#celtic year

[r7inyz]

just watched the first of S3 and i can officially say i love the pooka with all my heart its so ugly

please stop liking this 🤕🤕🤕🤕

[ivyodessa]

Blessed Lammas/Lughnasadh 🪻🥖🌻

[hearthandheathenry]

All About Imbolc

Imbolc, also known as Imbolg, celebrated on February 1st, marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in early Ireland and Scotland, and also signified the beginning of the first signs of spring after all the harsh winter days. Originally a pagan holdiay in pre-Christian times, there is little in writing about the historic traditions and customs, although many historians believe it revolved around the Celtic Goddess Brigid, lambing season, and cleansing due to observed ancient poetry.

Brigid is a Goddess and daughter of the father-God of Ireland, Dagda. She is associated with quite a few things depending on the sources, but universally associated with wisdom and poetry. Other associations of hers are blacksmithing, protection, domesticated animals, childbirth, fire, and healing. She was also known as a protector of the home and the family.

Once Christianity arose, it is believed that the Goddess was syncretized with the Irish Saint Brigid by Christian monks due to the many overlapping associations. This caused Imbolc to quickly turn into St. Brigids Day and the next day into Candlemas with the rising Christian popularity, enmeshing the holiday associations together.

Today, many people have mixed the traditions and melded many associations from both religious and cultural history to celebrate their own unique way. Common ways to celebrate are making a Brigid's Cross, welcoming Brigid into the home, having a feast in her honor, cleaning the home and oneself, visiting a holy well, and in some parts of the world they still hold festivals and processions carrying a representation of Brigid. Many pagans nowadays are using associations of hers and their connection with nature to create their own ways to celebrate, however, and you can absolutely celebrate however you feel called to do so.

Imbolc Associations:

Colors - white, gold or yellow, green, and blue

Food - milk, butter, cheese, seeds and grains, breads, herbs, blackberries, oat porridge, wild onion and garlic, honey

Animals - sheep and lambs, swans, cows, burrowing and hibernating animals

Items - candles, corn dolls, Brigid's cross, fires, snowdrops and white flowers, crocuses and daffodils, flower crowns

Crystals - amethyst, garnet, ruby, quartz, bloodstone

Other - lactation, birth, feasting, farm preparation, cleansing and cleaning, the sun, poetry and creative endevours, smithing, water

Ways To Celebrate Imbolc:

make a Brigid's cross

light candles

have a feast

bake bread

plan your spring garden

leave an offering for Brigid

make a corn doll

craft a flower crown

clean your home

take a cleansing bath

make something out of metal

have a bonfire

look for the first signs of spring

make your own butter or cheese

do divination work and seek wisdom

write a poem

[blueiscoool]

Stone With 1,600-Year-Old Irish Inscription Found in English Garden

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England. The discovery of a small stone carved with an early form of Celtic script has caused excitement among archaeologists.

The rectangular sandstone rock was found by Graham Senior in Coventry during lockdown in 2020 while he was weeding, but its true value was only recently understood.

The 11-centimeter-long and 139-gram rectangular sandstone rock had cryptic inscriptions on it that suggested a history spanning over 1,600 years, all written in the mysterious Ogham alphabet.

Ogham is an early medieval alphabet used to write the Archaic Irish language from the 4th to the 6th century and Old Irish from the 6th to the 9th century. It is usually found carved on stones in Ireland, Wales, and western Britain. It was the first written language in Ireland. The majority of the 400 or so known inscriptions from the Archaic Irish period are family name pillars that were built to announce land ownership.

Ogham is an extremely unique writing system among all writing systems, with lines arranged in groups of one to five only. The stones provide insight into the Irish language before the use of the Latin insular script.

Finds liaison officer for the Birmingham Museums Trust, Teresa Gilmore, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the discovery on an Ogham stone in the English midlands was a rare find.

“These finds do not turn up in the midlands. The bulk of Ogham inscriptions are found over in Ireland,” she said.

Professor Katherine Forsyth of Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow conducted additional research that shed more light on the stone’s provenance. Her findings point to a period suggesting a timeframe ranging from the fifth to sixth centuries, with the possibility of an even earlier date in the fourth century.

The stone is inscribed on three of its four sides. The inscription on the stone, “Maldumcail/S/ Lass,” puzzled researchers, with interpretations pointing towards a version of the personal name Mael Dumcail, but the meaning of the S and LASS is unclear. Given the usual purpose and significance of ogham stones, it may be a location reference.

Theories regarding the origins of the stone abound, with speculations ranging from migration patterns to the presence of early medieval monasteries in the region.

The rock will be displayed at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has donated it permanently. It will feature in the forthcoming Collecting Coventry exhibition, which opens on 11 May.

By Oguz Kayra.

[suairceagsionadh]

Happy (slightly) belated Mabon!

[gingermintpepper]

Someday, eventually, I will get an opportunity to talk about Celtic Apollo.

I see a lot of discussions and content (light-hearted and not) talking about Greek Apollo and Roman Apollo but y'all don't understand; it wasn't just that Greek Apollo had a second Roman Apollo hidden in his pocket, it's that Greek Apollo also has a secret third Celtic Apollo hidden behind his back like a tramp stamp he got in college and refuses to acknowledge or show to anyone.

[pigeonstab]

welp, that's not how I thought this design would go lol

here are the other ways I wanted it to go:

so y'know normal Victorian British thing? but then I decided I wanted him to be celtic.

SO! Nightmare is actually 2500~ish years old, he was in Britain before the Roman invasion and is a celtic pagan! (I did my best to do reasearch but if anybody can correct me on anything pls tell me, I neither want to be inaccurate or worse offensive.) I took a lot of inspo (like a lot a lot ;TvT) from the design of Viviana from Rebis:

[mushroominaforest]

So okay I know I was literally just whining about school a bunch but it is definitely awesome to get to see all my (and I do have some, believe it or not) friends again! The one I was worried about was actually super chill so I think it’s fine now lol. She does have beef with my other friends though and she does still hate the friend I maybe sorta have a tiny crush on.

(Okay so that friend that I might have a crush on held my hand today when we were walking to English class and I stg I was moments away from spontaneously combusting.)

(Ignore the messy drawing lol)

She’ll be yapping about something that annoyed her meanwhile I am no longer breathing and by some miracle she remains completely oblivious.

She keeps doing stuff like this and that’s why we had so many dating allegations last year lmfao

[altarofthedeep]

wearing a necklace so that they have something to pull on when they’re buried inside me

[lady-0f-the-wood]

Happy Equinox!

[ceo-draiochta]

Lughnasadh in the Modern Day

The ancient festival of Lúnasa is one of the 4 celtic fire festivals celebrated on the turn of the seasons. The other 3 festivals all have very clear christian reinterpretations. Those being All Hallows Eve, St Brigids day and May day. However Lúnasa also has a number of modern day christian holidays associated with it in much the same way.

(Linked sources in brackets)

Names

The modern festival goes by many names: Domnach Lúnasa, Lá Lúnasa, Domnach Crom Dubh, Bilberry Sunday and most commonly as either Reek Sunday or Garland Sunday. (1)(2)

Hill Climbing & Holy Wells

This is a day where the mountain of Croagh Patrick is visited, the pilgrimage consists of climbing the mountain while taking stops at certain stone cairns, where one walks in circles around them a set number of times while reciting specific prayers. There are 3 major sections where this is done(3). This is still observed today(4). It is celebrated on the last Sunday of July.

(Croagh Patrick)

This, while observed throughout the country, is not the only such celebration. Many towns climb their respective hills on this day such as those around Keash Hill in Sligo(2)(5)(11), Slive Donard in Down(6), and Máméan in Galway (7). Holy wells are also visited on this day such as in Cappagh, Galway(8), Ballyfa, Galway(9) and Ballyhaunis, Mayo (12). In some cases a procession from the Holy Well to the hill takes place (2)(7)(11)

(Máméan)

An interesting example of this was the Tullaghan Hill holy well in county Sligo, where the Holy Well was on a hill specifically the Ox mountains. This specific well used to be visited on Garland Sunday but is no longer as the festival that followed this visit evoked too much "secular fun" (10).

Festivals

Fairs and celebrations seem to be a core feature of this Lúnasa Tradition, with the aforementioned Tullaghan Hill fair, The Old Fair Day in Tubbercurry, county Sligo (13) and Fair Day in Kenmare, Kerry(14). These are usually celebrated in the second week on August, i.e. a week or two after the religious excursion.

The Puck Fair is festival in Killorglin, county Kerry. It is celebrated in the second week of August and involves crowning a specific goat "king" and parading them around while a large fair takes place(15).

(Puck Fair)

Mythology

In the dinseanchas entry for Nás, the death and burial of two of the wives of Lugh are described, with Bui having been buried on the Hill of Cnogba. Where it is said that "The hosts of the pure Gaels came to bewail the women". Suggesting that there was a precession to the Hill she was buried. There was then said to be mass mourning which grew into a great assembly. These events were said to have contributed to the beginning of the festival of Taltiu, which is to say Lúnasa. (16)

Pagan Connection

The pagan connection is quite clear to see, with Holy wells long being sites of pre-Christian worship, it is little coincidence that they are visited around the time of Lúnasa. The climbing of a hill seems to be widely practiced over the country and directly connects to the Dinseanchas story of the beginning of the Lúnasa festival in where a hill was climbed to reach a grave for mourning. The fact that Keash Hil (Ceis Corran) and Croagh Patrick are both home to ancient megalithic cairns, which are commonly connected with the Otherworld is also an interesting point.

Lúnasa being an Aonach, a funeral festival for the foster mother of Lugh, Tailtiu does tie directly into the occurrence of festivals around this time.

Practices to Adopt

It seems clear now that visiting watery sites such as wells and climbing hills to worship, as well as large scale festivals and merriment are a key part of how Lúnasa has continued to be celebrated and should be incorporated into a modern Irish pagan practice.

[ivyodessa]

Happy Midwinter and Blessed Imbolc ❄️🌸

Spring is just around the corner

[hearthandheathenry]

All About Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh, also known as Lughnasa or Lúnasa, is the name given to the Gaelic festival that represents the beginning of the harvest season, which traditionally falls on August 1st in the northern hemisphere. The holiday is about halfway between the summer solstice and autumn equinox, and is one of the 4 Gaelic seasonal festivals. Although it is traditionally Irish, many neopagans celebrate the holiday as well.

Traditionally named after the Irish God Lugh, Lughnasadh has been documented to be celebrated since at least the middle ages and involved great gatherings, ceremonies, athletic games like the Tailteann Games, feasting, horse racing, matchmaking, trading, and more, and were traditionally celebrated on top of hills and mountains. The festival remained widely celebrated until about the 20th century, where it seemed to be replaced by Christian counterparts.

Lugh, the God the festival is named after, is said to have founded the holiday as a funeral feast and funeral games to commemorate the death of an earth goddess. The Irish stories vary throughout regions and times, but it usually involves a woman who is stolen away or held against her will and dies of grief, shame, exhaustion, or unspecified causes. There is notable similarities to the Greek Persephone tale. According to a tale about the Lughnasadh festival site Tailtin, it is said to be a funeral for his foster-mother, Tailtiu, who was said to have died from exhaustion after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. A tale about the Lughnasadh site Naas, says the festival was founded in the memory of his two wives, Nás and Bói. Another theory states it was a mourning for the end of summer.

Máire MacNeill, a folklorist, studied the later lore of the holiday and claims it is about a struggle for the harvest between Lugh and another god, often named Crom Dubh. In some stories Lugh must seize Crom Dubh's treasure of grain to give to all of mankind. In other stories, it's over a woman named Eithne who represents grain. Othertimes, its a battle of Lugh defeating a figure representing blight. There doesn't seem to be one agreed upon legend, other than it's revolving around the God Lugh.

As for ancient customs and traditions, they can vary region to region and have morphed throughout time. However, a big tradition was the gathering at Óenach Tailten, a type of olympic style games and gathering where kings declared truces during the entire festival in order to partake and compete against eachother. It included ritual athletic and sporting competitions, horse racing, music and storytelling, trading, law-making and settling legal disputes, creating contracts, and even matchmaking. A common matchmaking tradition was allowing couples to enter a trial marriage that lasted a year and a day by joining hands through a wooden door, after of which they could make permanent or break without consequences once the trial marriage was up. One gathering, called the Óenach Carmain, also consisted of a food and livestock market along with a market for foreign traders.

Other traditions also included a solemn cutting of the first corn to be offered to the deity by bringing it to a high place and burying it, a meal for everyone consisting of the new food and blueberries, a sacrifice and rituals involving a sacred bull, a ritual dance-play, reenactment of the lore, and closing ceremonies. Climbing hills and mountains were also a popular tradition, but has been rebranded overtime as Christian pilgrimages. At some gatherings, everyone wore flowers and climbed a hill, where they buried said flowers at the top to signify the ending of summer. At other gatherings, the first sheaf of harvest was buried instead.

A popular tradition up until about the 18th century were faction fights where young men fought eachother with sticks. One such game consisted of building towers of sod topped with a flag to defend from the other team's sabotaging. Bull sacrifices were also recorded into the 18th century, being used as offerings to various deities, along with special meals made from the first harvest. A special cake called the lunastain was also recorded. Visiting holy wells was also a very prominent tradition, just like during the other yearly festivals. Although bonfires were associated with Lughnasadh and the other main Celtic festivals, they were considered rare for this holiday, most likely due to the very warm summer temperatures.

Some traditions are still celebrated today in Ireland, with festivals being held in honor of Lughnasadh and re-enactors and historians reviving and teaching new generations old lore. There are still markets, traditional dancing, traditional storytelling, arts and craft workshops, feasting, and much more during these modern gatherings, keeping the traditions alive and well, even if they differ region to region. Some pagans and Wiccans also celebrate Lughnasadh, usually differing in their practices, but still using it as a signifier of the first harvest and summer's ending.

Lughnasadh Associations

Colors - yellow, orange, red, brown, green, gold, bronze

Food - blueberries, blackberries, grains, fruit, vegetables, bread, corn, beef, stews, lamb, wine, beer, cider, fruit drinks

Animals - bulls/cows, roosters, sheep

Items - scythes and harvest tools, grain/corn stalks

Crystals - citrine, aventurine, tigers eye, carnelian, topaz

Other - sporting/athletic competitive games, storytelling, matchmaking, cycle of life, harvest

Ways to celebrate:

gather blueberries or blackberries

enjoy grains or breads

make homemade bread

have a feast

climb a hill/take a pilgrimage

offer food to your deity(ies)

commit or recommit to your partner

harvest fresh food from your garden

visit a farmers market

complete a craft or make art

participate in an athletic competition or game

[blueiscoool]

Metal Detectorist Finds Rare 2,000-Year-Old Celtic Coin

A metal detectorist says he did a “jig of joy” after turning up an “exceptionally rare” 2,000-year-old Celtic coin worth thousands of pounds.

Grandfather Mike Taylor couldn’t contain his excitement after finding the rose gold stater while searching farmland in Bishton, near Gwent, South Wales.

fter getting an “iffy” signal from his detector, he dug down four inches before uncovering the coin, struck during the reign of Antedios, an Iceni ruler, from 20-47AD.

The incredibly detailed coin, thought to be worth £4,000, depicts a triple-tailed horse alongside a cross, crescent, six-spoked wheel and pellets.

It bears the tree emblem of the Dobunni, an Iron Age tribe living in Britain prior to the Roman conquest.

The name of Antedios is inscribed in full with a Greek letter, which is unusual as abbreviations were more common.

A Timeline Auctions spokesman said: “This variant is rare because it features the complete name of the ruler, unlike most coins where part of the name is missing.

“Additionally, the ruler’s name is inscribed with the Greek letter Θ, whereas it is usually written with the letter ‘D’. It is a well-centred example with sharp details.

“Only one other example with this lettering is recorded, and our example also includes three extra pellets behind the tail. This makes it an exceptionally rare and beautiful coin in lustrous rose gold.”

Antedios remained neutral during the Roman invasion of 43AD and was made a client of Rome.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

non-irish people reading 'gailege' and 'gaelic', the names of two completely distinct celtic languages

[rainbowsmagicandshit]

For those who don’t know, today, May 1st, is Beltane (in the northern hemisphere). Beltane is a Celtic holiday and said to be one of the three days of the year where the veil between the physical world and the spiritual word is at it’s thinnest (the other two are the Summer Solstice aka Litha and Samhain).

This is also the holiday that Arthur uses the Horn of Cathbhadh to talk to Uther in the Death Song of Uther Pendragon in season 5.

I don’t know much about this holiday—just a shallow understanding, I wasn’t raised in this culture, but am loving learning about the practices—but here is some things I know about it. Beltane literally means “the fire of Bel”. Bel is the god of the sun, and Beltane celebrates his union with the goddess of the earth, Danu. Bel and Danu are seen as the parents of the Irish gods. One of the traditions of Beltane was to put out all fires, light a sacred Bel fire, then everyone would take flames from that sacred Bel fire, and relight the fires and their hearths. So, fire is one way to celebrate Beltane. Another way is flowers. The Welsh goddess Blodeuwedd is the goddess of emotions and flowers. She is also associated with Beltane. Since Beltane is when all the flowers start to bloom and nature is vibrant, decorating everything with flowers is another Beltane tradition especially flower crowns.

Samhain falls on October 31st in the norther hemisphere. This is the holiday associated with the Cailleach. Samhain means “summer’s end” and the holiday is seen as the Celtic new year. Samhain is the holiday that Morgana and Morgause used to open the veil in the Darkest Hour in season 4 (if I remember right).

Why am I posting this? Because it seems like the holidays in BBC Merlin are the holidays of the Wheel Of The Year. This is useful for fanfic writers who want to expand on the Merlin world more. Or want there to be a holiday or banquet in their stories but don’t know what to make it for. Or want to try and work out a timeline for the show. Or just want to use it for tropes.

I meant this post as more a jumping off place to know where the BBC Merlin holidays originate from. I would suggest definitely researching each individual holiday more before writing about it.

I cannot stress this enough. I am not a 100% accurate source on these holidays. I think the information I have above is true, but I could be wrong. I’m very new to this.

If anyone wants to correct or add on to this that knows more, feel free to.

And to the once and future fandom, have fun researching and thinking up fun plots🫡

Ps. All the holidays are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres because the wheel of the year follows the cycle of the seasons, so when it’s the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, it’s the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. When it’s Beltane in the northern hemisphere it’s Samhain in the southern hemisphere. Etc.

P.p.s. The pronunciation… 😵‍💫😖 it’s…it’s…it’s not what you think for like half of them. 😵‍💫