Wicker Man

The Christmas movie showing in the dining hall was interesting.  In previous years we've had "The Grinch", "A Christmas Carol", "Gremlins" and "It's a Wonderful Life".  This year, in a slight change from tradition, we had the remake of "The Wicker Man".
Many of the older male Beaker Folk spoke wistfully of the original, and especially of Britt Ekland's part in it.

But we decided to go with the remake.  Overall I now feel quite ambivalent.

Obviously, anything that ends up with Nicholas Cage having his legs broken before being burnt to death will never be short of laughs.  But a film where a sinister and power-mad woman rules a community with a rod of iron, while all the men are gormless, useless drones - where do they get these ideas from?

Commemoration of Edward Woodward

Dress code:  Scottish islanders and illiterate yokels, with a scattering of Government hit-men and freelance trouble-shooting hardmen.  Definitely no hi-viz, it makes you an easier target.

Archdruid: We come to burn the wicker man, in memory of Callan's greatest scene.  Well, obviously not Callan.  The bloke who played him, may he rest in peace.


All: Can we do anything for you, Archdruid?  

Archdruid:  No, I doubt it, seeing you're all raving mad!  
 
All:          Have  we got the sacrificial schmuck?

Earwig: A man who would come here of his own free will.

Burton:  A man who has come here with the power of a king. By representing the law...

Drayton: A man who would come here as a virgin...

Hnaef: A man who has come here as a fool!

Young Keith's Uncle the Police Officer:  Do you know what, I'm feeling a bit nervous about all this...  Look, I've been happily married for years.

All:  It's all right... we're only joking!

Closing hymn - Summer is icumen in.

The Wicker Man is burnt as a final salute to the great Edward Woodward.

Archdruid: In the end, there's only one great Equalizer....

No  police officers were harmed in the making of this liturgy.

Woodhenge and Halloween

We note the rather nice piece on Wood- and other henges on the BBC website. Especially the (necessarily conjectural) idea that the dead were carried from the forests of Durrington Walls (a wooden structure) to the stone and therefore permanent emplacement of Stonehenge - symbol of the dead. We are struck with the parallel with Swaledale's "Corpse Way", whereby once upon a time dead Northerners were carried in wicker baskets to their rest at Grinton Church. We also consider the irony that in the mid-19th century, almost the entire population was carried from this beautiful Dale down into the Durham Coalfields. We have been asked whether we might consider a similar long-distance transportation to a resting place.
So far we have said no. Partly because you don't like to think about such things, especially coming up to Samhain. Partly because the current crop of Beaker Folk look like lasting for years, thereby holding up any chance of getting our hands on their legacies. And partly because it's such a blooming long way to the crematorium along dangerous roads. I'm not carrying a dead Beaker Person along the A5 for any amount of tradition.

Meanwhile on the Halloween front, I notice that the Wicker Person (I've decided to change it from "Wicker Man" for the purposes of annoying everyone) is now at full height ready for the great burning on Saturday. Unfortunately it also seems to have taken on a decided resemblance to Simon Cowell, including the high-waisted pallets. On the bright side, as it sways in the wind our Wicker Simon has more mobility in its face than the real one. Still, we don't want to upset the rich and powerful. Please can somebody make the Wicker Person more anonymous.

Halloween Wicker Man

The Wicker Man is now rising nicely over Big Meadow.  By the time Samhain arrives we're wanting it to be 40 feet tall.  We're hoping the flames will be visible in Dunstable.

But this year there is extra urgency.  With all the excitement over the End of the World and the threatened schism (so far not actually happened) we've really rather left the Wicker Man a bit late.  So can all the Beaker Folk, as they finish their Data Mining, please swap their keyboards for nail extractors and hatchets.  We've a lot of pallets to split if we're going to get that Wicker Man up to size by Saturday.  As usual we're also looking for the sacrificial victims to put in it, so please can you all rack your brains.  A few oven-ready chickens would be nice, and obviously the normal potatoes and sweetcorns.  But what else does anyone fancy for tea on Saturday?

Wicca Man

So we forgot the Wicker Man, easy to do with all the excitement at Solstice.  I mean, it's easy to miss, is a 90 foot man made out of pallets, lurking in the garden.  And with a solstice New moon, it was even darker than normal.  So it was nice to let it go off this evening.  And what a sight.  The passing resemblance to Andy Murray was a nice touch as well,  although the way the first set went we were starting to think that there was something in sympathetic magic after all.

OK, the traffic jam on the M1 as the smoke drifted across Junction 13 was an unforseen side-effect.  And the appearance of the Fire Brigade was as unexpected as it was unneccessary.  On the whole I think it was a great celebration of the Summer Solstice.  Even if it was a week late.