Haust blót / Haustablót - 20th - 21st of September

In the Northern pagan Traditions, there was a celebration held in this time of the year, at the 20th - 21st of September,called Haust blót, or the Autumn Sacrifice, the begining of the Autumn Equinox, and it is still held today by the neo-pagans who worship the norse pantheon. As the season indicates, this is the time when the days grow shorter and the night and darkness will prevail till the winter times come to an end. The last crops are coming to an end, people start to gather their food and store it, to survive the long and harsh winters of Northern Europe. This was also the time to make festivities around the Fire Element, because the world it self would take its colours, and the fields are veiled by a cloth in tones of fire, dark yellow, red and orange, the skies at dusk emit a red light that resembles blood, a warning that the days ahead will be hard, the forests and the mountains become silent, most animals also store food and hid in holes or inside old trees, others will hibernate, ravens will go to and fro, from place to place, in search of those who did not survived the hazards of the season and the harsh weather, this is a time where everyting becomes more magical and mysterious.

This is the time to pray and to thank, to the landvaettir, the spirits of the world, of nature, of the soils and land, to pray to the ancestors who still look over their decendents and protect them, and in some way still work the soils for better crops, so the family can survive in prosperity, happiness and wealth. People also prayed to the elves of that place, who work along with the land spirits, to maintain the area fertil and the soils rich. The celebration starts with the sound of the horn, people also pray to the God Freyr and to Freya, the Gods of fertility, because the land it self also needs fertility, it needs to be prepared to be planted again, with need seeds, when the winter comes to an end.

With hard work, perseverance, patience and love the land gives us so much, enough to survive and live with health, and a gift always calls for a gift, so we in turn must give something to the land, a personal object, or food, the mead that is passed amongst the folk in the drinking horn, will be poured into the land, so out ancestors and the gods, may also drink with us, giving to them what we can create with the things the earth gives us. people dance and sing, tales of old are told, to relember the deeds of our ancestors, and so we might find inspiration and strength.