Grauballe Man Bog Body   Pic: Archaeology.org

Over the past centuries, remains of many hundreds of people–men, women, and children–have come to light during peat cutting activities in northwestern Europe, especially in Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark. These are the “bog bodies.” The individual bog bodies show a great degree of variation in their state of preservation, from skeletons, to well-preserved complete bodies, to isolated heads and limbs. T

They range in date from 8000 B.C. to the early medieval period. Most date from the centuries around the beginning of our era. We do not know exactly how many bog bodies have been found — many have disappeared since their discovery.

Many people find it hard to imagine that the dark brown bog bodies were once human beings of flesh and blood who lived in timber houses, brought up children, looked after their cattle, grew crops, made clothes, prepared meals, and manufactured tools. Facial reconstructions and remains of their hair and clothing give us an idea of how they looked during life.

No one knows how these people ended up in the bogs, but it seems that most of the bodies are not the remains of unlucky people who fell in after losing their way. According to classical authors, the Roman Iron Age people of northern Europe offered human sacrifices and executed people as punishment for crimes or perceived social imperfections. Many of those found in the bogs died violent deaths.

Wijnand van der Sanden, a government archaeologist for Drenthe Province, the Netherlands, is one of the foremost authorities on bog bodies. His book, Through Nature to Eternity: The Bog People of Northwest Europe, was published as an accompaniment to an exhibition he put together in 1996 at Silkeborg Museum, in Silkeborg, Denmark. The exhibition was the first time almost all of the bog bodies of northwestern Europe were gathered together in one place. Many of the following bog bodies were featured in the exhibition.

For more information about the Bog discoveries and the Bog people themselves go to the Archaeology.org website.

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The National Trust has built a replica of an Iron Age log boat found in waters near Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour reports the BBC. The original boat, discovered in 1964, was preserved using sugar and is now on display at Poole Museum. Volunteers cut an oak on the island and hollowed it out using Iron Age tools, as a “tribute” to the 1960s find. BBC South Today’s Tom Hepworth was invited to co-pilot the boat with head ranger Reuben Hawkwood in Iron Age costume as the Trust marked 50 years of ownership of Brownsea Island.

History has been recreated with a replica of the Poole Harbour Iron Age log boat built on Brownsea Island, reports the Daily Echo. The original was dredged from the deep and is on display at Poole Museum and National Trust rangers decided to copy it from an oak tree blown over in a storm. During Archaeology Week last year, visitors to the island were invited to lend a hand using an adze to carve the fallen tree into a hollowed out log boat.

The Head Ranger and BBC presenter sail the boat

Reuben Hawkswood, head ranger said:

We cut a section about 15 feet long, which is about half the length of the original log boat and set about making it into a canoe with just that one piece of timber. The visitors loved seeing it and lending a hand. It is not often that people get the chance to make something as historic as this.

Reuben Hawkwood, Brownsea head ranger, (rear) with presenter Tom Hepworth Pic: Bournemouth Echo

A chainsaw was used to remove some larger areas of the timber, to speed up the process, however a traditional adze was used for all the shaping and detail work. Staff, volunteers and visitors lent a hand and it took two weeks to complete.

The original log boat was dredged from the main channel under 26ft of water, east of Brownsea in August 1964. It is made from oak with the whole 33ft dug out from a single tree trunk.

The 300 BC design would have been used by Iron Age man to travel around the harbour. While still being dried out for display, it was visited by Countryfile presenter John Craven.

It is a very simple design but it certainly works.

said Reuben of the replica.

The paddles were carved out of two pieces of timber cut from the same tree as the boat. It was launched with the help of BBC TV presenter Tom Hepworth, clad in replica Iron Age clothing borrowed from the Ancient Technology Centre at Cranborne.

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Bird bone flute from the Geißenklösterle Pic: Science Fair

Chances are – they probably did as new discoveries and research reveal. Science Fairreports that flutes go back at least 42,000 years, longer ago than previously reported, conclude archaeologists looking at the likely era of the first modern human occupation of Europe.In an upcoming report in the Journal of Human Evolution, led by carbon dating expert Thomas Higham of the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford, experts reanalyzed Stone-Age artifacts from Geißenklösterle cave in southwestern Germany.

The “Aurignacian” artifacts found at the cave site have long been associated with modern humans, rather than our Neandertal cousins who populated Europe for hundreds of thousands of years before dying out around 30,000 years ago. Geißenklösterle cave lies in the “former Danube Valley through which the Ach River flows today,” notes the study. And its artifacts have been central to debates about when early modern humans first moved into Europe.

That’s too bad, because earlier radiocarbon dates of items from the cave seem to have been erroneous, the team reports, ones that made the era look more recent (by about 2,000 to 3,000 years) than it really was:

These dates fueled an extensive debate on the chronology of the earliest European Aurignacian and the integrity of the archaeological sequence at the site, which remained unresolved for many years.

says the study.

Reanalyzing the dates, the artifacts suggest that early modern humans migrated into Germany around 42,000 years ago, moving up the Danube Vally. Together with a 41,000 year-old tooth found in England, and similar artifacts found in Italy, the evidence suggests people had moved into Europe by around 45,000 years ago, moving into the region near the cave during a cold spell in Europe’s climate that lasted a few thousand years (see Q & A below).And those folks likely played music, as shown by a swan bone flute and and mammoth bone flute dating to 42,000 years ago among the artifacts (first found in the 1970′s but erroneously dated to around 37,000 years ago).

Mammoth bone flute from the Geißenklösterle Pic: Science Fair

The study concludes:

…the region can be viewed as one of the key areas in which a variety of cultural innovations, including figurative art, mythical images, and musical instruments, are first documented. These dates are consistent with the Danube Valley serving as an important corridor for the movement of people and ideas.

USA TODAY asked Higham a few questions about the results, by email:

Q: What is the mechanism for modern human migration northward during a cold climate phase. Were they pursuing reindeer or the like?

A: Yes, we find that in some periods of the last Ice Age there are modern humans in Europe that are subsisting almost exclusively upon cold adapted animals like reindeer. At Abri Pataud in France 97% of the bones excavated were butchered reindeer bone. I think what happens is that hunters are positioning themselves with respect to herds of animals and planning to be where these animals are migrating or moving to. This is a classic cold adapted way of life in this period. Generally speaking we would think that under conditions of extreme climatic lows, such as the Heinrich event 4 extreme period around 39000 years ago, that human populations might contract southwards to less cold locations. We know this happened during the peak of the Last Glacial Maximum for example. It is interesting that in this period we still find early moderns in Europe, subsisting upon a restricted range of cold fauna.

Q: How old is music then as a technology, if flutes were possessions of immigrants to Europe ~40,000 years ago?

A: It’s a very good question. We just don’t know. The alternatives are that this behaviour was either brought into Europe by incoming moderns, or developed there when they arrived. The problem is that we have virtually no other evidence for this behaviour archaeologically to be able to comment more confidently. There are other musical instruments like these, for example at Isturitz in the French Pyrenees, but whether these are the same age is not known. There are later examples, from the Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian periods, but from this period, nothing else. It seems unlikely that we have the oldest examples. The likelihood is that this behaviour is older, but by how much is a guess.

Q. What is the basis for the disconnect between Neanderthal and Aurignacian cultures? Have early modern human remains vs. Neandertal ones been found in burials at sites with these tools of this culture?

A: That’s right. Our assessment that the Aurignacian is an anatomically modern industry is based on the absence of Neanderthal remains in archaeological horizons with the Aurignacian and the presence of modern human remains in some sites of the industry. These are mostly smaller items such as teeth, but this is the prevailing view amongst specialists. The Aurignacian is the signature of modern humans.

A 2002 study that reconstructed the swan bone flute concluded that it likely played a series of C, D, F and B notes, “loud and clear.”

Personal Note

It’s fascinating to observe that over the years as we’ve been watching the progress of scientific thought about history, mainly via Archaeology, the validity of carbon dating as a form of exact dating has been called into question time and time again. Further; each time that it has been called into question, the dates that we thought fixed previous events or periods stretch further and further back into history. I think that fairly soon we are going to have to review our perspective on global history and bring scientific disciplines together to obtain a far more accurate picture of our past than we have at present.

There. Rant over

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Originally posted 2012-06-19 08:00:55. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Antonine Wall Pic: Daily Mail

Archeologists’s 10 year study uncovers 120 mile defence system built in AD 70′s to keep out the Northern Tribes reports the Daily Mail. It is the largest monument from the ancient era in northern Europe, but Hadrian’s Wall in fact has an older and more northern brother. Archaeologists have been carrying out research into a huge late fist century AD defence system, which stretches 120 miles across Scotland.A total of 14 forts and several fortlets, which formed part of a defensive network built in the AD 70s, have so far been investigated over the past decade by the team, led by Dr Birgitta Hoffmann and Dr David Wolliscroft, both of the University of Liverpool.

The structure is not believed to be a continuous wall or ditch, but instead consist of 20 forts, a dozen fortlets and up to 30 watchtowers in total, the BBC History Magazine has reported.

The network, which is thought to have run from Montrose or Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen, on the North Sea coast to the Firth or Clyde, was built some 50 years before Hadrian’s Wall, and is an extra 20 years older than Antonine Wall.

The team, who have carried out surveys of seven of the largest forts over the last five years, are hunting for the missing fortlets and towers. The forts are believed to have been manned by more troops than previously thought and it is also believed many were cavalry units.

Built by the Romans against Caledonian Tribes

Hadrian’s Wall (pictured) is the largest monument from the ancient era in northern Europe Pic: Daily Mail

The BBC has reported the defensive line was built by the Romans in an attempt to keep hold of the land they had invaded in around 69 or 70 Ad from hostile northern Caledonian tribes.It also thought however that the fortress protected the friendly lowland tribes from cattle-raiders, fostering good relations which led to large civilian settlements being set up near the forts. According to the BBC, these settlements could have been made up of merchants, craftsmen and possibly girlfriends of the troops.

Although the Romans in Scotland had good relations with many of the locals, they did have tensions with the northern Caledonian tribes, which is thought to have eventually erupted into major conflict in AD 83 or 84.

It is thought the two sides clashed at the battle of ‘Mons Graupis’, with up to 30,000 men fighting on either side. The precise location of the battle is still unknown, however it is possible the research along the Scottish fortress, abandoned by the Romans in about AD 87, could lead to its discovery.

According to the Hadrian’s Wall Trust, a chief function of the wall was probably frontier control, where the army enforced the regulations which determined access to the empire. It is believed people could only enter the empire at certain points and would have been forced to travel unarmed and under military escort to markets or other specified places. It is also believed to have helped to prevent raiding.

It was believed to have been the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain. The Antonine Wall, however, is the lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident. As well as being a strong military fortification, it is believed the wall featured a number of gates which would have served as customs posts.

It is the largest monument from the ancient era in northern Europe and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2315871/Hadrians-Wall-bigger-older-Scottish-brother-Archaeologistss-10-year-study-uncovers-120-mile-defence-built-AD-70s-northern-tribes.html#ixzz2UDC6O2Qh

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The Scottish Wildcat Pic: Peter Cairns, Scottish Wildcats

Most of the lesser complex animals, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and reptiles probably have a worldview along the lines of ‘it just is’ and accept whatever comes along – go with the flow. But once you consider the relatively higher and more complex animals, like birds and mammals, then brain complexity becomes such that to a greater or lesser degree, intelligence and the ability to think and figure things out has to be taken into consideration.

For those of you who have companion animals, or even those of you who have just watched animals at a distance, you may have wondered how those animals view and perhaps even think about life, the universe and everything. That is, each animal must have some sort of personal worldview; a perspective or point of view probably forever beyond our understanding – usually but not always.

I’m picking on cats in this particular case because I’ve owned cats nearly all my life. This essay could just as easily have been dogs or horses or some other domesticated mammal.

Can we Identify with Cats?

So what are cats? Can we identify with them? Can they identify with us? Well, domesticated cats are playful; curious; adaptable; selfish; they dream; they like variety though they can also be creatures of habit; they can ‘think’ things through and make decisions; they have a vocal language and a body language; they display emotions; they have memory and therefore somewhat a sense of history; they have the same sensory apparatus as we have; they have their own likes and dislikes whether it be food; a place to sleep, where they want or don’t want to be scratched or rubbed or petted; and, in short each cat has their own very unique personality. Cats are certainly very self-centred, perhaps a bit more so than typical adult humans, but certainly akin to human infants and toddlers whose worldview is very self-centred with a near 24/7 gimmie, gimmie, gimmie; I want, I want, I want. Cats, at least those intersecting with humans have a gimmie/I want aspect to them, and like infants/toddlers the ‘pester’ factor can often reach extremes. In short, cats really seem to be mini albeit furry versions of humans, especially infants/toddlers. But, how close might that version really be?

For starters, and perhaps like all animals, the cat probably has a worldview something akin to it being the centre of things – the be-all-and-end-all – and that the entire environment the cat finds itself in is there to provide for all the cat’s requirements. From the domestic cat’s point of view, the world owes it a living! How else could the cat view things? One’s self perceptions tend to revolve around ‘I am the centre of the universe’ because you are most intimately bound up in your worldview with yourself and not as intimately with anything else. Therefore, anything else, in a self-centred worldview must be subservient. Of course the cat often finds out the hard way that parts of that external reality have differing opinions. That never seems to shift the cat’s worldview however that it is ‘top dog’* and deserves all the best that comes its way – which might not be all the ‘best’ that nature could provide but the cat doesn’t know that.

Cats must have a world-view of ‘Supreme Being’ or ‘Rank has its Privileges’

Cats certainly have no comprehension, perhaps like toddlers, of being in the way, underfoot, in danger of being trodden on or sat upon, while helping themselves to whatever piece of household geography suits their fancy. One could conclude from their selfish (from our point of view) behaviour, their worldview must be one of ‘supreme being’ and ‘rank has its privileges’, and such a worldview will persist at least until such time as their tail gets stepped on or they get tossed out of the easy chair! They still probably see themselves as supreme beings – it’s their worldview of you that’s now somewhat changed.

The average head of the household and cat owner is probably somewhat of the opinion or has the rationale that ‘I pay the bills, therefore I call the shots and what I say goes’! Cats can probably understand ‘head of the household’ in that in cat society, as in all animal societies, all cats are not equal – there is a hierarchy and one cat alone will be ‘top dog’ as it were. But there’s nothing in a cat’s worldview that corresponds to money or bills or economics or finance. Everything is a free lunch, be it sunshine or the electric/gas/wood heater you, the owner, pay for. Even if the cat goes outside and catches and eats a mouse, it’s still as free a lunch as far as the cat is concerned as the food you put in its food bowl. So that bit about ‘I’m the boss because I pay the bills’ has no meaning or significance to the cat since the concept of ‘bills’ is foreign.

Cats have no mythology about shopping. The post Xmas sales and weekly specials at the supermarket are alien concepts. So is that nearly supreme abstraction to humans – time. Birthdays are a non-event with no realization when they occur and with no relevance in any event. Ditto all those other special points in time like holidays we humans are obsessed with. Cats don’t make a habit of staying up late on New Years Eve. It’s of no consequence. Weekends are no different than weekdays.

Cat Shopping! Pic: MyCatSite Supplies

Do Cats Believe in an after-life?

Equally the cat has apparently no worldview of tomorrow or of the future (though it has a memory of the past). It doesn’t save for a rainy day. I’ve never observed a cat hide away a few of its dry cat food pellets for a future emergency or a midnight snack. A cat is very ‘now’ oriented. A cat probably has no concept of death, far less an afterlife. I’ve always tended to have two cats at a time on the theoretical grounds they have companionship when I’m not around. As such, one cat will finally get to go to that great ‘litter box in the sky’ and as such the surviving cat (for a while at least) will be without its companion feline ‘friend’. I’ve never noticed however any real change in the behaviour of the surviving cat. The demise and removal of the other animal has apparently all the relevance of my tossing an empty can into the recycling bin. Now if I tossed out the cat’s favourite easy chair that would probably cause more of a reaction!

It’s difficult to teach a cat anything that isn’t already hardwired into its little grey cells. I mean you don’t tend to have guard cats, seeing-eye cats, or cats that sit up, stop on command at the corner, beg, and play fetch, etc. when their human owners say so. The cat’s worldview is quite foreign to such concepts, though there’s little difference between a cat’s IQ and a dog’s IQ. Maybe that’s why the saying ‘dogs have masters; cats have slaves’!

So those are several significant differences between the worldview mythologies of the cat relative to humans (or even dogs, who, are well known to ‘grieve’ upon the death of a fellow companion dog or of their owner. If I died, my cat’s loyalty would shift quick-smart to the next human who fed it).

Do Cats Dream and Ponder?

British Blue Shorthair Cat Dreaming Pic: British Blue Shorthair

I noted above that cats dream and why not. I judge this because often when they are sound asleep I frequently notice their paws and mouths twitching as if in response to something going on inside their head. I assume it’s not some abstraction that occupies this assumed dream state. It’s probably related to visions of chasing and eating fat mice and plump flightless birds! There’s no way of telling for sure, but that’s what I suspect. If they dream, they dream practical cat-related things.

A Cat is ALWAYS on the Wrong Side of the Door!

I’ve never gotten the impression that a cat ponders anything at anytime but practical matters that have a direct bearing on it in the here and right now. An obvious example is that any cat always finds itself on the wrong side of a door, and you are expected to correct that state of affairs as often as is necessary – which is very often indeed. No wonder people install cat flaps! Anyway, things like philosophy and religion and the arts and mathematics and anything abstract not only isn’t considered and immediately dismissed, the cat probably can’t even conceive of such things in order for them to be dismissed as of no relevance to the cat’s worldview. There’s no creativity in their little grey cells whatever. I very much doubt whether any cat has pondered whether or not it has free will. My cats don’t respond to cat art, like the pictures of cats on calendars. Music soothes the savage beast but with one minor exception all my cats have been oblivious to whatever type of music CD I’m playing, be it classical or jazz, country & western or film scores; vocal or instrumental. That one exception is that I once had a cat that would react to whistling within a song that emanated from the speakers. Still, cats probably therefore never have to endure that annoying experience of having an irritating song play endlessly, over and over and over again inside their head!

If the cats were of a human frame of mind, they might conceive of something like: In the beginning the great cat deity, lets name it Bastet (also spelled Bast, Baast, Ubasti and Baset) after the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, created not only the domestic feline, but all that’s part and parcel of their world. In the beginning Bastet created the ever pristine litter box; the ever full food and water bowls, and lots of birds and mice for felines to chase, catch and snack on. That’s of course according to the mythology of the cat, if the cat had a human’s imagination. Well actually, not. No cat has imagined any self-contained mythology about the origin and evolution of cats. If cats have a worldview mythology outside of the concepts of self and now, then it probably centres on what strange companions humans are. And I’m 99% sure that while such human activities might be fascinating, they are equally incomprehensible.

Bastet, Egyptian Goddess Pic: MyCatSite Supplies

Translated, whatever mythology our domestic feline companions come up with that explains to their satisfaction their worldview, it will bear little resemblance to actual human activities on behalf of the animal, like the concept of money to pay for the goods and services it receives. The cats have no conception of livestock (slaughtered as pet food), of biological evolution (that provided the birds and mice and the abilities of the cat to chase, catch and snack on them), of the infrastructure that gets them their fresh water (and other goodies) that ends up as the end product in their water bowls, etc.

So while I have no idea what worldview mythology my cats have (and they probably aren’t the exact same – each cat’s worldview will be in part unique) it’s wrong.

Speculations on the Worldview of a Cat

However, we can speculate; take scenarios that are part and parcel of their world, natural or otherwise, and try to figure out how they see and interpret things through their eyes.

So what goes through a cat’s mind when it’s not immediately concerned with me; now – when it’s not in immediate need of catering to various biological requirements and functions? The cat is just sitting, wide awake, alert, observing, but what is it thinking? Does it have to be deep in thought at all? Probably not I suspect. In fact, it’s more likely as not they are observing just for the sake of observing – always on the lookout for something to chase and eat (that’s probably just hardwired into their brain), or for something that might chase and eat them.

I mean my cats are interested in birds; I’m interested in birds too – but for totally different reasons. On the other hand, my cats are interested in a clean litter box, but what goes through their minds when every time they go to the litter box it’s pristine, even though it wasn’t in that condition a little while back for obvious reasons? Do they associate that ‘it wasn’t then but now it is pristine’ phenomenon with a cat deity or with me or neither? Cat food appears on demand in bowls they eat out of, yet they have no comprehension of the chain of events between manufacture, distribution, the need for money to purchase, transport, open and pour into those bowls that food. So how do they account for the food that somehow magically appears before them? Do they have a food bowl mythology? Or, perhaps it is a phenomena that just is, and they think no more about it than a fish ponders the nature of the water it swims in. For some reason I find it very hard to picture my cats deep in thought wondering about all those whys and wherefores associated with the food they consume.

Well we have some idea what a cat’s worldview mythology is (me; now), and isn’t (nothing that’s abstract) but you, the owner, aren’t an abstraction. How do you fit in to your animal’s mythology?

How do we fit into the Feline Mythology?

Cats: Ignoring Humans for thousands of years Pic: Cheezburger.com

Cats must have a field day with respect to inventing a mythology that accounts for the strange habits of those creatures they share their environment with – humans. For example, my cats see me getting dressed every morning – I’m putting on the fur. Since cats don’t need to dress, this behaviour must be really weird to them. Ditto making the bed or washing the dishes. The cats must be totally freaked out by my habit of deliberately getting wet via a daily shower or bath. What activity could repulse a cat more than that? Yuck!

How do cats explain the dwelling they reside in along with all the stuff it contains? I know where it all comes from, but how do they account for it all? Do they even bother to try to account for it? Part of that all is my personal computer (PC). They see me typing away on this PC but I’m sure they have no comprehension of what this PC device is or why I’m pecking away on it instead of paying attention to them. When I go out of the house, shopping say or off to the club for a few cold beers, do they wonder where and why? Do they worry that I might not come back, because if I don’t they will find themselves in a pretty pickle. Or, is the fact I’m away of no interest and no consequence and causes no speculation? Since they don’t seem agitated when I leave, I suspect they have no comprehension of the possibility that I might not return, being hit by the proverbial bus instead.

So, do my cats develop a point of view, a worldview mythology to account for birds (a natural part of their environment), litter boxes (not so natural), and PC’s (totally unnatural)? I suspect they don’t. These things just are and don’t require any mythological interpretation to otherwise explain them.

Cats like to lie and stretch out in and soak up the warmth of the Sun. How do they account for sunshine and this warmth since presumably they know nothing of stellar astrophysics, nuclear fusion, photons, etc.? Might it be, if it be at all, that our cats conclude that in the beginning that great cat deity Bastet created the Sun to give pleasure and warmth to them, but, Bastet hides the Sun at regular intervals (at night) so as not to totally spoil us cats? Probably not I suspect. The warmth of the Sun probably just is (like the water is to the fish) – in fact they might not even make the connection between the Sun, sunshine, and the warmth that gives them.

Conclusions & Summary: So what is a domestic cat’s worldview mythology? Well, if the cat could speak, it might say something like this: “It’s all about me; it’s all about now; everything else just is and if it doesn’t affect me now, it’s not relevant.” The more I think about it, the more I draw a parallel between a cat being an eternal toddler (me; now; everything else just is, albeit interesting and worthy of exploring), but at least without the temper tantrums!

*The standing observation or joke is that a dog thinks to itself that ‘my human feeds me and plays with me and looks after me, therefore he must be a god’. The cat thinks to itself that ‘my human feeds me and plays with me and looks after me, therefore I must be a god!’ There’s an awful lot of relevance in that observation IMHO.

Science librarian; retired.

Author: John Prytz
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Android phones

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace in the US.
If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology) has led a team of archaeologists who are rewriting the history of Stonehenge. The first Stonehenge began its life as a huge graveyard with the original monument as a large circular enclosure built 500 years before the Stonehenge we know today. They discovered that second stage of Stonehenge (the iconic sarsen stone circle) was built 200 years earlier than thought, around 2500 BC.

Stonehenge: A Unique Graveyard

Archaeologists have found that the original Stonehenge was a graveyard for a community of elite families built 500 years earlier than the site we know today.

The new discovery has finally solved many of the mysteries surrounding Stonehenge, overturning the accepted view on construction and use of our greatest prehistoric monument. These new findings will be revealed for the first time in a special Channel 4 documentary screened on Sunday night (8pm 10 March).

The British team, which was led by Professor Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology), analysed the ancient remains of 63 bodies buried around Stonehenge, finding that the first monument was originally a graveyard for a community of elite families, whose remains were brought to Stonehenge and buried over a period of more than 200 years. Professor Parker Pearson said:

The first Stonehenge began its life as a huge graveyard. The original monument was a large circular enclosure built 500 years before the Stonehenge we know today, with the remains of many of the cremated bodies originally marked by the bluestones of Stonehenge. We have also discovered that the second Stonehenge was built 200 years earlier than thought, around 2500 BC.

By testing cattle teeth from 80,000 animal bones excavated from the Stonehenge complex, the team also found that around 2500 BC it was once the site of vast communal feasts attended by perhaps up to a tenth of the British population, with people coming from as far afield as highland Scotland to celebrate the solstice.

Why did Stonehenge decline?

Once completed, Stonehenge declined after two centuries.  For years, this decline has been a mystery.  But Professor Parker Pearson believes that it is explained by the culture of the ‘Beaker People’, known to have arrived in these isles around this time.  He believes that their greater individualism and new material goods, including the first metal goods seen in Britain, put an end to the communal culture for which the monument had originally been created. Professor Parker Pearson said:

In many ways our findings are rewriting the established story of Stonehenge. What we’ve uncovered is compelling evidence that Stonehenge once united the people of Britain, attracting people from far and wide for Solstice gatherings, but also that the bodies and grave goods found on and around the site also offer an answer to the mystery of Stonehenge’s decline.

Read the full story on the UCL website at ucl.ac.uk.

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The Carving of St Derfel’s Horse Pic: Wales Online

Welsh History Month continues on the Wales Online website by asking what is the most important object in Welsh history? Today Dr Madeleine Gray, from the University of South Wales, argues the case for the carving of St Derfel’s horse. In the parish church at Llandderfel in Merionethshire is a huge, battered carving of an animal. Its head has been hacked away until it is no more than a stump. Its feet are tucked neatly underneath the body. The local people call it “St Derfel’s Horse”.

It is now kept safe in the church porch, but at one time it was carted round the parish on Easter Tuesday and the children were given rides on it. Alongside the animal is a decorated pole. This is usually called “St Derfel’s Staff”, but it is far too big to have been a walking-stick.

But this bizarre carving is all that is left of one of the most important cult images in medieval Wales, a carving of the warrior saint Derfel Gadarn, Derfel the Strong. According to legend, Derfel was one of King Arthur’s knights. He fought at the battle of Camlaan, where Arthur’s son and enemy Mordred was killed and Arthur himself was mortally wounded. After the trauma of the battle, Derfel gave up his warrior life and became a wandering hermit. He founded churches in north and south Wales before becoming abbot of Bardsey. There he died, and was buried alongside (according to tradition) 20,000 other saints.

As well as the church with his statue in Merionethshire, the little chapel of Llandderfel on the slopes of Mynydd Maen above Cwmbran in Monmouthshire was named after him. Pilgrims called there on their way to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys, and the chapel claimed to have a picture and a relic of the saint. It was a web of devotion crisscrossing Wales – and all that is left of it now are these two mutilated pieces of carved wood.

Saints, soldiers and stags

Derfel was not the only Welsh saint to have had an earlier career – what we would nowadays call a late vocation. Several of his fellow-soldiers at Camlaan subsequently became religious leaders. A spear which was said to be the one St Pedrog wielded in the battle was kept as a relic in his church at Llanbedrog on the Lleyn. Gwynllyw, who gave his name to St Woolos in Newport, was a soldier as a young man. He and his wife Gwladus (the parents of the better-known St Cadoc) were a wild young pair, eloping from her father’s palace in Brecon and running away over the hills. Cadfan and Illtud were both famous as soldiers before they took to the religious life.

Stag Pic: Pics Box

The animal with Derfel, though, was in fact not a horse but a stag. Many of the Welsh saints had stags as companions. Brynach’s cart was pulled by two stags. Another two stags helped Cadoc’s monks to rebuild their monastery. Illtud rescued a stag which was being hunted by King Meirchion. The animal became tame and helped to pull a cart. All these stories show the way the saints were expected to be able to control the natural world: the wildest and most terrifying of animals did their bidding.

We do not know what the story about Derfel and the stag was. The neighbouring church at Llangar was said to have been built on a site shown by a white stag, and there may have been a similar story about the stag at Llandderfel. Or perhaps Derfel rode the stag, like St Teilo. (The carving of St Teilo riding his stag in the parish church of Llandeilo Talybont, now in the museum at St Fagans, is a modern copy of a medieval carving from Brittany.)

Prayer and pilgrimage

The carving of Derfel and his stag was of enormous importance to the people of north Wales. It was very vividly carved, and parts of it could be made to move. The eyes, for example, could blink. This wasn’t necessarily to deceive people – any more than a modern computer animation at an old building is meant to deceive. But it made the statue more lifelike, and so gave it more power. We also need to remember that the statue was painted – you can still see traces of the red undercoat on the stag.

According to Ellis Price, who was sent by Thomas Cromwell to take the statue down at the Reformation, as many as six hundred people visited it on the saint’s day in April. Not that this compares with the tens of thousands (many of them Welsh) who went to Rome or Compostela on the great festival days, but it’s still pretty impressive for a little hamlet in the Welsh hills.

The world we have lost

The carving of Derfel’s companion is a very rare survival from our medieval past. At one time Wales was full of these statues. Carvings of our saints would have filled the churches and dotted the countryside. We know about a lot of these statues because the poets wrote about them. But almost all of them were destroyed at the Reformation. Carvings of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys and Cardigan, of Mary Magdalene at Usk, of local saints in almost every church, all were swept away.

We may regret this wholesale obliteration of our cultural heritage, but the reformers believed what they were doing was good and important. After all, bringing cattle, horses and money to give to a statue in the belief that it will rescue you from hell is a rather silly thing to do. If the priests were really encouraging people to do this (and presumably pocketing the proceeds) then reform really was needed.

Icon or idol?

St Catwg window in Caerphilly Pic: Wales Online

So why is the carving of St Derfel’s stag so important? To begin with, it makes us think about the Age of the Saints in Wales. The Welsh saints were an interesting bunch, always awkward, sometimes challenging. They were expected to live in harmony with nature, but also to be able to control it. The stag was Derfel’s companion but it sat submissively at his feet.   The Welsh saints were people of holiness but also people of great power, and they could use that power in ways that seem strange to us. Derfel was a soldier: not one of the chivalrous knights of later Arthurian legend but a skilled fighter, someone trained to kill. Cadoc cheated King Arthur over a herd of cattle and blinded King Rhun of Gwynedd. Robbers from Gwynedd who attacked Winefride’s shrine at Holywell all suffered horrible deaths.

The statue also makes us think about the lives and beliefs of ordinary people in medieval Wales. They seem to have valued Derfel for his courage and leadership as much as his piety. In a way, a saint who had been a soldier was more holy because he had had to choose to change his way of life. Saints as well as soldiers were expected to be able to protect their people, in the way that Derfel did.

The battered remains of Derfel’s stag also make us think about the changes of the sixteenth century. They were traumatic for many people – but they gave us the Welsh Bible and the culture of the chapel and the gymanfa ganu, and they helped to make us the people we are today.

The later history of the carving is important, too. The way it was carried around the parish at Easter may actually be a survival of pre-Reformation parish processions, with the statue of the saint bringing blessing to the whole community. Giving children rides on the“horse’ was perhaps a way of diminishing its power, but it also shows affection. The rural dean who ordered the mutilation of the carving in 1730 was clearly aware of its power – and it’s equally clear that the locals were reluctant to damage it too much.

Now Derfel’s stag sits peacefully in the church porch. But the saint is having a new lease of life in industrial south Wales. The Ancient Cwmbran Society (motto“Discovering the Ancient History of a New Town’) has commissioned a new larger-than-life statue of the saint. Part of their exploration of the early history of the Cwmbran area has included archaeological work at the Gwent Llandderfel. The saint has an important part in the Society’s heritage trail round the valley.

The story of Derfel and his stag is not over yet.

Read the full story on Wales Online.

To find out more about Welsh history visit  www.cadw.wales.gov.uk

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Beltane: Springtime Rituals, Lore and Celebration Pic: Amazon

The celebration of May features the festival of Beltane, which is held on May Eve or the first day of May. May Day celebrations are well noted in the 19th century; however, there is little evidence available to indicate the specific historical origins. Some commentators believe that the rites of Beltane are traceable to the ancient Roman festival of Floralia, which was celebrated with floral processions. Others believe it originated among the Celts that inhabited the British Isles. Whatever the origins of May Day or Beltane are, it is still celebrated as a time of renewal within nature. Beltane can also be regarded as a celebration in anticipation of the coming summer season. In modern Wicca the rite of Beltane is an observance of the courtship of the Goddess and God whose union rejuvenates the earth. From this union the world becomes abundant with the bounty of nature.

Flowers, branches, and garlands feature prominently in the merriment of May. The old tradition in Greece was to gather flowers on the morning of May 1st, and afterward to fasten them to the doors or windows of houses and merchant shops. In parts of England the May customs involved the carrying of May dolls by young girls, while young boys carried a bullock’s horn. The boys and girls also carried a sprig from narrow-leaf elm tree. The underlying theme of such practices is one of fertility.

One lovely custom of the May Day celebration, once popular in parts of England, involved going door-to-door and caroling. Among the common songs the following is one of the oldest and most representative of oral tradition:

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen;
I wish you a happy day;
I’m come to show my garland,
because it’s the First of May.

A bunch of May I have brought you,
and at your door it stands;
it is but a spray, but it’s well spread about,
‘Tis the work of the Fays’ hands.

And now I’ve sung my little short song,
no longer can I stay;
Faeries bless you all, both great and small,
and grant you a very happy May.”

In Scotland the celebration of May included the gathering of rowan tree branches and other greenery and flowers. One of the oldest Scottish customs was for young women to climb to the top of a hill to see the sunrise rise on the first day of May. The women would then wet their faces with the morning dew in a belief that this would bestow greater beauty in the months ahead.

In old England the celebration of May featured a woman bearing the title and office of the Queen of May or the May Queen. It seems to have been the custom, at the celebration of the May-games, to elect a Lord and Lady of the May to preside over the festivities. The Lord of the May was decorated with scarves, ribbons, and other fineries. Traditionally the Lady wore a garland and crown made of the following flowers: tulips, anemones, cowslips, kingcups, meadow-orchids, wall-flowers, primroses, crown-imperials, lilacs, laburnums, roses (and other available bright flowers of all descriptions). A large doll, which was known as Madame Flora, accompanied the May Queen. The figure was suspended from a pyramid-like configuration of evergreen boughs decorated with nosegays. Ribbons and colorful fabrics hung as streamers from the base of the nosegays. The procession ended in a mock marriage to the King of May. Here again we see the underlying theme of fertility associated with the rites of May.

The May Queen Pic: josefskrhola

One of the most popular features of the May celebration is the Maypole. Part of the symbolism of the Maypole dance is the wedding of the May Queen and May King. The dance involves the braiding of colored ribbons suspended from a long pole. This represents the joining and entwining of the fertile forces of nature that are personified as Queen and King.

The Maypole is traditionally nine feet tall. Colored ribbons are attached to the top of the pole. These consist of an equal number of ribbons or streamers. A minimum of two ribbons is used, and the traditional colors are red and white; the ribbons are twice as long as the length of the Maypole. The end of each ribbon is held by an individual dancer. As the dance commences, the dangling ribbons begin to be braided through the movements of the dancers.

An even number of persons is required for this dance; half the number takes the end of a ribbon in the right hand and the other half in the left. The dancers then stand across from each other, facing alternately right and left. When the dance commences, each dancer facing the right passes under the ribbon held by the one opposite (who faces the left). Each dancer allows the next person going to the left to pass under his or her ribbon, and so on, moving in and out, under and over as the ribbons are woven around the pole.

In one variation of the dance the participants separate into two equal divisions, and each party, independent of the other, plaits a strip which hangs loosely from the pole. In performing this variation the two parties stand on either side of the pole, and all those facing the right pass on in that direction, going in and out until the last person going to the right has passed the last person going to the left in her division. During this phase the ribbons are transferred ribbons to their other dancers’ hands as they all turn and reverse order. They continue going back and forth until the plait is about a foot in length, when another change is made by the two parties joining forces again. This time, all those facing the left proceed in that direction, passing under the ribbons of all the others who are going to the right, thus forming two circles, one within the other. After going twice around the pole in this order, the dancers composing the inner circle take the outside and the others pass beneath their ribbons, again circling the pole twice. After going through the first figure once more, the dance may be ended or the whole order may be reversed. The latter choice will unplait the ribbons around the Maypole.

Jack in the Green Pic: Aspex Design: Photos by Dean Thorpe

An interesting character associated with May Day celebration is known as Jack-in-the-green. In old street processions he was accompanied by a band of chimney sweeps and a man known as the whistler. On May Day, in an old custom, the chimney sweeps were called the clergy. They constructed a Jack-in-the-green figure, which was carried through the streets during the May Day festival. It is traditionally composed of a framework of old hoops, connected by uprights of flexible wood. The framework is covered with green baize, and on to this the boughs are attached, which make the green. Sometimes the Jack-in-the Green is a man dressed with ribbons and flowers. Traditionally he carries a long walking stick with a floral wreath.

Many of the old May Day customs began to disappear in the later half of the 19th century. The society of chimney-sweeps kept up the customs longest, coming out in force, dressed up with fantastic hats and colored ribbons. In the midst was a moving arbor of green branches and flowers; this was the classic Jack in the Green. Beside him ran and danced a girl in festive colors, who was called Maid Marian. Preceding the Jack-in-Green marched a fife & drum or a fiddler, and they stopped at certain points to dance round Jack in the Green. During the procession the chimney-sweepers carry their shovels and brushes in their hands, which they rattle together, and to this rough music they jump about in imitation of dancing.

Another procession consisted of the milkmaids. These dairy women came dressed in bright colors with flowers in their hair or in their hats. They led along a milk cow covered with garlands, and they carried pails ornamented with ribbons and flowers. During the procession the maids would stop to dance the cow to the music of the violin or clarinet. At an earlier time, instead of a cow, there was a costumed man dressed similar to Jack-in-the-green. He was encased in a frame that covered the upper half of his body. On this frame hung clusters of silver flagons and tankards each set in a bed of flowers. Alongside this figure walked a fiddler that was always represented as one-legged.

In the early half of the 16th century the stories of Robin Hood and his companions were introduced into the pageantry of the May-games. He was one of the legendary characters that the populace were fond of impersonating (particularly in the plays performed by the Morris dancers in association with May Day). It is perhaps for this reason that the May celebration was sometimes called Robin Hood’s Festival. According to legend Robin reportedly died on the first of May, which no doubt connected his legend to this celebrator season.

In the May celebrations the Robin Hood figure appeared as the Lord of the May, accompanied by his faithful mistress, the Maid Marian, who took on the role of Lady of the May. His companions wore the traditional hunting garb of foresters. So popular was the inclusion of Robin Hood that notes were sometimes found on church doors explaining that the church was closed because the parishioners were out gathering for Robin Hood and the May games. This was not only the case in England, but the General Assembly in Scotland twice requested (in 1577 & 1578) that the king prohibit plays of “Robin Hood, King of May” held on the Sabbath day. Some commentators believe that the popularity of Robin Hood in the May celebrations is rooted in the figure itself being of pagan origins. In this context Robin Hood represents a pagan deity associated with spring and vegetation, which may be a form of the classic Green Man.

In modern times the first of May is celebrated by many contemporary Pagans, Wiccans, and Witches as a Beltane ritual. In modern times, as it was long ago, Beltane features a bonfire symbolizing the coming of summer. Dancers perform around the blazing fire to the rhythm of drums. For many dancers the dance is an ecstatic experience, and each person enters into a relationship with the fire itself as though it were a living being.

Beltane Bonfire Celebrations Pic: Richard Milnes

The name Beltane has its roots in the Celtic word tein, which means fire. The etymology of Beltane is debatable. One theory is that the ancient deity associated with the May season was Baal, and in this context we have Baal-tein, the fire of Baal. Baal was also known as Bel, and over the course of time the name Beltane prevailed. The second theory is that Beltane is derived from bea’uil, which is related to Beal and teine. From this combination we can arrive at Beal teine, or Beltane. The term bea’ uil means the life of everything or the source of everything. However, according to some commentators, Beltane is derived from two Gaelic words co joined to form the name Paleteia which means Pales’ fire (as opposed to Baal’s fire). The goddess Pales was the Roman deity of cattle, pastures, and shepherds. We may never be certain of the origins of Beltane, but the spirit of Beltane remains with us to this very day.

The sacredness of the Beltane fire is expressed in the ancient practice of lightning a needfire. This was done to purify the land and its people as well as to reawaken the spirit of the region. When harsh times and decline befell a community all fires in the area were extinguished. A large bonfire was then ignited on a hilltop, and from this sacred fire torches were lighted. The torches were then carried into the villages to relight the hearth fires of the homes. From this single bonfire light was reborn in the kingdom. This ancient concept of renewal is a theme that can and should be incorporated into our modern Beltane celebration. May the new light and the inherent sacredness of the Beltane season reawaken the vital and sustaining spirit of our own homeland.

This article remains the copyright of Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd  and can be found on the Llewellyn website.

COPYRIGHT 2013 Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. All rights reserved.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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The Welsh Dragon Pic: Wales Online

Today, WalesOnline, in association with Cadw, launches Welsh History Month. Every day for the next four weeks, leading academics and historians from History Research Wales will ask, what is the most significant object in our past? Here, David Anderson, Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, wonders if it’s the meaning we attach to objects that gives them their importance. Go to the Wales Online site to read the full article. David says:

If you had to select one object of particular significance to you, what would it be? The photograph of a loved one? The book that changed your thinking? The four-leaved clover you found and preserved when you were a child? The sampler your grandmother sewed?

If you had to choose one object of significance from Wales’s past, what would it be? A miner’s lamp? A Welsh Bible? A painting of a Welsh landscape? A suffragette banner? A Celtic cross? A photograph of a village choir? An early manuscript of the Mabinogion?

It is the meaning we attach to objects that gives them their significance. A few years ago, one museum invited members of the public to contribute images of their favourite objects to its website. Some wonderful stories emerged.

One woman submitted an image of a letter in her possession. This had been written during World War Two by her father, a newly married soldier, to his young wife back at home. The letter was not delivered.

After the War, the soldier returned home, and the couple had two daughters. The girls grew up and left home. The couple grew old. The husband died. The wife married again and moved away. The street where they had lived was demolished.

Then one day a nearby barn was knocked down. A bag of undelivered post was discovered hidden behind a wall. One night, not long after, there was a knock on the door of the wife’s new home. The Royal Mail had traced her and, sixty years after it was sent from the battlefield, she received the letter written by her first husband to her younger self. She opened it, and at once her world turned upside down.

Amgueddfa Cymru – the National Museum of Wales

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales has seven sites spread across different parts of Wales. These include the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, the National Wool Museum in Drefach, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the National Roman Legion Museum in Carleon, Big Pit: National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, and National Museum Cardiff. All have strong connections with their communities.

But no museum is as loved by so many people across Wales as St Fagans. Here the most precious objects are not necessarily treasures of great financial value, but the ordinary homes and objects once owned by someone’s aunt or grandparents, and taken to the museum from a place maybe only five or ten miles from where you live.

Over the next few years, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Welsh Government, St Fagans will be developed to become the National Museum of History for Wales. For the first time, the nation will have a museum which brings together archaeological and historical collections from the earliest Neanderthal remains, dating to 230,000 BC, to the present.

St Fagans reminds us that culture is a living process, and that everyday objects, as much as great works of art, have the power to evoke memories, and to move and inspire us.

The past is all around us, in fields and beside the road, in town squares and in our own homes, should we choose to look. It is the foundation for our lives.

A critical understanding of how history is made by attributing meaning to this past, and how it may be used (or mis-used) in the present, is vital if we are to make informed choices about our future as a nation.

David Anderson is director-general of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales

Read the full article on the Wales Online website.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s also found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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World Drum Ceremonies Montage Pic: Matthew Holbrook

Philip Shallcrass, Greywolf, Chief of the British Druidry Order says that the World Drum is a remarkable shamanic instrument created as the result of a vision given to Norwegian shaman, White Cougar. White Cougar heard the call of Mother Earth asking for the Drum to be created and sent out around the world carrying the message that it is time for all the people of the world to awaken to the harm we are doing to our Mother Earth before it is too late, and that as part of this re-awakening we must put an end to war and hatred. The drum was made by Sami drum-maker, Birger Mikkelsen.

It was first played in ceremony outside the Norwegian parliament in 2006. Since then, it has visited six continents and been played at over 500 venues.

The Drum is a wakeup call, walking from hand to hand, from land to land, joining people across borders, ethnicities, political and religious views. It is the manifestation of a vision, a symbol of the circle of life and that we all are connected in a common struggle for humanity and Mother Earth.

Although a Sacred drum, this drum is to be enjoyed and played by all. No matter who you are or who you have been, we are all related. In its seven year journey, the Drum has visited five continents, its heartbeat being heard in sacred ceremony at 500 locations. As the World Drum travels from country to country, people to people, and from hand to hand, its heartbeat grows stronger each day, calling us to reinstate our spiritual relationship to Mother Earth.

Speech for Mother Earth

We are all human beings, all people, you, me, our neighbours. No matter where you live in this world, if it is in Africa or South-America, if it is in Asia, Europe or U.S.A, we are all sisters and brothers in humanity. All people of the world. Whether rich or poor, whatever colour, religion or political thinking, we are all residents of this one planet, Mother Earth.

While the World Drum is played, Greywolf reads the Prayer to Mother Earth Pic: Wendy

The time has come to answer the questions.
Do we really want to destroy our home?
Do we really want war, hunger or disasters?
Do we really want to give our next generations
a planet in such a condition that there will not be any hope for survival?

Mother Earth is crying.
She is shivering in fear of losing all her entrails,
as we dig and drill to get hold of what we think is our right
towards a better wealth.

Mother Earth is crying.
Soon she will not have any tears left,
and then it will be too late.
The time has come to unite and stand together.
Please, I ask you,
take each other’s hands,
lift them high and make a prayer
while The World Drum sings her song
and we feel her heartbeat.
It is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.
It is our heartbeat,
from each and one all over the world.
It is the heartbeat of life itself.

Let us join together as one that this heartbeat may continue.

Morten Wolf Storeide, Norway 2006

The Celebrations at Wildways

White Cougar will be at Wildways Pic: nordlys.no

This event combines our farewell to the World Drum with the launch of the Druid Hedge Schools Project, a joint initiative between the British Druid Order, the Druid Network and the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids that’s aimed at bringing low-cost, high-quality Druidical teachings to venues around the UK. It’s also a great chance for BDO members and friends to get together, as most of our core team and tutors will be there all weekend…

Also joining us for the weekend will be two very special guests, White Cougar, the shaman whose vision inspired the creation of the World Drum, and Morten Wolf Storeide, who oversees the Drum’s many journeys across cultures and around the world.

We begin on Friday with a ‘meet and greet,’ followed by a ceremony with the World Drum, hosted by White Cougar and Morten Wolf Storeide, using a sacred healing plant called chaga. Saturday morning there will be a short introduction to the World Drum for day visitors who weren’t there for the Friday evening ceremony. This will be followed by a short introduction to the Druid Hedge Schools Project. On Saturday, we’ll be offering sample sessions from Druid Hedge Schools’ teachers, including BDO chief, Greywolf, on Saturday morning, continuing throughout the afternoon with:

Anne Marie Langham on Celebrating the Year, Country Wisdom & Folklore;
Cara Moore on Crystal Healing;
Elen Sentier on Chakras;
Kaarina Vanderkamp on Herbs;
Mark Buxton on Personal Practice (Daily Druidry);
Brochfael on Iron Age Britain.

Saturday evening will kick off with a majorly cool eisteddfod session in the big yurt, featuring a set from legendary bard, and one of Britain’s finest singer-songwriters, Robin Williamson which is definitely not to be missed! Robin’s many fans include The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. There will also be a set from Greywolf, showcasing songs from ‘The Sign of the Rose’ cd and the upcoming ‘Lord of the Wildwood’ cd. We’re delighted that Andy Letcher, lead singer and songwriter with ‘darkly crafted folk’ band, Telling the Bees, will be playing for us, as will local legend, Jake Thomas, and possibly another guest or two. We shall party ’til bedtime!

Sunday, we have more Hedge School sessions in the morning, then a shared lunch and a bring-and-buy market. On Sunday afternoon, we shall hold our last ceremony with the World Drum to bid it farewell on its continuing journey, bringing peace and blessings to our Mother earth and all her children.

The cost for the whole weekend is a mere £55 per person to include catering on Saturday evening, lunch on Sunday and basic breakfasts. Bring and share lunchtime food on Saturday. For those not staying onsite, there will be a few day tickets available at £21 per person to include bring-and-share Saturday lunch evening meal and the evening concert. Booking is available by Paypal or by contacting Elaine Wildways via her facebook page or ‘phoning 01746 861992 Or just send a cheque (made payable to the British Druid Order) to: Elaine Wildways Weekend, Wildways, Borle Mill Bank, Highley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV16 6NJ, UK

Sadly, we won’t be able to make it to this really exciting event – but if you go, don’t forget to put up some photos and let us now how it went!

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