The blot will be held at the Reedy Creek picnic area of Umstead State Park. For directions to the Reedy Creek entrance to Umstead Park, please click here.

As the days grow longer, the breath of Spring is in the air, even though the ground is still cold and barren. Leaf-buds are appearing on the trees, the birds are scouting for nest-sites, and the local farmers welcome the goat-kids to their herds. It's a good time to honor the landwights and the quickening of life in the land, and to celebrate Freyr's marriage to his etin-bride Gerd, who came out of the cold lands of Jotunheim to join him in the Grove of Barri.

We will open the blot with a retelling of the tale of "The Wooing of Gerd," then follow with three rounds of offerings. The first round will be in honor of Freyr, Gerd, and Freyr's friend Skirnir, without whom there would be no tale to tell. The second round will be in honor of the landwights, and the third will be an open round.

Suggested offerings are milk (this is the calving time, and Freyr is the god of flocks and herds, among other things) and seeds of all kinds. Please remember that any offering must be *non*-alcoholic (as the park is strictly alcohol-free) and biodegradable. Spoken or sung poetry, and songs, are also good.

If you have any questions about this blot, or Idhavelli Hof, please contact redespeaker@idhavellihof.org.

The worship of Ostara, Germanic goddess of spring and fertility, was brought to England by the Anglo Saxons when they invaded. Eostre in Old English, her name is still a household word, as is her holiday, called Easter in modern English. Only in English-speaking places is the commonly-celebrated spring holiday still called by her name. While growing up you may have wondered what bunnies and eggs had to do with Easter, and the answer is...everything! Both being symbols of fertility, they are Easter's holy symbols. Eggs were painted and buried in gardens at the time of the spring planting to ensure fertile soil for the growing season, giving rise to modern egg hunts.

Come join us for an Easter celebration at Eric's and Ana's house on Sunday the 23rd of March at 2:00. We will have dye and paint for eggs (bring your own eggs) which you can take home to bury in your own garden, and an egg hunt for both the young ones and for the inner children of the adults, weather permitting. The blot will include decorating the birch and cherry trees with spring ornamentation, and if you have anything else springy that you would like to offer, you are welcome to bring it as well. We will provide drinks, and we invite everyone to bring a snack to share if it wouldn't present a hardship. Plan to spend the afternoon, and bring a friend. See you then!

If you need directions, email Ana

This month's blót will be to Freyr. In last August's blót, we had asked to be blessed with rain, and despite the drought persisting, the lakes are mostly filled up, and it seems our situation is getting better instead of worsening. Let's take a little time to thank the God of sun and rain.

I'll ask each person to bring something to sacrifice, and/or a few words to say.

If you're looking for something to sacrifice, you might consider something that symbolizes the Boar, an antler (his weapon at Ragnarök), Barley, or ships. We will have a fire going to burn the offerings if that's desired. This will be at a public park, so no alcohol (sorry folks!)

We'll have the first round to Freyr, and the second round will be open.

The particulars: This will be at Umstead park, off I-40 near the airport. Please meet us there at Sunday, April 27th at 2:00 PM.

Idhavelli Hof will be holding its May blot on Sunday, May 25, at 2:00 pm. This month's blot is to Tyr, both for Memorial Day and in honor of the gift of a Tyr's horn to the Hof last year.

Please bring something to offer during the blot: food, drink, and burnable / biodegradable offerings are all good. The blot will have three rounds: one to Tyr, one to any of the Aesir & Vanir, and one open round.

We will be holding a picnic after the blot, so feel free to bring something for the grill, etc.

Please join us for the Midsummer Þing

Idhavelli Hof's July blot this Sunday will be to the sea-king Aegir, beer-brewer to the gods and lord of the shining golden hall beneath the waves. Though Aegir is married to the ferocious deep-sea Lady Ran, he's a good-natured fellow and a renowned host. We will ask his blessing upon the new batch of Hof mead we'll be crafting after the blot; and we'll be offering him Hof mead from one of our earlier batches in thanks.

We'll provide the mead for offering. Please bring your toasts and poetry to honor Aegir, and a pound of honey for this year's Hof mead.

This blot will be at Dan's house in Hillsborough, on Sunday, July 27th, at 2:00pm. Please contact redespeaker@idhavellihof.org if you need directions.

Idhavelli Hof's August blót will be Sunday, Aug 31st, at 2:00 pm. We will meet at the R.L. Rigsbee Shelter in Duke Forest, between Hillsborough and Durham .

Our blót will be to Nerthus, the earth mother and lady of the sea-bound land. We will be offering a breadman, blessed in the old Germanic traditions of name-giving. If you would like to bring aught else to offer to Nerthus, please do. Offerings of food, drink (including alcohol), song, or (biodegradable) craft would all be good.

We will have a potluck picnic afterward, so please bring something to share and/or for the grill. If you have any questions about this blót, please contact redespeaker@idhavellihof.org

Idhavelli Hof’s September blot will be on Sunday, Sept. 28th, at 2:00pm; and will be in honor of Freya, great Northern goddess of love, sexuality, fertility, and witchcraft. Please bring something to give the goddess (suggested offerings below) and a story to share. If you’ve had an encounter with Freya, we’d love to hear about it; or tell the tale of one of the loves in your life. (It doesn’t necessarily have to be about romantic love, either – Freya’s good at drawing people together in all kinds of ways!)

We’ll have two rounds of toasts, the first to Freya, the second one open for all the Aesir, Vanir, and holy wights of the North. After the blót, we'll have a workshop on "Everyday Heathenry" to discuss ways to weave Heathen practices and values deeper into our day-to-day lives. We’ll also be having a cookout after the blot, so bring something to snack on or throw on the grill!

Suggested general offerings: Spring water, juice/cider, honey, poetry, song. Suggested offerings for Freya: Any of the above, plus flowers, frankincense, copal, and love poetry. (No alcohol, please, as the park rules forbid it on site. Also, if you decide to offer a performance of love poetry, try to keep it PG – there might be kids present!)

This blot will be held at Umstead State Park, off the Reedy Creek entrance. For directions and a map, click here

Hail all! Winternights is a time of joyful feasting to celebrate the riches of the harvest, as well as a time for serious consideration of the arrival of winter. Please join Idhavelli Hof for our Winternights feast on Sunday, October 26th at Eric and Ana's house in Hillsborough.

Festivities will begin at 2:00 pm and will last through the evening. They will include blot, potluck feast, harvest-tide activities, games, and fun. If you need directions, please contact Ana via email: ana@analeia.net

PLEASE bring:

• Feastware
• Personal drinking horn

Optional things to bring:

• Produce from your garden to offer in blot or to contribute to the building of food mounds
• Cans of cranberry sauce for the OCIM Holiday Dinner Boxes
• Drinks
• Games that are easy to learn and don't take a very long time to play
• Stones to add to the Hof's horg

If you are interested in bringing a dish for the feast, please contact Stacey via email.
What to expect:
Winternights is, above all, a harvest festival and feast, marking the end of the harvest tide. It also heralds the beginning of the dark half of the year, when the Wild Hunt begins to ride and wights from other worlds are better able to fare in ours. As such, our blot will consist of two parts:
In the first part of the blot, we will be giving thanks to Frey, the land wights, and the Earth for the harvest and the bounty (agricultural or not) that we have received this year.
The second half of the blot will be dedicated to the darkening part of the year, the barriers between worlds growing thinner, and the Allfather preparing for and leaving on the Wild Hunt. Blessings of the Hunt and the ancestors will be asked for at this time, as well as a polite request that woeful wights let us be during the coming months. Offerings will be given to Sleipnir, and others may give offerings to their ancestors, if they choose to do so.

We will have seasonally appropriate activities:

• make a fall-themed offering plate to leave gifts for your house-wights;
• carve or paint a gourd or pumpkin to ward off unfriendly wights who are beginning to roam more freely (yes, this derives from Celtic custom, but the Germanic peoples have never been shy about borrowing useful ideas from the Celts),
• or carve a gourd into a seasonal house for your outdoor-dwelling household wights;
• build a food mound to take home to share the harvest riches with your house wights;
• play games and have fun in the company of other Heathens.

Come prepared for a feast of fall foods! Since sharing the harvest bounty with the entire community is traditional, we will be collecting cans of cranberry sauce for the OCIM Holiday Dinner Boxes.