It's been a bit of a struggle this time, getting Kalender together. I think this is partly because I know in the back of my mind that the next festival – Candlemas – isn't until 15 February so there's been more time than usual to prepare the 'Christmas' issue. But if I'm honest, I've been scared that this time I won't be able to pull it off, to make a batch of images and a few thoughts into something that reflects my thoughts/memories/feelings about the festival.
I'd got all the pictures prepared and found a load of text, both from books and from extremely miscellaneous websites, but still fought shy of sitting down and seeing what happened when I tried combining them.
Then Trevor had the idea that I should try writing a 'stream-of-consciousness' piece about that Christmas Eve vigil we shared and let bits of that run through the issue of Kalender as a linking thread. Well, we finished putting it together this morning and – heaves sigh of relief – it's fine, I think. I'm pleased with it, even! Last night I hadn't created the cartoon, nor decided what the free gift should be. The cartoon sprang into my head as I went to bed last night and the free gift idea came to me as I woke up this morning … phew!
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
It’s a week now since our medieval Christmas Eve ‘vigil’ in St Andrew’s, and I know that both Trevor and I have been thinking a lot about the experience. Being in an empty, darkened church at what would have been midnight on Christmas Eve for all those Wood Dalling residents who are commemorated in the brass inscriptions – well, it’s not something that I would ever have imagined before the start of the Festial project! I think that one thing that’s stayed with us both is the sheer level of noise in the pitch-black church. It was a stormy evening, which I suppose accounts for most of the banging and flapping(!) and also it was the dark phase of the moon so things could hardly have been blacker. Yet, it really wasn’t scary.
How much of the information gathered during that day and night will really come together into something I feel is interesting enough to share is another matter entirely. But today is when I start to find out, as it’s time to begin working with the text and images for Kalender 8. Quite often before I’ve felt as I do right now: that the ideas in my head are too vague; that I’ll never create a coherent publication; that I’m just not passionate enough about the possibilities inherent in the images collected for this particular festival and that this is bound to be reflected in the magazine itself.
But, so far at least (and thanks in no small measure to Trevor’s technical and creative input), Kalender has always exceeded my initial expectations on all those counts. Fingers crossed!
Christmas is here! Well, as far as Festial is concerned, anyway. Yesterday (Christmas Eve) we cycled to Wood Dalling in beautiful (if frosty) sunshine and spent time in the church taking photographs and feeling the atmosphere. That builders' plastic sheeting is such an asset when it comes to intriguing ephemeral light effects. I was concentrating on the weird un-human heads, mainly, as well as some rather wild magical creatures that are actually heraldic devices on the ledger slabs.
Speaking to the keyholder afterwards, I learned that the subcontractor has sold the lead from the church roof and declared himself bankrupt, so nobody knows when the work is to be finished. The tiny congregation will presumably have to find the money for new lead now. I was sad for them as I love the place to be dusty and crumbling but it's clearly not a sustainable position long term.
Then, last night, Trevor and I returned for a Christmas Eve Vigil. Trevor had sorted out the technicalities of using the webcam (not without a measure of frustration: computers!!) and we had a great time filming and photographing candle flames in the dark church into Christmas morning. At midnight, we wished each other a Happy Christmas and returned home for a foaming glass of Festial Ale!
Lots of material there, but now I'll have to decide what it's all about …
http://www.world-tree.co.uk/festial
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
I’m starting to have thoughts about the next festival – just as well, really! Christmas, Julian Calendar style, falls on Monday 7 January and after the New Style festive lull this date is coming up all too fast.
I’ve been wanting to experiment with the webcam equipment in the church since the project started, and Trevor’s suggestion that we go there at night for a sort of Christmas Eve vigil next Sunday evening seemed like just the right idea at the right time. So, hopefully the webcam will have an airing at last, although I won’t have the technology to beam the images live from Wood Dalling church.
It’s been important to me to avoid any Christmas cliches in preparing for the festival – after all, everyone knows that quite a few of our current traditions were being practised in medieval times and that many of those are actually pagan in origin, being a celebration of the return of the sun at the midwinter solstice.
While I’m very interested in all of this, I need to step sideways and find a slightly different ‘take’ on the festival. I’m thinking of focussing on the weird heads in the church, that always make me think of woodland spirits, satyrs and fauns, rather than on the human portraits/inscriptions I’ve been so involved with during previous festivals. Not sure yet how they’ll be interpreted, though.
It sometimes feels a ridiculous scheme: a residency with a self-imposed structure that leaves me feeling pressurised to come up with well-resolved concepts and a reasonable amount of work that seems worth publishing – as well as a heap of ideas for future development – twelve times during the course of a single year!!
But on the plus side – after taking far longer to ferment out than the instructions promised – the Festial Ale is ready to drink, and it’s very good indeed!
