May Day Matters in West Cornwall

A Report by Alex Langstone

The ancient custom of the Penzance May Horns and Whistles was vividly brought back to life on Sunday May 4th 2008. Using many of the old customs recorded in Robert Hunt's Popular Romances of the West of England, the people of the West Cornwall town took to the streets.

The days celebrations started with a walk to Trereife Park, where a Beltane picnic was shared amongst the beautiful backdrop of bluebell woods and rolling parkland. Trereife House was one of the traditional places that the folk of Penzance called at on May morning to gather greenery, flowers, rum and milk, and to make May Sycamore Whistles before returning to the town, dressed in the greenery of the forest blowing their whistles to greet the May.

This event was an annual celebration prior to 1933, when Penzance Borough banned it for being too noisy and rowdy. This years historic Beltane celebration is all set to mark the return of the Penzance May Horns to the folk calendar of West Cornwall.

The main event of the day was the procession beginning at Newlyn Green. Participants gathered at the nearby Tolcarne Inn overlooking the spectacular Mounts Bay. About 40 people gathered in the beer garden, where we were greeted by the May Green Man.

The procession was headed by the Master of Ceremonies Mr Dennis Dowrick, followed by the Turkey Rhubarb Band, The Green Man and Lady of May. Fi Read; the current Mock Mayor of the Quay was also in attendance plus one or two familiar faces from the Druid Grove of Bega plus many other friendly faces.

As the procession neared the Penzance parish boundary from Newlyn, a brief talk was given about the last time the May Horns celebration had taken place in the 1930s, and mention was made about the town councils decision to ban the event - a ban that is still in effect today. So once we were over the river that forms the towns western edge we were illegal.

Despite this, the defiant revellers continued along the prom, and then up through Alexandra Road, and into the town centre, where at the historic Green Market the may pole was raised and frantic dancing and laughter was witnessed at this traditional May Pole site for the first time in 70 years. Many more people had spilled onto the streets by this time, enticed out of the nearby pubs by the music and laughter, and soon more had joined the final part of the Sacred May procession.

The final leg continued to the ancient and historic Chapel Street district, and to the Admiral Benbow, one of the towns oldest hostelries, where the upstairs bar was opened for a party. Cornish folk dancing and music was on hand to entertain, and proved to be a fitting end to the towns revived Beltane celebrations. I sincerely hope that this is the first of many, and that many more will join in the fun next year!

See our Druid Grove of Bega pages for more photos here

External link: Official website www.penzancemayhorns.co.uk

Seahenge on Display

Justification or Desecration - the debate continues...

Visitors will be taken back in time 4,000 years when Kings Lynn Museum re-opens to the public on Tuesday 1st April after its £1.2 million redevelopment. For on display for the first time will be Seahenge – the man-made timber circle found on Holme beach in 1998 which has been hailed one of Britain's most exciting archaeological discoveries.

A new gallery has been created to show half the 55 preserved timbers from the circle and the giant upturned oak stump they surrounded, against an illuminated backdrop of Holme beach today.

Seahenge as it was before 1998

Archaeologists faced angry protests when they started to remove the timbers in 1999 to preserve and study them, from druid groups who felt a spiritual connection to the site and local people who wanted the structure to remain in place.

Lynn Museum project manager Hannah Jackson said mystery still surrounds what prompted the Bronze Age people to create the circle. "There are tantalising clues yet we still don't really know what it was for – it's a bit of an enigma," she said.

"The upturned stump could have been like a table top on which the body of a very important member of the community who had died would be laid out for the birds and animals to pick the flesh off.

"Then they would remove the bones for burial elsewhere, and that fits in with what we know of Bronze Age burial rites," she said.

Another theory suggests the circle was an ancient calendar, as its alignment ties in with the rising sun on midsummer's day shining directly through an arched timber forming the entrance.

Either way, it was significant enough to involve 50 to 80 of our ancestors in constructing the monument as evidence has been found of more than 50 different axes being used to shape the timbers, Miss Jackson said.

The main display is mirrored by a full-sized fibreglass replica showing how the structure would have appeared when it was constructed in 2049BC, complete with a model of a Bronze Age man. Visitors can enter and explore this area.

Since excavation, the Seahenge timbers have been to the Bronze Age Centre at Flag Fen, near Peterborough, to be studied and start the ten-year preservation process, and to the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth to finish the conservation work. The central stump is still with the trust until it is ready to join the display.

So despite excavation, study and preservation we are still nowhere near to making any new discoveries, prompting the same old question of why remove it in the first place? Maybe a better understanding would have been reached by studying the ancient monument in its original position? Was this a justified scientific project or the desecration of an ancient site? Let us know what you think.

The museum opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Admission is £3 adults, £2.50 concessions and £1.65 for 4 - 16-year-olds.

Winter Wildwood Mystery

This meditational piece was first published in The Lighthouse Vol. 2 No. 1 Winter 1999 - 2000. It was inspired by a vision of the Green Man in Tehidy Woods, Cornwall during 1999. Winter Wildwood illustration and magazine cover by Paul Atlas-Saunders. Yule King by Yuri Leitch.

The Winter Wild Wood Mystery
A Meditation for Alban Arthan
by Alex Langstone

All is in darkness.

Gradually you see stars shining, glowing intensely in the night sky. As you become aware of your surroundings you realise that you are standing in a meadow. A heavy frost shimmers upon the ground, illuminated by the faint starlight and a slender crescent moon.

You notice that you are standing by a wooden gate, and on the other side of the gate is an ancient trackway leading to a vast woodland. You open the gate and begin your journey on the path. Your footfalls crunch upon the frosted landscape and your breath vapourises on the still night air. In the distance movement catches your eye. Your heart quickens and you increase your step. Something stirs in the approaching woodland.

Before you enter the forest you notice that dawn is breaking towards the eastern horizon. The sky is clear and soon the sun will be reborn at this sacred time, and the light of Arthur will shine across the land once again. For this is a time of beginnings and completion, death and rebirth; the sun dies and is reborn as the Child of promise.

The Sun's journey is about to begin once more as it has since the dawn of time, for in the depths of winter's darkness stirs new life, and the Oak king stirs in readiness for the waxing sun.

You now enter the winter wild wood, and again you see movement up ahead. Then at once as the Solstice Sun rises over the distant hills you enter a clearing. A huge stag greets you, his antlers rise up and he looks at you. Look into his eyes, for he is the guardian of the forest and the sacred totem of Cernunnos, of Herne, of Gwyn ap Nudd - He who leads the legendary Wild Hunt at the winter solstice; hunting out the light from the darkness, seeking out our future dreams and aspirations from the hidden depths of our souls.

As you watch him, he turns away and walks deeper into the magic forest. You feel compelled to follow him, for now is the time to use the light of the returning sun to aid us in our continuing quest. Follow the Stag-headed-one, keeper of the mysteries of the winter wild wood.

As you walk onwards you notice that the trees are getting bigger. Mighty oaks are now in abundance, their twisted branches look like ancient hands reaching out to welcome and guide you, for you are about to enter the sacred grove of the Horned God. He awaits you, and should you require his assistance and guidance, then ask for it now. Call out to him and he will answer. Spend some time in communion with the protective power of nature.

Whatever is happening now, look around you, notice that you are still in the forest but the Horned God has gone and shafts of pale winter sunlight pierce through the bare branches of the trees. You now retrace your steps, walking away from the clearing and towards the forest edge. As you leave the clearing you notice the bright red berries of the holly, which add life and colour to the woodland. You follow the path and shortly you see the mighty oaks again and you note the most sacred of all winter plants growing high up in their branches: the Mistletoe, it's gleaming white berries shining and silken, symbolic of the seed of life!

Shortly the woodland changes and you enter a Birch grove. The slender silver graceful trees form a perfect circle. You walk around the edge of the circular clearing. A Wren greets you by flitting from tree to tree. The sylvan trunks glisten in the watery sunlight. A small bubbling brook winds its way along the outer edge of the clearing. You listen to the sound of the water running over the rounded pebbles, which glow like jewels in the morning light. Take a drink from the stream. Feel the cold water refresh and cleanse you in readiness for your continued journey home.

Soon you reach the edge of the wild wood and as you leave by the old wooden gate, a Robin darts across your path from the old Yew by the gate. His sweet song greets you, the sacred song of winter. Remember what you have learned and take inspiration from what you have experienced and as you look around you the landscape fades away.

All is in darkness.

Chesca Potter interview, 1992

It is with great pleasure that I can now re-publish an interview that ASH Magazine co-editor Dave Hunt produced for the Summer 1992 edition of the magazine. The interview is now over 30 years old, so please bear this in mind when reading it! Chesca's Greenwood Tarot is now unfortunately out of print but some online information is available here: Green Wood tarot

This, the second in our occasional series of interviews with personalities within the esoteric scene takes us to meet one of the countries foremost "Magical Artists". Dave Hunt is the man with the questions.

Dave: When and how did you become involved in the esoteric?

Chesca: I was always mystically minded, but a deeper interest started about 10 years ago. Three specific occasions come to mind.

1. When I moved to Kings Cross and started having visions of a huge green and gold Goddess called Elen, standing over St Pancras old church. I spent years trying to understand what or who I had seen, whilst researching the lost mythology of London, some of which is written up in the book I edited "Legendary London" and in my booklet "Mysterious Kings Cross".

2. Whilst I was still living in Lancaster, I took a book out of the Library called "The Silbury Treasure" by Michael Dames. I can honestly say that book changed my life, not only did I rush down to Avebury and Silbury but it changed my way of looking at nature. I seemed to be able to tap into a sort of memory at some ancient places and interact with them, now in the present. Sometimes I see places with a sort of x-ray history, seeing who or what had been "worshipped" there in prehistoric times and how succeeding cultures changes and adapted their "worship" depending on their cultural belief system.

3. The third early influence for me was hearing about the Green Stone saga from Andrew Collins. I learned a lot from him, about the interaction between the physical world and the psychic.

Dave: What are your personal beliefs?

Chesca: I don't really know how to answer this. I am not a fundamentalist, meaning I don't have a rigid belief system. Having explored many aspects of the mysteries, I believe part of my purpose is to rediscover and make public the very ancient "green" mythologies, updating their relevance, so new people can meditate and contact ancient spirits of the land in order to empower woodland and nature.

Dave: From where do you derive inspiration for your art?

Chesca: The inspiration for my artwork comes from sacred places and my psychic or imaginative contact with the spirits of the land.

Dave: Did you have any formal training?

Chesca: I trained at Edinburgh in art history and print making.

Dave: Who are your favourite artists?

Chesca: My favourite artists are the so-called British Mystical landscape tradition, William Blake, Samuel Palmer, Turner. I also like 18th century prints of ancient sites and hand coloured natural history prints.

Dave: What are your artistic aspirations?

Chesca: I can only think of a couple of years at a time. At the moment I am working on the Green Wood Tarot with Mark Ryan. Redesigning and restructuring the tarot system to be based on the wheel of the year. My dream is to be a "site guardian" of a small woodland and spring, and to be caretaker on all levels, of the natural history and ecology, and to make sure the spirits of the place are strong and happy.

Dave: What are your views on the future of the British Pagan movement?

Chesca: I really don't know where the British pagan movement will go in the future. I would like to see less emphasis placed on individual experience, personal development and satisfaction. The land is in crisis and I feel that Pagans should take far more magical responsibility for the effects of their rites on the land. I think that some pagans are destroying ancient sites because they presume that any pagan rituals are good for them., but actually if the beings they call on do not belong to the place, or know the place, it can unbalance the energies. I think people are draining sacred places of their power by not feeding that power back to them!

Artwork by Chesca Potter, as submitted for the original interview. Questions by Dave Hunt.

Sea Henge: 8 years on...

To coincide with the news that what is left of the Sea Henge monument is to be displayed in the Museum of Kings Lynn by Easter 2008, I have taken another look at this controversial and interesting topic with the help of East Anglian corespondent Jane Cook.

In the spring of 2050 BC, a huge oak tree was felled and its stump upturned and half-buried on a site near to what is now Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. The following year, a number of smaller oaks were felled and cut into 56 posts, which were arranged in a circle around the central stump. The Bronze-Age monument, said by some modern archaeologists to be among the most exciting ever discovered, may have formed some kind of religious site, associated with special astronomical significance.

Both the circle and the people who built it were long forgotten before the land on which it stood became submerged by the sea. Its existence had vanished even from folk memory until, almost 4,000 years after its construction, the shifting sands off the East Anglian coast moved again to reveal its presence. The ancient site quickly became known as Sea Henge, and was soon to become very controversial, as English Heritage decided that they were going to remove it and conserve it miles away from its location. Druids and Pagans quickly organised sit-in protests against English Heritage's decision, and a bitter war of words raged right up to the point of removal.

Agreement was eventually reached over the future of the 'henge' and, in the summer of 1999, it was finally recorded and removed to the Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre, near Peterborough. There, as well as being preserved, the ancient timbers were subjected to detailed tree-ring dating. It was from these that a precise date was arrived at for the felling of the trees that make up the Sea Henge circle. The tree rings gave three possible dates, which were narrowed down to just one – 2050 BC – after comparisons with a series of carbon dating tests. The time of year – between April and June – was obtained by an examination of the final growth ring of the main stump, which showed that the tree had been felled in the spring. For further information on the area and Sea Henge visit: http://www.northcoastal.freeserve.co.uk/henge.htm

SEA HENGE RETURNS

The newly refurbished Kings Lynn museum will be the permanent home of the iconic sea henge monument. All the timbers have undergone specialist conservation at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth. Work has included immersing the timbers in a liquid wax solution, which replaced the water and supported the cell structure. The timbers were then freeze-dried to remove any remaining water. The display is set to be completed and open to the public at Easter 2008.

STRANGE DAYS SURROUNDING THE SEA HENGE DEBACLE

A report by Jane Cook

During the Sea henge debacle I was living in Suffolk so I could follow events on the local news that probably never reached the rest of the country. Although I couldn't go to Holme, I managed to contact an elderly gentleman who had lived in the area all his 90 odd years. He said the stumps had been successively covered and uncovered by the sea and sand for as long as he could remember and they had not been significantly worn away. He was furious at what he saw as the interference of English Heritage, insisting the Henge was part of the area and should stay there.

I then contacted English Heritage and put to them that, once removed from their original site, the timbers became nothing but that: lumps of wood. I tried to explain the significance of the placing of such items; the fact that it was done as a form of "earth acupuncture" to modify energy lines in particular places, often in order to avoid undesirable effects. I was met with a response that was little short of abusive. The removal of the timbers went ahead, and they were taken to the Flag Fen Centre in order to undergo archaeological conservation.

Over the following months several news items appeared which I doubt many but myself connected with Sea henge. However, I have never believed in coincidences, and the location of a succession of freak accidents in that area seemed to me significant. One such was the disappearance to two highly experienced sailors - life boat men - who were delivering a boat they had built. They had left in calm weather to travel a few miles along the coast but they never arrived.

The ultimate bizarre event was when the Flag Fen Centre burned down, during January 2000, leaving undamaged only the building that housed the tanks containing the Sea henge timbers. Despite a thorough investigation, a cause for the fire could not be established.

Last week I saw on the news that the Sea henge timbers are finally going on display. What a pointless exercise! Even leaving aside the spate of accidents, surely the resources of English Heritage could have been far better spent.

What do you think? Please let us know.

Rotherwas Serpent

Workers discover ancient 'snake'

An aerial view of the 4000 year old 'Rotherwas Ribbon'

Diggers constructing a new access road have uncovered a mysterious serpent-shaped feature, dating from the early bronze age.

The 197ft (60m) long ribbon of stones, found in Rotherwas, near Hereford, is thought to date from the same period as Stonehenge, roughly 2000 BC.

County archaeologist Dr Keith Ray said as far as he is aware the stone feature is unique in Europe.

"We can only speculate it may have been used in some kind of ritual," he said.

International significance.

The Rotherwas Ribbon, as it is being called, is made up of a series of deliberately fire-cracked stones and appears to have been deliberately sculptured to undulate through the whole of its length that has so far been uncovered.

"This is an exciting find, not just for Herefordshire and the UK, but apparently, so far, unique in Europe. It has international significance," Dr Ray said.

Archaeologists said although the practice of laying stones in small level pavements is known at sites in Pembrokeshire and elsewhere, the closest parallel to the Rotherwas Ribbon is the "Great Serpent Mound", in Ohio, USA, which is thought to have been built between 200 BC and 400 AD.

The Serpent Mound is a 1,330ft (405m) long effigy of a serpent.

Source: BBC News

The above was reported earlier this month and once again raises some important questions about road building, archaeology and our national heritage. This find surely has to be one of the most important recent finds in Britain? So what are they going to do? Bury it! Please visit the links below to help save this important site.Click here to sign the online petition now. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/rotherwas/

Rotherwas Serpent campaign website http://www.rotherwasribbon.com