Overview
Digby Dig is a joint project between the Chaplaincy Community at Barat House and Growhampton. Every other Friday afternoon, between the hours of 3-5pm, members of the wider university community are invited to join us for some gentle gardening on Barat Lawn. It is a nice way to power down at the end of a working week and is a good opportunity to spend time outside with others in a relaxed environment. We often finish the session with refreshments in The Base.
SAMHAIN (pronounced sowen)
For the Celts, Samhain was the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, its arrival signalled the close of harvest and the start of the winter season. Fairies were imagined as particularly active at this season.
The Scottish Gaelic Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Souls. Sam + Fuin = end of summer." Eliade's Encyclopaedia of Religion states as follows: "The Eve and day of Samhain were characterized as a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken... Not a festival honoring any particular Celtic deity, Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period."
Ancestor Prayer for Samhain
When you were born,
The earth became your body,
The stone became your bone,
The sea became your blood,
The sun became your eye,
The moon became your mind,
The wind became your breath.
When you passed to the Otherworld,
Your breath became the wind,
Your mind became the moon,
Your eyes became the sun,
Your blood became the sea,
Your bone became the stone,
Your body became the earth.
When we were born, you did the same for us;
You called forth the earth and the rocks;
The sea arose and the sun descended;
The moon shone down and the wind sand.
For those who come after, we shall do as you did for us
When we are gone, we shall do as you did before.
Ancestors, we honor you.
by Rev. Michael Dangler