Fairs and Festivals

Really big bonfire at night from a distance with people all around it

It is August here in Central Ohio, which means it is hot.  Many people are commenting on this, as if it had never happened before. Ironically it is COOLER than it was in June, which was definitely unusual, but become normal. If only we knew what was causing this? 

The reason people are noticing and commenting is that they are in general out "in it."  Summer in Ohio brings a ton of weekend gatherings, fairs, and festivals, and they increase to critical mass in the late Summer/early Fall.

I have spent nearly the entire summer (beginning Memorial Day weekend) bouncing between my house in suburbia, a tent in southeastern Ohio, or day-long weekend festivals at parks, or a small cabin in western NY.  The season will be over mid-October and I'll spend the rest of the year planning for 2025.

I am not sure why I love these so much.  Although if I can ramble for a few lines, I am going to consider that it touches something deep within, forgotten by most, but as I am not the only one at these events, maybe not as forgotten as I think.  

In my overly-romantic imagination of what life must have been line "back then," the era from which many neopagans draw our inspiration, I can imagine.  The crops all planted... the flocks in the summer fields... the bulk of the spring agricultural work is done and there's a bit of time where other things can be attended to.  That is definitely the energy I pick up on from our summer solstice celebration.  Fast forward to my life and the list of gatherings is, no mostly this order:

  •  Wellspring -- The annual meeting for our Druid order, ADF.
  •   Midwest Shaman's Conference -- small festival I've gone to for many years
  •   Summer Solstice festival at Wisteria.
  •   Comfest -- "Community Festival" for 3 days at Goodale Park
  •   Starwood -- weeklong celebration for art and music and spirit 44th year!
  •   Sirius Rising -- another weeklong celebration 30th year!
Then as the wheel turns toward late summer, we get the harvest. Ohio is historically agricultural, and has many fairs which bring to mind for me that romanticized earlier time. Closest for me is the Reynoldsburg Tomato Festival and Obetz Zucchini Festival. In the past, there was a Tomato Queen and a Zucchini Queen but looking at their pageant tabs it's been expanded to a whole royal court, not just for girls.  That only slightly plays into my vision of the distant past, and a woman chosen to personify the Goddess as Harvest.  (Now a Harvest Court!).  It is also time for the Ohio State Fair which also has shows and competitions for a variety of arts, crafts, and agricultural products, including livestock.  The last one of these for around here is the Circleville Pumpkin Show (which appears to still have a Miss Pumpkin pageant).  I can't always got all of these though in a perfect world I would.  


We also have locally the Dublin Irish Festival which is always the first weekend in August... just in time for Lughnasadh. It can't be a coincidence, as Lughnasadh was established as the funeral games and gathering for Lugh's foster mother.  (Our grove does a druid service on Sunday morning at the same time as the Catholics and Protestants do theirs.)  There are a zillion other "ethnic festivals," too: Greek festival, Italian festival, Oktoberfest, Festival Latino, Asian Festival, so many others...And yes, I've stopped tagging them.  You can Google them.

It all depends what you're interested in really.  

My festival season is coming to a close with our own Summerlands Festival in a week, and then ending with Autumn Fires.  The first time I stood in circle with over one hundred like-minded spiritual siblings was transformative.  You get to learn from others, maybe meet some elders (REALLY important, as per my earlier post). 

Whether its connecting to ancestry, recognizing the wheel of the year in your area, making spiritual connections, or all of the above, the summer fair and festival season can be experienced as another component of living our paganism.  As with everything it all goes back to intent!


  


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