Just back from the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids Summer Gathering at Glastonbury. About 240 of us gathered in the town on Friday evening: 40 Druids from Italy, 10 from Germany, 2 from Holland, 2 from Belgium, 2 from the USA, one from Canada and the rest of us from Britain. The weather forecast was for rain all weekend, but instead we were bathed in glorious sunshine.
On Saturday night the Eistedfodd was one of the best ever. The photo below of Blues singer ZZ Birmingham in shamanic Blues Trance captures some of the magic of the night. Glastonbury Tor in the afternoon and Stonehenge the next morning just after dawn were perfect settings for our ceremonies.
Philip…Thank's and Thank's for the invitation.
For us is History because is the first time since the foundatione of the neo druidism mouvement that an Italian Druids delegation have celebrated at Stonehenge.
Lovely to see the Italians and wasn't their dancing beautiful? Especially the Vestal-esque celebration at the end.
ZZ Birmingham informed me at a recent gig that he did indeed go down to the crossroads at midnight, but there was a queue, headed by Eric Clapton. However, ZZ don't need to sell his soul!
How marvellous Liz! And Ossian it was a great privilege for us to have you at the celebrations, and the dances your group performed were deeply moving. And what better place to be together than in Stonehenge in the early morning sunlight!
The eistedfodd was amazing from the beginning to the end and it felt like a bardic experience in more than one way, at some point it almost felt like 'sacred marriages' where happening, weaving everything into a joyful web of connection and balance. Because the performers and participants spanned (and bridged) generations, styles, backgrounds, countries. Time and space. And so did the music and poetry, ranging from 21st century NeoCeltic to ancient blues. All equally grand and energetic. Like Damh said, druids know how to party!
The dances of the italian girls the next day were amazing and touching indeed. After an almost sleepless night due to the nightly departure to stonehenge I felt pretty groggy the next morning. And in such a state those dances get very mesmerizing and otherworldly. (our german celt woke me up again though).
The bonds between the different tribes are strenghtened once again it seems. And somehow that seems important.