Amelia Beavis-Harrison

This piece is a part of the 2010 Challenge series.

In the year 9999, New Year is no longer a celebration, but has become once again a ritual undertaken not to bring in the New Year but to keep the world safe for another. The world has become engulfed in water, following years of speculation, limited landmass remains. The population of the world has been reduced to a fraction of what it was, and following the collapse of economic and technological structures civilisations returned to a more basic religious way of life, promoted from ancient tablets said to be from Babylonian times that tell of a mortal fisherman who despite being offered immortality remained amongst the world of men. This man is known as Adapa one of the Seven Sages, and is the protector of the world as it stands. Before the technological lights went out forever an Internet video and sound track was found, it promoted the same words as the tablets, and its words remained with the world.

Each passing of the moon is recognised as it was in times gone by, and as time changes from one year to the next the myth ritual of Adapa is played out. No longer recognising the Gregorian calendar, New Year has become in a state of flux, it is initiated when citizens most need it as the season change and light turns to dark. Elements of the old ways remain and are adapted in the Adapa ritual, a symbol of changing currents and future paths.