Hogmanay

Hogmanay

I am now come to your country,
Renewing the duty of Hogmanay;
Of its mysteries, what need I tell?
It began in the time of our ancestors.
    ___ Scots Gaelic song of Hogmanay (trans CM)


  The festival of Hogmany - a word whose origins are lost - is celebrated in Scotland every New Year's Eve.
A festival that outshines Christmas even today. Hogomany is celebrated with vigor by every Scot. Rich food and strong drink are abundant; shining music and lively dancing are enjoyed. The custome of first-footing - of receiving with celebration the first guest across the threshold after the stroke of midnight - is still practiced. According to tradition, the first-footer should be a dark-haired person from outside the household who is able to bring good fortune to the house: healthy, young, and vigorous people are particularly welcomed. The first-footer brings a 'handsel' (or token of good fortune)  to the household . This is usually fuel, food, or a bottle of whisky. The first-footer is then hospitably welcomed and given a gift, usually joining in the party that runs until the small hours of the morning.
  

  The magical turning of the old used-up year into a fresh new one has little to do with chronology and much to do with the hope of new beginnings and all that they bring. The old year can bring no more opportunities to us, but we can give it a good send-off with a party that simultaneously welcomes the new possibilities ahead. If the celebrations of this evening become sometimes riotous or rowdy, it is worth remembering that the mysterious crack between one year and another is best leaped rather than crawled over! In this time between worlds and times, nothing is as orderly as normal. It is a time to celebrate life and the return of the sun from its darkest, deepest depths.

"Welcome the new year over your threshold and see the old year out with some fancy footwork and good cheer!"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

More Hogmanay information:  http://www.scotlands-enchanting-kingdom.com/hogmanay-customs.html

Excerpts from the link above:
•The Pre-Hogmanay Preparations.


Cleaning the House - the 31st December was often a busy day, a day of preparing to see the Old Year out, and to bring in the New Year. Many businesses closed early to allow the workforce time to go home and clean their houses from top to bottom. This cleaning began in the days when everyone had open fires, and fireplaces in particular had to be cleaned. It was considered bad luck by some to go into the New Year with a dirty house. The tradition of cleaning the house for new year still exists today.

Getting rid of Debt – this was another thing that was seen as unlucky and most households would endeavour to get rid of all debt before midnight on 31st. It wasn’t good to go into the New Year with debt. It’s a pity this tradition has stopped as we now live in times when most people enter the New Year with the debt of over-spending at Christmas.

•Midnight


Having family and friends together and partying is one of the main Hogmanay customs. As soon as the clock strikes 12. bells are rung in every town and village throughout the land. Many places have street parties with the villagers for example all meeting in the village square to bring in the New Year together. These days of course fireworks are also set off, so it can be quite a spectacular sight, depending on where you are. So even if you don’t want to go outside, you can open your curtains, see the fireworks, hear the bells and the music.

Immediately after midnight it is traditional for everyone to stand in a circle, cross over their arms, hold hands with people on either side sing Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne". If you don’t know what the words mean – click here to see my attempt at a translation People from around the world sing this, although they often only know the chorus:

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o kindness yet, for auld lang syne."

But of course the Scottish hospitality of welcoming family, friends and neighbours, also extended to strangers is still very much a custom today. Everyone is in a happy mood, with or without a ‘drink’ and the belief is very much that a line is drawn under the Old Year and the New one welcomed in on a happy note.

•First Footing


This is another one of those hogmanay customs which is still practiced today. It literally means the "first foot" to step into a house after midnight is still common in Scotland. This is still full of tradition and even superstition. In order to ensure good luck for the house, the ‘first foot’ over the door should be male, dark; and of course everyone ‘first footing’ should take symbolic gifts such coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and whisky. (Blonds & redheads, and especially females with this hair colouring first-footers were considered ‘bad luck’). These gifts meant the household would be safe and warm and have enough food for the year. These days, however, whisky and perhaps shortbread and the famous black bun are the most common gifts first-footers take. Of course most hosts would have plenty of food and drink in to offer to their guests.

When I was a youngster, we used to go ‘first footing’ around the parents of my friends, often not get home until the wee small hours. For others the party went on until the next day, or even the day after that!

•Torch and Bonfire Ceremonies

As I mentioned earlier most towns and villages have their own celebrations and there are often TV cameras in larger communities which interview the party-goers wishing others throughout the country a ‘Guid (good) New Year’. Obviously in places like the capital Edinburgh you will find not only the bells, but the whole street party is televised, has bands playing and there is also the fabulous and magical Firework display and torchlight procession.

Scotland comes to a standstill on January 1st and it’s worth noting that January 2nd is a also a holiday in Scotland. I think the theory is to allow folk time to recover from a week celebrations, and the hogmanay customs.

Gathering in the Year

Gathering in the Year

It is at the year's end that the fisherman tells of his fishing.
   ___  Scots Gaelic proverb


  The end of the calendar year is the time when we traditionally look forward and make good resolutions for the coming year. But before you can do that, we need also to make a summation of the past year's achievements and mistakes so that we have a sense of the year's shape. It may be helpful to wind the year backward, retracing our steps from November back to January. As we go backward, month by month, we can consider the following questions: What was the major theme of this month? Which events made the greatest impression on my life? What did I achieve? What mistakes do I regret? The point is not to indulge in blame and guilt but to neutrally survey our findings.

  Now look back over the year as a whole and make a summation of its overall pattern and effect upon you. What has this year meant in real terms to you? How has it changed the world? Which new figures and influences have come into your life?

  Now for the third part of this review. Looking at the year just past move forward from January to December, asking these questions about each month. What seeds were sown in this month that affect me now? What wisdom have I learned? Which patterns and connections are poised to continue unfolding in the year ahead? Which obstructing or unhelpful aspects of my own behavior need to change? Having made our review, we can now consider the year ahead and lay down pathways of resolution and intention that will help guide our steps.

Make your review of the year as suggested above.
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" By Caitlin Matthews]

Heart's Desire

Heart's Desire

You shall receive whatever gift you may name, as far as wind
dries, rain wets, sun revolves; as far as sea encircles and earth
extends.    __ Culhwch and Olwen, from The Mabinogian (trans CM)


   How many times since childhood have we pondered our heart's desire? When we were young, we grasped the notion of bountiful giving and the granting of wishes very easily from the folk and faery stories that we read. In our growing up, we began to struggle against the denial of heart's desire. As adults, most of us have given over even contemplating it.

  The heart's desire is not an illusory or unachievable ambition if we can suspend our adult disbelief.  The true heart's desire is an integral potentiality, a germinated seed waiting to manifest. So what prevents us from achieving it? Our lives may be littered with unresolved and undeveloped wishes, all of which block the way to our true heart's desire. If we are to achieve the core of our wish, we must first rescind and cancel our immature wishes - unless, of course, we still wish to grow a monkey's tail, obtain a rocking horse, drive a steam engine, or marry Elvis Presely!  We must cancel our old and immature wishes by calling them back and revoking them, along with any other idle wishes we may have uttered and since forgotten. Then the way stands clear.

  If we can commune deeply upon our true heart's desire, rather than upon our fantasies, if we can envision it with every cell of our body and call to it, then we send a true song to make the pathway between ourselves and heart's desire.

"What is your heart's desire? Which former wishes are preventing you from attaining it? Cancel
them, as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


 I noticed in the margins of my Celtic Spirit book this morning that I had written in Revelation of Art by this essay.  This is the name of a tarot card in the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck by Caitlin Matthews. So I looked it up and posted the image of it here with this essay this morning.  In the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck the Minor Arcana suits are listed as:  Swords suit is called Battle suit; Wands suit is called Skill suit; Pentacles suit is calle Knowledge suit; and Cups suit is called Art suit.  So this card is the Nine of Cups in traditional tarot decks.

  For those not familiar with tarot cards the Nine of Cups card represents wish fulfillment, achieving what you desire.  Looking in the handbook for the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck and reading the Soul-Wisdom for this card - "Wishes come true for those who keep the longing alive. Ensure that you really want what you wis for, Rescind any wishes that are no longer appropriate. What is your heart's true desire?"  

  The Background story of this card's image is this:  Conn of a Hundred Battles asked how many kings of his line would reign after him. No sooner had he asked, than he and his poet, Cesarn, found themselves in the Otherworld. They entered a great hall where the Goddess of Sovereignty sat in a crystal chair, crowned with a golden diadem. There was a silver vat with golden edges before her and a golden cup beside her. Also at her side sat the spiritual form of the God Lugh. The Goddess of Sovereignty gave Conn food and asked Lugh to whom the cup of red lordship (ale) should be poured. Lugh named every successor of Conn's in order, while Cesarn recorded these in ogam on staves of Yew. The Goddess of Sovereignty's duty is to defend the land and ensure that worthy candidates become rulers. By their unique relationship with her, kings like Conn are married to the land and maintain that contract by faithful husbandry.

  Found this rather interesting to read about....
S.

The Chalice of Remembrance

The Chalice of Remembrance

And when the circling year comes round,
And Christmas snows have wrapt the ground....
Take the cup, and drink the wine,
"Drinc heil" - as I to thee and thine.
    __ John Sobieski Stuart, "With An Antique Crystal Cup and Ring"


   When death or accident befalls us at times of holiday, it is very difficult to re-engage with the general celebration. Some people choose to go away at this season rather than to relive difficult memories that accompany this time. Even the angle of the light or the weather, the carols and songs, the smell of rich foods can enhance the memory of loss. It seems altogether easier to go away somewhere without memories than force a cheerful countenance or dampen the celebrations of others.

  This process of anniversarial grieving is not widely understood; family and friends may attempt to draw the bereaved out of her grieving solitude into the heart of jollification, baffled and perhaps angry at the lack of response to their generosity. Grief and loss are not proceses that can be hurried, however, the grieving one cannot 'pull herself together' or to order.

  A bridge of hope and connection can be erected on the anniversary by a simple ritual known as the chalice of remembrance. A liquid-filled glass that all present can drink from is set in front of a photograph or emblem that represents the dead person. Then all present speak simply and directly to the dead person, drinking to him. The remaining liquid is left overnight with a candle burning and then poured out upon the earth the next morning. In this way, the anniversary is marked, the mourning shared, and the circle of love reunited.

"Meditate upon other ritual acts that might be used to help mark grief and loss in ways that bring integration to the bereaved."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Being Human

Being Human

"What is the thing the Creator never saw, that kings see but seldom, and that I see every day?" The Creator never saw another the same as his self, kings are scarce and see each other seldom, but I see my own kind every day - other folk like myself.
    ___ Scots Gaelic riddle (trans CM)


  During the twelve of Christmas, a Lord of Misrule was appointed to create games, riddles, and forfeits to amuse the company. The riddle above, with its witty answer, is a typical brain-teaser. This holiday time of gathering offers us the opportunity to consider what it is to be human. Being human does not keep us from kinship with other animals; the same life passes through our veins, we share the same ability to perceive with the senses, and our bodies die and decay in the same way. What makes us different from animals is our self-awareness and our ability to use our minds in complex and sophisticated ways; our application of language; our ability to record information outside our memories.

  There are many stories of deities who have aspired to the human condition, gods and goddesses who have purposely chosen the gifts of mortality in order to share and experientially understand what it is to be human. Within tgus extraordinary interchange, the divine becomes briefly human, just as through our spiritual striving we attempt to understand the gifts of immortality.

  This wonderful reciprocation of the earthly and otherworldly realms seems to be part of the mystery that underlies the depths of midwinter, a season that was understood in the ancient world to be the time when sacred beings incarnated to be numbered among the peoples of the earth, to understand the gifts of being human. If our human state is so much sought after, how much more precious seems our mortality and its many gifts!

"What, for you, are the gifts of being human?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The King of All Birds

The King of All Birds

"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds
On St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
Although he is little, his family is great
So rise up, good people and give us a treat."
     ___ "The Wren Song" traditional Irish lay

  The old Celtic custom of hunting for the wren, killing it and passing it around the village in a holly-bush cage in return for money, food or drink continues in Ireland on this December day, although a wren is no longer killed. Instead, wren-boys take an empty decorated wren-cage around their neighborhood and beg for treats. The origins of this custom are lost to us, but we may conjecture. A folk story common across Europe tells how the birds had a battle to see who would be their king. The contest required all the birds to fly into the sky and see how near they could get to the sun. As all the birds climbed higher only the eagle could be seen soaring above the others on its powerful wings. It loudly claimed the kingship, asserting that it had risen higher than the rest. Then a little voice cried out from its back, "But I am higher even than you!" It was the tiny wren, who was than made king of all birds.

  The wren, or drolan, the druid's bird, and its utterances and cries were one the subject of augury and divination by the ovates (or druidic seers). The oracular bird was clearly important  to them and was protected throughout the year. Indeed, it is still thought to be unlucky to harm a wren. The sacrifice of living beings is very distastefulo to us now; but our ancestors made offerings of precious life to create bridges between this world and the otherworld at certain times. The death and honoring of the wren seems to be extricably associated with the returning of the sun: a rite of propitiation and celebration at once, a case of 'the king is dead, long live the king."

"Set aside, from your winter riches, your own charitable offering."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitliln Matthews]

The Soul's Beloved

The Soul's Beloved

The only beloved is the living mystery itself."
     ___ Kathleen Raine, "The Lion's Mouth"


  The incarnation of love in our lives is a special miracle. Our capacity to recognize and receive love is closely associated with the soul's beloved - the spiritual being whom our soul recognizes as supreme. The soul's beloved is not an earthly or human lover tht we may have - although we may look for the features of the spiritual form in the human perosn; it is a spirit. For followers of defined religious paths, this figure will be the lord, lady, or spirit from whom spiritual revelation flows; and this figure will be central to their prayers and practices. Religious iconography may provide specific, traditional images of this figure, or the practitioner may have his own special insight into the appearance of his soul's beloved.

  There are now many among us without any formalized spiritual path, people who are still traveling between the rejected images of childhood faith and the unknown potentialities of their soul's country. They may be unaware of any living mystery. This is nothing less than the inapprehensible glory and splendor of spirit that is both formless and has many forms, that is immanet and transcendent, known and unknown to our experience.

  The conscious awareness of the soul's beloved is not a continuous awareness for the majority of people: it is fleeting, glancing, glorious, exciting, rapturous. The methaphors we draw upon to describe the feelings and perceptions that we have of this beloved are not always human: sometimes a beautiful animal, a shining lamp, a great tree, a planet, a complex pattern, or a subtle music in the soul is a true reflection of the mystery that we each experience.

Contemplate your soul's beloved. Even though you may have no form or name for that beloved, be still and ask your soul to help you share this living mystery."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Sacred Life

Sacred Life

"Everything that lives is holy."
    ___ William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

  For many hundreds of years, the false tale that whatever is alive is evil has been told: this tale has been told from fear and denial, from pain and rejection, as a way of explaining why things go wrong, and why perfection cannot be expected. Many people regard the living world as a predominatly evil place, full of beings of whom we should be suspicious. For such people, the only good place, the only good beings are in heaven. Living defensively in the eye of evil is not a happy way to live. Fear and suspicion darken everything with a sad pall.

  The opposite view sees all life as worthy of respect, as potentially able to achieve its fullest stature. Of course, not every being alive reaches its potential; but then neither does it sink into irredeemable iniquity. Entertaining the possibility of all things living being able to achieve their potential of holiness is a powerful and supportive way to live. But, like all life-ways, even this view can be abused: when we live as though no harm could come, we are foolish rather than innocent.

  Life is a sacred gift that all beings receive. It is the manner of our living that makes all the difference. The way in which we relate to other living beings encourages them to change the world for good or violate the world for illl; the way in which we spend our lives illuminates or darkens those around us. But if we are not aware of the sacred potential in each of living being, if we do not acknowledge it and respect it, we may become active agents of the soul's darkening. Everything that lives is holy because it is an abiding place of Spirit; every body is a home where the sacred gifts of Spirit may be born anew.

"Contemplate the living beings with whom you are in contact - not just human beings, but other living beings of nature as well. Hold each of them in your heart and acknowledge their sacred gift."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Suspension of Disbelief

Suspension of Disbelief

"People must believe what they can, and those who
believe more must not be hard upon those who believe
less. I doubt if you would have believed it all yourself
if you hadn't seen some of it."
    ___ George MacDonald, "The Princess and the Goblin"


  Our long-standing beliefs - whether they be about the scientific nature of reality and temporal time or about our spirituality - have a tendency to become hidebound and static, comfortable, and unchallenging. When we encounter situations and things that push at the boundaries of our comfortable enclave of belief, we have two options: we can totally ignore the challenge, safe in the belief that we are right, or we can enter into a temporary suspension of disbelief while we entertain the possibility that things are other than we have believed them to be. The suspension of disbelief is something that happens every time we attend a play or a movie: we lost all sense of separation between audience and performer as we see the story unfold before us, as we become immersed in events and protagonists. At the end of a moving performance, movie, or novel, we leave the world of that story and return to our own reality again.

  The strongest challenges to belief are the things we experience: experience is a great changer and shaper of of beief because it gives us pragmatic knowledge that offers tangible and physical proof, even though its workings are often mysterious to us - we know what we experienced even though it may be 'unbelievable.' This tells us that our perceptions are informing and changing belief. Sometimes the facts that we experience in our very body are so overwhelming that we have to enter into a suspension of disbelief, behaving 'as if' they were true in order to accommodate the experience.

"What is challenging your beliefs right now? Analyze the challenge using both sets of senses - physical and spiritual - to understand the experience."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Waiting for a Birth

Waiting for a Birth

"The world has tilted far
from the sun, from color and juice....
I am waiting for a birth that will change everything."
    __ Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, "The Tree Calendar"


  The rebirth of the sun begins on this day, though it seems as short and dark as the previous ones. Althought we prepare for the holiday season, there is another urgency in us - to consciously experience the mysterious change that comes over the world at this time, affecting all creatures.

  We do indeed wait for 'a birth that will change everything,' and give us joy and fresh hope. For Christians this sense of waiting has its own special manifestation in the person of Jesus CHrist and his Christmas birthday. But many earlier societies have also celebrated the birth of their special Revealer at this time, turning into the implicit urgency for change and rebirth. Festivals of lights and stories of the triumph of light over darkness are celebrated and told. Our current bustle to conslude midwinter holiday preparations is like the mother's last-minute bustle to make things ready for the baby's birth.

  But what waits to be born in us at this time of year? It is a glorious heroic light that blazes forth with the fierce directness of an innocence that we need now. It is a deep renewal in our lives that we crave; it is the rebirth innate qualities that will not fail or become slothful or be deterred by obstacles, that will be responsive and true, honest and enduring, bright and shining.

  In the busy, celebratory days to come, take time to acknowledge this very necessary rebirth that is happening within ourselves: time to draw apart and be still, to clear a space wherein we can be attentive to the change that is happening within us at the fulcrum of the year.

"Meditate upon what needs to be reborn in your life. Which qualities, skills, and talents bring light and hope into your life?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The Prayer of Midwinter

The Prayer of Midwinter

"Who is it who disclaims the sun's arising?
Who is it who tells where the sun sets?"
  __ Amergin, "Lebor Gabala Erenn"


   On the shortest day of the year, at dawn, a thin finger of dawn light passes
into the aperture of Burgh na Boinne (BROOG na BOIN), otherwise known as Newgrange in Ireland. This megalithic enclosure was erected long before the Celtic peoples arrived in Ireland. We can all experience the wonder of this day if we rise before dawn to trace the track of the sun's turas on this, the shortest day of the year.

     Midwinter day gives the least period of light followed by the greatest period of darkness. For those who watched the heavens in ancient times, it must have seemed as if the sun was standing still or diminishing entirely. Nearly every culture has its own special celebrations to encourage the light on this day. Here is one that we can perform.

  Stand in the sunlight at midday, facing the sun, and tune your heart to the season of winter. If a song of thanksgivbing rises in you, utter it. Now turn and face your shadow: this is the longest it can be at midday, far longer that it was at the autumn equinox. Consider the deeds of your life, the extend to which the shadow of your own influence has fallen upon the earth. Upon whom has it fallen? How has your own turas affected the world in which you live? Turn once more to thye sun and draw the sunlight deeply and thankfully into your body; feel it permeating your being. Be aware of the partnership between yourself and the vitality of life itself.

  Spend some time silently meditating upon the light in darkness: be aware of the potentialities of light that lie within the darkness; pray to become aware of the potentialities within your own soul, which are vaster and more mysterious than your manifest life.

"Commune with the shortest day and longest night, making your own prayer as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Newgrange

Archaeologists classify New Grange as a passage tomb, but for its builders, New Grange was much more than simply a place of burial. It housed the spirits of their ancestors, providing a link for the living community to the world of their deities and serving as a focal point for ritual and celebration.


Passage tombs, as the name implies, consist of a passage leading to a chamber where the remains of the dead (usually cremated) were placed. The passage and chamber are covered by a large mound of stones and earth, retained at the base by large kerbstones. The amount of time and labor invested in their construction tells us much about the well-organized societies and specialized groups responsible for different aspects of their construction.

New Grange is part of a large complex of monuments built along a bend of the River Boyne known collectively as Brú na Bóinne. The other two principal monuments are Knowth (the largest) and Dowth, but throughout the region there are as many as 35 smaller passage-tombs and many other sites of great archaeological importance and interest.

Excavations conducted beginning in 1962 revealed Knowth to be a complicated multi-period site. There are 18 smaller tombs around the great mound, at least two of which are even older than it is. Knowth was a focal point for ritual activity until the early Bronze Age. After that there is a gap in the story until about the time of Christ, when the mound was transformed into a fortified dwelling. Settlement continued at Knowth, and by 800 A.D. it was the residence of the Kings of Northern Brega, one of whom became High King of Ireland. Though these settlements are significant, it is as a passage tomb cemetery that its fame and intrigue lie.

The New Grange Passage

The passageway within New Grange is just less than 60 feet long and leads into a chamber with three side recesses. This chamber is roofed by a corbelled vault, which has remained intact and watertight without any conservation or repair. The cairn (stone mound) that covers the chamber is estimated to weigh 200,000 tons and is retained at its base by 97 massive kerbstones.

As is typical of Irish passage tombs, the recess on the right as one enters is the largest and most ornate. On the floor of this recess lie two stone basins, one inside the other. The outer basin is a superb example of the skill of its Neolithic makers, having been shaped from solid granite, as opposed to the other two recesses, which were carved from sandstone. Archaeologists believe that these stone basins once held the remains of the dead.
 
 
Because the chamber was disturbed before proper excavation, it is not known how many people were originally interred at New Grange. The remains of five bodies were recovered inside, though the original number was probably much higher. Most of the bones found had been cremated, with only small amounts left unburned. The artefacts remaining in the grave at the time of its excavation were beads made of bone as well as pendants and polished stone balls. Undoubtedly, these objects held a special significance in the burial ritual. It is possible that more spectacular objects were originally present but were removed without having been recorded.
 
Winter Solstice

Above the entrance to the passage at New Grange there is a window-like opening called a roof-box. This baffling orifice held a great surprise for those who unearthed it. Its purpose is to allow sunlight to penetrate the chamber on the shortest days of the year, around December 21, the winter solstice.

At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the passage. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, from roughly 8:58 a.m. until 9:15 a.m.


New Grange's accuracy as a time-telling device is remarkable when one considers that it was built 500 years before the Great Pyramids and more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge. The intent of its builders was undoubtedly to mark the beginning of the new year. In addition, it may have served as a powerful symbol of the victory of life over death.

Each year the winter solstice event attracts much attention at New Grange. Many gather at the ancient tomb to wait for dawn, as people did 5,000 years ago. So great is the demand to be one of the few inside the chamber during the solstice that there is a free annual lottery (application forms are available at the Visitor Centre). Unfortunately, as with many Irish events that depend upon sunshine, if the skies are overcast, there is not much to be seen. Yet all agree that it is an extraordinary feeling to wait in the darkness, as people did so long ago, for the longest night of the year to end.
From: http://www.knowth.com/new-grange.htm

The Gifts We Really Want

The Gifts We Really Want

"Be sensible of your wants, that you may be
sensible of your treasures."
    ___ Thomas Traherne, "Centuries"


   At this time of the year, when the commerciality of Christmas swamps sacred and seasonal celebrations, we ask and are asked, "What do you want this year?" True wants are not easily satisfied by prettily wrapped parcels; they are immensities of space within us that we often block up by needs and yearnings. To consider our real wants is often too frightening.

   Our wants are sharper than multibladed razors with super-wrist action, more pungent than the lemon and ylang-ylang highlights of Excess - 'the perfume that women will seduce for' - more gripping than the latest blockbuster DVD with scintillating SFX .  Our real wants eat holes in us: never resting, never loving, never greeting, never finding, never seeking, never ever being satisfied deep down.

  Those ravenous wants define our treasures so truly. They create a Christmas list that no department store could supply; time to stop and enjoy, in a space of quietness and contentment all the things we were put on earth to do; space to give and receive love reciprocally; grace to seek and find our spiritual joy; freedom from the tyranny of others' expectations judgments; acceptance of ourselves as we truly are. But we can discover our true treasures and how near we actually stand to them. When we really listen to ourselves say, "I haven't time to....; I never get to......; I'm sick of....," we come within sight of our treasury - that wealth that goes on being unvisited year after miserable year.

  The miracle of self-permission and allowance, the willingness to receive, the gift of truth - these are the keys to unlock the treasury that has been open to us this long time.

"Make your own list of real wants in order to find your true treasures. Make a present to yourself of one of these by turning one of the keys above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Aids to Healing

Aids to Healing

"Three things bring healing at Myddfai:
water, honey and work."
     ___  ancient Welsh triad

   The healing arts of the Physicians of Myddafi (MUTH'vay) in North Wales were renowned throughout  Britain. This famous family was descended from the alliance between a human man and a faery woman who came out of a lake and taught her healing skills to her children.

  The source of illness lies not with physical symptoms but with some spiritual cause, and that cause must be treated if healing is to come about. Many things cause illness to constellate: not only physical predispositions such as infection, lowered resistance, bad hygiene, and physical weakness, but also messy relationships, fear, anger, neglect of these factors must be understood and included within any diagnosis. This means working to establish a basis of trust with the client.

  The work of the client is also important. The minimum requirement of the client is that some benefit should come, and the minimum obligation is a readiness to make radical change in order to facilitate healing: we may have to leave a situation or relationship or reform beliefs, attitudes, or ways of life before healing can have its effect.

  Our society embraces the concept of 'self-healing'. In its truest sense, self-healing is not about taking credit for health. It is about our willingness to change, our ability to receive; about taking steps by which healing can happen. Healers know that the healing comes with the help of many things: plants, chemicals, human support and attention, and spiritual guidance of allies, as well as the client's predisporition to be healed. The miracle of healing lies in treating the cause of illness, not merely quelling its symptoms.

"Consider a current or past illness. What factors caused the illness to constelate? Which healing agents were helpful? What changes in situations or attitude had to take place before healing could come about?"
[From: The Celtic Spirit by Caitlin Matthews]

The Tasks of a Druid

The Tasks of a Druid

"The three tasks of a Druid: to live fully in the present; to
honor tradition and the ancestors; to hear the voice of tomorrow."
   ___ Philip Carr-Gomm, 'The Druid Renaissance


  The most difficult task is to fully in the present. We are nearly always ahead or behind ourselves, planning the future or reminiscing and reliving the past.

  For the druid,m the past is a potent place, redolent of past glories and triumphs. Nostalgic for anthority and respect, the druid, along with other spiritual seekers who follow an ancientpath, is tempted to bathe indulgently in the rosy glow of myth and history. Yet the druid has to find ways of honoring tradition and the ancestors that truly respect them rather than enshrining and fossilizing them. And that can be done only in the now.

  The future is such an unknown quantity that it is easier to project scenarios of doom or bliss than to hear its echoes. It is peopled by our descendants and by the sacred lore of tradition that we will have surrendered into their hands for practical use. The only way to access that future voice is to listen now.

  As we meditate upon the conundrum of these druidic tasks, we find ourselves rebounding from invisible walls. The sixteenth-century German mystic Jakob Boehme knew the secret of this riddle: "He to whom time is the same as eternity, and eternity the same as time, is free of all adversity." 

  Those who walk the druid path and regularly walk between the worlds learn that time does not run in the otherworld: past, present, and future are all acccessible in an eternal now. The traditions and ancestors live now; the future is seeded in the now. There can be no disrespect or sentimentality forward or backward in time without severe imbalance to the now of this present moment.

"In the silence of your own grove, your own sacredspace, consider your own tasks upon the path and what they entail."
[From:"The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


Another Druid Triad:

"When you die, only three things will remain of you, since you will abandon all material things on the threshold of the Otherworld: what you have taught to others, what you have created with your hands, and how much love you have spread. So learn more and more in order to teach wise, long-lasting values. Work more and more to leave the world things of great beauty. And Love, love, love people around for the light of Love heals everything."
French Druid Triad, Francois Bourillon

Pride

Pride

"The proud man's arrows swiftly bring pain."
     ___ Llywarch Hen, "Gorwynion"


  Pride is a defensive and self-boosting current that can hard-wire our whole life. It keeps us in and everyone else out. We can hide behind it, as in a fortress, firing our poison-tipped arrows of pain against all who come against us. It elevates us above our natural status in life, givi8ng us a false and lofty frontage that is both illusory and dishonest. Having pride does not actually enhance any gifts that we have or make us better people; it merely enables us to look down upon other people and demean their actions.

  How do we break down the gence of pride surrounding our own lives? Once we have erected defenses, they can prove hard to shift, for pride soon becomes habitual, like an addiction. Climbing down and over that fence is a humiliating capitulation that brings no applause, as we have seen when famous public figures attempted to pick themselves up after notable humiliations. How do we deal with pride when we find it beginning to9 create a shell about our lives?

  A little self-effacement and commitment to the welfare of others is good medicine against the creepting ivy of self-regard. Anything that forces us out from our defensive castle into the arena of the world, where we meet and interact with people, is good for our pride. Pride cannot be cured once and for all time, however. It is persistently perennial like grass, springing up a few blades at a time. Only constant vigilance and endless patience will keep it back.

"How does pride manifest itself in your life? Meditate upon ways in which it can be checked."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Rediscovering the Sacred Places

Rediscovering the Sacred Places

"Through the medium of revelation, forgotten sacred
places can re-manifest themselves."
    ___ Nigel Pennick, "Celtic Sacred Landscapes"

   What makes a place sacred? Is it some hallowed space? Is it the sitting of a shrine or temple? Is it the occupation by people who have honored the spirit of that place? Although there is no part of the earth that is not intrinsically sacred in its own right, our recognition of a place's sacredness tends to rest upon what other human beings have done at that spot, what they have erested by way of memorial, what holy actions and rites they have conducted to hallow it.
  Certain spots draw us to them, there is no doubt. Even if they harbor no ancient monument.  If there is no story associated with their borders, we feel somehow at peace or exalted when there. It must be through just that intangible process that our ancestors discovered their own sacred places - places of natural beauty whose potency drew them again and again to spiritual exploration. Some place act as natural thresholds, junctions between this world and the other where we feel in communion with the unseen world and its inhabitants.
  Some sacred places can be lost through neglect and forgetfulness, others are lost by a gross act of disacralization. But a place can be rediscovered and resacralized if we attend to the spirit of the place and learn what it is that makes that place sacred. The prospect of the resacralization of the earth is just a lofty idea for many people, but it is one that all of us can foster, in cooperation with the spirits of the earth itself.

"Call to mind a place - it need not be recognized by others as a sacred place - where you have felt empowered and uplifted. Dwell upon the qualities and gifts you associate with that site and how they make connection with your spiritual path. Take the first opportunity you can to verify your meditation by visiting this place in person. Sense again the spirit of the place."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

The quote at the beginning of the essay above reminded me that I have this book but haven't really read much of it lately.  So I pulled it off the shelf this morning to browse through it.  The Introduction is titled 'The Inner and the Outer Landscape.'

Pennick writes:  'If we look at the landscape through contemporary eyes, our views can be only partial; people in other times, or with other beliefs, have seen things quite differently.'  The lack of sacred landscapes here in my country, the US, comes I think from a lack of feeling ourselves as being separate from Nature, but truth is that humans are at one with nature.  We are part of it, not separate from it.  As human beings, we are rooted in the earth, but modern civilization obscures the fact to the point where many people appear to be unaware of it. Much current human behavior results from the denial of this reality. Tradition wisdom recognizes and celebrates our relationship with subtle qualities in the land. This is expressed in the relationship between each individual and the land. It manifests its spiritual nature in different places through different spiritual qualities. There is no feature of the landscape that is not associated in local tradition with some event or legend. If we open ourselves to this possibility, we can have a personal spiritual relationship with these qualities. In simple terms, these experiences can be described as our personal relationship with the goddess of the landscape, who is Mother Earth in her local form. Since the eighteenth century this has been described as the genius loci, the 'spirit of the place,' but it can be described better as the anima loci, the 'place-soul'.  It can be experienced by anyone anywhere, and it is essentially personal and ineffable. It can be likened to a rainbow: anyone who experiences it sees more or less the same thing, yet in another sense each 'sees' her or his own rainbow, for it is present in that form only within the particular observer.
    Modernism recognizes no real spiritual or even physical difference of note between places. Implicit in this view is the tenet that any differences that do exist can be overcome by the power of technology. The effect of this is the innate tendency of moderism to reduce the land to a random series of virtually uninhabitable 'nowheres', brought into being by the denial of place. The impersonal nature of industry means that the local earth as provider is no longer honored. Nobody knows precisely where anything comes from, or who made it, or how. It is delocalized and depersonalized, identified only by a trade name and perhaps the country from which it comes. Despite this, each thing does have an origin. It has its own personal history. It came into being, then was harvested, processed or made by someone, somehow, somewhere and transported to where it is now.
   So to discover our Sacred Places we must peel back layers of time and re-discovered that where we live is sacred too but has been covered over by neglect of reverence for the Land, our Land.

Our True North

Our True North

"There's one white star, of all thr rounds
That wheels high overhead,
And it is hyng on heaven's pole
And will not rise nor bed."
   __ John Morris-Jones, "The North Star"


  If we could set up a stop-frame film of the solar year nand point up toward the northern heavens, we would see revealed the dance of the circumpolar stars about the polestar in a fantastic circle dance. Among the peoples of the north, the polestar is called 'the nail of heaven' because of its unchanging position in the sky; an unfailing and welcome guide to travelers and sailors in the darkest night. Discovering our own true north as the compass point of our soul's direction is a worthwhile enterprise on our spiritual path. Our true north may not be an actual belief system or ideology, not a religious figure, or archetype, if we are still searching. It may be something that is nearer to an instinct or feeling of traveling in the right direction, something that we sniff in the wintry air or intuit from the glancing rays of the sun through the leafless trees. Our true north is a homing instinct innate to each of us, privileged information that defines the nature of our goal - even though we may have no clear idea of that goal or of an otherworldly locus.

"In the middle of a darkened room, or in nature at night, with sufficient space about you for you to revolve with outstreatched hands on the spot, close your eyes and, asking to be shown your true north - your spiritual home - slowly turn until you find the direction that feels right for you. Facing that direction, sit down and make a soul-flight toward it, asking for spiritual allies to aid your search. What kind of landscape do you pass through; what encounters do you have; who accompanies you? If you have any difficulties, consult the spiritual allies in your company, asking them for help. Repeat this journey later to clarify your findings."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitling Matthews]

Respect

Respect

"The three most ill-mannered sons of the earth:
a boy mocking an old man, a strong man swaggering in front of a sick one, a wise man jesting at the expense of a foolish one."
   __ ancient Irish triad

   Good manner are nothing less than the respect that we owe a fellow being, an acknowledgment of another's presence and space wherein we restrain our own normal or unthinking behavior.

The respect that is due to age has virtually evaporated in our society, which favors a fast-track youth cultuyre. In the job market, on the streets, in the media, we see a growing disrespect for age. In this era when personal power and ability are paramount, to be sick is held to be the worst of misfortunes. Despite the wonderful technological discoveries that have banished so many diseases, fewer people are able to afford health care that they need. People with mental disabilities and poor reading skills suffer a marginalization against which little headway is being made; the physically handicapped are little better understood than they, although at least society no longer mocks the unfortunate as a form of low-grade entertainment.

  The kinds of respect that we offer to other people are so often formulated from prejudged factors. The social status of an individual, along with affluence, fame or professional status; the relative age and importance of that person in society; his or her gender or religious background - all these factors color how we respond.  Yet the respect owed to another human being bypasses all these designations. Respect is a currencyt that muct be paid soul to soul, regardless of the externals.

"Monitor your own levels of respect today. Notice how they change according to the changing characteristics of those you meet. What factors change your behavior? In what ways can you exercise common courtesy to all equally?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Forgiveness

Forgiveness

"Pardon's the word to all."
     ___ William Shakespeare, "Cymbeline"


   The call to forgiveness - whether it be the laying aside of vengeance, the releasing of people from obligation, the canceling of debts - sounds a general amnesty between ourselves and those who have wronged us. If they are not dealt with, wrongs and claims against others can become the ropes that tie the souls of victims to the souls of perpetrators.

  The true meaning of forgiveness is releasing ourselves and others from the bonds of blame. If we remain in situations where we suffer wrong continually, we must face the priorities and strive to remove ourselves from this danger as soon as possible, or else we must forbear to condemn. Situations where our love and care are greeted with indifference, violence, and abuse are situations in which we endanger our very soul. We must get help or get out. To forgive does not mean to condone, but it does mean the end of condemnation.

  No person living is free of condemnation: we have all wronged someone at some time. Yet to set aside condemnation and release someone from the obligations of restitution takes great resolution and courage. To forgive is to detach the bond that keeps us locked in mortal combat with our enemy. The obligatioin to forgiveness grows stronger as time wears on, before we weave too strong a bond, before the anger, strife, or wrong pollutes our very soul.

"Meditate upon a situation that requires your forgiveness. Who or what do you release?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Prophecy

Prophecy

"O hear the voice of the Bard
Who present, past, and future sees,
Whose ears have heard the holy Word
That walked among the ancient trees."
    ___ William Blake, "Songs of Experience"


   Celtic tradition has abounded in prophets: King Arthur's Merlin, the uncanny Brahan Seer, Thomas the Rhymer, the Welsh awenyddion (ah-wen-ITH'ion) or 'inspired ones,' and the many unnamed seers and seeresses of history. The ability to see thyrough the veil from the temporal world into the world where time is always now, is one that runs in the blood and surfaces in certain family lines and in lone individuals alike.

  Moments of true seeing and true utterance happen to everyone. They occur when we see clearly through the veil between the worlds, all unbidden, and observe what will be. Then we experience the slowing down of time, the growing sense of communion with precise coordinates of knoweldge that click in our brain into startling patterns of revelation. Because our society tends to ignore such revelation, we usually shrug off what we have experienced as something of little importance, ignoring these subtle messages.

  These moments sometimes happen when we are on the brink of decisions, meetings, or agreements: we suddenly have a sense that we are present at something momentously charged and potent, maybe having a flash vision of a future event when the fruits of the decision have matured. We may experience a sense of warning, a flash of insight that tells us clearly that the person we are meeting does not mean us well. We sometimes even remember past insights and visions that we indeed predicted and are now actually living through. At those times the same sense of timelessness and encompassment rises within us.

"Use your prophetic soul to look between the worlds to understand a recent action's consequences."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Glimpsing the Otherworld

In an old Welsh tale, Pwyll, the Prince of Dyfed, is out hunting with his hounds when he encounters another pack of hounds of weird appearance, bringing down a stag:  "...their hear was of a brilliant shining white, and their ears were red; and as the whiteness of their bodies shone, so did the redness of their ears glisten."  Then the owner of these hounds appears and it is none other than Arawn, King of the Otherworld, who persuades Pwyll to swap places with him for a year. While in the Otherworld, Pwyll wins the beautiful Rhiannon as his wife.

A brush with the Otherworld:  There are many signs that an entrance to the Otherworld is near, time may distort, and often an animal with bright eyes will look at you or invite you to follow it.
   Go out either at dawn or at dusk. Walk slowly, in silence, stop, look and listen. You are searching for a creature - a bird, mouse, squirrel, badger, or even a fellow human - who will guide you to the Otherworld. You'll know when you've arrived; there will be a deep silence and colors will become more vivid. Remember, it is a subtle, evanescent place. You cannot stay there for long.
[From: "Celtic Inspirations" by Lyn Webster Wilde]

Perseverance

Perseverance
"An eident drap will pierce a stane."
[A steady drop will pierce a stone.]
    ___ Scottish proverb

 One of the prime figures of p0erseverance within the Scottish tradition is King Robert the Bruce. The apoocryphal story of his hiding in a cave and watching a spider attempt to make its web again and again tells us that was how the Scottish hero mustered his own perseverance to struggle on. When life seems stacked against us, whence do we find the perseverance to continue?

  When is perseverance not enought? When we have tried to the limits of our ability, when we have tried all avenues of pursuit, when there is no more help to be sought, it is reasonable to consider whether this project is the right one or if it is being approached in the right way. Sometimes a reappraisal of method can bring about a fresh change. If you are still pushing a rock up the mountain after a reasonable period of perseverance, it might be time to stop and reassess.

  Perseverance is not a common virture these days, especially among those who expect quick or instant results. The ability to carry on with a project and see it through is often a painful, painstaking, incremental task that does not yield results in an obviously satisfactory way. It is a task scorned by many a waste of time and effort. Yet many wonderfulachievements have come to birth as a result of daily, incremental, crablike progress.

  We must the patience of water itself, which cleaves the stone over many centuries.

"Are your plans on target; are they realistic and achievable? What changes would their manifestation bring to your life? Are you approaching your goals by the best possible route? Is other help available? What factors are still lacking?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Tasks of a Bard

Tasks of a Bard

"The three chief endeavors of a bard: to learn and collect knowledge;to teach; to make peace and put an end to all injury.
To act contrary to these three things is not usual nor fitting to a bard."
     ____ ancient British triad


   How can these bardic tasks become part of our own spiritual path today? How can they be integrated into our culture? Each society needs knowledge that informs and is appropriate for its members: it does not want to hear about bygone lore. This means that every would-be bard should indeed research to the very roots of knowledge the thing that she wishes to convey, but she must also seek out the relevance and practical wisdom of that topic.

  The ancient bards could inspire, encourage, enchant  their listeners. The modern bard must learn the old art of oral performance rather than of written exposition. These skills may be learned from our spiritual allies, who are the true teachers of the bardic knowldge, as well as from situations in which the solution to difficulty is imparted by spontaneous, synaptic inspiration: where knowledge, problem and answer line up.

  This leads to making of peace and the cessation of injury - skills that we need very badly in our own time. The bardic performance can bring the end of hostility, especially if music is part of the picture. In the presence of music, all people are brought into harmony and understanding as its universal language speaks to the soul. We may bring an end to injury and offense through the offices of a modern bard in times not so far distant from our own.

"Meditate upon the bardic teachers of your ancestry. Make a soul-flight to one of their schools and ask to meed with a bard who will teach you the skills necessary for bringing peace to our world."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]

Celtic Bards

Stories inspire transformations. Spiritual Ecstasy, Spiritual freedom, and front line environmentalism. The Branch of Peace (the silver branch) is shaken to silence those gathered … to call peace. Similarly, Beavers of the oral tradition, keepers of the past. They affirm the identity of our people, linking them with the land on which they depend. They offer a source of stability in a world where the future is less certain than the known. They give the people their roots … their foundation, and encourage people to achieve their potential. Using sensory deprivation has been common among Bard’s for centuries. It forces one to face the single point of tumulus within oneself, thus commonly cracking into Poetic Awen.


The Branch of Peace: Talk of grades within the kinship as “branches”. This is referring to a specific grade within The Branch of Peace.

A critical part of their task is to deepen and enrich the connection with the people and the land. In addition, within their tales are woven the laws of nature, with warnings to the un-weary.

Among our kin is a sense that the stories not only benefit the people, but also the land, as if within their telling it, the Bard is practicing the sacred art of honoring each tree, hill, lake, and lunar tide. In addition, with each reaction, she/he inspires, honors ancestors and all humanity.

Yes, it is so; the Bard is a magician of words. A Bard practices her/his craft to be a master of emotion and movement. Poetry weaves the right (spatial) and left (linear) parts of the brain; shifts perceptions of reality, concepts, boundaries and potentials. She/he uses her/his Awen to inspire others. Bard’s creativity stems from her/his own ability to listen, relax and receive the energy that inspirits her/him.

It is a matter of releasing words with honor, respect and the power to evoke change. It refers to an attempt to change oneself, often by focusing on one’s own human soul.

It pertains to a source of inspiration stemming from the beauty and power of the land (earth). Gorsedd, a word once meaning “high seat”, the ancient mound on which high Kings were inaugurated and where tribes collected together for important occasions; is now better known, or translated, as a gathering (not the mound itself) of Bards. Not all Bards begin as or become universally good poets.


A brief look on Celtic Bards from the past.


    Whether you wanted a message delivered far across the land, or a great motivational speech for your military, a bard was the person to call. A bard was a type of person who specialized in oral communication, and was known for their ability to tell great stories, give messages from one person to another, and motivate armies before they were about to go to battle. The bard was also talented in musical instruments, writing poetry, and would often sing to people. Their music was considered beautiful and worthy among Gods.

The bards are found in Celtic cultures in countries like Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. ­Most bards were the only type of messengers in these lands, and therefore could do what they wanted, sing when they wanted, and perform where they wanted. Nobody could harm or punish them for this, because without the bards, no news would travel the lands. The bards would have to be knowledgeable in their country’s history, the law that the land is ruled under, and the heritage of his or her King. They had to be able to tell tales and myths, whether they were true or not. ­The bards were also called to prepare soldiers for battle. They would come and sing or tell stories to calm the soldiers, and motivate them for the hard task that lay before them. Because of all the important roles bards played in society, they were highly honored and were just as significant as a high ranking soldier.

 There are still bards amongst us in today’s world. However, they are not as highly honored, and are considered more of a musician than anything else. In order to become a bard, you have to have had lots of college Celtic history classes, and be able to play an instrument from that time period, such as a harp. You must also be able to write poetry, and play pieces of music that others have written, and write some yourself. Bards are some of the most influential group of people in the Celtic regions, and will more than likely be around for more years to come.

Marriage Blessing

Marriage Blessing

"Length of life and sunny days, and may your souls not to
homewards till your own child falls in love!"
    ____ traditional Irish blessing (trans. CM)


   For most people entering marriage today, such thoughts are far from their heads. Indeed many disillusioned wedding guests sit and discuss - even as they toast the happy couple - how long this marriage will last. Though the statistics show that many marriage now end in divorce, there are still a number of long-term relationships that continue - especially if the partners are supported by well-wishing and encouraging friends.

  When we celebrate a marriage, we are essentially celebrating the continuance of life: factor that is now often subsumed in the mutual satisfaction of the couple, who may indeed have chosen to have no children. Yet the heart of the marriage blessing enshrines the possibility of life's continuance: the birth of children and the perpetuation of humankind. the best-laid plans to derer a family until a more convenient time are often overturned by nature, which finds a way for life to flourish. In the eyes of new parents, the marriage blessing often seems to be a rather dubious or double-edged one, cutting short personal pleasures and dampening mutual delights.

  But the privilege of parenthood, the feeling of blessedness, is also, experience as children grow, change and surprise us. The true fruit of our partnership, they will grow up to marry and have children of their own, so that when our souls to homeward, our offspring will have the happiness, love, and initiation into parenthood in their turn.

"Make your own marriage blessing for those celebrating the beginning of their partnership today. Draw upon the fortunate elements of your own relationships."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


Celtic Christmas

  In the eighth century the traditional twelve day pagan festival was declared a sacred season by the Church, and it became the Twelve Days of Christmas, with peaks at Dercember 25th, January 1st, and January 6th.  During this time the Church prohibited all work or public business, except for the labor of cooks, bakers, or any others who contributed to the delights of the holiday.

  Twelve days of feasting, merrymaking, sporting contexts, sionging, dancing, and all sorts of joyous anarchy and 'misrule' got under way on the magical threshold between the old year and the new. Some of the fun and games probably once belonged to Samhain, the original time for the Celtic New Year but was transferred to the Christian festival in later times.

  Released from work, all sorts of little bands toured the community offeirng entertainment in exchange for food and drink. Singers known as waits sang traditional carols unaccompanied or with harps, fiddles, and pipes. Mummers and guisers came out in full force, dressed in colorful costumes, which might include animal skins, masks, and bells, and brightened the winter season by performing plays aruond the community.  Often the central theme of these plays was the death, and subsequent resurrection of one of the characters, echoing the drama of the old year as it prepared to give way to the new.

Scotland

  In Scotland the revelry was particularly lively and joyous. Under the influence of Scandinavian settlements it retained the old pagan name of 'Yule' in many parts, while the Twelve Days became kn own affectionately as the 'daft days'. But in the sixteenth century jollity was snuffed out with the candles. Feasting gave way to fasting when the newly established Reformed Scottish Kird denounced Yule as an abominable popish practice. The puritanical leaders even went so far as to prosecute citizens for such sins as 'playing, dancing and singing of filthy carols on Yule even.'                                                                          A Celtic Saint Nicholas visited the Wells County
                                                                                     Public Library.

    Only in the Catholic Highlands and Islands did the old ways continue, while in the rest of Scotland the p0sychological need for a midwinter feast was met by transferring the festivities to the New Year. By the 1800s the Kirk had relaxed its grip on Scotland and some of the old celebrations were restored, but ever since, the heart of Scotland'[s mid-winter celebrations has been the New Year feast of Hogmanay.

The polished brass of the beer spigots stand out against the lights of the Christmas decorations in the window of the Celtic Cross pub in downtown Reykjavik.







Ireland

  In Ireland the holidays lasted from Nollag Mor, Big Christmas, on December 25th, to Nollag Beag, Little Christmas, on January 6th. It was the most important festival of the year, a time to contemplate the special mystery of both human and divine love.  People were more than usually devout and generous to others. It was commonly held that the gates of heaven were open at this time and that anybody who died during the Twelve Days went straight to paradise.

    Preparations for the season began many weeks in advance, when country people flocked to the Margadh Mor, Big Market, to 'bring home the Christmas.'  They took butter, eggs, hens, geese, turkeys, and vegetables to sell and returned home laden with meat, tea, tobacco, whiskey, wine and beer, dried fruit, spice, sugar for the Christmas puddings, toys and sweets for the children, new clothes and household gear.
   Everybody gave gifts, a custome that had its roots in ancient law. Shopkeepers gave Christmas boxes of fruitcakes and drinks to their customers, sized according to the amound of business they did there during the year. Farming families gave bacon, hens, eggs, and potatoes to friends and relatives in towns while they in return received town supplies.
[From Mara Freeman's "Kindling the Celtic Spirit"]

Vintage Celtic Christmas card