August 2014.

Dana’s Blog:

Lughnasadh.

The Festival of Lughnasadh survives in Ireland to this day.

The Celtic day starts at sunset and the celebrations take place on the evening before August 1st. The festival marks the end of summer with the noticeable descent of the sun and the beginning of the harvest season before the darkness of approaching winter.

In Celtic mythology, Lugh, one of the chief gods of the Tuatha Dé Danann, established the Festival of Lughnasadh as a funeral and games feast in memory of his foster-mother, Tailtiú. The first Aonach Tailteann (Teltown games) was held when Tailtiu was buried on the banks of the river Blackwater in County Meath. The games included hurling, running, long and high jump, spear throwing, boxing and other sports. Perhaps the Tailteann games were the precursor of the Olympics. What do you think?.

Lughnasadh marks the ritual first cutting of the grain, making a meal and eating it. Lughnasadh is a good time to express our gratitude for the many harvest blessings we receive. It was, in olden days, considered unlucky to gather fruits or dig potatoes before August 1st.

Fire, as with the other Celtic festivals of Samhain, Imbolc and Bealtaine, does not play a major role in the Lughnasadh festivities, perhaps because the weather is warmer at this time. Dancing and storytelling was part and parcel of it and also featured at Aonach Tailteann ,

Do you celebrate Lughnasadh?

 

 

 

May 2014.

Dana’s Blog:

Bealtaine.

Bealtaine, pronounced Bael-tuh-nuh, is an ancient Celtic festival associated with fire and the sun.

Literally, Beal taine means ‘bright fire,’ and the hill of Uisneach, which is not far from Tara, was associated with Bealtaine.

The Nemedians invaded Ireland at Bealtaine in the year 1731 BC, and their chief druid, Míde, built a fire at Uisneach which is said to have blazed for seven years. Geoffrey Keating records that there was a ceremonial gathering at the Hill of Uisneach each Bealtaine. Using the flame from Uisneach, fires were ignited on the other sacred hills of Ireland and on low ground. In ancient Ireland, building a fire was a way to establish ownership of a site. Archeological excavation at the top of the Hill of Uisneach in 1927 unearthed a large area of scorched earth containing the charred bones of many animals.

Did you know that Bealtaine heralded the return of summer? Cattle were driven to summer pastures. A common tradition involved driving a herd of cows between two bonfires in the belief that this would purify the herd and ward off evil for the year.

Yellow flowers like primrose, marsh marigold and hawthorn blossoms, were gathered before dawn on May 1st and placed in bundles on doorposts to ward off evil. The sídhe were said to be unusually active at this time. May dew was said to beautify the skin and was also considered a cure for many skin ailments. Holy wells were visited and the May bush, usually a thorn bush, was decorated with ribbons and flowers.

Do you celebrate Bealtaine?

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

 

Feburary 2014.

Dana’s Blog:

Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar. It was originally dedicated to the goddess Brighid, daughter of the Daghda and Tuatha De Danann goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. Brighid is often represented by a flame as she is the Celtic goddess of fire. Imbolc, like Samhain, is deemed a fire festival. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of the warmth of the sun over the coming months.

Legend says that Brighid was born at sunrise and that a tower of flame reached from the top of her head to the heavens. She is patroness of the hearth. The home fire was kept going by day and each evening the woman of the house would smoor the ashes over the fire and ask for the protection of Brighid on the occupants. In ancient times in Ireland, the Brigid’s cross, a woven square in the centre and four radials tied at the ends, made from rushes, was believed to protect the home from fire and evil.

Imbolc heralds the return of spring when the first snowdrops and crocuses start to blossom. It is a celebration of the lengthening days. It marks the beginning of the agricultural year, spring sewing, and first ploughing, the lambing season, fishermen taking out their boats and seaweed gathering; to be used for fertiliser.

Lady Augusta Gregory, (in Gods and Fighting Men, 1904) states that the name Brighid means Brea-saighit which is the Irish for a fiery arrow. Brighid was revered as goddess of healing, wisdom, perfection, poetic excellence, smithcraft and skill in warfare.

At the Mound of the Hostages in Tara, the inner chamber of the passage tomb is aligned at Imbolc with the rising sun, as it also is at Samhain. The Mound of the Hostages is a Neolithic Period passage tomb. It is contemporary with Newgrange which is over 5000 years old.

Today, we celebrate Imbolc, 1st February as St Brigid’s day, Lá Fheile Bríde, and Lá Feabhra-the first day of spring.

 

 

 

October 2013.

Dana’s Blog:

It’s Halloween. We, the sídhe, call it Samhain. This is the time of year when the veil which separates our worlds is at its thinnest, and when you are most likely to see us in the flesh, in a manner of speaking. Of course as spirits, we are not really in the flesh. We can float through walls, through the air and through water.

Samhain is one of our great festivals. Why not come and join our celebrations. We, the sidhe, will be out and about tonight. All our sidhe doorways will be open. On this night, in olden times, people bought gifts of food which they left at our doorways and sometimes we invited them to dance away the night with us.

Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic New Year is, like New Year’s Eve, a good time to make plans and to focus on new things.

Did you know that at Samhain, your ancestors thanked the sun for its warmth during the year and asked it to return again when winter was over? Once they moved their animals to safe places and carefully stored their grain in barns, they extinguished their house fires and came to the hilltops where they lit huge bonfires. Sometimes they lit two bonfires side by side and walked through the gap in the middle in the belief that this renewed their strength. They relit their home fires with embers from the Samhain bonfire.

Tara: Tara, in county Meath, is a very special place. It was the Celtic capital of Ireland and the main residence of the high kings of Ireland. At Samhain, the entrance passage to the Mound of the Hostages on the hill of Tara is aligned with the rising sun.

Do you light a bonfire at Hallowe’en as your ancestors did?

I look forward to hearing from you.