#Celtic#MythologyMonday: According to legend, beneath the Ail na Mirean lies the Danann Goddess #Eriu, after whom the Milesians named #Ireland. She was the Mother Goddess of the land; the rocks formed her bones, the earth her flesh, the rivers her veins.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Uisneach derives from the #Irish word for water, uisce, and a god of the Tuatha de Danann named Nechtan. Not a great deal is known about Nechtan; the name is possibly a variant of Nuada Argetlam, or some say another name for the Dagda. The Hill of #Uisneach is said to be located near Nechtan’s well, which also happens to be the source of the River Boyne. The interesting thing about Nechtan’s Well, is that it might also be the same pool where Fintan, the Salmon of Knowledge, ate the nuts which fell from the nine enchanted hazel trees into the water, and thus acquired his knowledge.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: King Tuathal Techtmar was supposed to have lived at #Uisneach in the first century AD, as was the Dagda, High King of the Tuatha de Denann before him. #Lugh Lamfháda was said to have been drowned in the lake at the summit which is named after him, and buried beneath a cairn beside it.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: The sea way to Tír na nÓg was called the honey road, the path made by the sun through Moy Mell, the Plain of Honey. This was the third realm over which Manannán claimed dominion.
Source: https://emeraldisle.ie/manannan-mac-lir
#Celtic#MythologyMonday for #MerMay: There was much celebration to be had when the Lady Knockdolian was delivered of a baby- at last, an heir, the family name and future was assured. The baby slept soundly until a mermaid’s cry disrupted their nights. Lady Knockdolian decided to drive the #mermaid away by destroying her favourite perch below the castle’s windows. In response to this, the mermaid sang quietly a curse:
“Ye may think on your cradle- I’ll think on my stane,
An’ there’ll never be an heir to Knockdolion again”.
Source: The Vengeful Mermaid - Folklore Scotland
#Celtic#MythologyMonday for #MerMay: There was much celebration to be had when the Lady Knockdolian was delivered of a baby- at last, an heir, the family name and future was assured. The baby slept soundly until a mermaid’s cry disrupted their nights. Lady Knockdolian decided to drive the #mermaid away by destroying her favourite perch below the castle’s windows. In response to this, the mermaid sang quietly a curse:
“Ye may think on your cradle- I’ll think on my stane,
An’ there’ll never be an heir to Knockdolion again”.
Source: The Vengeful Mermaid - Folklore Scotland
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: After her favourite spot beneath the castle windows had been destroyed at the behest of Lady Knockdolian, a mermaid had cursed the family. Tragedy followed: the death of the heir, more stillborn children, the Lord’s sudden death, and the Lady’s own demise. Over the years that followed, the castle at Knockdolian lay abandoned and fell to ruins. The family had, just as the mermaid’s curse foretold, become extinct.
Source: The Vengeful Mermaid - Folklore Scotland #MerMay
#Celtic#MythologyMonday for #MerMay: Most often, the groagez are described as being solitary in their retreats under the sea, in a rock or in the sands, but some stories tell of an entirely female family life. They do not abandon their children or leave changelings. Sometimes they are accompanied by a green water horse and a pikeman.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groac%27h
James Macgrigor encountered a Kelpie disguised as a stallion. Recognizing it, he stroke its nose with his claymore, severing its magical bridle bit. The Kelpie pleaded for its return, revealing its transformational powers and ability to reveal hidden beings: “If you look through the holes in the bit, you will see all manners of fairies and witches and devils.” Macgrigor lifted the bit to his eyes and peered through, and sure enough, the world he saw was bright with colour and full of beings invisible to the human eye. He was so enamoured by the contraption that he wanted to study it in more detail. He was also not deaf to the Kelpie’s claim that without the bit, he would die, and Macgrigor saw an opportunity to free the people of the surrounding area from the Kelpie’s reign of terror.
Macgrigor, captivated by the bit’s power, decided to study it further, leaving the Kelpie in a vulnerable state. Despite the Kelpie’s pleas and threats, Macgrigor cleverly kept the bit, learning about the #Otherworld. #Celtic
„Rarely is a Kelpie the victim of a trick, but after that day, no one went missing on the banks of Loch Ness ever again, all thanks to the cunning of James Macgrigor.“
Source: The Kelpie of Loch Ness - Folklore Scotland https://twitter.com/gonzalokenny/status/1790707801330688016?s=19
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: One night, a group of merfolk shed their seal skins to play on the shore. A Shetlander found a skin and a beautiful mermaid lamenting its loss. He refused to return it, offering marriage instead. They lived together for years and had children. One day, a child found the hidden skin. The mermaid bid her children goodbye, returned to the sea, and left the human world forever. She confessed to her second husband, who stood miserably on the shore: “I always loved my first husband best.”
Source: The Mermaid Wife - Folklore Scotland
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „The Giant Finn McCool scales the frontage of the country's
former National Wax Museum in Dublin (the building was later demolished in 2006 to be replaced by a 'Comfort Inn' hotel). Once inside, visitors could see the giant's head looking down on them from the staircase ceiling!“
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Mythical creatures and #animals with body parts potruding from their mouths stand for the eternal cycle of death and reincarnation.
Source: Natural History Museum Vienna
#Celtic#MythologyMonday for #MuseumDay: The Three Gods of Art (‘Trí de Dána’) settled in an area called Magh Rein, on the borders of Co Cavan and Co Leitrim. From there, it’s not a long trek to Corleck Hill, where a carved stone head with three faces was found, now on display at the Museum of Archeology in Dublin.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: Crannogs were in use in #Ireland from the middle Bronze Age into the seventeenth century. A crannog is an artificial island constructed from brush, timber, clay, peat and stone, often supported by timber piles. Large stones were added to their edges, probably to protect them from the force of the water. The surface would have been topped with a fine layer of earth and sand. The old Irish word is crannóc, from crann, meaning ‘tree’ and óg, meaning ‘young’. It is not known if this term refers to the island itself, or the structures built upon it.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Culann, the smith, who was also a Divine and Prophet, is said to have lived for a time on the Isle of Man, where he manufactured sword, spear, and shield of such transcendent excellence for Conchobar, that he was invited by him to dwell in his realm.
Source: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/fim/fim04.htm#Celtic
Each Fenian warrior was equipped by the smiths working in the caves of Keshcorran with a sword and spear of superlative quality. „Each sword had a different name, details of which were related in the tale. Fionn’s sword was called Mac an Luin. The happy warriors were also provided with accommodation and when they awoke next morning,
they found themselves back on Slieve Luachra still bearing their new weapons.“
Source: Antiquarian Research in Co. Sligo as a Background to the #Mythology and Archaeology of Moytura by Eamonn P. Kelly #Celtic
#Celtic#WyrdWednesday: In ancient #Ireland „the role of a physician was a hereditary one. He passed down his skills and knowledge to his offspring, and often to apprentices living with the family. In later years, this wealth of information was written down in manuscripts and books. The most famous of these is the Book of the O’Lees.“
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/p/march-wise-woman-or-witch
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „The names of the #Irish goddess #Medb and the #Gaulish goddesses #Meduna and the #Comedovae may be derived from an Indo-European word *médhu– signifying ‘honey’, ‘intoxication’, and designate the fermented drink extracted from honey, that is ‘mead’. If this etymology is correct – other possibilities have been suggested -, their names may be therefore glossed as ‘Goddess of Intoxication by Mead’ or ‘Mead Goddess’.“
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Dandelion flowers can be used in beer-making, added to cordials, and used to flavour vodka. In medieval times a brew was made with mead and fermented dandelion and burdock roots.
Source: Ali Isaac from H A G <aliisaac@substack.com>
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Both the warrior-queen #Aoife and #Scathach had raised an army & were about to fight each other. Scathach didn't mention this to #CúChulainn, for the handsome youth had become dear to her, so she gave him a sleeping draught to make him slumber through the battle, as she believed Aoife too much for any man to defeat. Although the potion would have conquered the senses of anyone else, CúChulainn lay asleep for but an hour before stirring.
Source:https://emeraldisle.ie/the-trials-of-cuchulainn
#MythologyMonday: The #TuathaDéDanannrefined the art of brewing until the ale of their smith and brewer #Goibniu was strong enough to endow the drinker with immortality. #Irish epics connect ale with the festival of #Samhain, when the boundaries between this world and the #Otherworld were blurred.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
The #druid from the #Glauberg (@Keltenwelt_News) probably wears leather armour and the shield and dagger of a warrior. His gold jewellery shows that he must have been very rich. He wears a leather cap called a "mistletoe crown". #Celtic
Source: zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfinfo-doku/die-druiden-geheimnisvolle-priester-der-kelten-102.html
Druid from the Glauberg, World of the Celts in Glauberg, photocredit 1. Neu-Kelte