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Wild Ancestry: How We Celebrate Samhain with Jess & Agne · Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Jess.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here with Agne of the Wild Medina.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I got it right.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we're here to talk about Samhain stuff and All Saints Day and all of
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: the beautiful, fun things that are coming up in, what is it, two days now?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's the 29th.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very close.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Very close.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, and obviously we've been working together and writing about
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: All kinds
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: of things related to this as well.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So this is very much in our wheelhouse.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome, Agne.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, everyone.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm very, very happy to do this with you, Jess.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we're going to talk about very interesting things, very fun things.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I just I just want to start.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why don't you talk a little bit about how you started and what your area
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: of writing expertise is also.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I like the word expertise.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It makes me feel all fancy.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: so I'm Agne,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm originally from Lithuania,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: but I've been living in the UK for nine years,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think now, I think something like that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so because I'm Lithuanian,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: like the Lithuanian paganism and Lithuanian traditions and everything,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: they were like the norm when I was growing up like that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up hearing these stories
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: and I grew up here like celebrating these Celebrations and occasions and everything.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like as everyone,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: like when we are growing with it and like when it's part of our life,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: we kind of tend to forget it when we kind of move away from it.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of happened with me that like I was,
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up listening to these goddess stories and like doing these little traditions.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: But then I moved away to UK and I kind of forgot about it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then life happened,
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: changed careers,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: changed life partners,
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: changed my life, completely flipped my life, you know how it is.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, here I am now, guiding women to find their inner wild.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to call myself the midwife for your soul's awakening,
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: because I feel like it can be scary and lonely
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: and we don't really know how we're navigating different transitions in life,
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: like changing who we are and what we want and everything.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to grab my hand and go with me
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: that we can do all these things together.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: in my work,
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I weave a lot of Lithuanian mythology, Lithuanian goddesses, Lithuanian rituals.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I do take like some old traditions that I know and I've heard and I've read
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: about, but I also mix in with, you know, what my intuition is saying on the day.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of what I do.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I help women find their inner wild,
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: help navigate changes,
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: help navigate conditioning and all sorts of things like shadow work, all the things.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I do.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's so funny because it feels like we came from exact opposite places
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: of experiences and yet we came to very similar conclusions because I grew up
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: the United States many generations removed from I think the types of stories
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: and traditions that you grew up with and yet I still came back
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: to like craving those things and wanting to find it.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I'm learning as I go and it's about reconnecting to those parts.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Of that,
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: and yet also helping share it and wake people up to the idea that the fact
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: that these are things that are important,
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: they still matter,
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: even if they feel like they're these,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: you know, long forgotten practices, I think they're more relevant today than ever.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: So Yes.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: We both found this way to like connecting to our wild inner feminine wisdom
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: in however way I guess it needs to be.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I love how you said that we came from very different backgrounds
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: and very different like times of our lives, but we still are at the same stage.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess let us know about your story and what you do and how did you get here?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's like,
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I have had Celtic ancestry and that's something
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: that my family has always been really proud of.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like my grandmother especially always instilled that in us.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we went to Ireland when I was a kid and she had enough things
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: that felt not necessarily pagan,
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: but it was like spirituality and believing in spirits around you and things like
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: that, that I grew up where I wasn't necessarily religious.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And so then as I changed career paths and partners and everything else,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: it was the what is actually important to me as a person.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I had been building my own pagan witchy practices for probably five years at that point.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, I want to go deeper.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was like,
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: if I I want to connect to who I am and what my lineage would have celebrated and and
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: the traditions that we would have done.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how I started writing about it and researching it
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: and just went really hard on all the Celtic things.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess that's been two years that I've been really diving deep into
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: the research aspect of it to come to the place
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: of like now I feel like I have some understanding of not only where I come from,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: but then how I can apply that as an American.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And what it means to find your way back to these things, because I think people crave it.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if they're similar to me where they don't understand where even to start,
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: then I have a path to help guide them at the same way.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my hope anyway.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that you are talking about like Celtic and like that side of things.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And like,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: because I feel like we do have a lot of similarities and a lot of weaving
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: with like Lithuanian mythology and paganism and like Baltic countries
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: and everything.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: But we also have like we have similarities, but also differences.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's beautiful how we can come here,
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: talk about these things and, you know, share, share all the things.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel that's really beautiful.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, it's so cool because when I see your post, I see the crossover.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's like they're all kind of pagan and there's like so many similarities of
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: the rituals and the timing,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: but then you have completely different goddesses that would have been honored,
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: you know, or versus Celtic.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like there's, it's all within the same threads of that.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it's awesome.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So knowing that,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I would really love to hear what
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: you celebrated for Samhain,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: maybe growing up or the things that you've I feel like this is a really good time
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: to actually tell people that we are hosting our workshop to talk about all
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: the things that, you know,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: You are exploring what you're doing and I'm sharing what we're doing.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're hosting it on Sunday and we're hosting it on Eventbrite and it's
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: a donation based so you can contribute however much you want.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea of the workshop is just to gather around online fire
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: and just share stories, share rituals.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: We have this beautiful small circle of people who are just,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: want to share the paganism stories,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: other culture stories and just do a little bit of magic.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't have a link now because I have no idea how this works,
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: but we will upload this as a recording so we can put a link there.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: We just remind us the time, please, because I'm suddenly having a brain moment.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, which I think is 7 p.m.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: your time, UK time.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's 7 p.m. now.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my brain completely went blank, which is wonderful.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the evening time in Europe and like UK time.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's evening time for us on a Sunday.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we will put the links there.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, that's kind of,
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: we will basically,
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: what I'm saying is that we will go more into detail and more into depth
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: The rituals and traditions of Celtic and Lithuanian pagan stuff.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want more, find us there.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And also just acknowledging this beautiful moment that's shared across cultures
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: of actually having a day where we can gather with people similarly that celebrate
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: and want to honor this day.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's a really big deal, actually.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's a day that has been honored for, I think, thousands of years.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we're finally all bringing people back around to doing that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, exactly.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm just gonna like share just a little bit of Of what we do
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: and why it's important to me.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then, as I said, we will go deeper into the workshop.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But in Lithuania, we celebrate All Saints Day.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the time where I never grew up with Halloween.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I only saw Halloween from movies, like American movies or just movies.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, that's very foreign, very different.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we grew up with the time around November 1st.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was very...
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very kind of like you were thinking about the people that passed away and
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: the loved ones that you lost.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it was very like a time to remember and to honor.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like,
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that people were not really people were much more like settled and calm
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: and much more like serious,
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I would say,
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: rather than like there was no like partying or or being like overly happy
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: and everything.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And People go to the cemeteries to light candles to honor the people that passed away.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a very big tradition.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: The whole country does that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: We even have a bank holiday day that day.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The whole country stops and everyone goes to graves and everyone lights a candle
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: and people go and make sure that the graves are tidied up
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: and there's fresh flowers there and everything.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I will talk more about the symbolism of what flowers and why those flowers in
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: the workshop, because I was just making notes today for the workshop.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you will know that then.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's like we were honoring that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like,
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I loved how the whole nation was doing that,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: because I feel like we felt,
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: at least I felt this way,
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: that Like the whole world stopped for a minute to honor the people
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: that are not there.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was in school,
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: like even when I was in school,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: like we in high school,
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: we had like day trips to go to some cemeteries
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: that like there's like people's graves that are forgotten and no one is taking care
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: of them.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So like as a field trip,
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: we used to go and tidy things, like tidy the graves and then light candles.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it was beautiful.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was mandatory thing, but everyone was doing that.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: That was like the norm.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up with that and it was very special.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: We would come back after visiting graves and we would have a big family dinner and everything.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we would honor that.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I'm in the UK,
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't do that because All of my loved ones' graves are back in Lithuania.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And my partner, he's British.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked him, do you guys do that here?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, well, no, not really.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: No one really goes to the graves.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not a thing in this country.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes I feel like I'm missing that a little bit.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because just today, actually, I was video calling my mom.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And they were preparing to go.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because our...
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Loved one graves are quite far away to drive from where we live now.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like it's a whole day trip thing.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So like I was talking with my mom and she was preparing like, oh,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: what we need to take, how many candles, like how many flowers, how many everything.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: it's just like I even though I'm not back home,
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: I still remember that and I still feel a little bit.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: My heart feels a little bit funny, like in a good way, in a remembering way.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a very small glimpse into why it is important to me and how we do it,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: but we will talk more about it in the workshop.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So what about you now, Jess?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, oh my gosh, like what?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: I cannot imagine a field trip to a graveyard.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like the fact,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: like that would never happen in the United States,
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: which is like, hey kids, let's go clean up some graves, like.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they do that now, but it was such a normal thing when I was growing up.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think it's beautiful.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's incredible.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I actually even seen Instagram videos where people do that where,
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: you know, it's the forgotten graves and someone goes in and scrubs them off.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it's such a beautiful thing to honor people.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's wonderful.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I was actually in Mexico last year when in over the first of November
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: and they do the Day of the Dead, of course.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so there was so much.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: They had these incredible stories.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: platforms and the way that they honored in their own way where they had the flowers
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: and the food and all kinds of things.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's really interesting of it's I don't know why that's an English thing,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: but it's almost like we push away grief or we want to push away the feeling
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: of remembering because it's hard.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're hard feelings.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's such an incredible way to I think it deserves remembrance.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I'm trying to do because I mean,
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: when I grew up, it was all about Halloween.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I lived in Wyoming, so it was always freezing cold.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we would try and dress up in costumes,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: but then we'd have to put like a freaking snow suit on over the costume
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: because there was nothing to do.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: But then I had a great neighborhood and we'd go trick-or-treating.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we'd carve pumpkins.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: My mom always made sure that we would go to a pumpkin patch.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: And we'd decorate the house with spider webs.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And my mom had this witch costume that she would always put on that had this giant nose.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And she'd cackle like the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it was very typical American Halloween in a lot of ways.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's your memories growing up,
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: isn't it?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they were beautiful.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it was the most fun time.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: And as you get older, you get to go out by yourself.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: It still felt like it was the mischievous type of Halloween where you could go off
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: as kids and it wasn't quite a thing where parents were worried so much.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know,
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: we would go and have our own frivolity outside of what the parents could see us do,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: which I think is actually pretty typical from what I understand,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: especially American Halloween.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: It used to get really crazy and people would have these wild parties
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: and boys would go off and wreck a bunch of stuff.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: crazy, yeah.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep, exactly.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like what I've learned thus far with research too of like,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: the All Hallows Eve was this night of mischief before you get into All Saints Day,
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: which sounds like you've experienced as this more somber day
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: of actually remembering.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like you get out all the mischievousness ahead of time.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all the crazy stuff.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I'd also say like,
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: My grandma,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think I mentioned that where I get my Celtic ancestry pride from is she was very
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: into ghosts and spirits.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so we also told ghost stories a lot.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: And she had experiences.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would be scared.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And she apparently,
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: she used to host parties for my mom and uncle and stuff
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: that she would just like have a barn and they'd tell ghost stories.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then she'd scare the shit out of the kids.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, she had a great time apparently.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So she loved telling those types of things.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess I grew up with like the ghosts and the spirits aspect of it.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I'm just interested in in general.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's also a part of it.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very much part of the Celtic Samhain is that the spirits are around you
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: and that you have this, the veil is thin.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's something that I think I've carried forward more modern,
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: which is also things that I'm going to share more about.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's like the fact that Ghosts and people are around you.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of the fun of it and also the way to remember at the same time.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want to listen.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean,
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I will listen to this in the workshop,
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm really curious how you're exploring things now more from
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: the Celtic perspective and what traditions you're weaving and everything.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give us something?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give us a sentence or two?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of them, uh,
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: because it's like, again,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: we didn't have the traditions like you grew up with,
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: but I have started to bring my family back into doing more of the remembrance part
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: of it.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: So my mom and I,
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: especially,
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: we get together and we have a dinner and we share memories about a loved one.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: So like my grandma has passed.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we talk about her a lot.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, We did it one year where I had my aunt with us and it was beautiful.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was like it's not a sad thing.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's about laughing.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's telling like our favorite memories about a person.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like we still gather for dinner and we have a moment of doing that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I really am happy to bring that back
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: because it seems like there's no other point in the year where you get to talk about
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: the people you love and you miss.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's a funny,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: like it's a funny thing because people don't want to talk about this
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: because everyone is like closed off.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I feel like like from my experience,
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: like Lithuanian as a culture,
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: we are quite closed off and we're not really emotional.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like we like we care about people and we have that like friendliness in us, but like.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Only we show it to like very close people.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like just like honoring people that are like passed away and everything.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: it's like one,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: one time in a year when Lithuanians are like,
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: okay, let's actually show some emotion.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I get that.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, it feels like there's this very collective vulnerability.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I would say so.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're like the whole, the whole world stops like at that day.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's, it's, it's like collective.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's very collective.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and everyone,
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: so when you go to like the graveyards,
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: it's like everyone is there,
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: it sounds like,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: like everyone's doing this at the same time and everyone has candles and
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: that right?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes,
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have some, yeah,
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing some homework before the workshop,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: so I was choosing some pictures from,
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: because like our news portals, they always post pictures of like how Incredible.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like when the sun goes down, all of the cemeteries have lights flickering in.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's all the candles.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it looks magical.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like, for me, it's a whole different planet.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it has that, I don't know, it has that weird feeling.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to describe this feeling.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's calmness, contentment, but sadness, but seriousness.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's a mix of emotions.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's beautiful.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a reminder.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, my gosh.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, do you have specific dishes that you make?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our specific things for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when you guys gather for a meal,
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: are there things that you make specifically for All Saints Day?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my family didn't.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know anyone from my close relatives that would do that.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I've heard like when I was looking more into it,
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard that some parts of Lithuania would make something specific.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I made some notes for the workshop.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to know like full, like,
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: full in depth of what we were doing,
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: what we were eating, I will share more about in the workshop.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: But my family specifically, no,
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: it was just more of like a big family dinner because everyone traveled far to go to
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: the cemeteries and to see each other.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that was, it was more of like a collective gathering rather than anything specific.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: But some parts do.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I just, I haven't experienced that.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh,
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: and then you would have family that I would actually travel to have dinner with you
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: that night.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So like they weren't, it wasn't people that lived nearby necessarily.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: We used to travel to...
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We used to drive two hours to visit another grave.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then we would just stay at my grandparents' place overnight.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And there were like a lot of relatives that we would see.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: But now my grandparents passed away.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So now like we don't stay there because there's no one to stay at.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So my parents now just go and visit the graves.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're like,
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: it's really far away actually, because the cemetery is next to Latvian border.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very far.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we literally have to travel across the whole of Lithuania to see
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: the graves and then come back home.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, but you still, you make the effort to like do that, which is incredible.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of traffic,
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of traffic jams and there's a lot of,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: there's a lot of like police,
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: they're like putting special,
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what's the English word,
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: like there's a lot of instructions of like where to park and where
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: the traffic will be directed if you're going around cemeteries because there's
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: so much traffic.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're kidding.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone is obviously doing the same thing.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: They're like potentially crossing the whole country to get to their ancestors
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: or relatives' graves, essentially.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because usually people visit like not just one grave,
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: but usually it's like a few cemeteries, like usually.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so people are going like everywhere, like across, you know, everywhere.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's, but it's like, I find it so interesting because I grew up with that.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, that's like, that's the norm.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't really speak about this,
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: but like talking with you, I'm like, oh, maybe not everyone is doing that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: not at all.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's like, Can you give me an example of the types of people?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay to ask, but who would you be visiting?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are they your grandparents?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Are they older than that?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: How would you decide which graveyards you even go to?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: When I was younger, it was my
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: grandparents' parents or just any other...
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know now because...
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I was younger, I used to go everywhere where I was told that we were going.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like, oh, a distant relative.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, oh, it's like, you know, a friend of the grandmother's who she wants to honor.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or like,
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: just like,
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, anyone that passed away that meant something for my family members.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I just went along with that.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like, we were like, you know, lighting candles and everything.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I just got the notification and everything just froze for a second.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's crazy.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just people that were important to whoever was there.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, nope, this is my friend that just passed.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to go visit her grave and honor her.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it was more like what I was feeling was that you were kind of honoring...
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some people that you haven't even honored for like a year or two or whatever.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like you cover your
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: bases of like,
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: we gotta go visit this person to make sure that they are honored this year kind
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: of thing.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like, yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So like, I don't really like, yeah.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like, obviously like now, like, although I don't have any grandparents anymore, sadly.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: So like, obviously now we would visit their, like their graves and everything.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And also saying that,
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: like I flew to Lithuania in February and This was my partner's first time being
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: in Lithuania as he's British and we visited graves.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: For us that was normal that I go back home and then I still honor the fact
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: that my grandma and everything.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I asked my partner, is it okay with you if we go to the grave?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he said,
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: I find it so weird,
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: but like,
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: yes, because that's part of you and part of your tradition, so that's fine.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: But he said it was so confusing.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we just went in February and like,
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was lighting candle and like, obviously I was crying and everything.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: But that's like, I feel like that's very common.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like grief is so personal, like as an individual experience.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like maybe as Americans of,
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: you grieve quietly or you would go to a grave by yourself at some point in the year.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've done that for my grandparents, but it wasn't some collective community type of thing.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: But also I've learned this from my own research is that there is something
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: to collective grieving that helps you grieve quickly.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Not that you need to grieve quickly,
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: but it's the fact that you help process things better
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: when you have people around you that you're sharing that with and
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: that you can actually express yourself versus,
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: holding it in is not necessarily healthy or not allowing yourself to be able
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: to process something.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's just a wonderful way to acknowledge together of like
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: that you miss someone and even it feels strange today.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: But does it feel like, oh, go ahead.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was just saying, it just feels like you remember them and that.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I was going to ask you the question,
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: obviously you didn't grow up with these traditions that I'm sharing,
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: but you said that you want to bring something similar going forward.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So would you visit graves a little bit more often than the normal?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: What's your relationship with it?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean,
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've never even considered the idea of how you could physically go to a place,
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: but there's a town in Wyoming I don't know if that's morbid or not,
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: but I don't know.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's ways to do it.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like if you're showing respect,
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: as long as you're doing everything with respect, then...
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: At the same time,
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen people,
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: especially in the witchy community, where you have an ancestor altar.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you keep pictures up of people that you've loved and lost,
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: or pets, or whatever it looks like.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can light a candle for them.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I've started to do,
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: is just have a place where I keep photos up, and you keep them...
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I'm different because I can't put pictures up on the altar because
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: to me, it really messes up with my emotions.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's too strong.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: I remember people that have passed away.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love them and I think about them, but I don't want to look at the picture.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's too difficult for me.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's the difference between us.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: But you'll drive all the way across your freaking country to go to their grave.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I won't, but I don't want the picture.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's so great, though.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's incredible that that still exists today.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: I guess, is that still common practice in Lithuania?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: You said your mom is still going and doing the same tradition.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't going away by any means.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So like we have a bank holiday like we because it's happening on a Sunday
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: and I think I'm pretty sure that they don't go to work on Monday,
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: but don't quote me on that.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a very normal thing.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then like now, because like my parents now have passed away.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what's the relationship,
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: but like one of the relatives now,
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: she said it like, oh, we will make this big Lithuanian meal.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because you're like coming,
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: traveling, traveling all the way to a different part of Lithuania.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So like, we will give you the meal because we don't have the grandparents anymore.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't have the grandparents anymore to cook.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just, yeah.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: And you have a day off, no less, which...
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think we get Halloween off.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember actually.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think Halloween.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we do.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think like people usually like trick or treat on a weekend.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Essentially that's close to the day if that's the case.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: So the fact that you even have like time off to travel is amazing.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep, yep, yep.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah,
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: so I feel like if you guys enjoyed listening to,
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: what we've shared and like all the different traditions and if you want us
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: to go deeper,
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: then this is why we are hosting the workshop,
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: the gathering, however you want to call it, this Sunday.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we will put up the link to join after this thing goes live or like this recording goes up.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was going
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: to say,
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: like, I can try and track down the link, but I'll post it with the post.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be in there.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you would like to join, that would be wonderful.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes,
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: because we will go more into depth of the traditions and kind of,
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know, from both, like, from different sides.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, like,
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: mine is Lithuanian and Baltic side,
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: and Jess will talk about all the Celtic stuff, and I feel like it's good.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's just going to be a really beautiful...
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Time to just remember how things used to be and kind of where the tradition stems from.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's just a beautiful time.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we will talk more and more in depth about that.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there's that really.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for joining and I will see you on Sunday.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And otherwise, thank you everyone else for joining our live too.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you everyone.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.