#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „Near the village of Tressé, a cow owned by the fairies was said to have caused some damage in the meadow of a farmer whose anger was swiftly assuages by one of the fairies who gave him a piece of bread in compensation, telling him that it would neither shrink nor harden as long as he kept it a secret.“ https://bonjourfrombrittany.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/the-fairies-of-the-swells/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: A story from #Brittany „relates that, after a long absence, a lord returned to his castle with a beautiful young woman whom he had married in a distant land. She always wore dresses so long that no one, not even her husband, had seen her feet. Indeed, it was only after having sworn never to look at them that he was able to become her husband. They lived happily until one day he scattered some ash on the floor of their bed chamber. The instant she entered the room, her husband saw the imprint of crow’s feet on the ash. Carried away by anger and pain, the lady, a most powerful fairy, cursed the lord and his lands; the castle sank into the earth with all its inhabitants and was covered by water. The site it once occupied now forms a lake whose depth no one has yet been able to fathom.“ https://bonjourfrombrittany.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/the-fairies-of-the-swells/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „During the wars of the Revolution one of the fairies that lived near Saint-Cast once fell in love with one of the soldiers garrisoned nearby. She followed her lover and kept him safe wherever the army sent him. Indeed, while they were together, the soldier was never injured and only knew the taste of triumph. However, the fairy subsequently abandoned him and all luck left him immediately; he was wounded and all the battles in which he fought ended in bitter defeat.“ https://bonjourfrombrittany.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/the-fairies-of-the-swells/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: A fisherman was floundering off the coast. Through the evening mist he saw a white-clad woman beckoning him ashore. Anxious to avoid the treacherous rocks that skirted the coast, the fisherman tried to tack away from the shoreline but was helpless against the power of the waves. His small boat was quickly engulfed and was smashed against the walls of a cave where he lost consciousness. He awoke the following morning to find himself in a smart new boat filled with clean tackle and a great catch of fish. https://bonjourfrombrittany.wordpress.com/2023/01/14/the-fairies-of-the-swells/
The river and land goddess #Boane was renewed in her daughter Etain. Elcmar prophesied that the baby would become the most beautiful woman in Erinn, but that all the men who were intoxicated by her beauty would burn with hatred and strife among themselves. And this is exactly what happened to Midyr, Oengus and High King Eochaid Airem.#Celtic
Source: Ingeborg Clarus „#Keltische Mythen“
In England mazes called Gillian Bowers were cut into turf. In springtime the young men ran races through these turf mazes, while a woman imper- sonating the otherwise unknown folkloric figure #Gillian was “imprisoned” at the center of the maze and “freed” by the race’s winner. A ritual of freeing the sun maiden from her winter captivity seems implied by the game. A goddess named Gillian, perhaps ruling the springtime, may have given her name to these sites.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: „Poor Bridget Cleary is often cited as the last witch burned in Ireland, but this is not true. She was murdered by her deranged husband in 1895, who claimed that when she became ill, she had been abducted by fairies, and a changeling left in her place. So he set her alight and burned her to death.“
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: Denounced as a witch, Dame Alice Kyteler fled the country. Her maid, Petronella de Meath, was tortured until she confessed and implicated her absent mistress, Dame Alice. She was then publicly flogged and carted around the city streets as an example to the city folk. Finally, on the 3rd of November 1324, poor Petronella was burned at the stake, sadly she wasn’t the last.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: In European folklore, a need-fire (Scottish Gaelic: tein'-éigin) is a fire kindled by friction, which is lit in a ritual and used as protective magic against murrain (infectious diseases affecting cattle), plague and witchcraft. It was a tradition in parts of northern, western and eastern Europe until the 19th century, among Germanic, Gaelic and Slavic peoples. A need-fire would usually be lit when there was an epidemic such as an outbreak of plague or cattle disease. In some regions, a need-fire was lit yearly to prevent such disasters. In the Scottish Highlands they were lit each year at #Beltane.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-fire
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: The first woman in Ireland to be officially denounced as a witch was Dame Alice Kyteler in the thirteenth century. All her four husbands died one after the other relatively shortly after the wedding. Alice was by then an extremely wealthy woman in her own right and ran a very popular inn. By all accounts, she was quite a character, and did not at all fit into the social norms for women at that time. With hindsight, it’s perhaps not surprising that she was singled out for retribution. Alice’s inn is still going strong to this very day… it’s now known by the name of Kyteler’s Inn, and is reputed to be frequented by Alice’s ghost. To get the full Alice Kyteler story, you can download a FREE copy of A contemporary narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler : prosecuted for sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, bishop of Ossory.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Parthelon and his people invaded #Ireland and fought a magical battle in which they were successful against the Fomori people by using the one-legged crane dance (corrghuineacht) which involved all the warriors standing in positions of power on one leg, with one arm behind their backs and one eye closed.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack https://x.com/MJDougherty33/status/666174804815249408
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: The Morrigan used the one-legged crane dance (corrghuineacht) when she forecast Cormac’s doom in Togail Bruidne Dá Choca.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: The #Irish ritual of the one-legged crane dance curse (corrghuineacht) is a form of magic-working, the power of which is intensified when practised standing on one leg, with one arm outstretched, and with one eye closed like a crane (ir. corr). The ritual position itself is known as glám dícenn (meaning ‘satire which destroys’). It was thought that the open eye was able to look directly into the magical #Otherworld, whilst standing on only one leg indicated being present in neither one world or the other.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Prior to the Second Battle of Moytura, #Lugh, God of Lightning, was heartening the men of #Ireland by the crane dance curse (corrghuineacht). He chanted as he went leftwards round the men of Erin, on one foot and with one eye closed.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „The crane (or perhaps the grey heron) was thought to have associations with the moon, and was sacred to the Triple Goddess. It was thought to represent magic, shamanic travel, learning and keeping secrets, reaching deeper mysteries and truths.“
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „Once, the cat was much admired for its independence, stealth and hunting prowess. In medieval times, this love of cats, particularly black cats, was considered a sign of witchcraft, and the cats were burned alive, along with the women who owned them, or were thought to own them.“
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: „The mythical Cait Sidhe is a large black cat said to be the size of a dog. It was thought that witches could transform themselves into a Cait Sidhe eight times, but that on the ninth, they would remain in their cat form. Thus we have the origin of the cat with nine lives, and the fear of black cats and their associated witchy owners.“
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: Ancient pagan religions were matriarchal; they believed in the Goddess and Mother Earth, and venerated the ability of the female to bring forth life. The year was counted by lunar cycles, unlike today’s Gregorian calendar, of which there were thirteen, and also thirteen menstrual cycles in a year.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: The moon is associated with the divine feminine as the female cycle was linked to the phases of the moon. In #Ireland, #Aine was Goddess of love, growth, cattle and light. Her name means “bright” as she lights up the dark. Although the origins of this superstition cannot now be traced, some say it goes right back into our distant pagan past.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
Senchán Torpéist gathered all his poets to see which one of them could recite the whole of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, also known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley, but none of them could. His son, Muirgen, was said to have gone to the grave of Fergus mac Róich (King of Ulster and Queen Medb’s ally and lover), where he fell asleep, and thus learned the true story in a dream from Fergus’s ghost.#Celtic
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
Fionnbheara, King of the Munster Sidhe (don’t let them hear you calling them ‘fairies’) was so enamoured of a mortal woman named Eithne, that he cast a spell which sent her into a deep sleep. In her dreams, she was able to visit him in the Otherworld. This has implications of shamanism, in which the shaman enters the Otherworld through dream or vision in order to communicate with ancestors, the Gods, or other spirits.#Celtic
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#FolkloreThursday: The #Celtic summer began with the #Beltane (‘bright fire’ or ‘lucky fire’) festival on May 1. Beltane celebrates the start of summer, the crop and pasturing season. Although scholars are non-commital, many of us believe #Beltane honors the ancient continental #Celtic sun and healer God #Belenus.
Source: #OBOD, the Order of #Bards, #Ovates and #Druids
#Beltane ("Fire of Bel") was a central festival of "balance" in honour of the king at the end of the dark season of winter and the beginning of the light season of summer.
Source: Le Roux/Guyonvarc'h „Die #Druiden“ #Celtic
#WyrdWednesday#LegendaryWednesday: The meaning 'Bel-Fire' possibly refers to the god Belenus (Helmut Birkhan „#Kelten“).
After Epona, he was the #Celtic deity most frequently mentioned by ancient authors in Gaul, Noricum, Illyria, Britain and Ireland. #Beltane