Just noted a posting on the Espanol_101 email list about El Día de los Muertos and thought once again about the directions and activities of modern Hellenic polytheists.
I think there's an imbalance of emphasis when it comes to things like holidays in HP. People seem more into observing holidays from ancient Athens than in Halloween, Christmas and other holidays observed in modern cultures.
Am I suggesting that people not observe occasions held sacred by ancient people in Hellas? No.
However, I am coming right out and saying that it's not necessary to observe any of the ancient festivals. We uncover a lot of cool stuff in our studies of ancient cultures that we'd like to carry forward, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's lagniappe.
I personally live in the U.S.A. We have a wide range of holidays handed to us in terms of days off from work and a cultural expectation that we'll be spending some time with family & friends.
And we do, don't we? Not all of us, and not every time, but we basically do.
Most of us, however, don't have a lot of local Hellenic polytheist family & friends, so we don't use these occasions for big communal festivals. However, for the very same reason, most of us never have big communal festivals.
Heck, I'm considering a series of trips around the country just to go visit some HP people I've come to respect. Sannion, Kyrene, I look forward to raising the cup with y'all, and some of the rest of ya, too.
But I'm not thinking Let's schedule this around the Lesser Dionysia because I really just want to raise the cup and get some face time. It's far more likely that I'll be aiming for some three-day weekends, when I'll be able to fly without having to worry about how they'll survive in the office without me.
Let's consider some reform in reconstructionism, reclaiming the best of the past within a modern context. We just don't live in ancient Hellas, and that means more than just equality for women and avoidance of pederasty.