Fireworks, Midsummer, and the Star Spangled Banner

One of the most iconic holidays in America is Independence Day, Fourth of July or simply The Fourth. It is a giant birthday celebration for the nation as a whole and is Summer's Greatest Holiday. The celebration is a fusion of unique American traditions and a Holiday that is conspicuously absent from America... Midsummer.

The proximity of these two holidays caused one to be favored over the other and The Fourth ended up absorbing many traditions such as bonfires, picnics, Cook Outs and many other Summertime activities from Midsummer. Though American Specific Traditions were created as well such as; reading the Declaration of Independence, American Flag symbolism, wearing costumes of Minutemen, Columbia, Uncle Sam, etc. But possibly the most iconic tradition around Independence Day are the Fireworks for the Fourth of July. While they along with the sparklers and bonfires have some origin in Midsummer Customs they actually have an even deeper meaning for The Fourth.

America's National Anthem comes from the war of 1812 written in honor of the defense of Fort Mchenry by Francis Scott Key. McHenry was bombarded from afar though by the end "Our Flag Was Still There"; that is why we set off fireworks in honor of this battle. The part no one tells you is why the flag stayed standing. Man after Man had gone up to keep the flag flying their bodies fell where they stood, over and over forming a pile. Until the corpses themselves kept the flag aloft held up by the bodies of patriots. When we set off these fireworks it's not only a call back to a battle, to our national anthem. It is in honor of those brave souls who died that day. A moment of honoring Our Heroic Forefathers, the Illustrious Dead.

May the Gods Bless The True Americans.-TLK

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Othin God of the Desperate

He can be found in the Vagabond, the Starving Child, the Penniless Father, only the most desperate and hopeless may know his touch. Only those who have been consumed by gnawing desperation, the cries of hopelessness and loss... can know the silent prayers to Othin. The Beggar King... Godfather of the Poor... God of Hanged Men... The God of the Desperate.
The Forgotten know his shade, the desperate feel his hunger, Othin does not walk in gallant robes nor Italian Suits. His visage is that of the Hobo, The Beggar, The Vagabond, the Madmen of the Streets, The Rich Man that has Lost Everything.
Since the Time of Myth and Lore, the Long Long Ago, he has been draped in travelers clothes, ragged beggars garb, testing the true nature of a man.
He has a soft spot for those who call to him even if they do not know. Hollow charity, false virtue, greed, all feel his ruthless nature and disgust. Yet those of true noble virtue, kindness and compassion may find the stars to align and their fates change so that perhaps they might make it through one more day.

In the modern age what man would not know the visage of a Wanderer in Travelers Cloak with broad brimmed hat? Who could test in such a form? Yet who would notice the man in tattered hoodie on the street corner with two ragged yet loyal hounds and pigeons around his feet? How many have walked right by the God of the Desperate and not known it, unable to see past what the Modern World has taught them to ignore?

He is ruthless, brutal, without mercy, he will not save you, but! BUT he understands...-TLK

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The Way

There is no name for what we are, there are no titles or denominations, merely adjectives that may or may not successfully convey the Old Ways of our people. When the term Ethnic Faith is used it is not as a name for a religion but merely an incomplete description for something too vast to define.
One may call it a Worldview, one may call it a Way of Being, The Way if you so choose. But like Ethnic Faith these are but descriptions not names. For a Name once given implies a life and a death, a fixed expiring identity.
The Way is not a fixed idea, it has no Dogma nor doctrine. It follows no more hierarchy than does the Wolf and the Sheep.

At the center of The Way is not the gods, the spirits, or the stars and planets but the People and their role in the broader whole.

A whole that contains within it spirits, gods, heroes but also trees, animals, and our nearby neighbors and kin. There is no delineation the Elf is no less natural than the tree neath where it sits.
A Song is no less magic for its lacking of Abra and Kadabra. A forest no less enchanted and mysterious, a home no less blessed, a ghost no less beloved for its seeming mundanity. The natural everyday is itself a part of the magic of life. It is not set in a time of legend it is set in the Never ending story of Now and Forever. A History both real and feigned.

To remove it and isolate it, to claim one requires some intermediary, some ritual space, is to remove oneself to spend most of ones days in exile from The Way.

We are not APART from the forest we are A PART of the forest.-TLK

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