|
Jessica Goldberg (right, in green jacket) leads children in singing "David Melech Yisrael" at the Marcus Jewish Community Center in the northern suburb of Dunwoody. The children are there for "Ice Cream Under The Sukkah," a party celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Sukkot is a commemoration of the Jews' journey in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. During that journey, the Lord required the Jews to live in booths, or sukkot, for shelter. During Sukkot, Jewish families are encouraged to build their own sukkah to remember the wanderings in the desert. |
|
The children work on decorating their own paper lulavs. The lulav is the name given to the combination of three different kinds of tree branch (date palm, willow, and myrtle) that have symbolic meaning for Sukkot according to rabbinic tradition.
|
|
Fruit is used to paint in order to connote the etrog, the citrus fruit symbolizing the agricultural accomplishments of Israel. |
|
According to the Glenmary Research Center, the Jewish community is the fourth largest religious group in the metropolitan Atlanta area, following Southern Baptists, Methodists and Roman Catholics, respectively. The Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody is a prominent institution, and includes a children's discovery museum, which cosponsored the Sukkot event. |
|
Melinda Hartz, 3, (left), and Tal Nechmad, 4, fill bowls with ice cream to eat under the sukkah. |
|
Maddy Laing, 3, sniffs the etrog experimentally. The etrog, which resembles a lemon, was ordered specially from Israel for the occasion. |
|
Inside the sukkah, Atlanta families eat ice cream and learn the significance of the holiday. Sukkot is sometimes referred to as Zeman Simkhateinu, or the Season of our Rejoicing. |
|
On a sunny Saturday, the musical group Spiral Rhythm plays for the Atlanta Pagan Pride Day festivities in Glenlake Park in Decatur. |
|
Spiral Rhythm, one of many groups featured at the day-long festival, sings a version of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." When they alter the lyrics to "land of my pagan's pride," they get cheers of approval from the audience. |
|
Atlanta Pagan Pride Day was attended by Wiccans, heathens, curious passers-by, and a contingent from the Green Party handing out political information. |
|
Two members of the Georgia Heathen Society show off their tee-shirts. The society is one subset of paganism in Atlanta. Its purpose is to recreate faith folk systems of the members' Northern European ancestors. They define themselves as polytheistic, but tend to gravitate towards one deity or another, depending on what attributes are important to them. Members meet monthly, cook Germanic and Scandinavian dishes, attend classes on the Norse sagas, and form "kindreds" with other heathens. |
|
Vic Wright (seated, third from left) sells crystals and other pagan supplies at 25 events a year in the southeast. |
|
"People will burn incense on their altars," said Wright. "They'll burn it to help with meditation; they might even just burn lavender to keep the bugs away. These are just tools to help you get into a sacred space. They're not necessary, but they're helpful to people." |
|
Young people dance and burn incense near the booth for the Covenant of the Goddess, Dogwood Local Council. The Covenant is a cooperative organization for witches. |
