Topic: Festivals in December

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:10 EST
Three things that ruin wisdom...


Ignorance

Inaccurate knowledge

Forgetfulness

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:13 EST
The number seventeen seems to have been associated with the visible new moon.

Many stories relate how important conquests or explorations were achieved on this day of the moon.

The family of the Tuatha De Danaan were numbered in seventee triads.

The seventeenth generation was considered to mark the limits of ancestral memory, which, reckoning three-four generations a century, puts ancestral memory in between four and five hundred years.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:15 EST
The constellation of Cassiopeia is called Llys Don, or the Court of Don among the Welsh.

Don is the Welsh equivalent of Irish goddess Danu, the primal ancestress of the Celtic peoples.

The root of their names is discernible in the major rivers of Europe, Danube, Dneister, Don, etc.

these waterways may well have been the migratory pathways of the Celtic peoples.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:20 EST
Memory was the guardian of all knowledge, which was maintained by oral tradition among the Celts.

The joint memory of two seniors or elders telling the teachings from one ear to the next preserved knowledge, the recitation of the poets and bards disseminated it, while the literary tradition of Celtic Christianity finally transcribed it.

In druidic tradition, knowledge was not written down - not because the Druids were illiterate, since they had knowledge of many ancient languages and communicated in them, but because the transcription of knowledge vitiated the oral primacy of truth.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:21 EST
In the Irish tree alphabet, the letter O is represented by the oir, or the gorse bush.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:23 EST
In the Gaulish calendrical tablet, the Coligny Calendar, the month of November-December is called Dumanios, or "the Darkest Depths" as the year turns towards the shortest days and longest nights.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:26 EST
Teinm Ladegda or decoding by means of verse was one of the Three Illuminations or prophetic skills in which doctors of poetry were expected to be proficient.

It involved the trance-like repetition of verse over an unknown object or body which brought clarification and knowledge through shamanic incantation.

Accessing knowledge through incantation and poetry is a common feature of Celtic magical tradition.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:31 EST
Epona is a pan-Celtic Goddess to whom inscriptions and dedications are found throughout Europe. She is depicted either riding on a horse, or seated with horses around her, or with foals eating from her lap.

She was the only Celtic deity officially venerated in Rome. Her feast being celebrated on this day between the festivals of Consualia (Dec. 15) and Opalia, (Dec. 19) when the deities of the deep earth were honored.

On this day, draft animals, such as horses, oxen and donkeys were rested.

Epona is the matron of the life's circuit from cradle to grave and beydond, often depicted holding the napkin which starts the race and the key which opens the gates of the underworld.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:33 EST
Midwinter's Day is called Alban Arthuan of the Light of Arthur in modern druidism. Midwinter is traditionally reckoned as the birthday of Arthur and the beginning of his fosterage and apprenticeship with Merlin.

In the darkest depths of winter, the spark of the new year's light is understood to be rekindled.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:35 EST
The Irish tree alphabet, the letter U is represented by ur, or heather.

Azjah

Date: 2008-08-31 19:40 EST
The Eve of New Year, or Hagmanay is celebrated with greater enthusiasm than Christmas in Scotland, mainly due to the diminution of Christian festivals under Presbyterianism and Calvinism.

Toasting the New Year with Het Pint, a bowl of ale spiked with whiskey, the eathing of Black Bun or the Hogmanay Bannock and the first footings of a dark haired individual carrying fuel and uttering a blessing, were traditionally preceded by the 'redding up' or tidying of the house and its ritual cleansing by brands of smoking juniper.

The following blessing was said on Hagmanay in the Western Highlands of Scotland:

The blessing of G~d upon this house
The blessing of Jesus upon this house
The blessing of Spirit upon this house
The blessing of Brighid upon this house
The blessing of Michael upon this house
The blessing of Mary upon this house
The blessing of Columba upon this house
On man and woman, on spouse and child,
on old and young, on maiden and youth.
With plenty of food and plenty of drink,
with plenty of beds and plenty of ale,
with many riches and much cheer,
with many kin and length of life,
Ever upon it.