{"id":9718,"date":"2018-01-17T16:31:28","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T00:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atheopaganism.wordpress.com\/?p=9718"},"modified":"2018-01-17T16:31:28","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T00:31:28","slug":"the-ritual-cycle-of-the-rain-baby-an-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/?p=9718","title":{"rendered":"The Ritual Cycle of the Rain Baby: An Example"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, last year I wrote about a new tradition<\/a><\/strong> for\u00a0Riverain<\/a><\/strong>, the Water Sabbath, which is how I celebrate the holiday that falls between the Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Spring Equinox (High Spring). Riverain comes at the height of the wet season in California’s Mediterranean climate, when the hills are green and the creeks and rivers are running high.<\/p>\n

Riverain is an example of my firm belief that the Sabbaths (holidays) we celebrate around the Wheel of the Year should be rooted in the actual climate, culture, growth cycles, and land\u00a0where we live,<\/em> rather than reflecting some other culture or place in the world. The traditional Pagan holiday at the time of Riverain, Imbolc, is a Celtic-named time the traditions of which include “casting seeds upon the snow”; this has no relevance to me in California (if it does for you, of course, that’s great–go ahead and celebrate it!)<\/p>\n

So this new tradition\u2014the weaving of a\u00a0Rain Baby<\/em>, a corn-husk doll<\/a><\/strong> that represents the cycle of water through the year\u2014started last year but I am fleshing out how it plays out through the year now.<\/p>\n

The Rain Baby is born (crafted) at Riverain, and kept on the household Focus<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Baby is a child\/toddler at High Spring<\/a><\/strong> (the vernal equinox), and presides over the childlike games and festivities of that Sabbath.<\/p>\n

The Rain Baby becomes an adolescent at May Day<\/a><\/strong>, and is not involved in the celebration of that adult Sabbath. The Rain Baby may be kept on the May Day Focus, but should be shrouded in fabric so they cannot watch the adult, sexual aspects of May Day.<\/p>\n

The Rain Baby emerges from this “cocoon” of social shielding as an adult on Midsummer<\/a><\/strong>, ready to do their work as the Bringer of the Harvest. The Rain Baby presides over the Focuses of Midsummer and Harvest<\/a><\/strong>. Also at Harvest, we gather the corn shucks which will be used to make the Rain Baby of the next cycle.<\/p>\n

At Hallows<\/a><\/strong>, after the harvests are all done, the Rain Baby is burned in the Hallows fire, to go back up into the sky and fall as rain for the next cycle.<\/p>\n

The Rain Baby is a cycle of observances that adds another layer to the Wheel of the Year, lending meaning and tradition to my annual celebrations. I encourage each of you to think about how you can layer practices and meaningful traditions into your own annual cycle of celebrations. Have fun with it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, last year I wrote about a new tradition for\u00a0Riverain, the Water Sabbath, which is how I celebrate the holiday that falls between the Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Spring Equinox (High Spring). Riverain comes at the height of the wet season in California’s Mediterranean climate, when the hills are green and the creeks and rivers are running high. Riverain is an example of my firm belief that the Sabbaths (holidays) we celebrate around the Wheel of the Year should be rooted in the actual climate, culture, growth cycles, and land\u00a0where we live, rather than reflecting some other culture or place in the world. The traditional Pagan holiday at the time of Riverain, Imbolc, is a Celtic-named time the traditions of which include “casting seeds upon the snow”; this has no relevance to me in California (if it does for you, of course, that’s great–go ahead and celebrate it!) So this new tradition\u2014the weaving of a\u00a0Rain Baby, a corn-husk doll that represents the cycle of water through the year\u2014started last year but I am fleshing out how it plays out through the year now. The Rain Baby is born (crafted) at Riverain, and kept on the household Focus. The Baby is a child\/toddler at High Spring (the vernal equinox), and presides over the childlike games and festivities of that Sabbath. The Rain Baby becomes an adolescent at May Day, and is not involved in the celebration of that adult Sabbath. The Rain Baby may be kept on the May Day Focus, but should be shrouded in fabric so they cannot watch the adult, sexual aspects of May Day. The Rain Baby emerges from this “cocoon” of social shielding as an adult on Midsummer, ready to do their work as the Bringer of the Harvest. The Rain Baby presides over the Focuses of Midsummer and Harvest. Also at Harvest, we gather the corn shucks which will be used to make the Rain Baby of the next cycle. At Hallows, after the harvests are all done, the Rain Baby is burned in the Hallows fire, to go back up into the sky and fall as rain for the next cycle. The Rain Baby is a cycle of observances that adds another layer to the Wheel of the Year, lending meaning and tradition to my annual celebrations. I encourage each of you to think about how you can layer practices and meaningful traditions into your own annual cycle of celebrations. Have fun with it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-9718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","category-practice","tag-brightening-or-riverain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}