Irish Culture

The Celtic Nations

Alba Cymru Kernow Mannin Galicia Briezh Eire

Scotland Wales Cornwall Isle of Man Spain Brittany Ireland Cead Mile Failte (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes)

   

Ancient Celts had migrated to as far east as the Galatea in Asia Minor, and to the west as far as Spain and the British Isles, around the 5th century BC. The empire was divided into tribal divisions. Celtic tribes warred against each other With spread of their migration, there was a spread of their language and traditions

Timeline

 

900 BC – Celtic speaking people in England 400 BC – Celtic speaking Celts from Spain arrive in Ireland

    

500 BC - Celts reach Britain 400 BC - Celts Invade Italy 387 BC - Celtic Gauls defeat Rome at Alia 279 BC - Celts invade Greece



51 BC - Caesar defeats Celts in Gaul (France) 663 AD - Council of Whitby decides for Roman over Celtic Church

The Three Celtic Paths of Life:



The Bardic Path

– World of the Sea, the Mind, the Past, Ancestors, Lore, Genealogy, Songs, Poetry, and Storytelling (History) 

The Druid's Path

- World of the Sky, the Spirits, the Future, the Gods and Goddesses of the tribes, Theology, Administration, Politics, Adjudication 

The Seer's Path

- The World of Land, the Body, the Present, Nature Spirits, Herbalist, Healing, Alchemy, Weather and Divination



The Druids were the Male/Female Priests of the Celtic people.



they formed an intellectual class comprising philosophers, judges, educators, historians, doctors, seers, astronomers, and astrologers.



The word "Druidae" is of Celtic origin meaning "an oak." and "knowledge"



The oak is a sacred tree to the Druids.

  

Druids filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, and scholar - they were the religious intellects of their culture.



To become a Druid, students assembled in large groups for instruction and training, for a period of up to twenty years.



capable of many supernatural powers such as divination & prophesy, control of the weather, healing, levitation, and shapechanging they had a clientele like a doctor One Roman author, Diogenes, placed the Druids on a list of the ancient world's wisest philosophers, mathematicians and astronomers

• • •

Druids hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows provided it is an oak. They choose the oak to form groves, and they do not perform any religious rites without its foliage Anything growing on those trees [oaks] they regard as sent from heaven and a sign that this tree has been chosen by the gods themselves.



Many Druids were women; the Celtic woman enjoyed more freedom and rights than women in any other contemporary culture, including the rights to enter battle, and divorce her husband.

Trees

• •

The 'tree' is dynamic life itself, the result of HEAVEN, EARTH, and WATER; rooted in the earth and reaching toward the heavens An evergreen symbolizes immortality

DRUID CALANDER

 

the Druids developed a calendar



The months correspond to the Celtic Tree Alphabet. For each month there was a designated tree. From this a 'tree calendar' wheel emerged The Druidic view was that the earth was in darkness at its beginning, that night preceded day and winter preceded summer . Thus, Nov. 1 was New Year's Day for the Celts, their year being divided into four major cycles.



The onset of each cycle was observed with suitable rituals that included feasting and sacrifice. It was called The Festival of Samhain linked with Halloween.

Druid Observances

 

Druids recognize eight particular times during the yearly cycle four are solar and four are lunar – balance between male & female power



At the Solstices, the Sun is revered at the point of its apparent death at midwinter and of its maximum power at the noon of the year when the days are longest



At the Equinoxes, day and night are balanced.

Druid Stonehenge Site

Samhuinn or Samhain 1 November

Samhain (pronounced sow en) meaning "Summer’s End," is celebrated on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

the veil between the mortal and the supernatural was lifted



Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic new year. “Fleadh nan Mairbh” (Feast of the Dead) is the time the ancestors were honored and the dead were remembered. the Spirits of the Dead and those yet to be born of the clan walked freely amongst the living.

Food and entertainment were provided in their honor. In this way the clan remained in unity with its past, present and future.

Carving pumpkins and turnips stem from the days when the celts were active headhunters. They believed that the spirit resided in the head. They also believed that if they controlled the head of an enemy they had killed in battle, and displayed the head at Samhain they would be safe from roaming spirit It was however remolded into the practice of carving vegetables to keep away harm intending spirits.

Lughnasadh or Festival of Light 1 August

Mainly concerned with harvest time Traditionally, this was also the time when marriages were contracted. There were many fairs, games and races. It does in a very real way honor Thallium, who as a Goddess of the land, sovereignty, and is the Earth Mother.

Lughnasadh was the season of handfastings, or trial marriages that lasted a year and a day After that time the couple had to return to the same place at the fair the following year to make their contract a permanent one. They also had the right to declare themselves divorced by walking in opposite directions away from each other.

  

Great importance is attached to the bristles of the boar which symbolize strength.



Fish, salmon in particular, are associated with knowledge



Birds are usually used to represent prophetic knowledge Horses, cattle, and pigs represent fertility. The prosperity of the clan is reflected in the prosperity of its herds.

 

Each well, a spring, a river, a mound, or a grove often is likely to have its own spirit.



Spirits and supernatural beings also take animal forms to guard something. According to Celtic myths, each holy place generally has a spirit guardian in the form of an animal.

Water places would have a guardian in the form of a fish.



Gods from the other world can assume animal forms for other reasons