Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 554
The Turf Maze
Hello Everyone
Over the summer holidays, Mr Grumps the caretaker at the Rocky Bay Primary School had lots of maintenance work to do. That means repairs to the school and its grounds.
Captain Jack and l went to help with some of the work. He needed some spare hands to help him out.
One of the jobs he wanted to do was to repaint the hopscotch grid on the playground. There were some other games laid out on the playground as well. Any idea to get children running, jumping and moving about is a good idea!
Mr Grumps also has another idea that he wanted to try out and he asked if we could help. We had already made a willow play den over on the grass at the back of the school – you may remember us doing that – and Mr Grumps also wanted to make a turf maze on the grass for the children to play on.
But after a lot of thinking, we decided that instead of making a turf maze it would be better to paint a maze on the playground instead. lt would be easier to maintain and easier too for the children to play on in the wet weather.
We let Emily design it because she is good at drawing, and that helped us a lot because then we had a plan to work from.
You probably know what a maze is – you may even have got lost in one at some time as you ran up and down between tall hedges trying to decide which path to take to get yourself out again – but you may not know what a turf maze is.
The proper word for a turf maze is a labyrinth. They can be found all over the world and date back to prehistoric pagan times.
Most of them are in Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
They are laid out like a cord that has two ends and is curled round and round to form a circle design or a rounded square design.
This continuous coil has huge religious or spiritual significance.
The way you use it is to start walking from the outer edge and follow the path until you reach the very centre.
The path you walk represents the path you walk through you life on Earth and then beyond.
You start as a child beginning a long journey of learning, growing and gaining wisdom. The journey goes on and on until you eventually find eternal peace in heaven – which is represented by the centre lawn.
On the pathway there are no branches that split off where you have to make a choice as to which way to go – you just keep on walking along all the twists and turns and complete your journey to find fulfilment at the end of it.
There is a special word for this single path – it is unicursal.
The ritual of walking the labyrinthine pathway is a sort of meditation and contemplation that is supposed to give you serenity and insight into your life – and so it becomes a spiritual experience. lt is supposed to lift you up into to a higher level of being – or existence.
Everyone’s path through life is different – each person has a unique life to live and nobody else can live it for you.
A lot of people say that you should always put others before yourself.
This is wrong!!!
lf you keep putting others before yourself, you will eventually become depleted and ill. Then you are no good to anyone.
lf on the other hand you keep looking after yourself properly and care about yourself first; you will constantly be replenishing yourself and always have the resources and energy to contribute to the world, look after others and not be a burden or a worry to others either!
ln other words, keep filling up your tank and there will be overflow for others.
This is a much better plan!
The oldest turf maze in the world can be found hidden away high on a wooded hill in Cranbourne Chase in the south of England on the Breamore Estate. lt is about 800-900 years old and is now a protected site and members of the public are not allowed to walk on it.
lt has 11 rings from the edge to the middle. lt is enclosed in a ring of ancient yew trees. (Blog Post 455) You can see what it looks like in the Picture Gallery this week.
The design is called the mediaeval Christian labyrinth pattern which is more complex than the earlier classical designs. There is one of a similar design drawn onto the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France.
The labyrinth is created by cutting into the turf to create a raised, grass path. (But some labyrinth paths are covered in gravel or some other kind of paving so you walk between the grass ‘walls’ instead.)
There was an Augustine Priory near to the Breamore labyrinth until it was disbanded by Henry Vlll in 1536 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Legend has it, that the monks from the priory were told to walk the entire length of the labyrinth on their knees very early in the morning as a kind of penance.
Penance is something done by Christians as a kind of confession and apology for committing sins.
There is also, predating that by a long way, a Bronze Age burial mound (grave site) nearby too.
This maze has been dubbed a mizmaze and there are only two of them left in the country – there six other historic turf mazes left as well.
The Winchester Mizmaze has a path that is a narrow groove in the grass.
Historically there were mazes constructed on village greens and other public spaces which were often incorporated into celebrations that marked the passing of the year like May Day celebrations. Such frivolity was outlawed during the Puritan Commonwealth 1649-1660.
Some turf mazes are related to ancient folklore and superstition.
Shakespeare wrote about turf mazes in his plays.
Modern turf mazes have been constructed too and often like to incorporate wild flowers, scented herbs or ornamental grasses between the twists and turns of the path.
Children love to run along them in the summer time.
And the children at the Rocky Bay Primary School are enjoying their playground unicursal path too!
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: You never see elephants hiding in trees, do you?
Bob: That is because they are really good at it!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Breamore
Chartres Cathedral
Use a point of a pencil to follow the trail
A labyrinth
A puzzle maze
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, Auntie Alice wanted to try out an idea.
She had collected lots of lupin seeds this year and decided to sow them now into pots and leave them in her greenhouse over winter.
If she gets strongly growing plants by the spring, they can be planted out as substantial plants instead of little seedlings.
She had it in mind to put them along the front wall of the churchyard where Bill and Bob had planted some of their saplings at the beginning of the summer.
The boys check on their trees from time to time, but the vicar has been watering them religiously – interesting way to say it – anyway the trees are doing well.
Lupins are the kind of plant, when established, that can do well without anyone looking after them. They will seed themselves each season and should look very pretty along the front of the churchyard wall and in patches inside as well.
The vicar was very pleased with her idea and the bees from the Rocky Bay Community orchard will love them even more!
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Quick Quiz
Do you know which countries these flags are from?
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A KNlTTED PARTY BAG
This is a small bag to slip some little gifts into.
Or it can be used as an evening bag for a little girl.
PARTY BAG BASE (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and sparkly dk yarn cast on 22 stitches
Knit 28 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off
PARTY BAG SIDES (KNIT FOUR)
Using 4mm knitting needles and sparkly dk yarn cast on 22 stitches
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
Knit 30 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Knit 1 row
Cast off
Make a cord by crocheting 150 chains into a length of yarn
Cut a square of card 9cm x 9cm or (4 inches by 4 inches)
TO MAKE UP
Using over-sew stitching and with wrong sides together sew the bottom of each of the 4 sides to the base and then sew up each corner of the bag (then you will get crisp, neat edges)
Thread the cord through the channel at the top starting at a corner
Tie the ends of the cord together and decorate with a large bead or some small ones – tie them on tightly and neaten all ends
Put a square of card in the base of your bag to keep it in a box shape
TIP
If you don’t want a long shoulder strap on your bag, just make a cord of 100 chains.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Quick Quiz Answers
Wales
South Korea
Russia
Sweden
Ukraine
Vietnam
Mexico
