Press_Release070802

For Immediate Release.
Attn.: Press
September 5, 2003

Contact:
Gary Suto
510-520-7773
www.sfbappd.org

2nd Annual Pagan Pride Day Returns to Golden Gate Park

September 13, 2003 (San Francisco) - Bay Area Pagans gather at 10 AM
in Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park to show the world that they
are Proud to be Pagan, as they celebrate the 2nd annual San Francisco
Pagan Pride Day. There will be speakers from various pagan faiths to
educate the public about paganism as well as musicians and dancers.
We are also celebrating a Pagan holiday, so there will be an altar as
well as a Harvest ritual. On a last note there also will be various
services, information booths and merchandise vendors for many of your
Pagan needs.

We are honored to have the following Speakers:
Macha NightMare, Oberon, Morning Glory, and Sam Webster

The musical entertainment that will be participating are:
Gaia's Voice, Galaxxy Chamber, Pasha DeSaix, and Mahal

The dancers are showcasing Romani dancing, Bellydancing and a modern
witch dance by the following: Shanti, Tempest, Painted Fan and Walter
Thompson III

There are many beautiful items to be raffled off, so get there early.
Bring a picnic to share with friends.
Bring your drums for a drum circle for after the ritual
The event is free, however we will accept donations
Bring canned goods to benefit SF Food Bank or PAWS

Saturday, September 13, 2003 10 AM to 6 PM
Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Gary Suto 510-520-7773

Date: August 12, 2002 For Immediate Release

Contacts: Gary Suto at <gypsycamp@peoplepc.com> or 510 521-9648
Melinda at <gurumel@mindspring.com> or 415 242-1447

Dear Friends, Supporters and Members of the San Francisco Bay Area
Pagan Community,

We are now 31 days from the SF Bay Area Pagan Pride Day (September
14th) We have a full line up of speakers, dancers, drummers and
singers. Our vendor sign-ups have been closed for about a month now
and our Ritual is taking form as we speak. We have paid for about
1/3 of the expenses and to make up the last 2/3 we're putting on

P a g a n B i n g o !

August 17th, from 7 to 9:30pm
The Pagan Interest Circle/CUUPS San Francisco has offered to sponsor
us for a room at the San Francisco 1st Unitarian Universalist Church!
1187 Franklin Street
The fundraiser will be held in the Starr King room
A $10 donation is requested We will be serving spaghetti dinner with
God and Goddess Pasta, listening and dancing to the musical stylings
of The Method, having a raffle and playing Pagan bingo! Come help us
bless the sauce in the kitchen and sauce your blessings at the bar!
http://www.sfbappd.org

and now on to the Ritual

Praise Be Lady Liberty!

Join us in a celebration of Pagan pride and in a glorious
processional and ritual in honor of Lady Liberty.

The first-ever San Francisco Bay Area Pagan Pride Day will be
celebrated at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 14, 2002. The entire
event will be done in honor of the goddess of the USA, Lady Liberty.

Lady Liberty will be carried in a huge processional on a palanquin
by four to six bearers, joined by offering-bearers, drummers,
musicians, dancers, Pagans of all kinds, everyone! So please come
dressed in your finest ritual regalia. All speakers, dancers and
musicians will be performing in honor of Lady Liberty. Our chant for
Lady Liberty has a catchy, upbeat tune; the words, by Vibra Willow,
are:

We shall sing of the old gods,
For we know we are free.
We shall keep Her sacred flame alive.
Praise be Lady Liberty!

We invite participants to bring the following:

Wear your finest ritual regalia. (Sheathed blades only.) (You do
not need to wear ritual regalia in order to participate.)
Bring banners, flags or pennants to carry in our colorful
processional.
Bring an altar item meaningful to you, whatever your Pagan path. You
may place this item on the large communal altar surrounding Lady
Liberty after She has been emplaced. Be sure your object has
identifying information on the bottom (can be easily done with a
piece of masking tape with your name on it). For safety¹s sake, no
candles or any other kind of open flames, please.

We need ritual volunteers, most of whom will not be required to
come to any rehearsals or other pre-event meetings, only to come a
bit early to rendezvous, receive minimal instructions and get in
place:

At least four strong palanquin-bearers. Depending upon the weight of
our 8¹ tall Lady Liberty, palanquin-bearers may need to work in teams
to relieve one another, in which case we would need eight or more.
If you want to volunteer for this honor, please so through the Web
site at http://www.sfbappd.org
Thirty to 40 offering-bearers. Offering-bearers will wear green and
will be carrying baskets, trays and large bowls of comestibles. All
of this food will be given to Liberty for Her nourishment and
blessings, to become prasad (food sanctified by the deity) ‹ some
will be food donations for PAWS and SF Food Bank and some to be
passed out to all celebrants by the offering-bearers at the end of
the event. Offering-bearers are asked to bring baskets, trays,
etc. Volunteers for this honor please contact Tami at
<tegriff@hotmail.com>
Twenty Graces, wearing white, will help monitor and guide the
processional. Volunteers please contact Vibra at 510 237-6207.

Primary ritual coordinators are M. Macha NightMare at
<herself@machanightmare.com> or 415 454-4411 and Sam Webster at
<webster@concrescent.net> or 510 232-2569. Lady Liberty is being
constructed by Fiona Zimmer, with palanquin by Corby Lawton.

Again, Thank you for your support
Maybe I'll see you at Bingo but definitely give me a yell on September
14, 2002
Regards and Blessing,
Gary Suto
PPD Coordinator
510-521-9648

In approximately 2 months, thousands of people will gather across the country to celebrate Pagan Pride Day. In the United States from the midwest to the deep south and from traditional New England to progressive West Coast, there will be over a hundred events celebrating Pagan Pride. Other countries involved include, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The San Francisco Bay Area

The mission of the Pagan Pride Project is to foster pride in Pagan identity. We try to keep our purpose balanced through the inspirations of Education, Activism, Charity, and Community.

We're never going to be able to practice our spiritual paths openly if we don't give the public accurate information about what we do and do not do. An example of what some Pagans do is worshiping a god and goddess. An

example of what ALL Pagans don't do, is worship Satan. In fact Pagans don't believe in Satan.

This leads right into Activism. People aren't necessarily going to go out of their way to find out what Pagans really do. We have to have the courage to act on our convictions and do what we need to do. 'One Nation under God' is

an example of one area in which Pagans are taking action. An excerpt from Macha Nightmare on the subject "...We are glad to see acknowledgement that this is indeed a country of diverse religious beliefs, and of no belief; of people who believe in one deity, many deities, or no deities. We see the diversity of the citizenry of this country as one of our great strengths..."

With charity, we know that what we do returns to us. We need to demonstrate this by offering compassion to our communities where it is needed. When we share our own abundance, we show that we trust the Gods and/or Goddesses to share abundance with us in return. The San Francisco Bay Area Pagan Pride Day will be collecting non perishable food to benefit PAWS (pets are wonderful support) and the San Francisco Food Bank.

Lastly is community. We're never going to be able to practice openly if we don't know anyone else in our local Pagan communities. We need to weave networking webs in our cities, in our towns, in our rural areas. We need

these webs to support one another. That support will also show those who would restrict our practice that we are not just a few isolated wackos, but are a growing congregation of people who adhere to a faith that, while

The San Francisco Bay Area Pagan Pride Day will be held in Golden Gate Park on September 14, 2002