A Lewisian Year

[scrubjayspeaks]

Presented in partnership with the Lewisia Communications Board and Lewisia Public Library

Sponsored by The Historical Society

Hello, readers, listeners, and psychic osmosizers! Welcome to A Lewisian Year, a monthly showcase celebrating the rich culture here in the Lake Lewisia district. Each month, we'll highlight some seasonal events, local celebrations and interpretations of national and world holidays, and historical tidbits.

JANUARY

Competitive Divination

All the fizz has gone from your champagne and sparkling cider. The crackers and noisemakers have given their last, weary squawks in the wee hours of the morning. The waffles are just a full-bellied memory from brunch. The last parade float has trundled off over the horizon. The New Year did its best to rattle and sparkle its way into the world, but now we all begin to remember that it is winter, deep and cold and stretching long ahead of us.

As the afternoon of the first winds down, you settle down in some warm corner of your house with your tool of choice: tarot, perhaps, or runes, a crystal ball or a single candle flame. You might not use these things any other day of the year, but on the first, we all make our little predictions.

Or perhaps you brave the outside to visit the barroom of the Frog and Opal, where each table has been taken over by a fortune teller and their instruments of insight. These public demonstrations are entertaining, and everyone does their best not to argue about the correct interpretation of what they see. The bartender hands out a number of hangover cures and stomach soothers for visitors feeling a bit regretful about how they ended the last year.

Each person pulling cards or throwing bones makes notes of what they see and what they think it means. In the bar, they scratch them out on notepads and cocktail napkins and phone screens. In your home, you write yours down as well. How else, after all, will you prove you were right about the year to come?

The competition began, as so many things do, as a practical mechanism in the days when the margins for survival were so much slimmer for so many. Predictions about weather, luck, and relationships could mean the difference between death from starvation, misadventure, and conflict, and thriving with good crops, happy accidents, and peaceful communities. So people used whatever method they knew best. They warned anyone they cared about of the dangers ahead.

Eventually, those who proved most reliable held the title as an honor. Those who benefitted from someone's predictions offered thanks in the form of food and favors. And so in time, it became a competition, more friendly than essential, governed by the town and paying out community-supported prizes. There are now seventeen recognized categories of predictions, a division for novice prognosticators, and the usual small-town bickering over whether or not someone tampered with her rival's deck.

Of course, this isn't the sort of competition where results come in quickly and awards are handed out the same day. Most of the popular categories won't be assessed for at least six months. There are a few short-term predictions that get made, usually to do with New Year's resolutions, but these are generally considered a sucker's game.

New Year, New You

Unfortunately, all this enthusiasm for things to come, for newness, for change and reinvention, can leave some of us vulnerable. This is the season for body snatchers, doppelgängers, possessions, and other such life thieves. It's down to all those New Year's resolutions, I'm afraid. If you've suddenly changed what you eat, when you exercise, your fashion style, how often you conduct rituals, and which unseen entities you communicate with, how will anyone be able to say what is or isn't normal behavior for you? That's a perfect cover story for someone looking to hijack your life.

Of course, there are plenty of ways to protect yourself, depending on your priorities. If you want to avoid change at all costs, even good change, you can seek out a practitioner of your choice to seal you. The link between your body and mind will be hardened against any influence or intrusion. A very good option for those who are perfectly content with their existence, this is the safest, though also the priciest, choice. If you suspect you might eventually want to make changes in the future, we do recommend against the tattoo or scarification methods--stick to paint or ink.

If you're less concerned, working with a tighter budget, or just not ready to commit to your present state too firmly, charms are available at all the usual locations. These work in much the same way as seals, though they are less rigid, less permanent, and best paired with rigorous personal care of boundaries. Many of them double as stylish accessories, but you can always tuck them under clothing or into hair if you don't want to advertise your magical protections too publicly. These do run the risk of being stolen, lost, or damaged through daily wear, so be mindful. Limit yourself to a number of charms you can keep track of easily. Keep them in good condition with daily inspections. If you need to take them off at all, do it the same way every time, so putting them back on will come as second nature.

But maybe you really want to change something in your life. The most sensible choice, in that case, is to change just one thing. Don't try to overhaul your whole existence. Don't even try to completely change one aspect, be it diet or patron god or spending habits. Change only one small aspect: make a point to eat one additional vegetable at one meal a day, make a small secondary offering while at your altar, or trade one monthly expense for a cheaper (or free!) version. It will be much harder for any invasive force to take over your life unnoticed if you keep the changes focused, incremental, and sustainable.

And finally, if you really insist that everything in your life must change, and change now, consider the benefits of just letting another entity take over for you. Maybe possession wouldn't be so bad. Maybe a body snatcher will be willing to arrange a timeshare for control of your physical form. Maybe you and your doppelgänger can trade off days attending your job, saving you from burnout and the evils of boredom both. This option can be dangerous, but sufficiently dire circumstances might make it worthwhile. If possible, consider consulting a therapist, witch, or particularly worldly librarian before surrendering your life to occult forces.

W2C3

Do you like to knit, crochet, sew, or felt? Can you spin or weave for the people who do? Then this is the perfect time of year to take on a new project for the coming year. (Crafters always need one more project, right?)

Organized through Norma's Fabric Store, the Winter Wear Charity Craft Challenge (W2C3) is a chance to craft with a purpose. Many people need warm clothing and blankets to keep them safe and comfortable through the winter but don't have the resources to provide for themselves. Many crafters need something to work on but don't necessarily have any more room in their closets for just one more pompom beanie. So every January, crafters can sign up for the challenge to give their creativity an outlet that will help someone come next winter.

The challenge is designed to be open to anyone, regardless of skill level or quantity of free time to commit. Plenty of basic hats and scarves will be made in the coming year by elementary and high school students picking up a needle or hook for the first time. Veteran crafters can try out exotic new patterns and materials. Some people will make and turn in a single hat, some will craft several as palate cleansers between each of their personal projects, and some will spend all year churning out a dizzying (and very soft) mountain of accessories.

For those with a competitive streak, there are leaderboards tracking who has made the most, divided by item type and method of crafting. For those looking for a place to socialize, weekly crafting bees take place at Norma's and around town. For those who just want to craft in private and drop off the results, Norma's has a year-round donation area where everything will be kept until distribution in winter (dates vary based on the year's weather).

And for those who don't craft at all themselves, we will always need help with passing out the warm goodies to those in need.

This Month in History

January 9th, 1975, marked the first arrival to the Sea Mink Pastries shop of their beloved sourdough starter. While there had been other starters used in the bakery, and there are certainly older starters around who can boast continuous use, this starter was a local project. Then-owner of the Sea Mink, Pat Glenn, captured the wild yeast themself here in Lewisia. Some yeasts are easy to catch, tempted in by a simple bath of honey water and maybe some powdery-skinned fruits from a nearby tree.

This was not that kind of yeast.

Pat eventually recovered from the injuries they sustained during the battle of wills that followed between themself and the yeast they tracked down. (Their loaves did, going forward, have a distinctive shape to them from being shaped by a hand missing a couple of fingers, however.) And the yeast eventually took to tamed life well, forming a strong starter known for producing particularly lofty and open loaves. Care of the starter has passed to head baker and owner Leslie, so we can all still enjoy the products of it. Leslie has experimented with other starters with mixed success, but reports they must be stored well away from the original starter, which is, in their words, "jealous and needy and not above oozing out of its crock to intimidate newcomers."

That's a taste of what January has to offer us. See you next month, when February brings Founders' Day, a close to our yearly cycle, and a personal note.