For most people, 7 is considered a lucky number. But in the World of HOOD, you can’t get better than 8. This is why the eighth day of the eighth month is a very special day in the Hycathic calendar.
But why 8, you ask? The magic in our story world stems from the moment when the goddess Hecate raised eight women from Tartarus. These eight women got some of Hecate’s magical gifts, though not all. The power to see the future was deemed too dangerous for mortals.
For followers of Hycathism, the day begins at 8 a.m. with a ceremony in their local Hycathic Temple. This is followed by an eight-hour period in which the faithful are required to perform one act representative of each of the Eight Pillars each hour. These pillars are both physical and metaphorical. Hycathic temple architecture contains eight central pillars, and those pillars are each associated both with a virtue and a geographic location based on the origin of the original women who became Nyridiae.
Following the day of observance, worshippers eat a small meal centred on the eight original locations of the Nyridiae. As the climate has changed and long-distance trade has dwindled because of it, more exotic foods have become harder to find in places like the Anglia Isle. For instance, if Spanish olives can’t be imported, olives from another place might have to be substituted to represent Spain. So these acts have become largely symbolic, but are still strictly observed among Hycathi and Hycathae. The day ends with a second Temple ceremony at 8 p.m.
Want to learn more about how the magic works in our story? Check out this interview with HOOD creator Anne de Korte!
Sound Off
If you were going to build your own Hecate Day meal, what foods would you want to include form these places? What kinds of rituals would you perform to mark things like “Resiliency” or “Benevolence?” Let us know in the comments!