Browsing the archives for the Celtic tag

Poem: The Historian

History repeats itself, history unmakes itself. Seething masses struggle and swelter and starve. The boy flees floods, one mote among billions. But gradually, year by year, Turbulent skies grow gentle, Seas subside. Burnt brown lands grow green. There is food, there is air, there is breathing room. The nights are cool. Saved but sorrowing, He […]

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In the Steps of Finn MacCool (Giant’s Causeway)

  This October I had a chance to mix two of my hobbies, geology and mythology, on the Giant’s Causeway in northern Ireland. Geologists tell us that the Giant’s Causeway is a beautiful example of columnar basalt, lava that cooled slowly and cracked into enormous columns of four to eight sides. The audio guide provided by […]

Brave: “The Bear and the Bow”: Bear Mythology

Having just watched the Disney / Pixar movie Brave, I’m pondering the vaguely Scottish-Irish-Celtic-European mythology and motifs buried in this film. There’s a lot of bear + mother goddess symbolism which I find fascinating.

The Meaning of Samhain/ Hallowe’en: Past and Future

I love both the old Celtic holiday of Samhain and the modern secular holiday of Hallowe’en, despite the over-commercialization of the latter. They are two different holidays. For me, they are both magical. Personally, I celebrate Samhain by honoring my ancestors: I light a candle and spend some time remembering my Nana, my other relatives, […]

“Midas Has Donkey Ears,” Whistleblowers and Wikileaks

You’ve heard of King Midas of the “Golden Touch,” monarch of ancient Phrygia (See theoi.com’s Midas entry for classical Greek and Roman sources.) Probably you’ve heard Nathaniel Hawthorne’s version, which makes Midas into a moralistic fable about gold-greed and appreciating the simple things in life. Hawthorne supplies King Midas with a daughter to drive the […]

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