I take an interest in many native cultures mainly to (remotely) examine their skills and customs, but not intrusively so.
This is an extract from a flyer produced in the’90’s for the American people and succinctly sums up my thoughts.
“It is good to respect the Native American, for reasons you understand well. One way of honouring him is to leave his religion, his spirituality, his ancestors, to him! But there’s another obligation, too. Don’t you owe it to your own ancestors – whose blood and bone and soul you are – to seek them first? The thousands of generations of forefathers and foremothers, warriors, hunters, and explorers, heroes and rogues alike, call to you. They are your kin. They beckon you – to heal our people, to heal our world, and to walk again the way of the warrior and the wise one. They call you home. Will you answer?”
Today being the Winter Solstice (Yule) is one of the most important days in the British prehistoric calendar. In fact it’s celebrated in many other cultures as well.
Here’s a few things I’ve collated about Yule:
Our ancestors considered the sun as a wheel that changed the seasons. It was from the word for this wheel, houl, that the word Yule is thought to have come.
The Druids (priests) would cut the mistletoe that grew on the oak tree and give it as a blessing. Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe was a symbol of life in the dark winter months.
Mistletoe has a most compelling and influential history. According to ancient Druid tradition, Mistletoe was the most sacred of all plants. Mistletoe was used by the Druid priesthood in a very special ceremony; held five days after the New Moon following winter solstice. The Druid priests would cut Mistletoe from a holy Oak tree with a golden sickle. The branches had to be caught before they touched the ground. The priest then divided the branches into sprigs and dispersed them to the people, who hung them over doorways as protection.
The tradition of bringing sprigs of Holly and Ivy into the home pays homage to the masculine and feminine elements. Both of these powerfully magickal plants are evergreen, a reminder in itself that the earth never dies, but merely sleeps during the winter months, (a tradition which was the precursor to our modern tradition of the evergreen Christmas tree). The male element is represented by the prickly holly; with its sexually potent red berries. The ivy is the female; entwining, gentle yet powerful.
It was also the Druids who began the tradition of the Yule log. They thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter and during this time a log was lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. Never choose Elder for your Yule log.
Yule celebrates the birth of the Sun God – child of the Goddess in the Pagan belief system.
Whatever you ancestry, belief or culture, have a great holiday and may your God(s) be with you.
Pablo.
Welcome.
This is the home of Woodlife. You will find links to Pablos Woodlife (blog) the Woodlife Social Network (forum) and Woodlife Trails (courses) all on this page.
Happy Holidays Pablo and Mrs. Pablo, from Mungo and Mrs. Mungo and Monty the Beagle in Canada!
All the best, and Happy New Year too…
Cheers,
Mungo
Given that it is prehistory that wax eloquently about just what are your sources for all this that the druids did with ‘golden sickles’ and mistletoe?
Any extant artefacts? Any corroborated written record?
Billy,
Thanks for the comment.
Most writings about the Druids came from the writings of the Romans; Cicero, Diodorus and Caesar himself. Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia first described the ritual of the Golden thistle and mistletoe in the first century.
Pablo.
Thanks for the reply Pablo. I am aware of Caesar’s writings about Druids, not exactly complimentary, but how accurate are the others? Three writers from two millenia ago isn’t a large database of fact.
NTW, I think that for continuity in worship we can back no further than Christianity. As flawed as the record is, and despite many changes in practice, it is very well documented in many different sources.
When I live in the wild I don’t find it necessary to worship Pan.
Hope you and yours have had a good Christmas.
Happy New Year and may I wish you much more blogging in the saner end of bushcraft.
Dear Pablo,
I am afraid that you missed out on the most authoritative of all the works in the canon related to the Druids. Billy may wish to consult this important and completely historically accurate set of works just to confirm we are all working with the entire set of knowledge on the subject:
http://www.asterix.co.nz/characters/gauls/getafix.htm
http://wso.williams.edu/~dimmonje/AsterixAndTheGoths.htm
By the way, wasn’t Pan related to Greek Mythology and not to the Druids?
Couldn’t find anything in my other favourite comics: Tintin, Beano or Warlord. Ah well.
Mungo
Hi Mungo
A well travelled Gaul indeed that Asterix, but he wasn’t a druid, now was he :0)
No, no – but Getafix was – have a peek at the ancient web link…
The links don’t work Mungo.
The Romans have probably sent the Batavian auxilaries in.
I’d back a Batavian against a druid anyday
:0)
Hmm… they both work for me, and I’m all the way over in Canada… try again!
I ran into a forest Druid last night also.
Cheers,
Mungo
Hi Pablo,
Am I right in thinking that christianity adopted the approxiamte time of the winter solstice as Jeusu’s birthday because the Pagan(this term means ‘country-dweller’) tribes of britain were not happy about abandoning the winter solstice festival. Easter is also celebrated at the time of a pagan festival Oestra.
I have also heard that Stonehenge’s main function was to assist in the ceremonial celebration of the Winter Solstice – not the Summer Solstice. So when all those people descend on Stonehenge in the Summer, they are actually 6 months too early!