Druid Liturgy in Paralympics Closing Ceremony

The London 2012 Paralympic Games closed on Sunday, featuring a performance by Jay-Z, Rihanna and Coldplay. Artistic director Kim Gavin, Music Director David Arnold and Designer Misty Buckley showcased a seasonal theme for the closing ceremony which “took the audience on a journey through Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIRHMmM2z7c

Part of the seasonal-themed closing ceremony, spoken by Rory Mackenzie, a representative from Help For Heroes, was in fact written by Druids from the British Druid Order (BDO).

“We were sworn to secrecy beforehand, but Emma Restall Orr and I [Greywolf] were approached by the organisers of the 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony with a surprising request. They wanted our permission to use parts of the gorsedd ritual we wrote in 1997. So, about 20 minutes into the ceremony, these words went out to 750 million people around the world,”

Philip Shallcrass (aka Greywolf), Chief of the British Druid Order, says that the original ritual was written to bring people from different backgrounds and faiths together, so “its use in the Paralympics closing ceremony seems perfectly in keeping with this original intention.” While the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony featured brief hints of Britain’s pre-Christian past, it featured no explicit contribution from the vital Pagan threads that exist in the United Kingdom, a nation that has played a huge role in the revival of Pagan religions. So it seems fitting that the last closing ceremony in London, for the Paralympic games, would explicitly reference modern Pagan contributions to British culture. Here’s a brief excerpt of the Druid liturgy used during the closing ceremony.

The circle is unbroken,
The ancestors awoken.
May the songs of the Earth
and of her people ring true.
Hail to the Festival of the flame
of root and branch, tooth and claw,
fur and feather, of earth and sea and sky.

You can read all of the words used in the ceremony at the British Druid Order’s website.

Emma Restall Orr, author of “Living With Honour: A Pagan Ethics”, in addition to co-authoring the ritual used by the Paralympics also founded The Druid Network which recently won religious charity status in the UK, the first Druid group to do so. So it seems fitting that she would also have a hand in this groundbreaking moment for British Druids as well. With this celebration, if you take the Olympics opening and the Paralympics closing ceremonies as one long thematic sweep, it tells the tale of Britain from its earliest days through its progress and challenges, and back to the basics of acknowledging that land’s spirit and the contributions of its reborn Pagans.  A fitting tribute to the amazing athletes at the Paralympics, the pagan origins of the Olympic games, and a pluralistic future where we all have a hand in shaping what is to come.

My thanks to Thorn for tipping me off to this story.