As the Feast of the Ancestors approaches!

Velines Gathering at Jilliby Cemetery 2010

 I know that we still have a few months until this festival but  Ancestors deserve our love and meditations every day.

The following is an exert from the Velines Baltic Gathering that we enjoyed last year. 

Velines-2/5/10

Meet at the cemetery where the gates.

Elder addresses participants:

Welcome to the Baltic gathering to honour the Ancestors who are no longer with us in the flesh.

Lithuanians like other Indo European peoples hold their Ancestors dear. No matter which tribe our ancestors came from, this attraction to these traditions still draw us to observe similar customs today as is seen in many cultures across the world.  In Lithuania, the festival of Velines begins from Autumn Equinox and would culminate on November 2. This corresponds, for us in the southern hemisphere, on this very day, May 2^nd. In Australia, Anzac commemorations mark our Autumn custom of remembering the fallen in war and for us Pagans, it is a time to remember all those that death has taken.

I’d like to share with you all a little background to Lithuanian customs. In the Lithuanian world view, death was never an end to life, but a reunion with their family in the afterlife, loved ones who had crossed over, were always spoken of in the present tense, as if they were still alive.

Lithuanians had a strong faith in reincarnation and it was even documented in historical chronicles that Lithuanians committed suicide, in order to be with loved ones or at another time as a preference to being enslaved by the crusaders.

Lithuanians had an understanding that each Earthling had two parts to their spirit. One part is the ,“heart and soul”, which remains with us, here on Earth, living on in the fields, trees, waters etc sustaining abundance and making life flourish with great exuberance. The other part, is the spirit/Veles which goes to be with the Veles of loved ones and family.

Lithuanians would tend the graves several times a year. Mothers/Fathers Day, birthdays, Christmas, Easter especially and for 2 months during the Festival called Velines(Festival of the dead).

 In Lithuania, throughout the year, people would return to the grave sites of their Ancestors and loved ones. They would talk, share news, and even be consoled by the Veles/Spirits of their Ancestors and loved ones. Periodically, they would gather as a family and dig out the old flowers and top soil and cart it out of the cemetery. They would then replace with freshly dug soil from the forest and the ladies planted new flowers. The cemeteries were literally a botanic garden and if there were no flowers on a grave then that would signify that were no living relatives left to tend the grave.

From the time of Autumn Equinox until this very night, Lithuanians of the not too distant past commemorated the Dead in a festival called Velines. It is on special occasions such as this, it is believed that the Spirits/Veles return to be with family and their earthly home. Generations of a family often would live in the same house.

 During Velines, families would gather and rituals would be performed to honour the Ancestors. In Lithuania, people would ritually bathe in the saunas, whipping themselves with Birch twigs and jumping into a cold river or lake. Once purification ritual was complete the sauna would be reheated so that the Spirits/Veles could also bathe. A meal is had with the family where the Ancestors were invited to partake. People would then go to the cemetery to have another small meal with their loved ones at the cemetery and light fires to beckon the Veles/Spirits

Another Lithuanian custom was, in addition to members of the family, lonely persons and elgetas (beggars) would be invited to a Velines meal. The elgetas survived by living off donations and by wandering from village to village. They were once viewed as religious hermits who could easily contact the veles and the Gods. An elgeta did not have to be poor. Even rich people took up being an elgeta for periods of time, during which they lived off alms they received. Other elgetas were the wandering poor and homeless. Food for the elgetas as well as for the wandering veles would be placed on the house porch or outdoors underneath the kitchen window. Folk wisdom says,

 “What you do for an elgeta, you do for a vele.”

 And so, this is where we find ourselves gathered here today, on the other side of the world in the southern hemisphere honouring the Ancestors in this Autumn time.

We meet today to honour our Ancestors and all those that came before. We will also be honouring the following Gods.

The great Goddess Caretaker of the Spirits. Her name is Veliona. 

 Ruler of the ghostly Vele, this Goddess watched over the dead, especially those who died in battle. It was believed that Spirits of the dead went through a gate and up a hill, where they lived as though on earth, in homes and families

Goddess of the hearth guardian of the Eternal Fire, Gabija, 

 is also honoured as she allows us direct contact with the Ancestors and the Gods. To Gabija, women offered the first loaf from each bread making, marked with dough ornaments. The last loaf was for the baker, no one else could taste it. Gabijas name refers to,”covering,” for it was the woman’s responsibility to cover the fire each evening, praying that Gabija not wander during the night. Before retiring, the woman also put out water in case Gabija felt like cleansing herself. Gabija needed salt, food and wood to sustain her. She was insulted by putting refuse in her, or by spitting, or by urinating on her. In addition to household fires, the ancient Balts had communal sacred fires tended by priestess called vaidilutes; the last Lithuanian sacred fire was extinguished in 1413. 

The mighty Goddess of Earth, Zemyna, 

 is honoured as the one who accepts our body after physical death. No pious Baltic person would ever spit upon the soil, cursed it, or hit it for it was the Goddess Zemyna. Every celebration is begun with an invocation and libation to her. Starting with the head of the Household, each person thanked the Earth then poured out a ladle of beer. Because all life comes from her, Zemyna was honoured at every birth, when the soil was tenderly kissed and food offerings were laid in front of stones, tied to tree boughs, or cast into flowing water.

The Great Weaving Goddess of Fate and fortune, Laima,

 is honoured. This Goddess of Fate measured the length and happiness in each person’s life. As the “Mother of Life”, she announced the fate of newborns. As a Mother laboured, women gathered to offer prayerful support. The birthing mother offered a sash to Laima because she was a weaving Goddess, sometimes described as three Goddesses who spin life’s strand, measure it, and cut it. Laima was said to weep bitterly when forced to witness the birth of a child for whom a tragic life was destined. 

Selected Prayers to the Ancestors

”Remember the ones who burned to death, who drowned, who died from falling trees or from lightning bolts. Remember those exiled to foreign lands, the sick and the tired and those who died in accidents. Come, veles, drink and eat with us.

“Veles of the dead, whom we still remember in our hearts and in this place; respected ancestors of our family; honoured women and men worthy of eternal remembrance; especially my grandmother and grandfather, mother and father (naming specific names as appropriate); also relatives, children and all, whom death took from our homes, we invite to our annual feast. May it be as pleasant for you, as your memory is for us.”

Feel free to leave a comment! :)