Category: Mythology
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Strong and Mysterious, the Alder Facilitates Transition
In the Celtic Tree Calendar, the Alder (or Fearn) Moon spans mid-March to mid-April. Coinciding with the spring equinox, the Alder Moon symbolizes balance and transition. The Alder month, called fairin by the Celts and fearnóg in Modern Irish, is represented by the third consonant in the ogham alphabet and comes from the Proto-Celtic **wernā.…
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Hounded into a Story
As published in the Gazette, a publication of the Gulf Coast Writers Association, January 2025 Imagine a Celtic Karate Kid in a Percy Jackson adventure. The result is Hounded, a contemporary coming-of-age novel inspired by the legendary Irish warrior, hero, and demigod Cú Chulainn [koo KULL-an]. Written for a middle-grade audience, Hounded tells the story…
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Bold and Resilient, Birch Symbolizes Renewal
Birch, the first lunar month in the Celtic Tree Calendar, coincides with the new growth cycle that begins with first light after the winter solstice. Spanning the days between December 24 and January 20, the month is dedicated to renewal and recovery. The birch is singularly suited for that distinction. Despite its elegant, pendulous branches,…
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Samhain—Enduring Night of the Living Dead
With its ghouls, jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treaters shouting BOO, Halloween is the unadulterated descendent of Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of the dead. Pronounced SOW (rhymes with cow) –in, the word comes from the Proto-Indo-European root word *semo- (summer), and the Proto-Celtic *samoni- (reunion, assembly). It literally means “an assembly to celebrate the harvest.” The Celts…
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Fired Up—
Bealtaine Celebrates Fire, Fertility, Festivities, and Faeries Bealtaine, the Gaelic May Day festival, celebrates the powerful Sun, the fertile Earth, new life, and the official start of summer. Celebrated about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, it is one of the four cross-quarter days and one of the eight seasonal celebrations of…
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Oh, My Stars! There’s No Ostara?
There are no bunnies, colored eggs, or jelly beans in the Biblical version of Easter—so notes Karen Cyson, writing for the St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times. And while you will find those trappings in the neo-Celtic celebration of Ostara, there is no mythological basis for them, other than as generic symbols of fertility. Nor is there…
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Etched in Stone
Sprawled along the River Boyne, in County Meath, Ireland, is a complex of the largest passage tombs (burial mounds) in Western Europe. Comprising an eight-square mile UNESCO World Heritage site, and carbon-dated to circa 3200 BC, Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth are hundreds of years older than Stonehenge and the Giza pyramids. Some cultural anthropologists suggest…