Lancaster Roman funeral, posted by Kebi

Once again the many talents of Ya Raqs were in demand, this time in Lancaster playing mourners at a Roman Funeral. Why? In 2005 a unique grave marker was discovered in Lancaster. It shows a Cavalryman mounted on his horse, his sword in one hand and the severed head of a barbarian in the other. The marker is almost 6 ft tall and the carving is remarkably well-preserved. It is thought to date from around 100AD. The carving on the stone reads

'To the shades of the dead. Insus son of Vodullus, citizen of the Treveri, cavalryman of the ala Augusta, troop of Victor, curator. Domitia his heir had this set up'.

So a rather blustery morning just before Easter found Mish Mish, Meroe, Hebba and Kebi lining up behind a "corpse" and some very loud Roman soldiers from Deva Victrix, outside Lancaster castle. We processed down through the town with alternate chanting from the soldiers and wailing from us girls.

The procession gathered more and more followers as we made our way through the Saturday market until we arrived at Lancaster museum. For us in the procession it was made even more real when we remembered we were honouring a real person, a man named Insus from the Treveri tribe in Germany.

A large number of people followed us into the museum and we went to view the memorial stone in its new exhibition. The rest of the day was spent answering questions on life in Roman Britain. The museum staff were very friendly and provided a lovely lunch.

Things were much lighter on the way back to the castle where no mourning was necessary but a very surprised Centurio was treated to a rendition of Happy Birthday to You. The people of Lancaster seemed really interested in what we were doing and some even followed us back to the castle taking pictures all the time.

A wonderful day was had by all.

See a video of the procession here