The Midwinter Bear Feast

Many thanks to all those who made Bear Feast 2008 such a success! We made a slight profit on ticket sales (£62) and the raffle (£128) which will be shared between the Cranborne Ancient Technology Centre's Viking Longhouse, and Survival International.

Bear Feast 2009 will be even better, we are hoping to make it a fully residential weekend which will allow us more time for singing, workshops, and hanging out around the fire! Dates and details will be posted here soon, if you'd like to be informed when tickets become available, and also about other Bear-Tribe events between now and then, then please contact us and we'll add you to our mailing list.

In the mean-time here are some photos of 2008's event. If you miss the ATC then its possible to volunteer there, just see their website for details.

Thanks to Jennifer, Fred-in-the-Green and Barbara (Sound Advice) for the photos. If you have any other pictures you'd like to share email them to us and we'll add them in.

The Background to the Bear Feast

One of Mankind's oldest spiritual impulses is Arctolatry, The Worship of the Bear. When we first came to the northern forests Bear taught us to find food. When we starved in the depths of winter the flesh of the bear sustained us. Teacher and Saviour, his corpse alarmingly man-like when stripped of its warm fur, mystery and taboo surrounded the animal whose name must not be spoken. A child of the Sky God, lowered from on high on a golden chain, he is guest of honour at his own funeral feast. With thanks and messages for his Father his spirit is sent back to Heaven that he may return and feed us again in our need time.

This ancient pattern of myth and worship is found all across the North, from the Saami of Norway to the Ainu of Japan and the Inuit of Hudson's Bay. It has even left traces deep in our own mythology. Let us not forget that King Arthur (whose name means Bear) sleeps in a hollow hill to return when he is needed. That he stole from the Mound Fortress a sustaining cauldron, and that his wonder-working grail descended from Heaven upon a golden chain...

This was the mythos we drew upon for our Bear Feast, inspired also by Graham Harvey's recent work on Animism.

Links:
Contact Us
Bear Feast Info
Google Map of the ATC
Cranborne ATC Official site.
Pictures of the ATC (courtesy of Antic Earthworks).
Survival International
Kate and Corwen's Homepage
Bear Page of OBOD, a useful overview of the Bear in Myth and Religion.

Bear Tribe Home