Last week, Druidry became an official religion in Britain. Yesterday, a journalist named Melanie Phillips wrote a piece in the Daily Mail attacking this decision and what she had to say upset many of my pagan and Druid friends. No one has asked me to speak out on their behalf, but I’ve chosen to do so in an open letter to Melanie Phillips, below.
My Dear Melanie,
Earlier today (Monday) I was quietly minding my own business, when the tranquillity of my day was interrupted by some outraged phone calls from some pagan and Druid friends of mine. They were absolutely horrified by what you’d chosen to write about them in the Daily Mail, and I must admit that when I looked at your piece, I was mildly surprised as well. The recognition of a new religion is surely a landmark occasion for us all, so it’s worth going over what I’m sure were some of your considered views.
It’s difficult to know exactly where to begin, because there’s such an embarrassment of riches in your article, but let’s start with your description of pagan beliefs as “totally barking mumbo-jumbo”. Mumbo jumbo – now there’s an expression to conjure with, because it’s right up there with “hocus pocus”, and how did we get “hocus pocus” as a term used to describe nonsense?
It derives, I believe, from the Latin words intoned by a Christian priest during the Mass, the Latin being “Hic est corpus” or “This is the body (of Christ)”. The reason we now have “hocus pocus” as a derisory term is because the peasants in the Middle Ages didn’t speak Latin and therefore didn’t have a clue what the priests were talking about, whereas in all fairness, the English spoken by Druids and other pagans today is perfectly intelligible, even if what they have to say about peace, tolerance and a reverence for nature isn’t entirely to your tastes.
As for what may others might call “mumbo jumbo”, then I can’t help but be reminded of some words written by Richard Dawkins on page 208 of his book “The God Delusion”:
“I believe 2000 years ago a man was born to a virgin mother with no biological father being involved.
I believe the same fatherless man called out to a friend called Larazus, who had been dead long enough to stink, and Lazarus promptly came back to life.
I believe the fatherless man himself came alive after being dead and buried three days.
I believe that forty days later, the fatherless man went up to the top of a hill and then disappeared bodily into the sky.
I believe if you murmur thoughts privately in your head, the fatherless man, and his “father” (who is also himself) will hear your thoughts and may act upon them. He is simultaneously able to hear the thoughts of everybody else in the world.
I believe if you do something bad, or something good, the same fatherless man sees all, even if nobody else does. You may be rewarded or punished accordingly, including after your death.
I believe the fatherless man’s virgin mother never died but “ascended” bodily into heaven.
I believe that bread and wine, if blessed by a priest (who must have testicles), “become” the body and blood of the fatherless man.”
Well, I’m not one to sneer at the beliefs of others, but with the best will in the world, an impartial observer would have to say that Richard Dawkins has made just as good a job of defining “mumbo-jumbo” as you have, when you hold forth about the absurdity of pagan or Druid beliefs, Stones of Praise and so forth.
With all this in mind, I was mildly surprised that you came out with the bold statement “There is nothing remotely enlightened about paganism.” Well, you might think so, but these unenlightened beliefs were good enough for Aristotle, Socrates , Plato, Archimedes and a whole host of other great thinkers without whom we would all be very much the poorer. Aside from the philosophers and engineers and astronomers, we have been blessed with the verse of women such as Sappho and of men such as Ovid, Horace and Juvenal, whose satirical observation “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?” or “Who will guard the guards themselves?” has promoted many a fine investigative piece in your paper, if my memory serves me well.
One pagan poet, Virgil, wrote sublime and evocative verse, and prophesied the birth of a boy who would usher in a golden age, an event that many people later understood as being the birth of Christ. So impressed were these later generations that this pagan poet became an honorary Christian in medieval times, while Dante wrote him into the Divine Comedy as a guide in the Christian afterlife, so I would argue with you when you say “There is nothing remotely enlightened about paganism.”
I would differ with you, equally politely, when you write that “true religions surely rest on an established structure of traditions, beliefs, literature and laws. Above all, they share a belief in a supernatural deity (or more than one) that governs the universe. By these standards, Druidry is surely not a religion but a cult – a group defined merely by ritual practices but which stands outside mainstream religion.”
Fascinating. Now, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this man, but someone called Julius Caesar told us a great deal about the Druids and as he twice invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC, my guess is that he knew a thing or two about them. In his De Bello Gallico (vi, 18, 1) he tells us “The Gauls affirm that they are all descended from a common father, Dis, and say that this is the tradition of the Druids.”
Elsewhere (vi, 16), Caesar speaks of the Druid reverence for the immortal gods and earlier, in vi 14, he records their interest in “the strength and power of the immortal gods.” As for this being a British matter, Caesar also told that “It is believed that their rule of life was discovered in Britain and transferred thence to Gaul; and today those who would study the subject more accurately journey, as a rule, to Britain to learn it.” (vi, 13).
As for the matter of the Druids claiming descent from a single heavenly father, Dis Pater, the pagan philosopher Maximus of Tyre wrote “Let all nations know the divine, that it is one; and if the art of Phideas arouses the Greeks to the remembrance of God, the worship of animals the Egyptians and a river others, and fire others again, I do not find fault with their differences. Let them only know, let them only love, let them remember.”
I’d say this was a rather beautiful observation, expressing great religious tolerance, and I have to say I was slightly shocked when I read your mention of “all creeds, however absurd”. As well as Julius Caesar, you may well have heard of William Wordsworth, one of the greatest English poets ever, and Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850. He clearly had an admiration for paganism, when he wrote:
“Great God!
I’d rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn,
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.”
More recently, I made the acquaintance of Professor Michael T. Cooper, an Evangelical Christian who came to Britain from America to study paganism because he was fascinated by its appeal and patent vibrancy, something that appears to be lacking in the Christian faith. In his recent visit to these shores, the Pope himself complained bitterly of an aggressive secularism, so I would have thought that both he and you would positively welcome any flourishing of any spirituality in Britain, but apparently not.
It rather reminds me of 2007, when Doretta Peppa, a High Priestess, managed to stage a landmark (pagan) ceremony at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, announcing “We are a legitimate religion. But the authorities don’t let us do this, but we shall claim this right through the European Union.” By way of response, Father Efstathios Kollas, the President of Greek Clergymen, had this to say of the pagans: “They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past”, which sounds rather similar to your take on the British matter, Melanie.
Do I know of any positive contributions made by pagans or Druids? Certainly I do. At the last winter solstice, a number of families with young children were drawn to Stonehenge, despite the bitter cold, because it was better than staying inside watching the television. If the pagans can get today’s kids outdoors and imbue them with a reverence for nature and an interest in our prehistoric monuments, as opposed to frying their brains on a Playstation indoors, then these people will get my support every time.
The petition in support of the return of the remains of the Ancestors has attracted signatures from people of all faiths and none, which shows a support for the Druids from Christians, Muslims, Jews and many others. I wasn’t at the last Equinox celebrations at Stonehenge, but I’ve seen some footage of it, and leaving aside the irritating drumming and other nonsense, there was a ceremony praying for peace in the North, South, East and West, which all sounds not only harmless, but extremely praiseworthy.
What else? Earlier this year, at the Summer Solstice, a huge statue appeared at Stonehenge that captivated everyone that saw him and it was thanks to the Stonehenge Druids that The Ancestor, or the Stonehenge Giant, made an appearance there. Local schoolchildren were delighted to be able to help with the preparations and his benign presence captured the attention of the world’s media. While we were waiting to go into Stonehenge that evening, a Druidess taught my daughter to dance in public, but there are many other acts of kindness I could talk about, on that particular night and at other times.
Last year, my niece Lucy fell ill and her suffering was a cause of great sorrow and anguish to all her family and friends. When he heard of this, a prominent Druid went to great personal trouble to acquire a piece of healing bluestone, then he drove a considerable distance to see me and to perform a ritual to make the stone effective. It didn’t work, because Lucy died shortly afterwards, but it’s worth mentioning that she, as a Christian, was delighted and very touched to receive the bluestone, while it also goes without saying that all the combined prayers of her family and friends of different faiths couldn’t save her either. I know of many other examples of Druids and pagans making strenuous efforts to help others as best they can, so I’m at a complete loss to see how this lessens their worth.
In your article, you wrote “The whole thing is beyond absurd. But it is also malevolent. For it is all of a piece with the agenda by the oh-so politically correct Charity Commission to promote the fanatical religious creed of the Left – the worship of equality. The Commission was primed by Labour for this attempt to restructure society back in 2006, when charity law was redrawn to redefine “public benefit” as helping the poor.” Well, I speak as I find, but from my observation and experience, the vast majority of Druids and pagans go to pains to help others as best they can, so I can’t honestly see how you could describe Druidry becoming an official religion as “malevolent”.
There are many other aspects of your diatribe that I could examine, but I’ll finish on one thing that particularly caught my eye, early on in your article. You wrote “Elevating them (the Druids or pagans) to the same status as Christianity is but the latest example of how the bedrock creed of this country is being undermined. More than that, it is an attack upon the very concept of religion itself.”
Well, as you are of course aware, the central figure of Christianity is Jesus himself and there is something of a mystery as to his whereabouts between the ages of 12 and 30. I’ve taken some trouble to look into this matter and all the evidence suggests to me that he spent most, if not all this time in the West of England and South Wales. Now, you can bluster all you like, but when he reappeared in Nazareth aged 30 or thereabouts, all the people that saw and heard him asked “Who is this man? And where did he get these powers?” If you can show the faintest scintilla, the smallest shred of evidence that tells me he was anywhere else but in Britain at this time, I will be truly fascinated to see it, believe me, but I won’t hold my breath.
I’ve been invited to speak about this at St James Church in Piccadilly in November, the place where William Blake was baptised, and it was Blake who gave the legends of Jesus in Britain their most famous expression when he wrote “Jerusalem”. You’re welcome to come along, if you like, either to tell me precisely where Jesus was during this time, if you have any evidence, or you’re welcome to cross-examine me and question me to your heart’s content once I’ve finished speaking.
As I’ve detailed in my book, everything about his early years points toward the West of England as being the sole destination of choice for this young man. Upon his return to his homeland, he exhibits some notable characteristics, any one of which he could have acquired in a variety of places, but he could only have acquired them all in Britain in the early years of the first century, as far as I can see. I’ve gone into this in exhaustive detail in my book and elsewhere in this site, and apart from the evidence in the Bible, there are highly detailed legends of him living in Britain, as well as more tangible suggestions of his stay.
He patently wasn’t in his homeland, nor was he anywhere else apart from Britain, from what I can see, so the inescapable conclusion is that this amazing young man was welcomed by the people of Britain and also by the Druids. It also stands to reason that he lived in harmony with them all and I don’t doubt that he learned a few things from the inhabitants of this island as well.
When he reappeared in his homeland, he was a seasoned mariner, able to sleep through storms of such ferocity that the sailors aboard the ship he was on feared they would die, which suggests to me that he once took a long voyage through the Mediterranean, into the North Atlantic and back. He had astounding powers of oratory, and we know that the Druids were accomplished speakers, while he was also somehow able to melt through hostile crowds in a similar way to how the Druids could walk between warring armies. He had a revolutionary attitude towards women, something that astounded people at the time and which still causes uproar today, yet this attitude of treating women as equals was a firmly established aspect of British society, as we know from the examples of Cartimandua and Boadicea.
Throughout his ministry, he was constantly faced with religious, ethical and moral dilemmas, but he was never once troubled by these things. One cannot learn these skills from a book and realistically apply them to a situation unfolding before you with any realistic hope of success, but you can learn them from others, from people with a reputation for justice. In his Geographica, strangely enough, Strabo described the Druids as being regarded as “the most just of men”, so on this account alone, Melanie, I feel sure that you could learn a thing or two from these much-maligned people and profit from their example.
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I have written an official complaint to the Daily Mail regarding this today. I’ve also started an official petition asking for her to give a full and public apology. May I humbly ask for people to sign this petition (already over 1,500 signatures), but to refrain from any comments that may be construed as anti any other religion, as it will only add fuel to her fire:
http://www.petitiononline.com/druid1/petition.html
BB
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Splendid response!!!
What date and time are you speaking at St James?
So good to read the truth for a change, rather than what has been produced by Melanie. Very interesting and informed !!!
Brilliant response!
Thank you for a well written, informed and balanced response.
With regard to Ms Phillips tirade, I have to find the positive in all the negative bile she has spewed and to mind mind it is thus:
Paganism and Druidry have been thrust into the spotlight, giving people who might never have before researched into the subject, the opportunity to find out for themselves what it is all about.
This will give people the chance to make up their own minds and see the said Ms Phillips for the negative and bigoted individual she is. If enough people tire of the negative rants in the paper, sales drop and as such she (and others of her ilk) will be presented with a P45 and directions to the nearest Jobcentre Plus.
Although I do not personally subscribe to any religion, I would like to say how much I applaud your erudite response to that silly woman’s bigotry.
As our Buddhist friends are fond of saying “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
Thank you very much indeed for your kind words, Jocelyn. If you care to browse through the rest of this site, you’ll see that it has many informed and enlightening contributions from Druids, pagans, Christians, non-believers, amateurs, professionals, archaeologists, linguists, astronomers, geologists, biologists, believers, sceptics and so forth, which is of course all to the good.
A little while ago, I published my thoughts on some appalling hick in Florida, because I didn’t want anyone thinking that, because I live in a nominally Christian nation and am part of what others perceive as “The West”, I subscribed to or condoned his insane views. I had a solitary response from a Muslim lady in Saudi Arabia, who was very pleased with what I’d written, so it was more than worth it for that alone.
I could have made my post (above) much longer, because I actually very much enjoyed going over the pagan legacy. I could have mentioned the Parthenon, the Library of Alexandria and much else besides, but I’m sure others will ponder these matters for themselves. There’s the small matter of all the ancient Seven Wonders of the World being pagan edifices, but I’m sure I don’t need to remind others of this.
As far as I can see, Britain’s greatest pagan legacy is Stonehenge itself, which annually attracts around a million visitors from around the world, the vast majority of whom are lost in a sense of wonderment when they gaze at the ruins. I’m sure some of the huge takings at the gate go towards subsidising less popular Christian places of worship, so for a pagan monument to generate wonderment AND stacks of cash at the same time is no small contribution to the general well-being of Mankind.
Dennis:
Brilliant. The irony is that the same bigotry displayed by Melanie was the source for the destruction of many of the great ideas and works developed by the “pagans”, including one of the Wonders of the World -The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, who displayed much more tolerance for diversity in belief than the “enlightened” Christians did, once they obtained political power. The same applies today, unfortunately. I am a Christian, recovering Catholic, and have a brother who is a pagan in Minneapolis. Nothing he has revealed to me seemed threatening and malevolent and his reverence for life and the living world strikes me as truly enlightened. Live and let live is a philosophy that Jesus definitely subsribed to. Keep up the good work.
A vote of confidence and a message of appreciation is always very welcome. I must admit it was very tempting to lament the loss of so many irreplaceable pagan works and works of art over the ages at the hands of various Christian groups, but as Agathon remarked “Even God cannot change the past”, so what’s done is done. The likes of Melanie and the Florida hick would like nothing more than for us all to be at each other’s throats, but it’s not a vision of the future that I embrace or subscribe to.
Thank you very much for this, Dan, while all are welcome here.
Dennis,
It was with the greatest joy that I received notification of our Charities Commission acceptance from the Druid Network. The fact that we at last have an opportunity to play a full and more open role after being forced to the fringes of society since AD54 is historic, exciting and not before time either!
I feel proud of my involvement. During 2007/2008 I played a significant part in bringing the Charities law to be reviewed, taken to public consultation, and this eventually resulted in changes that made acceptance of our faith possible. These changes were not a lowering of standards, far from it, but religions that revere a higher spiritual through nature, or goddess, with oral traditions were previously impossible to admit. An oversight now corrected.
The Daily Mail article was deliberately provocative, misleading and insulting, but it has been heartening to see so many people outside of Druidry commenting robustly in our defence. Your comments Dennis are greatly appreciated and brilliantly put across. Thank you.
I appreciate your kind words, Frank, but I’m particularly pleased to learn that I’m not the only one outside Druidry commenting robustly in your defence, as you put it.
There have been many occasions in my life when I’ve benefited greatly from support from a very unlikely quarter, so it would be a very sorry lookout if I couldn’t repay the favour, in principle at least, by speaking out for others under attack.
I mentioned a number of reasons why I have good cause to be grateful to numerous individual pagans and Druids, your good self being prominent among this number, so writing in defence of pagans in general was the very least I could do and the pleasure was all mine.
It seems that as soon as the ‘R’ word gets mentioned, people become a bit odd. Ignorance, fear, a determination to be the one? We don’t follow a religion either, but we were shocked at the article; it was so rude, we found a similar response when we approached some of the local community (CofE schools) and were shocked at the time. No thank you, its pagan! We think they missed the point; the Ancestor is areligious and represents everyone’s ancestor, while every culture through history has a heritage of sun worship.
Quote from an interview from one of the schools who did get involved : “We researched the religion of the Druids and discovered that they used to worship in forests. Hence, trees were very important to Druids and this made the choice of a forest even more poignant (the school emblem is a tree). As the constellation was incorporated into the design, we chose to depict a forest at night, hence the ghostly white trees with glitter to create a magical effect befitting the Druids’ legacy. We learned a lot about our ancient ancestors and how interesting and special our local area is. The children were thrilled to see so many people admiring their work.”
Similar stories from the other groups involved. We haven’t been made aware that any of the children have suffered from their exposure to pre-Christian Britain, they have not been brainwashed or abducted into a cult; just what a wonderful inspirational experience everyone had.
Please post your picture of The Ancestor inside the stones to our FB page Dennis, it gave me goose bumps. Brilliant!!
Actually, I think most of this argument could be resolved quickly, simply and easily by simply affording a religious organisation no tax advantages whatsoever, and applying standard business rates to its financial affairs. That removes all argument about whether a group of people who share a belief-set are a religion or a cult or just a bunch of agreeable maniacs, because these distinctions would simply not have any relevance then.
What would rapidly happen with most religious communities at this point is that they would act to minimise their internal financial transactions to drop them below the threshold for paying tax, indeed I honestly doubt that the Druids would even approach this level even now. Most of what most religious organisations do could be (and is) achieved using volunteer work, with the exception of buildings maintenence. I would then say that there is a very strong case for a complete tax exemption on the maintenance of historic buildings, constructions and monuments to preserve the architectural heritage of Britain’s churches.
Implement this and all the jiggery pokery and shysterism associated with religious tax exemptions (see also “The Church of the Holy Dollar” and suchlike) ought to disappear, and the only organisations left feeling hard done by would be the likes of the Catholic Church, the Scientologists and similar groups. Since the volunteerist groups tend to be the most honest of religious groups, and the more moneyed ones tend towards occasional corruption, removing the religious tax exemptions would actually act to clean up religion.
Finally, a charity is something different again, and charities are regulated by the Charities Commission. If a Druidical organisation has charitable status, then it is regulated and constrained to act in specifically benevolent ways; we can therefore stop worrying about charities and how they behave.
Greetings Dennis, a wonderfully witty response. I too sent her an open letter; in it I pointed out that when she said ‘But true religions surely rest on an established structure of traditions, beliefs, literature and laws’, she was inadvertently validating our position; the only thing missing was ‘the book’. That we do not have ‘the book of the Druid’ is a blessing, otherwise we would have idiots in modified curtains quoting ‘Druidic dogma’ left and right.
I suppose, barring somebody bringing this to the press complaints board, ‘Oh no, Daily mail again..’ Melanie Phillips is on a no loser as she had many and varied responses and multiple hits on their website; nobody with any intelligence expects anything but ill informed bigotry from her paper..
Blessings..Niall.
I’ve read through many of the comments that respond to Melanie Phillips’s article in the Daily Mail and I have to say that my favorite is this: “My hamster could have penned a more informed article than this, and he’s been dead for 4 years.”
Melanie is clearly a very intelligent lady, after a fashion, so I’m sure she knew exactly what she was writing. If she wants to devote her time and abilities to writing such spiteful trash, then that’s her choice and I’m not really bothered by it. She’s doubtless very pleased at the reaction its provoked, but it’s a shame that she can’t devote her energies to investigating something of real importance in the archaeological world and I’d be more than happy to give her some pointers if she finds herself at a loose end wanting to cause a REAL uproar.
Let me tell you a tale of the Daily Mail’s inspired journalism…
Four and a bit years ago, in the middle of August, a story broke about a strange animal seen on Dartmoor. It looked for all the world like a large, heavy-set dog, and the media covered the story with a great frenzy, since nothing much was happening anywhere else. The Daily Mail managed an exclusive then, with an interview with the owner of the Newfoundland dog which had caused the uproar.
A year ago, a couple of not particularly inspired pranksters (one might even call them prankers…) who lived near Preston, on an estate build on the site of a former munitions works, started up a shaggy dog story regarding some strange beast of hyena-like proportions which had been seen on this estate. By way of “proof”, a cropped and blurred version of the original photo of the Newfoundland on Dartmoor was produced. The Daily Mail, out trolling for a story, found this nonsense and artfully ignored the chorus of people on Facebook saying that this was a hoax using an old picture. Instead they purchased the “monster” photograph from the Metro News (the one they ran is hallmarked) ignoring the much better copies they had in their archives. They ran with this story of “Monster in Cheshire”, ignoring or perhaps in complete ignorance of the fact that they themselves had debunked the story first time around.
Astute journalists they are not. Basically they are out to sell papers to idiots, and if they can rev the circulation up a bit with a nice religious controversy then that’s what they’ll do. All this is just sheer noise on their part; they don’t care how a religion can be described or delineated, all they want to do is make noise. Ignore the fools.
I suppose another aspect of it is that journalists have the attitude “Today’s headlines, tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.” Whenever I write anything here on Eternal Idol, I do it in the full and conscious knowledge that at some point, someone ‘out there’ will read it sooner or later, then ask me to explain or otherwise defend what I’ve written.
Of course, I’m sure I’ve written some things here that have turned out to be plain wrong, such as the very earliest reports of bluestone being found at Woodhenge, for example, but that’s always going to happen. Otherwise, I’ve written material about the Druids, The Ruin and so forth, which I’m pretty sure I’d defend robustly on any occasion it’s revisited, but my guess is that Miss Phillips has next to no interest in religion, Druids or paganism. I suppose it all harks back to those far-off days when newspapers reported, er, news, before they became ‘viewspapers’.
Your story of the Monster in Cheshire is a perfect example of this. I have far more than a passing interest in cryptozoology and I intend to write about the Woodwose on here one of these fine days; a story concerning unknown life forms in Britain is always going to be of intense interest to me, but I suppose if you’re a journalist, it’s just something to be exploited rather than investigated.
Like the Druids and pagans.
One to watch for when writing about cryptids of various sorts is the group that Jon Downes calls Zooforms. Jon is one of the few full-time cryptozoologists in Britain, and long ago formulated a form of simple classification for cryptozoological things. First of all, are cryptids which are known animals in an unusual place, like the Derbyshire wallabies, and the escaped leopards in parts of Britain. Secondly, there are unknown species in various parts of the world; only a hundred years or so ago gorillas fell into this category. Finally there are the zooform phenomena; things that look superficially like animals but are not, cannot be biological forms of any sort and are better classed as supernatural.
One example of this would be the Big Grey Man that lurks on certain mountain peaks, or the huge hominid-like thing seen at Bolam Lake in Northumbria. Whichever of these categories the woodwose falls into I wouldn’t presume to guess at, but it is interesting to note that areas which have a lot of UFO activity are also those where megalithic structures tend to abound, and where quite a lot of assorted zooform phenomena and ghostly phenomena) are also seen.
A rare occasion on which I’m rendered speechless….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11652512
I wouldn’t claim to be fully on top of ‘pagan affairs’ either in Britain or elsewhere in the world, but I was fascinated and pleasantly surprised to see this BBC feature dealing with the Solstice and with associated pagan activities in modern Latvia. Perhaps our Latvian correspondent Juris could add to our sum total of knowledge about these activities?
There’s lots to enjoy in the article, such as the following, which seems to me to show that the Latvian participants could teach the British a thing or two about how to celebrate the Solstice:
It is not a complicated festival. All you have to do is head out to the countryside, get a fire going, stay up all night waiting for the sun to come up and drink lots and lots of beer – which, I can only assume, is why it is called Ligo, the Latvian word for “sway”.
Women pick flowers to make into crowns for their heads, while men are supposed to strip naked and jump into a nearby lake or river.
Everyone sings medieval Latvian songs around the fire and couples are encouraged to disappear into the forest to look for a mythical flowering fern.
Dennis -
This brightened my day – here are some notes.
My brother, a quite faithful Latvian Lutheran, is fond of observing that if you scratch a Latvian lightly on the skin, you immediately find a pagan underneath. Despite the efforts of Martin Luther on the one side and the Russians on the other, our heritage goes back millennia to pagan beliefs and this summer festival is a wonderful affirmation of that.
I was only 2 years old when we left Latvia – Russians again – in 1945 so I have no recollection of the celebration there. But in the Latvian communities where we settled first in Mississippi and then in Nebraska, I fondly remember the festivities.
The BBC report has it a bit muddled – it’s really “Janu Nakts” rather than “Ligo.” The name translates directly to “John’s Night” with the origin of that lost in history. “Ligo” actually is what you do – dance and sing. Also, rather than jumping into a river, the young males actually jump over the bonfire with various prizes awarded by the young maidens to the ones deemed best at the feat.
There’s a nice writeup on Janu Nakts in Wikipedia if you search for Jani Latvia (the characters aren’t supported on Eternal Idol).
Note the references to oak wreaths and various other pagan beliefs, which make me think of a kinship with the Druids and thus to Stonehenge. Did the Stonehengers build bonfires within the stone circle on solstice day, jump over them, and celebrate with beer and friendly maids? I would be surprised and indeed saddened if this were not the case.
I devoutly hope that sometime a skeleton will be unearthed near Stonehenge, and the analysis of its tooth enamel will point directly to a Latvian origin. At that point I will claim the fellow as my ancestor, which will explain many things.
Juris Ozols
(PS – my last name in Latvian means “Oak Tree”)
The Swedish midsummer celebrations have some links to the past too. Dancing around a “tree”, people wearing wreaths of flowers, traditional songs, games, and lots of feasting. I suppose an anthropologist would have a field-day. Personally it is simply a great party and perhaps the biggest event of the year in Sweden.
Juris
John’s Day is probably derived from the Christianized Saint John’s Day for the midsummer solstice celebration. Obviously, the Latvians were smart enough to give a token nod to the Church and then ignore it and party anyway.
Having a great party or celebration has to be a thoroughly admirable aim in itself, I think. I have some Swedish friends who’ve told me wonderful tales of their midsummer celebrations, so it’s very close to the top of my ‘to do’ list to attend at least one of them. And survive to tell the tale!
This midsummer festival thing is fascinating. Go take a look at the wikipedia page. The celebration is widespread throughout Europe and even abroad, and dates back to – the neolithic? It was and is a major event, particularly in the northern parts of Europe.
Dan, although I’m sure you’re right about where the “John’s NIght” name comes from, I would think that any self-respecting pagan would scorn the adoption of a Christian saint’s name for the most important festival.
Like I said above, the Stonehengers must have held festivities on midsummer’s day, but I don’t recall reading hardly anything about that in my Stonehenge books. Never paid much attention so may have missed it. But is this a possible topic for closer study and research, especially tying in various existing folk stories and legends?
I wonder what Jesus may have thought about all that?
Have sent a photo to Dennis that hopefully he can add here. It shows me at a Janu Nakts outing by the Lincoln Latvian Lutheran church on 20 June, 1953. Even in Nebraska, and even as part of a Christian church, we Latvians hearkened back to our pagan roots. Note the wreaths.
Juris
Photo now added to Juris’s comment above. This is amazing and fascinating stuff, Juris, so thank you very much indeed for sharing this with us and I’ll write again later.
Jumping bonfires is also associated with the earlier celebration of Beltane (May Day).
The Swedish midsummer celebrations have some links to the past too. Dancing around a “tree”, people wearing wreaths of flowers, traditional songs, games, and lots of feasting.
Seems to be a common theme, though the tree is sometimes symbolic (as in the raising of the maypole; also a pre-christian event)
I was reading a book aimed at children recently, which focused on an alphabetical introduction to Mexico. Under V, there was an entry for Voladores, which are men who climb to the top of a big pole to celebrate the sun, four of them then attach a rope to their ankles and spin 13 times as they descend to the ground (head first). At the top of the pole, there can be a square structure where the leader dances to each cardinal point. From the little I have read about this, it would seem to have connections to a St Michael’s Day (St Miguel) celebration, who of course, is linked to high places and light among other things.
I have also read that this a fertility dance and linked to Quetzalcoatl.
An interesting use for a totem/may pole?
Neil
To these I would like to add how Midsummer’s Eve/Day and St. John’s Eve/Day figured into Arthurian lore. John Darrah, whom I believe I first referenced back in what might have been my very first EI comment ever in response to the post about the Stonehenge Sentinel, recounts this very nicely in his book Paganism in Arthurian Romance:
P. 25-26: “There are plenty of events occurring on May 1st, but it is a curious aspect of the legends that, unlike the other major Celtic festival, Hallowe’en, although May 1st is one of the most important and durable of pre-Christian festivals it is seldom chosen for a royal court in the romances. On the other hand, Midsummer Day, transformed into St John’s Day by Christian usage, though never an important festival of the church, is, as G.D. West points out, ‘the most popular date in Arthurian romances.’ So what is the style of the events which occur on this popular day?”
P. 33: “Referring to folk memory and the tradition of celebrating St John’s day: As late as 1830 a participant in the celebration of this day in the backward fen country wore ram’s horns on his head — the sort of gesture to the gods his predecessors might have made from time immemorial — wore a green veil over his face and offended his neighbors by making strange noises. He was evidently a traditionalist, for he was celebrating on July 5th, that is, Midsummer Day Old Style.”
Pp. 29 – 30:
St John’s Day (Midsummer Day, June 24)
Coronation:
Fergus, victor at a tournament, was married to Galiane and they were crowned on a Sunday.
Fire from Heaven:
A ‘brandon’ — fiery torch — appeared in the sky above a battle against the ‘Saxons’ at Trebes in Brittany on a Sunday about St. John’s Day.
A fiery dragon appeared in the sky at a battle between Uther Pendragon and the ‘Saxons’ on Salisbury Plain during the last week in June at the place where Stonehenge was later to be built.
King Arthur went to the thunder-storm fountain in the forest of Broceliande to keep vigil on St John’s Eve.
Foundations and dedications to St. John:
After a victory over the ‘Saxons’ near the Severn on St John’s day, Arthur built a chapel dedicated to St John.
After Arthur had crushed a rebellion headed by Lot and Ryons, he founded a church at Camelot in Lot’s honour. It was dedicated to St John, and Lot was buried there with great splendour. The occasion was celebrated with burning torches.
Arthur built a chapel to St John where Meliadus, Tristan’s father, killed a ‘Saxon’ called Ariohan. Images of the two contestants were engraved on the doors.
Knights dubbed:
Several, including Lancelot and Galahad, who were presented by the Damsel of the Lake at a St John’s day court at Camelot on a Sunday. (My note: Darrah proposes that the Damsel of the Lake was the local equivalent of the goddess Diana/Artemis.
Miscellaneous:
A damsel with a cart drawn by stags brought 152 severed heads* to Arthur’s St John’s Day court at Pennevoiseuse. The damsel at other times used to carry the Grail in procession at the court of the Fisher King. (My note: The Irish equivalent of Artemis, Flidais, drove a chariot pulled by deer)
[* Darrah later refers to a holy well "at Holywell in Flintshire -- that sprang up one Midsummer's Day where a severed head fell to the ground, a saint's on this occasion."]
Perceval, Grail hero and later Fisher King, dedicated his life to God on a St John’s day.
Merlin arranged to meet the Damsel of the Lake* at a magic fountain on St John’s day.
The ford of the Thorntree was at its most adventurous on this day and single combat took place there with a red defender on Midsummer’s Eve.
Tribute was demanded.
Mabon (the Celtic equivalent to the sun god Apollo), here called Nabon, invited King Arthur to a great feast.
Lancelot arrived at Corbenic prior to being cured of madness.
Tristan challenges Morholt, and he and Yseult drank the love-potion on the summer solstice.
King Claudas of the Waste Land (Terre Deserte in Brittany) gathered his people together at Gannes (Vannes) on a St John’s day.
King Arthur held court at Caradigan on Midsummer’s day.
So what is the style of the events which occur on this popular day????
Perhaps the difference might be that on St John’s day, they were required to gather for a specific event (at which a full court could be gathered). On Mayday, though seemingly almost equally important, perhaps they were required to be doing something else other than gather together?
Are there any other logical alternative explanations for the style of activities on each day?
From what I can see, just about every last one of these events on Midsummer Day involve violent conflict. The cartload of severed heads makes me think of the ancient Britons or Celts, of course, while Artemis was connected with human sacrifice, something I’ve written about before now on here.
And all this makes me think of Gwyn ap Nudd, for reasons we all went into on the post in question. Your contribution is absolutely fascinating, Aynslie, so thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to send it in and I shall certainly return to this later.
As well as violent conflict, the other theme seems to be communion between humans and supernatural figures or demi-gods. It might well be a very long shot, but in (possible) connection with Gwyn ap Nudd, I’m interested by the fires or brands, as these give off soot, which might conceivably have something to do with blackened faces.
There’s also a mention of thunder, which reminds me of our expression “having a face like thunder” i.e. dark, or black, but this is just me thinking out loud. Once again, Aynslie, thank you for sending in this intriguing collection and I’m sure there’s still more to be gleaned from it, or as The Archaeologists might put it, “there’s room for speculative interpretation…”
This is interesting from Frazer’s Golden Bough http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/gb06205.htm
Dennis,
I find your associations with Gwyn Ap Nudd very tantalizing. It’s interesting that you saw possible connections between Gwyn and thunder. I’ve always imagined the Wild Hunt being embodied in an approaching thunderstorm.
On the subject of thunder, I’d like to add lightning, and reference two posts where the subject of lightning/thunder were discussed in the comments section in relation to Stonehenge: The Spoils of Annwn and Strange Maps of Hell. In keeping with the Arthurian elements I mentioned in my comment above, and connecting the the comments I just referred to, I’d like to add an additional piece:
As mentioned in some of The Spoils of Annwn/Strange Maps of Hell comments, there appears to be a connection between lightning, Belenos/Belin (a Celtic equivalent of Apollo) and the Welsh Beli. John Darrah argues quite convincingly for equating Belenos/Beli with the Arthurian character of Balin. (Many Arthurian characters are such thinly disguised Celtic deities that they’re like children prancing about in bedsheets hoping to convince others that they’re really ghosts). I’d like to draw attention to a couple more interesting stories with possible “connections”. I wonder who else will see everything that I can see?
1. The thunder-storm fountain mentioned in my previous comment appears several times in Arthurian lore in (as often happens) parallel stories involving different characters (usually knights, but not always). One story involving Owein, a knight dressed and accoutred entirely in black (he’s referred to as the “black man”) directs Owein to a fountain that had a slab of stone beside it with a bowl upon the slab. By filling the bowl with water from the fountain and throwing the water at the slab of stone, Owain causes a thunderstorm.
2. A short Arthurian story, which I already shared via email, but which I think fits in nicely here, as well, considering the subject:
Two Brothers: Balin and Balan
Balin arrived at a castle that has a custom, where a knight-errant entering their castle, he must joust with another knight-errant from the island tower. Though Balin did not like custom, he thought they would see him as a coward if he did not joust with the other knight.
As he ready himself for the coming joust, the host offered a new and better shield than the worn shield he now carried.
However, a girl arrived at the castle, carrying a message for Merlin. The damsel told Balin that he would regret ever coming to this castle and accepting a shield that his opponent wouldn’t be recognised. Balin had great foreboding of what will happen.
His opponent emerged from the other tower, wearing red armour and shield, and mounted on white horse. Neither of them recognised the other knight.
The two knights fought one another, long and hard. They only stopped fighting when both knights were mortally wounded. They were both horrified and grief-stricken when they revealed their identity to one another.
As Merlin and the maiden, who had given the sword to Balin, had foretold, he would regret that he had ever kept the sword that he had won. Balan, his brother, was the red knight. Each has delivered a deathblow to the brother he loved.
The only thing that Balin asked from the people of the castle and tower that would bury them together. They had both died by evening.
Merlin arrived and attended the funeral of Balin and Balan. Merlin took Balin’s sword and wrote on the pommel that only the best knight in the world (Galahad) could draw the sword from the stone. Merlin set the sword into the marble slab. Merlin then made this stone float on water. The stone would float and moved around the world until it arrived in Camelot, 22 years later.
With regard to item 1, Aynslie, these are the thoughts that spring immediately to mind. The black knight or black man makes me think of Gwyn ap Nudd on account of the colour, while I’m also inclined to think of the Silures and the black-clad Furies on Anglesey.
The act with the water sounds like sympathetic magic, while it also has obvious overtones of the story told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in which the water poured onto certain stones acquired a healing power. The newly-discovered spring at Vespasian’s Camp was clearly seen to possess potent characteristics as long ago as 8,000 BC and it was a mere stone’s throw from arguably the most notable stones in Britain.
As for associating the Wild Hunt with an approaching thunderstorm, I’m sure this was how it was mainly envisaged, while the famous song Ghost Riders in the Sky opens with the line “An old cowpoke came riding out one dark and windy day….”
Part II to follow, unless someone else gets there first?
Yippie yi Ohhhhh
Yippie yi yaaaaay…..
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
I shall be singing this refrain in a loud and lusty fashion as soon as I see one iota of evidence for The Standing Stones of Doggerland, but for now – alas! – they seem doomed to be as elusive as the famous Cursus Fire Pit.
Otherwise, Aynslie, I was of course intrigued by the story of Balin and Balan. To begin with, I don’t doubt that the element of violent combat was real, while it’s obviously reflected in a symbolic sense with the Winter v Summer fights, as embodied by deities such as Gwyn ap Nudd and others.
I’m interested to learn that this combat took place in the setting of a castle, while something else I’ve written about at great length here on Eternal Idol is the perception in previous ages that Stonehenge may have been a castle or a defensive structure, while a number of early paintings actually show such a place close to Stonehenge, although I can’t remember where I’ve posted these things.
The mention of the Red Knight made me think of the hounds associated with Gwyn that had red ears, but I’m sure there’s far more symbolism at work here with this particular colour. I’m not trying to shoehorn evidence in as far as Gwyn’s concerned, because I was baffled by your previous mention of a man with a green veil over his face, making noises that alarmed others.
Otherwise, I particularly liked this part “As Merlin and the maiden, who had given the sword to Balin, had foretold, he would regret that he had ever kept the sword that he had won.” It made me think of the idea of a poisoned chalice, but it particularly made me think of the lines about the Temple of Diana and the rex Nemorensis at Nemi:
Those trees in whose dim shadow
The ghastly priest doth reign
The priest who slew the slayer,
And shall himself be slain.
I’m unsure what to make of Merlin, the sword and the stone that floated on water for 22 years, though, so perhaps you will tell us what else you see “in the dark backward and abysm of time?”
Don’t look at these three things as necessarily originating in a single story. Think of them as elements related to a single monument: Where else do you find Merlin, the idea of stones floating for a long distance until they’re brought to the site of a “castle”, and blades being “set” (not thrust) in a stone?
Also, if the people who built Gobekli Tepe could not only be erecting but carving standing stones back in the time before Doggerland drowned, I see no reason why the people who lived in Doggerland couldn’t have done the same.
I don’t know how I missed those three elements, Aynslie – perhaps I was staring too hard into the mist? As for the standing stones of Doggerland, I share your views and reasoning, but I was simply expressing doubts about when evidence for their existence would be placed before us.
And here’s a fraction more detail about Doggerland than was contained in the BBC report, with news of mounds surrounded by ditches, which sounds very interesting.
Thanks for the link to more Doggerland information, Dennis. Absolutely fascinating stuff. I’ve been interested in Doggerland for many years now, but never more so than after I saw the National Geographic special on it a couple of years ago. I mentioned it at the time in the comments under the post “Burning the Midnight Oil“. Even two years ago what was known about Doggerland was astounding and compelling–and news. If anyone is interested, it can now be viewed in parts on YouTube. It’s worth watching in its entirety.
Here’s a bit of Midsummer Arthurian folklore that is sure to bring Gwyn ap Nudd to mind, courtesy of Mysterious Britain and Ireland:
“In legend Cadbury Castle is the site of Camelot, and one of the hills under which Arthur and his men are said to sleep awaiting the allotted time to fight for the nation once again. In some stories the entrance to this cave is guarded by a giant Iron Gate, which opens once every seven years on Midsummer’s day to let Arthur and his warriors ride the night. They ride from Cadbury Castle to a spring near Sutton Montis church to water their weary horses. Here we may see an older tradition of the phantom wild hunt mingling with the legend of Arthur, and indeed Arthur is said to lead the wild hunt from the castle along a track, which was once known as King Arthur’s Lane.”
If you could please add this to the Gwyn ap Nudd post, Aynslie, that would be great. I don’t often mention Cadbury Castle, but I’m sure you’d love the place. I’ve been there many times and it has a real atmosphere about it, on a par with Silbury Hill, while the setting is beautiful and evocative as well. Anyway, thank you for this, as it’s yet another fascinating contribution that goes to show yet again how rich the mythology of Arthur and Gwyn is.
Can’t resist one more image about my Latvian “Janu Nakts” pagan celebration of midsummer night.
My parents were fond of collecting paintings by Latvian artists and I ended up with some of those when they passed away ten years ago.
The attached photo of one of their oil paintings, some 24 inches tall, shows a Latvian Lad and Lassie “in the bushes” on midsummer night, Janu Nakts. Note the wreaths, which look to me like oak leaves.
But what are the young couple doing? What is that glowing in his hands? Not a bonfire for leaping over, but something else – a fairy shining its light? Or what? But something magical, don’t you think?
I don’t know, but they sure are intent on that. Intriguing, to say the least.
Juris
Juris, your post reminds me a bit of the Midsummer pagan scenes in the film Andrei Rublev by Andrey Tarkovskiy.
Interesting picture. There seems to be a last glimmer of sunset in the far distance and the mountain (which looks like men grinning at the fire) is back-lit by a fire which must be burning behind what looks like a cross (if sunset were from the other direction, the trees would also be back-lit)
It’s a clear as day (or Janu Nakts) no-brainer — they’ve found the glowing magic fern.
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