Lunar standstill report

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follow that cow F
follow that cow Jun 13, 2006 18:05:07
Replying to Vicster

"I'm sure they wouldn't like it if I walked into their church and started handing out books on ancient festivals and beliefs!"

Hi Vicster,

I think that we need to be tolerant here. After all, it is their island, and they are entitled to their views.

Personally, I was far more concerned about the behaviour of a minority of the new age travellers. On Saturday they were akin to riotous, running around the site shouting, swearing, building fires and generally doing what out of control kids do on a Saturday night. I had to remind a few of them that this was an ancient monument that they were defacing, not a bus shelter. A lad with a half drunk bottle of whisky and didgeridoo challenged me on my concern whilst calling me an agent of the lizards (honest!).

I presume that by now they have found someone at Inverness General who has the surgical skills to remove an aboriginal wind instrument from the rectum of this lad!

Anyway, I intend to voice my concerns to Patricia Ferguson, MSP and Minister for Culture, about how we can protect this site from future vandalism. My main fear is that now they have found Callanish this may become an annual pilgrimage for them.

I don't know whether you noticed, but it was just as well that the moon was obscured by cloud before setting as some new agers had erected their tent and a wind break over the fissure in the rocks that it was meant to be reborn through. Before I left the Doune Braes, Hotel a couple in the bar were frantically trying to call Margaret Curtis to ask her to intercede with these revellers and try to get them to take it all down.

:-)

H Hob
Hob Jun 13, 2006 20:42:37
Replying to follow that cow

>how we can protect this site from future vandalism

That's the issue I guess. It's not possible to go back and prevent the people who lit the fire from lighting it, but it might be possible to prevent them (and any potential copycats) from wanting/being able to do so in the future.

Lighting fires at any site, unless done in such a way as to ensure no physical damage, *is* vandalism, and as such is inexcusable. It's a lot more clearcut than the issue of people leaving tat. I'm sorry to anywho think we should all have the right to do as we please at our ancient sites, I know that people will have lit fires for various reasons in the past, but that was then and this is now. There's a lot more people visit places like Callanish these days, remote location or no.

Look at the state of the twelve apostles on Ilkley. Do we want Callanish to end up in that state? Or (equally vile to contemplate), do we want it to end up needing a wire fence and security cameras, entrance fees etc?

Gah! Rant over.

F fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Jun 14, 2006 19:25:08
Replying to follow that cow

I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at the stones. I thought the travellers were a little boisterous when they arrived on Saturday night but I didn't witness any defacing of the monument over the whole weekend.
Regarding fires. There was one set outside of the main site on side the southern rocky outcrop. The fire within the circle was contained within a couldron-like thing which was carried around the site and left no obvious marks on the ground.
As for Callanish becoming a place of pilgrimage for travellers, I was discussing this with a few folk, apparently during the years when Stonehenge was closed at solstice there were an awful lot of travellers at the stones but these numbers have decreased over the past few years.
The wee-frees were very chilled, they came, they sang, and then they left. I found their singing added to the ambience.
I gotta say that I've witnessed a few circus-like gatherings at stone circles and I reckon that apart from a few shouty travellers the whole thing was very mellow.

V Vicster
Vicster Jun 16, 2006 09:38:45
Replying to follow that cow

Hi FTC

Point taken. I think my reactions to the Christian presence may have been a little strong but I was a bit irked by the pamphlet giving.

I have to agree that I was more annoyed with some of the so-called hippies, shamans and new-agers amongst the crowd though. When I visit sites, I try to be as inconspicious as possible; I don't assume everyone else wants to hear my views, my music or my droning voice, so I keep them pretty much to myslef. It is a shame the same can't be said of others though.

I am happy to chat to people and met some really lovely people at Callanish but the sense of "I'm more spiritual than you" coming from some of the assembled crowd was positively stomach churning.

That said, I had an amazing time, met some truely lovely people and witnessed a fantastic experience - I don't mean to keep going on about the negative side of things.

Rant over.

Vx