Monday, February 12, 2007

Celtic and Druid , and Tudor, traditions

We may think of Wales as an afterthought to a trip to England. The history of Wales offers more than that. See britainexpress.com/wales/history/iron-age. It is too much to summarize here, but worth a full read on customs, religion, the craftwork. We may see the display of heads after battle as just gory. But the head to the Celt is the place of spiritual power, so the taking of a head and its display take on a different overtone - appropriating that power. They fought naked and dyed blue. Were all the women strong and the kids handsome? The Romans took notice of Boadicaa, the warrior queen, who revolted against them. Some sites place Boadicaa in East Anglia - others place her from Wales. Read about her revolt against the Romans at project-iona.co.uk/article.php?iona_id=9.

Also, look up the myths, the Welsh cycle of Mabinogion that includes stories of a giant we know more as King Arthur - ridding the area of "witches, monsters and giants" with his own band of "witches, monsters and giants. Go to britainexpress.com/Myths/Mabinogion. Myths pass from culture to culture, and finally congeal into what somebody later sets up as a single life. - see the Robin Hood stories atEngland Road Ways. Many stories, over long years, using the John Doe name of Robin Hood, then seen as one person.

The Tudor royal family stems from Wales. See tudorhistory.org/topics/origin. Click on the red rose in the upper left corner for the page with all the links.

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