Tag: celtic mythology
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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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November 11—Go Duck, Duck, Goose with Saint Martin
While Americans traditionally honor veterans on November 11, Europeans celebrate the warrior St. Martin. Also known as Martinmas, it is the day when your goose is cooked. Martinmas grew out of Celtic harvest festivals associated with fire, blood, geese, swallows, horses, and spiders. Martin—Saint and Warrior Martin of Tours (d. 397 AD) was a nobleman…
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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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Join the HOUNDED Advance Team
I’m excited to announce that Hounded will be available on Amazon October 29, 2024. One of the most important things an author can do is to launch with a ton of Amazon customer reviews. I’d love your help with this. Book reviews can make or break a book on Amazon. The quantity of reviews—good and…
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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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Lighting Up the Summer Solstice
Get ready for Litha, the festival of light that celebrates the summer solstice. Contrary to popular belief, the summer solstice is not a day—it’s the exact moment when the Earth’s North Pole tilts furthest toward the sun. This year, it occurs at 4:50 p.m. EDT on June 20, 2024. The Science Astronomically, the phenomenon is…
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The Immram—
Exploring Celtic Mythology in Ghost Girl When I say the mythology in Ghost Girl is based on the Celtic Book of the Dead, I am often asked if the book is scary. On the contrary. The Celtic Book of the Dead retells an old story full of hope and forgiveness. Written by Caitlin Matthews, it…