Cudatrix: Neo-Ancients Opening Ceremony Friday 3rd May Beltane Weekend
The following is a reflection upon the opening ceremony for the Neo-Ancients Festival which took place over the Beltane Bank Holiday weekend 3rd - 5th May.
The festival was curated by John Best and Julie Howe who gathered diverse artists, poets, writers, musicians, modern-day Morris dancers and comedians together for a weekend of events exploring the theme of ‘Neo-Ancients’.
It was an honour to be invited to lead the ceremony which opened the weekend’s festivities and having decided to make our local Iron-Age Goddess Cuda our focus I invited local artist Patricia Brien (whose artwork inspired my research in to Cuda) to join me in creating a ritual.
It was an extraordinary event made possible by the crowd who attended and participated. I have been leading ceremonies for 20 years now but this one took me out of my comfort zone!
This is an attempt in writing to capture the spirit of it and it is accompanied by photos from John Best and Su Fahy. The festival itself was ground-breaking in theme, and the ceremony was ground-breaking in itself.
We set up in front of the Sub Rooms outdoors and set the space. Patricia cast a circle with salt, we placed a candle, water from Hawkwood, a smudge stick which I made from herbs from my garden, and a central ‘raft’ made from hedge cuttings and flowers with a model of our local mother Goddess Cuda sitting on top.
We set the space by calling upon the directions and spirits of place, we were accompanied by several drummers and I gave a short introduction to Cuda and the Cuculatti and how she relates to our deep history here in Stroud. I also spoke about how our ancestors revered nature as mother and placed seated mother Goddesses at many water shrines, wells and springs around the Cotswolds.
I then invited everyone to contemplate what it means to be a Neo-Ancient – how to draw upon past mysteries and make them relevant to us now. I invited everyone to think about their favourite local water or hill or valley or village and to identify with it deeply and to acknowledge how it sustains them by saying ‘I am Stroud’, ‘I am river Frome’, ‘I am river Severn’ and as they got the hang of it they called out ‘I am…..’ for many local places special to them. It was fun, embodying and empowering.
We all sang 'All Round Mother Earth' together and then ‘I am the Land’ which was sung over and over and became hypnotic. I gave everyone a drop of Hawthorn – Beltane – blossom tincture and many in the crowd stepped forward to place a flower or leaf on the central raft and name their favourite local places as they did so, accompanied by the continuous singing and drumming.
The ceremony concluded with a dramatic throwing open of the Sub Room doors as everyone was invited into the exhibition and welcomed to the weekend as a whole which was a rich and diverse mix of offerings.
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