Mercian Gathering 2008

Photos by Laura

We arrived early on Friday in good cheer despite the promise of rain by the gods, which began shortly after we started putting our tents up. Rain which had already soaked the ground made it somewhat difficult to get the mini-bus onto the field and in the end it needed a good push! The first talks were announced while we were still putting up our tents, by a young army cadet who could barely be heard over the wind and rain: not that the terrible megaphone helped.

The first talk on the agenda was a talk on ‘Sacred spaces in Anglo-Saxon Britain’ by Bob Trubshaw, which turned into a list of Anglo-Saxon names and what they meant, which didn’t hold anybody’s interest. It is fair to say however that the guy knew what he was talking about, despite the lack of information and poor deliverance of the talk. After the talk we went to shelter in the communal tent, lent to us by the Guides, until the rain eased up so we could attend the Viking combat. The Vikings’ combat was both informative and humorous, keeping us all amused and entertained; for me it was one of the highlights of the weekend. They braved the weather on Friday, Saturday and Sunday keeping the people at the Mercian gathering entertained, with more than one member of the Pagan Society wishing to join them both in and out of the hot tub. Friday night we all attended the opening ceremony, for which the rain stopped so that we could enjoy the ritual. This included walking through the labyrinth and watching the hearth fire being lit. After the ceremony we gathered round the fire, where many people began to chant only to be told to stop, and that there was to be chanting later. Most went to the Bardic performances after this or to the mess tent to shelter from the rain.

Saturday we were greeted by large amounts of rain, those brave enough went to the morning meeting, the rest remained under shelter. The first workshop we went to was a talk on the ‘divine masculine’, which was very hands-on, and the speaker made use of Kim Huggens’ deck (Sol Invictus: The God Tarot) to encourage people to talk. The workshop was good and the speaker had lots of energy and made it easy for people to talk. After this we went to Kim’s talk on Mithras, which was one of the better talks at the Mercian Gathering, as she gave out detailed handouts to help keep people focused on what she was saying. Her talk kept people engaged despite the weather; unfortunately the talk didn’t have a large turnout as it should have had due to the fact that it was in the Wickerman field and required people pretty much swimming through mud to get to it. The rain let up a bit for those who wished to go to the stalls and buy cheap Pagan items.
Tallyessin also performed in the afternoon, for those who wanted to see him: an excellent bard that kept the entire audience engaged with several poems and a story, some of which were of his own composition. There was also a very rousing chanting workshop at the same time by the hearth fire. That evening they lit the labyrinth and those that wanted walked through it before heading to watch the wickerman being burnt. Everybody gathered in community spirit and sang the hippopotamus song, but luckily the rain held off for the event, but it still took various attempts and lots of petrol to get the wickerman burning, while everybody chanted. The chanting afterward was predominantly done by the Pagan Society and the Newport pagans, we were loud enough to be heard by all and later we were commended on our singing by several people. That evening most of us headed to the marquee to hear Laienda, a gypsy folk band, whose lead singer was an excellent singer. Half way through their set, Steve walked in and got everyone and dragged them to the dance floor. Endless Knot followed Laienda, and got the entire marquee bouncing. Mead and several other bottles of liquor were passed from person to person, and kept everyone dancing until they finished. We also bumped into an ex-Cardiff student who recognised Alex from his first year and they reminisced for a while about a time before the Pagan Society.

The following morning most woke up with a hangover; those that didn’t made their way to the morning meeting. Sunday saw a day with very little rain, for which most people rejoiced at, despite the fact that it was very muddy. There were several talks including one on ‘the magic of trees’ by Marrin Evans and a talk on ‘Native plants’ by Angela Paine. They were both very well done and “native plants” included looking at the various plants, which Angela brought in for us to look at. After this we made sure our tents had been taken down and everything was packed and on the minibus. The last talk I went to was ‘The Way of Awen’ by Tallyessin, which was a very engaging talk and ended with Tallyessin reciting a poem. After the talk we ran to the closing ritual, which began just as we arrived.

The Mercian gathering ended with the minibus being dragged out of the field by a tractor, whilst we watched the Vikings’ last display. Despite the rain and the mud, none of our spirits had been dampened and we all had a very good time and most looking forward to next year, I for one will make sure I’m there next year, but better prepared for the weather.