Recons have a fascinating tendency to focus on minutia (which is one of those words that doesn't look right when you see how you've spelled it, but passes the dictionary.com test). This can be both great and positively miserable (maybe simultaneously, but misery has a way of making it hard to see greatness).

Some of what's great about it is that we can sometimes make really neat discoveries in the process of picking little crap apart, which can then be passed on to those who have lives.

Some of what's miserable about it is that one can fail to "see the forest for the trees" as the old saying goes.

For instance, I recently read a great deal of discussion about libation, which is a well-loved topic for me. (See the meaning of the term sponde for more on why.) In the discussion, I saw the libation process picked apart, but much more emphasis seemed to be placed on how a certain author had really screwed up by describing the libation process in a manner that didn't set well with some of the people involved in the discussion.

One simple fact of the matter is that libations (like many other facets of ancient Hellenic religious practice) were actually quite varied in detail depending on who was libating under what circumstances. To cite Burkert's Greek Religion (which may be over-hyped, but is still a darn good book), p. 71:

When Achilles sends Patroclus out to battle, he takes from his chest the cup from which he alone drinks, cleans it, washes his hands, and draws the wine; then, stepping into the court, he pours out the wine and, looking up to the sky, prays for the victory and safe return of his friend.

Libation could be quite simple. Period.

Elaborate rites were carried out, as were simple, spontaneous acts of devotion, prayer, desperation, etc.

But (and seriously check this out), even the ancient Hellenes practiced Reconstructionism! I kid you not, and cite Burkert again (p. 107):

The meal in the sanctuary may be marked as extraordinary when, in contrast to normal civilization, the ancient way of life is imitated: a bed of twigs, stibas, takes the place of seats or banqueting couches, and the house is replaced by an improvisational hut, skene -- misleadingly translated as tent. The twigs on which one sits assume a symbolic character which varies according to deity and festival: pine or willow for the Thesmophoria, and wild olive branches in Olympia.

So.....

Should we have Recon banquets in which we reconstruct the ancient Hellenic practice of reconstructing even more ancient practices?

And did any ancients ever come down hard on other ancients who used the wrong twigs for a given festival?

Handy Reference

Greek Religion, Walter Burkert, English translation copyright 1985 by Basil Blackwater Publisher and Harvard University Press, p. 72.