While reading something online last year I saw a phrase, "undiscovered festival", which stuck with me out of context... This essay almost arrives there by accident, but sidesteps it by talking about "uncreated festivals" instead. But I read with extreme anticipation, to see if you would recreate that foundling textual nugget!
My parents, Wiccans, had an "initiation into manhood" for me when I hit puberty. I spent a night alone in the woods; members of my dad's men's group, who I had never met before, chanted over me and gave me gifts; and my family and closest friends (plus the men's group) sat in a circle and told me what they thought about me and what they appreciated about me. I was allowed to get a tattoo, which wasn't legal in California at my age, and my dad got the same one.
The participation of the men's group still seems ridiculous to me, but several people said things to me in the circle that still shape my relationships with them, and I value the tattoo a lot. It brought me a lot closer to my dad and at 15 gave me, insecure and fat, mostly interested in science fiction and with more friends online than in real life, a little more confidence. My little sisters were offered the same sort of ritual, and one took it, but the youngest turned it down, not wanting her first period announced to everyone (everyone being our family and old friends), which was a shame I think. Anyway I think it's a good idea to celebrate puberty somehow.
no subject
My parents, Wiccans, had an "initiation into manhood" for me when I hit puberty. I spent a night alone in the woods; members of my dad's men's group, who I had never met before, chanted over me and gave me gifts; and my family and closest friends (plus the men's group) sat in a circle and told me what they thought about me and what they appreciated about me. I was allowed to get a tattoo, which wasn't legal in California at my age, and my dad got the same one.
The participation of the men's group still seems ridiculous to me, but several people said things to me in the circle that still shape my relationships with them, and I value the tattoo a lot. It brought me a lot closer to my dad and at 15 gave me, insecure and fat, mostly interested in science fiction and with more friends online than in real life, a little more confidence. My little sisters were offered the same sort of ritual, and one took it, but the youngest turned it down, not wanting her first period announced to everyone (everyone being our family and old friends), which was a shame I think. Anyway I think it's a good idea to celebrate puberty somehow.