I thought that the Lily White Boys (as mentioned in the lyrics of the 12th-century song Green Grow the Rushes O) were a reference to Christ and St John the Baptist. Well, that was what I was told. But then in John Gardner’s book The Life and Times of Chaucer I came upon a reference… Continue reading Are the pagan Lily White Boys still around….?
Tag: paganism
The oldest yew trees in the British Isles….?
When it comes to yew trees (European variety – taxus baccata, picture from the Woodland Trust) the British Isles are very well endowed, not only with thousands of fine specimens, but hundreds of fine ancient specimens. Who hasn’t noticed the yew trees that grow by our parish churches? It’s said they’re a remnant of pagan… Continue reading The oldest yew trees in the British Isles….?
The truth about the Christian New Year’s Eve….
New Year’s Eve now and New Year’s Eve in the mediaeval period actually refer to two different calendar days. Old New Year’s Eve was 24th March. For an easy-to-understand explanation, please go to here, but whichever the day, it was still New Year’s Eve. We now celebrate it with much fun, laughter and hope, but… Continue reading The truth about the Christian New Year’s Eve….
I’m Julian, this is my friend Mary?
(with apologies to any surviving “Round the Horne” fans) On the right is Mary I, the penultimate “Tudor” monarch. Her brief reign was a reaction to the Reformations of her father and brother, reintroducing the Catholicism that prevailed until twenty years earlier but she died without issue and her religious policy was reversed by her… Continue reading I’m Julian, this is my friend Mary?
A GREENWOOD WEDDING ?
May 1 has just gone past–a date known in ancient Britain as the Feast of Beltaine, the ‘Fires of Bel (the Shining One)’. Of all the old important pre-Christian dates, this is the one that the Church was never able to Christianise in any obvious way, retainings its traditions of merriment, dancing and bawdiness right… Continue reading A GREENWOOD WEDDING ?
murreyandblue 