| Non riesco a capire bene la parte in cui si parla del rituale Grange della sera precedente. Quella in cui si parla di un'altra persona che è stata persa.
Si tratta proprio dell'inizio della seconda parte dell'intervista.
Interview II
Krist Novoselic
October 15, 2008
Hughes: I was really impressed by the whole Grange ritual last night, and the fact that you were
really seriously involved – that this wasn’t anything that you got into on a whim. How long have
you been doing that?
Novoselic: I’ve been doing it since 2003,
so fi ve years. I came to a meeti ng just an
observer and I saw them doing the ritual. It
was very interesti ng, and I was taken aback
a litt le bit because it’s very unconventi onal
by modern standards. So I looked into it
and found out the history of ritual and how
the Grange got started. I learned that that
type of acti vity was more common in the 19th century.
Hughes: The ritual that you sti ll use here at the Grays River Grange?
Novoselic: Yeah, early 20th century. And as somebody who’s interested in politi cs and
parti cipati on, I recognized the Grange as an insti tuti on and a leader on the west end in
Wahkiakum County, and it was a good venue to get involved. In the modern world, people
think of secret societi es and they … they think of conspiracy theories or some kind of plot
to control the world, but it wasn’t like that at all. There was a very practi cal reason why the
Grange had closed meeti ngs … and that the ritual was secret because it was people coming
together, and they needed to have that level of protecti on. … They could potenti ally get
infi ltrated by railroad monopolies, or brokers, carpetbaggers – people like that. So the farmers,
through free associati on, the right of associati on, private associati on, came together. To
come to a meeti ng you needed to demonstrate that you were initi ated, so you could speak in
confi dence without somebody infi ltrati ng a meeti ng and working against the group’s interest.
So it’s a real practi cal thing. As society changed and the world changed, then that whole secret
aspect of the ritual really wasn’t practi cal any more. So at the Grays River Grange, I joke that we’re Orthodox Grangers because we keep the old traditi ons going. And if you listen (carefully)
the ritual is like lessons and it’s basically just about agriculture and about nature. Like when the
master is sworn in for a new term, part of the oath is that “Nature always looks forward and
never looks back.” Which is a really good way to look at things, especially someone like myself.
This is a contradicti on because I’m ti red of nostalgia, but we’re doing this 19th century ritual
because it’s important to kind of keep that line going. It’s like our predecessors built this hall for
us, and our predecessors built this organizati on for us, so in a lot of ways we keep that going. It’s
endearing, and it’s quaint. Some people think it’s too religious, or it’s not religious enough, or
it’s the wrong religion. And it doesn’t even necessarily have to be about religion. At all.
Hughes: I thought it was touching to say goodbye to someone you lost in a ritual.
Novoselic: Yeah, exactly. That was a special part. That was because our Grange sister passed
away. We had a special ceremony to remember her … So we drape the charter …
Hughes: I think you’ve really hit it on a metaphor of seasons, in agriculture, always moving
forward. So tell me what appeals to you about the Grange and what you’ve found out about the Grange and politi cs.
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