Festival

The Ancient World of Rituals & Folklore

Name: The Ancient World of Rituals & Folklore
Start: 2026-09-03T19:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-09-03T21:30:00+01:00
Location: Hackney Bridge

Hackney Bridge

Time7pm

DateThu 3 Sept

Price£16

Explore the history and stories behind Britain’s ancient seasonal traditions and what they can still teach us today. Followed by Q&A. Halloween, May Day and midsummer bonfires – we still celebrate them, but how many of us actually know where they came from? Britain has a rich calendar of seasonal festivals, sacred sites and folk traditions stretching back thousands of years. Behind every solstice gathering, harvest celebration and midwinter ritual is a story – of gods and goddesses, of communities marking time, of people making sense of the natural world around them. These aren't relics of a forgotten past. They shaped the culture we live in today, and understanding them changes how you see the landscape, the calendar and the year itself. In this talk, Seren Hawley-Plows takes us through the ancient seasonal calendar – from Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead that became Halloween, to Beltane, the midsummer celebration of fire and fertility, and to the solstice gatherings that still draw crowds to Stonehenge every year. Drawing on a lifetime of firsthand knowledge of ancient practices, herbalism and folk tradition, Seren unpacks the history and human stories behind these...

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