A new dictionary of Gaelic will be as important as “great art collections” held by national galleries, a university figure has said. Strathclyde’s Boyd Robertson, convener of the Faclair na Gaidhlig project steering group, commented ahead of the launch of a business plan for it.

The aim is to produce a dictionary on a par with the Scottish National and Oxford English dictionaries.

Four universities and Gaelic college Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye are involved. Continue Reading »

A Celtic goddess of love, harmony and fertility, Aine of Knockaine is an Irish fairy queen and is associated with the great Celtic mother goddess, Dana,

She was once the wife of the Earl of Desmond, and promised to stay with him as long as he kept his word to never show surprise at any of their son’s antics. Unfortunately, the Earl of Desmond couldn’t help but to be startled when he witnessed his son jumping in and out of a bottle, so Aine promptly left him and returned to the land of the fairy, Cnoc Aine (Aine’s Hill) in County Limerick. The Earl of Desmond didn’t fair quite so well, and was turned into a wild goose.

Aine was also known to have been married to the great sea god, Manannan Mac Lir. But it seems she found mortal men quite irresistible, and had many mortal lovers, which resulted in many children that were half fairy and half mortal. Some say it is for this reason that she was bestowed with the title of “Fairy Queen.” Continue Reading »

The Heaven-World of the ancient Celts, unlike that of the Christians, was not situated in some distant, unknown region of planetary space, but here on our own earth. As it was necessarily a subjective world, poets could only describe it in terms more or less vague; and its exact geographical location, accordingly, differed widely in the minds of scribes from century to century. Sometimes, as is usual today in fairy-lore,

Pic :Mark Grealish

it was a subterranean world entered through caverns, or hills, or mountains, and inhabited by many races and orders of invisible beings, such as demons, shades, fairies, or even gods…

And the underground world of the Sidhe-folk, which cannot be separated from it, was divided into districts or kingdoms under different fairy kings and queens, just as the upper world of mortals. We already know how the Tuatha De Danann or Sidhe-folk, after their defeat by the Sons of Mil at the Battle of Tailte, retired to this underground world and took possession of its palaces beneath the green hills and vales of Ireland; and how from there, as gods of the harvest, they still continued to exercise authority over their conquerors, or marshaled their own invisible spirit-hosts in fairy warfare, and sometimes interfered in the wars of men…

“Many go to the Tir-na-nog in sleep, and some are said to have remained there,
and only a vacant form is left behind without the light in the eyes
which marks the presence of a soul.”
~~ A. E. ~~

More frequently, in the old Irish manuscripts, the Celtic Otherworld was located in the midst of the Western Ocean, as though it were the ‘double’ of the lost Atlantis; and Manannan Mac Lir, the Son of the Sea–perhaps himself the ‘double’ of an ancient Atlantean king–was one of the divine rulers of its fairy inhabitants, and his palace, for he was one of the Tuatha De Danann, was there rather than in Ireland; and when he traveled between the two countries it was in a magic chariot drawn by horses who moved over the sea-waves as on land. And fairy women came from that mid-Atlantic world in magic boats like spirit boats, to charm away such mortal men as in their love they chose, or else to take great Arthur wounded unto death. And in that island world there was neither death nor pain nor scandal, naught save immortal and unfading youth, and endless joy and feasting… Continue Reading »

We’ve just been interviewed for the first time! Gregory Lemon, of the Myth Show, interviewed us about Celtic Mythology for his Show, which deals with myths and folk-lore. As it was our first interview we were quite nervous and Greg did a great job of putting us at our ease and getting us to talk about the subject we love. The whole interview was a lot of fun and we found some good common ground between us.

Congrats again to Greg for editing the audio. We were using Skype across the Atlantic and there was some serious lag, which he has managed to eradicate from the finished audio to make an extremely listenable interview.

One of the ways he put us at ease was to send us his intended questions beforehand. They were very good questions because they asked some very down-to-earth questions that we wouldn’t have thought of beforehand. Questions like

• Who were the Celts?
• Are the tales from the Celts more myth (based-in religious worship), folklore (tales of heroes, historical or fantastical), or both?
• What different “cycles” are found in Celtic mythology?
• Who are some of the more important figures from Celtic Mythology?

Some easier than others to answer! Even today, scholars are arguing over who the Celts were as well as the derivation of the Myths. There is just so much material.

We’d like to offer Greg a big thank you for making our first interview such a pleasant experience and urge you to have a listen and see what you think. His show is well worth a listen if you are interested in mythology because he tries to discover and explain the mythological themes behind many of our more well-known and modern-day myths. He uses Joseph Campbell’s theories (the Momomyth especially) to explore and explain works by Disney.

You can find the Myth Show here and our interview here.

Andrew West has just published an amazing blog about the recent Time Team discovery of an Ogham stone on the Isle of Man. He throws doubt upon the transliteration/translation made by the Time Team’s expert, Kate Forsyth from Glasgow University. Andrew makes a well argued claim that the inscription is not a record of Fifty Warriors fighting Viking marauders but instead, in common with most other Ogham finds, a commemorative marker for an individual.

His blog explains: Continue Reading »

English Heritage has commisioned Wessex Archaeology to produce a Teacher’s Kit for schools taking kids to the Avebury monuments. About Avebury, the English Heritage site says: “Avebury rivals - some would say exceeds - Stonehenge as the largest, most impressive and complex prehistoric site in Britain. Built and altered over many centuries from about 2850 BC to 2200 BC, it now appears as a huge circular bank and ditch, enclosing an area of 281⁄2 acres (111⁄2 hectares), including part of Avebury village. Within this ‘henge’ ditch is an inner circle of great standing stones, enclosing two more stone circles, each with a central feature.”

The Kit will help schoolchildren heading for Avebury and the surrounding monuments make the most of their trip to the World Heritage Site. It is a downloadable resource for teachers of Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils. As well as information sheets for teachers there are on-site investigation sheets, puzzles, maps, treasure hunts and other games and activities to help pupils to learn about the history of these historical sites in an entertaining and engaging way. [Wessex Arch. News] Continue Reading »

Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. It was built over 4,000 years ago in the Neolithic period. Today part of the Avebury World Heritage Site, the monument’s purpose and significance for prehistoric people remains unknown. The Guardian has reported that the work to prevent this ancient monument from collapsing has been completed. On 29 May 2000 a hole unexpectedly appeared on the top of Silbury Hill. A shaft had become open to a depth of 14 metres. Despite attempts to safeguard it, in December the top collapsed to leave a large crater, damaging important archaeological deposits.

The secret of Silbury Hill, the most enigmatic prehistoric monument in Europe, isn’t the monument but the monumental effort which went into building it, according to the archaeologist who has spent most of the last year slipping around on wet chalk deep in the heart of the hill. Continue Reading »

The BBC tells us that Dr  Donna Heddle has warned that without action to preserrve the linguistic celtic heritage, the old languages would become lost. Orkney-based expert Dr Donna Heddle said without one they would become “devalued and lost”. She was commenting ahead of a conference, Voices of the West, which will be held in Inverness in June.

Dr Heddle, director of the Centre for Nordic Studies at Orkney College UHI, said:

Focussing on education and broadcasting allows us to look at minority languages at work. This conference underlines the fact that we need to learn from each other and work together to produce a unified strategy, otherwise these languages will be devalued and lost. We will lose our tongues and without our tongues we cannot speak for ourselves.

Source

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Tara Hill was one of the most venerated religious spots in early Ireland and the seat of the High Kings of Ireland from the 3rd century until 1022. Despite its importance, the expectant visitor may be disappointed in what he sees as, at Tara there are no signs of regal past, nor impressive remains, only the remains of earthworks.

But this cluster of megaliths represents a part a larger system capable of recognising specific parts of the lunar and solar cycles. In the case of Tara, it the chamber of the Mound of hostages’ is aligned to mark the November, February quarter days, along with Dowth and Cairns L and U at Loughcrew. Tara is only 10 miles distant from The Boyne Valley, which is clearly visible from there.

We thought it was about time to give you an update on the progress of the Campaign to Save Tara. At the moment, building is continuing and it seems that Tara’s only hope lies outside of Ireland. Continue Reading »

One of the Vikings’ most important trading centres has been discovered in Ireland. The settlement at Woodstown in County Waterford is estimated to be about 1,200 years old. It was discovered during archaeological excavations for a road by-pass for Waterford city, which was founded by the Vikings.

The news was announced by the BBC, and they say:

Almost 6,000 artefacts and a Viking chieftain’s grave have been discovered at the site, which was established by the year 860. The grave contains a sword, shield and silver mark.

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