Sending good thoughts for your Dad,I recently lost mine,he would have loved this story if only to feed my enthusiasm.Dads are special like that.Good luck and best wishes.
Here be Dragons! Here is the link to a age t-Shirt with the Iron Age Celtic Briton's Horse Symbol on it - this one is from the Dobunni tribe: www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Dobunni-tribal-emblem-Celtic-art-iron-age-horse-Epona-by-Oliver-Lavery/101924604.FB110 To support my work as a storyteller and folklorist, consider following me on Patreon. patreon.com/TheStoryCrow? Thanks you lot 🙏
Brilliant video, thank you so much! I've been travelling for some months now around Europe and Latin America, you have no idea how much you give me the feeling of being in Britain, along with the Ogham cards I keep in my pocket everyday when I'm such a long way from home!
Hello Storyteller..and hello to your friend and pup! That was a fantastic story! Thank you for sharing! I could listen to your stories all day! Greetings from Maryland, USA! 💜
Amazing 👏👏👏love these stories my parents were both Irish and I ❤ that culture and all the videos you have shared but I was born in England and have a deep love and connection for this land it’s history and people. So thankyou for another great video
A lot of people don’t like to hear this, but I feel the English (or British let’s say) and the Irish are one people, or were, and the further you go back the more the mythologies and mythic landscapes intertwine. That’s my view anyway, but it’s backed up by history and genetics. I’m Anglo-Irish and love all these islands’ heritage and people too. Thanks for watching ☺️🙏
In Celtic Christianity dragons still retain their place as wisdom keepers and protectors of the land. I visualize the protection of the dragon eggs on St George's Day.
The World Serpent of Germanic myth marks the limit of wisdom. Even in our local traditions Not all Dragons are alike: eg. the slave trade which abducted Patrick made him a "eunuch for the kingdom of heaven" [Matt19v12], but this was not a metaphor for the Berber trade raiding coasts from Spain to Iceland, the Dragon the Crusaders fought, and whose eggs you defend.
@@differous01 Read the Welsh stories of dragons, whom they still revere. A large red dragon graces both their nation's flag and a border visitors center. Scotland also has an affinity for dragons. So no, it goes beyond slavers and the crusades.
@@vixendoe6943 If you'd "read the Welsh stories of dragons" you'd know the Red one is not the only kind, even there. In regard to the Dragon of St George's Day, we're NOT "beyond slavers and the crusades:" an affinity for THAT dragon is an affinity for people-trafficking.
Another banger of a video! Always found it strange why England venerates saint George as a Georgian, i get why we do, but the British isles seems so far away from its origins in Anatolia. Im planning to do a video about Snt. George soon and his connection to Georgia, he replaced a lot of old warrior gods and Godson heroes in Caucasian world, even becoming a pagan god Jgriagi in Svenetia. There are 365 churches in his hohor and many claim to hold peaces of his holy corpse. Trying to learn anything about my local mythology, more than half are advantures of different snt. Georges. Snakes and Dragons also hold great importance here, there are still living snake fertility cults and Vishap stone Monoliths.
Wow, thanks for sharing this. I’ve always wanted to visit Georgia (you guys do the best meatballs) it looks like such a beautiful country, but the Saint George connection had somehow eluded me, in spite of the name and the flag 😂 I hope you do your video I’d love to learn more. Post it here! Cheers! 🇬🇪 🏴
What an elegant solution regarding the st George’s flag. Mythology is something we can all get behind and be proud of. Excellent video too it’s very informative and enjoyable.
Great telling of the St George myth, but in your discussions of earlier dragons I think you missed one that's particularly significant in an English context; Beowulf. Here the greedy act of a slave caused the rising of an ancient wyrm, which proved too much for the aging hero-king, mortally wounding him. The dragon was then despatched by the youth Wiglaf, the only other warrior courageous enough to meet the beast with the king.
I just spent the weekend hiking The Ridgeway, from Streatley to Uffingdon. Such views and history, loved it. English villages, churches, barrows and hill forts. Didn't quite make Waylen, unfortunately, but still a cracking time. Thanks for the video, and, although a day early, happy Saint George's Day!
Didn’t make it to weylands smithy?? if you got to the white horse it’s only another hour along the ridgeway! No matter. A reason to come back. Such a beautiful walk eh!
@@TheStoryCrow Yeah, I know. Was a bit gutted, but was aching all over at that point, so had a friend pick me up. Will definatetly try again later this year.👍
Another really enjoyable video. You make the mythology and ancient history so accessible and exciting. I think your work adds another layer of intrigue and love for nature and landscapes.😃
Just tuned in for the first time. St George subject was an attraction but also know I can trust anyone who likes dogs - especially if the dog likes the person . . . which brings me to the Question ! Where are the Man-Dog super legends . . . of time proven loyalty, faith, trust and true friendship ? Why are Dogs not celebrated ? Why are they relegated to sub-servance, the lowest of human values. Suspect man is ashamed so avoids betters, celebrating safely rare occasions when a Dogs soul is truly needed. May name my next Dog Saint George . . . S.G . for short.
Well, lots of Irish mythology is stuffed with dogs! But super legends? Hmm. There’s always the hound of Cullen himself, but he’s not really a dog. In fact he kills a dog. Hmmm. Maybe you’re onto something! 😂 I like dogs. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again 😊 🐕
Back in the 80's I bought a book (I think from Avebury) that potulated the George was originally Ge-urge, and that he, they were folks who skewered the ley lines - tapping the dragon energy. It might be complete bollocks but I always liked the notion.
In my experience dragons are energy beings. When you work on your energy centres (chakras) you can become powerful to manifest your own dragon. This is where the classical image of the knight overcoming the dragon comes from. The initiate (knight) overcoming the energy dragon i.e. their internal energy system. This is the path of the holy grail. Making oneself (you are the grail) holy. For purposes of ascencion. I love your camp. Must get out in the wilds more often. Thank you.
Yes, the mystical dimensions of the ‘quest’ - I love the syncretism here too, as you suggest, with eastern practises and the western esoteric tradition. Great comments, thank you 🐉🙏🌳🌊✨
I’ve considered it may have represented a dragon too (my connection with “‘dragons” and hill and all that)… A friend of mine suggested it could even have been a sabre tooth tiger… just what are those protuberances coming from its mouth, if not teeth 😮
I'v heard versions where St. George had only a sword and a horse, no shield, no armor, no lance, riding along the sea shore, in the Nederlands, he saw some beastie in the water snacking on washer women, and he got down off his horse, waded into the water and slew the animal there.
I believe that the Plantaganets or Normans? Chose St George as their saint, because the Anglo/Saxon emblem was the White Dragon of Angalonde. So it was a reminder that they were defeated.😢
@@TheStoryCrow Ah! Well there you have it. I sensed something about him. It might've happened to me, when out on a Shapeshifting adventure on a dark night -- try to shift back, start your incantation: Izzy; Zizzy; Ziggety; -- but before you can say ZAGG! -- a SQUIRREL crosses your path and your animal form goes barking after it.
@@TheStoryCrow I say that because I walked from Uffington Castle to Dragon Hill not knowing where the horse was, just following the natural lay of the land, walking to the brow of the hill then following the ridge down. I found myself walking down a well used path. The path split into several tracks in a pattern typical to well used paths. Bingo! When I realised it was the horse its origin struck me like a bell. Needless to say I dismounted sharpish.
I waited until St George's day to watch this. I think there may be a parallel to the story of St Patrick throwing the serpents from Ireland. To me the snakes of Ireland is symbolic of Druids or other pagans. Maybe the St George dragon could be a pagan priest?
If you ever decided to make videos on Breton folklore I would watch them. Especially on the pre-Christian origins of the Ankou myth or the legendary city of Ys. You don't have to if you don't want to. You and your lady friend probably don't want to be stuck shooting footage on the coast of France in the summer, that sounds horrible forget I mentioned it.
Here ya go, it’s an Arthurian story set in Britain, but it’s actually Breton ☺️ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YqHEj710osU.htmlsi=WzZaW0MzgpLiiIlr
Thanks for your very informative video. This is why I back this channel! So what you are saying is, non of it ever existed, and it's all just a story. If that is the case, it puts a different spin on our english flag. I mean, why not Robin Hood or King Arthur's day? I know you must have a lot of romance about dragons, but there is zero evidence of them mentioned before the crusades. Dragons almost always leap out of rivers or pools or swamps, they have big scaly feet, a long spiny tail, and rows of big teeth. They can run at 35-40 mph. They can even hibernate for years at a time, giving rise to the myth of immortality. In fact, almost all of these stories come from legends about Crocodiles, especially in north africa and the middle east. Mankind has always had an affinity with Horses and Dogs, but not dragons, so I doubt anyone before the 11th C would have heard of Dragons. Snakes are very common instead, and wind socks fashioned to look like snakes were used by the native british during the Saxon wars. Same with Saint Patrick etc, snakes not dragons. Still.. you are the story teller, after all.
Thanks for watching! Never existed. Hmm. I like Joseph campbell’s “myths are facts of the mind, not facts of history” take on these things ‘existing’ 😅 Goods point about crocodiles though, I think that’s definitely part of the story, if one was to look for an explanation from the natural world at least. Some would add dinosaur fossils and an inherited mammalian fear of venomous snakes. Actually Ronald Hutton has a theory that a lack of large alpha predators in Britain from about the 11th century (when bears died out) may have something to do with why there are so many stories of such monsters here - timing well with the crusades - which is when so much of this folklore proliferated. Not sure about no evidence for European style dragons before the crusades though. Off the top of my head, beowulfs dragon (8th century ish?) and the Norse Fafnir. Both Germanic, scaly, fiery treasure hoarding dragons, rather then lake dwelling venomous ones. But yeah, it looks like the ancient British ‘dragons’ were more serpentine. Semi divine, flying, ram horned, giant elemental serpents maybe, but still serpentine. Semantically I would argue these are still ‘dragons’ as that is from the Greek word meaning ‘serpent’ - so dragons kind of… are serpents I would say. A bit like the Indian word for cobra (naga) also means a supernatural dragon like deity. A bit like Chinese dragons. And all dragons worldwide really. It’s the later medieval dragon that’s the late anomaly here… as you point out. It’s definitely a wyrm hole 😂 Thanks for your support
@@TheStoryCrow - Wyrm hole -ha ha, very good! :) Yes I was going to mention the greek translation thing. Stories of the mind are indeed true enough. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story! Also, I forget about Vertigern and the falling tower, where a white and red dragon were fighting underneith it. That is precicely where the Welsh flag comes from, although not sure it appeared before people like Geoffrey of Monmouth - who was indeed a total lier/story teller. edit: The Prose Edda was written in the 13th century.
so another example of a symbol of power, knowledge, connection to the natural world being subverted and repurposed into something "bad"? This video raised many questions for me. Given that the dragon is brought under control by the marriage girdle, what is this reflecting on fertility and the rains? No consummation between St. George and the princess. Does the St. George story have a whisper of our days when we participated in ritual human sacrifice (I make a distinction between having to feed a destructive dragon and a ritualized sacrifice, but maybe that difference only exists in my mind.) Christianity putting a stop to this practice? The triumph of Christianity over nature? At the same time, for me at least, his is another trippy video that opens a door to a deeper layer of knowing, beyond the words that are spoken, looking at the horse, imagining a city, and the serpent knowledge of the land. I remember another video about serpent, but don't remember the name. Could you link it? One more thing, about changing symbols, I saw a bald eagle which has been uncommon where I live. I mentioned in to some people and the response was that the eagle belongs to the far-right now and they do not imagine it as a symbol of strength and freedom, which is how I was taught as a child. As an American, I would like to have that one back.
Really hear you with the eagle. What an incredible symbol. I love seeing birds of prey where I live, none quite that big though. Yeah, you might be onto something with the human royal sacrifice - land fertility thing - James Frazer talks a lot about that in the golden bough. A retro work, but still with lots of relevant ideas. The female sexuality aspect thing is very interesting too, when it comes to dragons. There’s an image in the Grimm’s fairy tale ‘the gnome’ of a subdued dragon in a female lap, that is very…. Something. Here’s a link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RWKQTQmBQJE.htmlsi=4g4tmAlF-kzxzXjx Think I also talk about serpents and serpent energy in these vids, I think 😅 Ash tree as axis Mundi ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9AWZyBytdjU.htmlsi=To8LwxjSlC-76UAV And Thor / thunor as indo European serpent slayer ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UZSQP3CDugY.htmlsi=nDZjj91BvuoCdT98 Oh and Saint pat ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6ouMJoqdxN4.htmlsi=HBB2SAyIeYF_hUUm
Thank you. Have to say, not quite sure the St George Cross or St George need reclaiming from the far right, I think more like anyone flying the English flag, or indeed Union Jack, and celebrating St Georges day is automatically presumed far right by the far left who are absolutely allergic to any kind of pride or desire to protect English culture (as per the dictate of CRT etc.) i.e. the English/Anglo Saxon legacy is one of oppression and colonisation, nothing else, and not to be taken pride in, i.e. anyone else can fly their flag and are applauded for protecting their culture, but not the English, we are white patriarchs all, from a legacy to be frowned upon, better off gone. I think it is then our pride in ourselves that needs reclaiming from the far left.
I actually totally agree with you (and retrospectively wish I’d qualified my last comment at the end with a bit more context, but hey ho) while the Saint George’s flag has in the past been seen by some as polarising - and certainly has been toted by certain not to be named far right affiliated groups and protests for a bit of Muslim bashing - I think these associations are fading. I also fully agree that elements of the left also stigmatises regular, patriotic flag wavers as somehow xenophobic - which is wrong. I should have said that. Thanks for pointing it out. This is sort of the point I was trying to make about the concept of ‘othering’ present in these crusader narratives - and contemporary ones - and how that is damaging to ourselves and society. I think the flag should be reclaimed by any who seek to make it polarising (regardless of tribe) and treat it as a shared, positive symbol of cultural pride - as you say. Thanks for the input 👍😊🏴
@@TheStoryCrow(had come back and was editing it as you replied) Glad to hear it and good on ye, you majestic muppet. Aye, tis a difficult one to navigate indeed, particularly speaking off-the-cuff, real minefield. And yes, I very much agree r.e. Polarisation. I'm just about to release 6 months work which will stop that forever and make all men free and independent thinkers who will n'er again fall for polarising dogma and create perfect world overnight in fact, so no need to worry about that, I'm on the MF. [That's MF for Massey Ferguson, by the way.]
@@TheStoryCrow Being as I must admit to sensing a certain affinity in your work here good fellow, I feel like saying, I think the talk I have just released "How To Win Your Freedom" may interest you. It covers many topics very much relevant to those you have mentioned in passing here, polarising presumption etc. Aye. I would be honoured if, one quiet evening, you would indulge me there as a fellow explorer, mystic and lover of these green and pleasant lands... if I may be so bold, perhaps it will serve to return a little if that inspiration I have gained from your work. Aye. Jess. 🐉
It seems to me that before we talk of pride in ourselves or pride in our country we need to think deeply about exactly what we are proud of, instead of indulging ourselves by criticising those who hold views we see as being opposed to our own. As a nation we have much to be proud of, and much of which we should be thoroughly ashamed. I’m really tired of being told by others what I should think and feel about my country.
