Harvest Fest 2021

Matt got a used truck. Here go matt and steven on their way to Harvest fest 2021, is this the 3rd or 4th year? The Delta variant of covid19 is raging at this point. Everyone was doubled vaxxed and we tested before we left.

i think most people had to leave after work so we arrived well after dark. Can't remember if we set up tents in the dark or slept in the house the first night.

mouse trap

We tried something new this year:

The Zozobra (also known as "Old Man Gloom") is a giant marionette effigy constructed of wood, wire and cotton cloth that is built and burned prior to the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. It stands 50 feet (15 m) high.

As its name suggests, it embodies gloom and anxiety; by burning it, people destroy the worries and troubles of the previous year in the flames.^[1] Anyone with an excess of gloom is encouraged to write down the nature of their gloom on a slip of paper and leave it in the "gloom box" found in City of Santa Fe Visitors' Centers in the weeks leading up to the burn. Participants can also add documents on the day of the burning, up until 8 pm MT, at a "gloom tent" in the venue where they can add to the marionette's stuffing. Legal papers, divorce documents, mortgage pay-offs, parking tickets and even a wedding dress –– all have found their way into Zozobra to go up in smoke.^{[citation needed]} At the festival, glooms from the gloom box are placed at Zozobra's feet to be burned alongside it.

The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924, when artist William Howard Shuster, Jr. burned the first Zozobra in his backyard at a party for his friends and fellow artists.^[2] "Zozobra" is a Spanish word for anxiety, worry, or sinking and was chosen by Shuster and newspaper editor E. Dana Johnson after a trip they made to Mexico. It is said that the idea was influenced by Mexican cartonería (papier-mâché sculpture), specifically the effigies exploded during the burning of Judas that takes place on Holy Saturday or New Year's Eve, as a way of ridding oneself or one's community of evil.

2nd yr pressing our own apples, no emergency room visits this year

steven bought this paper skull on etsy

prepping the burning grounds

could the ritual and time it took to lay all this out lead us to feel cleansed?

everyone's loaded their bad gloom thing to burn into our Zozobra

a trip to Lain's cider mill for cider donuts and see how they make cider

a trip to Cider creek to sample their wares

i remember it was very cold for the amount of fall clothing we were wearing

Micela's remote addition to the box

we all stood around and each person said what they put in the box and any other thoughts they had. Jen and I put in some mortgage papers because it was the absolute worst experience we'd had thus far in the pandemic leading to many fights and so much stress. Steven arguably needed this the most and he was the most into this new Zozobra tradition. He lost his long time very serious relationship and also his Dad. Our dad put in a piece of paper saying "Pain", he's been in a lot of physical pain. I can't remember what everyone else put in but it was heartwarming to see your friends and family around the fire opening up and sharing the worst things in their lives and we're all there to listen and share our own. If it didn't lead to a cathartic stone being lifted off your back, if anything, the process of doing the Zozobra tradition brought us all together and comforted our souls for a little while as we all sat around the fire chatting and drinking. 10 out of 10 stars would recommend.

the skull burned for a long time red hot which made for great photos

and then we went and partied in the barn until late in the morning with Karaoke and dancing and carrying on. Steven said he did feel better after the burning of Zozobra, maybe there is something to excising your demons via mindfulness, and channeling all that thought and reminiscing into a physical object, and of course the human fascination and cleansing feeling of fire.