Useful idea!

[jenett]

Had a nice discussion with L2 last night, in which we did a lot of "Let's cover stuff you probably know at least half of, to make sure we're on the same page about what we're calling it".

One of the things we talked about, as part of some of my theories about community and what sustains it, was that I've got a really strong preference for yeast bread and wine or beer or mead for the cakes and ale portion of ritual - the idea being that they're foods that are specifically transformed by living beings.

And she noted that wouldn't that mean that some kind of yogurt or equivalent drink (kefir, for example) be a good option for someone who can't drink alcohol?

Which I think is brillant. Not that it's necessarily suitable for all uses, but it solves a particular problem very nicely.

(I'll note that I feel strongly that the bread and wine be part of the offering/food consumed by the priestess, if at all possible: I'm cheerfully willing to do juice, fruit, etc. to handle food allergies for everyone else. But this idea might make that a lot easier to do.)

Comments

[janetmiles]

The group with which I celebrate Samhain every year uses different foods/drinks for cakes and ale depending on the details of the ritual, but never anything with alcohol. Often the ale is NA beer.

There's also the option for anyone in the ritual to tip out a bit onto the ground as an offering rather than drinking -- whether it's because they don't drink even NA beer, or because they have a cold and don't want to share, or for any other reason.

(This is mentioned only as a "this is how we/they do it", not with any implication that you should do the same thing.)

[jenett]

The alternates I've used (and which one depends on setting - pouring out on the floor is a great option outside, not so good inside)

- Having an alternate chalice (usually some sort of high-end and seasonal fruit juice - for Samhain, I'd likely do pomegranate juice, for example.)

- Having someone raise the chalice in blessing, and pass it back (useful if it's a one-time thing like a cold.)

- Pouring a little out in libation (if outside)

I plan for alternates or just plain don't use alcohol at public rituals (where I feel a lot less strongly about the 'transformed food' part of the equation than I do for trad-specific work)

For coven work, I expect to know about allergies and related issues, and I'm glad to provide alternates or figure out a workable solution based on specifics - but since it's a small number of people, that's pretty easy.

The one that drove me batty was a seeker with my prior group a few years ago who somehow managed to ignore the three times we said "Here's what we normally do, tell us in advance if you have allergies or need to avoid either bread or wine, so we can have something else on hand." (Both in terms of adding whatever the substitute is to the grocery list, and making sure both chalices are clean and ready to go.)

She showed up, and casually dropped in, about 3 minutes before ritual, that she was gluten-intolerant and couldn't drink alcohol. I sort of blinked and said, very mildly. "Oh, goodness. That's why we ask for this info earlier on, so we can have things ready to go. This close to ritual, it's impossible for us to make any changes to what we've got available. Here's what you can do instead. [Raise the chalice, etc.]" Because really, not my job to scramble and see if there's an apple in the house at that point.

It felt really weird, but also established a desire in me to make sure the people I work with are responsible about communicating their basic needs/things they can't do for themselves, given reasonable advance notice that it'll be useful.