Autumn Equinox & Druids: In 2023 the Autumn Equinox is at 6.50am Greenwich Imply Time on twenty third September (7.50am British Summer time Time.) The precise timing timing is when the solar’s path crosses the Equator and it occurs at barely completely different time annually between the twenty first and twenty fourth of September, although primarily on the twenty second or twenty third.
In 2009 the Equinox was at 10.19pm BST on September twenty second, and 9 hours earlier I used to be photographing the Druid Order celebrating the occasion with their annual ceremony at Primrose Hill in London.
I’ve photographed the Druid Order on quite a few events each at Primrose Hill and likewise for the Spring Solstice at Tower Hill in March. I feel 2009 was my first go to to the autumn ceremony and doubtless my greatest try and cowl it as a complete, although I did take one or two hanging pictures in a later yr.
The ceremony follows intently the sample laid out presumably 100 years in the past. The Druid Order dates from round 1909 or 1912, although it claims to be a continuation of a lot older druidry. You’ll be able to learn extra about its founder in a lecture by Dr Adam Stout.
All we all know concerning the historical druids who worshipped in these islands for 1000’s of years earlier than the Romans got here is from their monumental constructions reminiscent of Stonehenge and the temporary and doubtless relatively biased feedback of Roman historians which described them as smart however bloodthirsty and given to human sacrifice, staining the altars of Angelsey with blood.
As I commented on My London Diary, “Thankfully at this time the members of The Druid Order are peace loving. free-thinking and relatively photogenic of their white robes, and their primary intention is to develop themselves via being relatively than via mental studying.”
My submit on My London Diary describes the Alban Elued (Autumn Equinox) ceremony in some element each via the textual content and my pictures, and I received’t repeat myself right here. You’ll be able to learn numerous variations of the ceremony on-line (additionally referred to as Alban Elfed) and likewise watch a 49 minute video on the Druid Order web site which additionally has a mirrored image on the Autumn Equinox.
Earlier than the ceremony I additionally photographed a memorial plaque to Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826) unveiled in June 2009 on the prime of the hill which had been unveiled earlier within the yr, marking the positioning of the primary assembly of the Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain on Midsummer’s day 1792.
The beginning of the 18th century noticed a revival of curiosity in druidry by folks together with Irish freethinker and thinker John Toland (1670-1722). Iolo Morganwg (1747-1826) invented descriptions of Druid ceremonies and added these, along with a few of his poems, into the translations he product of medieval Welsh manuscripts. He additionally launched the ‘Awen’ image with its three ‘rays’ nonetheless utilized by the Druid Order.
The Druid Order aren’t the one druids who have a good time the Autumn Equinox on Primrose Hill. Somewhat additional west down the hill in a small hawthorn grove you might even see the celebration of a smaller group of the Free Affiliation of Druids of Primrose Hill.
Extra at Autumn Equinox: Druids at Primrose Hill.
Tags: Alban Elued, Autumn Equinox, bloodthirsty, Britain, ceremony, Druid, free-thinking, Gorsedd of the Bards, Iolo Morganwg, John Toland, lban Elfed, London, London Pictures, Free Affiliation of Druids, peter Marshall, Primrose Hill, procession, robes, The Druid Order, white robes
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