****Please read- updated 12/18/2021****
Concerning Our Yuletide Rite, and Covid:
In the face of the sudden and surprising surge in post-Thanksgiving covid cases SCG is emphasizing our own safety protocols for Sunday’s gathering. Here are the rules under which we will operate:
1: Fully Vaccinated only, please. We reserve the right to check your vaccination record card – please have it with you. We hope to see booster records for those further than 6-months from their vax date, but the rule is ‘fully vaccinated’, prior to boosters.
2: Masking will be enforced indoors, and masks will be available if needed. We will refrain from group singing, as a particularly risky activity.
3: The Feast following the rite will be ‘picnic’ style – bring your own meal. This avoids the social distancing difficulties of potlucking.
For those who cannot attend under these rules we will present the rite on-line in our usual pandemic fashion, via Zoom.
With care and mutual respect we can still gather at the Fire to see in the Rising Light.
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We are now in the time of winter, where snow is beginning to be upon us, but the folk are safe indoors happily enjoying the fruits of their fall harvest. For the peoples of Scandanavia, this time not only was full of darkness, cold, and snow, but also marked the beginning of the sacred year and a celebration that life had not left this world. It is for this reason that evergreens and holly become common decorations in our homes and in our rites.
This is our biggest Norse rite of the year, and heathen folk are of course welcome along with the rest of the general public. Pre-ritual briefing: 3:15 PM
Ritual: 4 PM
Some specific customs that you might want to plan for in advance:
*Virtual Oaths this year will be invited as comments witnessed in this event and will be recorded in our oath book afterwards.
*Fill your glass/cup with a beverage for toasting the Kindred and the Deities of the Occasion
*Prepare your altar (fire well & tree + incense, etc.) if you wish to join in from home
