Dear Mom it is the festival season

Dear Mom it is the festival season

About the time September hits, my calendar fills up quickly. There are only 8 or 9 weekends in which I must fit a years worth of festivals. Some people have favorite events to go to, I have favorite months. With the possible exception of Saint Patrick’s Day season, a holiday that needs more than one day to properly celebrate, this is truly my favorite time of year. Thousands of years ago our ancestors would finish with the Autumn harvest and gather in conclaves to celebrate the good fortune of the lands bounty and have one last party before cloistering themselves over the winter. Today remnants of those early festivals still linger in small towns across the world and reflect our agrarian roots.

I didn’t truly get it when I was a kid. Though I remember a few events that seemed to wander into my busy childhood schedule around Halloween, I never really understood what they meant. I don’t recall if you were dragging me to these things because you thought they would be fun for kids or because there was some deeper meaning behind it.

Either way, today I still consider those early outings as the roots of my current obsession. I decorate the house with pumpkins and autumn leaves. Spiced candles fill the air with a feeling of warmth. Outside my marigolds give their last autumn colored blooms before falling asleep for the winter. How can anyone not be submersed in the season.

And so every weekend I pack my sweater and head off to the next adventure. Harvest festivals, pumpkin festivals, wine festivals, and Irish festivals. Yes, Irish festivals, combine my favorite festival season with my favorite music, you get a killer combination. Claire does not truly understand what is going on, but she falls asleep every Sunday blissfully exhausted. Many years from now I imagine she will take part in the calendar planning. Help me pack the picnic basket and carefully put all the wine glasses in their place so they will not break on the way.

4-6 festivals in 9 weeks is just about adequate. Any less and you are really slacking on the job. I look forward to every Autumn and a new event to add to the calendar. Some will become annual outings and some will just be that once to see what it was like and to say you did it. Both are memorable and deserving of the effort.

When I take the pumpkins down at the end of November to make room for the Christmas tree I can’t help but feel a tinge of longing for the next Autumn.

Love Mike