gì hèl!

To our holy ancestors... Uuesad gì hèl!

And that our oaths will be honored and our deeds remembered... May Urð go ever as she shall!

Harfest

Despite the fact that we had to celebrate late, Harfest went pretty well. The mead was drier than I like, but most everyone seemed to enjoy it. It's the smallest turnout for a gathering we've had here at the house since our very first one, but with the date getting changed at the last minute and all we've had going on in our lives, I think it turned out well. I noticed that a lot of the things I have written have not made their way onto my blog, since I have been kind of neglecting it lately, so I intend to remedy that over the next couple of days.

I realized last night after everything was done that I am not entirely happy with the order of ceremony that we have going on right now. Everything seems a little awkward, not as smooth as I would like. I find myself trying to trim corners and make things flow a little more smoothly. I still like the idea of a Hall outside of our house, which I think would make things flow a little better. We tend to have a pretty big group when we are all here, and having an outside space to put everyone in would make it a lot easier to move around. That will be a long time coming, I think, since we are not in a place to make that happen financially.

As far as the ritual flow, I am still trying to figure that one out. I am considering doing a few walk-through's and trying to figure out a better way to get the ritual flowing. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out a good way to get husel, sumble, and a faining to all flow together in a way that doesn't feel forced and where I don't stand around making a dumb face and wondering if I have forgotten something.

Tony did raise a horn to my galdors. It meant a lot to me.

Some things went great, some things were confusing. Growing pains, I suppose. We'll get it worked out.