Dear Otus,
When we were looking for a retirement community, we did our research. As former hippies, we wanted a place that was free-spirited and the Eureka Springs area fits the bill.
This will be our first Druid Fest and we’d like to invite all Arkies - adopted or native - to come up to Lake Leatherwood for the festivities.
- Heulwen Hydref Berryville
Dear Heulwen,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and a further delight to pass along your invitation.
Eureka Springs’ annual Druid Fest Bhfomhar Equinox Daze began on Thursday night with a bonfire to rival Nevada’s Burning Man. It continues today with the crafts fair and Creative Cosplay Contest.
The celebration culminates Sunday with the 5K and the sacrifice of a head of goat cheese (no animals will be harmed) at precisely 3:44 p.m. at the impressive new Stonehenge replica at Lake Leatherwood Park.
(Parking is limited, so free continuous shuttle buses will be provided from the Wanderlust RV Park on Passion Play Road, with a secondary pickup at the high school on Lake Lucerne Road.)
“Bhfomhar” is Irish Gaelic for autumnal and autumn begins at 3:44 p.m. CDT Sunday. The fall equinox is an occasion for great joy and celebration. Twice a year on the day of “equal night” (equinox), there is almost the same amount of daylight and night.
It’ll take a few more weeks for consistently cooler weather to settle in, but the autumnal equinox is traditionally the ending of the harvest season and a high holy day for Arkansas’ estimated 47,000 Druids.
Arkansas is third behind only California and Oregon in the number of card-carrying Druids. These Arkansanslist Druidism as their religion behind such popular denominations as Baptist, Catholic, Episcalopian and the Razorbacks.
“We feel there really is no contradiction between traditional religious sects and Druidism,” says John Paul Ciudat, a third-degree master Devaronian in the Eureka Springs Druid Chapter, Local 105.
Ciudat notes that the Druidic bhfomhar equinox celebration has its roots in antiquity. His wife, Cailin Alainn (a second-degree Dispaterinarian), is the historian of the Arkansas Druid Convention and co-chair of Sunday’s Stonehenge dedication.
“Most folks don’t realize that we can thank the Druids for Easter,” she says. “The word ‘Easter’ comes from the Celtic goddess, Eostre, goddess of the dawn. Dawn, being in the east, is always associated with rebirth and renewal.”
According to Alainn, each year at the autumnal equinox the sun god Balor prepares to descend to the frozen underworld Annwn, the realm of Arawn.
Balor is joined by his consort, Eostre, and they renew their antediluvian congress that will refresh the fieldsand ensure the fecundity of the crops come next spring, or “imbolc.”
The celebrants at today’s Creative Cosplay Contest will attend dressed as their favorite Druid characters or gods. This is the sixth year that Eureka Springs has hosted the contest, which will be featured in Season 2 of Syfy’s new series Heroes of Cosplay.
“A highlight of Sunday’s festivities will be the costumed Samhaim 5K Fun Run from the Community First Bank parking lot to the Leatherwood Baseball Park,” Ciudat said.
For those who wish to view the excitement, the race begins at noon at the intersection of South Main and West Van Buren streets. Race headquarters is the Best Western across the street, with registration in the motel’s Gazebo Restaurant.
The course winds west to Stonehenge in the park at the former soccer field next to West Leatherwood Creek.
Ciudat points out that contrary to popular belief, Druids are not wizards or soothsayers. In fact, he notes, Druids are traditionally philosophers, judges, educators, historians,doctors and astronomers.
“Fully 42.3 percent of our members are also in Mensa,” Ciudat boasts. “We just also like to dress up and hug a few oak trees on the side. ‘Druid,’ you know, combines the Greek words for ‘oak’ and ‘knowledge.’”
Eureka Springs/Berryville Chamber of Commerce vice president of special projects and leadership Krista Khone says the community welcomes the convention, which brought 27,000 visitors to town last year.
“At first, I was afraid they were going to be sacrificing goats or dancing naked around maypoles,” Khone said. “But I found out they are just regular folk like you and me. In fact, a Druid might be your neighbor and you wouldn’t know it.”
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that DruidFest does not allow Wiccans. “We have to draw the line somewhere,” Ciudat says, “and those folks are weird.” Disclaimer Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. Email: [email protected]
HomeStyle, Pages 38 on 09/21/2013