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Heavy metal meets nature worship at Cascadian Midsummer Festival in Pe Ell
The volunteer-led festival, now in its fourth year, draws more than 500 people to Pe Ell, Washington, for three days of music, workshops and fireside rituals built around Cascadian animism — with no cell reception in sight.
By Norah McLaughlin | FāVS News Reporter
PE ELL, Wash. — The Cascadian Midsummer Festival will celebrate the summer solstice June 19-21 in Pe Ell, Washington, with a volunteer-led weekend of heavy metal and folk music rooted in Cascadian animism.
This is the fourth year of the Cascadian Midsummer event, though the summer solstice festival has been around for 10 years, explained Ann Ohaodha, an organizer of the festival.
Animism is the worshiping of nature, which is rooted in the belief that everything has an essence or a soul, explained Ohaodha. Cascadian animism is focused specifically on the Cascade region.
In addition to the music and bands, there will be educational programming throughout the weekend.
Ilana Hamilton is a writer who performs as a storyteller at the festival and coordinates the lectures and workshops. Lectures focus on topics such as environmentalism, folklore and historical figures within animism and folklore, Ohaodha explained. The event also has workshops that teach practical skills like how to start a fire or art skills such as print making.
“We have a skill share area as well,” Ohaodha said. “That’s where anyone can come and just show how they do their craft or practical skills that are good to have.”
There is no cell reception at the festival meaning attendees and vendors are not able to use their phones for the three days, Hamilton explained.
“Which is, for me, incredibly refreshing and really gives me an opportunity to connect with other people, to connect to the land with spirits, with creativity,” she said.
Nathan Zilka, a blacksmith and jeweler, emphasized community as an important value to the festival. More 500 people will attend the festival, each from diverse communities and experiences, he said. One way this community is created is through a nightly, multidenominational fireside ritual.
“What we try to do with our rituals and with the spiritual element of what we do is to create experiences that are accessible to people from a wide variety of perspectives on spirituality, on philosophy, the divine or lack of divine,” Hamilton explained.
The festival celebrates inclusivity and is a safe place for attendees to be. The rituals are not required and anyone can choose to attend or not attend them, said Ohaodha.
“To sit around the fire in the evening and watch the camaraderie and companionship between people, and to hear from marginalized people and communities, how safe and included they feel and how important and meaningful the event is to people. That means the world to me,” Zilka said.
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