Pesci-Fest traces its beginnings from my tradition's Mabon Sabbat ritual. When we were on the surface, it was a harvest festival. Food, food and more food would grace the table, the justification being that everything anyone would want to eat through the next year should be on the table. The feast itself was the main ritual work. It was also a time we performed a ritual to call the pagans home, meant to help those seeking our path to find compatible and honest guides.
Shortly after we moved into the habitats, I discovered the polytheistic and pantheistic community was the second largest group by spiritual associations of all the habitats, the first being those who were secular. Some of the work done in the various groups was to harmonize our practices and beliefs with the Charter. It wasn't a massive undertaking, at least not for the pagans. Our spiritual beliefs were mainly in step with the Charter, and very few areas of practice required changes.
Some of our practices around this Sabbat fell away, though. We didn't have to call the pagans home, for instance. Many of them were already living in the habitats, and as time passed, there were always those who chose to embrace the philosophies we embodied since they were closely aligned with the Charter itself.
What began as a pagan tradition has changed over the years as the members of our extended family have grown. Many were descendants of the families present at those first Mabon feasts; some faded away, yet others were brought in through a trusted intimate, Kevin or myself. We felt closest to these people, who were guaranteed to treat me like a regular person.
To be fair, I had known most in this community since they were children; they had grown up knowing me in real life. As this group expanded outside of our tradition, the nature of the feast changed, though I insisted on keeping some of the older traditions.
Kevin had fallen in love with fishing in our first few days in the habitats. He found a feeling of peace on the water he hadn't expected, and whether he caught anything or not didn't always matter. He and his best friend Noodin had always gone to the lake the morning of the ritual to catch some fish and fry them as their contribution. As time passed, more people joined Kevin, and it became one of several pre-parties.
Some of our families were in a culinary co-op with restaurants in a few different sections, and a good number of us would rent one and create our feast contributions out of everyone's donation. The ones who didn't fish or cook contributed by setting up or tearing down. Everyone participated, and everyone enjoyed the day as an extended family.
Mabon, Practices Change
Alexandra Hanlon - 20625/01/22
Part of the Pesci Fest story.
Pesci-Fest traces its beginnings from my tradition's Mabon Sabbat ritual. When we were on the surface, it was a harvest festival. Food, food and more food would grace the table, the justification being that everything anyone would want to eat through the next year should be on the table. The feast itself was the main ritual work. It was also a time we performed a ritual to call the pagans home, meant to help those seeking our path to find compatible and honest guides.
Shortly after we moved into the habitats, I discovered the polytheistic and pantheistic community was the second largest group by spiritual associations of all the habitats, the first being those who were secular. Some of the work done in the various groups was to harmonize our practices and beliefs with the Charter. It wasn't a massive undertaking, at least not for the pagans. Our spiritual beliefs were mainly in step with the Charter, and very few areas of practice required changes.
Some of our practices around this Sabbat fell away, though. We didn't have to call the pagans home, for instance. Many of them were already living in the habitats, and as time passed, there were always those who chose to embrace the philosophies we embodied since they were closely aligned with the Charter itself.
What began as a pagan tradition has changed over the years as the members of our extended family have grown. Many were descendants of the families present at those first Mabon feasts; some faded away, yet others were brought in through a trusted intimate, Kevin or myself. We felt closest to these people, who were guaranteed to treat me like a regular person.
To be fair, I had known most in this community since they were children; they had grown up knowing me in real life. As this group expanded outside of our tradition, the nature of the feast changed, though I insisted on keeping some of the older traditions.
Kevin had fallen in love with fishing in our first few days in the habitats. He found a feeling of peace on the water he hadn't expected, and whether he caught anything or not didn't always matter. He and his best friend Noodin had always gone to the lake the morning of the ritual to catch some fish and fry them as their contribution. As time passed, more people joined Kevin, and it became one of several pre-parties.
Some of our families were in a culinary co-op with restaurants in a few different sections, and a good number of us would rent one and create our feast contributions out of everyone's donation. The ones who didn't fish or cook contributed by setting up or tearing down. Everyone participated, and everyone enjoyed the day as an extended family.