The Spirit of Spongecake Day and the Passage of Time
I'm 33 now. I've got silver hair coming in my hair and what beard I've managed to grow thus far. Today I got groceries and there are strawberries in my fridge. I was maybe 19 when I made that offering and in many respects that part of my life feels like it happened to someone else.
Not in the sense that I've turned away from it, but that key choices I made in my mid-20s allowed me to grow into who I am now. (And who I suspect I would have always been, had it not be for many factors in my personal life.) My circumstances have changed, but the past housing and food insecurity is never far from my mind.
When the offering was made, I certainly never expected that anyone would remember it after so long. Nor would I have believed that some people still mark it on their calendar as a low-effort, low-cost way to honor Loki with sweets and humor. I put the photo out there, but to was the Lokean community who decided what it was. You all, still, decide what it is.
As my circumstances have changed and I'm lucky enough to be able to, I plan on making a donation to a local food bank in my area on Spongecake Day. The amount depends on how much I'm able to save, but at least a few hundred. I say this not to pat myself on the back but to consider how Spongecake Day's meaning, for me, has grown as I have.
The core of the original offering was that I didn't have a lot of fresh food and offered what I had, even though I wanted to hoard it all for myself. Times, especially in the US where I live, are such that many families are struggling to get food or other things they need. For me, as an adult with some expendable income, Spongecake Day is more about paying it forward. Helping others. I strongly believe that if I have the ability to help, I am morally and ethically obligated to do so. And I believe this is what Loki might expect as well. I am, again, speaking for myself and my practice.
I see Spongecake Day as a day of humor, silliness, taking joy in the small things we can do and that no act of devotion is too small. I also see it as a reminder to care for others in our respective communities in any way we can. Especially in this current political and social climate, when government systems are unable to care for their people as they ought to.
Ultimately, the choice is not mine to decide what Spongecake Day is or will be in the future. Or if it indeed has a future. It's up to the Lokean community at large. It doesn't belong to me. It belongs to all of us.
