Singing Manannán Home - New Video and Memes

The search for the Limavady Manannán statue continues. As Gaelic Polytheists, as people involved in cultural preservation, we are continuing to assist the effort, via networking and raising the alert via the Gaol Naofa and CAORANN pages on Facebook and Twitter (Gaol Naofa Twitter, CAORANN Twitter), and now with a new video and some more memes.


For this video we have compiled some of the many, astonishingly beautiful photos of the statue and land in Limavady, County Derry, Ireland (Léim an Mhadaidh, Co. Dhoire, Éire), plus a prayer we are using to call Manannán home. This video also has the Manx lyrics synched up with the corresponding verses in the song, to better facilitate learning.

We are calling Manannán from wherever he is, to show himself in the world, and to reveal the whereabouts of the statue. If the statue has been destroyed, we will support efforts to have it replaced. But it is up to the people of Limavady, and the sculptor, John Darren Sutton. The Limavady town council has expressed interest in replacing it themselves. After all, they originally commissioned the piece as part of their sculpture and heritage trail. If their budget will not adequately cover a replacement, we have also promised to help with any needed fundraising. While it's impressive to see the worldwide attention on this, those of us in the diaspora need to remember that any fundraising - if it is even necessary - needs to go through the local community in Ireland, specifically the Limavady community, and not through any individual from outside that community.

These amazing photos were largely collected via the Facebook group, Bring back Manannan Mac Lir the Sea God.  All the photographs in the video and memes are used with permission from, and gratitude to, the photographers (see the video credits for the full list of participants). Feel free to share them to keep the search for the stolen statue on the front burner.

The theft continues to get a great deal of press in Ireland and worldwide, and in specialized media like The Wild Hunt, who quote Annie and mention our work with Gaol Naofa:  Calling Manannan mac Lir Back Home.  

See the update on the Gaol Naofa site for full details: Where is Manannán?

Gaelic Polytheist Videos - Lá Fhéile Bríde, Là na Caillich, Bealtaine, Áine agus Grian, & Manannán

We've been busy at Gaol Naofa! Along with all the usual activities of summer, we've made some more videos. Here are five more in the series, focusing on the seasonal and local festivals.

We had fun making these, and hope they can provide a brief intro to the subject for those less inclined to read a 90 page article or scholarly book. Additionally, we've dedicated our efforts to capturing the essence of each topic in visuals and music in a way bare words cannot. After all, the lore says we must drink from all five streams of knowledge, and engage all the senses in absorbing the sacred.

Images are mostly of the sacred sites and activities associated with each of the deities, spirits and festivals. Music is either an old, traditional song on the topic, or a contemporary version of traditional lyrics and tunes. Traditional prayers are included. Some of these images are old, archival photos, others were taken very recently by our members in the Celtic Nations and diaspora (in some cases photographed expressly for this series). Much gratitude to all our friends and relatives who went trekking with their cameras in tow!

Feel free to share!

Lá Fhéile Bríde — The Festival Day of Bríd
As the sun sets on the last day of January, the goddess Brigid walks the land, bringing the first stirrings of spring. Even if the ground is still covered in snow, the earth begins to stir from her long winter sleep.



Là na Caillich — The Day of the Hag
Spring is starting to happen around us, and the Clumsy Old Woman who Shapes the World is stirring up the last of the winter storms, and considering lying down for a bit of a nap. Sometimes when she does this, she accidentally creates a river or loch. Other times she drops stones she's carrying and, Ooops, another mountain range appears. She's had a lot on her mind, and wants to take a break. 



Bealtaine
In the Celtic lands, the summer is here. When the hawthorn blooms, it's warm enough to move the flocks and the herds, and hold bonfires welcoming the light half of the year. Readers of this blog will recognize the song here. 



Midsummer — Áine agus Grian
The Celts do not have a "sun deity" in the way Classical mythology would frame it. Instead, our deities and spirits are multifaceted, with full personalities, like the people they watch over, like the ancestors some of them once were. (And still are, for many of us.) In the Gaelic areas, as in most Celtic cultures, the fire festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lúnasa are the major festivals. Activities and beliefs connected with the solstices and equinox tend to be based either on older, pre-Celtic remnants that survived in some form as local festivals, or on imports that came with the Norse and were syncretised with local beliefs and customs. Not all communities acknowledge these solar phenomena, at all, but those that do tend to associate them with beloved local spirits, often those of sovereignty.



Manannán — Paying the Rents at Midsummer

Mac Lir, son of the sea, patron of the Isle of Man, guiding spirit of Gaelic Polytheism. Well, one of them. But Manannán has shown an especial interest in the development of Celtic Reconstructionism, and I am happy to have this lovely video about him and his work, an homage and thank you for the guidance he's provided us over the decades.