Harvest Festivals

[TeaDidikai]

So- half a dozen harvest festivals are taking place around now so I thought I would start a thread to do the following:

Wish everyone well for the season.

Ask which Harvest Festivals people celebrate- and how they became part of their path or tradition.

And since most harvest festivals include some kind of feast or meal to celebrate, ask what kind of menu folks intend to have.

Once we have things going I'll answer myself.

Happy Autumn everyone!  

[ShadowSharrow]

I celebrate 3 harvest festivals, one for each of the harvests.

The first is the harvest of grain and I will make, bake and eat bread.
The second is that of fruit and each year I help with the crop of apples from my mother's trees and will make apple tarts (pie) with cloves and cinnamon.
The third is the harvest of nuts and meat and part of that is to give back some of the earth's bounty to the earth.  

[patch99329]

On the 23rd I'll be celebrating harvest home/auntumn equinox ^_^

I have yet to decide on a menu...but I can assure you it invlolves home made blackberry crumble wink  

[Fiddlers Green]

Religious festivals aside, I honestly spend more celebrating the secular Thanksgiving... in the tradition of Turkey and Popcorn. domokun  

[TeaDidikai]

"Harvest" festivals are kind of odd. I usually celebrate them with friends because most of my friends come from Agricultural traditions.

I don't. However- I love a good party and I enjoy cooking for folks.

Here is the menu I have planned:

Tea’s Tea Feast

Casserole Game Roast scented with Szechwan tea and Mashed Potatoes

Green Salad with Caravan Toasted Hazel Nuts and a Matcha dressing

Tea Baked Apples

Chilled Mead with Oolong

Hot Tea

Chocolate Tart with Russian-styled tea


Sensing a theme? wink  

[patch99329]

Wow...so much tea!! biggrin

The tea baked apples sound yummy though. How are they made?  

[TheDisreputableDog]

I'm going to some kind of harvest ritual tomorrow night with some friends for the equinox. I'm not really sure what to expect, I don't know what tradition the couple who will be running the ritual (who I'm also friends with) are specifically part of--but will probably be some kind of eclectic thing. But should be community and good food, which will be fun.  

[TeaDidikai]

patch99329

Wow...so much tea!! biggrin

The tea baked apples sound yummy though. How are they made?

The appels themselves are baked having been cored with a bit of water in the pan.

They are served with Apple-Tea Jelly and a Tea Sorbet.

I'll post directions later.  

[PurpleDragonsGems]

My mother and I like to do a lot of baking and redecorating for fall. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, yam pie, sweet potato pie. The apartment smells so good this time of year.  

[Vertigo_Kiwi]

I don't really celebrate with any religious holiday, just the usual tradition of Thanksgiving.

This made me realize that I miss this one festival we have back home. It's called Barn Fest, and there's always pumpkins, home made bread and pies, soup, etc. And they have local people selling their crafts or handmade items. It was always a tradition of mine to go there every year. Damn.  

[TeaDidikai]

Vertigo_Kiwi

This made me realize that I miss this one festival we have back home. It's called Barn Fest, and there's always pumpkins, home made bread and pies, soup, etc. And they have local people selling their crafts or handmade items. It was always a tradition of mine to go there every year. Damn.

That sounds really awesome.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

Well, hanging out with people I love and new people to get to know, with fire and good food, was better than the actual ritual. For one thing, I need more practice at turning my world upside down (their tradition has sky = God and earth = Goddess), and the text they decided to use was full of kind of awkward verse.

But it was a good time.  

[patch99329]

Whee, today has been fun ^_^

This morning I did the ritual I wrote, I wasn't sure if it would 'flow' right; but it did!
Then I spent some time just sitting in the garden and mulling over my achievements of the past year, and what I'm thankful for.

The thing i'm looking forward to the most is my dinner!! I'm having roast lamb and harvest veggies followed by home made blackberry pie ^_^ Ah, I'm going to be fat in future xd  

[TeaDidikai]

TheDisreputableDog

Well, hanging out with people I love and new people to get to know, with fire and good food, was better than the actual ritual. For one thing, I need more practice at turning my world upside down (their tradition has sky = God and earth = Goddess), and the text they decided to use was full of kind of awkward verse.

But it was a good time.

May I ask what tradition they come from?  

[ShadowSharrow]

Bakeds stuffed apples for the win!.

I did them over the weekend and they were wonderfull.
Personally I don't think they need custard.