laura_seabrook | Canna Intrat today

Canna intrat (15 March) is the first of a series of celebrations held in Roman times related to Cybele and Attis, representing a cycle of death and rebirth.

The brotherhood of cannophori went into procession through the streets, carrying reeds cut from the banks of the Almo. This was the beginning of nine days of penitence when people abstained from bread, pomegranates, quinces, pork, and fish. Milk was mainly drunk instead.

In Western Society something of this fasting still survives in Christian prohibitions before Easter. In Islam Ramadan involves a month of fasting between sunrise and sunset. Fasting helps set an altered state of being - our attentions and focus become somewhat different for a time.

Likewise, this is the start of a series of contemplations about the rituals surrounding the commemoration of Attis's death and rebirth, and what it might mean to us today.