Yule
What an interesting evening.
The Connecticut Wiccan and Pagan Network (CWPN) held it's Yule ceremony tonight. I didn't have to work tonight, so I got to go. A nice diversion from Xmas work, I thought. It was cool.
It was held in Danbury, which was nice. In a banquet hall. The ceremony was done as an Anglo-Saxon feast. Cool, very Beowulf-ian. I, of course, sat at the end of the line of tables and didn't speak much. After the feast was music and dancing and socializing. I didn't dance, all there was for music was 70's classic rock. Not my cup of tea for dancing.
[while on this subject, an open message for my Wiccan/Pagan brothers and sisters: There are OTHER Celtic/Pagan sounding musicians than Lorena McKennitt. If I hear "The Mask and the Mirror" one more time at a ritual, I think I may snap. Thank you.]
Anyway, there was the tradtional fundraising raffle. As well as the traditional Jim Doesn't Win Anything in the raffle. So I was sitting by myself just watching, and content to do so.
There were these little brother and sister kids. They were a blast to watch, just running playing and having a silly good time. The boy was maybe 5 and the girl 6 or 7. After a while, the girl is walking toward me. Probably running from her brother, I think. No, she's looking right at me. Sure enough, she comes right up to me.
"Did you win anything?" she asked.
"No, I bought a bunch of tickets and got zero." I said. She shows me the crystal necklace she won, or rather her mom did.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"Tiana." She says. I introduce myself and ask if she's having fun.
"Yeah." she says. "How did your hair get white right there?" I explain I don't know, it just happened when I was a little kid, like her. She looks at her feet.
"I like your hair." she says. "Will you dance with me?"
Wierd. Earlier that night, I was thinking if the music was dancable (for me) it would be cool if I got to dance with someone like at the last Witch Camp I attended. And, here, I get an offer. It made me smile.
"Sure." I say. She leads me by the hand to the dance floor, we dance in that awkward way that adults do with small children. To the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack.
In its funny way, it was really cool. I spent the next hour or so playing with Tiana and her brother. The parents were amazed I got along so well with them. I explained about my own child and nephews. This led to me getting in conversations with other adults that were there. A good time was had by all.
A kind of magic, I'd say.