Winter Solstice Celebrations

Well, the Winter Solstice is almost upon us, and this Friday Druids and Pagans of various types will probably be vainly attempting to discern the disc of the Sun through an impenetrable layer of cloud at Stonehenge. If they are lucky, they may well avoid a thorough drenching, but it strikes me that if there is not already a god or a goddess in their pantheon that rules over the rain, then one should certainly be invented or adopted: Thunor perhaps? Surely, if Britain were to have a national deity, it would take the form of a cloud. The foreign stereotypes of ‘foggy Albion’ need to be updated to a more appropriate ‘sodden Albion’. We do not enjoy, contrary to the assertions of some predicting certain climatic shifts a few years ago, a climate akin to that of Provence.

Last week’s census results illustrated some interesting shifts in religious affiliation across England and Wales, with a notable surge in the number declaring themselves to have ‘no religion’ whatsoever. However, there was also growth in the number of those following fringe religious beliefs, which although claiming deep historical antecedents, are in reality relatively modern creations that have drawn upon scattered historical references, as well as in some instances the customs and practices of non-Western Shamanistic cultures, to create systems of belief that many find to be symbolically and emotionally satisfying. Some find that they possess a need for what they would term the ‘spiritual’, and so far as ‘spirituality’ goes, neo-paganism in its various forms is generally relatively benign. 

Across England and Wales the 2011 census revealed that the number of people identifying themselves as Pagan rose to 57,000, with an additional 18,000 describing themselves as Druids, Heathens and Wiccans. All of these share a certain romanticised view of nature and the past and are deeply rooted in a sense of attachment to place and people. It isn’t quite a British equivalent of Shinto, but it’s about as close as it gets. Thankfully, the negative elements of the old religions such as human and animal sacrifice alluded to in fragmentary fashion in the texts of Tacitus and other contemporaneous authors are absent from their re-imagined variants, but even amongst such a disparate body of people as neo-pagans, the occasional ugly demand that their beliefs be ‘respected’ can be encountered. In 2006 for example, Paul Davies from the Council of British Druid Orders described as “immoral and disrespectful” the display of Neolithic human remains in Avebury’s Alexander Keiller Museum and requested their reburial. Quite why he, rather than you or I, should be able to say how they ought to be treated is beyond me, for it is no more likely that he bears any closer relationship to those bones than we do, and I would prefer that the remains of our distant ancestors were made available for scientific analysis rather than reinterred.

As we move towards what looks set to be an unenviably soggy rather than a white Christmas, my thoughts will for a few moments this Friday morning turn towards Salisbury Plain, as I ponder the fate of the pagan party braving the elements early on a wan December day. If nothing else, it will bring a little colour to a drab time of the year, which quite rightly has over the ages given birth to a host of celebrations, whether they happen to have been focused upon the Solstice, Yule, the Saturnalia or Christmas. Personally, I’m happy to celebrate them all, partaking of the good humour that comes with festive food and drink. Anyone for an ale or two? Talking of which, take a look at this delicious and appropriately named beverage. Cheers!

Whilst on a wintry note, for your enjoyment below is Laura Marling's wistful 'Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)'. Alas, a good part of it may once again be covered in flood water instead.

Druids celebrating the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge in 2009

An interesting Year

It cannot be denied that it’s been an interesting year politically and economically. Indeed, it’s also been rather revelatory astronomically, given that the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered distant alien worlds of a similar size to Earth, with it only being a matter of time before somewhere is found of the right dimensions and composition orbiting its parent star at the correct distance for life to potentially thrive. Who knows, they may find somewhere even more pleasant than Peckham. I hope so.

Unfortunately, interesting times in politics and economics are rarely comfortable ones, and it could well prove to be the case that 2012 will be as interesting if not more so than 2011. As the year is drawing to a close, the time has come to take my annual festive break and enjoy good company, food and drink: the true meaning of Christmas. The time away from the keyboard will also hopefully remove the threat of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, at least for the time being. Thursday’s Solstice will soon be upon us, swiftly followed by Christmas and the New Year (all good excuses for celebration), so before leaving you with a contemporary (well, when I say “contemporary” I mean 1970s) pagan Christmas carol, perhaps you might appreciate some of the following amongst this year’s articles that you may have missed.

Mediaeval Mummers

 

What do you think may have been the topic that attracted the most interest from this blog’s readers in 2011? The August riots? The EDL leadership announcing its support of the British Freedom Party? The Emma West affair? Well, popular as these topics proved to be, it was actually a piece that dwelt upon what is the most perennial pressing concern about which the British obsess (no, it’s neither the economy nor sex). Can you guess what it is? Why, the weather of course! As of today the piece UK Winter Forecast 2011-2012: Blowing Hot and Cold had attracted an astonishing 4,147 page views. Now, regular readers will know that I wouldn’t simply write something about weather forecasting without looking at some of the wider political issues that it raises, so if you should be one of the few who has not cast your eye over it, you may wish to do so (unless you’re not British of course, in which case you may be baffled as to why this may be of any interest whatsoever).

On a more humorous note, some strange creatures have been spotted in northern England over the past year, one of which was captured on camera in Blackburn. The other, sighted in Shepley near Huddersfield, proved to be even more mysterious, and may represent a contemporary manifestation of something that has roots stretching back many hundreds of years.

The ethno-demographic changes in our society are well documented and proceeding at a startling speed, prompting some unexpected well-known voices to comment upon their sense of alienation from what contemporary England, particularly London, has become. Bradford witnessed a particularly unpleasant incident relating to this very phenomenon in September. Events further afield have had and will have consequences for our country, and yet despite the evidence of social and economic tensions caused by the mass immigration of culturally incompatible peoples, our Government and the EU are intent upon more of the same. In the long run therefore, the Arab Spring could well presage a European Winter, insofar as the continent’s peoples could be demographically overwhelmed by those from the predominantly Islamic Euromed countries. Islamisation of course, is not something unique to the member nations of the EU, but alas is also affecting other countries such as Russia, where in September this year parts of central Moscow were brought to a standstill by tens of thousands of Muslims praying in the streets.

Well, I do not wish to end on a negative note, and therefore wish all readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and for those who prefer their midwinter celebrations to possess some rather older pre-Christian roots, I include the following song by Jethro Tull: Ring out Solstice Bells. Blogging will resume in early January 2012.