Feasting!

To follow up on last week's post about fasting, I thought I would use my last 'f' to cover its complement: feasting!  As a bit of an amateur 'kitchen witch', I really enjoy cooking; and I love celebrating even more - so our holidays, Pagan and not, are usually filled with food.  This has always been tradition in my family; baking Christmas cookies and huge Easter dinners - and now we make Solstice cookies and succulent Lughnasadh feasts!

One of my favorite things about Pagan holidays and their feasts is challenging myself to create seasonally appropriate meals.  For the Vernal Equinox this year, we had eggs benedict and asparagus with hollandaise sauce - lots of eggs, butter, and fresh asparagus, all in season right now!  And it was very much enjoyed.

There's something about the ritual of preparing and cooking a wonderful meal that is inherently magical; whether you're the ceremonial type or prefer to do it off-the-cuff, it's just like any other ritual.  I tend to be of the follow-the-recipe sort in the kitchen; and I usually use scripts in my ritual as well.  Feasts, for me, are just another ritual that I perform on the High Days - a more complicated recipe, more dishes to serve, and more people to feed; just like ritual on those days is more complicated, has more parts, and oftentimes involves other people not included in my daily devotionals.

Feasting brings a family and a community together in a way that very few other things can replicate.  There's something about good food and good company that sets anyone at ease.  I think this is a huge part of the concept of eating food as a 'grounding' action - not only does it make you more aware of your physical body, as well as give you a bit of energy after so much has been used up; but when sharing a meal with friends or family, you can't help but talk and joke and enjoy the physical presence of one another.

If you're not usually the feasting type, I recommend that you plan to prepare something special for your next big holiday.  Like fasting, it's certainly not for everyone, but there's so much that a special meal can add to a special day!