EQUINOX WEEKENDER

SATURDAY 21ST & SUNDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER

We invite you to come and find your balance, share the harvest and to grow more hope over the Autumn Equinox weekend, a time of almost equal day and night. 

Come and play out with us on and around our Windsor Street home alongside artists, gardeners, cooks & neighbours. There’ll be a raucous Harvest Auction Fundraiser sharing the precious produce of gardeners from across the city, a ritual walk along the 100-Year Street from local spring to oldest oak, ‘Trustfrastructure’ hope-building street sessions, street sofa chats & snacks, seed-saving for next years growth & Communal DJ-ing to get us all moving!

The Equinox Weekender is part of ‘Seeds of Hope’: a series of hopeful happenings taking place all across the UK this autumn, with community growing and nature connection at their heart.

Inspiring community-led events are taking place all across the UK with support from Joseph Rowntree Foundation – from Inverness to Hastings via Liverpool, Powys, Bristol and beyond – reflecting the hope and solidarity we know exists in communities everywhere, and inviting all of us to get behind it.

Amid concern about the rise of far-right populism and widespread feelings of fatalism, these celebrations of amazing people and communities growing hope and building belief in better futures are exactly what we need right now.

SATURDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER 10AM-4PM & 6-9PM

GROUNDING CEREMONY 10-11am 

Let’s tune into the Equinox with meditation, movement & altar making.

DIGESTING POLITICS 11.30-1PM BOOKING ESSENTIAL FREE/ BY DONATION

Enjoy a bowl of soup and a chat about the politics of food. More info here

COMMUNITY DJ-ING 12-2PM

Bring your own vinyl to get us all moving!

IMMUNE-BOOSTING FOR ACTIVISTS 2-4PM  BOOKING ESSENTIAL FREE/ BY DONATION

Activists & allies; help make immune-strengthening elixirs to get us through autumn/winter.

HARVEST AUCTION FUNDRAISER 6PM-9PM BOOKING ESSENTIAL £10

A magical evening of food and comedy raising funds for Habibti Liverpool & Squash’s own ‘Soup it Forward’, co-hosted by our patron Andi Oliver! More info here.

SUNDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 10-4PM

THE ART OF SEED SAVING 10AM – 12 NOON

Help to sort, clean & pack seeds collected from our gardens to replenish the Toxteth Seed Library. More info here.

MINDFUL CRAFTING 10AM – 12 NOON

Enjoy gentle crafting with natural & recycled materials.

COMMUNITY DJ-ING 12-3PM

Bring your own vinyl and help make a chilled equinox afternoon

HEALING GARDEN 1-4pm

Come and relax in the garden with fire, meditation, crafting & music.

WINDSOR STREET RITUAL WALK 1-4PM BOOKING ESSENTIAL FREE/ BY DONATION

A balancing walk together along the 100-Year Street from spring to oak. More info here.

LUGHNASADH FIRE CELEBRATION

FRIDAY 2ND AUGUST 12 NOON – 2PM

GRAPES COMMUNITY FOOD GARDEN

Come celebrate Lughnasadh / Lammas; the Gaelic fire festival marking the first grain harvest. We’ll be firing up the earth oven and breaking bread together in the Grapes Community Food Garden. Join us for music, chats round the fire and delicious tastes from the garden. Bring your own harvest offerings for the Lughnasadh altar and your own rituals of the season to share.

FREE/BY DONATION

SUMMER SOLSTICE SUNRISE SOLIDARITY GATHERING FOR YEMEN & GAZA

THURSDAY 20TH JUNE 2024

4AM – 12 NOON

Princes Park, L8

From dawn on the day of most light hours in the year, come for a community solidarity gathering honouring Gaza & Yemen. Let’s welcome in the dawn & longest day together, supporting each other. Please bring something to add to the communal altar.

Come by for: COMMUNITY  SOLIDARITY RITUAL FIRE FOOD REST SONG LISTENING WALKS ART STRETCHING CONTEMPLATION

Everyone is welcome.

Meet under the big oak tree near Woodhenge, Devonshire Rd/ Belvedere gate.

We’ll be raising funds for Habibti Liverpool & Medical Aid for Palestinians

Schedule:

  • 4am | Community Set-up, come help us set up this special space for gathering 
  • 4:40am | Gong at Sunrise and Solidarity Circle of Peace
  • 5am Onwards | Breakfast 
  • 5.30 am Onwards |Solstice Altar making with Clare
  • 6am Onwards | Solidarity paper chain making
  • 6:30am | Solidarity Circle of Peace
  • 7am | Elderflower tea walk with Jackie
  • 8:30-9am | Movement with Maxine
  • 9:30am | Qi Gong with Liz
  • 10:30am | Tree Walk with Dave
  • 11am | Solidarity Circle of Peace
  • 11am – 12 Noon | Making with Nature with Angelica
  • 11:30am | Circle Stretch with Anita
  • 12 Noon | Solidarity Circle of Peace and Closing Gong 

IMBOLC

WEDNESDAY 31ST JANUARY 12 NOON – 2PM
at the Grapes Community Food Garden

Come by and help celebrate Imbolc, the Celtic/Gaelic marking of the coming of spring. This is the first festival of the 8-fold year of 2024. See more info on Imbolc below.

For our annual celebration, we invite you to join local gardeners & cooks to;

  • help bless the garden and looking ahead to the growing year
  • write spring affirmations and share rituals at the altar
  • imbibe fire cider
  • share delicious, hearty, warming dishes
  • plant up onions, garlic and broad beans; some of the earliest veg we can sow in the year
  • join in our bean dance
  • reflect together around the fire about winter challenges and hope for the coming spring
  • listen to early spring music

Imbolc, in the Celtic seasonal calendar marks the beginning of the lambing season and signals the start of spring and the stirrings of new life.
It is time for us to let go of the past and look to the future, cleansing out the old, making both outer and inner space for new beginnings. It is a good time for wish-making or making a dedication. – The Goddess & The Green Man.

The wheel has turned once more, returning us to a time of hope and new beginnings. Be thankful for the ever-increasing warmth and light as we leave behind the cold, dark, stillness of winter. – Almanac, Anne Marie Lagram.

In between the middle of the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox lies the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Dating back to pre-Christian times, Imbolc celebrations revolved around the Goddess Brigid. Ancient Celtic mythology explains that she was born with a flame in her head and immediately drank the milk of a mystical cow upon birth, which is where her common symbols of a flame and dairy originated from. She also represents fertility, and many women would travel to her sacred wells (the most popular one in Kildare, Ireland) to drink their water in hopes of conceiving shortly after. During Imbolc celebrations, those celebrating would light bonfires and make dairy-rich meals in honor of Brigid. 

Now, Imbolc coincides with Saint Brigid’s feast day. Historians have shown that when Christianity was spreading throughout Ireland, the church was having a difficult time convincing pagans to let go of their gods and goddesses. Thus, Brigid was “reborn” into Saint Brigid, and her representations (i.e., fertility, the flame, and dairy farmers) were kept the same. – Marisa, Herbstalk

Read more about Goddess Brigid here.

WINTER WARMER FRIDAYS!

Come by Squash on Fridays 5-8pm in the run up to Christmas and enjoy a lovely, cosy evening! There’ll be a fire, very tasty food, great company and a chance to support your local community biz by doing a bit of ethical festive shopping! 

FESTIVE CRAFTING! December 8TH 5-8pm

At this Winter Warmer, come join garden volunteers to make your own festive crafts – by donation! Come listen to some soothing festive sounds, nibble on festive tasters, and your last chance to order your veg box! And how about a lovely warm and a chat around the fire?

WINTER SOLSTICE! December 22ND 5-8pm

Come by on this Winter Solstice for a lovely, calm festive evening with seasonal songs around the fire by Hope Street Harmonies Choir, delicious festive tastes and a chance to reflect on the year.