Stonehenge Pic: Stonehenge News

There has been some controversy over the route of the Olympic Flame as  it wends its way during July 2012 to the Olympic Games which are currently being held in the UK. This is Bath reports that:Olympic torch relay organisers have reassured tourism bosses that the Olympic flame will visit the iconic backdrop of Stonehenge, after it was left off the official relay route through the West.

Instead of forming part of the public route through Wiltshire in July, the Olympic flame will be taken at dawn to the stones for a closed photo opportunity the morning after its overnight stop in nearby Salisbury.

The decision does mean, however, the public will not be able to descend on Stonehenge to see the once-in-a-lifetime moment it is carried around the Neolithic monument.

English Heritage, which manages the stones, and Olympic Torch Relay bosses confirmed the early morning visit after publishing a route which did not include Stonehenge or Avebury.

Western Daily Press reader Margaret Scott said:

Obviously Stonehenge is one of the major tourist attractions in Britain and it just seemed ridiculous if the torch relay is going to Amesbury but not going a mile to the west to be run around Stonehenge. They surely are not missing it out?

A spokesman for English Heritage said that they had been informed by the Olympic organisers that the torch would be driven to Stonehenge and back again early on July 12, before it is scheduled to leave Salisbury Cathedral, for a photocall.

Read the full story on the This is Bath website.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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.

From now until the 1st May 2012, a unique opportunity will become available for  folks to contribute to the new Flag Fen Archaeological Dig! Watch the video above to learn how important the  Bronze Age site of Flag Fen is and how endangered it has become. Starting in July of 2012, as much archaeological work as can be done will be done to rescue, preserve and maintain the remains. The project has been taken over by DigVentures who want to involve us, in a variety of ways to help fund the project.

We can help with donations as small as a tenner (£10), which will allow us backstage entry to a website (called the ‘Site Hut’) with diary entries, a PDF of the final report and an invite to the final end-of-dig Party all the way up to donations of £2,000 which can give you or your company amazing involvement int he project. Part of the rewards they are offering for funding involve evening lectures and training, one or two week courses, day courses, lapel pins, T-Shirts and so on, Check out the full range of funding rewards at the DigVentures site.

DigVentures

DigVentures Ltd will be excavating the iconic Bronze Age site of Flag Fen, where extensive drainage and climate change threaten to destroy the world-renowned archaeology forever.

The site hut. The hub of the whole operation. A place to grab a brew and pursue a two-day-old copy of the Sun Guardian, and put the world to rights while that shower passes over.

The Site Hut will be open to supporters only, so head on over to our project page on Sponsume and sign up. We’ll throw the doors open on 1st May, 2012, at the end of our funding window!

Our work will be an essential part of the future sustainability of the site, and all we need to do is to raise the money to make this incredible project happen. You and your friends can be a part of it – by supporting us through buying benefits, and possibly even joining us on site.There are many different levels of support, each with different rewards.

Round House at Flag Fen Pic: DigVentures

The more you contribute, the more involved you can become – from being one of the first to receive the site report, to rolling up your sleeves and actually taking part. Join us from home, or join us on site and dig for a day, dig for a week, or dig for the whole project and become a trained member of the team. The choice is yours.

As soon as you support the project at any level, you will receive access to the Site Hut, an online forum providing exclusive daily project updates, DVIP lectures, films, and photos, or just pop in for a nice cup of tea! We’ll be filming on site every day, and posting all sorts of fabulous information to keep you up to date. If you can’t join us in the field, we’d love a crew of armchair archaeologists out there following our every move.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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.

Sir Tristram Pic: explore-parliament.net

This is the fifth part in our new series of animated stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. In this piece, called Courtesy, we can see Sir Tristram here exemplifies the knightly virtue of Courtesy. Renowned for his skill in playing the harp, Tristram wins the love of the fair Isoud (or Isolde), daughter of the King of Ireland. He had come to Ireland so that she could heal him of a wound.

She was a noble surgeon, and she found in the bottom of his wound that therein was poison, and so she healed him. She was at that time the fairest maid and lady in the world. And there he learned her to harp, and she began to have a great fancy unto him.
- Malory

The painter, Dyce, was far from pleased at being required to fit into this narrow space such a scene as Malory describes.

I should say it was impossible to make a graceful composition of many figures in an upright space, unless the figures are so diminished as to render the picture an oblong.
- Dyce

He solved the problem by dividing the composition in half horizontally. The lower half – the foreground – holds the principal characters, while the background – the upper half – shows two young men hawking.

Sir Charles Eastlake, Secretary of the Fine Arts Commission, paid this painting a high compliment when he wrote to Cope, another artist who was at work on paintings for the Peers’ Corridor:

The best modern example of fresco that I know is Mr Dyce’s in the Queen’s Robing Room, next to the window. I speak of the economical use of darks and the clearness and brilliance which are the result.
- Sir Charles Eastlake

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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.

Gawaine Swearing Mercy Pic: explore-parliament.net

This is the fourth part in our new series of animated stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. In this piece, called Mercy, we can see Sir Gawaine swearing never to refuse ‘Mercy’. Sir Gawaine represents the knightly virtue of Mercy in a strange tale in which he fought a knight who had killed Sir Gawaine’s hounds, after they had slain that knight’s white hart.

Why have you slain my hounds?’ said Sir Gawaine. ‘For they did but their kind.’ And he smote the knight so hard that he fell to the earth, and then he cried mercy and besought him as he were a knight and a gentleman to save his life. Sir Gawaine would no mercy have, but unlaced his helm to have stricken off his head. Right so came his lady out of a chamber and fell on him, and so he smote her head off by misadventure.
- Malory

Gawaine returned to Camelot with the lady’s body on his horse, and her head hung about his neck.

And there by ordnance of the queen it was judged upon Sir Gawaine for ever after he should be with all ladies, and fight their quarrels, and that he should never refuse mercy to him that asketh mercy. Thus was Gawaine sworn upon the four Evangelists.
- Malory

Prince Albert made frequent visits to the Robing Room to view Dyce’s progress. His active interest in and support of the fine arts schemes in the Palace of Westminster could express themselves in both criticism and praise.

Personal Note

As we noted before in Part 3. of this series, Sir Galahad, the hart represented Christ,  ‘a white hart without spot’, so the potential interpretations of this strange story are innumerable.

I noted in that piece that the White Hart has an earlier origin than as a symbol for Christ, and the first part of this story is so reminiscent of the First Branch of the Mabinogion and the slaying or taking of Arawn’s stag, that we may be not only seeing evidence of that cross-fertilisation we have spoken of before, but also the archetypal nature of the symbols that makes them remain as an essential part of stories, culture and tradition for well over 1400 years – and that is only recorded history! How old is the story and its images before that?? I’d give a body part to have been there at the beginning!

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Handster at http://www.handster.com/celtic_myth.html or by using the QR code opposite. It’s als found on the Opera Marketplace as well as AppBrain in the US.
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.

The Vision of Sir Galahad Pic: explore-parliament.net

This is the third part in our new series of animated stories of King Arthur based on artwork found around the Houses of Parliament, courtesy of a wonderful Virtual Tour found at explore-parliament.net. In this piece, called Religion,  we can see Sir Galahad, Sir Percival and Sir Bors. These were the three pure knights who alone of Arthur’s court were to succeed in the search for the Holy Grail. Here they represent Religion. Following a hart and four lions they come to a hermitage where there was a holy man, and there they see a vision of Christ and the Four Evangelists.

And they entered in and heard the mass. And they saw the hart become a man, the which marvelled them, and he sat upon the altar in a rich siege; and they saw the four lions were changed, the one into the form of a man, the other to the form of an ox, and the third to an eagle, and the fourth was changed into a lion. And when they were come to themselves, they went to the holy man. ‘Ah lords,’ said he ‘now wot I well ye be the good knights the which shall bring the quest of the Holy Grail to an end.’
- Malory

The hart represented Christ, as the fresco shows: ‘a white hart without spot’, while the four lions changed into the forms traditionally ascribed to the four Evangelists: lion, eagle, ox and man.

Religion was the first subject to be completed by Dyce, in 1851, and this is the most important and most successful of his Arthurian series.

Personal Note

I find it fascinating that as the medieval culture that prompted Malory derived from the earlier myths and stories, possibly found in the Mabinogion, we see the highest ideal of Spirituality, the Christ, represented by the archetypal Celtic symbol of that ideal and as ambassador fo the Otherworld, the White Hind or White Stag. There is some contention as to the cross-fertilisation between the author(s) of the Arthurian Tales in the Mabinogion (especially the later courtly ones) and the work of Malory, both contemporary 15th Century works – although much of the Mabinogion dates back to the middle of the 14th Century. There are also linguistic hints that elements may derive from much earlier 6th Century work about Taliesin.

Maybe we’ll never know the true originators of these later Arthurian tales, but to see the symbols being used by Dyce in the 19th Century in the English Parliament leaves me with a warm feeling of continuity between the ancient Celtic beliefs and our modern traditions.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Wizzard-Media-Celtic-Myth-Podshow/dp/B004W8QR58 or by using the QR code opposite.
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.

Babes in the wood Pic: Wikipeadia

English medieval history and legend are sometimes so intricately interwoven that it can be exceedingly difficult to delineate with any degree of certainty the facts from the fantasy. The fascinating story of the green children of Woolpit is a particular case in point.The date was the 12th century a.d., but has been variously placed by chroniclers within the reign of King Stephen (1135-54) or King Henry II (1154-1189). The setting was the small Suffolk village of Woolpit, named after the deep trenches in which wolves were formerly captured.

One day, the villagers were amazed to see two very unusual children crawling out of one of these trenches. A girl and a slightly younger boy, they were both dressed in strange clothing and spoke an unintelligible language. But by far the most striking characteristic of these children was their skin–it was green.

Unable to communicate with them, and thoroughly perplexed as to what should be done, the villagers took the girl and boy, who were weeping and very forlorn, to the home of Sir Richard de Calne, a local landowner. Here they remained, treated with great care and kindness by Sir Richard and his servants. But the boy fell ill, and in less than a year he had died. Happily, however, the girl survived, and as she grew older her skin’s green hue gradually disappeared. She eventually married a man from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, a senior ambassador of Henry II according to some sources, and became known as Agnes Barre.

During her years in Sir Richard’s household, Agnes learned English and was eventually able to reveal something about where she and her brother had come from and the manner in which they had reached Woolpit. She claimed that they were from a Christian place called St Martin’s Land, where it was always twilight (and also where, according to one medieval chronicler of this story, everything was green), and which was separated from a much sunnier place by a wide river. One day, while tending their father’s flocks in a field, Agnes and her brother had been led away by the sound of church bells into an underground realm, and then somehow found themselves in Woolpit.

This peculiar account has lent itself to many different interpretations. Eminent British folklorist Dr. Katharine Briggs noted in A Dictionary of Fairies (1976) that it contained a number of themes prevalent in Faerie lore-the color green, a twilit land, subterranean worlds. Could this entire story thus be nothing more than another legend of elves or fairies visiting mankind? Continue Reading »

Explore Books Pic: Heart of Albion

‘Is some riddle solved by my surviving forever? Is not eternal life itself as much of a riddle as our present life?’ Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus logico-philosophicus, 1922

Given the extent to which modern-day pagans take as a truism that many of our folk customs have, unconsciously, retained relics of their heathen origins is traceable to the success of one man’s major opus – Sir James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough, a multi-volume work published in the 1890s.

‘It is difficult to overrate the influence of The Golden Bough. It offered a pattern which was immediately and attractively available; and it proceeded to dominate attitudes and thinking to a remarkable extent. The vegetation drama, ritual death and resurrection, the sacred tree, became accepted elements . . .’ So observed Roy Judge in his study of the Jack-in-the-Green [1], also noting that the Frazerian influence was complex.

While modern day researchers find little of Frazer’s work holds up to scrutiny, his opinions were accepted almost without question for about 60 years. In the introduction to the abridged one volume edition of The Golden Bough, prepared some thirty years after the original research [2], Frazer wrote: ‘I have neither added new material nor altered the views expressed in the last edition; for the evidence which has come to my knowledge in the meantime has on the whole served either to confirm my former conclusions or to furnish fresh illustrations of old principles.’

Frazer’s objectives were straightforward: to demonstrate that Christianity derived from the same principles as so-called ‘primitive’ religions. Within the constraints of the then-active blasphemy laws Frazer strove to treat the Bible as another rich mythology – to be studied objectively, and with the same contempt for the beliefs as academics showed for non-christian faiths.

A group of men with bells on their legs, dancing frenetically’

Frazer’s views were based on the work of Sir Lawrence Gomme, Sir Edward Tylor and Wilhelm Mannhardt although Frazer proved to be the better known of these researchers. Frazer in his turn influenced Sir Edmund Chambers and Cecil Sharp. Sharp, almost single-handedly, inspired the English folk dance revival and, in the process, drew attention to the then-dying remnants of other folk customs. Sharp’s Frazerian-influenced opinions were contested at the time but between 1914 and the early 1970s his views were unopposed – folklorists ‘were not concened with evidence (or the lack of it) of historical continuity, and . . . relied entirely upon similarities and parallels in form to construct grand hypotheses.’ [3]

Part of these ‘grand hypotheses’ was that morris dancing was an ancient rite which had remained unaltered for centuries. When an historian, Barbara Lowe, published her studies of the earliest origins of morris dancing in 1957 [4] she was totally ignored. This is not in the least surprising, as what she discovered runs entirely counter to Sharp’s fantasy. Lowe found that morris dances first appeared about 1450 as a new craze in the courts of the nobility and royalty throughout western Europe. These courts were notoriously fashion-conscious and briefly-favoured novelty was as prevalent then as in our own times.

Courtly morris of the fifteenth century was a Christmas-tide entertainment involving a group of men with bells on their legs, dancing frenetically in an attempt to woo a lady. After this display of male vitality she, in fine fickle, gave her heart to a fool. Not only did this little scenario find favour in the palaces of England, soon it was spreading among the common people. First along the Thames to nearby towns and then, by the sixteenth century, throughout England. Along the way it became less a feature of Christmas than of the Maytime or summer games.

A few ‘traditions’ really are traditional

The history of morris dancing is similar to many other popular traditions. A number of historians have intensively studied specific aspects of ‘traditional’ customs – and repeatedly revealed that these traditions peter out before the eighteenth century. A few ‘traditions’ really are traditional – but there are few of them. When we decorate our homes with greenery and give each other presents at Christmas, we are following a custom which goes back ‘time out of mind’. Few of us light bonfires for Mayday or Midsummer but, up until the late nineteenth century, this was a common-place custom which, also, can be traced back beyond written records. Probably the erection of Maypoles is equally archaic. But written records ominously peter out for all other ‘traditional’ customs

Historians know well that events are best shown up in written sources when they contravene custom or legislation. The names of common people most frequently enter the annals of written history when they appear in court records for greater or lesser crimes; not infrequently, drunkenness on feast days. The once-heated debates of churchwardens and clergy are veiled beneath the dry records of parish registers. These same registers reveal year after year the amounts spent preparing for such festivities as ‘church ales’ – until, abruptly, these expenses are no longer part of the meticulous lists. No one at the time explicitly stated that church ales had been superseded by other (less bawdy) forms of fund-raising, but the evidence is clear enough. So the genealogy of popular customs can be pieced together.

‘How traditional was “traditional”?’

There is clear evidence that in the late medieval era ‘new devotional fads were enthusiastically explored by a laity eager for religious variety’ [5] The greatest of the feasts of the late medieval liturgy, Corpus Christi, apparently well-established since time immemorial, was comparatively new, dating only from the thirteenth century. Such were the religious practices of the populace. This was ‘traditional religion’ in Britain – although this simply begs the question, ‘How traditional was “traditional”?’ Running in parallel were the ascending aristocratic interests in astrology and the attempts to subdue ‘witchcraft’ and the various activities of ‘cunning’ men and women. The boundaries between religion and magic were less well-drawn than they are with the hindsight of modern mentalities [6].

Behind these terse paragraphs are entire academic careers picking over the ways in which social history is a patchwork of ever-evolving changes. We think of our own times as being subject to unique processes of change. Yet history records an ever-changing flow. The difference of the modern day is mostly that the processes of communication are more immediate and more detailed, giving a greater awareness of change. An additional and pertinent difference is that, until recently, the ‘meanings’ of popular customs were not fixed by written accounts. Why things were done was the least rooted aspect of these activities.

‘Customs quite out of fashion’

Peeling the layers of the onion away, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries saw the pro-Reformation and counter-Reformation sway back and forth with greater or lesser enthusiasm and enforcement. The reign of Elizabeth I provided an era of comparative tolerance, where the country was officially Protestant but the zeal of the senior clergy could be, and was, vetoed by the monarch.

During the Civil War and Restoration there is widespread written evidence of the way new religious and social ideals were being promulgated. The sometimes brutally aggressive Puritans stripped the churches of their images, rood lofts and altars – while a smaller, less-aggressive number, from time to time attempted to restore some of the ‘popish’ traditions [7].

Just how thoroughly the Reformation and Civil War swept away traditional customs is revealed by writers of the time. John Aubrey is a name well-known for his early antiquarian interests. He was a child before the Civil War and could see first-hand how many local customs, such as midsummer bonfires, had vanished during the Interregnum, ‘the civil wars coming on have put all these rites or customs quite out of fashion.’ [8] Aubrey also tells how the once-annual custom of decorating the salt-well at Droitwich on the patron saint’s festival was prohibited; the well promptly dried up. The ceremony was restored the following year, whereupon the water once again flowed.

Much has been made of the Restoration of Charles II and the establishment of Royal Oak or Oak Apple Day (29th May) as a ‘surrogate’ for the Mayday festivities prohibited by the Puritans. Yet closer inspection reveals that over thirty years of Puritan campaigning had wrought a severe dislocation and the popular pastimes which were ‘restored’ were different in nature and character. In essence, the post-Restoration festivities were not so much spontaneous customs of the common people as events which were organised by the ‘gentry’. It was the subtle transition from ‘participating’ to ‘attending’. [9]

Continue Reading »

The Battersea bronze and enamel shield 350BC :British Museum, London Pic: Heritage Daily

A fabulous informative article written by Sue Carter appeared in Heritage Daily recently. We enjoyed it so much, we knew our readers would find it fascinating too.Here is a taster. Enjoy  :)

On whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage –Strabo, (64 BC – 24 AD).

Almost all of the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling and of overbearing insolence – Ammianus, (4th Century AD).

The two quotes were written by classical authors describing the Gauls of France as known at the time. Strabo would have been aware of Caesar’s excursion to Britain and possibly have read his account of the people he had been in contact with. Diodorus Siculus (V 21, 3-6) describes Britain as,

 ‘Inhabited by tribes that are aboriginal, and in their lifestyle preserve the old ways; for they make use of chariots in the wars….’

(Diodorus cited in Ireland 2003).

Due to Britain’s isolation it is possible that many of the ‘old ways’ were still being followed. There are very few eye-witness accounts of the inhabitants of Britain prior to the Roman invasions, and what we do have is from classical writers who believed them to be barbaric, not only in their fighting methods but in other aspects of their culture. Waite (2011) sums it up when he describes Celtic feasting and fighting to the death over the hero’s cut of meat

…. even if your opponent happened to be a blood relative. Whilst this sort of behaviour was deeply rooted in Celtic culture it would only have served to justify the Roman conviction that these people were no more than uncivilized barbarians who were prepared to fight like animals over a piece of meat (Waite 2011, 36).

Unfortunately, classical writing is our only written evidence of the Celtic culture, however, we do have the archaeological evidence to back some of it up.

The main area that is often picked up and portrayed of Celts is that of warfare. But how much do we know, and can understand, from the written and iconographic resources that we have?

Tacitus (cited in Work 1954) tells us that ‘the Britons had established a reputation for bravery and being good fighters’ (Work 1954, 258), and Allcock (cited in Harding 1974) informs that

Our knowledge of Celtic warfare, as derived from the literary records, very largely relates to engagements with the Roman Army, or to Roman attacks upon Iron Age strongholds (Harding 1974, 70).

Of inter-tribal warfare the European Iron Age is well known, but of Britain, little is known as it was ‘considered in isolation and assumed to be different from that of western mainland Europe’ (Hill 1995, 49). The archaeological evidence also suggests that, the once long perceived idea of hill-forts as centres of power, were actually places where older men, women and children could gather and take their cattle etc when trouble was imminent and thus used as places of refuge and not for defending or being defended by attacking neighbouring tribes, also that ‘their roles could differ through space and, on the same site, through time’ (Hill 1995, 68).

With the archaeological record showing marked increases between the middle pre-Roman Iron Age and the late pre-Roman Iron Age, raids and warfare appear to show signs of increasing with, ‘ample evidence of the accoutrements of war – swords, shields, spears, helmets and vehicle parts’ (Cunliffe 2004, 94). Evidence in the increase of inter-tribal warfare is given in the territory that once belonged to the Parisi, ‘Armed conflict was suggested by finds in late Arras Culture graves, and this presumably indicates that the Parisi were at odds with their neighbours’

(Dent 1983, 39).

The British Celt has been described as

 ‘taller than the Celts and not so yellow-haired, although their bodies were of looser build’

(Strabo cited in Work 1954, 257),

and their social structure was one of ‘actually or potentially hierarchically organized around the competitive relations between lineages or clan groups’ (Hill 1995, 73). Mainly living in acceptance of each other, tribes would fight over cattle or land,

The picture which emerges of the Celts and their society is of a restless exuberance loosely contained within a social system based on warrior prowess. Raiding and warfare were the essential mechanisms by which society maintained and reproduced itself

(Cunliffe 1997, 363).

The Iron Age was a time of oral histories, which were passed down through the generations and told over fires in feasting halls. The hero’s were held in high esteem and their victories shared by all, and kept alive

The end result of this teaching would be a warrior imbued not only with an ability to fight but also with a strong sense of himself and where he came from – a spiritual being who operated along a ritualized code of conduct (Waite 2011, 36)

He was loyal to his tribe, his leader and knew the code he had to follow into battle, should the need arise. As well as the physical and psychological aspects of the warrior, there were also the tools of his trade – his weapons.

The type to weaponry used by the Iron Age warrior has been discovered through archaeology and

….the majority are from hoards or votive deposits but a small group of burials provides valuable evidence about the way in which the warrior was equipped (Cunliffe 2004, 94).

The main item of weaponry was the sword. Changes have been recorded between the swords of the Bronze Age and those of the Iron Age, indicating a change in fighting methods,

The earlier varieties had tapering blades with long sharp points designed for both thrusting and slashing, whilst the later swords, with their long parallel sided blades, were better adapted for slashing …. the La Tène III slashing sward was designed for fighting on horseback ( Cunliffe 2010, 533).

With the use of chariots and mounted warriors, the need for a better designed slashing sword arose. The designs of which were expertly crafted by specialist smiths.

To read more of this fascinating article by Sue Carter Visit  Heritage Daily

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Wizzard-Media-Celtic-Myth-Podshow/dp/B004W8QR58 or by using the QR code opposite.
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.

Brigit, the Bright One Pic: Hanging Gardens

We’re proud to bring another post by Guest Blogger, Ishtar from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon blog and Ishtar’s Gate  about the ancient Celtic Goddess Brigit, Brighid or Bride. As Imbolc/Imbolg, the 2nd of February – which is the Fire Festival associated with her – is rapidly approaching, this is an especially relevant post! Thank you, Ishtar Ever wonder where the word ‘Britain’ comes from? It originated with Brigit of the Fae, whose name the Romans, for reasons best known to themselves, combined with that of another indigenous spirit, Ana, to create Britannia. They changed her sun disc into a shield and her wand into a sword, and thus almost managed to emasculate the true spirit of these isles.

I say ‘almost’ because they didn’t succeed. The spirit of Brigit is beginning to burn bright again as more and more people search to uncover their spiritual roots. In fact, Brigit is the key to one of the most ancient initiations into the Underworld going back many thousands of years … but more about that later.

I only mention it now in order to signal that although I will be explaining the origins of Brigit, and going into some of the ancient customs associated with her, this is not going to be one of those dry, dusty, fusty essays about folklore that don’t lead anywhere. I leave all that to the folk historians. I’m not the least bit interested in folk songs or Morris dancing or corn dollies or May poles unless I can trace the magical, transformative seed underneath — the catalytic spark that creates change through magical or shamanic initiation. There is a very good reason for all that Morris dancing and singing of ballads, but that’s the bit most folk historians leave out.

However, I won’t let you down… so let’s get moving…

First of all, who was Brigit? And where does she come from?

Etymology of her name

The name Brigit means Fiery Arrow or Bright One, which is another name for Lucifer (for more about this, see Lucifer, the Fae and Initiation into the Underworld and also Why Lucifer Must Have Been a Woman). Her oldest name is Briganti, which could be derived from the ancient Indo European Bhrghnti (or in Sanskrit Brihati), which means ‘exalted one.’

The Celts shared many sacred ritual practises with the ancient Vedic Indians. They migrated from across and through the Himalayan region after the last Ice Age, eventually arriving in Europe. The Brigantes were among them. Before becoming the largest Celtic tribe in the British Isles, the Brigantes had settled in Austria near Lake Constance in a place known as Bregenz.They had fire priests known as bhrisingrs after the bhrigus or fire priests of the Anu tribes.

Bridestones Pic: Hanging Gardens

Brittany in northern France was also named for Brigit, and she was also the inspiration for Brechin in Scotland, the river Brent in England, the river Braint in Wales, and Bridewell ~ both in London and in Ireland. The city of Bristol takes its name from Brigit. And Brenin, the Welsh word for King, meant consort of Brigantia.

(There’s probably loads more Brigit-inspired locations, and so if you know of one, please do add it in the comments.)

Brigit in mythology

In Celtic mythology, Brigit appears as one of the offspring of the Dagda and the Morrigen, (about whom you can read more in The Underworld Initiation of King Arthur by Morgan the Fae.) She was part of the Tuatha da Danaan, which is another name for the Sidhe, the Fae, the Little People or the Gentry.

Brigit was known as the patron spirit of healers, smiths and bards, and she rules the elements of fire and water. Brigid’s Feast Day is on Imbolc in February, which the Christians call Candlemass. On Imbolc, milk products are offered to her as the young Bride. Butter, cheese and milk are put out for her. People say that Bride herself is abroad on Imbolc Eve. So they leave out pieces of cloth for her to bless as she passes, and which are used later in healings.

One of her symbols is the serpent entwined around a white wand, predating Asclepius. Other important animals associated with Brigit are the white swan, the white wolf and the white cow.

Post Christian Brigit

Brigit, the Bright One Pic: Hanging Gardens

The Romans Christians, as was their wont, found a way to amalgamate Brigit into the Christian religion by adding her to their pantheon of saints. Her centre was at Kildare in Ireland.“Cill Dare” means “Church of the Oak”, thus betraying its Druid past, and it was in an area known as Civitas Brigitae, “The City of Brigid”.Brigit is found in the carving below within a wall of what remains of the St Michael church on top of Glastonbury Tor, milking a cow.

In this way, even within the Christian pantheon, she retains her association with her primary totem animal.

Brigit milking a cow
pic: Hanging Gardens

Because Celtic Christianity retained many of the indigenous spiritual practises, Brigit’s fire was kept alight day and night at the Kildare convent, by dedicated vestal priestesses, for centuries — until they were finally put out by Henry VIII’s shock troops of the Reformation.

The Way of Brigit

I’ve been getting to know the kind and gentle spirit of Brigit in recent times, and have been honoured to receive her initiation. She has taught me to follow her in an ancient route through the Underworld which, although well-trodden, is not so well used today, since the advent of the Western Mystery Tradition with its pathworking up the Kabbalah or Qabalah.

This way in which Brigit guided me is a much more ancient route. It bypasses the Abyss of the Kabbalah, with all its perils and pitfalls, by travelling underneath it. The Way of Brigit is part of a magical working known as The Mask of the Bright One, and it has also been called The Harrowing*.

Now that Brigit has taken me through this initiation, I’m ready and able to help any of those who feel that it’s the right time for them to receive it.

The Way of Brigit is for those who wish to quicken their progress in terms of self-transformation but also with regard to their relationship with the Land. It is about healing our place in the Land, and about how we stand in relation to all the other creatures on the planet. It is about breathing at One with All That Is, and taking back the reins of our own power as the glorious Beings which we truly are. It will also afford you the protection and guidance of Brigit and the Fae.

So if you feel ready for this next step on your path, do let me know.

* I’m grateful to R.J. Stewart for providing some of the material for this journey.

Further Reading: You can find reviews and books to buy on the Fae in the Faerie Tradition section of the Ishtar’s Gate Library.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
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.

The Sixth Production Diary from The Wealdon and Downland Open Air Museum, Cuckmere Haven near Eastbourne and The Long Man of Wilmington featuring Damh the Bard. Here we can see separate scenes of the Gods as well as Damh appearing “as a man, alone on a hill…” and also giving a quick performance below the magical Long Man of Wilmington. Bit by bit we learn more about the film

Esther, Annie and George are 3 people whose lives have reached a crisis point. On the night of 31st October, all three find themselves drawn to a clearing in the woods. Secrets are revealed and nothing will ever be the same again as an ancient power emerges from the shadows…

As you know this movie was inspired by the works of Damh the Bard and the Director, Gary Andrews, has put the whole story together into something new and astounding, something with a powerful message for today’s youth and we are so excited to see the film’s launch sometime around the end of 2011.

The Albion Diaries tell the Behind the Scenes story of the production of the Spirit of Albion movie. Marq English of MEV Productions is producing these video diaries of the film’s production, so you can get some idea of what’s coming and how it has all been put together.

Video Diary Filmed and Edited by Marq English.

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You can also now download a Celtic Myth Podshow App from the iTunes store. This is the most convenient and reliable way to access the Celtic Myth Podshow on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You’re always connected to the latest episode, and our App users have access to exclusive bonus content, just touch and play! To find out more visit the iTunes Store or our Description Page.
You can now also find an Android version of the App which works identically to the iPhone version. You can find it on Appbrain at http://www.appbrain.com/app/celtic-myth-show/tv.wizzard.android.celticmythpodshow841 or by using the QR code opposite.
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.