The Faery Crossing is not just a land of Fae, it also has a strong druidic grounding. From the first days of our realm, druidic influences have helped shape the land and its ways. Many of you will likely have attended one at some point or other – or maybe even participated. But how do they get put together?
Let’s take you on a little peek backstage.
Long before the weekend of the ritual, the planning for each ritual is meticulously written out in a notecard. Everything, from the dress suggestion to the entrance order, the attributes required and where everyone should stand by the various celebrants, down to each individual line spoken – all kept and updated each year. When a ritual rolls around, the notecard gets updated with that year’s celebrants, assigned neatly to each role.
A few weeks before a ritual, our resident MC, Qim, goes on the prowl to cast the required participants: old hands, but when possible also integrating new celebrants who have expressed interest in participating. Once that is done, she arranges a practice session, usually on the Sunday prior to the actual ritual. In this session, we run through and go over the specifics for that ritual. We usually skip the opening and closing bits, since they’re mostly the same for each ritual, unless there is a need to do them – for example, when a first-time celebrant feels that they need the practice. When it’s mainly the old hats, it is not unheard of for these practices to go completely off the rails with varying levels of chaos and mayhem – as it should be among self-respecting Fae.
Then, a week later, when the Sunday of the ritual arrives, the celebrants dress up in their required outfits (most of them have an outfit folder saved for each ritual by now), and take their positions as dictated by the notecard. Perhaps unbeknownst to you, the celebrants also have a means of private communication during the ritual in order to better coordinate things like scripted pauses, synchronized actions, and the sort. This channel is never used to joke around without the rest of you know. Honest.
When everyone is in position, Qim selects a sprinkler from the crowd – perhaps you’ve had the privilege – and hands them the required attributes with an explanation. And when all is ready, our venerable druid Julius steps forward and beings his familiar preamble, as he has done since the beginning of time – or at least 2007.
So next time you attend one of our rituals – or perhaps it will be your first time – you will know that we don’t just run this off willy nilly, but that each ritual is prepared with joy, care, and an appropriate amount of hilarity.
