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Glastonbury holy thorn destroyed

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tjj T
tjj Dec 11, 2010 14:06:52
Replying to StoneGloves

StoneGloves wrote:
Wasn't there a bit more to the story? Joseph jammed his staff in the ground and it took root and so that's where the abbey was built. Holy relic still lives. It's a bit like the Shroud of Turin, only less connected. And it's a tiny piece of our national identity, no less. It's pity there's no better photographs.
This sums it up succinctly - whatever people feel about Christianity the notion that the Glastonbury thorn is 'a tiny piece of our national identity' seems right; something buried deep in our collective English psyche. Perhaps comparable to the ravens at the Tower of London (and how we would feel if someone came along and shot them). I'm sure Scotland and Wales have similar 'sacred' symbols of identity - I won't risk guessing what they may be though.

T tiompan
tiompan Dec 11, 2010 15:02:12
Replying to tjj

tjj wrote:
StoneGloves wrote:
Wasn't there a bit more to the story? Joseph jammed his staff in the ground and it took root and so that's where the abbey was built. Holy relic still lives. It's a bit like the Shroud of Turin, only less connected. And it's a tiny piece of our national identity, no less. It's pity there's no better photographs.
This sums it up succinctly - whatever people feel about Christianity the notion that the Glastonbury thorn is 'a tiny piece of our national identity' seems right; something buried deep in our collective English psyche. Perhaps comparable to the ravens at the Tower of London (and how we would feel if someone came along and shot them). I'm sure Scotland and Wales have similar 'sacred' symbols of identity - I won't risk guessing what they may be though.
Like so many traditions (same root as traduce iirc)most of them are relatively modern, the victorians/edwarians seemed to have created the various national psyches (not the thorn one though ). Doesn't really matter as long as there is something . The ravens were killed or died during WW2 ,carefully replaced after .