Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Leaf Man Rise Up

This autumn children's game, a variant of "tag," comes from the old Hwicce tribal territories in England's southwest Midlands. Like many traditional children's games, it is circular, self-replicating, and orally transmitted. The game's ritual structure and deeply mythic resonances will hardly be lost on anyone likely to be reading this post.

Players gather in a circle, hand-in-hand, around a mound of leaves. (In some versions, they circle.) They chant:

 Leaf Man Rise Up Leaf Man Rise Up Leaf Man Rise Up

At some point, the Leaf Man—“It”—erupts from the pile of leaves and chases the fleeing (and usually shrieking) children. Whoever he (or she) catches is the next Leaf Man.

And the game begins again.

 

In this season of leaf-gold and sweet decay, we think of the Green and of His Stripping. He follows behind each one of us, we know: we shiver and feel the siffle of his breath on our necks as we rush inexorably toward our own personal autumns.

And we know that he will, indeed, of a certainty one day catch us.

And we ourselves will be one with him then.

And unto ages of ages.

 

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

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