WHAT happens when a group of Druids and a group of Bards want to hold their midsummer ceremonies at the same ancient site on the same day?

That’s easy if you’re in Cornwall – have a bit of chat and decide a mutually agreeable schedule.

Members of The Order of Tamaris and Gorsedh Kernow had been planning to gather at Duloe Stone Circle on the Sunday closest to Midsummer. But, in order to avoid a clash, the Druids offered to hold their gathering a week earlier. If only all negotiations could be as amicable.

The Awen Ceremony is the first of two annual gatherings held by bards of Gorsedh Kernow. This year’s event takes place in the village of Duloe, between Liskeard and Looe, on Sunday, June 22.

Gorsedh Kernow – which exists to maintain the spirit of Cornwall and the traditions of preserving Cornish history and culture through poetry, song, dance, music, art and spoken word – holds two main ceremonies each year, in June and September.

Leading this year’s ceremony will be Grand Bard Jenefer Lowe, who recently returned from a tour of Cornish communities in Australia.

“The Gorsedh Awen ceremony is a celebration of midsummer, of place and of community, where we pass knowledge and tradition from one generation to another,” she said. “We visit a different historic site each year and are very happy to be at the stone circle in Duloe this year.”

The Awen ceremony celebrates the fact that many centuries ago the bards of ancient Britain held their gatherings, or gorsedhow, in a place of symbolic importance.

Heavy with symbolism, the midsummer ritual – conducted throughout in the Cornish Language and attended by several dozen blue-robed bards – is intended to illustrate the passing on of knowledge from the older generation to the new, with elders and children chosen from the community to give and receive the Lyver Bewnans (Book of Life).

The three-pronged Awen symbol – the emblem of Gorsedh Kernow – represents the origins and present-day aims of the cultural organisation, namely a recognition of self through body, heart and spirit (korf, kolonn ha spyrys), an acknowledgement of the environment through earth, sea and air (dor, mor ha ayr), and an acceptance of fellow human beings through wisdom, truth and love (furneth, gwir ha kerensa).

Bard, Kathy Wallis, who has taken a lead role in organising this year’s gathering, said: “Everyone in Duloe, and particularly the parish council and primary school, has been extremely welcoming and helpful. We would very much like to see lots of people from Duloe itself and further afield. All are welcome.”

Gorsedh Kernow’s Awen Ceremony is at Duloe Stone Circle on Saturday, June 22 at 2.30pm. Entry is free. Cornwall’s smallest known stone circle and the only Cornish monument of its kind to be constructed entirely from white quartz, the site is cared for by Cornwall Heritage Trust, on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall.

The main Gorsedh ceremony, when more than 200 bards gather, is due to be held at 2pm on Saturday, September 6 in Marazion.

By Simon Parker