Bearing witness to violence and resilience on Nollaig na mBan

On Nollaig na mBan (January 6th) 2019, a small group of us gathered to bear witness to violence against women and girls, and their resilience. 

This day is significant as a traditional day for celebrating women, and also because it was the day on which 18 year old Mariora Rostas, a young Roma gypsy girl, was abducted in Dublin city in 2008. She was later murdered and her body was buried in the Kippure area of the Dublin mountains, where the bodies of many other women have been discovered, or are suspected to have been buried. 

We gathered in this beautiful part of Ireland to bear witness to Mariora Rostas' life and to the lives of 225 other women and girls murdered, or missing and feared murdered, since 1996. We did this by reading their names, as collected by Women's Aid in their annual In Memoriam list. Earlier that day in Dublin city, we had met Margaret Martin of Women's Aid, learned about their work, and given her the funds that we had raised. 

Read more about this retreat day in the Zen Peacemakers' online journal here. 

Another bearing witness day on this theme is tentatively planned for Sunday, January 10th 2021.