General
Donna Henes,‘Urban Shaman’ Who Hailed the Seasons, Dies at 79
Her solstice and equinox celebrations might involve an egg-balancing ritual and bonfires, all to remind modern New Yorkers of their humble place in the cosmos.
Donna Henes, who for half a century conducted rituals that honored the seasons and the stars — causing busy, materialistic New Yorkers to remember, if just for a moment, that they were all primates on an orb gently rotating in the cosmos — died in Ossining, N.Y., on Sept. 21, the eve of the fall equinox. She was 79.
Her death, at a rehab facility, was from cardiopulmonary arrest, said her partner, Daile Kaplan, who added that Ms. Henes’s health had been declining since a fall in 2021.
Ms. Henes (pronounced HEN-ess), who called herself an “urban shaman,” took on a responsibility that was familiar to ancient societies but that could be found on no job listing in modern New York: honoring the four major shifts in the seasonal cycle.
She was best known for conducting a mass egg-balancing ritual, usually at the World Trade Center, during the vernal equinox, heralding the arrival of spring, and for lighting a bonfire on the beaches of Staten Island during many of her annual winter solstice ceremonies.
“I function as a sky watcher,” she told The New York Times in 1996. “It never gets dark in the city. We don’t see the sky; we don’t see the stars. We’re not reminded of a relationship with the universe.”
Ms. Hennes, known to her admirers as Momma Donna, also taught art and world religion in New York public schools; performed spiritual “cleansings” at homes and offices; conducted custom-made rituals for births, retirements and other rites of passage; led a group of revelers called the Blessing Band in New York’s annual Village Halloween Parade; and wrote several books, including “Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles & Celebrations” (1996).
