#Celtic#TempleThursday: Beira, the queen of winter, had Bride imprisoned at Ben Nevis. When Angus Og, the God of Summer, found her, winter had to give way to #spring. The painting ´The Coming of Bride` by John Duncan is full of spring flowers: primroses, azaleas, laburnum, lilac, tulips and grape hyacinth. #Imbolc
Source: Angus and Bride - Folklore Scotland
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: During the bleak period of winter #Brighid is held a captive prisoner at Ben Nevis as she awaits her hero, the youthful god Aengus mac Óg who would appear to represent the winter solstice sun returned from the Underworld. It is after he beholds Brighid in a vision that he sets out on his milk white steed from his #Otherworld Island drenched in perpetual summer to rescue the imprisoned goddess. The #Cailleach attempts to stop him at each step of his journey, however, it is in vain as Aengus secures Brighid’s freedom at #Imbolc. As the Cailleach storms away in a fury she flings her wand with one last gasp of resentment towards the roots of a holly bush as a final curse when #spring once again returns.
Source: Wade MacMorrighan „Rekindling the Rites of #Imbolg“
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „Another in kind parable portrays #Brighid and the #Cailleach not as imminent challengers, but as two sides of the same coin. As the season of #winter draws to a close the Cailleach again journeys to the #Otherworld island of Tír na n-Óg where she searches a deep wood for the magickal Well of Youth. At the moment when the dawn sun crests over the horizon she bends to drink its bubbling waters from the crevice of a rock and emerges renewed as the fair goddess Brighid. Where her enchanted wand once caused all vegetation to wither and die, it now transformed the dormant brown grass into vivid green shoots surmounted by the yellow and white flowers of #spring.“ #Imbolc
Source: Wade MacMorrighan „Rekindling the Rites of Imbolg“ https://twitter.com/RubyFaesRealm/status/1620681046210785281
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „Bride knew Beira’s reign was coming to an end. Nevertheless, the Goddess of Winter rode off to each compass point, hammering at the earth in the attempt to keep the #spring away.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast of #Scotland, the God of Summer, Angus Og resided on the Green Isle of Summer, also named the ‘Land of Youth’. He had dreamed of a beautiful maiden weeping, and when he awoke he asked his father, the King of the Isle, about his dream. The King tells Angus that Beira holds Bride captive because Bride is the fair princess Angus is to marry, and when he becomes King of Summer, Bride is to be his Queen.“
Source: Angus and Bride - Folklore Scotland
„When Angus at last came upon Ben Nevis and freed Bride from her prison, the Fairy Queen stepped out of the forest to greet them. She waved her wand, transforming Bride’s tattered clothes into a beautiful white and silver robe. In her right hand, she held a white wand adorned with golden corn-stalks, and a golden Horn of Plenty in her left. The linnet was the first bird of the forest to hail Bride in all her beauty, and is dubbed by the Fairy Queen the ‘Bird of Bride’, and the oyster catcher was the first bird to chirp in joy on the shore, and the Fairy Queen named it the ‘Page of Bird’ hereafter. And so the Fairy Queen wed Angus and Bride, and as they walked forth, they came across a river coated in ice. Bride dipped her fingers in, and Ice Hag shrieked and fled as the ice melted under Bride’s touch.“ #Celtic
Source: https://folklorescotland.com/angus-and-bride/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „Beira, on hearing the jubilant trilling of the birds and the cries of “Spring has come!”, set off at once to wage war against Angus. When he caught sight of Beira bearing down on them in all her wrath, Angus sprang onto his steed with Bride and they fled back to the Green Isle off the West Coast of #Scotland.“
Source: https://folklorescotland.com/angus-and-bride/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: On the Green Isle of Summer, Angus and Bride spent many happy days, though Angus longed to return to #Scotland to reign as the King of Summer. He would make many attempts to return, but Beira raised storm after storm after storm to chase him away. However, Beira eventually grew weary for she was a hag in the winter, and longed to drink from the Well of Youth again. She threw her hammer underneath a holly tree and rode west to the Green Isle. There, on the dawn of the next day, Beira drank the water from the well to become beautiful and young again.
Source: https://folklorescotland.com/angus-and-bride/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „Angus and Bride both returned to #Scotland, and were welcomed as king and queen.
And so winter gave way to spring, and then summer and autumn as Angus and Bride continued to rule, only for Beira to rise again to reign over winter. And so the seasons came to pass upon Scotland.“
Source: https://folklorescotland.com/angus-and-bride/
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