Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

In the week many celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, Mark Tully considers the power of initiation rites and asks what use they can be as we move into a new year.

As the new year gets under way and in a week in which many celebrate Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan, Mark Tully explores the significance of initiation rites and rituals, religious and secular.

He considers their role in marking new stages in life with readings of poetry by Emily Dickinson and C Day Lewis, and music from Briju Maharaj, Leonard Bernstein and blues guitarist Elizabeth Cotten.

The readers are Alistair McGowan, Emma Cunniffe and Francis Cadder.

Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.

30 minutes

Last on

Sun 7 Jan 201823:30
BBC Radio 4 FM

More episodes

Previous

Storms and Stillnesses

Next

Fire and Flame

See all episodes from Something Understood

Music Played

  • ARTHUR BLISS Album: Bliss: Investiture Antiphonal Fanfare

    Investiture Antiphonal Fanfare

    Performer: LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, MICHAEL KIBBLEWHITE .
    • Cala: CACD10101.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 7: I. Coro. Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam

    Performer: Holland Boys' Choir, Netherlands Bach Soc. Collegium Musicum.
    • JS Bach: Complete Sacred Cantatas Vol. 01, BWV 1-20.
    • Brilliant Classics: 1.

  • Patrick Gowers

    Viri Galilai

    Performer: St Paul's Cathedral Choir - Main Artist, JOHN SCOTT, Andrew Lucas .
    • The English Anthem Vol. 2.
    • Hyperion : 1.

  • LEONARD BERNSTEIN, STEPHEN SONDHEIM

    Act 1: Jet Song

    Performer: BROADWAY, ORIGINAL CAST, .
    • West Side Story, Original Soundtrack recording.
    • CBS: 35DP-59.

  • Birju Maharaja 

    Shiva Stuti

    Performer: Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Zakir Hussain .
    • Rhythms in the Landscape.
    • Navras Records: 44.

  • Elizabeth Cotten

    Graduation March

    Performer: Elizabeth Cotten.
    • Freight Trains and other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes.
    • Smithsonian Folkways: SF CD-40009.

Readings

Title: For the Baptist

Author: William Drummond of Hawthornden

Published by englishverse.com

Title: LOVE XIV

Author: Emily Dickenson 

Published by: Poetry Foundation 

Title: The Initiation 

Author: Edward Downden 

Published by: Bartleby 

Title: The Hero With a Thousand Faces 

Author: Joseph Campbell 

Published by New World Library 

Title: Walking Away

Author: C Day Lewis

Published by Poetry Foundation 

Title: The Man Who Killed The Deer 

Author: Frank Waters 

Published by Swallow Press / Ohip University Press 

Broadcasts

  • Sun 7 Jan 201806:05
    BBC Radio 4 FM
  • Sun 7 Jan 201823:30
    BBC Radio 4 FM