Chesterfield Pagans

*Warning – this post is picture heavy* I know it’s been a while since the wonders of Hasfest, but hopefully y’all have just about recovered by now.  Or be responding well to the closure that only therapy with three figures in the hourly rate can buy… Hasfest this year was a mighty mad affair, with both old faces and new getting along just fine, and coming together to celebrate with respect and laughter.  We had a multitude of pagans, from across the country, and indeed a multitude of weather too.  Not to be put off, although we were dampened on a couple of occasions, pagans of all flavours set to the task of discussing, catching up, bartering, making purchases of new and shiny things, partaking in the Labyrinth dance, belly dancing workshops and ancestral meditations, witnessing the burning man, celebrating and drumming in fine style.

Big shout out to the crew, of which you may find the odd picture below, doing their thing and helping Hasfest 2011 run smoothly
Of course such an event requires a record for posterity:  here’s mine:  if you happen to have any photos of the weekend, and would like them displaying here, please e-mail them to the usual contact address and Tiro and I will put them up

In the beginning… there was grass…

And the crew busied themselves with the marquee:

The marquee waits for the friday night launch party, decorated in home made tie-dye hangings:

The Burning Man is constructed, with his, er… substantial endowment policy as it came to be known:

The rebirthing arch for the end of the labyrinth was created with judicious use of cable ties, hawthorn and persuasion:

Finished!:

Sadly the winds’ enthusiasm for the celebrations was too much for the heavily decorated arch, and when it collapsed due to buffetting winds it wasn’t possible to mend it again. People danced the labyrinth anyway, to drummings and clappings, exiting through an arch of branches held by Jay and Del instead.
The rain comes and goes, together with blustery winds, and gifts us with a rainbow:

and a curious guest comes to see what’s going on:

Preparations are finished, the night falls and the moon watches over the Ragnarok Radio launch party, with music especially written for the occasion:

Saturday was filled with lots of good things, the labyrinth dance, a lecture on tarot cards, an ancestor meditation accompanied by drums, and a belly dancing display and workshop. Sadly I was too busy having fun and dancing to take any photographs…
The Burning Man collects blessing ribbons, at a faster rate than a certain person (who shall remain nameless…) can collect the various colloquial names for his aforementioned endowment policy…

The evening is where it’s really at, and people make celebrations and noise with great gusto:
The lighting of the burning man:

There’s always a picture entitled ‘around the fire’ – here’s the Hasfest 2011 one:

The fire leaps:

and so do the leapers:

And at the back, a fire staff is twirled:

The drummers beat the night:

And the dancers dance until:

the fire turns to embers: