Glastonbury Festival

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Basic

Standard: American accent

The Glastonbury Festival

     This month we’re off to the Glastonbury Festival for three days of music, inspiration and, hopefully, sunshine. At the event an estimated 150.000 people will enjoy a weekend of entertainment, while Greenpeace Oxfam and other charities receive over £ 1 million. The line-up is kept secret till close to the date, but rumors have already confirmed top music acts such as Arctic Monkey’s, Bjork, The Who and the Chemical Brothers. Let’s hope the weather is good, so we can avoid the horror of mud and dancing in Wellington boots.

     The Festival doesn’t actually take place in the town of Glastonbury, but nearby at Worthy Farm, Pilton. The Festival began in 1970 when 1.000 people paid farmer Michael Eavis (pictured above)  one pound for a two-day concert, plus free milk from his farm. Why did he organise the festival? He answered: “I’m just an ordinary person – I have debts and I have to pay them off.”

     Today the event attracts thousands of people and 71-year-old Eavis is still enthusiastic. He says they have made some compromises in order to continue, but he has refused millions from potential sponsors. He says: “It’s about bringing people together, it’s about artistic achievement and the whole youth culture of Britain. You can’t put a label on all that talent.”

     From 1981 to 1992 the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) helped to organise the Festival, but Eavis turned to Greenpeace in 1992. The Cold War was over and the protection of the environment became more important goal, the ticket price this year is £ 145, but this is the largest music and arts Festival in the world.

     What are people paying for? Entrance to the beautiful site in the Vale of Avalon, a city of tents with 17 stages.  The main Pyramid and Dance stages are more commercially oriented. Then there are relaxed areas like the “Jazzworld” and “Acoustic,” and the family-oriented areas like the Kidz Field, the Theatre and Circus Fields.

The Glastonbury Zodiac No sound available

The Festival is also an important annual meeting for New Age travellers and Druids. There are about 10.000 druids in Britain and many are travellers who live like gypsies. They meet at Stonehenge for the summer solstice, before going to the Glastonbury Festival. Glastonbury is in Somerset, in the Southwest of England. The travellers are attracted by its pagan history. There is the Glastonbury Zodiac, an extraordinary ancient earthen work. It is a circle 16 kilometres across and 48 kilometres in circumference formed by hills, roads and rivers.

Glastonbury Legends

One legend tells that St. Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus, came to Glastonbury and founded the first Christian church in England. He rested his staff on Wearyall Hill: it rooted and became the Glastonbury thorn. This unusual variety of thorn flowers around Christmas time, which is unique, and many think it is a miracle.

Another story identifies Glastonbury as King Arthur’s Isle of Avalon, but this was probably an invention of the monks from local Abbey. They “found” the grave of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere near the Abbey, but there is no proof today because the remains were later moved and then lost.