Whats going on 'licians? Just wanted to share this from my friend Raven (different Raven...) about an amazing event that is again happening across the pond. Also it gives me a good excuse to catch up with ya'll since we are so slumbery in our Decompression.... ~Mwah~ Licians!!!!

Halloween night here (celebrated with firecrackers for some reason) marked the first time in 1,000 years -- according to my friend Aidan -- that the wicker man has been burned in Dublin. Burning a wicker man is a Gaelic/pagan rite, usually associated with spring. They aren't normally as large as this one -- 44ft. It was pretty awesome. This is just a still from the video I shot (downloading the video clip to send took forever and I gave up. Anyone know how to compress clips or whatever to send them properly?). Aidan spearheaded the project, adn got help from kids in the housing project to build it. It went more or less well, so chances are they'll let him do it on the river (Liffey) next year. There was one snag: while swinging his seven-foot torch in the air to whip the crowd up, the flaming head of it flew off the staff and into the crowd. No one was hurt. As the man burned, he collapsed into a slow bow as if to honour the crowd that honoured him with their presence; beautiful stuff. For my part, I was dressed as a demon and scared the living shit out of quite a few kids who thought I was real. I really missed Halloween there, they still haven't quite got the hang of it here in Dublin.

*for some reason I can't put up the pic but if you want it lemme know and I'll forward it to you*