Celebrating Beltane the Oz Way! Part 1

I spoke in my previous post about my expiriences and difficulties in coming to australia and adapting the sabbats to suit the Southern Hemisphere. Writing that blog entry really got me thinking. The problem I have is that I normally associate Beltane with Bel-fires, Mayday and the Maypole and Morris dancing which is of course a traditonal English folk dance. In the UK we have Mayday (the first Monday in May) off. Around this time you will usually find some local school fete where the children put on a maypole dancing demonstration or a local fair where Morris dancing can be seen so it is easy to find Beltane being celebrated all around and the traditional celebrations being upheld even if the participants dont realise it!

So with that in mind it got me thinking how does this holiday really fit now that I'm living in Australia. To answer this question I went back to the roots of where this sabbat came from.

Beltane is an ancient Gaelic festival that was celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Similar celebrations were held at the same time of year in the Celtic countries of Wales, Brittany and Cornwall.

For the Celts Beltane marked the begining of the summer pastoral season where herds were driven to the summer and mountain grazing land. The main activity of the holiday was the lighting of the Bel-fires. The Bonfires marked a time of transition and purification, heralding in the season and the hope of a good harvest later in the year. They were accompanied by rituals to protect people from otherworldly spirits as the veil between the world was seen as being thin much like at Samhain. Another common aspect of the festival was the hanging of the may boughs in doors and windows.

The festival is a celebration of fertility, love and passion and this can be seen symbolically in the Maypole with its red and white ribbons denoting the union of male and female. In modern Wicca Beltane is the time of the sacred union between the god and goddess.

So while the union of the God and Goddess can be celebrated in Australia and the start of summer with all its fertility can be viewed all around with new plant and animal life springing forward it is difficult to find old traditions as Australia is a young country! For all my research I have found no maypole or morris dancing in Australia's traditions.

I am a firm believer that it is important to follow the native traditions of a country in order to celebrate the seasons. This was something I started thinking about when I attended a talk by Tam Campbell at Witchfest a couple of years ago. The talk was about worshipping Gods and Goddesses that are local to the area you live in. These are easy to find in the UK. You just have to look at the local place names and pagan sites where depictions of pagan gods and goddesses can be found.

In Australia it is a little harder to dig up the native traditions. I have started to research this by reading up on aboriginal Gods and Goddesses. Generally in my workings I just use the God and Goddess or Lord and Lady in a generic sense without assigning specific dieties but if i do want to work with sepcific dieties then I feel it is sensible to use those native to the country or place I am at.

I feel the same about celebrating the changing seasons. Although I will follow the Wiccan stories behind each sabbat and the life cycle of the God and Goddess I feel it is sensible to relate these to how the changing of the seasons were traditionally celebrated in the country I am in. At the moment all my research seems to be drawing a blank as to how or even if the aboriginals celebrated the changing of the seasons but as soon as I have more information I will write the second half of this blog.

I appologise if this blog entry is a bit rambling but an idea is forming in my mind about this subject and I am trying to form it into something a bit more solid so I guess more reasearch needs to be done on my part.

Blessed Be dear readers ... x

Halloween/Samhain vs Beltane dilema

I'm having a dilemma with the whole commercial Halloween thing this year.

Being a pagan that just moved to Australia I'm having some problems adjusting my sabbats to suit the seasons. It was very convenient in the UK for me as my partners, family and friends are non-pagan that while they celebrated as Christmas, I celebrated Yule, they had Easter and I had Oestare, they had Halloween while I had Samhain and while they of for Mayday at some school fete or county show with a maypole and moris dancers I was celebrating Beltane.

It seems strange to me that the "commercial" Halloween that I associate with Samhain, the beginning of winter, dark cold nights and being cosied up inside with warm pumpkin pie doing something spooky, is celebrated here in spring, a time I associate with flowers blooming and baby animals being born.

It is much harder here as a pagan surrounded by non-pagans for me to celebrate the seasons as I'm now celebrating the exact opposite of those around me. An example of this is the Halloween party were having for the children at the creche where I work. So in order to help with this dilemma I have decided that while everyone else is dressing up as witches, devils, ghosts ect, I will be coming as a "spring fairy"

Here is the headdress I have made to go with my outfit:

I will post pictures of my outfit after the party!

So if there are any pagans out there that experience the same dilemma or have some suggestions to help me please msg me or leave comments!

Happy Halloween/Beltane dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... Julie and Julia

The hubby and I had a delightful day today. After a spot of lunch (it was meant to be breakfast but we woke up ridiculously late! oh well!), we headed to the cinema to see Julie and Julia. The movie stars the fabulous Meryll Streep as cookbook author Julia Childs and Amy Adams as a Julie Powell who cooks her way through Julia recipe book and write a blog about it. The story intermingles Julie's mission of challenge her way through the book and Julia's challenge of become a cook and having her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, published.

We both loved the movie especially the performance by Meryll Streep who was charming and outrageous.

So for all you people who loved the movie as i here is a brief biography of the two main "characters".

Julia Childs:

(August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cook, author and television personality. She introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the Americans through her, most notably Mastering the Art of French cooking (published 1961) and her television programme the French Chef which premiered in 1963. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is still available today in its 49th edition!

Julie Powell:

Julie Powell (born 1973) is an American author of Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. While working for the Lower Manhattan Development Corp in August 2002, Powell began the Julie/Julia Project, a blog chronicling her attempt to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The blog quickly gained a large following, and Powell signed a book deal resulting in Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

In the words of Julia herself Bon Appetite dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... my favourite things!

- squishing wet sand between my toes
- the feel of the sun on my skin
- watching the sun rise on a summer morning
- craking open a boiled egg and pushing in a toast soldier so the yoke runs over the top
- swinging high on a swing and watching the sky zoom past overhead
- riding a carousel
- star gazing on a clear warm night
- the smell of a blown out candle
- standing on the porch and watching the lightning on a stormy night
- climbing into a freshly made bed and smelling the clean sheets
- feelng a soft kiss on the back of my neck
- my hubbie stroking my forehead as I fall asleep
- cuddling up by the fire on a cold winters night
- picking the first flower of spring and wearing it in my hair
- sitting in my nans garden, shelling freshly picked peas from their pod

What are your favourite things dear readers? ... x

Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewellery and Textiles Show

The Sydney Vintage Clothing, Jewellery and Textile Show is on this weekend! I was so excited when I found out about the show after I moved to Sydney June last year. Unfortunately I could not attend the show last year and it looks like I wont be able to attend this years show either! So I will just have to look forward to April 2010's show.

The event is held at Canterbury Park Function Centre at Canterbury Racecourse. It kicks off Friday night 5.30 - 9pm with the book launch of Love Vintage written by Nicole Jenkins who owns Circa Vintage Clothing in Melbourne. Friday night also features a best dressed in vintage competition where you could win a $100 that is redeemable with any exhibitor at the show.

Saturdays show runs 9.30 - 4.30. The fun kicks off at 11 with a demonstration of vintage makeup techniques & hairstyles by Mistresses Christine and Kim from the Lindy Charm School for Girls. The Lindy Charm School will be offering to style your hair in vintage styles for just $25! (also on Sunday) Saturday also features a performance from "The Belles" - Andrews Sisters Style Singers and the Cavaclade and Darnell collection (also on Sunday) will both be on display!

At Sundays show (9.30 - 4.30) you can really get into the swing of things with a demonstration of swing dance from Swingtime Australia, a parade of vintage fashion and hats by Sandie Bizys Hats & Vintage. The Lindy Charm School are also offering a fab 2 hour workshop where you can learn vintage makeup and hairstyle techniques for $60, which included free admission to the show (pre-booking is essential as spaces are limited)

So with this great fun filled program and over 60 exhibitors for just $12 a ticket for one day or $20 for 2 days it really is a must see event! I hope everyone whose going has a great time - I'm not at all jealous, honest!

Have a fab vintage weekend dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... Dita von Teese' Wonderbra Party Edition

I adore Dita von Teese, she is one of my all time idols. I loved her underwear range for Wonderbra and was so excited to hear she was launching a new range this year. I was hoping to be one of the first to view the new range 'the party edition' but unfortunately due to my lack of internet I am one of the last!

So here it is readers only a month after the launch! Dita's first collection for Wonderbra came out last year but she still had many ideas left over for the new line.

'I wanted to re-invent the existing collection for a few reasons,' she said.

'One being that I love it so much myself and I was so happy with the new bra shapes Wonderbra made for me, that I kept fantasizing about having it in other colours and fabrics.'

The collection includes three different lines: the completely new, Sparkle Teese by Dita Von Teese (elegant, sequin-studded tulle with detachable red pom-poms); the sumptuous Satin Teese by Dita Von Teese (in flame-red or metallic mauve); and the irresistible Multi-Teese by Dita Von Teese.

To be completely honnest readers I am slighlty diaspointed that this range is almost all the same as the old range but just different colours. I did expect a completely new line of vintage style designs. Having said that I love the satine teese set and will definitely be buying myself the red version.

The new collection is avaliable exclussively in Europe. Check it out here! For those of you who are not in Europe the collection is avaliable at ASOS who will deliver worldwide!

So snap up your chance to get into Dita's undies dear readers ... x

Emma aime ... Wicked

The hubby and I went to see Wicked this week at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. The musical is inspired by the book by Gregory Maguire which in turn is based on the book the Wondeful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum. It is the story of Elphaba (The Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (The Good) and how they met and became friends. The musical tells the “true story” of what really happened in Oz.
We both thought the musical was funny and highly entertaining. Burt Newton was warm and charismtic aand made you have compassion for the dasterdly wizard. Amanda Harrison who played Elphaba and Lucy Durack who played Glinda both had fantastic singing voices. The show is running until 29/11/09 at Sydney's Capitol Theatre and tickets are available here.

I was hoping to create a Wicked inspired outfit to wear to the musical but as we were moving house this week unfortunately I was way to busy so I opted for my blue 50's style dress with white spots and a red cardigan.

Had a created an outfit it would be something like this:

Wicked by נıʟʟ ♥'ѕ σωʟ cıтч ♫ featuring Fendi shoes

I adore these mini hats by joeireedhats's on Etsy and would definitely have topped the outfit off with one

Have a Wicked weekend dear readers ... x

Back again!

After what feels like months of being offline we are finally back online. There is an upside of being offline and that is with all the hecticness
in my life recently due to the move and various other things I have plenty to blog about so keep posted for my upcoming blogs. I will bring you news of a recent theatre trip and details of the divine Dita von Teese' new range of lingerie with Wonderbra (only a month after the release!)

Thanks for your patience dear readers ... x