Spring Awakening

 Held on Saturday, March 23, 2024, the Spring Awakening included 5 celebrations that occured between the spring equinox (March 19th) and the first full moon of spring (March 25).  These celebrations were the Full Moon celebration, Ostara, Purim, Palm Sunday and Holi.

Introduction

1. In the Introduction, I provide an overview of the event, including the 3 main objectives:
   1. Learn about 5 different celebrations (Full Moon celebration, Ostara, Purim, Palm Sunday and Holi) that happened between the spring equinox (March 19, 2024) and the first full moon after that (March 25, 20204). 

2. Meet new people and have deep discussions

3. Participate in exploratory activities that bring together each of the 5 different celebrations. One of the beautiful aspects of the US is the accessibility to so many different cultures and the opportunity to experimentally explore their mixture.  This is part of my American Identity series. 

Full Moon Ceremony

Many cultures since the beginning of Humanity have done Full Moon Ceremonies and a few in this event are based on the lunar calendar.  Erika describes the Worm Full Moon (March 25, 2024) and why she does full moon ceremonies. 

Ostara

Kimberly Redd talks about Ostara which is a Celtic and Northern European celebration with themes related to the spring equinox, balance, start of the astrological new year, and transition from Winter (death) to Imbolc (rebirth) to Ostara (child).  It occurred on March 19th, 2024. In this video, Kimberly starts with an opening ritual (call in all directions) and then transitions into a song. 

Purim

In this video, Masha Traber talks about Purim which is a celebration from Judaism that occurred on March 23, 2024 

Palm Sunday

Nellie talks about Palm Sunday which is a Christian celebration that occurred on March 23, 2024

Holi

 In this video, Mother (Rita Pandey) talks about Holi which is a Hindu celebration that occurred on the full moon of March 25, 2024.   After describing Holi, there is a discussion on how the celebration has changed since her childhood and how it is different in different parts of India. 

My mother finished off by singing a traditional Holi song:

Artwork and Ceremony

To digest everything that we had learned, people were encouraged to have deep discusions with others who they had never met.  As they discussed, people made costumes that reflected some aspect of the previous presentations.  The costume making was inspired by Purim. 

After the costumed were made, the idea was to play Holi while wearing the costumes that represented aspects of each presentation.  However, it was cold and rainy outside.  Instead of postponing the event, I decided to collaborate with the weather.  A few of us went out and played Holi and the cold rain made it memorable. 

A wonderful jam session at the end.