Kate and Corwen's Website

***Stop Press***
Graham Harvey, author of "Animism: Respecting the Living World" confirmed as Guest Speaker.
Michael Ormiston & Candida Valentino confirmed to perform on Saturday evening.
***Stop Press***

Bear Feast 2009 will be held from the evening of Friday 18th December until around lunchtime of Sunday 20th of December at the Cranborne Ancient Technology Centre in East Dorset. Accommodation is available in either a Celtic Roundhouse or Viking Longhouse. There will be a shared supper on Friday evening, other meals will be provided and there will be a full programme of speakers, entertainment, and of course the Bear Hunt Games and Bear Feast itself.

We have two types of ticket for sale, Residential Tickets and Day Tickets.

Residential Tickets:

To book Residential tickets please use the Paypal button below, or send a cheque for £45 per ticket (under 16's free) made payable to Corwen Broch along with a completed booking form (click here to download in .doc format, or here for .pdf)to the address on the form.

To use the button below, first select the number of adult and child tickets you need, and the number of people in your party who require the vegetarian option (which will be vegan). Then click the Paypal button. You will be taken to a secure page where you can opt to login to your Paypal account if you have one, or if you don't you can simply pay with a credit or debit card. Please note the purchase will be debited from your account as 'Ancient Instruments'.

Day Tickets:

A day ticket entitles you to come to the full event, Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning, but NOT to sleep over. Day tickets are primarily for locals who don't need accommodation, and people who can only make it on Saturday, the main day of the event.

To book Day tickets please use the Paypal button below, or send a cheque for £25 per ticket (under 16's free) made payable to Corwen Broch along with a completed booking form (click here to download in .doc format, or here for .pdf)to the address on the form.

Please get in touch if you have any problems with this, or feel free to ask on the forum.

Once we have received payment we will send you your tickets and more detailed information.

For pictures of 2008's event click here to go to our archive page.

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.