Links and things for Bealltainn...

Now that Bealltainn is officially less than two weeks away, I thought I'd do a round up of some bits and pieces that you might find useful if you're looking for some inspiration, or an idea of what the hell it is!

First off, last year I did a video for Gaol Naofa's Youtube channel that gives a good introduction:

And if you want to do some reading for a more in-depth view then you might find the two-parter I did on Tairis a while ago useful:

• Bealltain Part One
• Bealltain Part Two

There's also a piece on Celebrating Bealltainn, and a short article on Rowan and Red Threads with a ritual for hanging the charms as well.

Over on Gaol Naofa, there are some songs and ideas for Bealltainn crafts. The songs include:

• Thugamar Féin An Samhradh Linn
• Tiocfaidh An Samhradh
• Thig, A' Chuinneach, Thig

The latter link is a churning song (with links to a few others), since churning butter at Bealltainn is an important activity. Bannocks and caudle also form an important part of the celebrations (in Scotland), and you can find more information, along with some good reads about Irish customs, at the following links:

• Beltane Bannocks at the Carmichael Watson Project
• Festival Bannocks and Caudle
• Caudle Recipe
• Traditional May Day Customs

There's also a wealth of poetry relating to the coming of summer that can provide inspiration and make a nice addition to celebrations and devotions:

• Laa Boaldyn
• Summer Has Come
• Song of Summer
• In Praise of May
• Seasonal Quatrain: Bealtaine
• The Old Woman of Lia Nothain

Book review: Myth and Magic: Scotland's Ancient Beliefs and Sacred Places

Myth and Magic: Scotland's Ancient Beliefs and Sacred Places
Joyce Miller

This book is on the Gaol Naofa recommended reading list, but until now I hadn't had a chance to read it myself.

Over all, this is a nice little book and an easy read, and I think it makes a good introductory book for anyone looking to learn about things like sacred places (both Christian and pre-Christian) and the beliefs associated with them, along with a bit of an overview of the Good Folk and other Otherworldly beings, and the kinds of charms, amulets, and talismans that are traditional to Scotland. It's going cheap, second-hand, so that's always a plus, too.

Some of the chapters are effectively lists of different kinds of places around Scotland, while other chapters give an introduction to different kinds of subjects -- healing and holy wells, festivals and rituals, stones, amulets and talismans, superntatural beings, and so on. We start off with one of the chapters that lists places of interest -- shrines and pilgrimages in this case, which I found a little off-putting to start with. A little preamble about them first would've been nice. Each entry in this chapter is listed by the saint we're dealing with, and there's a brief overview of the site (or sites) they're associated with. Then we move on to a more conversational sort of chapter, detailing the ways in which healing and holy wells are used. I preferred these kinds of chapters, as they were more informative and the listed chapters were a little repetitive, going over material or sites already covered elsewhere, and I'm not sure the choice of listing them by saint, or name of the site, is terribly useful. If you want to look up sites in a particular area or location then it gets fiddly...

For the most part the information given is pretty solid, and there's some genuinely interesting stuff in some of the chapters that I've not seen elsewhere. The chapters towards the end of the book - on stones, and on talismans and amulets, and the one on supernatural beings offered the more interesting stuff, for me, but it's a shame there aren't any references given anywhere in the book. There's a short, but pretty solid bibliography, but that's about it.

This problem with lack of sources is especially unfortunate when it comes to some of the more interesting tidbits I found in the book. In the second chapter Miller mentions a St Triduana, who she describes as a "Pictish princess from Rescobie in Angus... Triduana had converted to Christianity but she was desired by a pagan prince Nechtan. The prince particularly admired her eyes but, rather than submit to him, Triduana is said to have plucked out her eyes and sent them to her admirer on a thorn." As far as I'm aware there aren't any names of Pictish women recorded, so this reference piqued my interest. Looking into it further, however, I can't find any agreement that Triduana was actually a Pict. So just be aware that sometimes the author seems to put her own spin on things.

One serious niggle I have with the book is in the chapter on festivals and rituals, which gives some rather dodgy information:

Imbolc or St Bride's Day was the feast of the Celtic spring goddess, and celebrated the first day of spring. Beltane was associated with the feast of Bel, ruler of the Celtic underworld, and celebrated the renewal and growth of crops and the land. Lugnasad, or the feast of Lugh, was the same as Lammas and marked the start of the harvest. Samhain -- the feast of the dead -- marked the end of the yearly cycle and the first day of winter.

I mean, at least it doesn't say that "Samhain" is a god of the dead, right? But Bel just isn't a thing and Lúnasa and Lammas are two separate (though admittedly similar) festivals, and "Celtic" just isn't a useful term to use here... So although I'd recommend the book, I'd also recommend taking the information given with a pinch of salt unless you're already familiar with what's being talked about from other sources, or you follow it up yourself. For the most part it's really OK, but there is the odd clanger here and there. It's not a major downer, and it's par for the course in any book, but it needs noting, I think.

The title kind of implies that you're going to learn loads about pre-Christian belief and practice, but if you go in expecting to find this then you'll be disappointed... What you will find is a good overview of Scottish folklore and folk practice, and in this respect it's a good complement to F. Marian McNeill's The Silver Bough series, in particular. Miller covers much of the same ground, but gives a little more detail here and there, especially when it comes to places, so I think if you're looking for a more rounded view of Scottish folklore then it's a good book to get hold of. All in all, a good read with a few caveats.

New article!

Gorm's already made a wee post over on his blog, but time zones being what they are it was a little late to get round to it on this side of the Pond last night...

Gaol Naofa's latest article is up on the site! The article is by Sionnach Gorm himself, and it's titled History, Myth and Genocide: Real and Imagined; Or The Pagan Problem with Patrick. As you might guess by the subject matter, the original aim was to get the article up in time for St Patrick's Day, but alas, deadlines? Meh. So we're putting it out now because it's just too good to sit on until next March.

The article takes an in-depth look at the history of St Patrick and the way he's presented in the sources we have about him, as opposed to the less... realistic... view that's often circulated -- he's a genocidal maniac! He killed the druids! Weugh! Arg! I give you exhibit A as evidence:

Which I moaned about myself in a post last year. Although, as we note in the announcement over on the Gaol Naofa website, the wailing and anguished gnashing of teeth has died down somewhat in recent years, the recent theft of the statue of Manannán prompted some rather ignorant comments about "Christian's trying to finish what Patrick started," which shows that there are still misconceptions about who Patrick was and what he actually did during his time in Ireland. Gorm does a great job in showing that this kind of view just simply isn't based in reality, and I think it's a really important piece that needs to be read.

This article is the final part of a trilogy from Gorm, with part one on Gorm's blog titled Leprechaun Vomit… or why I hate St. Patty’s, and part two up on the Gaol Naofa site titled Pagans, Polytheists, and St Patrick's Day. They're all well worth a read!

That time of year again...

Dare I say it? There doesn't seem to have been too much silliness in the run up to St Patrick's Day as there has been in previous years... Not so much as a whisper of genocidal maniacs, no yelling about snakes or druids... Is it too good to be true? Am I being a little premature?

Either way, I figured it might be a good time to do a round up of some links and videos that might be of interest. I'll start with a little humour:

Although alas, I've no idea who to credit for it... If you take a look at the Paddy Not Patty Twitter feed, you'll see it's all very SRS BZNSS. People are very attached to ole "Patty." Incidentally, the guy behind paddynotpatty.com has been interviewed here, it's good stuff!

This time of year marks the first anniversary of Gaol Naofa's Youtube channel, and the first couple of videos we did back then focused on various aspects of St Patrick's Day. Our first video looks at the harmful stereotypes vs. the realities that often come hand in hand with the day:

While the second video takes a look at the history and misconceptions surrounding the man and the saint, from the snakes as druids (except not!) to the idea of some pagans celebrating it as a "Day of Mourning" as a result of these misconceptions:

Fellow Gaol Naofa colleague, Sionnach Gorm, wrote a great article to accompany the videos as well, asking the question:

How do we, as devout polytheists, reconcile the historic reality that our ancestors (at some point in the 5th-6th century CE and with no evidence of coercion) chose to turn to a god of bells and tonsures, of monks and scriptures, of Rome and the Papacy? Why would they “abandon” the gods of their ancestors, and choose this newfangled Christ and his missionaries?

You can read the article on the GN website here.

Last year I kind of nearly reached critical mass on the whole business, but I might as well link to the post I wrote then, because it ties in neatly with Gorm's article and the videos. Seeing as the videos and the posts touch on Sheelah's Day, which falls on March 18th and traditionally marks the beginning of spring and the end of the wintry storms at this time of year (just as Là na Caillich does in Scotland, on March 25th), I might as well link to a post giving an overview of it that I did a couple of years back. 

Kathryn and I are currently working on overhauling the festivals section of the Gaol Naofa site, expanding on what's already there for the Quarter Days and adding articles for the "lesser" festivals in Gaelic Polytheism as well, including one for Sheelah's Day. In the meantime, we already have a video on Sheelah's Day and Là na Caillich that might be of interest:

Elsewhere on the web, there's a great post on the Vox Hiberionacum site announcing a new audio guide on St Patrick called Six Year's a Slave, with a bit of a historical overview about the man himself there. The audio guide looks really interesting! 

Decision made on Manannán statue

After the final meeting of Limavady Borough Council this week, a decision has finally been made to commission a replacement for the Manannán statue.

After the statue was found in February, exactly one month to the day since it had been stolen, the sculptor was contacted by the council to see if it could be repaired. Aside from the damage to the base, where it had been hacked away from the rest of the sculpture, the back of the head had been completely detached and there were dents and marks all over it. It was eventually decided that the statue was beyond repair and the best option would be to replace it. The new sculpture, which will be an exact replica (with some extra reinforcements to help strengthen it) will take at least five or six months to complete. It seems the council have decided to meet the cost of replacement themselves, rather than opting to set up an online fundraiser as had been mooted at the last meeting.

The statue was initially discovered by a group of ramblers, only 300 metres from its original position at the Gortmore Viewing Point. Given the search efforts that were made shortly after the theft, which included a helicopter sweep of the area, it's assumed that the statue had only been moved to that position recently, perhaps even the night before it was discovered. The ramblers who spotted the statue alerted some soldiers who were on a training exercise nearby (something that caused a little controversy), and the police were called. One of the soldiers involved in the recovery said that it took three men to move the statue up onto the roadside, so clearly there were a number of people involved in the theft, as has already been speculated.

During the council meeting, it was suggested that the original sculpture could be put on display in a local arts and cultural centre:

“I think the damaged statue itself presents a double whammy, and a golden opportunity to make it an actual tourist attraction within the town centre, which would be of great interest to schools and visitors to learn about the background to the Broighter Gold legend.”

-- Councillor Mullan, Damaged statue represents a 'golden opportunity'

Which sounds like a great idea -- I'd love to be able to see the original statue as well as the new replacement if I'm ever able to go and visit the place (I certainly plan to the next time I'm over in Ireland). Perhaps predictably, however, the suggestion prompted something of an outcry, with a TUV councillor raising concerns that making a tourist attraction out of it "...would promote paganism and false gods":

...Mr Mullan said he was taken aback by the reaction his suggestion ignited from his fellow councillors. Among those who vented their disapproval was the TUV's Boyd Douglas who said he was unhappy the statute had been erected at all. 

"I don't believe in these false gods. Councillor Mullan's suggestion to link a paganistic monument with the Broighter Gold is ridiculous." 

Belfast Telegraph: Celtic statue row: TUV man blasts 'false gods and pagans'

Which totally ignores the fact that there's a good reason that Manannán mac Lir is associated with the Broighter Gold in the first place! And really. Sorry, Mr Douglas. The cat's pretty much out of the bag on this one, with or without a statue...

The councillor might not have much truck with it, but the fact of the matter is, the theft has garnered a huge amount of interest worldwide and more people are interested in going to see the statue -- new or old -- than ever before, regardless of their own personal beliefs or lack thereof. To argue against responding to this interest and refusing to put the damaged statue on display is a disservice to those in the area who could benefit from the increased tourism, a point that Councillor Mullan himself made when he withdrew the proposal.

It's a shame, but at least there hasn't been any serious opposition to replacing the statue up on Binevenagh Mountain itself. Manannán will return.