Firewalking
Treacle International via Home Page

Spring is upon us with the equinox only days away - it's time to discover balance in our lives. Yesterday was a fascinating day, one I would like to define as an Experimental Anthropology Day.

While researching the Toltec culture, something interesting popped up: The Austin Toltecs group. Today was their Spring Equinox Ceremony. Jose-Pierre and I decided to check it out.

The ceremony began in the evening after voting for our favorite piece from their art exhibit. I voted for the winning painting "Rocks and Water" - a beautiful multicolor abstract piece.

We began by creating a circle, there were about 40 of us present, and after joining hands, called upon the elements with a chant:

"Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath, and fire my spirit."

My future plant © Melanie Magdalena

After opening the circle, each of us found a partner to discuss what we wanted to plant in ourselves this spring and what we wanted to weed out. In my case, I want to increase my sense of security and weedout my impatience with others. Then we joined groups of six and took turns surrendering our bodies to those around us by letting ourselves gently fall into the hands of each group member.

Now that we'd defined how to begin our spring, we took a little pot of soil from the center altar and planted a seed that symbolized our goals. Our intents are like seeds - if we nourish them, they grow!

Once again, we joined hands, this time in two circles around the altar and called upon the elements to close the circle we'd opened.

The night was barely beginning. Next was the firewalk. After watching people overcome their fears of not being able to do something, we went into the night under the skies and chanted again, this time to prove we had overcome our obstacles: Our toes survived!

What I find most interesting about all of this is the fact that many ancient traditions are still alive. People have been walking on fire for thousands of years and we were able to take part in this ceremony that still survives.

I hope you enjoy this pop cultural revival of ancient traditions, you are about to witness The Firedance!

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]

Learn the Steps to Staging a Celtic Wedding 

While most people today get married either in courthouses or modest churches, there can be no denying the fact that the Celts have one of the richest and most amazing practices when it comes to marriage. Even today, people are still so amazed and drawn by its majesty and grandeur that they aim to conduct their wedding in such style. If you are planning on staging a Celtic wedding then perhaps you should make sure to go along with the following steps. 

The first thing you need to make sure of is that you are indeed using a Celtic ring for the proposal. If you want to be successful staging a Celtic wedding then you will need to start off right by proposing with the proper type of ring. 

Second of all, you need to locate the proper venue for the event. You will want to look mainly for stone buildings, such as castles or old churches and make sure that you decorate them with flowers which originate from Ireland, such as the hydrangeas and the ivy. 

Third of all, you need to take into consideration the food you will be eating. Naturally, to keep up with the spirit you will want to have real Irish dishes served, not to mention using large gold or silver plates for the food and goblets for the drinks. 

The fourth aspect of staging a Celtic wedding that you will have to take care of involves dressing like a Celt. For the bride, dresses with corsets, wide sleeves and hemlines along with tied belts and flower headdresses are in order. The groom can wear the traditional Kilt if he feels inclined to do so. 

A very important part of making sure that you are indeed staging a Celtic wedding is to implement some of the more ancient Celtic traditions into the mix, such as handfasting which is basically when the bride and the groom join their left and right hands together in order to make the infinity sign, or the number 8, depending on which you prefer. 

One of the most important parts of any ceremony is the wedding cake, and if you want to stay in the Celtic spirit then, as you probably guessed it already, you will have to get some type of Irish wedding cake. One of the most popular dishes for this is the Irish wedding fruitcake, which basically contains raisins, cherries and almonds along with a bit of brandy. To add even more to the Celtic ambiance, you will of course need Celtic music to be playing during the ceremony, or at least during the reception. You should look into hiring a piper or a minstrel band to give it an authentic feeling. 

Finally, last but not least, you will want to make sure that your guests will be able to take home some souvenirs to remember this special event forever… Celtic souvenirs that is. There are various little Celtic items for you to choose from, ranging from lucky horseshoes and Celtic coasters all the way to pendant crosses.

About the Author: Steven Forsyth has studied Celtic Mythology and Irish Folklore, he has worked in the Jewelry industry for over 7 years with Celtic Rings Ltd in Dublin, Ireland.