Now that we’ve seen a bit of the High Sparrow in season 5, it got me thinking about the Faith of the Seven, especially in King’s Landing. In our own Middle Ages, the calendar was rife with feast days, saint’s days, and all manner of other religious holidays. The more I think about it, the more I bet something similar could be said of Westeros.
First off, the seven facets of the one are:
- Maiden – innocence and chastity
- Mother – fertility, compassion, mercy
- Warrior – strength, victory, courage
- Father – justice, protection
- Smith – fortitude, help with tasks
- Crone – wisdom, guidance
- Stranger – outcasts, death
From that, I could easily extrapolate a few things, such as the Mother’s festival day would likely be in the fall, to coincide with the harvest. Maiden’s Day, as we see in Feast for Crows, is a day when only maidens may enter the septs, to sing songs and drape flower garlands at the feet of the Maiden’s statue- I can see some similarities to May Day, there.
While the Stranger isn’t formally worshiped or sung to, I sense that the observances around him would be more a preventative measure, such as our lighting pumpkin lanterns to scare away ghouls on Halloween. Perhaps a few specially baked cakes, left out on the doorstep, to appease wandering spirits? Sugar skulls akin to those used for the Day of the Dead celebrations?
So how about it? Can you think of any festival foods that you’ve enjoyed that could dovetail in with the deities in Westeros? One thing that I love about the fanbase for Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire is that it’s so international. The stories resonate with people from all over the world, who bring to it their own interpretations and traditions. As such, I’d love to hear what regional specialties you enjoy on festival days; If we collect enough ideas, I will be able to devote several posts to making recipes for those special feast days!
In northern Italy, for all saints day, we eat “pane dei morti” also known as “ossa dei morti”, meaning bread or bones of the dead. It’s traditionally served to remember the dead, sometimes a piece is even “kept aside” for the dead. That’s something that could fit into a day of the stranger?
I was also thinking of star anise, which recalls the shape of the seven pointed star (although it has eight) .
HTH!
Oh! Those are both terrific ideas!
With memorial day weekend fast approaching, I can virtually smell the BBQ. What do we Americans do to celebrate memorial day (as well as Independence day?). We burn meat on the open flame. Though for the masses, this has regressed to pre-processed hamburgers and hot dogs and canned beer, those of us who are foodies go the extra mile. In my fraternity days (long ago) we held a pig roast for memorial day. Today, I honor THAT tradition by brining, dry rubbing, then long-smoking a pork shoulder (butt), and finishing it in a slow cooker broken up with sauce for a superb pulled pork served up with slaw on pretzel slider buns. I cannot think of an example in the books that celebrates the warrior in a holiday like ours but surely there must be. A holiday to honor the warrior, the soldier, the fallen heroes, with the roasted pig and/or smoked meats, bread you have to tear apart, and kegs of fresh summer ale.
I think yes, grilled meat and vegetables, mead, almost Viking style food
Maiden, Mother and Crone: Well, in India, we celebrate the navaratri (the nine days of the Goddess) twice a year, to give thanks for the rabi and kharif harvests. Generally, we offer the first fruits of the season. For example, for the spring navaratri (March-April) it would be mangoes, melons, watermelons and other fruits that we’ll eat in the summer. For the autumn festival (September-October) it will be oranges, apples, custard apples and other fruit that we’ll eat in the winter. We finish off with an offering of cooked food on the final day–garbanzo peas in a thick curry; a vegetable of spinach, pumpkin and zucchini; potatoes in a thin gravy; semolina halwa; rice cooked in milk–a thick, sweet pudding; fried bread… There is also a day where young pre-adolescent girls are honoured–their feet are washed, they are given a fancy veil and bangles, and invited to the feast I’ve just described. Perhaps you can do this for the maidens–the ritual and invitation to a feast.
For the mothers–when a woman announces her pregnancy, the first thing they do is have something called a god bharai (literally, filling her lap). She’ll be given all the foods that she should eat while pregnant and after delivering the baby. After the birth is over, she might be given panjiri ke laddoo (sweets made of flour, browned in ghee and mixed with sugar, with dried fruit in the centre, to help her heal from the agonies of labour.
Crones–well, most Indian men tend to listen (over-much) to their mothers. They always have someone around to massage their limbs or their backs.
Warrior and Smith: We celebrate the Dussehra festival, which in the bad old days, used to be the start of the campaign season in North India. It began with the offering of weapons to the Goddess, even with an animal sacrifice (as it still happens in Nepal). This would work very well in the ASOIAF world.
For the Smith, there is the Vishwakarma festival (Vishwakarma was the divine artificer or smith in Indian mythology), where anyone who uses tools in their trade (including those of us who use computers) bow down before them and honour them by tying a bit of red, sacred thread around the shafts (or wires) of such tools. Again, this would work well in ASOIAF.
The Stranger: The shraddh season comes just after Ganesh Chaturthi (late August-early September) and just before the autumn navaratri festival. It is at the time of shraddh that we honour our dead, again with a feast of all the things they loved to eat.
This is very cool to know, thank you for sharing! Might have to tie a string around my computer wires and pray to the Smith!
Hmm, for the maiden I think you are right about it being akin with May Day. I would say maybe dove or lamb would be served along with an assortment of edible flowers, dandelions, violets, elderberry blossoms, rose and maybe floral wines. The Smith, I see being akin to St. Nicholas’ feast day, some sweets, but overall being a very hearty almost heavy feast, heavy breads and something akin to runderlappen, Dutch spiced beef served on St. Nicholas’ feast day (patron saint of fishermen, smiths, bankers, tradesmen in general) .
The mother being a hen or a goose, (I lean more towards goose, personally) with stewed or fresh fruit and maybe a sweet cream sop with a light bread.
The Warrior. I can imagine being a simple one pot meal, like stir fry or crock pot.since a soldier’s life had to be practical and simplistic. Blood sausage, shabu shabu (Japanese recipe for thin slices of beef strips just warmed to being rare) so to remind the eater of the bloodshed and sacrifice of soldiers.The large pot or pan could be reminiscent of a soldier’s helm or shield. Which is what some soldiers used for cookware.
The mother is actually all about fertility and that is all about May Day, so the day is all about the richness and abundance of nature – its fruit (fruit tarts!) and honey cakes and the honey roasted chicken and wine. The Maiden is celebrated in Spring on the equinox; and that is simple, light foods. Soft boiled eggs.Light cakes decorated with fresh flowers. Honeyed milk. Watered wine. Iced mint tea. Leek and potato soup. The father is at the winter solstice; and his is a feast of savory foods. Its mulled, warm wines and meat from the larder (roast boar up a boar or whatever …large beast you have around). A salad of beets and cheese. Turnips soaked in butter.
The Crone is certainly celebrated at Samhain, not because of death, but because of the wisdom that comes at the passing of years and we gain from ancestors. This is the food at the end of the harvest and the food that you eat before it spoils. Cider and apple pies. Beef and potato stew to keep you warm. Breads. All sorts of breads.
The Smith is the mid-winter celebration when the signs of spring are just beginning. You celebrate him with dairy — it is what is available – cheese and yogurt and breads made of such. And rack of lamb; baked ham with cloves for a little warmth. And root vegetable mash. With lots of butter.
The Stranger is not celebrated, but you leave out offerings for Him as needed. Unless you are presumably in the House of Black and White and then…..um, Half Moon Cookies?
For the Maiden, how about Virgin’s Breasts? The little medieval cakes with the cherry “nipples”. I would think there would be plenty of mead for the Warrior, think Vikings!
For the Stranger,we have a special sweet dish called koliva in Orthodox churches.Made with many ingredients,mostly seeds such as boiled grain,almonds,walnuts,pomengranates and pine seeds to symbolize death and eternal life.And copious amounts of powdered sugar,mint,coriander, parsley and spices.They are often covered in powdered sugar and decorated with sugar-spun flowers and silver Jordan almonds.The final result has a sweet,fragrat,muesli-like result.
They are served mostly after memorial services by the deceased’s family in memory of the departed.While a very tasty dish,they are mostly sunned by the supersticious,being associated with ill-luck (nonsense really,the better for us who enjoy them!).
I can see it made on the feast day of the Stranger,with the ingredients adjusted according to the riches of the cook and distributed.
for more info:http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/greek-kolyva-koliva-wheat-berry-memorial-food-20746
Catholic Cuisine compiles foods from around the world for each of the Catholic saints’ feast days. These shields, for example, might be fun for Warrior’s Day. The recipes are also grouped by time-of-year, so if Maiden’s Day is around Spring, check the recipes for March, April, and May; if Mother’s Day is a harvest festival, check out the September, October, and November recipes.
As for when each day is, I agree with what someone posted on fb, that Warrior’s Day is probably akin to Veteran’s Day and Smith’s Day to Labor Day (neither of which have a particular time-of-year that is necessarily associated with them). I like the thought of Mother’s Day being a harvest festival and Maiden’s Day a springtime festival. I expect that Winter would be the time for Stranger’s Day or Crone’s Day—dark, foreboding, death and a reminder of death. Of course, Yule is a celebration of light/life, so maybe Father’s Day is sometime in the depths of Winter, to remind us to care for and protect one another.
We know that seasons last for years, so presumably, if there are feast days, they are on days during the year, rather than being seasonally dependent. But it’s unclear how months/weeks might work. Perhaps there are 7 days to a week, one for each of the Seven. Or perhaps there are only six days in a week, because the Stranger is intentionally ignored.
As a follower of the old gods, myself, though, I’ll content myself with taking the opportunity of guests in my house to celebrate our relationship as guest and host, and the values of generosity and hospitality—with wine and bread and salt :)
Argentina (at the south of South America) is a mixture of cultures in which most traditional festivities are either of Mediterranean-Christian origin or of aboriginal origin (Inca, Mapuche, Guaraní, among others). This mixed origin make me difficult to find too many similarities with the festivities from Westeros, which I agree with you, can be linked with northern European traditional festivities. However there are some dishes, which may be interesting to think about (may be to imagine festivities outside Westeros!).
From the north, associated to Inca culture, there is the celebration of Pachamama (in August, the second month of winter in the southern hemisphere). Pachamama is the personification of mother Earth, of fertility, growth and production. During this month, to thank Pachamama for the production of next spring or winter, people meet, prepare traditional foods like corn stew, meat cooked over coal, and fermented corn (like chicha) and both share and bury some of it in the soil to feed Pachamama. The matching problem here would be corn (the base of most stews and also of fermented chicha) but other cereal may apply and the celebration of harvest with fermented cereals shared with the soil may be applicable to the Mother.
From the south, in Patagonia, not only in Argentina but mostly in Chile, there is a stew combining assorted meat (even smoked meat), vegetables and assorted shellfish. The traditional way to cook this stew is in a hole in the earth and then is called ´curanto´, when you make a similar stew in a pot in an oven it is called ´pilmay´. Although the combination may sound weird the final result is absolutely amazing! This preparation is not associated to particular festivities but a celebration of meeting and a warm welcome to friends or relatives. It is possible that this preparation has Polynesian origins, as there are similar stews both in Easter Island (called umu), in New Zealand (hangi), and in Hawaii (kalua). I can imagine this kind of preparation as being part of celebrations in places like the Summer Isles or Ibben, or associated to the victories of the Warrior.
Finally, from the northern Italy immigrants there is a typical vegetables pie served in Easter around Argentina, when Christians are not supposed to eat meat: torta pascualina (or pasqualina). Its stuffing can be very simple, just chard season with garlic, nutmeg and oregano, or a mixture of chard and wild vegetables, with the only decoration of whole eggs within it (cooked as the pie is cooked in the oven). The delicacy about this pie is its pastry. In its origins it was made with layers of a pastry similar to filo pastry, which, the most skilled housewives would manage to use up to 33 very thin layers (remembering the 33 year of Christ when he died). I imagine this pie associated to the Smith as it requires extreme skill or to any festivity requiring a resemble of fasting, because the simplicity of flavours.
That sounds delicious! Now I want to visit Argentina for the celebration of Pachamama!!
I read about “curanto” in Isabel Allende’s cookbook/storybook “Afrodita”. Unfortunately I was fool enough to lend it to someone – first edition hardcover no less! I’ve yet to replace it but the lesson was learned.
I just wish I remembered the recipe she gave. It made me drool just reading the ingredient list.
I could definitely see the Maiden’s festival being a springtime holiday. My brain immediately went to St. Lucia buns as a food that would be cooked for that holiday.
For the Stranger, I would associate him with the deep winter. Especially in a place where winter lasts years, it must seem like you’re surrounded by death and springtime/life will never come. Rather than a feast, I agree that it would more likely be small offerings left to placate him and hopefully prevent him coming for you or your family. I also seem to recall there being traditions in which it’s bad luck to turn away a stranger at christmas/yule time, sometimes paired with the belief that said stranger could be a disguised god. Perhaps in Westeros there’s a particular kind of baked good kept on hand during the winter months (or maybe all the time) that’s given to any passing stranger who comes to your door. Something filling and nutritious, and maybe with something special and more precious like dried fruit and spices, as the symbol of respect for the Stranger.
For fertility, the Mother feast should be full of seeds and fruits. To represent innocence and the Maiden, how about eggs still in their shells, foods in protective crusts, and green (immature) fruits and vegetables? The stranger should get food that needs to be aged or pickled a long time, as I don’t think rotten food would be tasty or safe.
The Smith is Fortitude and help with tasks. Harvest is one of the busiest times of the year. I think The Smith would have a day of celebration maybe right before harvest begins – to bring luck/strength for the weeks to come.
I think Springtime would be the time of the Mother. Spring is all about new life. Plants grow, birds hatch, etc. Maybe an Easter-y sort of celebration.
Something light and fresh for the Maiden – a white cake or meringue with fresh peaches or berries. For the Mother, something incorporating pomegranates, ancient symbols of fertility because of the huge number of seeds, and also milk products, for obvious reasons, haha. A pomegranate trifle comes to mind. For the Father I see a hearty, special bread with nuts and raisins. Bread is symbolic in so many ways. The rich eat it, the poor demand it, and a society is just when everyone is able to get it.
Since my post failed to appear somehow…
One of the older meals that associates with orthodox easter is Pascha, a usually pyramid shaped mound made of quark, cream, eggs, spices, sugar, raisins, and decorated with the letters X. B. (christos voskres’sa – christ rose from the dead) on the side.
An obvious modification gives itself – a seven-sided form, each of the sides bearing a symbol of one of the gods, done in raisins or a thing associated with them. (say, a bit of an eggshell for the mother, a small pebble of coal for the smith , and the like)
Such would be a nice crown piece for the table when the feast of the Seven takes place.
If I were going to draw inspiration for a celebration honouring the Mother, I think I would look to the Gaelic Lughnasadh! Celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man on August 1st, midway between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, it marks the beginning of the harvest season.
According to Irish mythology, the god Lugh created the celebration as a funeral feast commemorating his mother, the goddess Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion clearing the lands of Ireland cultivation. (I’m sure you see the connection with Demeter here.) The grief felt by her loss is symbolized in the dying of vegetation and the reaping of the harvest, and honouring her sacrifice to feed mankind.
The occasion was marked by mountain scaling, visiting holy wells, athletic competitions, matchmaking, markets, parades, dancing, music, celebration of the arts, storytelling and family gatherings.
But the food! Traditionally a bull was sacrificed and feasted on. In Scotland, the first cut of corn or grain was given in tribute or baked into a Lunastain loaf to be given to your sweetheart, and bilberries were collected from the mountainside to make wine and pies. And “Clooties” — the Scottish dumpling — were left at wells as offerings. With the richness of the harvest season, I’m sure you’d not lack for creating a decadent, inspired, delicious spread!
And just for the fun of mentioning it: a part of the Lughnasadh celebration in Ireland is marked with a pilgrimage up Croagh Padraig, which apparently causes a large spike in cases of injury and hypothermia — called Reek Sunday ;)
According to Jewish tradition, God determines a person’s fate for the year on Rosh Hashanah and “seals” the verdict on Yom Kippur, which could match up with the Crone. Observant Jews with enough stamina fast on Yom Kippur as an act of repentance; the rest of us eat very little, or very plainly (i.e. unsalted crackers and water). That sounds like something a particularly devout follower of the Seven might do.
Sukkot is our harvest holiday, and fertility is a strong theme; it could suit the Mother. We traditionally eat kreplach (dumplings) on Sukkot, along with any fresh fruits and vegetables. We use a citron (like a lemon, but much larger) and date palm fronds for ceremonial purposes as well, so lemon- and date-based foods would do well.
Tu BiShvat is our environmental holiday, traditionally celebrated by planting trees, which seems a little more Maiden-like. Foods for this holiday are fruit- and nut-based. Anything that grows in Israel will do, in particular the Seven Species: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, dates, pomegranates, olives.
I would associate the Passover with the Smith, because of the hard labour the Hebrews were made to do in Egypt. You can take a cue from the items on the seder table: matzo, saltwater, hard-boiled eggs, parsley, shank bone (representing the sacrificial lamb), bitter herbs (often romaine lettuce or horseradish), and charoset (a paste made of apples, nuts, honey and wine). That last one is best for the Smith because it symbolizes the mortar used to make bricks, and it tastes good as a side dish with lamb.
A military-themed holiday is Lag B’Omer, traditionally celebrated by giving a boy his first haircut, playing with bows and arrows, and bonfires; roasted meat (not pork!) suits the Warrior.
A holiday for the Father is Shavuot, when the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites. We traditionally eat dairy foods and avoid meat (except for fish) to symbolize the new introduction of dietary laws. Cheesecake and cheese blintzes are especially popular.
As for the Stranger: We actually eat a LOT during most mourning periods, because guests are expected to bring food to a mourner’s house so they don’t have to cook. This usually ends up being dessert, so I would make a particularly rich dark chocolate torte. That may not seem very Stranger-like, but the Stranger’s followers find favour in darkness.