Great Dutch experience, Jacob. I do see you enjoying The Netherlands everytime you're here ;) Gives a proud smile on my face when I see people enjoying in The Netherlands
Love your traveling vlog discovering pagan practices from all over Europe! I think it's one of the most interesting series in the witchy youtube space! We have many of these festivals in Germany as well! Many countries in Europe do celebrate Helloween including the Netherlands, it just looks different than in the US :D
Some Dutch may but it's definitely not wide spread. On the 11th of November, many (kids) celebrate St Maarten. By going door to door singing (sometimes quite cheeky) songs in return for candy.
As someone actively involved with the wicker ritual (I'm one of the two singers in black stood behind the wickerman), I can affirm that the energy of reverence and elation was very tangible even at such a distance from the crowd. It's always an honour to bring people into a time and space where they can just be themselves, be it pagan, heathen or otherwise :) we Dutch should be proud of such a beautiful festival!
In the Netherlands a local government is planning on destroying an ancient pagan site to build some business district. Locals are very much against the idea and district governments often listen to citizens so it is likely it won't go through, but still it could really use some awareness.
Gosh I have lots of opinions about Castlefest but I'll keep them to myself, not wanting to start a heated debate about those topics. I just wanted to say that it was really funny to me to hear you call Dutchies "reserved". They are seen by us Scandis as super direct people ! ^^ I guess the big difference is that religion/spirituality in Europe (no matter which one) is seen as a private affair. The most die-hard European pagans I know don't even wear any symbol on themselves, or maximum a tiny, discrete pendant sometimes. In the US people seem more incline to be very loud and public about their beliefs. To me it can very quickly feel tacky and exhib!tionistic (not said to criticise, just to illustrate the difference of cultures).
Love the video as always! For some reason this is the only channel on youtube I cannot change the volume of when casting. It's been this way for years at this point. Might be something to look into!
Nice vid once again my friend . Loved the vids of your trip around the uk. Especially Glastonbury . Living 20 mins from there it would have been great if people had known you were there to share a mead or two on the Tor.
Well, to be honest, I was there and you could only "be" at the wickermand when you stayed there for 2 hours before everybody else creates a wall around it and you can see nothing of it. Let's say about 5-10% of the people saw it good enough maybe. There is something that can be done about that probably but I can image it's hard to figure it out. I also heard there are quite some people who would take ashes from the ceremony and sell it for redicolous prices. But I love the sentiment and intention to still do it even if it is imperfect. Bringing back the rituals in the festivals is something wonderful imo.
I love to see how others practice their Ancestral Worship! But I would like to see more "interviews" to hear more of the details about how they think and feel about it.
I think especially for countries like the Netherlands where the population is small and Christianity has heavily waned there's a strong chance for a full blown pagan revival which is quite exciting
We only have it because of the commercial push behind it (like Valentine's day, and black friday) , it's luckily small. We really don't need to copy every American celebration.
Very interesting. I know a lot of Europe comes across as secular. Then there's events like this that draw out the people of different faiths. Very cool!
I think Renaissance festivals and fairs are places where people can dress up and play-act for the pure fun of it. Holding big group religious rituals, whether pagan or Christian, isn't necessarily appropriate and may be off-putting to many, myself included.
Here in the u.s. we have Burning Man 2023 was a week-long gathering in the Black Rock Desert in Pershing County, Nevada. The 35th Burning Man event, it took place from August 27 to September 4, 2023. An estimated 73,000 people attended
