Spring Equinox .....Gwyl Canol Gwenwynol

The Druids Prayer The Druid's Prayer (Welsh: Gweddi'r Derwydd) or "Gorsedd Prayer" (Gweddi'r Orsedd) is a prayer composed by Iolo Morgannwg which is still a staple in the ritual of both gorseddau and Neo-Druidism. Neo-Druids sometimes substitute the words y Dduwies ("the Goddess") for the original Duw ("God"). Llyma weddi'r Orsedd o Lyfr Trehaearn Brydydd Mawr Dyro Dduw dy Nawdd; Ag yn Nawdd, Pwyll; Ag ymhwyll, Goleuni; Ag ymgoleuni, Gwirionedd; Ag yngwiwirionedd, Cariad; Ag ynghariad, Cariad Duw; Ag ynghariad Duw, pop Gwynfyd. Grant, God, Thy protection; And in protection, reason; And in reason, light; And in light, truth; And in truth, justice; And in justice, love; And in love, the love of God; And in the love of God, gwynfyd. God and all goodness. Dolbadarn Castle is fairly regarded as one of the finest remaining castles of the native Welsh Princes. The castle stands on a rocky hill some eighty feet above Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris in the Llanberis Pass and is listed as a World Heritage Site. Constructed by the legendary Llywellyn the Great (Llywellyn ap Iorwerth) before 1230 to guard the main route through the Snowdonia mountain ranges, its position at the tip of Llyn Padarn allowed the garrison to blockade any movement through that part of the north. Bryn Celli Ddu (the mound in a dark grove) is the best passage grave in Wales. It started as a late Neolithic henge or ritual enclosure, with a stone circle surrounded by a bank and internal ditch. A later passage grave was built inside the ditch; the north-east entrance to the burial chamber is retained by a kerb of stones, which with the dry-stone walling of the outer passage, creates an elaborate forecourt. The narrow passage (a torch may be useful) is 8.2m (27ft) long and 0.9m (3ft) wide with a low shelf along its north (right) side. This leads to a higher, polygonal burial chamber, 2.4m (8ft) wide, covered by two capstones. In the chamber is a tall, rounded, free-standing pillar, whose purpose is unknown. The spiral carving on the first stone on the left of the chamber entrance may be not authentic. The whole passage was covered by a cairn, but the existing mound is a partial reconstruction, kept small so that three stones from the old stone circle and two other features behind the chamber, at the centre of the henge, can be seen. These other features are a pit (in which excavations revealed charcoal and a human ear-bone) and an upright stone carved on both faces and across the top with zigzag and spiral lines. The original pillar is now at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, but a replica has been set up in its presumed original position. The site was visited from 1699, and excavated in 1865 and 1927-31. In the passage and in the chamber excavations revealed both burnt and unburnt human bones, a stone bead, two flint arrowheads, a scraper and mussel shells. Outside the entrance and the ditch, a small, unusual ox burial was found. On the ridge to the north of the site (on the right of the lane as you return) is a tall standing stone.

Channel: Entertainment
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: jimsim3

Length: 01:58
Rating: 5.00
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Tags: age  Angelesey  celtic  Druids  Equinox  Gorsedd  Iron  keltic  Magalithic  mon  neolithic  Ostara  Pagan  Prayer  spring  wales  ynys  

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