CATHAL, King of Munster, was a good king and a great warrior. But there came to dwell within him a lawless evil beast, that afflicted him with hunger that ceased not, and might not be satisfied, so that he would devour a pig, a cow, and a bull calf and three-score cakes of pure wheat, and a vat of new ale, for his breakfast, whilst as for his great feast, what he ate there passes account or reckoning. He was like this for three half-years, and during that time it was the ruin of Munster he was, and it is likely he would have ruined all Ireland in another half-year. Now there lived in Armagh a famous young scholar and his name was Anier MacConglinney. He heard of the strange disease of King Cathal, and of the abundance of food and drink, of whitemeats, ale and mead,

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there were always to be found at the king’s court. Thither then was he minded to go to try his own fortune, and to see of what help he could be to the king. 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 »

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.

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An update to our post about the new theory about the origins of the Celts, which can be found here, the ABP Welsh Communique gives us a little more detail. The full text of the article can be found here. In his O’Donnell Lecture at the University College, Bangor, Professor John Koch said that on the basis of an extensive continent-wide overview of linguistic and archaeological evidence, he has come to the conclusion that a Celtic civilisation and culture had originated on the Atlantic West of Europe in the Bronze Age.

Recent DNA researches has shown that contemporary British people – Celts and Anglo-Saxons alike – have more in common with the Basques than any other race group. This finding has attracted confusion and amusement in the popular English press. Continue Reading »

In the year 43 AD, Roman legions splashed ashore in Kent, unopposed by the Britons led by Caractus, who had sworn to repel them. The Emperor Claudius had dispatched Aulus Plautius and 45,000 men to conquer the mist-covered island where Julius Caesar had failed almost a century earlier. Over the next 40 years, Roman would clash with Celt in a series of battles that neither realized would determine the future of Western civilization. The Romans broke the Britons, whose furious courage could not match Roman discipline. The island would pass under Roman rule for the next several centuries, implanting a Latin-oriented culture and shoving Celtic ways to the very fringes of Europe. All that would remain were their legends; not least among them the fiery leadership of Boudicca, warrior-queen of the Iceni and resolute enemy of Rome.

The Rome at War series covers Roman battles against both their neighbors and each other. The first game, Hannibal at Bay, covered the last battles of Carthage’s favorite son. The second, Fading Legions, focused on the empire’s latter years, when it was beset by barbarian invasion, an implacable rival, and civil war. Continue Reading »

Dmitry Davydov has a blog which he claims will link to as many Free Documentaries as he can find - well done, Dmitry! Amongst the first few he has found are five 48 minute episodes presented by Dr. Francis Pryor. Dr Pryor is a familiar face to Time Team viewers and specialises in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Dmitry says: In this visually stunning, provocative new series, best-selling writer and archaeologist Francis Pryor offers an inspiring new view of Britain before the Roman invasion. He shatters the received wisdom that we were a relatively uncivilised bog people inhabiting a misty island, just waiting to be taught how to live by the invaders.

You can also find some audio by Dr Pryor talking about Flag Fen here. Google videos goes on to say: Continue Reading »

St. Maughold of the Isle of Man, Bishop(also known as Macaille, Maccaldus, Machalus, Machella, Maghor, Maccul) Died c. 488. Saint Maughold was an Irish prince and reputedly a captain of robbers who was converted by Patrick. Upon his conversion, he became a new man by putting on the spirit of Christ. One version of the legend says that Patrick told him to put to sea in a coracle without oars as a penance for his evil deeds.

Isle of Man

Another says that he set sail in order to avoid the temptations of the world. In both stories, he retired to the Isle of Man (Eubonia) off the coast of Lancashire, England. Continue Reading »

It is the most delightful land of all that are under the sun; the trees are stooping down with fruit and with leaves and with blossom. Honey and wine are plentiful there; no wasting will come upon you with the wasting away of time; you will never see death or lessening. You will get feasts, playing and drinking; you will get sweet music on the strings; you will get silver and gold and many jewels. You will get everything I have said…and you will get gifts beyond them which I have no leave to tell of.”

“ Thus it was that the Otherworld, the mystical enchanted land of many Celtic myths, was described to the warrior Oisin by the faerie-woman Niamh of the Golden Hair.

In Irish myth, the Otherworld was created as the domain of the divine race of the Tuatha de Danaan following their defeat by the Milesians (Ireland’s fifth and last race of invaders). The Milesians, it was decided, would rule the visible part, while the Dananns took possession of the invisible regions below ground and beyond the seas. This Otherworld was accessible through lakes, caves and above all the Sidhe or faerie mounds, the countless prehistoric burial mounds such as those of the Boyne in Co. Meath. Continue Reading »

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 »

As the Isle of Man Today informs us an Ancient Greek explorer’s extraordinary voyage took him to the Isle of Man 300 years before the birth of Christ, new research claims. Scientist and geographer Pytheas (pronounced Puth-e-as) is now believed to have visited the Island in about 325BC to take sun measurements during a three-year voyage – the first recorded circumnavigation of the British Isles.

Pytheas (Πυθέας), ca. 380 – ca. 310 BC) was a Greek merchant, geographer and explorer from the Greek colony Massilia (today Marseille, France). He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe around 325 BC. He probably travelled around a considerable part of Great Britain, Continue Reading »