Celebrations of the 30th Gathering

Some people have emailed and requested information regarding the refrains that were used in our ritual this year. The full lyrics are from Beltane Fires by Christopher Bingham and are readily accessible during a search for the same. Photographs to accompany this post, are courtesy of Mel who gets snap happy at the best of times but Franklin remains a favourite place to photograph the amazing array of flora and fauna :))

Excerpts from Christopher Bingham's "Beltane Fires"

<Men chant moving anticlockwise>

Eo! The musky Piper playing

Eo! The One Who Calls the Dance

Eo! The howling earth is saying

Eo Evohe!

<Women chant moving clockwise>

Eo! The Maiden and the horned one

Eo! The call to spill the seed

Eo! The stirring of the Cauldron

Eo Evohe!

Some have also emailed who were curious about the spiraling chant used this year.  It is entitled "The Witch's Reel" or "Gelie Duncan's song"- a woman accused of Witchcraft in Scotland and one of the songs she and three other conterparts were accused of singing over four hundred years ago in Scotland. Allegedly all four women were executed. The entire reel is as follows:

"Cummer, go ye before, cummer, go ye

If ye willna go before, cummer, let me

Ring-a-ring-a-widdershins

Linkin’, lithely widdershins

Cummer, carlin, crone and queen

Roun’ go we

Cummer, go ye before, cummer, go ye

If ye willna go before, cummer, let me

Ring-a-ring-a-widdershins

Loupin, lightly widdershins

Kilted coats and fleein’ hair

Three times three

Cummer, go ye before, cummer, go ye

If ye willna go before, cummer, let me

Ring-a-ring-a-widdershins

Whirlin’, skirlin’ widdershins

De’il tak’ the hindmost

Wha’er she be"

Some of the more challenging linguistics of this reel were kindly translated by the Prestoungrange Arts Society:

cummer, carlin and crone = are all words for “witch”
ring-a-widdershins = go anti-clockwise in a circle (meant to be bad luck)
linkin’ lithely = join arm in arm
loupin’ = jumping
skirlin’ = screaming or howling
de’il = the devil

The Prestoungrange Arts Society is a fantastic website with all manner of interesting articles and information-a site well worth the effort to visit and peruse. 

http://www.prestoungrange.org/arts-festival/index.html

Anne Ross-is a former research fellow in Archeology at the University of Southhampton, her books also provide an immeasurable amount of resources and information regarding Pagan-Celtic Britain. Well worth investing in :))