Cult of the Sacred Drunken Wookiee

Hello to everyone! We start the series of 10 articles about unusual geek culture expressions; each of those will have its own fandom on our site (feel free to join!). Let’s begin with the Drunken Wookiee Cult.

In the summer of 2010 in New Orleans, Ryan Ballard and Bret Powers decided to spend time in one of the local bars. They joked, had fun and remembered interesting stories. Both were fans of science fiction, and at some point they started to discuss the last three episodes of Star Wars and fascinating intergalactic battles… In the midst of their little party, both men began to imagine what kind of ideology may be created the field of their favorite franchise. That’s it (but it’s still not exactly) there was a cult of Drunken Wookiee.

From Joke to Reality

Jokes aside, the cult was actually registered as a religious organization, thereby freeing itself from the tax burden. And the especially devoted adepts got the authority to conduct sacred rituals (weddings, funerals, etc.). Such followers also receive the right to march next to the imperial throne during the annual Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.

Annual Parade

The participants of the above-mentioned event call themselves the intergalactic team of Chewbaccus (the supreme deity of the Drunken Wookiee cult) and they have a talisman which is a filled up with various alcoholic drinks seven-foot minibar in the form of R2D2. The parade itself takes place in the format of a costume march, during which the giant throne of the Wookiee is carried along the Orléans streets. Preparing for this procession, the participants come up with the most incredible parody characters and try to embody them most effectively.

“We worship Chewbacchus. We made him up. We pulled him from the ether of existence. We scooped him out of the zeitgeist and manifest him here on Earth for our own pleasure.”

Both during the parade and in everyday life, the followers of the Drunken Wookiee cult (about 500 people in the world) propagandize the idle and unruly way of life. It is not for nothing that the main goal of the adepts sounds like this:

“Saving The Galaxy One Drunken Nerd at a Time.”

Symbols and holy relics of the Drunken Wookiee Cult:

• Ballard is the high priest of the cult. He calls himself (according to the stylistics of the Star Wars) a Space Commander.
• Chewbacchus the main deity whose image absorbed the features of the Han Solo’s second pilot Chewbacca and Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and fun.
• Lifetime emperor is Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy. In 2012, he was officially invited to a costume parade and, as befits a real emperor, rode the streets of New Orleans, sitting on a giant throne.
• The title of Chewbacchus’s Queen was awarded to actress Cynthia Dale Scott, who played in the films Invasion of the Earth and Aliens. She not only starred from 1985 to 1991 in fantasy movies, but was born in New Orleans.
• Chewlliminate is the main symbol of Chewbacchus religion. It looks like a furry one-eyed pyramid. Under the banner with Chewlliminate, the cult of Drunken Wookiee is going to spread all over the world until he covers it completely.
• The famous Martian temple, depicted in the NASA image, is recognized by followers as nothing but a Wookiee temple.

“Pray for his wooliness!”

How to join the cult?

If you have $42 in your pocket, and you completely share the views and principles of the followers of the cult, then go ahead. By the way, the membership fee is chosen not accidentally, because everyone who wants to join this religion should answer this question: “What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?” (spoiler: this is 42)!

Thank you for your attention and stay tuned!