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Post by lorna on Apr 5, 2016 17:16:10 GMT -1
Hello, as promised, I've put together a rough outline for the Brython calendar. There have been some minor changes to what we discussed here and at the meeting (sometimes these things take on a life of their own...). I'll let this speak for itself and post some notes below. All debatable of course:)
Brython Calendar
Our calendar is based around two pivotal points in the year within Brythonic tradition: Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf, the four seasons, and festivals for individual deities. This page provides an outline of our celebrations.
Y Gwanwyn (Spring)
As the land awakens to life we acknowledge the first flowers, budding trees and new births of animals and birds. We mark the changes within our localities and honour deities associated with spring.
1st February: Brigantica Festival of Brigantia ‘High One’ based around hearth, home, forge, crafting and the sacred flame.
March: Blodeuwedd Festival of Blodeuwedd, a Welsh divinity created from flowers who was the beloved of Lleu and Gronw and later transformed into an owl by Gwydion.
20th - 22nd March: Spring Equinox Festival acknowledging the balance of equal days and nights heading toward summer and seasonal changes.
Calan Mai (1st of May)
Calan Mai marks the end of winter and beginning of summer. It is a time of deep magic pivoting around the defeat of otherworldly and wintry forces and the celebration of life, love and fertility.
Rhiannon and Pwyll Festival celebrating Rhiannon’s return from Annwn at Gorsedd Arberth into thisworld as a sovereignty goddess who takes Pwyll as her husband.
Gwyn, Gwythyr and Creiddylad Festival marking Gwyn’s battle with Gwythyr for Creiddylad. Gwythyr wins and enters a sacred marriage with Creiddylad. Gwyn is defeated and retreats to Annwn (cue the howling...)
Yr Haf (Summer)
As crops and fruits ripen beneath the summer sun and the land is at its most fertile we honour the spirits and deities of this season.
May / June: Belenos Festival for Belenos, pan-Celtic god of fire and sun.
May / June: Belisama Festival for Belisama as Summer Bright, Goddess of High Summer.
Summer Solstice Festival celebrating the longest day and shortest night and the bounty of summer.
June: Maponos Festival for Maponos, god of youth, music and hunting.
August: Taranis Festival marking summer storms and honouring Taranis as god of thunder and of the wheel.
Yr Hydref (Autumn)
As fruits and crops are harvested and the meadows mown we give thanks to their spirits. Leaf fall and decay are acknowledged as signs of the approaching dead season. We listen for the breath of winter.
1st August: Lugus Festival for Lugus, god of crafts...
Autumn Equinox Festival acknowledging the balance of equal days and nights heading toward winter and seasonal changes.
?29th September: Gwyn’s Feast? Festival celebrating the end of harvest and the gathering of Gwyn’s hunt.
?End of September: Grey Mare?
Nos Galan Gaeaf (Winter’s Eve)
Nos Galan Gaeaf is an ysbrydnos (spirit night) and the pivotal point when the powers of darkness and winter return to thisworld with the spirits of the dead.
It is a time for honouring our ancestors, particularly those who have passed in the last year. Meals are cooked for the dead or offerings of food and libations made with prayers. Memories of the ancestors and ancestral stories are shared.
Nos Galan Gaeaf was a night when glimpses of the future could be seen hence some of us practice divination.
Rhiannon’s return to Annwn A festival acknowledging Rhiannon’s return from thisworld to Annwn celebrating her role as psychopomp.
Gwyn ap Nudd and the Spirits of Annwn A festival honouring Gwyn as he rides out with the huntsmen and hounds and Annwn to gather the souls of the dead.
Y Gaeaf (Winter)
In Britain this is the darkest and coldest time of the year. Prior to electric lighting and heating our ancestors gathered to keep warm, feast, hold rites and tell stories. We keep these traditions alive and honour the deities of frost, ice, snow, death and the otherworld.
?11th November: Remembrance Day? A time to honour those who have passed in war and contemplate ways of furthering peace.
?: Cailleach? ?:Ceridwen?
18th December: Eponalia Festival honouring the Horse Goddess Epona focusing on her role as psychopomp.
20th - 22nd December: Winter Solstice Festival celebrating the longest night and shortest day and the stillness and darkness of winter.
25th December: Modron Festival honouring Modron and the Mother Goddesses and our maternal ancestors shared with (stolen from!) Anglo-Saxon tradition.
1st January: Dydd Calan Festival celebrating the birth of the New Year. In Wales this is marked by the custom of the Mari Llwyd.
6th January: Twelfth Night End of the festive season.
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Post by lorna on Apr 5, 2016 17:39:21 GMT -1
Notes:
In contrast to previous discussions on-line and in-person, when it came down to it, I felt celebrating mid-summer and mid-winter but the whole of spring and autumn seemed counter intuitive so I've gone with the four seasons and listed them in Welsh with English translations to fit with Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf. I think we said Calan Mai and Calan Gaeaf should be the pivotal points, yet there's more lore surrounding Nos Galan Gaeaf so I've gone with the latter. Please feel free to argue about this!
From previous discussions it's become clear that at Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf we mainly celebrate the myths of Rhiannon / Rigantona and Gwyn so I've suggested festivals to represent this.
There are lots of question marks.
?29th September: Gwyn’s Feast? - I've been celebrating this for Gwyn for 3 years. I didn't get it right at first but last year was quite powerful. We could join together on this or have a different festival for Gwyn in winter as previously suggested.
?End of September: Grey Mare? - How would we celebrate this?
?11th November: Remembrance Day? - As someone who honours a god of the war-dead this is important for me as a time of honouring those who have died in war and as a time for contemplating ways of furthering remembrance, learning and peace. Should we be including this in our calendar?
?: Cailleach? ?:Ceridwen? - Heron mentioned including Cailleach. I'm wondering how other folk feel about including deities from outside Brythonic tradition. Personally I'm not opposed at all. However if we're going to have a celebration for Cailleach as a hag goddess, what about including Ceridwen too? I know some people don't see her as a goddess, but after a period of not 'getting' her due to the OBOD overlay over the past year or so, she has started speaking powerfully to me as a very old mother goddess (the Mother of the Universe actually!). Lee, I recall you said you did a Wiccan rite for Gwyn and Ceridwen last Samhain. I'd be interested to hear how you perceive their relationship. Something to discuss?
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Post by Heron on Apr 5, 2016 19:02:26 GMT -1
Thanks Lorna for your Calendar outline and in particular for the 'life of its own' that you have given it. It definitely needs this!
:::
As Lorna indicates, there is plenty of scope for debate here. What, for instance, are people's feelings about including Remembrance Day? Personally I feel that this is an issue that we could profitably explore to tease out the current cultural context for our practice. Is this the best time to honour the dead or does it need to be done separately from the 'official' ceremonies?
The inclusion of the Cailleach, too, is a topic that could open up some crucial issues of the limits of Brythonic practice (are there any?). I have my own (perhaps overly theological) views on this one but would love to hear what others think.
Does anyone feel that anything is missing or not properly represented here? We have always encouraged open and forthright debate, so do tell us what you think.
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Post by Gwenno on Apr 6, 2016 11:36:56 GMT -1
What about giants? You got me looking for those now Rememberance Day is a surprise to see. All those military types and church parades. I don't think I could fit in to that. But honour the dead, yes. I think by communal silence but not marching.
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Post by Lee on Apr 6, 2016 12:12:02 GMT -1
This is great Lorna!
I think remembrance day is a good one to have in there, it is a culturally ingrained event and certainly 'modern', yet aligns well with there other festivals of the dead going on around that time. As Gwenno says, maybe not the parading and church, but something in keeping; poppies, something left at the local war memorial and our own way of doing things.
overall I think this covers things really well - lots of scope for inclusion yet also some space for difference : I dont see myself doing anything for Blodeuwedd for instance and my May Day emphasis will be on "Pwyll and Rhiannon", I will also probably be doing something around early February along the lines of Lupercalia at some point but that can be added in eventually.
As a framework and starting point this is stunning. To address the question marks:
?29th September: Gwyn’s Feast?
Festival celebrating the end of harvest and the gathering of Gwyn’s hunt.
As you said, this is a personal on for you; can I ask - what was the impetus for this and why at this time?
?End of September: Grey Mare?
Where does this one come from? I actually think this time of year is perfect in terms of some sort of annual harvest festival at the end of all the food and fruit harvests, like perhaps the John barleycorn replacement Horse Sacrifice I think I have blogged about in the past. Though that is something I am going to develop this year.
?: Cailleach? ?:Ceridwen?
Potia is the best placed for this one; I dont see me doing this one yet. Cerridwen around Calan Gaeaf definitely or even in the still space between the 21st and 25 of December based on what she (Cerridwen) said at our Samhain ritual last year.
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Post by lorna on Apr 6, 2016 17:06:27 GMT -1
Thanks for your feedback so far folks @ Heron, I'm not too comfortable with the militaristic and nationalistic ceremonies on Remembrance Day but do think it's a suitable time for honouring those who died at war. Do you think we should have some other time to honour the ancestors as well as Nos Galan Gaeaf? I imagine for all of us venerating our ancestors is perennial anyhow. I recall the Romans had some of their ancestral festivals in March? It is difficult to decide where to draw the line at deities and festivals outside Brythonic tradition. One could say Eponalia is *really* Roman yet it's central to Dun Brython. My experience of Cailleach is limited. My only real experience of her was at Ben Cruachan and in the mountains around Loch Awe. I believe there a number of Cailleachan? My feeling about her so far is she seems most rooted in rocky and bare landscapes. I've not sensed her presence in Lancashire's peaty hills (although that doesn't mean she isn't there). @gwenno - I can't see any reason why we shouldn't include giants. Have you anyone in mind? We've not yet got festival days for Bran or Manawydan who border giant / god. We did discuss possibly having Manawydan's festival on 19th Dec. Consus has a festival then and he may be equated with Poseidon Hippios. There are parallels between Epona / Consus (as sea/horse god) and Rhiannon / Manawydan (as sea/?horse? god). The only other giants I've had experiences with are Idris (very disorientating) and Diwrnarch and Llasar but more through writing their stories than meeting them in the land. Individual giant's days or a feast of all giants?... @lee - Gwyn's feast. Basically... I looked up whether Gwyn had a feast on the web a few years ago and it came up with 29th September. The reasoning is that is Michaelmas / St Michael's Feast and people celebrated it in Glastonbury with the church on the Tor being dedicated to St Michael. It seems possible the story of Gwyn and St Collen is based on the celebration of St Michael's feast on the Tor. Hence Gwyn supposedly got 'banished' that day and it seems to be a good time to assert his presence in the world. In practice I asked Gwyn if it was ok to have a feast day for him on the 29th of Sept and he agreed. Last year went best - cooking a meal of pork and apple for Gwyn with offerings of meat to Dormach and apples for Gwyn's horses, Carngrwn and Du, honouring Gwyn and his host and also those who have reverenced him in the past, particularly those who have struggled against bans on worshiping him, followed by readings from poems written about him in the past and by current devotees. For me the date fits in well with scything our wildflower meadow which is when I say farewell to the meadow spirits and feel the spirits of Annwn return. It also fits with the end of harvest. But as I said, it's personal, and no worries if you don't want to include it in the calendar. Gwyn's got two festivals already.
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Post by Heron on Apr 7, 2016 9:10:13 GMT -1
Good to see discussion of this taking off.
- @`Lorna, I agree that November is the appropriate time to honour the dead, for quite other reasons, of course, than the location of Remembrance Day on the date of the Armistice. As a nature religion in tune with the turning of the seasons, we should be doing this at a time when the Winter is upon us and the natural environment reflects the sense of dying away and decrease. At one level this does seem, also, to be the time for remembering the ancestors but linking a potentially joyful celebration with a festival of mourning for those who have died in battle might create some tensions between conflicting themes. So while remembering the ancestors may well form part of a memorial for the dead, do we need to separate this aspect of remembering their passing from one where we honour their heritage and continuing influence on our lives? You also mention March as a time for remembering ancestors in the Roman calendar. This, I think, was when they celebrated the founding of Rome and so their origins. Perhaps we could develop something along these lines in March.
But November has its own resonance as a time when the two worlds are close. It is often said that the veil between the worlds is opened at the two pivotal points of the year in May and November, although the feel of May, for me, is more of a feel for the opening of the gates of Faery, while November feels more like an opening of the gates to the Land of the Dead. Is there a difference? That’s something I continue to probe. But emotionally they do feel different. And this is where the Cailleach needs to be considered. The stories about her in Ireland centre on the Cailleach [of] Bhearra specifically located in that area, but also on stories of the Old Woman figure generally, the Wise Woman, The Hag, the Witch who has dealings with the Fairy Folk. But she is also an aboriginal being, sometimes a giantess who is said to have moved huge rocks or stones across mountains (stories which transfer to the Devil in some versions). Perhaps more relevant to us are the traditional stories also told about her in Scotland. Think of the references to her in the medieval scots poem attributed to Dunbar - addressed to the legendary poet ‘Blind Harry’ - where she is said to crack the sky, lift mountains and is also represented as a giant. Clearly she is an aboriginal spirit here. But there is also a later Scottish recreation of her as Beira, the Queen of the Winter, the antithesis of Bride as Queen of the Summer. Although based on Scottish versions of Gaelic stories, the tale might also be said to have become part of the mythos of Britain and so Brython. Certainly my own sense of the Cailleach as Absence - the negative particle opposed to the positive particle - though a little theologically theorised, in nevertheless intensely felt and based on experience. So she is an integral part of the November ethos for me. Not so much a psychopomp or guardian of the Land of the Dead as the embodiment (if such a thing were possible) of what has passed and is now absent from the world.
-@gwenno, giants, as Lorna says, could certainly feature. They can be regarded as a generic term for aboriginal beings still present in the landscape, but of course some of them have specific identities . So we could certainly have a Festival of the Giants, or we could have a specific one for individuals if anyone has a deep enough relationship with an individual giant to be able to provide so detail of what it would entail. The Cailleach (see above) is in some representations a giant, but I feel that other aspects of what she is predominate over this in any representation of her. And perhaps that’s so for other specific giants (should they always be big? - their daughters often are not). But giant lore is a much neglected field and it would be good to look more closely at it.
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Post by lorna on Apr 9, 2016 7:43:03 GMT -1
How about November the 2nd - All Soul's Day - for remembering all the ancestors? Christian, I know, but at least we're tapping into a day all the ancestors are being remembered anyway.
I'll update this with a festivals Ceridwen and Cailleach in November and a 'Grey Mare Feast'.
We could do with a collective decision on whether to keep Remembrance day for the war dead and whether Gwyn's Feast on Sept 29th should be included as a Brython celebration. I'll leave them with question marks for now.
I've also added a festival for Nodens in March / April which in the future could tie in with a visit to his temple and possible festivals for Manawydan / Manannan at midusmmer and 15th Dec to tie in with the festival to Consus. Do these work for you?
The only deities on the Brython site we don't have festivals for are Ambactonos, Coventina and Rosmerta. Any ideas?
Any suggestions for a date for a giants' festival?
Heron, I recall there was a reasoning behind Eponalia and the twelve days. Please you elucidate this so I can add it to the Y Gaeaf intro.
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Post by lorna on Apr 9, 2016 7:43:24 GMT -1
Brython Calendar
Our calendar is based around two pivotal points in the year within Brythonic tradition: Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf, the four seasons, and festivals for individual deities. This page provides an outline of our celebrations.
Y Gwanwyn (Spring)
As the land awakens to life we acknowledge the first flowers, budding trees and new births of animals and birds. We mark the changes within our localities and honour deities associated with spring.
1st February: Brigantica Festival of Brigantia ‘High One’ based around hearth, home, forge, crafting and the sacred flame.
March: Blodeuwedd Festival of Blodeuwedd, a Welsh divinity created from flowers who was the beloved of Lleu and Gronw and later transformed into an owl by Gwydion.
20th - 22nd March: Spring Equinox Festival acknowledging the balance of equal days and nights heading toward summer and seasonal changes.
March - June: Nodens The Temple of Nodens at Lydney Park opens on the 27th of March and closes on the 8th of June. This is a good time to make a pilgrimage or visit to this sacred site to honour Nodens.
Calan Mai (1st of May)
Calan Mai marks the end of winter and beginning of summer. It is a time of deep magic pivoting around the defeat of otherworldly and wintry forces and the celebration of life, love and fertility.
Rhiannon and Pwyll Festival celebrating Rhiannon’s return from Annwn at Gorsedd Arberth into thisworld as a sovereignty goddess who takes Pwyll as her husband.
Gwyn, Gwythyr and Creiddylad Festival marking Gwyn’s battle with Gwythyr for Creiddylad. Gwythyr wins and enters a sacred marriage with Creiddylad. Gwyn is defeated and retreats to Annwn.
Yr Haf (Summer)
As crops and fruits ripen beneath the summer sun and the land is at its most fertile we honour the spirits of the land and deities of this season.
May / June: Belenos Festival for Belenos, pan-Celtic god of fire and sun.
May / June: Belisama Festival for Belisama as Summer Bright, Goddess of High Summer.
Midsummer: Manannan / Manawydan On the Isle of Man, rent was paid in rushes to Manannan at midsummer. There is much cross over between Manannan and Manawydan. This is a good time to make an offering to the Sea God.
Summer Solstice Festival celebrating the longest day and shortest night and the bounty of summer.
June: Maponos Festival for Maponos, god of youth, music and hunting.
August: Taranis Festival marking summer storms and honouring Taranis as god of thunder and of the wheel.
Yr Hydref (Autumn)
As fruits and crops are harvested and the meadows mown we give thanks to their spirits. Leaf fall and decay are acknowledged as signs of the approaching dead season. We listen for the breath of winter.
1st August: Lugus Festival for Lugus, god of crafts...
Autumn Equinox Festival acknowledging the balance of equal days and nights heading toward winter and seasonal changes.
?29th September: Gwyn’s Feast? Festival celebrating the end of harvest and the gathering of Gwyn’s hunt.
End of September: Grey Mare Feast Celebrating the end of harvest drawing on the iconography of the Horse Sacrifice.
Nos Galan Gaeaf (Winter’s Eve)
Nos Galan Gaeaf is an ysbrydnos (spirit night) and the pivotal point when the powers of darkness and winter return to thisworld with the spirits of the dead. It is a time for honouring our ancestors, particularly those who have passed in the last year. This was traditionally a night when glimpses of the future could be seen hence some of us practice divination.
Rhiannon’s return to Annwn A festival acknowledging Rhiannon’s return from thisworld to Annwn celebrating her role as psychopomp.
Gwyn ap Nudd and the Spirits of Annwn A festival honouring Gwyn as he rides out with the huntsmen and hounds and Annwn to gather the souls of the dead. On Calan Gaeaf, Creiddylad returns with Gwyn to Annwn in sacred marriage.
Y Gaeaf (Winter)
In Britain this is the darkest and coldest time of the year. Prior to electric lighting and heating our ancestors gathered to keep warm, feast, hold rites and tell stories. We keep these traditions alive and honour the deities of frost, ice, snow, death and the otherworld.
2nd November: All Soul's Day A day for honouring all our ancestors.
?11th November: Remembrance Day? A time to honour those who have passed in war and contemplate ways of furthering peace.
November: Ceridwen Festival for Ceridwen, goddess of the cauldron.
November: Cailleach Festival honouring Cailleach as hag goddess, wise woman, witch, goddess of stone and mountain, winter and absence.
15th December: Consualia Festival honouring Consus who has parallels with Manawydan as a sea/horse god.
18th December: Eponalia Festival honouring the Horse Goddess Epona focusing on her role as psychopomp.
20th - 22nd December: Winter Solstice Festival celebrating the longest night and shortest day and the stillness and darkness of winter.
25th December: Modron Festival honouring Modron and the Mother Goddesses and our maternal ancestors shared with (stolen from!) Anglo-Saxon tradition.
1st January: Dydd Calan Festival celebrating the birth of the New Year. In Wales this is marked by the custom of the Mari Lwyd.
6th January: Twelfth Night End of the festive season.
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Post by Heron on Apr 10, 2016 13:42:35 GMT -1
How about November the 2nd - All Soul's Day - for remembering all the ancestors? Christian, I know, but at least we're tapping into a day all the ancestors are being remembered anyway. I'll update this with a festivals Ceridwen and Cailleach in November and a 'Grey Mare Feast'. We could do with a collective decision on whether to keep Remembrance day for the war dead and whether Gwyn's Feast on Sept 29th should be included as a Brython celebration. I'll leave them with question marks for now. I've also added a festival for Nodens in March / April which in the future could tie in with a visit to his temple and possible festivals for Manawydan / Manannan at midusmmer and 15th Dec to tie in with the festival to Consus. Do these work for you? The only deities on the Brython site we don't have festivals for are Ambactonos, Coventina and Rosmerta. Any ideas? Any suggestions for a date for a giants' festival? Heron, I recall there was a reasoning behind Eponalia and the twelve days. Please you elucidate this so I can add it to the Y Gaeaf intro. Thanks for doing this Lorna. It's very comprehensive and an excellent framework for us develop some more detail for all the festivals listed. On your questions: I think we certainly should include Gwyn's Feast on the 29th Sept if that is something you feel belongs in the sequence. At the core of this is defining ways in which the gods are meaningful to us as individuals so if you think it belongs, then it does! All Souls Day for the Ancestors sounds good to me. Remembrance Day is more problematic. The significance of the 11th November relates to the date of the end of the First World War. Would we specifically want to celebrate this? The main date for local commemorations is in fact the nearest sunday to the 11th. For years pacifists in Aberystwyth have had a white poppy wreath-laying ceremony on the Saturday before this, at the official site and with the support of the local council. Last year, for the first time, they did this on the sunday as part of the red poppy wreath laying [details HERE] but I know several people felt uneasy about this, and about being in the church for the service among all the military banners. But might we consider doing something on the saturday? Also to be considered here is the event already coordinated through TDN. RR - do you see this as something that could link with what we are discussing here? I'm not sure about the significance of the iconography of the horse sacrifice and the Grey Mare festival? Including Nodens is an excellent idea, especially if we celebrate it by a visit to Lydney. The sequence following Eponalia was partly something that seemed to be developing naturally from what we were doing when we linked Eponalia to the Midwinter celebrations but formalised around the inscription found in Gaul which counts back to Eponalia from New Year Calends. So, interpreted, Epona's day > the death of the old Sun > the rebirth of the new Sun > the first stirring of new light > the new calendar year. There is some room for flexibility in the precise significance of this and you have already covered some aspects quite well in the festival sequence. Water deities (Coventina, Sulis, Mererid ... ) need more thought, but somewhere around Imbolc seems to be the right time of year for them. I think Giants might need a discussion - do they come under ancestral beings of previous inhabitants? Presumably individuals could have their own day. Thinking about such questions as why Bendigeidfran is a giant and his brother Manawydan is (apparently?) not might be a way forward in a discussion thread on this? Rosmerta, according to Enright's Lady with a Mead Cup, which I'm currently reading in the Library, was a psychopomp and consort of the Gaulish Mercury (whom he also claims as an origin of Woden) so you might like to think about how she would relate to Gwyn. She was both a 'great provider' and also a seer (see the old thread on here somewhere where Megli and Deiniol, among others, provide informed linguistic discussion). I sense a need to tread carefully here ... Again I think this may still need time to work through. 'Mari Llwyd' should mutate to Mari Lwyd.
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Post by Lee on Apr 11, 2016 8:41:53 GMT -1
By and large I think this is grand.
I agree with this, on one hand it is good to get a fuller calendar, but on the other these arent thing we have really done much with and it might be better to discus and work through them first before putting them up on the site, likewise Rosmerta. Let's work through it first and then add them in - perhaps in the form of a separate blog post each and work them into the bigger scheme rather than add it all in now.
One other thing; Consus.
I know you said you knew someone who is involved with Manwyddan - have they put this forward as a date? The only thing is, if we are going to celebrate this, then perhaps change the name and wording? We wont be celebrating Consualia but a brythonic form and it wont be Consus but a different god entirely. I dont know which name is more appropriate - and I dont get the link between Consus and Manwyddan myself so perhaps it is one that we could leave of for now for further discussion on manwyddan? Consus seems to have links to Ambactonos too based on the name and symbolism.
that way, like Rosmerta and the Giants, we can discuss it and see where we all stand on the matter before developing a fuller 'position' and then incorporating it into the larger ritual calendar?
Lee
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Post by Francis on Apr 11, 2016 11:18:26 GMT -1
March: Blodeuwedd Festival of Blodeuwedd, a Welsh divinity created from flowers who was the beloved of Lleu and Gronw and later transformed into an owl by Gwydion.
I know this goes back to my recent chiding from Heron over perception/definition of Gods as opposed to some other form of Spirit etc. etc. ;-) But is it the case then that as a group you perceive Blodeuwedd as a goddess - a Welsh Divinity?
I would have loved to have joined you last week (and was hopeful until Thursday that I might!) and have had a chance to discuss this in person. This is the sticking point for me, in terms of the difference between myself and everyone else here - the quantitative or qualitative difference between some notion of Spirit with a Sphere of Influence and those beings we might define as Gods.
By what definition or evidence/general support or custom does Blodeuwedd become Divine - a goddess?
Perhaps this would be better as a different thread if anyone felt like responding?
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Post by Francis on Apr 11, 2016 11:25:06 GMT -1
Brython CalendarOur calendar is based around two pivotal points in the year within Brythonic tradition: Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf For what little it's worth I'm in absolute agreement that Calan Mai and Nos Galan Gaeaf are the key pivotal points in the Ritual year - pre-eminent over the solstices.
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Post by Francis on Apr 11, 2016 12:01:59 GMT -1
Individual giant's days or a feast of all giants?... Again for what it's worth Ifan Goch is associated with June 24th - although this may have something to do with the Feast of St. John the Baptist (Ifan - John etc.) I appreciate this may only have very local interest but indicates a precedent for and tradition of feast days being associated with Giants.
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Post by potia on Apr 11, 2016 14:57:20 GMT -1
Regarding a day for the Cailleach. While this is a being I am devoted to I'm not sure that She really fits in a Brythonic calendar. Having said that if it is decided to include a day for Her then it would seem more appropriate to use an existing feast day. 25 March is the date traditionally associated with Her in Scotland. You can find information on this at www.tairis.co.uk/festivals/la-na-caillich/As for the rest, there are a lot of changes and new suggestions in there and personally I'm likely to stick with what I currently celebrate for a while at least.
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Post by lorna on Apr 11, 2016 16:27:28 GMT -1
@ Heron
*Remembrance Day - Thanks for your link. This illustrates the dichotomies between the British Legion and those who affirm the values for which the people who died in war fought and those who put them into question. It also raises some very big questions which perhaps are best discussed separately and closer to the time such as how to honour those who died in war and the choices and sacrifices they made whilst at the same time critiquing the system that sent them to war and its ideals in favour of peace.
I personally like the idea of supporting the White Poppies for Peace campaign and having a remembrance and peace day on the Saturday closest to the 11th. That would be Saturday the 12th this year and is 2 days before the full moon - Monday 14th so could tie into the TDN peace ritual. How would everyone else feel about that?
*The Grey Mare Feast and horse sacrifice iconography is Lee's idea - Lee, please could you fill us in?
*Let's put a festival for the water deities in hold but keep it in mind - Imbolc feels like a good time to me too.
*I'll have to get hold of Enright...
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Post by lorna on Apr 11, 2016 16:41:17 GMT -1
@ Lee - The links between Eponalia and Consualia and Rhiannon and Manawydan can be found in Patrick Ford's translation of The Mabinogion. If you don't have a copy I can photograph the page and e-mail it to you. Let me know. I suggested this one as I tried doing a small ritual to Manawydan on 15th Dec last year. As he's offered rushes and sometimes flowers in summer I decided to create a wreath of holly and ivy and offer it to him where the tides meet the Ribble. It didn't all go to plan (he wreath landed on the river bank and the ducks laughed at me!) but since then he's come into my life in several ways and I've started keeping a devotional space for him beside the Mare Goddess' altar. I'm likely to repeat the rite this year but perhaps for now as a group we should stick with the established date for Manannan / Manawydan at midsummer?
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Post by lorna on Apr 11, 2016 16:50:45 GMT -1
@ Francis
Interesting question about Blodeuwedd. I'm not sure whether a deity being made by another deity makes them less a goddess and more a spirit. I'm also not too sure where the dividing line between gods and spirits lies either! Yes, I think this is a different discussion in its own right and will repost it.
More valuable here perhaps is the question of whether our calendar is limited to deities or whether we can include spirits too.
Also, in relation to the Blodeuwedd festival, does anyone here have a relationship with Blodeuwedd? I thought a festival for her would fit with spring flowering but it may perhaps be best leaving this one off unless anyone has a relationship with Blodeuwedd and is willing to find out what she wants and take the lead.
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Post by lorna on Apr 11, 2016 17:02:04 GMT -1
potia - thanks to the link about Là na Caillich on the 25th of March. Very interesting. A March / April festival for Cailleach and her storm hags would be fitting today with the high winds! I've only experienced Cailleach's presence once in Scotland so will leave it up to the judgement of those who know her to find out how she feels about having a March and / or November festival for her and how she'd feel about being part of the Brython calendar. Epona seems happy but that doesn't mean others from different traditions will be.
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