This is the website for the annual Leaping Hare convention, which is held every spring in Colchester, Essex, Britain. We will update this site with information about each forthcoming convention, as well as reviews of previous years.
The 2008 Convention (our sixteenth) will take place at the Highwoods Community Centre in Colchester on Saturday 29th March 2008, 9.30am till 6pm.
This site was last updated on 8th April 2008.
It will be a fun day of stalls, workshop, talks and storytelling including ~
Dr Jenny Blain on "Honouring the Ancient Dead",
Dr Mark Williams on "The Orishas",
Jo Garnham on "Arthurian Literature and Paganism",
Payam Nabarz, PhD on "The Seven Initiatory Mysteries of Mithraism".
Plus Druidic storytelling with Clan Ogma, a charity raffle, the Leigh Mummers, and a ritual for the spring. Tickets available from Diane on 01206 331183.
Payam's talk ~ The seven initiatory rites of the Mysteries of Mithras. Presents a revival of the magical practices and initiatory system of Mithraism, the ancient Roman mystery religion that was immensely popular in the Roman Legions and was taken to every corner of the Roman Empire. As the last pagan state religion in Europe, it was the most important competitor to early Christianity. The seven degrees of Mithraic Mysteries were called Corax, Nymphus, Miles, Leo, Perses, Heliodromus and Pater. The modern Mithraic initiates since the early 1900s have revived these rites. The history, origins, and spiritual and philosophical tenets of Mithraism will be discussed along with the workings of this religion.
Jenny's talk ~ Respect, the Reburial issue and Honouring the Ancient Dead. Does 'the past' matter - and the people of the past? Some British pagans today are calling for the reburial of human remains held in museum and university collections; others focus on the need for respect to be shown to all 'ancestors'. Jenny Blain talks here about the 'Reburial Issue' and some of the work of organisation Honouring the Ancient Dead, while connecting these with more personal involvements with rather more recent ancestors and with her own spiritual practices.
Jo's talk ~ Pagan Themes in Arthurian Literature. This talk aims to explore the Arthurian story in literature from Medieval Texts to modern best-sellers. Along the way I shall be looking at what readers in different historical periods chose to focus on and how elements that might be of particular interest to a Pagan readership changed over time.
Mark's talk ~ The Orishas. Mark will be taking about the Orishas (Orixas), the deties of the Yoruba people of West Africa who are now worshipped throughout the Americas as a consequence terrible suffering of the Yoruba diaspora. The profound spirituality and fascinating myths or 'patakis' associated with these powers will be respectfully explored, and something explained of the family of religions - Santeria in Cuba, Candomble in Brazil, Shango in Trinidad - in which they are honoured.