ROOTED LITERARY MAGAZINE
ROOTED LITERARY MAGAZINE
Home is where the heart is; it’s where people get their first pets, cry themselves to sleep, eat their favorite meals, and experience loneliness. It’s where we unwind after a long day, and the place we avoid when we get off work. It’s drenched in silence and raucous laughter. It’s where we can be ourselves and where we have to hide ourselves. Some of us never leave, while others hate to stay. Home means a lot of things—whether it's a physical place, a person, a hobby, or a sense of being—we've all felt at home. And a home can provide comfort just as easily as it can cause pain. Welcome home.
Rooted in: Rite is Rooted Literary Magazine’s inaugural Halloween Anthology. It’s a collection of poems, essays, short stories, and art that captures what Rites mean to us. Rites follow us through every stage of our lives. They appear as ceremonies, festivals, gatherings, or private traditions—moments that connect us to ourselves or to others. We mark rites of passage when we blow out birthday candles, earn our driver’s license, or endure heartbreak for the first time. Funerary rites help us say goodbye to those we’ve lost. Marital rites bind people together...though they can be broken as swiftly as they are spoken. Some rites are born of blood, secrecy, or sacrifice and are violent in nature as they bind us in ways we do not always choose. History is steeped in rituals of exclusion and control; rites are used to preserve power as much as they are used to celebrate life. Explore the power that rituals hold over us.