THESE NEW OLD TRADITIONS

Time always passed... 13th or 14th century Runic Calendar found in Lapland.

It’s easy to think of the holidays as being few and far between. This perception, however, as we have seen here at These New Old Traditions, is basically false. Holidays are certainly special, but they are also plentiful. Days to mark and honor the passing year are constantly popping up—at least once a month—no matter what New Old Tradition a Reveler feels most aligned with.

Despite this abundance, These New Old Traditions is also aware that specific holidays are not the only opportunity we have to honor this special planet, and our special relationship to it. The question is: How in our crowded calendars and concrete landscapes can Revelers such as us remember to stay connected to our ordinary days?

To answer such a question, this Reveler will begin a series that will follow the chapters of Full Moon Feast by Jessica Prentice. This great book breaks the year down into thirteen moons and gives each one a name. These names were chosen from a multitude of traditions and describe the human relationship to the earth in that phase, generally (since Prentice is a cook) through the food that is eaten or processed during that time. Each chapter is concluded by a handful of moon-relevant recipes to help guide us through the year.

The book itself is elegant and warmly personal. Prentice uses both examples from her own experience, as well as the wisdom of the ages to describe each phase’s special place in the passing year. The chapters branch out to not only reflect on what’s in season, but also how what is eaten or processed connects to the inner struggles and celebrations we all experience in our daily life.

The book was the long term result of a monthly (or should I say “moon-ly”) newsletter that Prentice wrote and sent out with each new moon. In that same way, for the next thirteen moons I will take a chapter of Full Moon Feast and use it as a platform on which to reflect and inspire. Maybe if we’re lucky, I’ll have the presence of mind to do this on or around the passing new moons.

Of course, since Full Moon Feast is really a food book at heart, and since I am really a person who communicates through what comes from my kitchen, there will be a recipe; either something from the book, or something inspired by the moon we’re in.

So check back in a couple for the first moon I’ll post— the snow moon [correction: further thought tells me the moon I'll be posting next is in fact "The Moon of Long Nights"]. If you’d like to get the book to follow along, which I doubt you’ll regret, you can find it here from the publisher, here from American Book Exchange, here from the author herself, at your local library, or a good portion of it here on google books.