#disablot

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I’m trying to make an embroidered altar cloth for all of the pagan celebrations of this year. They’re inspired and based on traditional German cross stitch patterns. So here’s my design for Disting / Charming-of-the-plough (feel free to use it yourself :) ):

I'm probably gonna embroider it on a dark brown fabric to symbolize the dark season

Pattern:

the pattern is from a German pattern book from 1608

Happy First Day of Spring! or Vernal Equinox, a milestone of the Earth’s revolution around the sun. The day and night cycle is close to equal – about 12 hours and 10 minutes of sunlight here in Western Pennsylvania today. Today is halfway between the [approximately] longest day of the year in June and the shortest day in December. Flora and fauna are waking from their winter dormancy.

During the Equinox, the Sun’s Ecliptic Pathway crosses the Celestial Equator, as per the Glossary of Astronomical Phenomena:

Vernal Equinox – The intersection of the celestial equator and the sun’s ecliptic pathway in it’s northern ascent towards the tropic of Cancer. At this time, the Earth’s axial tilt is facing neither toward nor away from the sun, and there is approximately 12 hours of daylight and nighttime. This marks the beginning of the spring season in the northern hemisphere.

Right now, night is receding and making way for longer, warmer days. It is time to get outside and enjoy it!

Happy Imbolc to all who celebrate! This holiday marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. I observe Dísablót at this time, and I’m so excited to formally celebrate it this year! Some of my cost effective/minimal effort celebration ideas include:

— lighting candles to represent mini bonfires welcoming in the light, warmth, and rebirth of spring

— styling my altar with images of the goddesses I work with most closely, the Nornir, the Valkyrir, my female ancestors, and any female figures who inspire me

— bake small cakes or biscuits as a symbol of the coming planting season and it’s bounty

— offering tea (awareness in present moment), flowers (requesting good favor and health), salt (purification, taste), one of the cakes made, and some crystals on my altar. The flowers and/or crystals set on the altar convey a meaning of their own and can be chosen according to your goals for the year! (If you work closely with Hel, you may wish to let your flowers wither on your altar to symbolize death and rebirth, a natural process of life)

— making a list of some of my goals for the year, especially in light of how I may or may not have gotten a start on those goals throughout January

— you can even make four holes in your garden, corresponding to the four cardinal directions, and place a cake in each to ask the Dísir to bless the planting season

— additionally, you can anoint your plow or garden tools with oil and cinnamon (consider wearing gloves) for a successful season

— little straw dolls are commonly made during Imbolc to represent the goddess Brigid. Straw decorations or dolls would make a wonderful offering for any pagan celebrating the coming spring!

This is the full moon period of Góa, also the time when the Disting/Dísaþing and Dísablót would take place in Early Medieval Sweden. The names respectively translate to "Assembly of the Dísir" and "Sacrifice of the Dísir", the word Dísir (singular Dís) being somewhat ambiguous in that is seems to be applied to female deities, spirits and sometimes even people. The dísir as a whole appear to have been largely regarded as protectors and guardians of the family and the home, potentially including female ancestral spirits. Several Old Norse deities have "heiti" (bynames) that include -dís as well, such as Freyja (Vanadís, "Dís of the Vanir") and Skaði (Öndurdís, "Ski-dís"), and certain feminine names such as Freydís (Dís of Freyr) include it.

The Dísaþing and Dísablót in Sweden were originally held at the full moon closest to the vernal equinox, but later on toward the end of the Early Medieval period the festival was secularized and moved into early February in order to not conflict with the period of Lent. Adam of Bremen attests to the practice of a large blót at Uppsala in conjunction with a great assembly near the vernal equinox, and in Heimskringla Snorri writes the following:

The true date of this Norse holiday isn’t known. Some of have celebrated it at the beginning of winter, some at the end, but I am personally celebrating it around February 1st because it’s basically my ‘middle’ of winter where I live. It’s usually celebrated sometime in the winter solstice, though.

Dísablót is a sacrificial holiday dedicated to celebrating female spirits known as the Dísir. 

I usually keep my personal female spirits in my thoughts during this time and say prayers of thanks to them for protecting and watching over myself and my family, including Freyja, Eir, Frigga, Skadi and Sif, but it’s also very appropriate to celebrate the spirits of your female ancestors, as well as the Valkyries. 

Although mostly a celebration of the goddesses, some male gods that are celebrated as well also include: Ullr, Surt, Tyr, Var, Forseti, and the giant Ymir. 

The Norse worshipped the female goddesses during this time for the fertility of the fields, to have order and peace at home, and to receive the motherly touch of motivation. 

Feasting was the main way of celebrating but I also suspect that the Norse people sat around hearth fires and told the myths of the goddesses and stories to their children and other family members.   

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