Disting Ritual

Disting is when we remember and honour the Disir, the female ancestors who have chosen to put aside further incarnation and watch over their descendants. Almost everyone has a Dis in their family line, if you go back far enough. You may not know who they are, but they have probably contributed to your being alive, so it is worth it to call on them. The date of Disting varies but most modern Pagans celebrate it on February 1^st.

This is a cooking holiday, with Nerthus as the guide to the Disir. We cook for our Disir, and for our families. Cook and bake a feast of dishes whose recipes you inherited from grandmother, or that your ancestral mothers and grandmothers made. If you bake bread, carve the rune Othila into the top of each loaf before baking it. Lay them on the table, and then all should join hands together. The one at the head of the table says:

Hail to the Old Ones,

Hail to the Grandmothers who survived

And who now watch over us.

Hail to their blood running in our veins,

Their courage collected in our hearts,

And their endurance in our arms.

Hail to Nerthus, ancient grandmother,

Mother of Vanaheim, Earth’s flesh made divine,

Ground beneath our feet, guide us and link us

To the sacred Disir we honour today. 

Red candles marked with an Othila rune are lighted one at a time, for the matrons known and unknown. Then a cordial of ancient recipe is passed about and they are toasted, and the last of it is carried outside and poured onto the Earth for Nerthus. Only then can the feast begin and be devoured.

Artwork by Terra.