> .. the old ways do still survive to a huge extent in Britain. It is only that familiarity does not allow us to see them as such.
Indeed, there are dances and songs and festivals enough in Britain today that have their roots in 'the old ways'. But have you considered that a more 'coherent' tradition might still be out there somewhere? An old friend of mine once told me of a little out-of-the-way village he once visited in Wales. I'll try to get the full story from him and post it here but, in essence, he was convinced that the villagers there still possessed a knowledge and still continued living in the tradition of the 'old ways'.
I don't know Wales very well but, some twenty-odd years ago, I found myself in a little Welsh valley with just one or two farm houses. I pulled over to ask an old man if he knew the way to wherever I was going and he smiled and nodded but obviously didn't speak a word of English. Now, that little encounter was on the road to somewhere, but imagine what it might still be like in some of the more remoter areas even today.
As for Bede, yes the translation from the Old English that I quoted above of Edwin's Council concerning the acceptance of the 'Faith of Christ' is good but not the only one...
Edwin "...summoned a council of the wise men, and asked each in turn his opinion of this strange doctrine (Christianity) and this new way of worshiping... Coifi, the Chief priest, replied without hesitation; 'Your Majesty, let us give careful consideration to this new teaching...' (whereupon) another of the king's chief men signified his agreement and went on to say... 'Your majesty, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge (death), it seems to me like the swift flight of a singe sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter's day with you thanes and councillors. In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall; outside, the storms of winter rain or snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out the other. While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but after a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows we know nothing.' "*
The Old English itself is not too difficult to follow if you have a modern English version to hand and you certainly get a better feel of the rhythm and subtle differences (in the old English, for example the phrase 'in the blink of an eye' is used).
And if you think that's good try this...
"Frost shall freeze, fire consume wood; earth shall grow, ice form a bridge; water shall wear a covering, wonderfully lock up the sprouts of earth."**
<b>The Day After Tomorrow</b> or what! (except that it was written by our English ancestors more than a thousand years ago ;-)
* Bede. History of the English Church and People. Penguin Classics. pp126-127.
** Anglo-Saxon Poetry. Everyman's Library. pp311.
