Crescent Shadows On-Line Newsletter of the Hudson Valley Pagan Network, Inc.

Did you know that Oktoberfest, that time when we drink lots of German beer, sing noisy songs, and indulge our hidden passions for polka and sauerbraten, is not a late Autumn festival at all? Rather it is a harvest festival. But in October? May I remind you that October was the eighth month of the year, back when there were only ten months that the Romans named after six gods before they lost touch with imagination and just numbered them [sept = seven, oct = eight, etc.]. Then a couple of emperors let their power get to their heads, and the months were shortened so two more could be inserted, which were then named after the Caesars Julius and Augustus. Anyway, my point is that Oktoberfest was a German harvest celebration, as is Lughnasadh in the Celtic tradition.

Harvest time, in the temperate northern latitudes, actually lasts for as long as six months. We start harvesting the fruits of our perennials sometime in late May or June when the local strawberries start showing up at the produce stands, as does the rhubarb [not to mention shearing the wool bearing beasts, and if we're very fortunate, a first haying]. Of the seeds planted this year, the first to ripen are our peas, maybe young lettuce, and winter wheat if we had the foresight to plant it last year [and if the Winter was cooperative]. Our corn, cereals, gourds, and apples may not be ready until early October. There are beans and grapes and cucumbers and tomatoes in between.

But there is also a time, in the heat of Summer, when the fields do not need constant attention; when we might take a chance to visit with friends at a distance; and perhaps sell some of the surplus goods created during the winter. This time is festival time. So haul those bales of wool, and bolts of cloth, and carved trinkets down to the marketplace. Take some time to sit for a bit: learn the news of your cousins, and exclaim over the growth of your nephews, maybe learn a new song or two. Negotiate a contract for feed corn and hay with the farmer who was flooded out earlier in the season. See if that brunette with the curls is still unattached and interested. Now is the time to do it. When we part, we will have traded away our extra and acquired the necessities for the cold season to follow, along with new stories to tell.

Harvest time is also an opportunity to clean out the barn and the loft of the old, to make room for storing the fresh goods of the season. It is a time to assess the success of your Spring efforts, and to assure that you have the space to safely store it all. Time to go through the old clobber and make room for the new.

I will you all a successful harvest of all your endeavors.

-Susan

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Last Updated: January 30, 2002
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