Celebrating the Moon and Spring ~ Celebrating Women!

It is International Women's Day, and full moon and almost spring on this side of the world!
To celebrate, Gata (Group for Activism and Transformation through Art, of which I am a founding member) decided to have a special ritual honouring the renewal of our dreams and vision.
So... last night we went to the river Douro here in Porto, just after dusk - and with the moon watching over us,
we arranged different symbolic objects and lit candles - there were:
stones and pot shards representing all the heavy things from the past year;
dry leaves, shells and dried flowers representing things that had outlived their usefulness in our lives;
and fresh flowers, representing our hopes, dreams and wishes for women.
Moving from the heavy to the light, each one of us would name an object (sadness or fear; energy or freedom) and then release it into the river.
Then we toasted GATA and women everywhere (with pink Port wine!) and lighting candles for each other, gave thanks to one another.
It was an experience beyond words. Truly Happy Women's Day!