Today I build an altar...

Today I build an altar...
A simple altar
Built in honor of the Shining Ones.
To those who have seen their shrines destroyed.
And their followers persecuted or killed for their beliefs.
This altar stands for the victory of freedom over terror.
Freedom of religion.
Sovereignty of conscience.
Integrity of personal and communal property.
It is built in defiance of the zealots and the missionaries
Who brazenly trod upon the rights and will of others,
And who attempted to remove the influence, memory, and history of the many deities across the continents.

Today I light a fire in the memory of these deities...

May the light of this small fire drive away the shadows that the prophets of jealousy placed around our gods and goddesses.

May connections, knowledge, and wisdom be restored.

May the names of these hidden deities be spoken by the people again, and may freedom to determine our beliefs be in the hands of the people again.
Today I utter the names of these deities aloud, and my voice shall join a throng of others who are honoring and hailing the hidden deities of their cultures, traditions, and beliefs.

Jecha
Stuffo
Biel
Lohra
Reto

Come today and be our honored guests!

Hail!

Observance of the Desecrated Shrines

Urglaawe "days" begin at sunset of the night before, so tonight (June 4) at sunset marks the beginning of the Observance of the Desecrated Shrines. This observance is in honor of those deities whose shrines were destroyed, damaged, and disrespected through the actions of missionaries and zealots. The lore of many of these deities was lost in the persecution of those who held to the old ways, and there may be many more deities who are now completely unknown to us.

June 5 is the feast day of the Christian missionary Boniface, who destroyed the sacred oak of Dunner and desecrated the shrines of Jecha, Stuffo, and Lohra/Lare. We hold our observance on this day to renew our ties to our deities and to assert our sovereignty of conscience and our right to religious freedom.

This is a pan-Pagan observance, and people of all traditions and backgrounds are invited to take part in the observance, honoring their deities in the manner to which they are accustomed. 

The Urglaawe ritual format is shared for convenience, but, again, adherents of all traditions are welcomed to follow their own formats and to honor their own deities.

For the Urglaawe ritual, some potential altar items:

Jecha: a bow and/or arrow

Lohra: a book of some educational value

Stuffo: image from GardenStone's book (Gods of the Germanic Peoples 2, p. 484). The image is a bit  peculiar to our modern eyes, and the age of the dedication stone is unknown. It is important to keep in mind that deity portrayals in many cultures often appear strange at first blush, particularly when the context is unknown.

Biel: a branch from a tree

Reto: an empty (yet honored) space to be filled as He becomes better known

Hail the gods! Hail the goddesses!

______________

GardenStone. Gods of the Germanic Peoples (two volumes). Norderstedt, Germany: Books on Demand, 2014.