XIV ~ Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre
For Easter of 1999 I was asked to do an extra picture, not recorded anywhere, of the empty crosses standing above the empty tomb.
Each Good Friday my childer would turn up in the Churchyard with secateurs, trowels & gloves to clear a small area under 1 of the yews. They were supervised by 1 of the Sunday School teachers & joined by a couple of the other village childer. Together they recreated the sepulchure with stones found around the tree & 3 crosses were put on a slight rise above the tomb. There was a stone closing off the tomb which I would move away before dawn on Easter Sunday when I placed the grave cloths therein. After that I’d walk to Burrow Mump to await the Sunrise, usually being the first up the hill. When Vicar Gill was alive, the congregation of Othery often joined that of Burrowbridge on the Mump for a sunrise service, followed by a porridge breakfast in the Vicarage. Annon, bem & Llyw joined me for a few years, then my companion was Tigger after he joined our family & he & I would leave before the service & walk for hours.
Here in Ireland, I have the Mass Rock field close by my house where masses were held in the Troubled Times, but I don’t need to walk far to reach it, nor climb a hill & it faces Westish not into the sunrise. The first Easter here, Tig & I climbed Culcan, the hill at the foot of my lane to await the sunrise. Since then the dogs & I have headed up the mountain behind us to watch & there has been no visible sunrise on Easter Sunday since I’ve been here, just the daysky lightening. The top of Mother Mountain has been taken over by forestry which means that we can’t access it from the borreen behind our house. Forestry has also been planted in the Lacken behind us ~ such a shame as it would be ideal for my horses ~ there’s a water cistern there which is always full. That land once belonged to this house & 1 day I’d like it to be a part of this holding once again ~ maybe in 25 years when the trees are clear-felled & the land left barren…
