In Praise of Duct Tape

In Praise of Duct Tape May 27, 2016

My camp altar. With duct tape.
My camp altar. With duct tape.

About twenty years ago, some of my friends and I sat around making up redneck Pagan jokes:  “If your athame is a hunting knife…” (guilty).  “If you’ve ever poured libations using actual moonshine…”  (no comment). Et cetera.  A few years later I saw them floating around the Internet with some inferior additions and of course no attribution.  Here’s a new one:  “If you have ever uttered the words ‘ritual duct tape’….you might be a redneck Pagan.”

I am from north Georgia.  I once, for real, fixed my car by the side of the road using duct tape, well enough to get where I was going.  I believe that is a bonus question on the redneck qualifying exam. I’m also a Pagan.  And I am at Caldera Fest, held in north Georgia not too far from where I grew up.

Of course I have duct tape with me.

It’s useful stuff.  Need to attach a colorful tapestry to your camp awning, to magic your campsite up?  Duct tape.  Cover on your air mattress pump won’t stay on?  Duct tape.  Tarp has a hole in it?  Duct tape.  Tent pole cracked?  Duct tape.  Corset ripped?  Duct tape.

It also caused one of the volunteer coordinators to squee in delight, because this isn’t just any duct tape.  It’s peacock printed duct tape.  Which makes it Faeryrific as well.   Score!

Caldera Fest is lively and well-attended, with bands from all over the country and I heard one attendee say she had come from Iowa.  There are of course many many people I don’t recognize, but also quite a few I have known for decades.  It’s a good time.

And I am well-prepared.

 


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