Last Research Site (Kind of)

Here are the rest of the pictures, and this is of my last research site. Or at least the last site at which I took pictures, as there are two after that.

note: I guess I have to divide this up into two updates...

This was in southeastern Pennsylvania, and much like northeastern Pennsylvania, almost everything was up or down a hill.  The "flat" land that was somewhat accessible to those with some limited mobility was off limits due to some storm damage. Other tenting sites had other issues with them, so I decided to take the remaining space in the "bunkhouse," which was  basically a bunk bed. I didn't get pictures, but they were sort of set up in 4-person cubicles.  Since I got there Monday before the actual event started, I mostly had it to myself until Friday.  There was NO air movement in there, though, so I went on a somewhat lengthy trek on Wednesday spanning Pennsylvania, Maryland, and finally a Walmart in West Virginia, in search of a battery operated fan. Thankfully, I found one.

Monday through Thursday was for those folks who wanted to be involved in the 'set up' for the main event Friday through Monday.  Much of  it was physical labor (which, I would have been all over two years ago), but instead I behaved and helped harvest lemon balm in the herb garden, pull weeds in the fire/drum circle, and fold programs.

I took way more pictures of the event than at the others. I was really astounded by the emphasis on community, that all such festivals have, but that I saw in evidence in a bunch of ways.  I wonder if it is just because it was the first time I had been there,  and that I knew absolutely no one there.

Anyway....

The glamor of field research continued...

So at many events there's a 'social hub' and here is the one for this event. They had a permit to sell mead they make there, in addition to coffee, tea, and other snacks when available.  To the left is a seating area for conversation. To the right is a shower house with showers equipped with a token system to control the water flow. Not as big an issue at the event, but at larger ones they've had a problem with people using too much water. The toilets are dual-flush, another water saving feature (and now I want one in my house!)

I was across the road and down a small hill (of course) from this.  In the shower house was the sign up sheet for volunteer work, and I was sort of amazed at first, how much it was filled in, and then also it seemed people actually showed up for what they signed up for.  There was a wide range of things to do.

The highlight of the event was adding a stone to the on-going stone circle.  This was done in the 'old fashioned' way, using rolling logs and straps and person-power to pull a VERY heavy stone (think 'tons') from the field where it was prepped (the first three-four days) and then to the circle.  

Note the hill...

Belated Updates (Site 4)

I got very much into the work of pre- and post-event prep and then getting ready for Spring Semester to start that I neglected to put this up.  Hopefully students were not too worried about the ax-murderer thing...

Sites 4 and 5 were both in Eastern Pennsylvania. In both cases I still brought all the camp gear (so a full car) BUT each spot also had meal plans to buy into so I only had to get snacks, and a few other things.

I'll take "Signs I Have Only Ever Seen at a PA rest stop for $100, Alex".  Seriously, what up, Pennsylvania?

Things to note about Eastern PA.  With a sample size of two, I feel that I can definitely say that all campgrounds in Eastern PA are built on land at a 45 degree angle.  Walking was fun (and I was glad to have the cane).  At both sites I was able to secure indoors lodging (one expected, one not) so carting the glamping stuff across the state turned out to be unnecessary.  That also means no additional shots of the same tent and set up in a different site. 

This guy was cute, though.

There was an interesting similarity about each event, and that was the extent to which intentional community was created for extended weekend.  That was not the focus of this sabbatical's research, but it's growing in my head as an area for future study and research.  There are some ethnographies of neo-Pagan festival life, but they are largely outdated (1990s-ish) so in an era of #metoo and opiate addiction, they should probably be revisited.

The first site was for an event that was mostly dedicated to the neo-Pagan religion of Asatru and similar designations (Northern traditionalist and Germanic/Norse/Scandinavian reconstructionist are other related terms).  Even so, this even was open to all.  It had a track of scholars to present their work, as this particular set of faiths places a high value on scholarship of the academic variety.  There was a marketplace where venders could sell their wares (as with other festivals), including SEVERAL vendors of mead, a honey wine that is used in Asatru ritual and social gatherings.  Mead is typically drunk out of a drinking horn that is shared and passed around, so there were sellers for those as well.

There was an organized children's program, as with other festivals, although as with others, children did their own thing too, running around in packs (not caring about the hilly terrain).  A brief period of difficulty occurred when the pump ran out and so there was no flushing happening overnight in either the lodge where I was staying or the cabins that each had their own bathroom.  There was a porto-potty in the field where the tents were, but that was way away from the lodge.  Most attendants, though, were pretty nonplussed about the whole thing, and it was repaired by mid-morning.

Two things stood out, in terms of community building.  First, there was an table in the merchant's area for a group called "Heathens Against Hate."  For reasons too complex to go into here, Asatru (who also tend to prefer "heathen" to "pagan") has had it's symbols and religion co-opted by white supremacists, (or whatever they're calling themselves today) and it's an on-going discussion inside heathenry.  The presence of this group at this location definitely is one of taking a stand against those elements.

The other thing was that members brought their own portable shrines, called a "ve" (vay) to set up a sacred area that was the site for rituals (called "blots" and pronounced "bloats") or individual meditations.  Folks had to declare their intention to bring one and if they wanted to host a blot, but basic set up, tear down, and maintenance was a community, rather than organizers, endeavor.  The final bonfire was, in part, processing offerings and godposts for each ve to the main fire.  These videos are me walking around the vestead (vay-stead).

I took two videos, but there are apparently too big to load :( If anyone knows how I can fix that, let me know, because I've got a really cool one from the next site.