Pic: Amazon

The Isle of Man is undergoing a Manx Gaelic revival. The number of Manx speakers has gone up tenfold in the last twenty years. The government-sponsored Manx Heritage Foundation (Undinys Eiraght Vannin) and the Manx Gaelic Advisory Council (Coonceil ny Gaelgey) regulate and standardise the official use of Manx and have combined to commission this definitive guide to the language: Practical Manx. The book covers the grammar, spelling and pronunciation of Manx Gaelic, rendered accessible to readers of all levels of competence. An accompanying website with voice recordings provides a unique opportunity to observe intonation patterns and other features.

I have to confess that I love grammar. I know a lot of people don’t, but I love the way languages are put together and work!

murmurs Jennifer as reported by the Liverpool Daily Post. Continue Reading »

Originally posted 2009-02-24 09:37:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Alan Pickard Pic: Manx Radio

Manx Radio reports that Alan Pickard, one of the leading figures in Manx Celtic Music has passed away. They say: ‘A Manxman who inspired generations’, is one of the tributes which have been paid to Alan Pickard who has died at the age of 69.

The former Department of Education music adviser passed away at his home in Port St Mary on Saturday.

He leaves a wife, Avril, and a family.

His service to music spanned his whole working life, whether playing, examining or teaching, including roles at Ramsey Grammar School, Gresham’s School in Norfolk, Castle Rushen High School and as a senior lecturer in music at St Martin’s College, Lancaster.

But he is best known for his work during a 17-year spell as head of the Island’s music service.

Close friend and long-time colleague Bernard Osborne says thousands of people will remember Mr Pickard’s charisma and immeasurable contribution to music education in the Isle of Man, and further afield.

You can read this article and hear further related Audio material on the Manx Radio website.

———————————

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 Descripition 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.

Branwen Pic: Gary Colcombe

There are many Gods and Goddesses that can be considered to be the Celtic Gods or Goddesses of Love. Amongst those of Irish mythology we can count Aengus Og, Brighid and Aine or Anu. Amongst the Welsh we can count Arianrhod, Branwen and Blodeuwedd. The Scottish Celts also have young Angus as the God of love as does Manx Mythology. In general there seems to have been a great crossover and exchange of mythological material between the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Welsh stories. It is probably true that many of the religious practices of the Ancient Celts travelled between the tribes and were adopted, adapted or rejected depending on the customs and beliefs of the tribe involved in the meeting. I don’t know of any Cornish or Breton Love deities at the moment, so if any Celts of those nationalities can enlighten me that would be absolutely brilliant.

Gods in Irish Myth

Aengus Og

In Irish mythology, Óengus (Old Irish), Áengus (Middle Irish), Aengus or Aonghus (Modern Irish) is a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration. He was said to have four birds symbolizing kisses flying about his head (whence, it is believed, the xxxx’s symbolizing kisses at the end of lovers’ letters come from).
He is also called Aengus Óg (“Aengus the young”), Mac ind Óg (“son of the young”), Mac Óg (“young son”) or Maccan. [wiki]

We also find him in Scottish Mythology as Angus mac Og.

Brighid

In Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid (“exalted one”) was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was the wife of Bres of the Fomorians, with whom she had a son, Ruadán. She had two sisters, also named Brighid, and is considered “a classic Celtic Triple Goddess”. [wiki]

When her son died, she is said to have lamented his death with the first ‘keening’ (a sort of unearthly death-wail) heard in Ireland. She is also said to be the Goddess of the Hearth. Her love is that of the family and the home.

Danu/Aine/Anu

In Irish mythology, Danu  is the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Old Irish: “The peoples of the goddess Danu”). Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land. [wiki]

The Goddess known as the primordial Mother Goddess giving birth to the Gods, her children, known as the Tuatha De Danaan. Her love, again,  is that of the Mother. Some commentators see Brighid as a form of the Mother Goddess also, equating their roles.

Gods in Welsh Myth

Arianrhod

Arianrhod is a figure in Welsh mythology who plays her most important role in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. She is the daughter of Dôn and the sister of Gwydion and Gilfaethwy; the Welsh Triads give her father as Beli Mawr. In the Mabinogi her uncle Math ap Mathonwy is the King of Gwynedd, and during the course of the story she gives birth to two sons, Dylan Ail Don and Lleu Llaw Gyffes, through magical means. [wiki]

Due to the ‘improper’ nature of her conceptions and later births (i.e. the unknown father), she is seen as the Goddess of Lust and Desire.

Blodeuwedd

Blodeuwedd Pic: Wiki

Blodeuwedd or Blodeuedd, (Middle Welsh composite name from blodeu ‘flowers, blossoms’ + gwedd ‘face, aspect, appearance’: “flower face”), is the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology, made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and the oak by the magicians Math and Gwydion, and is a central figure in the fourth branch of the Mabinogi. The hero Lleu Llaw Gyffes has been placed under a tynged (a doom or fate) by his mother Arianrhod that he may never have a human wife. So as to counteract this curse, the magicians Math and Gwydion: [take] the flowers of the oak, and the flowers of the broom, and the flowers of the meadowsweet, and from those they conjured up the fairest and most beautiful maiden anyone had ever seen. And they baptized her in the way that they did at that time, and named her Blodeuedd. Some time later, while Lleu is away on business, Blodeuwedd has an affair with Gronw Pebr, the lord of Penllyn, and the two conspire to murder Lleu. [wiki]

Blodeuwedd’s story is primarily about Love – real, fallible mortal love, It is more than the ‘lust’ that the births of Arianrhod suggest and it is yet something that we can all relate to in our long-term relationships, our married lives. It is a human love.

Branwen

Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr is a major character in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, which is sometimes called the Mabinogi of Branwen after her. Branwen is a daughter of Llŷr and Penarddun. She is married to the King of Ireland, but the marriage does not bring peace. In Ireland, Branwen is eventually treated cruelly by her husband Matholwch as punishment for Efnisien’s mutilation of the horses (though not before she gives birth to an heir, Gwern). She tames a starling and sends it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brother and Bendigeidfran brings a force fromWales to Ireland to rescue her. [wiki]

The love that Branwen shows is the true love that brings about sacrifice, she agrees to go to a foreign country to pledge peace with her marriage – she gives her self in sacrifice. This purity of heart is where she gets her name Branwen from: meaning white (or pure) breast. The earlier version of her name is Bronwen and its derivation is white crow, again her singularity and value as the most beautiful woman in the world is made clear here.

———————————

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 Descripition 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.

Pic: IoM Gov.

Archaeologists may have unearthed evidence of a prehistoric tragedy at Isle of Man Airport. They are working on a theory that fire could have razed a Bronze Age village to the round in a cataclysmic conflagration in the area known as Ronaldsway.Prehistoric remains including three human skeletons, discovered during earthworks for the airport runway extension project, made headlines around the world. The excavations have been completed some two weeks ahead of schedule and the site cleared ready for construction work to resume.

It was initially thought that pottery fragments dated back some 4,000 years to the late neolithic era. But following a further study of the artefacts, experts from Lancaster-based Oxford Archaeology North have provisionally revised that chronology by some 500 years. It is now believed that what has been uncovered is a further part of a Bronze Age settlement first discovered when the runway was built in the 1930s.

Several of the half-dozen circular structures unearthed at the site featured charred earth indicating evidence of burning. The experts now believe these are Bronze Age homes dating back 3,500 years that appear to have burnt down. Two cairns, in which were found the human skeletons, appear to be slightly more recent. One of the burials contained fragments of a ring or bangle which had been worn around the upper arm.

Andrew Johnson, field archaeologist at Manx National Heritage, said:

We now think these circular structures are Bronze Age homes. It certainly seems possible that some of these buildings have in some way been burnt down. The site stretches from a south west to a north east direction and it does seem likely that if fire took hold in the south west then, given the direction of the prevailing wind, the possibilities of disaster are obvious. It’s an interesting speculation. The cairns appear to have been built slightly later, potentially after the conflagration. Perhaps in what psychologists would now describe as a process of closure, the settlement’s use was changed from a living community to a place of the dead.

Hundreds of pottery shards and pieces of worked flint were recovered, together with domestic rubbish in the form of shellfish and bones. Mr Johnson said the age of the remains had been revised after a much more detailed look at the pottery fragments. Radiocarbon dating may be used to get a more accurate date for the human skeletons. He said:

We are certainly not disappointed that we are now looking at Bronze Age rather than neolithic remains, absolutely not. Slight revision of working theories goes with the territory. All artefacts have been removed for study and conservation and a preliminary report will be prepared by Oxford Archaeology. It is likely that the team will return in the spring when construction work moves to the eastern end of the airport where the promontory is to be built out to sea.

Source

Originally posted 2008-10-01 07:29:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

COPIES of a book which combines ancient Manx folklore and the modern world are being given to school children across the Island.

Students at King William’s College, Castletown, were the first to be given copies of Fynoderee, a book written by former pupil Alexander Caine and inspired by the school’s history.

The book is an adventure and modern myth, where the old worlds of ancient Manx folklore collide with today’s modern world with life threatening consequences.

Fynoderee tells the story of Juan Kerruish, a boy only ever noticed by the school bullies, whose world is about to turn upside down.

When he meets Bea the Fynoderee, a creature thought to exist only in myth, he discovers that he carries a message from the past that could change the course of the future.

The story has been compared to the books in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy

‘Fynoderee is not like Harry Potter or His Dark Materials, and it’s not set in Hogwarts or Middle Earth. It’s actually set in their home with landscapes they will recognise, and stories and characters that are part of their heritage,’ Alexander said.

‘Folklore can give people, and children especially, solid roots to a place that I hope they will never forget. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the Isle of Man with many of these wonderful stories around me.

‘The Island’s folklore is one of the richest in Europe, with a wonderful combination of Nordic, Celtic and Manx characters coming out of our landscape.

‘Now living away from the Island in the hustle and bustle of London, Fynoderee is in many ways my own love letter to the island, and a celebration of its magnificent scenery and rich array of characters and tales.’

Fynoderee is being distributed by Isle of Man publishing house Lily Publications, based in Ramsey. Copies are being given to every Island school, funded by businessman Roy Tilleard.

www.fynoderee.com

source

Originally posted 2008-06-19 19:02:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Pic: Designs of Tattoos

Early Celtic people were famous for their skills and talent in artwork of metal, jewelry, and even weapons. Throughout Ireland, there are many evidence of Celtic artwork and Celtic crosses. The Celtics are also well known for being warriors and regarded as fierce fighters by the Romans.

Throughout the years, modern Celtics evolved and established symbols for themselves along the way. They often wear these symbols to let others know that they are of Celtic descent. Despite very little written history that time, the symbols and knowledge have been passed down from generation to generation. Tattooing is one art form that immortalize these symbols to keep the Celtic tradition alive with the infamous Celtic cross, Celtic knots and other popular Celtic art.

The Celtic Cross is a symbol of Christianity so as a tattoo design it is a visual representation of faith and heritage. During the early days, it was used as a symbol of protection and territoriality across Europe. The intricate Celtic knot featuring loops with no end symbolize a never ending cycle of dying and rebirth. The pure and detailed knot tattoo designs are normally never ending, unless an individual adds an end to symbolize a spiral. These knots have a much deeper meaning in that they represent the repeated crossing of both physical and spiritual elements. The strands are symbols of life, love and faith. Celtic tattoos are also used to express one’s origin; that is, he is of Celtic descent like the Irish, Scots or Welsh,

Celtic tattoos are complex and contains a lot of details like knots, spirals and mazes. If you opted to go for one, make sure that you choose a tattoo artist who can render this design skillfully. You do not want this tattoo to go wrong especially if it will be an expression of how proud you are of your heritage.

If you are looking for Celtic tattoo designs, check out Celtic Tattoos and Photos

Or you can go straight to our Tattoo Gallery to choose your own tattoo design.

Author: Marilen Kapchan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Import duty

The Manx Grail Chronicles. In 1868, on the Isle of Man, an ancient Druid order murdered the consort to their Queen for failing to produce a male heir. Unbeknownst to them, the dead man carried a secret of his own – the location of the fabled Holy Grail. Nearly 140 years later, Robert Corkish uncovers artifacts that lead him on a riddle-driven race to find the Grail, taking along his wife, his cousin Christian, a local librarian, and a couple of Australians who carry their own secret with them. It is an intriguing novel inspired by a true event, filled with lively characters, ancient folklore ranging from the Knights Templar to King Arthur, and a provocative mystery that should interest anyone curious about literature, mythology, folklore, history – or who enjoys a good thriller.

That is the story behind the fascinating novel by John Shimmin, who says "Don’t look to history for truth — history often takes on the agenda of the teller. Mythology may hold more clues to ancient truths than history." [Amazon]

A statement that I personally cannot agree more with!

Read on to see the videos he has made to introduce his story… Continue Reading »

Pic: Agence Bretagne Press.

Some people on Mannin/Isle of Man may not use the Manx language (Gaelic) from one week to the next, but for others, it is an integral part of their daily life. Very few people these days on the Island would argue that the language is dead, when it is seen and heard all around – on the radio, in newspapers, on signs, used on the street and learnt by hundreds of children at school – and growing on a scale not known for over a hundred years reports the Agence Bretagne Presse.

However, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the Manx language is extinct and it is not the only Celtic language on list. On Thursday (19th February) UNESCO’s ‘flagship activity’ the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger was updated, which attributed an ‘extinct’ status to both the Manx and Cornish languages. Continue Reading »

Pic: iomtoday

The Isle of Man Today reports that artefacts believed to be 4,000-years-old discovered at Isle of Man Transport Minister David Anderson’s farm in Patrick have been donated to the national museum collection. The two copper axeheads and a blade were unearthed by a metal detector enthusiast Rob Middleton in a field at Ballamoar earlier this year.

They date from the early Bronze Age (2500 – 2150 BC) in a period sometimes called the Copper Age when metal working was in its infancy and was beginning to replace flint as the new, modern material. Continue Reading »

Pic: Wikipedia

Made unique by its small or lacking tail, Manx is a cat breed that belongs to the Isle of Man, next to Britain, where it has resided for many centuries. A number of legends afloat as regards the origin of this cat, with many stories being part of the local culture. Some believe these cats were brought to the island by one of the many ships that passed through that region, whereas others consider the animals to be native to that part of the world.

Continue Reading »