Pagan Tv Roundup Stonehenge Heritage And Horror

Last week there were quite a few programmes on telly with pagan content - some good, some not so good.

I'll start by talking about Secrets of the Stonehenge Skeletons, which was on Channel 4 last night. I'll be honest, I was a bit sceptical about Channel 4's hype about the documentary, such as "The results... overturn the accepted view on when Stonehenge was built and what it was built for."

And it seemed I was right. Watching the programme didn't teach me much more about Stonehenge than I already knew - but I guess viewers might have learnt something if they hadn't seen all the other programmes in the past year or so about England's most famous stone circle.

For those who didn't watch it, The Secrets of the Stonehenge Skeletons was about the findings of Professor Mike Parker Pearson, who has analysed bone fragments buried underneath the original bluestones and came to the conclusion that the megalithic monument was built to honour the dead. His study of pig and cow bones found nearby show that Stone Age Britons also had big feasts there at around the time of the Winter Solstice.

Mike Parker Pearson's book, Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery,is much better than the C4 documentary, according to friends of mine who have read it. I think I'll see if my library has a copy I can borrow.

Pagans and Pilgrims - Britain's Holiest Places, a new series about Britain's sacred sites, started on BBC4 on Thursday). Despite the title, the first documentary in the series didn't have much to say about pagan sites, being mostly about cathedrals, but it was interesting. The next episode, which is on BBC4 on Thursday 14 March at 8.30pm, is about holy watering places and presenter Ifor ap Glyn visits Britain's oldest sacred spring. Maybe it will have more pagan content than last week's show.

Immediately after Pagans and Pilgrims on BBC4 there was the start of another documentary series called Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past. The first episode had the title From Old Bones to Precious Stones and was pretty much all about England's ancient stone circles and other megalithic monuments - and I did learn some new facts. It was about 19th century and early 20th century efforts to save places like Stonehenge, Avebury and Kits' Coty, in Kent, from destruction.

In Victorian times and earlier, landowners could do what they liked with anything on their land. Ancient sacred stones could be removed to use as building material for houses or to give a farmer more field space to plough up. This programme charted the birth of the heritage movement and legislation to safeguard old structures. Much of it was about the birth of English Heritage and, while many modern pagans might disapprove of some of the things English Heritage has done, there is no doubt that the organisation has saved ancient monuments from destruction.

The final TV series I'm going to mention is the supernatural crime drama Mayday. I don't want to give away spoilers for those who haven't yet watched it, but it had a lot of pagan elements. I'd describe it as being reminiscent of Twin Peaks, although not really up to the high standard of that classic series created by David Lynch in the 1990s. However, I enjoyed Mayday and would recommend it if you like crime thrillers with a hint of supernatural horror.

All of these programmes are still available to watch online today, but probably not for much longer. Catch up with them soon if you don't want to miss them.

Links and previous related posts:

Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/03/tv-pagans-and-pilgrims-britains-holiest.html

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/03/television-secrets-of-stonehenge.html

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014fxzv

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00vm1y7

Stonehenge

STONEHENGE LIES ON SALISBURY PLAIN IN THE COUNTY OF WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND. The whole area is regarded as mystical, with an abundance of ley lines, and is widely accepted as the centre of the crop circle phenomenon. Stonehenge itself was constructed in three stages. The first began in about 3,000 BC, when a circular ditch was dug around the site and a raised bank two yards high and 106 yards in diameter was formed. Just inside the bank, 56 shallow holes were dug and then refilled and the first rock, the 'Heel Stone', was introduced. This was positioned to mark the axis of sunrise at the summer solstice. Two smaller entrance stones were put in place, then 40 wooden posts, marking positions of the sun, were erected.

In around 2,000 BC, a two-mile avenue to the River Avon was created. From southwest Wales, the builders imported 82 'bluestones', weighing over four tonnes each. To reach the 70 site they would have had to travel 240 miles over land and water. These bluestones were used to construct a double circle inside the site. It is believed the builders never finished this design because they already had the idea to erect the third, and most impressive, phase.

This started in around 1900 BC, with the selection of 75 loose blocks of sandstone, known as sarsens, from Avebury, 20 miles away. Using rollers and ropes, these 25- tonne, 17-feet-long rocks were pulled to the site where they were then shaped and lifted into upright positions. The architectural detail of this stage is phenomenal, and the lintel stones that cap the pillars are actually curved to fit in the large circle. The Welsh bluestones were repositioned, and the structure was complete.

In each stage, the stones were placed at specific points demonstrating the position of the sun and moon at important times. The site was in continual use until about 1,000 BC, but we still do not know exactly what it was used for. Very little human or cultural debris has been found on the site, so there can be no definitive answers.

Some experts say that this absence of historic litter leads to the suggestion that the structure was a temple or sacred site. Many of the other 900 stone circles in Britain served many uses and were often meeting places, so they often have remnants of ancient day-to-day life. Similarly, the amount of trouble endured, and the sheer scale of the project, indicates that Stonehenge was something of immense importance. The blue stones brought from Wales were exceedingly valuable to the Ancient Britons, and were ideal for a temple.

The possibility that it was partly used as a burial site has also been considered - during limited excavations it was discovered that the 56 shallow holes dug during the first phase contained cremated bones. There are also barrows, or burial tombs, of later Bronze Age warriors dotted around the outlying area.

Because of Stonehenge's obvious correlation to important astronomical events, a whole host of other theories have arisen. It may have been used as an observatory, or even a gigantic lunar calendar. In 1965, Gerald S. Hawkins, an astronomer at Boston University, published a book entitled Stonehenge Uncoded. In it, he claimed a computer had proven that Stonehenge marked many astronomical alignments. He even went so far as to say that Stonehenge was a computer itself, designed by the Ancient Britons to read the stars and calculate upcoming eclipses, but many experts feel he has not discovered the true significance of the structure.

In the seventeenth century historians believed the structure had been built by ancient Celtic priests, and many modern druids feel it is their right to perform rituals and ceremonies at the site. They are now no longer allowed to, and for good reason. Not only was damage occurring to the area, but modern druids have no connection to their Celtic namesakes. Anyway, Stonehenge was built over 1000 years before the Celtic druids existed.

Unfortunately, in the last few hundred years many of the stones have been stolen, lost or collapsed, and poor restoration work has been performed on some of the stones that remain. But the magic of the site and the design never dissipates. One legend says the most famous of all Britain's magicians, Merlin, summoned the stones and set them in place. It is a story in keeping with the mystical tradition of the area. Maybe the simple fact is that modern minds have just not imagined the true use of the site yet.

Origin: master-of-pentagram.blogspot.com