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It's that time of the year... the Alfablot is here! And Winter Nights, of course.

Alfablot means " offering to the elves ". The alfar are the elvish race in Northern tradition. If you've never heard of them, or you want to hear more about them, here is a post I would direct you to:

http://www.spellsofmagic.com/read_post.html?post=519545

The alfablot is held towards the end of autumn, along with winter nights (which is usually around the 28th-31st of October) around the same timeframe as Samhain. The alfablot tends to be a more private, familial rite- though kindreds do something come together to honor at the same time.

For Winter Nights: heathens often group together to honor and remember their ancestors and the disir.Many kindreds gather in halls, passing mead and ale horns back and forth between kin, making oaths to the Gods, honoring specific deities, recalling their ancestors through stories and poetry, etc. It was said that if a person sat on a barrow-mound throughout a whole night, they would have great access to divinatory skills (as they believe the veil is thin during this time, and communication with the dead is much easier). Though not as well practiced today, mound-sitting is a real practice and recreated (though often does not involve sitting on a persons literal grave, as some people view it to be disrespectful). This is also said to be a good time of the year to work on magical practices, such as seidhr and galdr.

Also don't forget, there's a lot of smaller holidays and days of remembrance coming up. October 29th is Remembrance for Erik the Red. November 9th is Remembrance for Queen Sigrid. November 11th is the Feast of the Einherjar. Etc.

Happy blotting!