Grianstad an Gheimhridh (Winter Solstice) and Hogmanay

Fàs is gnàths is toradh
growth, tradition, success 

On Hogmanay morn, we gather water from under the bridge, which became
"a dead and living ford" the first time we brought a deer carcass across,
and which has now witnessed the passage of several of our beloved dead. 
photo copyright ©2014 kpn

The winter snows have come, the nights are long and cold. We gather with our loved ones and hold each other close.

Yes, we've made more Gaol Naofa videos :)  Annie took point on these, and we have her lovely photos from Newgrange and other sacred sites in Ireland and Scotland. For those of Scottish heritage who may not have known why secular/calendar New Year's Eve is a big deal in our families of origin, we have the answer: Hogmanay.

Hogmanay is a time for saining the house and welcoming in the New Year. While the dour Celtic mindset supports the idea of beginning the year at the falling darkness of Samhain, there is something about the Winter Solstice sunrise that lights a spark in my heart: The longest night of the year is broken by the rising sun, shining down the long passage at Brú na Bóinne, bringing light to the ancestors and announcing that now the days will grow longer, bit by bit, until warmth and green return to the land.

As a people who see time as a circle, and spirit as eternal while only matter rises and falls, dies and is born again, I'm not particularly interested in the debates about which day is "The Celtic New Year." Arguments can be made for pretty much any point in the cycle, depending on one's work, where one lives, and which deities and spirits are most important to us. 

The phrase  "Fàs is gnàths is toradh (Growth, custom, and fertility)" is traditionally said by the head of the household as they bring a twig from a local fruit-bearing tree inside to the breakfast feast. It is customary to sain one another and entire house at this time, with water from "a dead and living ford" (a watercourse over which both the living and dead pass), and to fill the house with so much juniper smoke that everyone begins to cough. This means that all your smoke alarms will also be going off. I consider it part of the festivities. But any of the alarms that are hooked into a security system will need to be turned off. Trust me, your local firefighters will appreciate being spared the false alarm. If you forget and they show up anyway, you can consider it a bizarre variation on first-footing. Make sure to offer them abundant hospitality.

As everyone is coughing and the alarms are blaring, it is time to fling open the doors and windows and welcome in the brisk, cold air of New Year's morning. We do a brief welcome and prayer in Gaelic at each door and window we fling open, welcoming the household's guardian spirits and the qualities we hope for in the coming year. It is customary at this time for the hearthkeeper of the household to offer everyone a nip of whisky. As a sober household, we use strong, alder-roasted or hazelnut coffee and espresso chocolate.

Then everyone sits down to a big breakfast, which symbolizes the abundance we hope for in the coming year.

Good Hogmanay to our Gaol Naofa family and extended community!
Fàs is gnàths is toradh!

For an abundance of lore and more suggestions for celebrations, see Annie's collection of links to her articles and research. 

 

Samhain

And we have... another video. This time on Samhain, with songs, poems, prayers and activities:



Annie did a good writeup about the videos, so I'll just send you her way. We also have some updates on the Gaol Naofa page.

 Blessed Samhain to you all!

Summertime... and the Frauds are Frontin'

Midsummer is a sacred time in many cultures. The sun is at her strongest, the weather is lovely and folks are outside.

Yes, I said, "her." In the Gaelic languages, the sun is female.

Irish Goddesses associated with the sun are Áine and Grian. Áine's time is midsummer, her symbols include the bright red summer sun and the red mare. Her sister, Grian (whose name is also simply the name for the sun) looks to be associated with the pale, white sun of winter, and in my personal experience she has an association with a pale, light gold mare. In Ireland, the two sisters have sacred hills near one another, where people have torchlit processions and make offerings to honour them.

Here on Turtle Island (the North American continent), many Nations also hold this as a time for ceremony, and it is a favored time for interfaith gatherings, worldwide. Interfaith gatherings can vary widely. Those run by traditional people are best, in my opinion, but it is also important to make sure people are involved who understand the protocols of the various groups participating. It's unfortunately common for people from unfamiliar cultures to take advantage of those running interfaith gatherings, by misrepresenting themselves to folks they hope won't know too much about the cultures they claim to represent.

To this end, the crew at Gaol Naofa, with help from the CAORANN stalwarts, have put together some memes and leaflets to help navigate these issues. We have several formats of three basic documents, depending on what sort of social media you prefer, or if you want to print them out.

Introductory Leaflet about Gaol Naofa and Gaelic Polytheism

A Brief Guide to Spotting Offensive Celtic Ceremonies

A Brief Guide to Recognizing Authentic, Respectful, Celtic Traditions

If any of the content seems confusing, we go into more detail in the wordier versions on the pages above, as well as in our collection of articles. 

Enjoy the summer sun, ceremony season and reunions with family and friends. Slàinte Mhath!

Irish Fairy Beliefs: Interview with Folklorist Dr. Jenny Butler

Here is an excellent interview with Dr. Jenny Butler about the living traditions of the Creideamh Sí ("Fairy Faith"). She discusses those who have maintained these traditional ways of interacting with (or at least respecting) the spirits, along with some discussion of Irish polytheism in general.

At the end the interviewer also seems to know about those of us involved in the preservation, revival and reconstruction of the old Irish ways and asks about the modern communities. While I wish she would have made a bit more of a distinction between the various folks who either observe these ways now and those who are simply inspired by them, as that only came up in the last segment and was not the focus of the interview it's understandable there were only generalizations.

Definitely worth a watch, especially as an intro to the Creideamh Sí.

Go raibh maith agaibh, a Jenny (agus a Mhícheáil for posting this)!



A bit more detail about the Creideamh Sí:

The Creideamh Sí is the foundation of our spiritual work in Gaol Naofa. The Creideamh Sí, aka "the Fairy Faith" is a collection of customs and beliefs which make up the living Gaelic ways of interacting with the local spirits. Most of the people who have maintained these ways down into the present day consider themselves to be Christian. I think it is very important to respect the living traditions and not try to redefine these terms to fit modern, American pagan sensibilities. So, the Creideamh Sí is a part of most contemporary Gaelic Polytheist paths. But any attempt to redefine "Creideamh Sí" to only mean "Modern Gaelic Polytheism" kind of misses the point and is offensive to those in the living cultures, without whom we would have nothing.

Gaelic Polytheist Rites and Customs

I am very pleased to note that my An Chuallacht Ghaol Naofa colleagues Treasa Ní Chonchobhair and Annie Gormlie have posted some excellent work lately.


Ritual within Gaelic Polytheism is a solid introduction and overview of the earth-based ceremonies and customs that survive in Ireland and Scotland (and the diaspora). Some of the surviving traditions were lightly Christianised, others not so much. They've kept this work very traditional, and have been excellent about noting when a practice has undergone reconstruction, or when presenting ideas for reconstructing a more elaborate version of a surviving practice. I think they've successfully walked that line we all try to balance in GP, that of giving people enough ideas to be able to pray and observe the customs on their own, without publishing anything too private or personal about ceremony.

In (De)constructing Reconstructionist Ritual, Annie looks deeper into the common themes present in Gaelic rites, and discusses the process of maintaining tradition as well as looking to the ancient Celtic practices for additional material.

Due to it being a basic, consensus introduction, and needing to cover a wide variety of subject matter, we were only able to touch briefly upon specific rituals in the CR FAQ. Much work has been done in the past four years, and these articles are a welcome addition to the field. 'S math sin!

TEMATOETECOMO!

Or, Raven's and my KILLYOUANDEATYOU! article, in Portuguese:

TEMATOETECOMO!

Would you believe, we have Celtic Reconstructionists in Brazil. This is the third piece of mine that's been translated into Portuguese.

This has been Multilingual Celts: Part One. Stay tuned for more. ;-)