We are living the time of Kekri, the harvest celebration and the end of the year. In Kekri, ancestors come to visit their former homes and make sure that everything is as it should be, that the living have taken good care of their former belongings.
Nowadays we celebrate Kekri at the same time with All Saint's Day, but in the past, it took place whenever each household were finished with their harvest. Most of the Kekri magic was directed for creating good luck for the upcoming year.
Swinging is one way of ensuring the good fortune:
Especially children would spend Kekri and the day after Kekri swinging. While swinging they would chant:
"Kiikun, kiikun köyrinä, enpä jouva jouluna." "Swinging, swinging in Kekri, but Christmas I'll have no time."
Swinging rhyme is from Kivijärvi, marked in the map.
Swinging was popular also around the Easter time. People would gather in a special spot where they would all build swings, competing who builds their own the fastest. Of course, the best luck went to that house whose swing was ready the first. At the Easter swings, people took wild speeds, for swinging was believed to bring health to the person and luck and well-being to the household for the whole year.
So be it Kekri or Easter, you have a great reason for some swinging!
A village of witches is opening
You have collected witchy tools and ideas, but nothing ever really grew roots. Or perhaps your grandmother whispered about the spirits of nature, and you were never able to connect the dots of what she said. So you keep looking for the next thing that might be “it”. The Village is a year of animism, folklore, crafts and self-discovery. It is rooted in Finnic folklore, lived in your own practice and shared with a village of witches. The Village opens on the 1st of November.