Troubled waters: Honouring and celebrating the River Lea

Photo by Alex Nightingale

The River Lea is suffering.

Running for 46 miles, she starts as a rare chalk stream in the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. From there, she flows through Hertfordshire and East London before emptying into the River Thames at Bow Creek.

Formed 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, her name is believed to share the same Celtic roots as the solar deity Lugh or Lleu, meaning 'bright'.

But despite having generously shared her waters with both humans and other-than-humans for all that time, the River Lea is now drying up in parts. Multiple heatwaves, record lows in rainfall due to climate change, combined with high levels of consumer demand, have led to drought.

Underground chalk aquifers that feed the river's upper flow are severely depleted. This is now preventing her natural flow in sections that are shallow or heavily silted. The veins of our Mother Earth are becoming blocked.

Photo by Alex Nightingale

Celebrating and honouring the River Lea

So, on Saturday 8 August, only days after Lughnasadh (a Celtic fire festival named after Lugh), members of Extinction Rebellion organised The River Lea Water Fest. It was held in the post-industrial town of Luton, Bedfordshire, which means farmstead on the River Lea.

Coming together with members of the local community, the idea was to celebrate and honour this special River with a march from the centre of town to Wardown Park, where a festival was held on her banks.

Once at the Park, Sacred Earth Activism also hosted a ceremony to pay tribute to the Lea and show gratitude for her many gifts. An offering was made of pure, fresh water and a pledge given that we would love and protect her through good times and bad.

Stones sprinkled with the water and cleansed in the sun's healing light then chose a participant. The idea was to remind recipients of the River's beauty and their promise to respect and safeguard her, not just today but always.