Pic: Mad Brew Labs

One of White Wolf’s recent ventures is a game called Scion, reports Mad Brew Labs.  It utilizes the familiar d10 based Storytelling System rules that has become the foundation of White Wolf games like the World of Darkness and Exalted.  But what does Scion bring to the game table any of the other White Wolf games, or any game for that matter, doesn’t already?

Two words: Epic Mythology.  Scion allows players to take the on role of the modern day children of the gods as they struggle against their mortal enemies, Titanspawn.   While the game could be played in any timeline, it is intended to be set in the modern world; a modern world without the bleak outlook of the World of Darkness… a more heroic world. Continue Reading »

Pic: Robin Williamson

We have just received details of what sounds like an absolutely amazing day in Lewes, East Sussex with renowned Celtic Bard, Robin Williamson. Robin is famed for his years with the Incredible String Band and since then, as a story-teller using words and music to create his worlds. He is the founder in the 60′s of the influential Incredible String Band and the Merry Band of the 70′s, has been a key figure at the forefront of the storytelling revival in Europe and America since the 80′s. He has authored a number of books including The Craneskin Bag and Celtic Bards, Celtic Druids Robin is Honorary Chief Bard of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.

Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2008-10-07 16:16:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: Independent

The Cornish language has been declared dead by international experts, This Is Cornwall reported. In The Independent Jenefer Lowe replies that the language is not dead and is, in fact, growing.   There are thought to be just 300 fluent speakers of Cornish left and Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership, says reports of its extinction are premature.

Saying Cornish is extinct implies that there are no speakers and the language is dead, which it isn’t. Unesco’s study doesn’t take into account languages which have growing numbers of speakers, and in the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum.

Mrs Lowe added:

As a result of the growing popularity of Cornish, it is in a fairly unique situation and therefore difficult to classify – along with Manx, which is also designated as extinct despite there now being a Manx-language primary school on the island.

The Manx language was thought to have died out in the mid-19th century but there are now believed to be about 600 active speakers.

The Welsh Language Board says there about 500,000 speakers of the language, and census data from 2001 recorded about 50,000 speakers of Scottish Gaelic in the Western Isles. Unesco found that the greatest language diversity was in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 2,000 languages are spoken. Christopher Moseley, a linguist and editor-in-chief of the atlas, said that on the question of which languages survive:

there is a subtle interplay of forces, and this atlas will help ordinary people understand those forces better.

[Source]

Dan Carrier of The Camden New Journal tells us: Primrose Hill’s little-known links to Welsh history are due to come to life after the Royal Parks gave permission this week for a memorial to the Romantic poet Edward Williams. Known in Welsh as Iolo Morganw, he organised the first meeting of the “Gorsedd of the bards of the Isles of Britain” – an 18th-century poetry event – on the slopes of Primrose Hill, London on summer solstice in 1792.

Edward Williams was born at Llancarfan, Glamorgan, Wales, and spent his working life as a stonemason in the village of Flemingston (or “Flimston”) where his family moved when he was a child. (2)

Welsh poet Dannie Abse, who lives in Hampstead and has written lines honouring the bard, welcomed the plan. He said:

“He is very important in terms of Welsh poetry and Welsh nationalism. He is also considered to be the patron saint of Druidism. “He is a terrific character – he was a bit of a rogue. He forged poems and passed them off as being by others, and spent some time in Cardiff gaol. (1)

Continue Reading »

Pic: Yvonney

Is there a mystery here to be unravelled? Is there a serpent code being held by the Grail myths? Can we uncover this code by taking a look at the Lady of Lake? The answer is yes to all these questions, for held within the folds of the coiled snake we shall discover the truth of the origin of the Arthurian tales and the strange watery Lady who was to give Arthur his sword.

There are various names attributed to the ‘Lady of the Lake;’ Nimue and Vivienne are the two most used, but most pertinent to us here is ‘White Serpent.’ Nimue is probably Mneme or Mnemosyne, who is one of the Muses or ‘water nymphs’ from Roman and Greek mythology and who gave out weapons – just as the Lady of the Lake did. Vivienne in all likelihood comes from Vi-Vianna or Co-Vianna the ‘water goddess’ or Coventina of Celtic origin (‘Coventina’s Well’ also had a skull offering discovered which is important in the worship of snakes and wisdom [1].) Continue Reading »

In Episode 22, which carries on with tales from the Irish Mythological Cycle and is set in the time of St Ciaran, we hear about a day of incredibly bad weather. The ancient and mighty Eagle, Leithin, sets off on a quest to discover whether there was ever a day of worse weather. This tale, re-discovered in 1916, re-tells a common theme in Celtic Mythology – the search for the oldest animal.

The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.

If you come to the site and listen or listen from one of our players – have you considered subscribing? It’s easy and you automatically get the episodes on your computer when they come out. If you’re unsure about the whole RSS/Subscribing thing take a look at our Help page.

Pic: BBC News

More and more state schoolchildren in the UK are being taught in Welsh, Gaelic and Irish reports BBC News. In Wales, 20% of schoolchildren are now being taught entirely in the Welsh language – up from 16% in the 1990s. Some experts believe that bilingual children are at an advantage at school, because learning two languages boosts their ability to learn.

Welsh schoolchildren are still far more likely to learn their native language than those in Scotland or Northern Ireland – however, the statistics suggest Gaelic and Irish are growing in popularity.

In 1997 just 112 Scottish pupils learned Gaelic. In 2007, 2,601 students were learning it, either in an exclusively Gaelic school, or in a bi-lingual one.

Identity

Devolution has meant profound educational changes, says the BBC’s Colette Hume, in Northern Ireland, as a demand for speakers of these languages grows.

And she said that the growth in demand for this type of education may reflect a growing sense of identity and confidence in the nations of the UK.
She visited a tiny Irish-medium school in Northern Ireland which opened last year with just 12 pupils, but now has 28.

In Scotland, the country’s first Gaelic-medium secondary school opened in Glasgow in 2006.

The BBC launched a Gaelic channel, BBC Alba, in September last year, which promotes the Gaelic language, while hoping to appeal to audiences across Scotland.

The latest figures from the Welsh Assembly Government show that 40,756 secondary schoolchildren out of a total of almost 207,000 are being taught in “Welsh medium schools”- where most or all subjects are taught in Welsh.

David Reynolds, a professor of education at Plymouth University, said

Learning Welsh had really taken off and that any reservations about learning the local language seemed to have disappeared. “In Wales, the evidence is that 40% of children are fluent in Welsh, and 20% of their parents. In terms of use, you are able to sell your language in a way you couldn’t 20 years ago, and it is of direct use to you because of burgeoning employment in the devolved states.”

Globalisation

Professor Colin Baker from the University of Bangor is an expert in bilingual education, and says bilingual children have an advantage in terms of intelligence.

They actually have a higher IQ,

he said.

“It seems having two languages in the brain stimulates it, adds extra associations into the brain and deepens thinking.”

Professor Reynolds identifies a further reason why this trend towards learning a local language appears to have taken hold.
He said that in an increasingly globalised world, people are more keen to keep sight of their identity, and one way of achieving this is through learning your local language.

Knowledge of your own local area gives you identity and roots, I think. If you look at why it might be happening, I think it’s a desire to root children, and also adults, in a local experience.”

Source

For centuries countless visitors have marvelled at the majesty and mystery of the Giants Causeway. At the heart of one of Europe’s most magnificent coastlines its unique rock formations have, for millions of years, stood as a natural rampart against the unbridled ferocity of Atlantic storms. The rugged symmetry of the columns never fails to intrigue and inspire our visitors. To stroll on the Giants Causeway is to voyage back in time. Your imagination will travel along stepping stones that lead to either the creative turbulence of a bygone volcanic age or into the mists and legends of the past.

The Giant’s Causeway (or Irish: Clochán na bhFómharach)[2] is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland, about two miles (3 km) north of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2008-04-16 07:24:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: Newgrange Ireland

A new critical analysis has revealed that the world famous Irish passage-tomb mound Newgrange did look quite different in prehistory than hitherto believed. Newgrange is probably a multi-period mound with 5-6 phases spanning from the Passage Tomb Period to the Early Bronze Age. This theory clashes with the traditional view introduced by Professor Michael O’Kelly, who led the excavation and the controversial restoration with the addition of a white wall around themound over the years 1962-75.

O’Kelly believed that Newgrange was a single-period mound, and that the great quantities of mound fill, which covered the kerbstones and extended far beyond them, had slid out from the mound when a wall, which held the mound fill in place, did collapse.

The new analysis, carried out by the Danish archaeologist Palle Eriksen in a paper called ‘The Great Mound of Newgrange’, is based on studies of the sections documented by O’Kelly. The mound fill comprises fist to head-size stones between 3-4 thin layers of turfs. According to O’Kelly these layers of turfs were laid by the megalith builders. Continue Reading »

Pic: http://www.independent.co.uk

The Independent tells us: The largest hoard of prehistoric gold coins in Britain in modern times has been discovered by a metal detectorist in East Anglia. The 824 gold staters, worth the modern equivalent of up to £1m when they were in circulation, were in a field near Wickham Market, Suffolk. Almost all the coins were minted by royal predecessors of Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe who revolted against Rome in AD 60.

The Wickham Market area seems to have been of great importance in Iron Age times. Within a few miles of the spot where the coins were found are two other important sites.

The solid gold staters – each weighing just over 5g – were made between 40BC and AD 15, most of them in the final 35 years of that period. They were buried in a plain pottery vessel, possibly inside a rectilinear religious compound, between 15 and AD 20.

Although it has not yet been proved, it is likely the hoard represented part of the wealth of an individual or community and was buried as a votive offering at a time of a political stress, drought or other natural disaster.

This is the first major Icenian gold coin hoard found but the tribe had a tradition of making votive offerings of other gold objects. At one of their major religious centres, Snettisham in northern Norfolk, the tribe buried at least 30kg of gold and silver jewellery. also within a rectilinear enclosure.

The discovery is important because it highlights the probable political, economic and religious importance of an area on the southern fringe of Icenian territory, near its border with the Trinovantian tribal kingdom.

“The [new] hoard is absolutely unique,”

aid Ian Leins, the British Museum’s curator of Iron Age coins.

“It is the largest hoard of British Iron Age gold coins to be studied in its entirety.”

The find is the most substantial Iron Age gold coin hoard found in Britain since 1849, when a farm worker unearthed between 800 and 2,000 gold staters in a field near Milton Keynes.

To protect the site, archaeologists from Suffolk County Council kept the discovery under wraps for months while they made secret excavations, funded by the British Museum. The area was thoroughly searched to ensure that all of the coins had been found before the discovery was announced to the public.

Source