Calendar of the Sun 29 Halegmonath Day of Hestia Tamia Colour: Brown Element: Fire Altar: Like all rituals to Hestia, this ritual takes place in the kitchen and not the altar room. A fire should be lit at the main hearth, and fresh-baked bread spread upon the table. The tables should be laid with the preserved jars and cans and bottles of the harvest. Offerings: Have in visitors, and feed them. Feed the hungry. Daily Meal: Any correct food, eaten with outsiders. Invocation to Hestia Tamia Call: Hail, Hestia Tamia, Lady of the Pantry! Response: Hail, Keeper of the Storehouse! Call: Hail, Lady who counts each grain That each of your charges may eat, That there be no waste and no greed, That there be no inequality in hunger. Response: We must sacrifice to Hestia! Call: This is the saying of our ancestors, But they did not mean food thrown Into flames, or rivers; this is not the way Of the Lady of the Storehouse. To sacrifice to Hestia is to put that food In the bellies of others than yourselves. To sacrifice to Hestia is to bring in strangers From the cold and the wet, and offer them food And drink, no matter how little you have. To sacrifice to Hestia is to remember the Law Of Hospitality, and how the Gods all love that Law, And that the stranger most soiled and tattered May be a vessel of the Gods in disguise. Response: We must sacrifice to Hestia! Call: For the counting of one's resources Is a holy act, sacred to Hestia Tamia And her never-emptying pantry. May our own pantry be as generous, Lady Whose face is never shown As she would rather be known by her deeds And her gentle presence. Hail Hestia Tamia! Response: Hail Hestia Tamia! (The rest of the afternoon until Hesperis is spent tallying the stores in honour of Hestia.)
[source:paganbookofhours.org]
[Image:HESTIA by Brian Froud (unsigned)