We were hoping for a long summer this year and the weather really seemed to be cooperating. But yesterday autumn came. While the day before was perfectly green, yesterday morning the yard was suddenly completely covered in yellow leaves. The wind was blowing like crazy and you couldn´t understand whether it was raining or not. The sky had been fully cloudy since morning, as if to officially declare that the time of darkness has arrived.
I felt this moment should be celebrated. Everyone who has ever lived at this latitude knows why its special. It is nature´s way of smiling and saying: "I´ll be back!". It is a time when every living thing starts to prepare for the long and dark sleep - people and animals begin to collect and preserve food, mosquitos and flies disappear, snakes go underground, birds migrate. I was so inspired! Like a devotee who brings offerings to the sun hoping it will rise again next morning, I wanted to show my appreciation for nature´s abundance as if to let her know I hope to enjoy it again in spring.
So I looked around in the yard and tons of yellow leaves were lying around and I thought, hey, they would make a beautiful wreath! I could picture it so clearly in my mind, hanging on the porch. I put all my other tasks on hold and got completely lost in gathering fallen branches from the ground, cutting dry reeds and berries, and trying to fit them all into a perfect circle. I have no idea how long it took me to finish - I completely lost track of time - but when it finally was, I hung it on the porch. The perfect circle celebrating nature´s perfect cycle.
In the summer we have lots of birds flying around and making noise, but they had all disappeared from sight. You could only hear dogs howling in the distance. The wind was blowing really hard, trees were bending, the sky grey and later rain started to pour. My wreath was turning and spinning in the wind, leaves were breaking off the branches and being blown away. It was magnificent! A moment later it was calm - no wind, no rain. No people around.
It is the same with dance - it exists while its being performed, when its over, its gone. Much like an autumn wreath, a dance is created from different ideas - leaves, reeds and berries picked up from the abundant soil - and strung together by a thin thread of the creator´s imagination. It is then hung to spin in the wind - the merciless time that rips and dries the leaves one by one, until the wreath is dead. Finally it will decompose into earth where it came from and produce soil for new leaves, reeds and berries, to grow and inspire new people. A perfect circle, the dance of death always hand in hand with creation and life.
So I looked around in the yard and tons of yellow leaves were lying around and I thought, hey, they would make a beautiful wreath! I could picture it so clearly in my mind, hanging on the porch. I put all my other tasks on hold and got completely lost in gathering fallen branches from the ground, cutting dry reeds and berries, and trying to fit them all into a perfect circle. I have no idea how long it took me to finish - I completely lost track of time - but when it finally was, I hung it on the porch. The perfect circle celebrating nature´s perfect cycle.
In the summer we have lots of birds flying around and making noise, but they had all disappeared from sight. You could only hear dogs howling in the distance. The wind was blowing really hard, trees were bending, the sky grey and later rain started to pour. My wreath was turning and spinning in the wind, leaves were breaking off the branches and being blown away. It was magnificent! A moment later it was calm - no wind, no rain. No people around.
It is the same with dance - it exists while its being performed, when its over, its gone. Much like an autumn wreath, a dance is created from different ideas - leaves, reeds and berries picked up from the abundant soil - and strung together by a thin thread of the creator´s imagination. It is then hung to spin in the wind - the merciless time that rips and dries the leaves one by one, until the wreath is dead. Finally it will decompose into earth where it came from and produce soil for new leaves, reeds and berries, to grow and inspire new people. A perfect circle, the dance of death always hand in hand with creation and life.
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| A part of "Danse Macabre", a famous 15th century painting by Bernt Notke in St. Nicholas Church in Tallinn, Estonia |
"Danse Macabre" or Opus 40 by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.
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| Image from www.spiritwolf.se |
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