Celebrating Ukrainian Culture

(Nimue)

During April, The Folk of Gloucester is hosting a Ukrainian festival. This has been put together by Robin Burton – who I’ve worked with on a number of things, and who sings with Carnival of Cryptids.

The festival has multiple aims. One is to raise awareness of Ukraine’s struggles. Some of the art on display directly reflects this.  The event is also giving people a chance to find out about Ukrainian culture and traditions, and giving Ukrainian refugees in the UK the chance to come together and share in those traditions.

Putin isn’t just trying to invade Ukraine. Russia has a long history of trying to supress Ukrainian culture, and trying to deny the actual history of this country. Keeping that culture alive is an important form of both resistance and survival. I can support that by being present to learn and witness, and by supporting the space being held for sharing Ukrainian culture. Dictators tend to favour homogeny and to outlaw difference. Our cultures, traditions, languages and histories are precious things and should be kept alive. Supporting diversity is always a way of resisting tyranny.

I’m very glad to be a small part of this large and vibrant event. Mostly I’m going along to watch and learn, but next weekend I’ll also be singing. The festival includes performers from the British folk traditions as well. Last weekend we had a morris side spelling the Ukrainian dancers. It’s good to share, and this is a lovely form of solidarity. It also makes it possible to run a longer day programme and to draw more people in.

If you’d like to find out more, wander this way – https://www.robinburton.co.uk/ukrainefestival

Photo by Keith Errington.

St Blaise and the Cryptids

(Nimue)

I’m very much a fan of having local festivals and events be part of my wheel of the year, and I think I have a new one to add. St Blaise’s Day is celebrated at nearby Frampton on Severn in a very old church that used to have an image of him painted on the wall. He’s the patron saint of wool combers and sore throats. This was a wool producing area historically so it makes sense that he was honoured here. Frampton has a wonderful giant and a folk celebration of the saint. I’m always up for a bit of living tradition.

We had an unexpected change of programme as the chaps who should have been dancing solo wasn’t able to. Could we do something? A few of us huddled and tried to work out what we all knew that was suitable for a church! We settled on 3 Ravens. Then the organiser asked what we were called for purposes of this event, and we said Carnival of Cryptids.

Rather unexpectedly this was the first outing for a new project. Carnival of Cryptids sings at Mary de Crypt in Gloucester once a month, and goes out to local events. It’s a loose, informal group with plenty of room for people to drop in and out as they see fit. We have some members with a lot of other commitments, and a number with significant health problems so it has to be flexible. James and I are holding the core of it, we’ve got a tight core of capable and fairly committed singers, and a wider community around that. I like running things in ways that allow people to commit to the degree that suits them.

The four of us had not actually sung together before as a group, so I think we did pretty well. I’m looking forward to seeing how this project evolves, to building a new repertoire, and exploring new events and creative possibilities. Keith recorded the video – he would normally be part of this but wasn’t feeling equal to singing at the weekend.

Winter Pagan traditions

(Nimue)

The UK has a lot of winter traditions that have a Pagan flavour to them – mumming and wassailing, hunting the wren, the Welsh Mari Lwyds, and more. However, if we’re looking at these as relics of ancient Pagan practice, it is as well to be careful.

In Stations of the Sun (which I heartily recommend reading) Ronald Hutton explores folk traditions through the calendar and examines their roots. One thing comes through loud and clear in this book – most folk traditions are in essence forms of ritualised begging. They have their origins in societies that have been grossly inequitable and give those who live in poverty a chance to pick up some extra resources during lean times.

Coming at these as a reasonably comfortable modern person, it can all seem rather jolly – the dressing up, the acting out parts or playing riddling games or displaying something all seems like fun. The realities of walking door to door as a carol singer or a mummer is that it’s cold and takes a lot of effort and if you aren’t well resourced to begin with, that will be hard. Traditional material associated with this includes begging for coins, food and drink.

Interestingly there’s often more than a hint of threat in this – trick or treating certainly isn’t the first tradition to go in for threats alongside the demand for gifts. It’s no doubt easier to apply pressure when you are dressed up and might not be recognised. It’s also worth considering that you take your wassailing to the local land owner, mummers and carol singers alike would have been hitting up the big houses, not the homes of equally poor neighbours. It’s a brief attempt at wealth redistribution.

If you are cold and hungry, singing at the big house in the hopes of getting a pie or a drink isn’t quite so jolly – unless those better resourced people find it in their hearts to be generous and even so, facing the wealth disparities cannot have been fun.

The question of where these stories and activities first came from is a different one. Are there older traditions here? Have these forms of ritualised begging drawn on older ideas, or were they made up to answer specific needs? People are innovative and always were so there’s no reason to automatically assume that anything complex must be some kind of throwback to some imagined golden age. 

It would be lovely to be able to do these things purely as a way of spreading cheer. However, with so much need in the world, anyone out and about performing is likely to be rattling a tin for the sake of a good cause. Often these days the mummers won’t be hungry and asking for food, they’ll be asking for your money to try and help fend off one of the many unfolding diasters impacting on so many people.

It’s an opportunity to use your creativity for the good of others – relevant for anyone one the bard path. In terms of where the Paganism is in all of this, we can think about it in terms of both festivity and justice.

Steampunks in Gloucester

A couple of videos have come out from the recent Gloucester steampunk event and I thought people might enjoy them here.

The first one is a film of the Jovial Crew doing a mumming play, This is not a traditional play, but it’s based very much on the kinds of things that go on in traditional ones. The characters mostly relate to Gloucester. Having politics in the mix is very much part of the tradition, and getting into a disguise in order to challenge authority is part of it – although you can plainly see most of the faces of the performers. I wrote this for Robin (in the marvelous tatter coat) based on what he wanted from a script. That’s my fabulous offspring James being the cheese – he’s been the boar in other productions. My lovely Keith is being Beelzebub, and Jessica (in whose band I play) is the inventor of the vacuum cleaner!

This second video is of the parade through the streets. The Gloucester Steampunks are embodying all kinds of midwinter traditions here – mostly from Europe, but not entirely so. Some of us just wear what we fancy. These attract a lot of attention and bring cheer to the streets, it’s a lovely thing to be part of.

This year we paused to re-enact that time a king decided to put a barrel of beer on trial in Gloucester – Keith wrote the script for that and acted as prosecutor. When we got to Mary de Crypt we had a brief Christmas Carol scene. The person who inspired Scrooge is buried in the church.

Living Tradition is really important to me. How we keep traditions alive, honour the past, and celebrate are all really good things to think about. I love being part of this creative community that does such lively, innovative things in honour of local history and tradition. There are some very traditional things going on there – perhaps most importantly the broad – a cow skull traditionally carried by local revelers. We sang a local wassailing song on the Sunday as well.

Stories in the landscape

(Nimue)

Recently I read an article about appropriation of Welsh culture (over here if you’re curious – https://nation.cymru/culture/mari-lwyd-and-the-appropriation-of-welsh-mythology).

I heartily agree with the writer that the use of ‘Mabon’ as a name for the autumn equinox is really problematic. Mabon is a Welsh figure from myth and very probably an ancient Pagan God. However, there’s a critically important detail missing from that original article. Mabon’s story is set in Gloucester.

At the moment, Gloucester isn’t part of Wales, but the border has shifted a lot through history. Gloucester is the place Mabon was imprisoned and the Severn is the river where the oldest Salmon swam. The Severn has often been the border with Wales. But not always.

In another Welsh myth, Bran the Blessed’s head ends up in London. Welsh God Gwyn ap Nudd is supposed to live under Glastonbury Tor – also not currently part of Wales, while the Nudd he is son of is probably Nodens, whose temple sites in Lydney, Gloucestershire and in Lancashire – which also aren’t in Wales.

Stories an be really important parts of how we understand and relate to landscapes. Our sense of connection with place has so much to do with what kinds of stories we have to tell about it. Disconnection and disenchantment are the consequences of not having those kinds of stories. The stories that come from Wales do not speak only of the Welsh landscape, they range across this landmass, and into Ireland. This is often the way of it, because traditions and stories often don’t respect physical or political borders.

There’s a tension here between the ancestors of blood, land and tradition that we might look to. There’s a need for respect, and for treating living cultures respectfully. At the same time, many of us live in parts of the UK that have been part of Wales in the past but aren’t at the moment. Many of us have Welsh ancestry and the relationships between people, landscapes and traditions are not as simple as the coloniser/oppressed people narrative the article I’ve linked to wants to suggest.

Fairy issues

This is me at the Fairy Windings in Gloucester last weekend, before I played my final set of the weekend. It was an excellent thing to get to be part of. Fairy events overlap with both people who do steampunk, and Pagan folk, so it’s an interesting mix. I did a talk on Paganism, and am likely to do more of that at future events. 

One of the things that struck me is that this was all very light, post-Victorian fairy stuff, apart from us. We took the classic fairy ballad Thomas the Rhymer. I have a Jenny Greenteeth song. We talked about the dark side of fairy quite a bit and on the Saturday night were dressed that way too. Hopefully at the next event Jessica Law is going to do a talk about fairies in folk ballads. By this means we smuggle the older and more complicated fairies of folklore in amongst the brighter stuff. It feels good to be able to do this.

It’s pretty much a year since Keith inspired me to try playing the viola again. I’ve come a huge distance in that time, able now to gig and play a whole set where a year ago I could barely hold the instrument for five minutes. I’ve created arrangements for a lot of Jessica’s songs and am able to do faster and more intricate things when the song calls for it. In recent weeks I’ve been enjoying my own playing rather than just struggling to do a decent job. I feel more like the me of previous years who played a lot of music. It’s been a really happy process.

I’ve come away from this event with things to work on ahead of future ones, and the offer of a place on the team to contribute creatively in whatever way I want to. This makes me very happy indeed. It’s great to have spaces where I can do creative things and create opportunities for other people to engage creatively too. I’m going to be looking at what we do when we take processions out, and I have some songs and chants to write for that.

There is a folkloric relationship between fiddle players and fairies. There are definite possibilities that the fiddle player will turn out to be a fairy, or will be lured away by the fairies. Violas are basically big fiddles.

The Jovial Crew

This photo is of some of The Jovial Crew, taken at Woodchester Mansion at Beltain. This is a mumming side, pulled together for a non-traditional play that I wrote to include a mix of traditional and local character, plus the villain of the piece, Baron De Peffle. I’m not in the play, but I ended up in the photo (back row on the left). I have no recollection of what Robin and I were plotting when the photo was taken.

Robin gave me a list of possible characters to work with, and the play itself was something of a collaboration. I do better often when I have people to work with, or for. This was not my first mumming play – during my Midlands period I wrote a number of non-traditional plays using local figures, folklore figures and place names as characters, as well as versions of several Arthurian stories – Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain and the Loathly Lady, Gawain and the Invisible Knight. I like mumming as a form – the short and anarchic nature of it, the invitation to improvisation and audience participation.

One of the things Robin Burton and I have in common is a love for playing with tradition. It’s proved a good basis for collaboration. If all you can do is replicate the folk-things previous people were doing, what you have is a museum piece. Folk is supposed to be alive. Mummers used to disguise themselves in no small part so that they could do satire, poke fun at authority and critique those with power. For that to be relevant, you have to bring in elements of what’s happening now, which we’ve done with this play.

With protest increasingly difficult in the UK, and some aspects of it being criminalised, we’re going to need the means to come at issues sideways, and the means to engage people.

Mage in Miami

Recently we’ve had some wonderful comments on the blog from Miami Magus, who has shared considerable insights into traditions I know little or nothing about. So, I got in touch, and the result is this blog post and me pointing at things! Jose is a Cuban Magician living in Miami, Florida and writes about a broad array of topics. This is just a small selection.

This is a really helpful post about appropriation and plants – https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/palo-santo-sage-exploiting-native-american-spirituality-for-money/

This post shares a ghost experience the author had – https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2023/01/27/the-jade-buddha/

Over here we have a substantial exploration of ghost sin Christianity – https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/ghosts-in-judeo-christian-tradition/

This is a deep dive into Roanoak folklore https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/the-white-doe/

While this post explores the folklore around wailing women in South America. https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2018/10/31/la-llorona-the-woman-in-white-weeping-woman-wailer/  

This is a post about nature, and ghosts https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2020/06/28/the-green-dead/

And finally, a really interesting Christio-Pagan perspective on the harvest festival, with a lot of sharing of personal practice https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2021/09/30/michaelmas-the-christianized-harvest-festival/

It’s always a joy to have people sharing their own work and insights in the comments – please do jump in if you see something that relates to something you’re working on. I’m always open to sharing other people’s work where that’s relevant and likely to appeal to regular readers here. If you want to talk to me about possibilities, drop me a line – brynnethnimue @ gmail dot com 

Puddings, tradition and magic

The tradition goes that everyone in the household has to stir the Christmas pudding, for good luck, and everyone gets to make a wish. A traditional pudding would have been made weeks ago, but I don’t have anywhere suitable to keep a pudding dry and cool for that long. For some years now, I’ve assembled my pudding on Christmas Eve, or the day before intended consumption, but I keep with the stirring traditions.

Kitchen magic

Grating the apple, first

I am making puddings

With my great grandmother

Who cooked them up

In a copper boiler

Lit in the scullery

That became a kitchen

Long before my birth.

Orange peel, lemon zest

Breadcrumbs, suet.

She was long buried

Before I started making

Festive puddings,

She is with me, each year.

We make puddings for people.

Rum, whiskey, beer, spices,

Dried fruit, not traditional

Fewer currents, more apricot

Stirring for good luck,

A household makes wishes

Spooning hopes into the mix.

Boiling. Great grandmother’s anxiety

Becomes my ease, slow cooker

My friend and accomplice.

Feeding friends, family, futures

Comfort, fruit, sweetness.

Wishes, witchcraft,

Pudding magic

Offerings. Hope.

Making your own traditions

Many of the things we think of as traditional at this time of year aren’t actually that old. The first Christmas tree in the UK happened around 1800 and they didn’t really take off until Queen Victoria got into them. The trees are a German tradition. 

The whole red and white Santa image is modern, green Santas are older and before that we had a diverse bunch of Gods, saints, Goddesses and spirits associated with midwinter and gifts. Or punishment, if you happen to be a krampus.

There’s no one right way of doing any of this. Real traditions are living things that evolve over time. Harking back to older traditions in the hopes of finding something purer or more authentic is also a really traditional thing to do. At some point, every tradition we have is just something someone made up.

Living tradition should be about passing along the fun stuff, not dolefully re-enacting whatever has been handed down to us. It should always be ok to reject traditions that don’t work.

The capitalist side of Christmas is a terrible tradition, causing financial misery for many and putting extra pressure on our already struggling planet. These would be traditions to reject. It’s all modern nonsense anyway, and there’s no need to keep it going.

I hope that however you relate to this particularly odd day, that it treats you kindly and that you are able to find peace and good things.