Calendar of the Sun
19 Weodmonath
Vinalia Rustica: Garden and Grapevine Festival
Colors: Green and purple
Element: Earth
Altar: Upon cloth of green and purple, patterned with grapes, place seven purple candles, a great
chalice of red wine, wreaths of grapevines, a pitcher of rainwater, and a bowl of olives.
Offerings: Water, given to the vines with ripening grapes.
Daily Meal: Food out of the garden. Wine.
Vinalia Rustica Invocation
Today we remember the sacred keepers
Of the gardens by the home.
Too often now, food is grown
And those who eat it cannot say
Where it came from, whose hands tended it,
Who was saddened by its failure
Or rejoiced at its perfection.
And that is why we of this House
Have always grown what we could;
It is a sacred thing to have a garden
Even in the midst of encroaching civilization.
Blessed be the walled garden,
For it is the symbol of all we do here.
Blessed be the walled garden,
For it is a source not only of nourishment,
But of solace and honorable work.
We beseech the protectors of the garden,
Venus with her love of flowers,
Minerva with her love of fruits.
We beseech Dionysos, whose flesh
Is the ripening grapes on the vine,
To swell with rich juice and sweetness.
Bless our fruits and flowers, O Gods,
And may the gardeners themselves
Also be blessed,
For their labor does honor to the Earth.
(The olives are passed and eaten, and the red wine passed as well. All should go into the garden
and bless it with rainwater, and leave out the rest of the olives for an offering. The red wine is
poured out at the base of the ripening grapevines.)
[Pagan Book of Hours]