SUNNA
« Sunna » is a Summer Solstice performance combining Teutonic Mythology with a New Orleans Voodoo Ritual for Spirit Blessings While Anointing the Path and Opening the Way.
According to Teutonic Mythology the sun is a maiden named Sol/Sunna who belongs to the divinities of light. It was said that her beauty would make one blind if she is seen without her veil. She once lived her life freely, while guarded by her two loyal serpents, who killed her many unworthy suitors.
The jealous gods sent one of their own to slay her dragons and kidnap her. She fled north, becoming a warrior-maiden to preserve her freedom. Ultimately she was captured by the gods, and bound to the heavens, made to ride a chariot perpetually across the sky as she is chased by two wolves.
In « Sunna », the maiden does a Ritual to unbind herself, marking a spiritual fresh start during the Solstice. She calls the spirits to help her change her fate at a time of year when the veil between the material world and spiritual world is very thin.
The Voodoo ritual is one developed by Priestess Sallie Ann Glassman, Artist Britney Penouilh, and Spirit Handler Alan Walter at International House Hotel in New Orleans, LA. The Loa, divine spirits in Voodoo, forged a one-to-one correlation with the Christian saints and John the Baptist was their patron saint. Thus, the Summer Solstice coincides with John the Baptist’s Feast Day, unifying Voodoo with Christianity and Teutonic Mythology.
Ritual items include: homemade limoncello, sunflowers, sunflower seeds, calendula, snake vertebrae, handmade seed paper, and a resin sculpture representing the Sun. The headdress worn by Sunna was also handmade and features charms representing many religious practices from Native American myth and Pagan Worship to Christianity.
