Dafydd's Blog
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First of all, the Elf Fantasy Fair is a major annual event taking place in The Netherlands. For me and Willow Mist, it was the first time we would attend it, but for Torc it wasn't the first time.

Torc was so kind to invite us to stay over at his place, so we could go together to the EFF (short for Elf Fantasy Fair) as it would be a bit far to travel back and forth on one day both Saturday and Sunday. When we arrived on Friday evening, Torc announced a surprise to me: I would not only perform a role in the Opening and Closing Ritual of EFF on Sunday, but also on Saturday because they were one person short!

At first I was wondering if that was such a good idea. If I performed the Sunday one, I would be able to see how the Saturday one went first. But participating in the ritual on both Saturday and Sunday went perfectly well, and looking back at it afterwards, I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate in both!

On Saturday, I was still a bit nervous, trying to do everything right and not forget anything, but on Sunday I felt far more confident in my role, and what's more, it felt very natural to do it too.

The opening rite took place in the morning, around 11, and the evening one around 6. I was the Druid of the West, and sprinkled water from a bowl on the ground and circle, while walking around the circle, followed by doing the same in front of everyone, and allow them to touch the water and put it on their forehead if they wished so. Then I sprinkled more on the ground, making a spiral to the center of the circle.

It was the first time for me also, that I chanted the Awen with other people. While at first it felt a bit unusual because I was unfamiliar with it, it soon felt natural as well. According to Willow Mist, my voice was the lowest of everyone, and was quite steady. I may have some primitive singing talents after all

Basically, the second time I performed the ceremony (on Sunday that is) it felt entirely natural for me. I was not the least bit nervous, and I did it as if I would have done it a dozen times before. Maybe that's also because now I knew perfectly without a doubt what I was supposed to do, but what was also important to me that the people that I performed the ceremony together with, were not complete strangers any more. On saturday, the only two people I knew in the ceremony were Torc and Ivy (Torc's wife), and the others were at that time strangers to me, as I had not seen them ever before.

These people belong to Torc's Druid group known as the "Order of the Aspen". Most of those people stayed for the entire day, and some of them also returned on Sunday. Having spoken with them a bit, made it easier to perform a ceremony together with them. They were all kind people, I must add, and I'm glad to have had a chance to meet them.

One of the most interesting people I met there, though, was called John, a man who follows the Asatru tradition (the Germanic/Nordic tradition with gods such as Odin and Thor). I really enjoyed talking with him, and I feel he has many interesting things to say to people. One thing that probably connects us (although I don't remember telling him that) is that one of the main gods I pray to is also Odin. Yes, it may sound strange for a follower of the Druid path, and it is a leftover from my first teacher Myrrdin who would turn to Odin as well. At that time, I was an atheist, and slowly found my way to the Gods, and Odin was the first one who answered me, which is probably why. John was also a member of the "Pagan Council" I took part in.

But before I go into detail about the Pagan Council, let me draw a more detailed description of the Fair itself!

In the morning, we took the metro to the train station, and then the train. In the train the first traces of the Fair were already becoming visible, and when we stepped out of the train, it seemed that the Fair already had begun there and then. We went outside the station, where busses were waiting to transport people to the EFF.

We saw people dressed up in all kind of characters or creatures. What we saw in the bus was only a beginning. The Fair was full of them... knights, kings, queen, princesses, faeries, elves, angels, devils, dragons, monks, witches, wizards, sorcerers, Vikings, as well as figures such as from Lord of the Rings, their typical elves, Men of the South, even a knight from Gondor in full armour, and of course... there was us, Druids It was not uncommon there to get compliments by strangers on your clothing, or random people wanting to take a picture of you, and I also got compliments on my new staff.

The Fair took place on the domain of a castle. It was a large and beautiful castle, with a large tract of land around it, with much nature. The Fair was spread over the domain, and it took about an hour or so, or even longer, to walk through it all. Activities went on all over the place, music performances of several bands, re-enactments, and so on. There were tons of shops selling all kinds of great stuff, alot of fantasy material and clothing of course, but alot more than that... They had great clothing of all kinds (Torc bought a beautiful green cape, and I wanted to buy one on Sunday too but they were sold out on that), swords, bows & arrows, drinking horns and stands, mead (!!!, bags, stone figures, books, and everything else you can remotely think of!

On Saturday, the weather was cold however. We estimate it was about 12?C which is pretty cold to stand there in Druid robes rather than in a warm jacket. Sunday, on the other hand, the sun finally appeared warming us all up to a nice temperature, only in the evening it started to rain a little bit.

The cold weather on Saturday did not work in our favour for the Pagan Council. We were with about 7 people if I remember correctly, and we were all shakingly freezing up there. It took place in a tent, but people that sat there listening to us were no less cold, which caused several people to leave halfway because it was getting too cold to sit down that long without moving.

At the Pagan Council, Torc was the discussion leader. I represented Druidry and NOD / Grove of Dana College, Ivy represented Druidry and The Druid Network / Order of the Aspen, John represented Asatru, a guy named Merlin represented Wicca, and two women represented Reclaiming (if you don't know what that is, look it up, it's still a new concept but you'll find info about it on the net). Due to the cold and the lack of input of the people that were listening, there wasn't much of a debate getting started. It went well nevertheless, but we all hoped to get a bit more out of it.

On Sunday, on the other hand, the weather was perfect: not too cold, and at around 4 (when the council started) it began to rain, which was another reason for people to flee into a tent like ours! This time, the tent was PACKED full, so that there weren't even enough chairs! Surely there must have been over a 100 people in there!

Debate was easy enough (especially between the Reclaiming women and everyone else of the team lol), and on Sunday there was also a woman representing solitary Witchcraft. I introduced myself as being from Belgium ("small country, so only one representative" ) and mentioned that NOD offers courses in our college for free (many people don't know that there are also "free" courses out there, and not just the expensive OBOD ones). The theme on both days was "Paganism and freedom" and among the subjects we discussed around that, was the freedom to celebrate your tradition's holidays on the days you want, rather than be forced to stay home from work on the Christian holidays, the responsibility that comes with freedom of choice, the freedom to adapt your tradition to your own needs. I pointed out here that even if we don't get a day off on a feast day of our tradition, we can still weave its celebration in our lives. I compared this with the people of like 2000 years ago, where they had to continue their daily tasks too, such as tending the field, hunting for food, and still managed to include their festivals into their daily life. I also pointed out that there are as many paths in a tradition as there are people who follow it. There are, of course, common things that everyone within one tradition shares (if you follow Druidry, you're not going to dump your trash in nature or set a forest on fire) but it is also a personal relation ship you have with your tradition, and you have your own path that you set upon within this tradition. A balance between globalisation and individualism is important. Then I also pointed out, when the subject went to education and training, that it is important not to just accept blindly everything that is being told to you. With an example of what we saw happening before (some among us will know what I refer to, but that's not what this is about, and I did not mention names), I explained that it can happen that someone wants to use his or her power to impose his or her views upon their student, rather than letting the student develop him/herself. Questioning everything you are being taught is important, otherwise you will learn but not understand. There were many other things being said, but I don't remember it all right now.

After the council was finished, I was approached by a few people from the audience and talked with them. They were nice people, and took a pamphlet of NOD with them. I hope that maybe I can welcome them in NOD one day too! We also put several pamphlets at the general info tables too, and it seems many of them were taken by people. This doesn't mean there will be an immediate wave of response, these things take time, but slowly the word about NOD gets out there, and maybe in one or two years from now, the results will become extremely clear. I've been doing that before with other organisations, and seen its inescapable effect. One just needs to be patient.

There were also several pictures made, both during the rituals and during both pagan councils, and as soon as they're developped I'll be posting them in this topic!

Sunday evening after the pagan council (which we performed in the rain) we went back to Torc's home, and talked for awhile, until we realized it was getting late, and it turned out we had missed our last train to Belgium. There was no other option than staying another night there (it would seem Torc and Ivy did not want us to leave ) and the next morning we left early (we had to get up at 5.30am) to get home sometime after 10am. At 12, I already had to be at work again so we couldn't leave any later than that. Next time I think I'll just take the entire day off after the Fair, and luckily I had taken off the morning at least because I'd never have been able to get there on time at 9am otherwise!

So what leaves me to do now, is to tell you what we all took home. First of all (and very important) a LARGE drinking horn i intend to use for rites in the future. John (of Asatru) did a small Germanic rite with us on Saturday evening after the closing ritual, in where he filled his horn with mead, we stood in a circle, he spoke a few words to the Gods, and we passed the horn clockwise, drinking from it and saying a blessing. At one point I toasted to Odin, Frigga and Ceridwen, after which I drank from the horn and the mead splashed for a moment. Torc said laughingly "beware who you mention" but I don't think it was coincidence (that doesn't exist anyway ) and it may have been a response from these Gods, that they are still here with me. And I know they are. We continued to do this circling of the horns (at one point with two different horns! until the horns were almost empty, after which John poured the last bit of Mead on the ground, to give thanks and a return to the Earth.

I also got a holder for the horn, so we can put it on the table or the ground or anywhere at all, which is easy for use during rituals, and also a brown leather pouch with Celtic design on it which I can hang on my rope around the waist when wearing my druid robes, making it easy for me to carry things with me as there are no pockets in my robes. We also got a hand-made "Celtic Green Man" figure in stone, two small candle holders that you can put into something (such as a piece of wood, which is exactly what I intend to use it for), and... mead! Oh how great it was to taste mead again as it had been a long time for me! Truly the nectar of the Gods! I actually didn't buy the bottle at the EFF, but straight from Torc who still had a stock of those bottles at home (go figure ) and he added a second bottle of another kind of Mead to it as a gift!

We had little sleep for the entire weekend (maybe 15 hours or so in three nights) and we were dead tired when we arrived home at last, and I really didn't feel like going to work that afternoon although I had to, but it was all very much worth it!

So if you can make it to the Elf Fantasy Fair of next year, I'd say: don't miss out on it! Just do it!

[b]The saturday opening ceremony[/b]




[b]The Pagan Council[/b]