Touching Wood
Touching Wood
Luckily there is plenty of wood throughout the castle and to counter any doubts and anxiety I could throughout the day always swiftly reach out for reassurance. For all our technological advances, and wherever we live in the world, our innate habits and cultural references seem still to reflect our superstitions.
Perhaps, here in the UK, with this phrase we are looking back to the Celtic traditions, hoping for help from the spirits or gods of the trees or maybe touching wood is recalling the Christian adaptation introducing the idea that the “wood” refers to the wood of the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion. To be honest I’m not sure where the phrase stems from but I say it all the time as did my mother and no doubt her mother too.
In fact, in the end, the evening did go well and was a splendid start to the festival. It was an evening to thank our sponsors (Viking Cruises), to welcome VIP ticketed guests (thank you) and to congratulate all those who had entered the summer reading prize and give then each a cheque courtesy of Legal and General, to whom we are grateful for their support.
History is about understanding, reading, listening and discussing but I think we all prefer to be entertained rather than educated so it needs to be fun too.
Coming up with a very Highclere theme - Tutankhamun - the first icons to book were Max and Clio the camels. This is not the first time we have worked together and I have become rather fond of these extraordinary animals who in fact come from Gloucestershire (Joseph’s Amazing Camels) rather than further afield. They are wonderfully calm as well as colourful and surprisingly relaxed around all our visitors.
The re-enacting team moved in for the weekend. Camping in tents dressed for modern Egyptian archaeology, they set up on the sand which had been spread out by the gardening team on plastic sheets to preserve the lawn underneath. There is of course plenty of green grass around Luxor thanks to the irrigation systems from the Nile but nevertheless we all felt that a large sand pit was de rigueur for this weekend.
The vintage cars, motor cycles and helicopter provided much interest whilst on the south lawns the old pole marquee hosted talks and dancing. Sally and her Gift Shop Elves were inspired by Egypt in terms of the decoration and everyone loved the gift shop.
Instead of watching Strictly Dancing on TV, the idea at Highclere is that as many visitors as possible take part and learn a few steps. The Gatsby Girls are marvellously patient teachers and it is both life affirming and such fun to watch and applaud.
Deckchairs from Viking Cruises proved so comfortable from which to enjoy the music with impromptu dancing from some visitors whilst Luis’s Bar offered a fantastic choice of themed Cocktails from King Tut, the Luxor Lady (delicious – a pale gold colour), the Viking Ra, (a deep red coloured cocktail due to the Campari) and many others.
We all need a little luck sometimes and the greatest gift was the amazing sunshine we had. Clearly, everyone at Highclere had touched a lot of wood as one of the greatest issues with outdoor events here is the weather and we were blessed with warm temperatures and clear skies.
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48 Comments
We had a blast! It was my 50th birthday and a dream come true to spend it at Highclere. Well done to all who made it a wonderful experience. The sunshine was a very welcome bonus ❤️
Delighted you had a great time Carmel.
Lady Carnarvon. The event sounds like it was an outstanding success. Congratulations. Please be sure to give your son, Edward, my best wishes for a very happy Birthday tomorrow. What is he doing now?
Lovely the picture of Touching wood did you and lord Carnarvon have a wonderful weekend and lovely Downton Abbey calendars and lovely visit Highcelere castle
What a wonderful event ,such magnificent Camels ,so often underminded ,a great asset to man
He is working ! Fabulous
They are amazing
Another great read glad everything went off so well for you all
I really look forward to Monday afternoons and the read from you so very interesting thank you ,
Lady Carnarvon,
Another interesting superstition from your pen! We all need something to fall back upon when mysteries in our lives leave us wondering if we just need a little more luck to make everything right! Unfortunately, so few things besides trees are truly wood these days!
Have a great week enjoying the memories of another successful Highclere event!
Martha G.
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you for sharing your events with us. You give me a part of your life with each newsletter. So very wonderful!
Debbie from Ohio
Sounds like an amazing weekend! Love the picture of LC with two camels at Highclere Castle!
What a transformation was undertaken! It sounds like such fun I almost wish I had been in attendance enjoying the view from a Viking deck chair!
Thankyou for your blog Lady Carnarvon!
Best wishes
FLEURINA
Orange City East
Central Western NSW Australia
Greetings again Lady Carnarvon,
What a wonderful successful weekend event you all planned again and given the weather were able to successfully have again!
Agree with your "touch wood" traditions as my tradition that I always grew up with here in USA was to always say and follow through on "Knock On Wood" when we needed faith, hope and positive outcomes for situations.
So glad Viking Cruise Line is still a Highclere Castle Sponsor as they are such a wonderful cruise company and I am guessing Patsy was with you again to enjoy this weekend and if so lucky her!
Happy birthday to your son tomorrow and also a happy and healthy year ahead for him.
Remain well and enjoy your Fall Season.
Great Blog as always. Thank you
fondly Jenny
Lady Carnarvan, So happy the weather was good for your event. As far as the term"knock wood" for good luck:
I grew up being told it was the Native Indians that honored Mother Nature and believed that trees were good spirits. Whenever trouble arised they would knock on the tree to bring out the good spirit to fight the evil ones. Sounds reasonable to me. So of course I've used "knocked wood" my entire life for luck.
LOOKS LIKE YOU ALL HAD A FANTASTIC TIME .
Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the Autumn too.
Lady Carnarvon: Oh what a marvelous weekend, and thank God for the beautiful weather. I loved the photo of you walking the camel's. At Christmas time at Mt. Vernon (home of George Washington), they always have Aladdin the camel there for visitors to enjoy. When Washington was able to be home, besides doing things like fighting the war for eight years, then serving as our first president for eight years, he would always hire an exotic animal for his guest to enjoy. I absolutely can't wait to visit Highclere next July. As always, thank you for your wonderful stories.
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you, you for all your hard work to make the weekend such a success, we enjoyed your talk, chatting with your husband, and attempting the charleston, plus the house and Egyptian exhibition.
Kind regards John and Bernadette Adams.
Sounds like an amazing event enjoyed by all. And what a bonus that the weather played nice.
Touch wood is still a saying in our house but finding wood can sometimes be a trial given all the modern materials we use. My dad also grabbed some paper as he so rightly would say ' paper is from wood so it counts'!
Thank you again for brightening my monday you never fail to make me smile and educate me more
Hello Lady Carnarvon.
I was there on Saturday.
You must have been exhausted on Sunday, but does not stop there as the event items have to be removed etc.
Great event. I was keen to see just how small the landing area was for the Battle Proms Parachute team. What a speed!
Nice to meet Luis, John and your PA and Lord Carnarvon.
The Gatsby Girls tried to get me to participate in a dance routine. However I don't think they would have expected a performance in the style of Mr Molesley. Next time perhaps.
Good to see so many dressed in the style of the time. Winston was a bit of a surprise.
Well done to all involved providing a great day for your visitors.
Carry on Highclere. Soon be Christmas.
How deliteful!!!
Dear Lady Canarvon,
Thanks for including us in your weekend. It looks to have been loads of fun. I had the opportunity to touch some wood at Highclere in 2016, although not as part of s festival. We were also in Egypt this time last year, and your photos brought back some happy memories.
That sounds like a wonderful event. Congratulations to all who worked to make it successful.
On a more selfish note - any chance that you can share the recipes for Luxor Lady ("delicious," right?) or King Tut?
As it was said in Downton Abbey, "We all need luck."
Could you please post more pictures of the set up of the tents? I have a minor in Archaeology. I am sure you know about all the recent discoveries, not only in Egypt but around the world. The use of Lidar and drones has resulted in ability to detect previously undetectable sites, especially through densely forested areas. At Tikal in Guatemala, the archeologists could not figure out how a complex that would have had a population of between 60,000 to 90,000 people had no homes. Lidar detected 61,000 new building previously hidden by the jungle.
https://eos.org/articles/lidar-uncovers-thousands-of-new-maya-structures
Thank you Bernadette, I'm pleased you enjoyed it too.
Thank you, hope to see you at one of our Christmas events perhaps.
Oh what a magic event. My friend and I came all the way from California just for this day, and it did not disappoint. The docents for the Castle were stellar, the re-enactors were endlessly fascinating in their wealth of period knowledge, and the car officianados so very enthusiastic. Highclere is an extraordinary experience, due entirely to its cheerful, welcoming staff and the warmth and humanity of Earl and Lady Carnarvon. Heartfelt thank yous for such an inspired event and fore the grace of experiencing your home.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful day yesterday. A trip to your Castle has been on my Bucket List and it was well worth the trip from Canada. Your home is beautiful and thank you for opening it to everyone.
Wonderful visit on Sunday. It was beautiful weather to enjoy the grounds and the castle. My sisters and I are huge fans and this has been on my to do list for several years.
Thank you Carol for coming all this way.
Gosh,thank you Jill for making the journey all the way for the event. I hope that perhaps we might see you back again one day.
We visited on Saturday all the way from Yorkshire. It was our parents 60th wedding anniversary and it is a place my parents always wanted to come to and my dad has read every book on Egypt! What a wonderful day we all had it was so well organised and everything was so well planned. My parents loved listening to the singer singing along to the songs and reminiscing of when they were younger. We even got the chance to get our books signed and I look forward to cooking some of the recipes from the Christmas Book. What a lovely occasion and we can’t thank you enough for making my parents anniversary celebrations a special one.
It sounds like the event went very well. And this is an annual event? Do you know the dates for next year yet? Glad you had sunshine!
What a wonderful day we had on Saturday, a marvellous tour of Highclere, with its homely feel, greeting the camels. Our delicious picnic afternoon tea with delightful Highclere Champagne, that was so easy to drink, oops! Then listening to the inspirational speaker Joann Fletcher. We wandered round the Monk’s and Secret gardens and came back and supped a cocktail whilst the sun shone down on us. It was a fabulous day.
Dear Lady Carnarvon:
Thank you for your weekly blog and for sharing with your readers this wonderful outdoor event. Glad to hear that the weather cooperated and that everyone had a very good time. Great picture of you with the Camels; likewise of the Gatsby Girls.
You mentioned Legal and General's Summer Reading Award Winners were recognized during this activity. Will you be sharing the list of Winners? If so, where will it be posted?
Until next week, I wish you all the best.
Perpetua Crawford
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Congratulations on your successful and wonderful-looking History Festival. As we are all avid readers (of your blog), I am sure we are all looking forward to reading the winning book reviews from your competition. Will you provide a link to where we can read them please?
Kind regards,
Jennifer
Thank you for another most interesting blog. I look forward to them each week. What a wonderful idea of bringing camels to your history festival. You pay such attention to planning events, you couldn’t fail to make a success of it. Wish I lived in the UK so I could visit Highclere more often. It was quite a highlight of my sister’s and my holiday in June/July when you met with us. We hope the rose by the Green Man has picked up.
Hello Perpetua, Thank you for your email. The Readers Awards winners are on the website.
Hello Deborah
It is an annual event with a different theme every year. It's always around October time. Dates tbc for next year.
I can't now load more photos but just tents!!!
Dear Lady Carnarvon:
Thank you for your reply e-mail. I will have a look at the Castle's website.
Congratulations! to the winners and all those who submitted a book review.
Until next week, stay safe.
Perpetua Crawford
Dear Lady Carnarvon
I d like to join the book club was an archeology major my first degree before going on c hospital work
I just am still reading all your books! Buying your cook books to prepare for Christmas and holidays !
I would have loved to have attended this event. Knock on wood I can visit Highclere next year or so..
Regards
Laura Getman
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
Wonderful event and wonderful post about it.
Regarding "Knock On Wood" we have the same expression with the same meaning, so it is not only Celtic or Native American, I wonder if it originated from the deeper roots, like all ancient people being fascinated by nature and being respectful to her...
Regards,
Alex Sakowski
Dear Lady Carnarvon,
It sounds like great fun and a smashing success. Thank you for the insight.
Lady Carnarvon,
How fun! I love the picture with the camels.
Good Morning,
My husband and I came to visit a couple of years ago and had a wonderful time. We met Luis who then took extra good care of us. I was wondering if he still works at Highclere Castle as I haven’t seen him in many posts lately.
Hoping you are well,
Megan
Luis is still very much here and as wonderful as ever
My dearest lady Fionna,
Bonjour,
The must of The season. Oh yes,there are.Congratulations from Brazil. Very interesting.Good week for milady and Staff.
VILLA ALEMÃ
RIO CLARO-SP
BRAZIL