Invitations to the coronation of King Charles III, designed by manuscript illustrator Andrew Jamieson, have provoked much excitement in the media. The debate centres on the Green Man in the centre of the design. Who is the Green Man and what does he represent? What form does the Green Man take? “Green Man” is a…
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Jenny in this month’s British Archaeology magazine!
A big shout-out to Jenny for getting a mention in this month’s British Archaeology magazine! Her work is mentioned in the article ‘A New Neolithic? England’s barrow columbaria’ (May-June 2023 edition). One of the reasons the seed group is so quiet at the moment is that Jenny is hugely busy working on completing her PhD…
Druids in Richmond! (Again!)
After the last blog post on the film Arcadia, I thought I would have a look through the British Film Institute’s free online archive, from which many of the clips used in Arcadia were taken. I was intrigued by the clip of the druids that was in the film, and although I wasn’t able to…
Arcadia Live
On Friday Jenny and I went down to Leeds to meet up with a friend and watch Arcadia Live at Opera North’s Howard Assembly Room. The event was a screening of Paul Wright’s 2017 film Arcadia with a live performance of the soundtrack composed by Portishead‘s Adrian Utley and Goldfrapp‘s Will Gregory. The musicians were…
People of Spirit – A Tribute to Taryn Shrigley-Wightman
Taryn Shrigley-Wightman was a Druid of the Anglesey Druid Order, an Awenydd, a drummer, a gardener and a visionary artist amongst many other aspects of her life. A druid for over 20 years and an artist for over 30 years, she was an award-winning illustrator and multi-media artist who held a Masters degree in Visual…
Hark! Once Again
Jenny and I went along to the latest Hark! Darlington event which combines really interesting local musicians with readings at the lovely Hash Bar and Kitchen on Coniscliffe Road. Despite both of us being really tired and umming and ahhing about whether to go, we were both glad that we did as the musicians were…
‘Ossing About
Posted on Author Mandua BrigaPosted in Mari Lwyd, Richmond, Richmond Old 'Oss, Winter SolsticeLeave a Reply
On Christmas Eve we went over to Richmond to see T’Owd ‘Oss do his stuff around the town. T’Owd ‘Oss – or ‘The Old Horse’ to southerners – is a real horse’s skull on a pole, which is carried around the centre of the town every Christmas Eve. All decked out in greenery and poinsettias,…
Samhain
So – finally! – we were able to get together to mark Samhain on Sunday, very late due to Jenny travelling to Anglesey to join the Anglesey Druid Order‘s Calan Gaeaf celebrations and the waking of their Mari, Mari Môn, plus other things happening such as a very full-on Ofsted inspection for us the week…
Samhain with the Anglesey Druid Order
Keith and I went on a sort of pilgrimage this Samhain to the island of Anglesey, which has always been an important site for British Druidry. Not only was it the site of the famous Roman slaughter of the Druids (suggesting that it was a stronghold of theirs in the first place) but it was…
Tales of Peg Powler
Liz, Sue, Claire and Carl had a fantastic night out last night. We went to Hash Bar in Darlington to see the latest in the series of brilliant Tracks Hark! music and literary events. All of the musicians were wonderful, and I particularly enjoyed the mesmerising and haunting voice of Anna Hughes. I was sad…