October 31, 2009 at 3:34 pm (Lady of the Waters, Land of Britain, Nautilus Project)
I couldn’t resist including this beautiful painting of a mermaid by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse from the Wikipedia Commons. British folklore generally regards sighting of a mermaid to be unlucky and this one certainly has something of the femme fatal about her. I hope people don’t feel she’s too ominous a presence in the light of my previous post on the threat of coastal flooding !
June 12, 2009 at 10:23 am (Land of Britain)
After listening to an excellent “From Fact to Fiction” programme on BBC Radio 4 the other week about a “Parliament of Rooks” – an entertaining satire on MPs expenses – I found this interesting account :
“Rooks are common European members of the genus ‘Corvus’, and the commonest species of the genus in Britain. They nest and roost communally. Their sexual displays are fantastic, with tumbling falls in the air and complex aerobatics. In late winter, just before the breeding season (and at other times of the year too) it is common to see groups of rooks rising above leafless roosting trees, cawing away noisily. Such a group is known as a parliament of rooks, but “parliament” here does not just mean group (like “pride of lions). A medieval belief that is still current in some places is that a parliament of rooks is judging the souls of the recently dead, or that it is enacting laws for the natural kingdom for the coming year. Rooks, by the way, are scavengers….” David Brez Carlisle Carleton.CA
Also see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook
January 20, 2009 at 11:12 am (Green Man Project, Land of Britain, SIRIUS Project)
I recently came upon the “Polygon” edition of this 1927 Scottish novel, whose author’s Prologue – from which the following extract is taken – seemed to encapsulate my notion of a “Spirit of the Land” :
“Then one evening from the Hill of Deer I saw with other eyes. There was a curious leaden sky, with a blue streak about sunset, so that the shadows lay oddly. My first thought, as I looked at the familiar scene, was that, had I been a general in a campaign, I should have taken special note of Woodilee, for it was a point of vantage. It lay right in the pass between the Scottish midlands and the South – the pass of road and water – yes, and – shall I say ? – of spirit, for it was in the throat of the hills, on the march between the sown and the desert. I was looking east, and to my left and behind me the open downs, farmed to their last decimal of capacity, were the ancient land of Manann, the capital province of Pictdom….
….My mouth shaped the word ‘Melanudrigill’, and I knew that I saw Woodilee as no man had seen it for three centuries, when, as its name tells, it still lay in the shadow of a remnant of the Wood of Caledon, that most ancient forest where once Merlin harped and Arthur mustered his men…”
Incidentally, parts of the the Caledonian Forest are now being restored. Please see www.treesforlife.org.uk
