Threading Stones: Soul Candles
Sun, Mar 26
|Green-Wood Chapel, The Green-Wood Cemete
For centuries, Jewish women in Eastern Europe, called feldmesterins, measured cemeteries and graves with thread. They used the threads to make special neshome likht [soul candles], or in some cases, protection bands worn around the wrists, ankles, or neck. In this workshop / walking tour, led by Sa
Time & Location
Mar 26, 2023, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Green-Wood Chapel, The Green-Wood Cemete, The Green-Wood Cemetery
About the event
For centuries, Jewish women in Eastern Europe, called feldmesterins, measured cemeteries and graves with thread. They used the threads to make special neshome likht [soul candles], or in some cases, protection bands worn around the wrists, ankles, or neck.
In this workshop / walking tour, led by Sarah Chandler and Annie Cohen of The Shamir Collective, we will learn about these forgotten cemetery rituals, and the traditional belief that the cemetery was a portal where we could access the help of our ancestors. As we visit some of the Jewish people buried there, we will use these rituals to connect with them and with our own ancestors. We will then use the threads to make soul candles.
This is an event for anyone who is interested in Jewish and/or local history, who wants to discover some neglected folklore and protection magics, or to find new paths of ancestral connection.
The…