What are your thoughts on this theory? 🤓Share your ideas below.
@108gmh
3 жыл бұрын
Wow i listened to that song for years not knowing what it was about thank you for that historical perspective The read i get is that its a song about about medieval life with the under theme or statement being there is a world beneath us lurking with blood drinking creatures At first im like ok a graphic description of corn But they always hide messages back then, have you seen Leonardo’s St Micheal looking oddly up and pointing, when you use reverse mirroring the two Micheals are pointing at an alien face in the background Surely creatures if all types picked on the medievilers But has life changed that much now 🧙
@donb7605
3 жыл бұрын
I think that barlycorn is a name for beer
@paulgreenslade5462
3 жыл бұрын
I have celebrated john barleycorn as a modern druid fpr 18 years, we always celebrate his death on lughnasadh, the first of the three harvests when barley is first harvested. Which is early august.
@truthfrees337
2 жыл бұрын
At first glance,a sacrifice .
@Sajuuk
Жыл бұрын
Best ghillie suit EVER!
@thrinaxadon9
4 жыл бұрын
Barley grows tufts or a "beard" when it's ready for harvest. It just extends the metaphor, not to do with druids.
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
Interesting, I didn't know that about Barley. :)
@DemonWolf915
4 жыл бұрын
I came to the comments to say that as well.
@mollya2929
4 жыл бұрын
Ah wonderful! I was just about to point this out!
@wendeln92
3 жыл бұрын
Thought the exact thing when I read the poem - John Barleycorn ripened and matured = the barley corns get light in color, droop and grow long tufts, much the same as many types of cereal grains/grasses.
@nancybrownlee6518
3 жыл бұрын
@@DemonWolf915 And... so did I. It's useful, when analyzing a supposed metaphor, to first examine the reality of the premise.
@amuseraynow
2 жыл бұрын
You crack me up. I have been a farmer for years. I have grown wheat, oats and yes barley and harvested them all. The three men were investors in a ambitious project. They planted and amazingly the crop grew good. Barley, and wheat grows long spiny hairs at the end of each kernel of grain . They cut the straw about knee high. They used pitchforks to gather the cut grain with straw attached, tied it together and piled it up leaving piles around the field. The loader drove around and picked it up. They took it to a barn where they pounded it with flails which separated grain from chaff and straw. They malted the grain and ground it. Some was eaten some was used to make brandy and beer . The huntsman and the tinker couldn't get into it with out a couple of drinks. I know I missed some points in the story but I can say it's just a story about growing grain .that's all it is. Sorry folks no mumbo jumbo, witches or human sacrifice. Just plain old cereal. Think I'll have a beer .
@robertenright3130
Жыл бұрын
I agree 100%....her theories are a bit over the top and basically ridiculous. It's a song about growing barley, harvesting g it and turning it into brandy
@rudydsouza7432
Жыл бұрын
You tell em, ray
@amuseraynow
Жыл бұрын
@@rudydsouza7432 thanks Rudy for the reply. Made me smile. Peace bro , Ray
@Wotsitorlabart
Жыл бұрын
@@robertenright3130 But the point of the song being that on first hearing the listener believes it to be about a real man who is being horribly tortured. Only at the end do you realise it is about barley and the brewing of ale. At least that was my wife's experience of the song!
@alanbudgen2672
Жыл бұрын
I've always seen the song exactly as you say. It reminds me of fields we played in during the school summer holidays. My feeling is the sinister side was added for an amusing dramatic effect. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't elements that are drawn from older times -like coming from the west. But I don't know what a crab tree stick is?
@witchcatt
4 жыл бұрын
I believe you are overthinking this. The poem is the story of the barley harvest. No human sacrifice here. I've been a pagan my whole life (65 yrs) and a practicing witch since 1992. My hedgewitch grandmother would laugh at the idea. She raised me to believe the stories of human sacrifice came, as many things did, from the Christian attempt to destroy our belief system and convert all to their new religion.
@christianfreedom-seeker934
4 ай бұрын
Actually scholars are in 100% agreement that the pre-Christian religions of Europe (except Roman and Jewish) had human sacrifice as a routine ritual. The Celts always sacrificed a son of a noble while the Germanic peoples offered up war captives. This is backed up by archeology.
@pe003
3 жыл бұрын
You may be interested to know that in some parts of England, early English farmers used to cut in a spiral from the outside of the field to the inside. this would drive any wild game into the middle of the field where they could easily be caught and dispatched. this could account for going around and around the field in a cart.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@dp-sr1fd
3 жыл бұрын
It is very English (Anglo-Saxon) to speak in double meanings or metaphors. Much of our humour is such. You only have to read the old holiday postcards, now sadly non PC, or see an old "Carry on" film to understand this. The humour nowadays owes nothing to this tradition, which is a pity I think.
@motherdear3733
2 жыл бұрын
Do you have a degree of some kind? Because this is the most far fetched and peculiar analysis of a folk song that I have ever encountered. They're harvesting and winnowing the grain (Barleycorn) to make beer.
@EdBiscuit
3 жыл бұрын
The line refers to the malting process, which converts the starch to sugar and required for the fermentation process of making beer. They spread the barleycorns on the floor and wet them, which causes the grain to begin sprouting. They then roast this newly sprouted barley over heat to stop the process. You can see videos of this being done in the making of single malt whiskey. It's just a witty murder ballad about beer making.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@JoJo-vj5kz
3 жыл бұрын
I think the whole song refers to the fact that after all the evil they did to John barleycorn.. he wins.. because all the people can't manage without alcohol.. therefore hes the strongest man at last...
@oneoflokis
5 ай бұрын
🙂
@kestrelravensong6056
4 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I have to go with the imagery all being that of actual barley harvest. I don't really see the violence from the imagery. But then, I grew up on a farm. 🤷♀️
@saramahan2852
4 жыл бұрын
the long beards can refer to the tops of the crop as it sprouts before harvest
If anyone does go and see The Wicker Man, I urge you to see the 1973 version not only is the Cage version awful but if you see the Cage version first then by the time you’ve hunted the original down, the ending will be ruined. Also the original has a really good soundtrack as well as boasting some cracking performances by the likes of Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland ect.
@maudieicrochet9491
4 жыл бұрын
The barley tops are sometimes called beards.
@RealityOrganized
9 ай бұрын
This song is a good teacher. It is at least many centuries old in English. Variations on it might indeed be thousands of years old, easily predating the English language. For millennia, in western culture the primary food was bread. [For my fellow Americans, “corn” in British English translates to “wheat” in American English (or more generally, any grain with a kernel). Barley remains barley.] This song wonderfully illustrates some of the main themes of mythology: sustenance, the sacrifice required for sustenance, the death required for life, the cycle of life, rebirth. Since the agricultural revolution, that has meant grain crops.
@YorkyOne
Ай бұрын
The song was first published in London on 14th December 1624.
@GravesRWFiA
4 жыл бұрын
the violent imagry sounds exactly like harvesting and milling grains, thrashed on the floor-the thresh hold- then ground between two stones-a millstone- and drinking his blood- well that's a big more imaginative but if that is beer from barely then that is why they get more happy. A great many of the harvest gods are blond headed- an interpretation of grain being harvested, even Sif and Baldur could represent this. I think the long beard shows he's fully matured, from archology it seems like the people who were sacrified in the celtic/iron age were criminals I'd give Caesar a major grain of salt. remember he had to justify why he exterminated the druids. Overall it seems like the poet was showing how the well known, at the time, actions of the harvest, ties into the ancient rites and rituals, the way we today repeat the stories of the pilgrims at thanksgiving I would point out in 1560's elizabeth was queen of england, not scotland.
@richdiddens4059
3 жыл бұрын
From what I've read the threshold had nothing to do with the threshing floor. After the grain was separated from the stalks the stalks or thresh were scattered on the floors of peoples huts to counter the mud. As winter progressed the thresh got muddy and more was laid down. Eventually it got deep and began to spill out through the doorway. As a counter they would place a board across the doorway to hold the thresh in. At least that's what it said in a book about the origins of words and phrases. Oh, and the part of the poem about burning John before grinding him between stones. That's part of the malting process. They would dampen the barley, spread it on the raised floor of the malt house and light a low fire under it to cause the barley to germinate and start to sprout. The malted barley was used to make both beer and whiskey. In Scotland they burned peat to malt the barley and the peat smoke gives Scotch whiskey its distinctive smokey taste.
@fairportfan2
2 жыл бұрын
Ale, not beer, actually
@choedzin
4 жыл бұрын
This is very interesting, I'd always wondered if there were more to this song/poem. I'd always assumed that the "beard" referred to the long hairs that grow out of the barley grains, and that "Wheeled him around and around the field" simply described the path taken by the cart in harvesting the grain row by row. What I always found most curious, however, is that, while planting and harvesting are described in detail, the entire process from milling to the finished beverage is left out.
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
That's a good point, I wonder why they left the brewing part out.
@ianjones3978
4 жыл бұрын
'They' also left the baking part out. the song couldn't go on for ever. The English Folk Dance and Song Society have over one hundred versions of John Barleycorn; don't try to analyse all of them, or you'll have a long beard before you're finished!
@peterthierrry902
3 жыл бұрын
If you have ever seen mature barley, unlike wheat which tends to remain vertical, barley bends over from the weight of the grain, and the tip that should be pointing up is now hanging down, looking like a beard. Peace,
@tubifexgod
4 жыл бұрын
Hey Ms. Ravenswood, good video. I could be wrong but I believe the "The Three Men" in the poem is referring to the constellation of Orion, which appears in the Northwest. Our ancestors used the sky as their calendar and the sun, moon and stars as their timekeepers for planting and harvesting. Orion is visible in late summer and fall which is the time of the harvest.
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for sharing! That's super interesting about the "three men" possibly refering to Orion. :)
@ThePeculiarBrunette
4 жыл бұрын
Ooo I like the idea of the three men referring to Orion and considered it’s placement this time of year! I would not have thought of that but it’s interesting!! ♥️
@antoanto5301
4 жыл бұрын
Also, would the three men from the west refer to West England or wessex? Or Wales? Cornwall? Or further west? Ireland maybe?
@gramail2009
3 жыл бұрын
I'm sorry, I don't believe that any real grower uses the stars to decide when his crop is ready to harvest. Orion is there for half the year anyway. You'd starve if you judged your crops by the state of the night sky, this is romantic fantasy. You harvest when the corn is ripe and the ears are dry and hard to bite into it.
@beneathpavement1
2 жыл бұрын
@@gramail2009 But if you have watched the sky like people used to, thenb you would know that it refers to the first sighting of Orion at sunset, in late Summer/Autumn. This happens as was suggested. Astronomical observation in an agricultural metaphor makes perfect sense. More sense than the land of fae!
@rogerx9594
4 жыл бұрын
A novel called "Harvest Home" (1973) by Thomas Tryon and the resulting miniseries called "The Dark Secret of Harvest Home" (1978) starring Bette Davis is based on a version of the John Barleycorn story in which a group of pagan women sacrifices the "Harvest Lord" at the autumnal equinox to ensure the corn harvest. (Unfortunately, it's another one of those horror movies that slanders pagans as well as women who have too much religious power.)
@thebeezknees
2 жыл бұрын
Metaphors all day long, ya reading into it far too much.
@gregvanderlaan
3 жыл бұрын
As an Alcoholic, I think it's About Quitting Drinking Beer... A Solemn Vow to NOT Drink.
@Wotsitorlabart
Жыл бұрын
The complete opposite.
@khalidcabrero6204
2 жыл бұрын
"Wheeling him around and around" is a method of "threshing" grain, i.e. beating harvested stalks to separate the cereal grain part from the straw. It also helps loosen the husk around the grain. Threshing is the next necessary step after harvesting. In the Burns version, the 'enemies' use cudgels for threshing. For very large quantities, "wheeling around and around the field" is a common and less laborious way of threshing (animal hooves help trample).
@alanschaub147
3 жыл бұрын
Scarlet: There is much more here that is not being discussed. The cycle of the year relates to the cycle of the soul with regard to reincarnation, and other issues. There are actually three sacrificial figures: • Taranis, who is burned • Esus, who is hung from a tree • Toutatis, who is drowned These three figures represent the three pillars of the World Tree. There sacrifice is continuous, because it represents the down-flow of spiritual energies into the world. They can be tied to various seasonal sacred days, however. Compare these three deities with the three levels of John Barleycorn’s sacrifice, and the three symbolic penalties of the Blue Lodge Degrees of Freemasonry. All of this goes *way* beyond the any one religious tradition, or culture. ❤️
@markr5476
3 ай бұрын
Nonsense. All the folk song aficionados I know, myself included, are well aware that the song "John Barleycorn Must Die" is a poeticized set of instructions for how barley is grown, harvested, and then brewed into ale. There's actually version I like even more than the one that everybody was recording in the '60s and '70s. In 1977, a bunch of folk and early music types released a 2 disk LP called "The Tale of Ale". Clearly they were having a lot of fun with the music, because they identified themselves as two different bands: "Musica Inebriata" (a name in the form of many Early Music groups) and "The Pump and Pluck Band" (Pump being a reference to bellows-blown free reed instruments like concertina, melodeon, accordion, etc. and Pluck being a reference to plucked string instruments like guitar, mandolin, etc.) One of the songs on the B-side of the first LP of the 2-disk set, performed acapella by Peter Wood, is titled "The Pleasant Ballad Of John Barleycorn". The lyrics are so detailed that you could probably start from barley seed and end up with ale if you followed them carefully. And it's a fun song. Unfortunately, when they re-released the 2 LP set on CD in 1993, the 2 LPs wouldn't quite fit on a CD, so they had to leave out one song. And sadly the song they left out was this song. That's tragic, because it's a great song!
@ThatTieDyeGuy
Жыл бұрын
In my wizardly opinion, The story of John Barleycorn is meant to be a heroic metaphor. Maybe at some point in the distant-distant origins of the keltic, druidic, and goddess faiths, john was a real person who was killed each year to ensure the harvest. He was most certainly a volunteer or choose for the honor by lots. When the elders who would eventually become the Druids realized the waste of life this practice entailed, that the story was made into a heroic retelling of Good John Barleycorn who gave his life on the first harvest so that we all may eat/drink/ect. The story is the story of Cernonos or other spring deities such as Dyanisis, Herne, and the modern God of Wicca. Born from the spark of the Holly King, he rises as the greenman (Cernonos) and is mortally wounded by the harvest goddess who "cuts him off at knee" which is also about the height grain farmers cut barley and wheat, and he slowly succoms to his wounds and finally passes through the veil on Samhain. He becomes the Goblin King and leads the wild hunt from dusk on samhain to the first light of dawn on the Festival of All Saints Day. The Goddess as Demeter of Greece goes to the underworld and makes a deal with Hades so that her lover and king will live and not go beyond the recognings of men and gods. Hades Agreed but said to live he must die each each year and while he is dead, she must come and bring her light and life to the underworld. Hades then vows to send Mab, queen of the unseelie Fae, to watch over the world until her and her lover were reborn, and so the goddess also becomes Titania of the Seelie Fae ruling the world for one half of a year during the late spring to early fall, while Mab ruled over the dark half. Defiantly the Herne/Greenman/Wiccan God has tied his soul to any amazing plant the did not die off except for during the harshest winters, the holly tree which he shared a bit of his immortality and it shared the craft of surviving harsh winters, the god becomes the Holly King; who comforts the goddess in the underworld while still being connected to the world of life. That is a somewhat confusing conglomeration of all of the different versions of the year myth, but I hope it makes sense and helps. The Harvest imagery was better stated by @amuseraynow are better than I could have put it. On the surface, it could have been used as a teaching method passed down from the Bard class of the Celtic faith, as the Bardic College system which was in place until the 1100-1300s as I recall; then historically speaking the Bardic Colleges were absorbed by the Monastic schools. I can see how this could have been passed on to parishioners at the various churches surviving to this day as a cereal song sung by peasents to know when and how to harvest their grains. Great video thanks
@jeffhistoryrogers5544
2 жыл бұрын
Hey, new to this Channel. Great Video on John Barleycorn, my first time listening to this song was when I was Playing Stronghold 3 as one of it's soundtracks. There is another song from this same game by the name of Mad Tom of Bedlam. Can you make a video on that song and including a song I heard growing up going to my dad's Medieval Reenactment, the song Maid of Bedlam?
@MsMousepusher
3 жыл бұрын
Classic english joke song around the business of making beer. Classic english humour.
@bobmessier5215
3 жыл бұрын
Well done, Scarlet Ravenswood. You did your homework.
@barefootanimist
4 жыл бұрын
I've been a member of OBOD for years, and a Wiccan on-and-off for decades, and autumn has always been my favourite time of year. For OBODies, Lughnasadh is the time of the year to explore the agrarian cycle of tilling, harrowing, planting, tending and harvesting, but our solitary ritual also asks us to contemplate and consume a kernel of grain, and to drink "fruit of the vine," as a reflection on the processes involved in turning grains to bread and beer, and grapes to wine, "to show that we are willing to wait." In any case, part of my plans for next year's garden will include a small plot of barley, so I can watch it go through its cycle from planting to harvest. I'm also hoping to buy a bronze sickle to add to my ceremonial tools, for the eventual harvest of that barley. Don't get me wrong. I love "The Golden Bough," and regard it as necessary reading for new pagans, but that book also has a strong Egyptian and Mediterranean focus, and though there are amazing themes presented, even touching on some practices of the First Nations of British Columbia (where I live), we have much work to do to "rediscover" paganism for the 21st and subsequent centuries.
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
Great comment! That's a good point about "The Golden Bough." :)
@dancclouser4764
3 жыл бұрын
This a year old now, but my input would be these. Barley grows beards when ready to harvest. A scythe is how it was cut. Then bundled in a sheave. Cut off at knees is leaving stubble to hold the earth from blowing away, and to plow under. They wheeled the horse drawn cart, round and round the field to collect the sheaves with a fork. Crab tree sticks refers to thrashing grain from husk. There is a hand farm process in every verse. However, there are references that makes one think. If someone was tied to a cart as punishment. they were lashed to cart wheel and driven round and round. There is much that could be a direct reference to the old ways. But I think it is also about alcohols' danger of controlling ones life. "proved the strongest of them all,"
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@jedediahcrouch9039
2 жыл бұрын
This story has long left an impression on me that the "long beard" refers to the corn silks. It may also allude to spikes or spikelets on the heads of the barley. As for the passage that tells of wheeling the cart about the field, I imagine that the transit assists with the gleaning process. The movement may be in a direction so the breeze can blow the chaff and trash from the grain. The vibration of the cart may also thresh grain from the chaff. The goal may have been to have wind blowing the trash to the ground while the grain settled in the bottom of the cart. During Biblical times, farmers did this work on top of a hill or in a windy area. They threw the grain into the air. The breeze blew away the lighter trash while the heavier grain fell in a pile. Perhaps this principle is used in conjunction with the wheeled conveyance. The crab tree sticks are flails used to separate grain and chaff. It is similar to the Okinawan use of the nunchaku used to thresh grain.
@larryhahn9526
3 жыл бұрын
wheeling him around would have scattered the seeds that were ripe and fallen off the stocks of wheat. thus ensuring a good harvest.
@kavasseurkavaaficionado4227
3 жыл бұрын
This is a pre-Christian song and the story of the sacrifice of Christ and ingestion of his body and blood is probably rooted in oral traditions, of which this song is a part.
@Wotsitorlabart
Жыл бұрын
No it's not. Written in 1624 - it's a clever allegory and nothing to do with any religion.
@garryrushworth2362
4 жыл бұрын
Hi Scarlet. Glad you did a video on John Barleycorn. I agree with you that it's a very old story. I heard the Traffic version back in the 1970's (I'm very old!). Are you aware of a couple of fairly modern songs on this theme by an English Druid called Damh the Bard? They are: Lughnasadh found on his Herne's apprentice album , and Wicker man on his Sabbat album. You might want to give them a listen? Please keep on making the Video's
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely give those songs a listen. :)
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@fitzjameswood5486
3 жыл бұрын
I always thought the 3 men were a veiled reference to the Trinity and they were the masters of the harvest..that is God was the bringer of the good things: bread and sustenance and the joy of a good harvest. The dark metaphors being a uniquely English take on the strenuous efforts to bring in and make bread and drink from the harvest. The song 'Scarborough Fair' is an interesting example of similar dark imagery about an unrequited love. Scarborough Fair having a reputation for lynching thieves on the spot without trial used here as a metaphor for not giving the suitor a chance to prove his love and the cynical way he alludes to the impossibility of her standards for love.. etc etc.
@CrazyBear65
7 ай бұрын
You are aware that barley grows a beard, yeah? If you're not sure, ask a farmer. Or ask Steve Winwood... They wheeled him around the field, picking up bundles to take to the barn and thresh. They ground him between two stones. They made a mash and fermented it. _"And little Sir John has a nut brown bowl, and he's brandy in the glass. And little Sir John has a nut brown bowl, he's the strongest man at last."_ My heritage is Celtic, Anglo, Saxon, and Mohawk. My maternal lineage comes from the Monongahela Valley. My paternal lineage comes from Nottinghamshire. I have spiritual ties to Dekanawida and to Robin of Sherwood. Maybe to Merlin himself. Vernal equinox will be here soon. 2024 promises to be a momentous year.
@ZingaroXIV
15 күн бұрын
While I agree that John Barleycorn is an embellishment of the process of planting, growing, harvesting, and processing barley into ale, take a look at the fairy tales and songs of the time. Ring Around the Rosie, a childhood nursery rhyme and play song that's really about the bubonic plague. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, another seemingly cute child's rhyme that's really about Bloody Mary, Henry VIII's daughter, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush is said to be about female prison inmates being forced to dance in a prison yard. The examples are endless. I see John Barleycorn, really about something innocuous but given a darker, parallel meaning, as being the reverse of those other child's rhymes and songs. In this context, she's right. On the surface, hey, it's just about beer and ale.
@markpjf85
4 жыл бұрын
Anything gruesome... is my thing Fantastic poem like it.. I think it represents both The harvest of barley and wheat... celebrations beer and bread it’s a Sacrifice of people’s blood to create another harvest for next year it’s got the vibes of the wicker man and Wicker tree to it....
@ScarletRavenswood
4 жыл бұрын
There's a ton of fascinating symbolism in the Wickerman, I might make a video about The Wickerman in the future. :)
@markpjf85
4 жыл бұрын
Scarlet Ravenswood cool 👍 yeah so many references too great film
@lostboysvideovault
4 жыл бұрын
Entertaining?! Entertaining? Midsommar was horrifying! I can never get those images out of my mind.
@ThePeculiarBrunette
4 жыл бұрын
I thought it was creepy the first time too, but the second time I caught so many Easter eggs and different symbolism that it was truly entertaining. 😊
@donblevins1181
2 жыл бұрын
more interesting is Robert Burns john barleycorn
@Wotsitorlabart
Жыл бұрын
Based upon the English ballad.
@vhjmvn
3 ай бұрын
The wsy to recognize barley between other grains is its long "beard" of plant 'hairs' on the kernels. You'll see it better when you hold a sheaf of Barleycorn upside down. And nite that "corn" or "korn"/ koren" is a comon european word for all grains, although it;s easilt a[pplied to wheat only. Because barley looks so much like wheat and rye, the 'beard' distinguises it most easily from the others. I see no need to move over to human beard, druids' or whomevers'. Taken at face value, indeed it's a (gruesoe) tale about the harvesit when he collectots have to go round an round to pick up the valuable sheafs and golden nuggets of the plant that will be turned nto a gooden brew. Now, remenber that in olden days, every "thing" was aive: the plants and trees as well as the animals, tocksk rivers and springs (and us humans having a place in between that great multitude.) I work with wood but I never forget it was once a living tree and I am graceful for is sacrificve to give me material to work with. But I do have a big psoble with hurting trees and plants and, yes, every "thing" for no-good reasons. Also, realize that the copula was not used in classic languages and is still barely used in many present lanuages. Leaving out this verb "to be," which ïs often taken as some mathematical " = ". Well, not. Now if we leave that must" ( a form of "' to be') out of the title,, we get what we now see as toddler talk: "barleycorn dead." And that is enough to start any fansiful tale or story that tells the, or rather, "a" how & why, more or less as amuseraynow wrote a year ago. For anh example , see the discusssion at the start of the "Ivanhoe" book. All poetry starts in reality and returns to it after having beel molded, i.e. harvested and turned into a wholly different profduct by our creative minds and hands. There is barely a connection between signifier and sifnified , in short, signification. Thta's why it's good to leave the question "what is this about" open for several and many significations
@theonlywaytogta6665
5 ай бұрын
Thank you for this video. Great research and work! I am actually writing a horror story that has the theme of John Barleycorn as it's centerpiece. Your telling of this story was inspiring and helped me to fill in some gaps. If it ever gets published, I'd love to send you a link to it and acknowledge your contribution via citation. Excellent video! I have just subscribed.
@jacksprat1124
3 ай бұрын
A few things - The ancients and the stories from the Natives in the USA show they were in close contact with the life in all living things. If you've ever grown and nurtured a plant to full life and then harvested it, you may understand the subtle bond there. The late mythologist Joseph Campbell put this clearly in his description of a vegetarian as someone who has never heard a tomato scream. The grown beard definitely pictures the barley not a human because barley is ready in 60 to 70 days. I don't think a young man grows a full beard in that time. As for wheeling his body around the field, could easily be referencing gathering the sheaves and loading them onto a cart and having the cart go round the field picking up the sheaves. Perhaps the 3 men from out the west were people from Ireland to England. Whatever, this gruesome depiction of growing, harvesting and turning barley into food and beer has a lot to do with the food we eat.
@wildgingerliving
3 жыл бұрын
Very interesting. I always saw a double meaning in this song, but inteoreted as a metaphor for life and death with death being the harvest. You said that you did not see how barley related to long beards, Here again, we have double meanings. I specialize in heirloom plants of the medieval era up through modern. The oldest forms of barley are called Bearded Barley. They grow long-like structures o the ends. Our modern barley does not.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@johnheasly7603
3 жыл бұрын
I love all these theories - any story as old as this can have many meanings. I think that the ancient celts thought that most things have a spirit. This could be described as the message in their DNA that drives them to do the things they do - the spirit of barleycorn is to grow and produce seeds to continue the species, and vegetable matter to feed other species. The three men, in their greed and lust for transient pleasure, perverted the spirit of the barleycorn to make alcohol. That spirit was stronger and punished the men by making them addicted and weak. "Little Sir John proved the strongest man at last." The message being don't defile the spirit of the natural world and drunkenness is evil.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@PhoenixLyon
2 жыл бұрын
'All things in moderation'. Good thinking, and entirely plausible. The old Britons may have had some wild drunken parties, but they were the exception rather than the rule. ✌😺
@jilliroberts7715
Жыл бұрын
In historic reality, drinking beer was far safer than drinking water so it was an essential product. Older still was the belief that the effects of fermented grain drinks were held to be spiritual. I've always maintained that the remnants of British "folk songs" contain faint echoes of the beliefs held in our distant past, give that the majority of them were passed on by word of mouth in those illiterate times. There is a large crossover period in Britain where pagan beliefs survived into modern times in some parts of Britain, in spite of xtian rule. Pagan practices in more recorded history such as acient Greece and Rome, the Saxon and the Dane, give us a much closer description of rituals and ceremony of pagan philosophies. Human sacrifice, for instance, has been a part of human philosophies throughout the world, with personal sacrifice remaining a highly regarded trait.
@Wotsitorlabart
Жыл бұрын
@@jilliroberts7715 The majority of folk songs in Britain were not passed on by mouth. The majority were in fact written by professional and semi-pro song writers for printed broadsides, chapbooks, the theatre, the pleasure gardens and the music halls. Very few were written by ploughboys, milk maids, cowherds or Jolly Jack Tars. A song 'Sir John Barleycorne' was registered with the London Stationer's Company on 14th December 1624. Almost certainly the origin of the song we hear today.
@johnheasly7603
8 ай бұрын
I like that theory too!@@jilliroberts7715
@johnbarleycorn406
6 ай бұрын
After the song’s first listen, you ponder the brutality inflicted by three men on a tragic figure named John Barleycorn. Or could these distressing lyrics be a metaphor for the difficult process of harvesting barley in order to make an alcoholic beverage? A fine glass of whiskey or beer to get us through the toughest of days?
@frankcallo6630
Жыл бұрын
UT might be that it is about actual, literal human sacrifice and probably a great honor to the victim. Even if it isn't though, it's a good way to personify the "masculine" life principle ad one who makes a great sacrifice for the people. It's a story about salvation brought about by sacrifice like Dionysis or Jesus.
@cautionhumanbeing749
3 жыл бұрын
Lol, it's threshing and other orig cessing with an Animistic spirit and colourful storytelling. No, it's definayately 'not' human sacrifice. The three men are farm workers. The evening begins the Celtic Day. The beard of the Barley growing ling shows its just about ready to cut. No, not the druids. And Druids could be any age or gender. Also people didnt live that ling at tgat time so a ling white beard is very unlikely. Wheeling around the fiekd is lijely a cart being pulled whike the stocks of barely are being through onto it...
@PatrickRsGhost
3 жыл бұрын
I think the original poem is tied to both, but has a third possible tie (the power of 3): Christianity. Some sects of Christianity were, and in some cases still are, against imbibing (modern terms would include "teetotalers" or "prohibitionists"), and since beer, whiskey, and other alcoholic beverages were popular among the ancient druids and pagans, the modern (at the time) Christians tried to prove just how bad alcohol was. By writing a minstrel song/poem about how brutal the harvest was, likening it to killing somebody, it was certain to make people give up the drink. Of course barley is used for other things besides beer. It can be ground into meal or flour for baking, and the kernels have been harvested to be used in soups or eaten as a porridge for breakfast. There's a line about the huntsman not being able to hunt the fox or blow his horn without a little John Barleycorn. While it's assumed he can't do so without having a drink, it could also be assumed he can't do so without having a bowl of barley porridge in the morning.
@daveylee4677
Жыл бұрын
Among the traditions of BC Britain it was believed that every living thing had a spirit. In this case, barley was turned into liquid spirits. So the barley was revered as a spiritual thing.
@stevemorgan7485
2 жыл бұрын
It is both, the dream is the same in that it's a metaphor and a practice. The romans did the same, except left off of that factin order to disparage their foes. If you recall many were sacrificed on the altars of the pagan near east in the bronze bull or at the lap of moloch. Nevermind the Babylonians, Egyptians, all the way back to Sumer where the ovens where heated to 7 times
@davidworth8387
3 жыл бұрын
john barleycorn. is mentioned in the A.A. big book. the name is synonymous with the insidious nature of alcohol in the wrong mouth. it looks that way in context. i think anyone who reads the book will agree. ..or possibly it is just borrowed from the powerful tale and put to that specific meaning . not exactly sure i suppose. the concept is well served in the A.A book , i believe..
@marcuseaston1583
2 жыл бұрын
John Barley corn is a personification of the harvest spirit. Yes the song is about making beer but the crops die (are harvested) so we can live. It's a very spiritual process with nots of pre-Christian pagan attachments to it.
@Nero_Karel
10 ай бұрын
John Barleycorn's beard refers to the long awns on barley ears tho, doesn't it? That's the plant's most distinguishing feature after all
@Julia-jk1ro
3 жыл бұрын
The human sacrifice was made very rarely only to insure good harvest if the previous one was ruined by nature, it was supposed to make the “bad” go away.
@donb7605
3 жыл бұрын
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl And his brandy in the glass; And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl Proved the strongest man at last The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox Nor so loudly to blow his horn And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot Without a little Barleycorn
@oneoflokis
5 ай бұрын
No-one. It's a metaphor, for the barley. One so obvious, a child can see it! 🙂
@unclejohnthezef
2 ай бұрын
Great job! Fun video: what is the awesome harvest creature right at the start?
@mickmacgonigle5021
5 ай бұрын
Only the reapers reaping early in among the " bearded barley".....The lady of shallot
@Kikilang60
3 жыл бұрын
You should do a video on "Hunting the wren", which is a old pagan tradition still pratice in rural locations of Ireland, and other places.
@BillDores
2 ай бұрын
It wasn't the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in Scotland
@aztecgoldmontizuma
2 жыл бұрын
If you have ever seen a stalk of barley they do grow a fuzz from all the grains together sort of like a beard.
@ianreynolds1725
2 ай бұрын
Scarlet Ravenswood seems like a very beautiful and intelligent young woman and I’m sure she knows and believes what she says about pagan sacrifice. However, she seems to know little about pre industrial English farming methods or what barley corn looks like. The “long beards” in the poem/song refer to the long hairs that grow from the ears of barley. “Cut him off at the knee” refers to the ripe plants of barley which were cut, gathered and tied into sheaves which were then stacked into stooks around the field. “Wheeled him round and round” refers to the sticking and collecting of the sheaves in carts. And so on and so forth, describing the method of harvesting, threshing in the barn and bagging of the grain. The bags of grain were then transported to the local wind or water mill to be ground into flour - between two millstones, Some of the barley grains were taken into the malting loft to be turned into malt which was then transported to the brew house to be fermented into ale. So Scarlet tells an interesting story but the poem/song accurately describes the sowing, growing, harvesting and processing of barley corn into flour and ale. Unlike Scarlet I am old enough to remember the old harvesting methods. As a young boy I lived on the edge of a small, barely mechanised farm. The excitement of the year was harvest time when the corn (wheat or barley) was cut by a horse or tractor drawn reaping and binding machine which cut the corn into sheaves. The sheaves were gathered by hand and stacked for later collection. I feel honoured to have witnessed the pre-combined harvester process. A threshing machine was hired to separate the grain from the sheaves in the farmyard. It put the grain into sacks and the threshed corn plants were baled. Apart from the limited use of machines the sowing, growing and harvesting of wheat and barley corn had been the same for hundreds or thousands of years. Sorry Scarlet, investigate medieval and early modern corn (barley and wheat) cultivation before theorising about pagan practices 😊
@YorkyOne
Ай бұрын
As the 'Penguin Book of English Folk Songs' puts it the song is - 'a very clever allegory'.
@joejones9520
4 жыл бұрын
Well I didnt know any of this, only knew it as an old-fashioned name for alcohol and Jack London novel, thanks!
@donblevins1181
2 жыл бұрын
from wikki John Barleycorn" is an English and Scottish folk song[1] listed as number 164 in the Roud Folk Song Index. John Barleycorn, the eponymous protagonist, is a personification of barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it: beer and whisky. In the song, he suffers indignities, attacks, and death that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@brianswan661
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much, the Traffic song was much misunderstood.
@johnregan8327
2 жыл бұрын
Brilliant story to John Barley corn iv covered the song mean time on the guitar🎸.
@tomcurran8470
3 жыл бұрын
Check out Steve Winwood's acoustic version of John Barleycorn Must Die: kzitem.info/news/bejne/1W5unWyZoYGnmX4
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@dougarnold7955
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks. Interesting stuff. Yeah, I liked this discussion a lot. I've always been intrigued by the origins of tales. So many are rooted in prechristian beginnings. For me it's not that big of a leap. Even the Christian tradition shows Jesus as the sacrifice who is symbolically cannibalized with bread and wine. Really, what's more bizarre to me is that Christians often don't want to discuss what their god symbolically represents. Of course Christians often don't explore the book they claim anyway. So, yeah, there's some sort of link to the past with that, ...is what I believe.
@dhatty100
2 жыл бұрын
Very odd comments. I'm a Christian and have studied the Bible to a large extent. I'm not sure what you are talking about in not exploring the symbolism? Perhaps what you mean is that what we take as a presentation of historical information you interpret as symbolism. While I'm always interested in exploring other opinions and points of view, just because you believe something to be symbolism does not make it symbolism, so what we'd end up discussing is your opinion that it's symbolism and my opinion that it's not. Not a very stimulating conversation. What I find most common is that those who view Christianity as a continuation or adaptation of paganism and/or other ancient symbolism, refuse to engage in a genuine sincere discussion of the Christian's belief that it is not and why. This may be why you do not encounter christians who want to explore your perspective, because in our experiences, that conversation almost always tends to be one way only and one which summarily dismisses our perspective.
@dougarnold7955
2 жыл бұрын
@@dhatty100 oh! ...Hi. Thanks for the polite comment. So, do you feel you are an example of the typical Christian with the amount of study you put in? My response to that would be that you are atypical in that way. Most christians don't put that much study or even thought into what they worship. ...and that was the thrust of what i was trying to express in this comment.
@dougarnold7955
2 жыл бұрын
@@dhatty100 also ...i do make odd comments if you wish to describe them that way. I see things in what traditional Christians would call odd. So, if you feel offended by that type of thing it might be better to not pursue a discussion with me. However, if that's okay with you my ideas might give you thoughts to reflect on. (I mean, obviously you replied to me a year after) I was just simply commenting to the hostess of the video.
@dougarnold7955
2 жыл бұрын
@@dhatty100 im not sure what one you find odd. ...the cannibalizing???... The idea of the blood and wine was a strange symbolism to me as a ten year old about 1975 when my mother pressured me to be saved and baptized with the rest of the family. I can go in if you'd like.
@tomfleming0526
Жыл бұрын
Regarding the beard, you need to look at the barley when ready for harvest.
@nemi6288
4 жыл бұрын
I wanted to write about his story on my grimoire but i wasnt sure where to begin,so this was really interesting!! Thank you so much for making this video!
@oldmanofthemountains3388
4 жыл бұрын
The song sounds like the sacrifice of a barley effigy to me.
@geminigreywolf6655
4 жыл бұрын
This reminded me that I heard about John Barleycorn many many years ago. My mom told me about it when I was younger. I had completely forgotten.
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@WildcatCougar
2 жыл бұрын
I know someone that looks just like you! Same teeth exactly!
@brianhurt3801
3 жыл бұрын
The beard would be the length or hight of the barley grown ,
@tomfleming0526
6 ай бұрын
long beard. have you ever seen barley in the field?
@LuisRivera-vf9pk
4 жыл бұрын
I heard John Langstaff's version of the song, it's pretty good.
@christianfreedom-seeker934
4 ай бұрын
Yeah girl. This song was written in the 1600's so this song isn't pagan. It has strong political overtones.
@YorkyOne
Ай бұрын
No political overtones whatsoever.
@white_heat.truth76
2 жыл бұрын
Splendid synopsis my good Lass, salutations.
@maximhornby5493
3 жыл бұрын
I highly doubt it has anything to do with celtic mythology seeing as it is an english folk tradition anyway and the english had germanic gods and they didnt adopt celtic ones
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@androsRoccha
4 жыл бұрын
Very interesting! Sounds creepy tho 😬
@raulantoniodiaz2944
3 жыл бұрын
Lo puedes traducir al español
@thepokemontrainer6094
2 жыл бұрын
So i found out about this story by listening to this album called Barley Moon by Ayreheart, and one thing i could figure out was that the song was made to fight against alcohol by warning people about the dangers addiction towards alcohol. Barley comes the type of alcohol called Barley. Thats what i got behind the information behind the song and history i got from places online. So my theory is that maybe these people who are torturing this man are supposed to be people fighting towards the addiction of alcohol. I dont know what do you guys think?
@WilliamMonroe13
8 ай бұрын
Ritual sacrifice ..final answer
@donb7605
3 жыл бұрын
wikipida: There was three kings unto the east, Three kings both great and high, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn should die. They took a plough and plough'd him down, Put clods upon his head, And they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn was dead. But the cheerful Spring came kindly on, And show'rs began to fall; John Barleycorn got up again, And sore surpris'd them all. The sultry suns of Summer came, And he grew thick and strong; His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears, That no one should him wrong. The sober Autumn enter'd mild, When he grew wan and pale; His bending joints and drooping head Show'd he bagan to fail. His colour sicken'd more and more, He faded into age; And then his enemies began To show their deadly rage. They've taen a weapon, long and sharp, And cut him by the knee; Then tied him fast upon a cart, Like a rogue for forgerie. They laid him down upon his back, And cudgell'd him full sore; They hung him up before the storm, And turn'd him o'er and o'er. They filled up a darksome pit With water to the brim; They heaved in John Barleycorn, There let him sink or swim. They laid him out upon the floor, To work him further woe; And still, as signs of life appear'd, They toss'd him to and fro. They wasted, o'er a scorching flame, The marrow of his bones; But a miller us'd him worst of all, For he crush'd him between two stones. And they hae taen his very heart's blood, And drank it round and round; And still the more and more they drank, Their joy did more abound. John Barleycorn was a hero bold, Of noble enterprise; For if you do but taste his blood, 'Twill make your courage rise. 'Twill make a man forget his woe; 'Twill heighten all his joy; 'Twill make the widow's heart to sing, Tho' the tear were in her eye. Then let us toast John Barleycorn, Each man a glass in hand; And may his great posterity Ne'er fail in old Scotland!
@alanknight3778
4 ай бұрын
This is complete gibberish.
@michaelgarrow3239
2 жыл бұрын
It’s an old beer recipe….
@Scarter63
3 жыл бұрын
Hah! I just found this video, a year later, 9/19/2021, and almost the Autumn Equinox. I had listened to the Traffic version, which is quite similar to the song you linked, but with music.
@joshhumphries8299
3 жыл бұрын
I'd say that spring is clean shaven, summer hot and stubbled, and fall- bearded, while winter is full-bearded, but in terms of the Harvest (of Old), I'd say Early Spring clean-shaven, Late Summer Full Bearded as well. Usually the Old analogies for the Earth and harvest were Maternal, so this was very interesting, as is the Green Man. Thanks.
@Djurberg74
3 жыл бұрын
John Barleycorn is a sacrificial god, just like Jesus in Christianity. He represents the crops (= our food) and must die so theat we can live. Perhaps they reenacted this in old times. People where much crueler, harder and more desperate in the past, pagans included. Most if not all religions have at some point in their history included such sacrifices...
@davidmccann9811
3 жыл бұрын
I think it's just about the barley harvest, as it all fits and there is nothing that stands out as unexplained or odd. As far as I know, druids weren't English but part of the celtic world, and much of the information about them doesn't go back beyond the 19th century anyway. John Barleycorn predates modern druids and most of their ritual.
@donblevins1181
2 жыл бұрын
wheat and barley has a head and a beard
@colleenstephenson5715
2 жыл бұрын
Yes, Harvest Home, scary....
@dghuggs
3 жыл бұрын
I think your take on the song is right on, Scarlet!
@TheFolkRevivalProject
2 жыл бұрын
I just uploaded a video about John Barleycorn on my channel, which includes a recording of the song from 1908! kzitem.info/news/bejne/qWOfmX16hpajlWU
@zak-a-roo264
3 жыл бұрын
The 3 men could be the stars of the "Spring Triangle" , Arcturus , Spica and Regulus, showing the coming of the warm planting season.
@Cydsdad
4 жыл бұрын
Well Done Thank You
@666slink
3 жыл бұрын
You have pretty eyes.
@charleshultquist9233
3 жыл бұрын
The beard is obviously referring to the whiskers on the barley head en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley#/media/File:Hordeum-barley.jpg
@donblevins1181
2 жыл бұрын
research farming
@thedruiddiaries6378
3 жыл бұрын
John is the grain. Not particularly gruesome. Corn does not equal Mais, its grain. The song is animistic. It's the process of separating wheat from chaff and all that processing .... a blog post?! At least pull from something academic.. This is not helpful. Doing this do get your numbers up? I've heard the poem. The beard is the long hairs on the wheat that grow near maturity. Learn something about farming. Oh my gods. Think of how you are misrepresenting our community and how harmful that is to people.
@DefenestrateYourself
3 жыл бұрын
Toxic and incorrect to boot! Bless your little heart, sweetheart
Пікірлер: 240