#Celtic#MythologyMonday: When her travail seized the horse goddesses #Macha all the spectators felt themselves seized with pangs like her own and had no more strength than a woman in her travail. And Macha prophesied: From this hour the shame you have wrought on me will fall upon each man of #Ulster. In the hours of your greatest need ye shall be weak and helpless as women in childbirth. And so it came to pass.“
Source: #Myths and #Legends of the #Celtic Race by Thomas William Rolleston
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: King Áed Ruad was killed. When his daughter #Macha Mong Rua (Mongruad), Red-Haired Macha, took his place, both Cimbáeth and Díthorba opposed her claim in battle. However, she was the stronger and won, afterward wedding Cimbáeth and killing Díthorba.
In #Scotland Carlin, a name for the #Cailleach as a harvest divinity, was the name given to the spirit of #Samhain, the end of the harvest. The sheaf representing her was exhibited in the home to discourage #otherworldly visitors.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
RT @mageachain @placenamesni The last sheaf of the harvest was known as the cailleach, the granny, the churn... and in north Antrim and parts of Scotland as the carlin(g) (kerling)
#Celtic#FolkloreThursday: On The Sequani Calendar the #fallequinox is marked as three part celebration of the coming of winter and the acceptance of death. The first phase of the 55 night celebration is the Sacred Marriage of the people to the land. The king, as representative of the tribe, marries the goddess of the earth and reaps her harvest. This takes place in the dark half of the lunar cycle of the month of Equos on the Sequani Calendar. The horse goddesses #Epona and #Macha represent the celebration.
Source: Helen Benigni/Barbara Carter/Eadhmonn Ua Cuinn „The Myth of the Year“
As she died, the goddess #Macha cursed the men of #Ulster, declaring that every time an enemy threatened, the warriors would become weak as women— some interpret this as ghost labor pains—for five days and four nights, for nine generations.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore