#Celtic Myths Art of Irish Lore

[ancestorsalive]

There are no wolves remaining in Ireland now, bar in zoos so it’s hard to believe that they were once so numerous here, that outsiders often referred to Ireland as “Wolfland”. The name for Wolf in Irish is Mac Tíre which literally means son of the countryside which shows how the people considered this magnificent animal to be so integrated into the fabric of our land. They were feared however, and many of our early iron age forts were well guarded against wolves, as much as against human enemies, and the Irish Wolfhound was especially bred to hunt this fearsome predator. There has always been a connection to wolves in Irish folklore. It is said that Cormac Mac Airt, one of the most famous of the High Kings, was raised by wolves and it also makes an appertaining in the famous epic tale of the Táin Bó Cúallgne.

There were stories of half man/half wolf men, such as the Laignach Faelad, a band of warriors who would fight with any king, but only for a terrifying price. Interestingly, there was also the concept of werewolves, such as the werewolves of Ossory (Laois/Kilkenny), who were a clan cursed by a supposed holy man whereby a couple of the clan would have to live as a wolves for seven years, only to be replaced by another couple once that time had passed.

Unfortunately, the last wolf was killed on Mt. Leinster in 1786, hundreds of years after the last wolf in Britain and 100 years after the Scottish wolves became extinct.

The wolf covers the period 28th Oct-24th Nov (in the 13 month lunar calender) and is available on my website celticmyths.ie. I will very shortly have my new 2024 animal lore calendar on sale, so keep an eye out!

- Margaret McKenna

Via Celtic Myths, Art of Irish Lore

[moiraimyths]

Afternoon, fateful friends!

We have a few updates for you today regarding our Kickstarter campaign...

NEW ADD-ONs

 Preorder the Full Game ($25 CAD): This add-on is essentially a replica of the Soldier's Essentials tier, i.e. a preorder of the full version of NDM. This add-on will allow you to gift NDM to a friend, should you want to do so!

 Creating NDM: An Art & Lore Book ($40 CAD):  Since the King's Patronage has sold out, we decided to make the art & lore book its own add-on! This means, if you select the Captain's Keepsakes tier, you can also get the art & lore book for the same total price as King's Patronage ($125 CAD). Likewise, this add-on allows you to possibly gift a copy of the art & lore book to a friend, or purchase the art & lore book at lower tiers. Note: Keep in mind, early access to NDM is still exclusive to Captain's Keepsakes and the Master's Secrets.

EXPANSION OF QUEEN'S FAVOUR ($555 CAD)

After receiving a fair amount of questions about this, and taking the time to confirm things with all the parties involved, we have decided to double the Queen's Favour tier TOMORROW (Wed, Jan. 18) at 10:00 AM EST. On top of receiving all digital/physical rewards, you will also get a custom MC sprite (with four expressions) from our character artist and custom voice messages from the Love Interests! Please refer to the "rewards" section of our Kickstarter for more details.

Note: Queen's Favour was sold out in the first five hours of our campaign, and given the amount of requests we've received, it's likely to sell out just as fast (if not faster) tomorrow! If you really, really want this reward, we recommend you tune in right when it goes live. It is unlikely that this tier will be expanded again if we sell out!

DEMO UPDATE (COMING SOON)

To thank you all for the support we've received so far, once our campaign is 90% of the way to completion, we will release what will likely be our last update to our free demo. This update will feature all of the voice acting samples we showcased during the first two weeks of our campaign, and include some of the new sprite expressions that were unlocked thanks to the flirty sprite challenge!

[greenpanda-basicfakewitch]

Mythical Lore | Morgan Le Fey

Morgan le Fey  [Source]

The Tale of Morgen Le Fey, the roots of Morgan Le Feys history are a cloudy mixture of Celtic mythology and legend,  She first appears in writing in the twelfth century but was likely based on much older figures from Celtic folklore and mythology.

Few witches in literacy history have been as influential - or as maligned - as Morgan le fey. She is seen as either the Healer/Ruler of the Mystical Island of Avalon.

OR the Arch Villainess of Arthurian legend, for more than nine hundred years Morgan popular perceptions of Witchcraft. 

Morgan Le Fey has been linked to some deities, such as Morrígan the ‘phantom Queen’ of Irish Myth associated with battle and prophecy.

 The Mari-morgans of Breton folklore who, Siren-like, lure sailors to their doom. 

The most direct influence is Modron, Etymologically linked to Dea Matrona, the divine mother goddess of ancient Gual. Modron was a divine figure in Welsh mythology connected to the court of King Arthur.

In these celtic stories, we can see glimmers of who Morgan Le Fay would become; an otherworldly figure, a voice of death and prophecy, a divine figure of creation and creativity.

Morgan Le Fey; In one account of many, Morgan of Vita is a renowned healer and scholar, one of nine ethereal sisters living on a mystical island of Avalon. The best of the nine, Morgan was known for her beauty, skill in mathematics and ability to shapeshift. 

  “...That art is known for her beauty. She he can change shape and cut the air on new wings in the manner of Dedalus. When she wishes she is in Brist, Carnot or Papie when she wishes, as she glides out of the air into your lands.” 

 Her magic is depicted as art comparable to the creative force of Dedalus, the great inventor of Greek Mythology.

 What makes her essential is not only the fine art of magic but of healing, Morgan's knowledge and power are the only thing that can restore a mortally wounded Arthur to health, and her skills the best hope for the future of Britain.

______________________________________________________________

 Then begins a literacy descent from being a ruler of her own right to becoming the villain. [Image Source] As literary pieces paint her with suspicion of her magic.

Morgan studies healing, astronomy and magical arts then uses it to further her own terrible hatreds and jealousies. She grows entangled in an elaborate love triangle with Queen Guinivere and her adulterous lover lancelot. By trying to expose the affair 

“Chastity-revealing horn.” 

 She goes as far as to create an otherworldly Shadow realm, ominously called the Valley of No Returns, that she traps Lancelot in three times. 

 Thus the transformation still associated with healing and Avalon, literature increasingly links her beauty and power with dangerous instability.

 In vita she was described for her inner creativity goodness, transforms into a sign of sexuality run amok, authors depict her as licentious and prone to jealousies. Her power that was once the only hope for Arthur and the future of Britain, becomes a force of corruption and darkness.

 She is shown as a central threat to Camelot and the world as she tried to kill Arthur and his knights through demonic Monster servants, deadly seductions and elaborate plots involving green knights.

 She is also always entrusted with Arthur once he is mortally wounded and she takes him away by Boat to Avalon.

Morgan Le Fey is connected to the Fea in that she is someone who is able to understand that type of world and can be one with that type of magic, especially through celtic origins of fea. 

And that is how they see her as one not unlike the fea, both kind and cruel how their morality and tokens change on a whim. How they can be both neutral or give help for a price. Or plain mischievous for no reason other than they want to. Uncontrollable and hard to understand and something they cant contain. Morgan Le Feys image has changed due to misogyny warping her image into a figure of evil, jealousy and cruelty and fickle in her actions when she decides to save Arthur or in this case save a man.

[foxballad]

ღ ⸻ Evangeline’s connections with the fox tales .

Part I — The Tales :

Let me start this with talking about the fox tales. The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers, and sometimes associated with transformation. In some myths, foxes are wise and benevolent. In others, they are connected to fire and the sun. Sometimes, the fox is a minor and clever spirit who helps people and animals in need, or punishes those who are arrogant. And other times, the fox is a bad omen, a greedy and mean-spirited thief.

I write Evangeline as being not only a somewhat magical girl with magical blood because of the prophecy of the Valory Arch but also someone that has strong connections with magic and the forest and the fire and being a shapeshifter because of her mother that was from the Magnificent North. The OUABH’s lore is based on fairy tales, so I am taking inspiration from the Irish Celtic fox myth since I think it makes more sense to the books lore and Evangeline’s journey through it and my portrayal. My portrayal will also be based on the firefox myth.

The firefox is a mythical and elusive creature of the North coveted by hunters. Legend has it that a person who catches the firefox would be rich and famous beyond belief. In Celtic mythology, the fox is wise and cunning. A trickster who knows the forest better than anyone else, the fox symbolizes the need to think fast and strategically. Highly adaptable creatures, they also symbolize the need to adjust to new situations. The Celtic fox is a powerful and multifaceted symbol, representing intelligence, cunning, magic, independence, and passion. The Celtic fox is also seen as a guide between the worlds, and a symbol of spirituality, omens, and the afterlife.

Part II — Liana Fox :

As I have mentioned in a previous post, everything started with her mother, Liana Fox. Liana was born and raised in the Magnificent North. She was a powerful witch who learned the art of shapeshifting with other fox shapeshifters women. When Maximilian went to the North for business and to buy artifacts for his shops, he met Liana and they both fell in love with each other.

They married in the North and traveled together to the Meridian Empire in the South a few months later when Liana was pregnant with their first daughter. Evangeline was born and raised in Valenda. She grew up with Liana telling her stories and tales about the North, especially about the fox tales and Evangeline’s favorite story — The Ballad of The Archer and The Fox. Evangeline showed interest in magic since she was a little girl and acknowledging that, Liana taught her daughter the ways of witchcraft and nature, as well as the art of shapeshifting having an animal form like her mother; the fox.

Evangeline learned what she could about magic, spells witchcraft in general and worshipping nature until Liana passed away when she was only eleven years old. Evangeline never stopped worshipping the nature but she has stopped practicing magic since her mother was the only one teaching her that. Her abilities with magic and spells are kinda rusty and inexperienced, although Evangeline is learning and practicing again with Jacks and Lala in my canon.

[theboarsbride]

Hi again! Just wanna recommend you some really good stories with fairy lore and Celtic/Brythonic mythology after my long ass rant about ACOTAR. To take a break from the negativity. So I already recommended Sargentum and Mias and Elle on Tapastic and I really do highly recommend you read them. Sargentum is about a boy who makes a deal with a witch for powers of destruction while Mias and Elle is a Hades and Persephone inspired story set in a pagan Tudor England where a wizard goes through a portal to the modern day and kidnaps a woman into his fantasy world for his nefarious deeds. However, because it is a Hades and Persephone inspired story, it has its issues when it comes with the romance between the two leads but it is a very healthy one (very low bar to pass considering the Stockholm Syndrome debate and countless other toxic, shitty retellings, I know, but I promise, they are good for each other) where the female lead absolutely takes no shit while the story actually punishes the male lead for his terrible and awful behavior (the author does encourage that we hate him in the early chapters it's very funny the comments are filled with stuff like "KICK HIS ASS"). Tread lightly though, it gets very heavy and violent pretty fast. Another recommendation is a middle grade fantasy series called 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison which is about a girl who can see fairies and it basically introduced preteen me to real life fairy lore in Britain and Ireland. It's also fairly dark for a middle grade book series too but then again, the fae folk are actually dangerous trickster entities in this one because they literally kidnap babies and replace them with changelings. There are a couple of instances where the characters used their wit to outsmart the fae folk and the solutions are very clever so stick around for those. For movies, I recommend the Cartoon Saloon movies: Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and Wolfwalkers, all of which are inspired by real life Irish folklore.

!!!! YES!!! THANK YOU FOR THESE RECS!!!!!! 💛💛💛

I will provide links to both of these stories in this post! Thank you, again, for providing these titles, they all sound so good!! puts them in my TBR because both sound so good!!

Also Cartoon Saloon films are SO GOOD!!!!!!!! I definitely recommend those over indulging SJM's vaguely- and poorly-rendered retelling of Celtic myth!

Sargentum by popsiclestick on Tapas (I'm already in LOVE with the art style!!)

13 Treasures Trilogy by Michelle Harrison

Mias and Elle by stressedjenny

As always, feel free to drop story, book, movie, etc. recommendations into my ask box!! I really love sharing about these underappreciated stories, and indie and self published authors!!!!🥺

[ideas-on-paper]

Celtic seasonal festivals - Part 1: Imbolc

Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4

Last year, on October 31st, I wrote a rather long thread about Samhain, the Celtic festival modern Halloween originated from. Ever since then, I was thinking about doing the same for the other three seasonal festivals, but I had to realize that the policies of Twitter aren't that well-suited for detailed analyses (I had enough trouble to upload all the text in picture format as it was). However, since I have all the freedom of the world on Tumblr, I can present all of this to you in a good, readable format. So, without further ado, let's jump straight into the history behind the first Celtic festival on our list: Imbolc!

General/Etymology

Taking place on February 1st, Imbolc (also known as Imbolg) is one of the four Celtic threshold/fire festivals that marks the beginning of spring. While the Celtic year begins in winter, on the advent of Samhain, Imbolc heralds the time when life starts to return to nature anew, and the seeds which have been lying dormant during the cold season finally begin to sprout.

Etymology-wise, the origin of the term Imbolc is debated. The most commonly accepted theory is that it's derived from the Old Irish i mbolc, which translates to "in the belly", referring to the time period when ewes usually become pregnant. Similar interpretations include the Proto-Celtic embibolgon (="budding") and Old Irish Oímelc ("ewe-milk"). This matches the description from Tochmarc Emire, a tale from Irish mythology dating back to the 10th century, where Imbolc is associated with the time "when the ewes are milked at spring's beginning". Given the exceptional importance of livestock in Celtic culture (remnants of which can be seen in various Celtic myths), naming the festival after an important agricultural event seems highly likely.

Even today, Ireland is famous for its sheep, and for good reason: the 8 million sheep living in Ireland vastly outnumber its human population of 4.8 million! (Source)

In that regard, it probably originates from ancient farming customs: Herdsmen would ensure that lambs were born before calves, since sheep had better chances of survival in late winter/early spring. Furthermore, the food storage of all farmers usually started to dwindle around this time, so it was necessary for them to start milking as soon as possible to make it through the rest of the winter. (However, due to seasonal and climatic conditions, the date of the festival may have varied: Sources state that Imbolc took place during the lambing season, the preparation for spring sowing and the blooming of blackthorn, which didn't always occur at the same time.)

Alternatively, Imbolc might be connected to the Old Irish imb-folc, meaning "all-around cleansing", or the verb folcaim, meaning "to wash/cleanse oneself". Considering the widespread cleaning rituals that were part of the festival, this interpretation also seems valid.

Ancient origins and customs

Traditionally, Imbolc was considered the feast day of Brigid (most likely derived from Proto-Celtic "Briganti", meaning "the high/exalted one") in Celtic Ireland, a fertility goddess and daughter of Dagda from Irish mythology. Modern scholars believe she might have been a triple deity, appearing in the shapes of Brigid the Poet, Brigid the Smith and Brigid the Healer. These three forms represent her different aspects, such as wisdom, poetry, and blacksmithing, but also protection, physician arts, and animal husbandry. On Imbolc, the protective and healing qualities of Brigid stand in the foreground, and although it's difficult to piece together the ancient rituals from Medieval and contemporary sources (as is the case with all of Celtic relgion and lore), they give us an idea what the old festival might have looked like.

As a goddess, Brigid represented light, fire, and the sun. Thus, she not only stood for creation, the hearth, and inspiration, but also the power that brought about the lighter half of the year. Because of this, her presence was extremely important, as it was tantamount to the end of the dark season and the beginning of spring. Furthermore, since she was a deity associated with food and agriculture, her feast day also marked the date when farmers would begin with the preparations for spring sowing. As such, it's no surprise that offerings were made around this time, probably to ask Brigid for fertility and invoke her blessing. Throughout the centuries, it was common to make sacrifices "to the earth and sea", for example by pouring milk onto the ground and porridge into the water.

Brigid in her three forms: Brigid the Poet, Brigid the Smith, and Brigid the Healer (Art by lasair.bhride on Instagram)

Brigid also has various other associations with water, in particular holy wells. In ancient Celtic culture, fountains held exceptional significance, due to both their spiritual and healing qualities. Sacrifices found in lakes and springs all across Europe suggest that bodies of water were considered gateways to the Otherworld, and holy wells were believed to be the dwelling of gods. In addition, it was said that the water from these wells was able to cure diseases, and even across Roman Britannia, thermal baths and spas could be found which evolved from former Celtic holy springs. (In fact, after taking samples of Celtic wells, scientists found out that these healing properties might have a real-life basis: Some of the fountains were rich in health enhancing minerals, so they may have indeed had a curative effect.)

It appears as though Brigid was one of these fountain goddesses, as there are records of holy wells being visited around the time of Imbolc. People would pray for health while walking around the well clockwise three times - from east to west, the same way as the sun - and leave offerings such as coins (also a typical votive item found on Celtic sites in Central Europe) or pieces of cloth as sacrifices. These pieces of cloth - called "clooties" in Gaelic regions - were dipped into the water of the well, and while reciting a prayer to the fountain's spirit, would be tied to a tree in the vicinity (typically hawthorn or ash trees; almost every well has an associated tree, which might hint at the practice of tree worship). The pieces of cloth would be left hanging on the branches throughout the course of the year, and it was said that while the fabric decomposed over time, any ailment that plagued the former owner would also fade away (sometimes, it was also custom to wash the afflicted body part with the wet rag before tying it to a tree).

Upon returning from their pilgrimage to the wells, people would also bring water from the holy fountains back home, which would be sprinkled around the house, the fields, and even onto family members and livestock to bless them. Furthermore, there are accounts of various other cleaning rituals: According to the Old Irish Hibernica Minora, it was proper to wash "the hands, the feet, and the head" on Imbolc, and in Ireland, it was also customary to do a spring cleaning around the time of Brigid's feast day.

Upon returning from their pilgrimage to the wells, people would also bring water from the holy fountains back home, which would be sprinkled around the house, the fields, and even onto family members and livestock to bless them. Furthermore, there are accounts of various other cleaning rituals: According to the Old Irish Hibernica Minora, it was proper to wash "the hands, the feet, and the head" on Imbolc, and in Ireland, it was also customary to do a spring cleaning around the time of Brigid's feast day.

Celebrations would actually begin on Imbolc Eve (January 31st), when it was believed that Brigid herself would pay visit to virtuous households and bless their inhabitants. Across Celtic regions, there were multiple variations of customs to symbolically invite Brigid into the house, their unifying characteristic being the significance of the number three (probably due to the tripartite nature of the goddess herself). Usually, the rituals involved a family member taking the place of the goddess, going around the house three times while carrying a bundle of rushes. The person would then knock on the door thrice, asking for entry, and upon their third attempt, they would be welcomed in, sometimes with a chant which was also repeated three times.

Afterwards, the family and their figurative guest would sit down to have a special supper on Imbolc Eve to commemorate the last night of the winter. In pre-modern times, this usually consisted of dishes such as colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage), sowans (porridge made from fermented oat husks), dumplings, barmbrack (yeast bread with raisins/grapes), and bannocks (flatbread made from cooked grain). Oftentimes, some food and drink were also left and set aside for Brigid.

After dinner, people would come together to make so-called Brigid's crosses. To do so, some holy water would be sprinkled on a bundle of rushes or reeds collected from the field, which would then be used to weave the intricate crosses. Usually, these were four-armed, equilateral crosses, although there also were a variety of other forms, such as those with three legs or in the shape of a diamond/rhombus. (The three-legged design is believed to be the most ancient one, most likely representing the trinity of the goddess Brigid.) They were hung over the openings of doors, windows, and stables to welcome Brigid, and in addition, they were supposed to grant protection against fire, lightning, illness, and harmful spirits. Traditionally, the crosses would be left there until the next year, when the old crosses would be burned before making new ones.

A typical four-legged Brigid's cross (Source)

Another wide-spread custom was making Brigid's bed: In some cases, the rushes from the aforementioned ritual would be used to prepare a simple bedding or carpet on the floor, to offer her hospitality once she came to visit. In other regions, it might have been a bed made of hay or a basket-like cradle, occasionally complemented by an offering of food, ale, and a candle on a table. Sometimes, a doll of corn would be placed into the makeshift bed, and a white wand made of birchwood would be laid beside it. This icon was supposed to represent Brigid and her magic wand, which she allegedly used to make all plants start growing again.

Before going to bed, the household fire would be smothered and the ashes raked smooth, and when morning came, people would look for some kind of mark on the ashes as proof that Brigid had come and blessed the place. If there was no sign to be found, it meant misfortune for the entire household - to appease Brigid, a cockerel would have to be sacrificed and buried at the crossing of three rivers.

In addition, people would leave clothing or strips of cloth (called Brat Bríde or Ribín Bríde) hanging outside the door overnight, expecting Brigid to bless them with her power. When they were taken back inside on the next morning, they were believed to have powers of healing and protection, and throughout the year would be used as a remedy for all kinds of afflictions (for example headache, toothace, sore throats, and labor pains).

Since Imbolc was considered a day off work, most people would generally stay at home and don't perform any labor. However, there was the tradition of a procession in honor of Brigid, which young unwed girls (and sometimes boys) would take part in: First, a doll-like figure called the Brídeóg (also known as "Biddy") would be made of rushes or reeds to represent the goddess, which would then be adorned with cloths, flowers, seashells, and other decorations; on the Scottish isles, a particularly bright shell or crystal would be placed on its chest, which was known as the reul-iuil Bríde, or "guiding star of Brigid". This icon would be paraded around the whole community by the girls, all of them wearing white dresses and unbound hair to symbolize their purity and youth. While chanting a hymn dedicated to Brigid, they would visit every house of the town, being welcomed with food, coins or more ornaments for the Brídeóg. (Refusing to donate anything was not only considered very rude but also believed to bring bad luck, so all households would at least donate something.) Afterwards, the girls themselves would stop by in a house to have a feast, with Brigid receiving a special place of honor. Following their meal, the girls would place the figure in a bed and sing lullabies to put Brigid to sleep. Only after the feast's conclusion, young men would be allowed to enter the house by humbly asking for entry, and once they paid Brigid their respects, they would join the girls in dancing and celebrating through the night.

As always, local traditions varied, and in some regions, instead of parading around an idol, a girl would be chosen to play the role of Brigid. While carrying the insignia of Brigid - Brigid's crown, Brigid's shield, and Brigid's cross, all of them made from rushes - she would go from house to house, escorted by a procession of other girls. In some places, their role would be taken over by so-called "Biddy Boys" (or "strawboys"), wearing conical-shaped straw hats and masks while playing folk music to accompany their parade. In western Ireland, young boys would even carry a great wreath called Crios Bríde (Brigid's girdle) made from rushes around the community, inviting people to step through it to be blessed. This was believed to be particularly important for women, who would step through it three times from top to bottom to ensure their health in the coming year.

Similar to other Celtic seasonal festivals, Imbolc was also thought to be a great time for divination, particularly weather divination. For example, there was the superstition that if the weather was stormy and cloudy on Imbolc, it was actually a good sign. This was due to the belief that the old hag Cailleach - who represents the winter in Gaelic tradition - would come out of her dwelling on Imbolc to collect firewood for the rest of the winter. If she intended to prolong the winter, she would summon bright, sunny weather to gather as much as she needed - on the contrary, if the weather was foul, Cailleach was said to be already asleep, which meant that the winter's end was nigh.

People would also watch out for badgers and snakes coming out of their dens, as this was an indication that their hibernation was over. Moreover, these animals held significant symbolism in Celtic culture: The badger was seen not only seen as a foreboder of both good and bad luck, but associated with endurance and healing. Similarly, serpents were considered a symbol of wisdom, healing, and rebirth due to the cyclical shedding of its skin.

The goddess Brigid and Saint Brigid

Although most of the Irish population converted to Christianity during the course of the 5th century, the old pagan feast days and traditions still remained alive. This was due to the relatively peaceful conversion of Ireland compared to other countries, and instead of trying to expunge the heathen faith, the local beliefs slowly assimilated with the Christian ones, which resulted in a lot of the old gods being turned into Christian holy figures.

One such figure was Saint Brigid, the patroness of Ireland and one of its three national saints along with Saint Patrick and Columba. Allegedly, she was the pupil of St. Patrick and renowned for her kindness, mercy and miracles. This not only makes her the first native saint (since St. Patrick hailed from the Roman province Britannia), but also the most revered female saint of Ireland.

It is heavily debated whether St. Brigid was a real person or not, as she shares a lot of attributes with the Celtic goddess of old (such as being the patroness of poetry, education, healing, protection, blacksmithing, and livestock) and her feast day coincides with the date of the historic festival of Imbolc. Some scholars say she is merely a Christianization of the goddess, while others believe that she was a historic person and the characteristics of the goddess were projected onto her.

There are many versions of her story, but according to the earliest accounts, Brigid was born in the year 451 in Faughart, an early Christian shrine site north of Dundalk in the County Louth, which was part of the Province of Leinster. Her mother is said to have been Broicsech, a slave hailing from Portugal who had been baptized by St. Patrick, while her father was Dubhthach, one of the chieftains of Leinster. Legend has it that Dubhthach's wife demanded that he sell Broicsech to a druid when she became pregnant from him, meaning that Brigid herself was born into slavery.

As she grew up, Brigid supposedly performed many miracles, most of them related to healing and feeding the poor as well as easing the suffering of women. According to one tale, she gave away her mother's entire butter stash for charity as a child, but it replenished in answer to her prayers.

At the age of ten, she was returned to her father to serve as his household attendant, a position which she used to generously donate all of his belongings to anyone in need. However, when Dubhthach caught wind of this, he was so angry at Brigid for giving away all his valuables that he took her to the King of Leinster with his chariot, intending to sell her. While Dubthach was still debating with the king, Brigid gave his bejeweled sword to a beggar so he would be able to afford food for his family. This deed led to the king recognize Brigid's holiness, and convincing Dubhthach to set her free.

Afterwards, Brigid decided to promise her virginity to God, being formally consecrated and granted the status of an abbess. With originally seven companions, she set out to found various convents, playing an integral part in organizing religious life for consecrated women in Ireland. She supposedly also was a good friend of St. Patrick, although considering the respective dates of their birth and death, this seems unlikely (Brigid was born in 451, while Patrick died around 461).

At some point during her travels, she came back to Leinster, to the ridge of Druim Criadh, the location of a large oak tree marking an old Celtic shrine. The sanctuary was dedicated to the goddess Brigid and tended to by a group of nineteen young women, who were tasked with taking care of an eternal flame (this seems very reminiscent of the customs associated with other hearth goddesses across Europe, such as Vesta and Hestia). These holy grounds were allegedly surrounded by a hedge which no men could cross - if they did, they would be punished with a cruse, insanity, crippledom, or death. When Brigid arrived there, she decided to make it the site of the monastery of Kildare, which was founded in by her in 480. The name itself derives from "cill dara", which translates to "ridge of oak" in Irish. (There is also the theory that Brigid herself was one of the shrine priestresses, having converted to Christianity.)

This depiction in St. Patrick's chapel, Glastonbury, shows St. Brigid with a bowl of flames, a spindle, and a cow in the background - symbols which go back to the ancient Celtic goddess of fire, the household, and domestic animals (Source)

Becoming the first Abbess of Kildare, she asked Conleth, a hermit from the barony Connell, to oversee it alongside her. It was the first convent in Ireland allowing for both the admission of men and women, practicing their religious life in a double community. In addition, Brigid is also credited with founding a school of art in Kildare, focusing on metalwork and illumination, which was entrusted to the care of Conleth. Over time, Brigid's oratory became a center of religion and education, developing into a cathedral city. For centuries afterwards, it was run by a continuous line of bishops and abbesses, with the Abbess of Kildare holding the position of superior general over all monasteries in Ireland and being regularly awarded episcopal honor.

On February 1st of 525, Saint Brigid finally passed away. On her deathbed, she was given the last rites by Saint Ninnidh of the Pure Hand, whose moniker derives from the fact that he encased his hand in metal afterwards so it would never be defiled. Shortly before her death, Darlugdach (whose name means "daughter of Lugh"), one of Brigid's most faithful pupils, pleaded to die alongside her - however, Brigid prophesized that she would die one year later, on the very same date, a prediction which ultimately came true. Thus, February 1st was declared the feast day for honoring both saints.

Following her death, Brigid was buried to the right of the high altar of Kildare, in a costly tomb "adorned with gems and precious stones and crowns of gold and silver". Over the years, her shrine became a place of veneration for pilgrims, especially on her feast day. Unfortunately, the place was later raided by Viking invaders in 878, and Brigid's relics were displaced in the process. They wouldn't be rediscovered until 1185, with John de Courcy reburying them in Down Cathedral one year afterwards. The relics were kept there until 1538, when they sadly were irretrievably destroyed during the riots of Lord Grey. The only thing that was preserved is St. Brigid's head, which was saved by a few clerics.

Whether you believe the legends about her or not, there is no doubt that Saint Brigid was a very influential figure for Irish culture: In her honor, the festival of Imbolc was renamed St. Brigid's Day, and there are many towns in Ireland which go by the name Kildare, which literally translates to "church of Brigid".

Interestingly, Saint Brigid's life and ministry are as said to have been "touched by fire" in early hagiographies, which can be seen as a parallel to the fire symbolism of Brigid. Just like the Celtic goddess, St. Brigid is also often associated with domestic animals, like cows or geese, and was supposedly able to multiply things such as butter, bacon, and milk. Aside from bestowing sheep and cattle, St. Brigid could also control the weather, which seems like another aspect taken over from the pagan goddess. Last but not least, Kildare is known as the church of the Quercus petraea, also called Irish oak, which is not only the national tree of Ireland but also said to have been sacred to Celtic druids.

Christian Candlemas and modern traditions

While the Irish people continued to celebrate St. Brigid's Day, February 2nd used to be the date of Candlemas in other Christian communities, taking place 40 days after the birth of Jesus on Christmas. It was originally held on February 14th in the 4th century, but the date was moved to February 2nd during the course of the 6th century. Traditionally, Candlemas was considered the "return of light" which Jesus Christ had brought into the world. The name itself derives from the exceptional importance of candles on this holiday: On this day, the candles of all churches would be replaced and newly consecrated for use during the following year, and oftentimes, there would also be a light procession. Furthermore, Candlemas marked the official end of the Christmas period, and the date on which people would remove all festive decorations and dispose of their Christmas trees.

The holiday also has a certain association with purification rites, although these go back to Jewish tradition: According to Biblical law, a woman was considered "unclean" for 40 days after birthing a son (for a girl, the period was 80 days). As compensation, she had to make a "cleansing sacrifice" in the form of a sheep and a dove (poor people simply took two doves). Furthermore, Jewish tradition says that after their Exodus from Egypt, every firstborn is considered the rightful property of God, and as such had to be "ransomed" by a money sacrifice to the temple. Thus, Candlemas commemorates the day of the purification of the Virgin Mary after the birth of her son Jesus, and the day when she presented him at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

On Candlemas, the consecration of candles was of particular importance (Source)

Because of the focus on a female holy figure as well as the rituals related to fire, cleansing, and renewal, some people have suggested that Candlemas might be a Christianized version of Imbolc. However, a connection with Roman paganism is also possible, since the festival of Lupercalia - which was another feast dedicated to health and fertility - also took place in February. Although neither of these theories can decisively be proven, we can conclude that all pastoral religions from ancient Europe share some key similarities, despite the physical distance.

Either way, one thing that's for certain is that the ancient pagan influence can still be seen today: On the British Isles, many of the old traditions are still practiced, and in Ireland, the memory of Brigid - whether saint or goddess - remains particularly alive. In fact, the Irish government decided that Imbolc/St. Brigid's Day shall be a public holiday from 2023 onward, to remember all the efforts and sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, remnants of Celtic customs can also be seen outside the British Isles: In historic times, February 2nd marked the beginning of the peasant year, as well as one of the quarter days when rents were due. Servants and other hired workers would be paid the rest of their annual wage, and subsequently, the servants had to make new contracts by either extending the old ones or looking for new employment.

In some communities,  - such as German Spergau - people would dress up in colorful costumes on Candlemas. Every year, a leader of the Spergau parade would be elected, wearing a dress decorated with ribbons and flower motifs to represent the reawakening of life and coming of spring. Various other costumed people would join the procession, and together, they went through the streets from house to house. A similar tradition is observed in Luxembourg, where children below 12 would go through the streets with lanterns, singing traditional folk songs along the way. They would knock at every door they came by, wishing the inhabitants good luck and health and asking for sweets or coins in return.

The old weather superstitions are not only reflected in proverbs from Great Britain, but also from other countries: In Germany, for example, peasants used to say "If Candlemas is bright and clear, the winter will be long. But if there is storm and snow, spring will come soon." Even the badger's significance as an animal of divination is referenced in a saying: "If the badger basks in the sun on Candlemas, it will go back into its den for six weeks." When they immigrated to America, German and Dutch settlers brought this belief with them, which eventually developed into the tradition of Groundhog Day.

As we can see, the pagan roots of some of our modern-day traditions are still very much present, even though we might not be aware of it. So perhaps, we should take time to remember our origins and learn some valuable lessons from them: putting the old year behind us, welcoming the new, and - most importantly - showing appreciation to all the female figures that guided us during our lives.

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And that concludes my entry for Imbolc! I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into Celtic lore and history - I certainly enjoyed researching about it. If you liked this article, please stay tuned for the next issue about Beltane in May! See you soon! :-)

[blairstales]

Isle of Skye(Scotland): Land of Warrior Women

I try to stick to Scottish folklore, but even though this one is from Irish mythology, it has ties with Scotland.

Scáthach is a Scottish warrior woman from Irish lore, and she is not just described as being from Scotland, but specifically from the Isle of Skye.

“What is interesting in Irish myth, however, it the appearance of female warriors who are not queens, but professional warriors. The best known among them is Scathach (shadowy one) whose school of martial arts was situated on the Isle of Skye, Sgiathanach, in modern Scots Gaelic.” Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature: Peter Berresford Ellis (1995)

She would not train just anyone, however. No, she would only train people already talented enough to be worthy of her time, which meant they would have to be able to force their way into her fortress. If they could do that, she might consider training them.

In tales, the Irish warrior, Cú Chulainn, was sent there with a few others, and it is there that Scáthach teaches them to fight. It is even her who gives Cú Chulainn his famous spear, Gáe Bulg.

Her residence was said to be at Dún Scáith, and legend says that the ruins of Dunscaith Castle is the same spot where Dún Scáith once stood.

While looking up how to try and pronounce Dún Scáith, I accidently found out that it is also a location in Final Fantasy XIV, so there you go, Final Fantasy fans.; this is where the name came from.

[magioffire]

I would like to create my own fae characters but I have no idea where to begin finding research material that I trust. Do you have any recommendations for where to learn about fae?

ohhh well first of all, congrats on wanting to write your own fae!! also im far from an 'expert' on fae but i can provide some stuff to get you started.

when studying fae myths its good to keep in mind that a lot of fae lore is inherently contradictory because of regional variation and the fact that the fae themselves are often just very contradictory creatures. so dont be surprised if you read one article that claims one thing, and then read a book that claims the exact opposite.

you also will want to take in account where the specific fae legends or lore you are reading are coming from. the original location of a piece of folklore can give a lot of context as to how it became folklore in the first place, and its importance to the people living there.

because while when we think of typical fae, we might think of them being a monolithic fantasy creature of the british isles, they can be wildly different between cultures just in that area. not to mention all the other fantasy beings that very much resemble fae or elves in their demeanor, appearance, or abilities from cultures all over the world. ill just focus on interpretations about fae from the UK and surrounding areas in my recommendations tho. it will ultimately up to you what kind of interpretations you use for your idea of fae.

here are some good books to read, mostly nonfiction. some are taking the perspective of examining the fae purely as folkloric and mythological beings, while others may discuss them as actual spiritual beings that exist, either sincerely or as a sort of 'mockumentary' fashion (think that red dragon book we all read as kids)

Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia by Carol Rose The O'Brien Book of Irish Fairy Tales & Legends Finding Faeries: Discovering Sprites, Pixies, Redcaps, and Other Fantastical Creatures in an Urban Environment by Alexandra Rowland (this one is cute) The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales By Bruno Bettelheim (take with grain of salt, the author uses Freudian analysis to explain the importance of fairy tales to the human psyche, likely before freud's ideas fell out of favor with the psychology community. still an interesting and informative read.) Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland by Eddie Lenihan and Carolyn Eve Green The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns & Fairies: A Study in Folk-lore & Psychical Research by Robert Kirk Celtic Tales: Fairy Tales and Stories of Enchantment from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany and Wales -- illustrated by Kate Forrester. Brian Froud's World of Faerie written and illustrated by Brian Froud (art book, very beautiful) Fairies: A Dangerous History by Richard Sugg Seeing Fairies: From the Lost Archives of the Fairy Investigation Society, Authentic Reports of Fairies in Modern Times by Marjorie T. Johnson The Good People: New Fairylore Essays - an assortment of essays on fairy mythology by folklorists and academics

ive either read these or they are on my to read list.

at the end of the day, you should do your research - but make your fae what *you* want them to be. dont let anyone tell you that you have to make your fae look, act, or be a certain way in order to be 'lore' friendly. as the lore is so varied and diverse, you could likely find a story of a fae thats alot like what you had in mind. have fun with it! i swear you wont make the fae mad, if anything they like it when people tell stories about them :)

[semini-mga2024mi4014]

Final Assignment

Research & Concept Art

After researching on how the bridle could be transformed, I decided that I wanted to make Manaan as the statue that is wearing the necklace. This is due to the fact that kelpies had used to worship the water god and in Manaans' lore it can be seen that he often went in a chariot that could travel across the sea which makes me theorize that there is a harmonious relationship amongst the two.

I was trying to conceptualize on how the water god would look and during my research I noticed that some Celtic gods (Irish and Scottish myths) had symbols on their face, therefore I wanted to come up with a symbol.

Manaan is (one?) of the water gods in Celtic mythology and he was affiliated with magic due to his posession of various magical artifacts. I wanted to take these two and combine into a symbol. Since there was no Celtic symbols for water nor magic, I decided to go with the normal symbols, but this might change.

silly little concept for now

[leedawnillustration]

"And pleasant is the fairy land, But, an eerie tale to tell, At the end of seven years, We pay a tithe to hell. I am so fair and full of flesh, I fear it will be myself." -The Ballad of Tam Lin, Scottish Folktale

"Tam Lin is Stolen" 16" x 22", watercolor & gouache.    I had such an enjoyable experience working on this piece! The Ballad of Tam Lin is one of my absolute favorite folktales. Most depictions show his rescue by his true love Janet, but I wanted to depict his original abduction by the Queen of Faeries. Take a hint, lady! 18"x12" 300 gsm watercolor prints available: https://leedawnillustration.storenvy.com/products/24940218-the-ballad-of-tam-lin-print

[whoissabal]

⚔️ : : : : : : : : : . : #horror #horrorart #vintage #retro #celtic #irish #lore #myth #macabre #rocknroll #halloween #fashion #anime #graphic #art #scifi #fantasy https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkePqfLexn/?utm_medium=tumblr

[coinandcandle]

The Morrigan Deity Guide

This is a re-do in the "deity deep dive" format of my original Morrigan post!

Who is The Morrigan?

The Morrigan is the ancient Irish Triple, or tripartite, of war and death, but she is also goddess of sovereignty, the land, and prophecy.

The name Morrigan, or Morrigu, is the anglicized version of the Gaelic name Mór-Ríoghain, which means "Great Queen" in modern Irish.

The old name has been linked to the proto-indo-european word Mór (terror) and Ríoghain could relate to the Latin word Regina (queen). (Wiktionary)

It’s debated whether she is one deity with three aspects or if these three aspects are sisters that create a triple goddess.

If they are sisters, their names are likely Macha, Nemain, and The Morrigan, their collective title being The Morrigu or The Morrigna. (The spelling of these will differ throughout your research if you choose to do your own after this post)

Their names could also be Macha, Nemain, and Badb, though the name “Badb” may have been a title for spirits/gods who wrought havoc on the battlefields and incited terror in the opposing side. (See “The Ancient Irish Goddess of War” in references for more info).

Other names involved with these sisters are Anand and Fea.

It’s not unlikely that The Morrigan’s identity would change between the many different groups in Ireland throughout time.

Parents and Siblings

Her mother is Ernmas, father is unknown.

Siblings have included Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, who make up the triple goddess of spirit and sovereignty of Ireland.

As well as Gnim, Coscar, Fiacha, and Ollom, as her brothers.

Lovers or Partners

The Dagda, with whom her relationship is of great importance for the Irish holiday Samhain.

In some iterations of her lore the Morrigan falls for Irish Hero Cú Chulainn but her feelings are not returned.

Children

Mechi, who has three hearts that each contain a serpent.

Epithets

The Goddess of Death

Morrígu

The Morrighan

The Great Queen

Phantom Queen

Badb-Catha

Nightmare Queen

The Washer at the Ford

Notes

Due to the many myths and legends surrounding The Morrigan and she is also associated with the Fae and the Banshee—a creature that generally takes on the form of an old woman who wails in mourning to announce the coming death of someone in the family.

The Morrigan is most notoriously a shape shifter and deity of magic.

In modern day paganism and witchcraft, some choose to worship The Morrigan as one deity with the sisters as aspects, others choose to worship her as a triple goddess consisting of three sisters. Neither of these can be said to be entirely right or wrong and vary from person to person, even from an academic point of view.

Though there are similar beings throughout Celtic mythology, The Morrigan is unique to Irish mythology.

Stories that prominently feature the Morrígan include Táin Bó Cúailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), Cath Maige Tuired (The First and Second Battles of Moytura), and Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). (Mythopedia)

Fulacht na Mór Ríoghna (Cooking Pit of the Morrígan) in County Tipperary, and two hills in County Meath known as Da Cích na Morrígna (Two Breasts of the Morrígan) are both locations in Ireland linked to The Morrigan.

Modern Deity Work

Correspondences

Disclaimer - Many of these are not traditional or historic correspondences nor do they need to be. However, any correspondence that can be considered traditional will be marked with a (T).

Rocks/Stone/Crystals

Obsidian

Onyx

Silver

Carnelian

Deep green, black and red stones/crystals

Herbs/Plants

Dragon’s Blood

Apples

Nightshade

Roses

Cedar

Cloves

Mugwort

Belladonna

Juniper

Animals

Crow (T)

Eel (T)

Cow (T)

Horse (T)

Wolf (T)

Raven

Symbols

Triple spiral

Crow

Offerings

Blood (be careful with this please!!)

Wine or Mead

The stones and herbs listed above

Imagery of the animals or symbols listed above

Food that you’ve made or a portion of your meal

Jewelry

Art made of her or inspired by her

Coins

Honey

Dark chocolate

Candles and/or wax melts; incense

Meat

Milk

Note: If you’d like your offering to be a bit more traditional, try burying it or sending it down a stream, but only if it is safe for the environment if you do so!

Acts of Devotion

Exercise/Work out (especially if it's challenging!)

Activism

Read/write poetry for her

Research her

Celebrate Samhain

Take up a competitive sport or activity

Standing up for yourself

Keep in mind that these are only some ideas for offerings and correspondences! Items and activities that connect you to her in a more personal way are just as good, and often better, than those you find on the internet. As with any relationship, feel it out, ask questions, and be attentive and receptive!

References and Further Reading

The Morrigan - World History Encyclopedia

The Ancient Irish Goddess of War by WM Hennessey (via Sacred-Texts)

The Morrigan - Druidry.org

The Book of the Great Queen by Morpheus Ravenna

The Morrigan - Mythopedia (Mythopedia also has a bunch of references and further reading of their own that I suggest you look at if you’d like to do your own research!)

[melonisopod]

Actually, Woodwose is a real thing! It's a type of hairy wild man commonly seen in Medieval art and heraldry, similar to fauns and satyrs (but hairy dudes instead of goat people). Also, barghests aren't Celtic in origin, they're a type of fairy black dog from Northern England (with the term itself probably descending from Anglo Saxon stuff given that it comes from "ghost" which comes from old Germanic languages). Baobhan Sith are specifically Scottish, Habetrot is a real folkloric figure from the Scottish-English border, spriggans and muryans are from Cornwall, and boggarts come from all over England. There's definitely some odd exceptions - Cernunnos was worshipped in Gaul, and Melusine (as Melusine, not Albion) is from France - but for the most part Nasu seemed to be drawing from fairy lore from the island of Great Britain *specifically*, which is why Knocknarea is the only Irish character. The Seelie and Unseelie courts aren't actually as common in folklore as pop culture makes them seem, and they're actually pretty specific to Scotland, so I can kiiiiiinda see why Nasu opted to not use them? It's definitely still a little odd, but Nasu's not COMPLETELY making things up. (also, side note fun fact, Celtic =/= Irish! There's six Celtic nations - Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man - and they each have their own Celtic language.)

I'm well aware Celtic=/=Irish, heck, a lot of what you listed is still Celtic. the problem is that you can't just have a story focused on British-centric fae lore when a lot of 'British' folklore in general is appropriated from various Celtic myths. I use "Celtic" as a general term that, admittedly, is very vaguely defined.

but it comes off as very weird to just eliminate one of the British Isles from your Lostbelt chapter wherein a lot of the lore derives its influence. Like, *extremely* weird. Especially when Nasu has consistently portrayed the Celts as inferior to the British Servants, having them called "airheaded berserkers" in-universe and failing to acknowledge the influence of (mostly Irish) myths that influenced Arthuriana and the KOTR (Fionn is the basis King Arthur was built off of, Diarmuid inspired both Lancelot and Tristan, Gawain arguably takes inspo from Cu Chulainn; Morgan *at least* has a My Room line with a nod to her connection with the Morrigan but it's otherwise treated as a joke or never given credence) and generally leaning heavily into colonialist propaganda about how the British "civilized" the "savage barbarian" Celts.

Nasu isn't completely making things up sure (I know Cernnunos is a god but it's how he's handled in the Lostbelt that comes off strange) but he's taking way more liberties with it than is normal even by typical Lostbelt standards. Probably most glaringly is how the Fairy Knights are just named for entire species of Fae, and apparently "Fairy Knight" itself is going to be translated into "Tam Lin" which is not a title but a specific person.

And it's especially glaringly noticeable with how long we spend in Lostbelt 6, how far it stretches out, you can't just excuse it with "Oh there wasn't enough time to build on myth-accurate materials or do research!" no, we linger on this chapter a good while and most of the existing mythological elements were slapped together cause Nasu thought they sounded cool, with very little basis in myth-accuracy.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Pack Mentality

With all the praise that Soul was getting for it’s gorgeous animation and brilliant narrative, half of which i would agree with, there were rumblings of it being the absolute favorite for the animation Oscar this year, And then a challenger appeared over on the Apple TV upstart; Wolfwalkers. It was this beautifully animated, especially considering it’s hand-drawn, a lost art in this age of Pixar and Dreamworks. After seeing a preview, i was instantly smitten. I had to see this film. I had to know if it was as great as everyone said.

The Good

Yo, this film is absolutely stunning! Seriously, it’s easily the best looking movie I've seen all year. Soul is an exceedingly close second but the fact that all of this is hand-drawn gives it that edge. I’m an Eighties kid so stuff like stop motion animation, practical effects, and hand-drawn animation will always carry more weight with me because i grew up with all of it. It’s fast becoming a lost art and I'm glad that there is a studio out there still willing to give this type of animation a shot. Like, holy sh*t, that way the Wolfwalkers see the world? are you kidding me??

I just gushed about the animation, itself, but i have to make note of the actual aesthetic. I love this type of stylized art. It reminds me of that old school, Cartoon Cartoon-esque, look. I’m talking Gendy and MacKracken. It looks like something completely different from the domination of that Cal Arts style from the past decade, a complete breath of fresh air. I love when content comes through, completely unique unto itself, but absolutely outstanding, nonetheless.

Tomm Moore is the director of this thing and writer of this thing. It’s got his stink all over it, which makes since, since he was the person who brought us The Secret of Kells. That film, too was absolutely stunning and played out like nothing else released that year. Tomm reminds be a lot of Travis Knight, the cat who runs Laika and makes all their stop-motion pictures. I adore the fact hat these studios are keeping the old styles alive while simultaneously delivering some of the best animation content out there.

I really like the plot to this flick, man. It’s kind of your run-of-the-mill, man versus nature, odd couple pairing, story but it’s told with such passion and reverence. This isn’t Pocahontas or Ferngully. y can tell the message is there but it’s definitely a distinct narrative crafted by Moore, one that he has been developing for a few years. You definitely feel that dedication in this flick and its all the better for it.

The music in this film is as much a character as anyone else. My, goodness, do these songs cue your emotions. Music and animation often go hand-in-hand, more so than live action films, so you absolutely need that soundtrack to hit in just the right way. The once created for Wolfwalkers is near perfect for the content. All of these Celtic rhythms and percussion are divinity for the ears.

As this is an Irish production, I’m nowhere near as well versed in this cast as i am with US productions, but Eva Whittaker and Honor Kneafsey are outstanding as the two leads,  Mebh Og MacTire and Robyn Goodfellowe. Their scenes together are amazing and the chemistry shared is surprisingly genuine. Sean Ban also comes through and delivers a commanding, yet, caring performance as Robyn's stubbornly overprotective father, Bill Goodfellowe and the horrifying cruel antagonist, Oliver Cromwell, is given life by Simon McBurney. Maria Doyle also makes an appearance as Mebh’s mother, Moll MacTire. It’s a limited one but has incredibly impact on the overall plot.

The pace of this movie is pretty nice. It moves smoothly, getting you where you need to be with a gentle push. There is no fat around this story so it’s pretty streamlined. That focus makes for a properly engaging watch and a rather entertaining one to boot.

The Bad

This thing is properly animated. While i think this is wonderful, it will definitely turn off older people and cats who think animation is for kids. Cartoons are for kids and they happen to be animated. This is a fantasy tale steeped in Irish folklore that just happens to be animated. It has to be animated. The way this thing pays out, there’s no way it could be live action or CG. Even so, the very fact that it is animated will limit the audience willing to give it a chance an that is a crying shame.

This thing is an exclusive to Apple TV. I don’t know anyone who has Apple TV and the fact that it’s got such a tiny platform to call home, really limits the amount of exposure this film is going to get. It’s f*cked up because it is, arguably, the best animated movie released this year. Like, i loved Soul because it spoke directly to the blackness in me but, as a film, as a creative endeavor born from pure creativity? Wolfwalkers craps all over Soul. I loved both of these films but the artist in me demands that Wolfwalkers be given the respect and exposure it so rightfully deserves. That ain’t happening on Apple TV.

The Verdict

I adore this film. Absolutely love it. Celtic mythology is my third favorite after Egyptian and Greek so seeing it brought to screen so vividly was a true experience. Celtic myth never gets the shine it deserves. I am grateful for Moore and his Cartoon Saloon are making incredible works and Wolfwalkers is another in a small but acclaimed library. Moore also brought us The Secret of the Kells and Song of the Sea, both excellent in their own right. Wolfwalkers definitely continues that pedigree with gorgeous visuals, a story filed with heart and emotion, outstanding performances, particularly form the two leads, and a brilliant vision of a world steeped in Celtic lore.

[ladyhistorypod]

Episode 18: Three’s Company, Four’s Divine

Sources

Ishtar

Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus: Mesopotamia Timeline

Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus: Inanna/Ishtar

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Inanna and Enki

Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Inana's Descent to the Netherworld

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative: Composite Text of Akkadian Descent of Ištar

Journal of Near Eastern Studies

CON­STRUCT­ING THE IM­AGE OF ASSINNU BY MARTTI NISSINEN SAANA SVÄRD

Further Learning: Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature: Epic of Gilgamesh, Epic of Gilgamesh: Standard Babylonian Version

Nüwa

Oxford Reference

Mythopedia

Google Arts & Culture

Further Learning: Remarks by Ambassador Cheng Jingye

Danu & Tuatha Dé Danann

The Goddess Danu (YouTube)

Danu - Irish Goddess (YouTube)

Ancient History of Ireland, Tuatha De Danaan, Scythians, and Phoenicians (YouTube)

Celtic Mythology - An Introduction to the Tuatha De Danann (YouTube)

Further learning: House Shadow Drake - Don and Dana, Celtic Myth and Legend, Poetry and Romance, The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland, Life Understood from a Scientific and Religious Point of View, The History of Ireland

Persephone

Hesiod’s Theogony

Homer’s Hymn to Demeter

Madeline Miller

Further Learning: Lore Olympus (webcomic), Punderworld (webcomic)

Attributions: A Ghrà by Damiano Baldon

Click below for a transcript of this episode!

Haley: Which goddess is three point three seven feet tall? Kelsie: Three point three seven? Haley: Yes. Alana: Do– do you want us to say? Do you want to say? Lexi: These jokes are just a quiz for Kelsie. Haley: I have to have multiple jokes? I'm not ready. Alana: I have one it’s fine. Haley: Okay well it's Demeter. Alana: And you know you should also you know in in in COVID times, in COVID times you should be standing Demeters apart. Lexi: Oh. My. Lord Jesus. Oh my god. I should say oh my lord Ashera [Ash-er-a]. Kelsie: There you go. Alana: Oh, that's very funny. Haley: I love when Alana’s– Alana: Ashera [Ash-ay-ra], actually please. Lexi: Yeah, right. I knew as soon as I said it I said it wrong. Haley: Every couple of episodes Alana will… like Lexi and I will say something, and Alana will be like “oh that's like really funny” in this tone and like… I’m always funny. Don’t be surprised. I don't need this from you. Kelsie: Actually Haley, you're quite hilarious. Haley: Thank you. Lexi: Wait, but how does that tie into social media? Haley: I didn't get to the question yet. The question is because for… well my dad doesn't listen to my podcast, but for my dad is the worst person to get Christmas or birthday presents and his birthday is January 2, so like hop skip and a jump right after Christmas. But he loves board games, and his favorite board game is Codenames, so I have printed out over two hundred photos– like family photos– of the like stupidest photos in the world. And I'm laminating everything so it could be his own Codenames pictures, replacing all of it. Kelsie: That’s good. Haley: And my question is, is there a photo from your childhood where you're like what am I doing but you have that second jolt of like no this actually makes complete sense when you're realizing like what you're doing in the photo? For me it was crouching down in like the seventh grade next to a kangaroo, waking up a kangaroo, and then immediately after getting punched. I also had bangs but it was Australia and humidity or whatever climate that just didn't work with my curly hair. Lexi: So that was a set up so I could say that the picture of me digging up a dinosaur… Which, famously on this podcast I get mad when people think archaeologists dig up dinosaurs. Kelsie: As you should. Lexi: But yes, there is a picture of me, five years old, digging up a dinosaur. Not a real one. I don't think they’d let four year olds do that. Haley: But the best part is the goggles! Lexi: I have goggles on to protect me from the dirt. Kelsie: That’s important. You don’t want to get schmutz in your eyes. Lexi: But I’ve never been on a dig where I wore goggles. Kelsie: Maybe you should. Maybe you should wear goggles next season. Lexi: You know how much acne I’d get around my face if I wore goggles in the heat of Israel? Alana: Yeah, right? Kelsie: Who cares? Alana: No, go to Ireland! [INTRO MUSIC] Alana: Hello and welcome to Lady History; the good, the bad, and the ugly lady you missed in history class. We're back recording new episodes, so here is Lexi. Lexi, what would you be the goddess of? Lexi: Cross stitching and tricycles. Alana: Do you want to elaborate or just leave it at that? Lexi: Well right now I am cross stitching and it's what I do with my hands when I'm talking because I have mental problems and the only way I can focus on something is to do something else mindless. And the tricycle is because I have an adult tricycle and an anecdote my dad took that tries to go into the bike repair shop to get the brake fixed and he was too embarrassed to say it was his daughter’s so he said his wife bought it for his mother in law. Alana: And I really like that question so I'm also gonna ask Haley. Haley, what would you be the goddess of? Haley: I think I would be the goddess of eggs, just because I would control them and like not take it in because like I don't wanna be the goddess of something like I destroy, so like… Alana: For the irony. Haley: The irony. Eggs. Alana: And it's our third ever guest, Kelsie! Kelsie, tell the listeners a skosh about yourself. Kelsie: Hi everybody I'm Kelsie Ehalt. I am a Master’s student at Brandeis right now and I'm going to go and list the department I'm in. It's just a lot of words, so get ready. But I'm in the joint program in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, those are two different departments, but they both have ‘ands’ which makes things confusing. But basically I study ancient history via texts right now. I do archaeology as well but right now since digging’s not really a thing because we shouldn’t travel because of the pandemic, I'm really focusing on languages for my Masters. And then I also incorporate the gender studies side of things into the equation, so I'm just looking at how gender functions in the ancient world and thinking about it from a not straight white man perspective, basically, because that's basically all that’s been published. And there’s some better scholarship coming out now, but there's still some work to be done so I'm doing what I can there. Alana: We do love all of that. And I'm Alana and I tried to start an all goddess religion when I was like eight. (Haley laughing) Alana: Me and my friend Kay who is one of my like oldest friends in the whole world, they're gonna get a shout out a little bit later as well because they sort of helped me in my research. We like tried to start up polytheistic all goddess religion when we were like eight. We like had a list of goddesses that we wanted to name and we like created little rituals. A great time to be had. Kelsie: Everyone should have just a religion creation phase I think. Alana: Absolutely. We called it Selenism because the main goddess was Selene. Haley is shaking her head at me and it's making me feel… ways. Haley: I love it but also like… Lexi: I feel like I was like writing fan fiction before I knew it was fan fiction, while you simultaneously were making a religion. Haley: Like I'm not surprised that either of this happened. Not surprised at all. Alana: It's a true story, it's a fun story. We kept a lot of ash in bottles… related to this religion that we were making up. Kelsie: Where did you get ash from when you were like… Haley: Yeah, that’s the… Alana: I don't think we still have it, but like we had it for a while. Lexi: No no no, where did you acquire it? Kelsie: What were you burning? Alana: Oh. From like. I don't remember. Haley: No that's a body. Alana: I think we just like burned paper or something and collected the ash. Kelsie: Oh, that’s not exciting. Alana: We played with a lot of fire when I was… Kay and I… we played with a lot of fire. Haley: Yeah! Yes! Yes. Lexi: I don’t know what to say. Haley: No, playing with fire… Wait, were you a Girl Scout too? Alana: No, I was a Daisy for half an hour and then they wanted me to do all this like stupid weird shit like say my own name in a group of people so that was a no no for baby Alana. Alana said no no to being a Daisy. Kelsie: Alright so I'm going to talk about my girl Ishtar today. So Ishtar is the Akkadian name for the goddess of love and war but the Sumerian version of her name is Inanna so I might switch back and forth between Ishtar and Inanna but know that by the later period they're the same person. There's some debate about whether Ishtar was a separate goddess who became then sort of like coagulated in with this earlier Inanna, or if Ishtar is just like a direct connection to Inanna, there's a debate about this, it’s not quite clear. So I’ll probably refer to her as Ishtar. If I mess up and instead of Inanna it’s because I work with the later period stuff so I don't really see Inanna too much. But anyway so Ishtar, Inanna is the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war. And she's depicted in all kinds of different texts, but obviously we have the most interesting sort of goddess information about her from the mythological texts, but she also shows up in legal texts because they're just invoking her to you know validate decisions, things like that. And people in this period, well in Mesopotamia across all periods of history, have personal gods so she’s invoked in sort of just letters too if they're just like “hey bud I'm sending you this thing, you know, good luck, thanks Ishtar or Inanna.” like whatever, she's brought up a lot. But for today I'm gonna focus on a few of the mythological texts because I think that's where we get the most interesting information about who she is as a character in the Mesopotamian religion. So the biggest story, or the story where she has the biggest role, is– the title’s translated, there's not really a title, they don't always title these tablets. But it's translated as the Descent of Inanna or Ishtar into the Netherworld. So I'm gonna give you a little summary of what goes on in that story which is… it's a fun one. I actually– this is one of the first things I– the actual– first actual texts I worked on translating in Akkadian, not just working out of the exercise the book but actually working with text. So I'm gonna tell you the Sumerian version a slightly longer, and there are more details, so I'm gonna tell you that version, and then I can tell you how the later Akkadian versions differ later. So here, Inanna–because this is Sumerian– she's deciding to go down to the netherworld. It's kind of conceived as like a cavern type thing underground so I guess I should go over Mesopotamian cosmogony first so we have Earth here which is where you know humans and mortals lived, and above that is the heavens, which is pretty standard for what modern Abrahamic traditions follow as well. But then beneath the Earth, we have the netherworld or underworld. In Sumerian it’s kur, in Akkadian it's kurnigi… I'll just call it the netherworld. And then between the netherworld and the Earth we have the Apsu, which is sort of this underground water where things happened too, and that's where Enki lives. And that's also– that plays a role in the creation story of Enuma Elish where Tiamat, one of the primordial goddesses who's the goddess of fresh water...? Either freshwater or saltwater I’m forgetting. She mixes with Apsu which is either freshwater or saltwater, whichever one she's not, and they create the other gods from there. So the Apsu is really important because it's sort of the origin point of all of the gods within Mesopotamian… the Mesopotamian pantheon. It's also where Enki lives, and he's one of the head gods too and we'll talk about him some more in the story because he plays a role. Okay so in the Descent of Inanna… so she's going down to the underworld to visit her sister Ereshkigal, who is the goddess of the underworld. I'm forgetting what her name is in Sumerian, it might be still Ereshkigal. But she’s going down to visit Ereshkigal because her husband– Ereshkigal’s husband has died, so Inanna wants to go to his funeral. And before she goes down, she tells her assistant– it's translated as minister in the versions that I looked at– her minister whose name is Ninshubur– I'm not sure about the length of the vowels there, but Ninshubur is Inanna’s like assistant, I'm imagining like a PA. And so Inanna is like “okay Ninshubur, like I'm going down, it's kind of dangerous to go, people don't really go down to the netherworld, so if I'm not back in three days go ask these gods for help.” and she gives a list of gods. First is Enlil, and then Urim, Nanna, and Enki. That's important later because she gives a list of four and it's important that she gives a list of four because the first three don't help her, but we'll get to that in a minute. So Ninshubur is like “okay, great, have a good visit to the netherworld,” and off Inanna goes. So Inanna goes down, she’s stopped by the gatekeeper… and the gatekeeper says “hold up, what are you doing here and why are you here?” And so Inanna says “I'm visiting my sister because her husband died and I want to go to the funeral” and he's like “okay let me go ask her.” So he goes and asks Ereshkigal if it’s okay and Ereshkigal is concerned because before Inanna went down, she got these powers. And the powers are manifest in physical objects. So she gets a ring that has some sort of special power, and this lapis lazuli necklace that has a power, and there are seven other– seven total things, so five other things that have powers. And so Ereshkigal knows that Inanna brought these and she's concerned about them because there's a sort of not trusting dynamic between them even though they are sisters. So Inanna’s like okay you can let her in but close all seven gates and only open one at a time to let her in, and each gate take one of her things. So she goes through it's the same sort of structure throughout, in the Sumerian. And she goes to one gate, they take her ring. She goes to the second gate, they take her hat or whatever. And it goes on for seven gates. And then she gets to the last gate, they let her in, and basically it was a trap. Speaker 0: They… it's kind of confusing. The Sumerian is not really clear on what exactly happens. But I've sent Alana the link to the translation that I looked at, and so you can read it too if you want to see– Alana: That will be in our show notes at ladyhistorypod dot tumblr dot com. Kelsie: Yeah. So I used the version that the… the Electronic Corpus of Sumerian Literature version which is trans– it's sort of a… It's a compilation of some different translations but it's a pretty standard not too fluffy interpretive translation, so I thought it was pretty good. But basically… so she gets the last gate and then they start yelling at Inanna and then she turns into a corpse and they put her on a hook. I'm not exactly sure what the process of these things are, but I’m imagining they're yelling at her and she just sort of like desicates and like dries up and they like put her on a hook. The motivation isn't super clear, I think, and some of the tablet is broken, so there… we might be missing some of the context, of course. And you know, of course, something important happens in a break, that's always the case, it’s never something boring. So maybe there’s some sort of other story, and maybe it's orally transmitted, detailing the drama between Ereshkigal and Inanna. Maybe there's a more specific reason why Ereshkigal does not trust Inanna and therefore wants to take her powers and then trick her to stay in the netherworld. Anyway, so Inanna's dried up, on a hook, and then three days passed and so Ninshubur, you know, being the loyal personal assistant, realizes three days have passed and Inanna’s not back, so she's like “oh shit, I better go get help.” So she goes to the first person that Inanna told her to ask for help from, Enlil. Enlil says “no, I’m not helping.” And then Ninshubur goes to Urim, Urim says “no I'm not helping.” And then Ninshubur goes to Nanna, and Nanna says “no, I’m not helping.” And finally she goes to Enki, who in some versions of myths is Inanna’s father. And in this version he… the wording is that he is her father, but we have to be careful with the wording about like familial relations in Near Eastern text because sometimes they’re just using them to describe power dynamics, not actual biological relations. So even though Enki here is you know referring to Inanna as his daughter, it might just be a power dynamic thing rather than a biological relation. That's not super clear, but in other versions of the story he’s also depicted as her father so I think that's fair enough to go for the narrative. But anyway, he’s like “okay fine I'll help, what is Inanna doing?” And so Ninshubur explains that she went down to the netherworld and is stuck. So Enki's like “okay I have a plan.” So he makes these two figures and these are gonna come up later because these figures are what I'm doing my thesis on. He takes dirt from his fingernail and he makes a kurgarru and in the Sumerian it’s galutera. In later Akkadian is just galu. But these two figures– and I’ll explain a little bit more later when I talk about what I'm doing for my thesis– there are some interesting gender performance things going on with these figures. But right now I’ll just leave them as helpers that Enki makes from dirt from under his fingernail. And he gives one of them a plant and he gives one of them water, and he’s like “okay, go down to the netherworld, and give… you're gonna see a corpse, and it's gonna be confusing, but that corpse is your queen.” So I love that saying, because he's like “you’re gonna see this dead body” so he knows what happened already, which I don't understand how that happened. But he's like “you're gonna see this corpse, give her the water, give her the food, and you'll be okay.” They go down, they give Inanna the water and the plant, and she– I assume like somehow revives. And I’m imagining like a sponge, like they put the water on her and like I said before, like I’m imagining like the yelling like desiccated her, so there was sort of like… like soaking up the water. And so okay… she's like “okay I'm fine now.” So they start to leave, and these two demons stop them, the group of three who are leaving, so there’s five of them now. And they say “well, no one ever leaves the netherworld, so you need to send someone to replace you.” And she's like “okay, who do you want” and they're like “we want your assistant” and she's like “no she's too loyal” and then they're like “we want your manicurist” and she's like “no she's too good” and then they're like “what about your husband” and Inanna’s like “okay sure, I guess.” There's some other stories about her husband Demuzi, that it was an arranged marriage too so Inanna is like not too keen on her husband. But so anyway, so the demons go to take Demuzi, and he's like “oh no, I don't want to go to the netherworld.” So he talks to his brother Utu, who lives in the heavens, and he's like “Utu, turn my limbs into snakes so I can escape the demons” and Utu is like “okay, that sounds like a good idea.” And so he turns his limbs into snakes, and he escapes the demons. And then the last part of the story is really fragmented, so I have no idea what's going on, but apparently Demuzi escapes, and then some other things happen, and then Inanna talks to a fly…  like a bug, a fly, who says “I know where your husband is, we can go find him.” And then apparently the fly helps her– it's broken so it's hard to know and then the story ends somewhere there. But that's the short, sort of humorous version of the Sumerian version of the descent of Ishtar, or Inanna, rather. And then the Akkadian version is a lot shorter, it leaves out a lot of the details of… it doesn't have the story afterward, after they leave the netherworld and the demons are trying to take someone back to replace Inanna, the Akkadian version doesn't have that. One of the notable things but the Akkadian version, I think, and this sort of links into my master's thesis, which I’ll get to in a second, is that when Ishtar, in this case since we're talking about the Akkadian, is stuck in the netherworld, there's a whole series of lines repeated twice or three times where it's like all of the animals and humans aren't having sex anymore. And things are bad. And so that's how they know that something's wrong with Ishtar, instead of the assistant sending people down to help, other people realize that something's wrong, which I think is interesting. And then, you know, then she gets back and it's okay. But yeah. So, to talk about my thesis a little bit. So I'm focusing on a couple different figures in the cult of Ishtar, the main ones I'm focusing on is the assinnu. The assinnu is the syllabic spelling of it in Akkadianin but there's also a logogram which in Sumerian is sagg or sag. That one you see sometimes the other one is urmunis which is literally man-woman. Haley: Fun fact, sag in Farsi is dog. Kelsie: Oh, really? Haley: Yeah. Kelsie: In Sumerian it’s head or like top. Haley: Oh that's fun. I was ready for you to be like wolf. Kelsie: No, it's the same as the Arabic it's kelb, kelbum in Akkadian. Anyway, so I think there's definitely something going on interesting gender-wise with these figures, and so actually I first came up with this topic because I was reading the descent of Ishtar in Akkadian, not the Sumerian version. But my first semester of Akkadian, and my professor was a PhD student and we got to a part where– the part where in the Akkadian version, Ea instead of Enki makes an assinnu. And it's the word assinnu in the Akkadian version, but it’s kurgarru and galla in the Sumerian version, but these are all kind of related. I'm throwing words out, I’ll explain the difference– and also the difference isn't super clear, so if you’re confused between them, everyone is. There's not a clear distinction between these roles that we found in the textual evidence so far. But I was like “okay what's an assinnu” because I never heard that word before, that's not a common word in Akkadian and he’s like “oh, it's like a third gender person” and like that raised red flags in my gender studies brain, I'm like okay like whenever you categorize something as third gender without any other discussion there's something interesting going on there. So I started reading some more about what people had written about the assinnu and it turned out to be pretty gross because as we all know being archaeology students and students of the ancient world, it's all white straight man… cis straight men writing about basically everything and so that's the case with gender as well, unfortunately. And so in all these different translations of texts, the assinnu are translated from everything as like cultic prostitute, to eunuch, to impersonator– all these gross words that I think… one, just really limit the conversation that you could have about gender in these figures because you're placing so many modern assumptions on them just with the single word that you're using, and two, especially words like eunuch and cultic prostitute like there's no textual evidence to support these interpretations anyway. So it's all this secondary scholarly interpretation being placed on these figures where you know there's not many textual instances of them, so it's hard to say what exactly is going on but there's not specific evidence for castration or prostitution. For my thesis I’m basically going through and writing about how the word assinnu and kurgarru and galu and kalu have been translated by scholars, and then going back and seeing like what can we figure out in terms of their gender performance from the actual textual evidence that we have, as opposed to just going to these simplistic, interpretive labels. And my proposition, too, at the end is to not translate words like that because any translation that we have is going to simplify the role of these figures and I think just leaving it in the Akkadian leaves more room open for describing the things that they did and leaving it open because we don't know a lot about them, and just leaving that sort of gray area there instead of just labeling them one thing or another. But yeah so that's what I'm working on for my thesis, and all of these figures are associated with Ishtar specifically. And I think there is something interesting there because of Ishtar’s liminality herself because she's the goddess of love and war and those are two kind of opposite things. And her own gender performance is kind of somewhere in between this binary because sometimes she's portrayed in cylinder seals and things with a beard, and her animal is a male lion, or a lion with a mane, at least. I mean there are female lions with manes too. So I think Ishtar herself has some interesting gender things going on, so it makes total sense that her cultic functionaries, her cultic personnel, also had some interesting gender things going on too. So I'm just trying to figure out what exactly we can say about what's going on within her temple. There’s not a lot of evidence, but just trying to figure out what's going on. Lexi: I love it. I love your thesis. Haley: My mind is blown. Lexi: I really struggled to settle on a lady for this episode because I wanted to do something interesting but I didn’t want my lady to be from the same region as like another lady that was already being covered by one of you in this episode and that's– the regions you are familiar with are the regions I am familiar with because we had the same professors. So I had to branch out of my comfort zone and explore a person I had never explored– well, a god I never explored because this is goddesses. So I did what any sensible person would do and I reached out to my sister– sorority sister, for everyone who's been following along. And I would like to thank my sister Amber for suggesting this lady. It was a very good suggestion. So I'm talking today about Nüwa. Clarification, as always, I do not speak Chinese, so that's the best that it’s going to get but it's probably not totally correct but do with that what you will. I speak Korean, not Chinese. Alana: Have I been Jewish yet? Have we said Sprinklebear McPuss-n-Boots yet? We got to get all three. Lexi: You got them in. We got them in. Nüwa is the mother goddess of traditional Chinese mythology, so you know we know of a lot of other mythologies from other parts of the world and there often is a mother figure… you know, a matriarch among the deities if you know what I mean. So she's that but in China. And her name is made up of two characters, nu which means woman and wa which is a unique character that is only a part of her name, so that's how it distinguishes her from women in general, it's Nu-Wa. And she is the sister and wife of emperor god Fuxi. And Fuxi is the god who created hunting and cooking, which is a fun combo like hunt then cook? Not vegan, but very relevant to each other. She is often depicted as a serpent, and it's her body is the figure of a serpent and she has a woman's head. And she is capable of shape shifting into anything she wants so she can change how she appears. And let me just say she looks really dope, like what a vibe, check out our Instagram, I’ll put up a picture there, or Google her, but I'm obsessed with the different looks that she has. In some depictions she's just drawn as a woman in traditional Chinese dress, which is hanfu and that's slightly less cool but like chill. And in the traditional Chinese creation story Nüwa created humankind from the earth. And we see this in a lot of creation myths. If you know of creation myths from around the world, a lot of times like the physical earth or clay or dirt is related to the creation of humankind. So the story goes that one day she was walking through the woods and she found the woods to be so beautiful that she was sad that she couldn't share the beauty with others. She wanted someone else to enjoy the beauty of the earth. So she decided to create humans from the clay around the river. So she stopped at the riverbank, she picked up the clay, and she's like “I can make humans out of this.” And it is said that she made the aristocracy, like the aristocratic class from yellow clay from the riverbank, and the lower classes were made from mud. And so Nüwa made the upper classes with her hands, she molded them, but her hands got tired and so she picked up a rope and she dipped in the mud, swung it around over her head, and the mud that dropped off became the lower classes. So there is a class distinction in this story, I assume it was at one point in history perpetuated by the upper classes to justify like the class divide in their society but that's how the story goes. And there are several versions that story with varying details so if you are curious to go explore it there are texts about her written in Chinese and Vietnamese and a couple other Asian languages, so if you speak any of those and want to go read it, feel free. But that's the general basic… things that seem to be true in every version of the story. She is credited with defeating the evil water god who is depicted as a black dragon and is named Gonggong, which… I love that name too, like I love the double syllable situation. It's like you could call a pet that, but I guess not since he's an evil water god, maybe it's not good luck to name your pet after him. And Gonggong he’d ripped a hole in the sky when he was battling another god– it was the fire god, so the water and fire god were like [fighting noises] you know? That was not good podcast audio, but they were going at it, him and the fire god. Alana: How am I supposed to transcribe that? Lexi: Ahhh noise! Kelsie: Throw in some vowels and some Hs. Lexi: They were going at it. And they were fighting. And Gonggong ripped down one of the pillars, which is a mountain. He ripped it down, and the sky got a big hole in it. This is a big problem because the sky protected the people from like crazy weather phenomena, so like rain, tsunami, crazy kind of like… crazy crap was happening in the sky. And so she repaired the hole and saved the humans because she loved them because they were her creation, and versions of the story also differ, with one suggesting that she died of exhaustion because she was so tired because she had like held up the sky and put it back together. But she saved humankind, so it was like her last great feat. And another version suggests that she could not repair the sky with just the material she had, so she herself became stone and put the sky back together. So there’s either the version of her dying of exhaustion or her actually becoming the material to repair the sky. Either way, this is her final story so she sacrifices herself to save humankind from Gonggong's mistake. Kelsie: Wait, so with the second version where she is repairing the sky herself is there like an astrological sort of connection to her then? Is there like a constellation representing her? Lexi: That's a good question. No source I read specifically dictated that. Particularly I think because she tends to be associated with the day, but I am unsure. There might be a constellation related to her. She's technically the goddess of marriage and fertility. Chinese religion has really changed over time, but despite that, Nüwa has remained an important figure to many people in China. There are many temples and shrines that are dedicated to her and preserved in her honor, including one that is seen as the ancestral shrine of all humanity, so she's very central in like the identity structure of China. And some women in China today pray to Nüwa for assistance in issues of fertility or marriage, so like if you want a husband you're supposed to go and be like “Nüwa! Give me a man!” and if you want to have a baby, you're supposed to go to Nüwa and be like “Nüwa! Birth me a son!” and so on and so forth. In addition to her role in religion, she also features prominently in pop culture in China and other parts of Asia. She has been a character in three video games, so you can go play Nüwa. I don't know exactly how these video games work, I have not played them. But if that's your jam, Google it. And in numerous television shows and films, there's films that depict all the different stories surrounding her and other deities so she factors into those stories too, and there have been film adaptations specifically of the sky fixing story. And on Earth Day in 2012, a statue of Nüwa created by a Chinese professor was revealed in Time Square as a representation of the importance of protecting the ozone layer because the theme of that year's Earth Day was the ozone layer. And so the ozone layer protects humans and is similar to the sky and Nüwa in her stories… so the statue is of her holding up a piece of the sky… Nüwa holding a piece of the sky…  and she's holding that up and that represents the ozone layer and the fact that we need to keep the ozone layer safe, so as you would give to Nüwa and worship Nüwa you should worship and protect the ozone layer… so on and so forth. Very very cool. And the statue was later moved to Vienna and I've included in the further reading the transcript of the speech that was given when the statue was installed in Vienna which is now where it lives forever, so it's really interesting if you're into that kind of thing. And also I will include a link to the Google Arts and Culture page that describes the statue and you can learn more about the statue and what it's made of if you like that kind of thing and what it looks like. Haley: I was having like a mental identity crisis with who I was gonna pick, and I was on TikTok, of course, scrolling through like just for inspiration. And I came on for my like For You Page. I think that's what it's called, the youths call it, a fun story about Danu and Tuatha Dé Danann. I really… Okay, so this is Irish mythology that we're doing a deep dive into, and I asked Robert how to pronounce these, and of course I forgot. So in Irish mythology, Danu, meaning the flowing one or the divine one who brings all things into being, is associated with both masculine and feminine things which is like right on. However, every time I pick– like, I couldn't decipher like, discern whether she was representation– like if you looked at her while she had her pronouns, or assuming from scholars now she/her pronouns, if she would represent both masculine and feminine or if she is just associated with because she's the divine one who brings all things into being. Because when you look at her it's– I put a lot in the further reading but I used a lot of YouTube videos of the people who are like kinda amateur experts in this… certainly not myself. And a lot of the representation that they put up were very feminine goddess like. Like very nature-esque, flowing long hair, flowing skirts and dresses, or sometimes like a warrior but really like honing in on that feminine side. And that's just my tangent. So she is also like the earth goddess of fertility and growth, abundance, agriculture, as well as intellect, change, and wisdom– and a whole host of others. She just does it all, apparently. She's also like the hypothetical mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann which is what I'm also going to talk about. But before that, because this group of people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, which is Old Irish for the people of the goddess of Danu and the anai– the A. N. A. I. within the name means wealth and that's kind of strange because this… when I'm reading Danu is D. A. N. U. and that’s not found in any like medieval Irish text which was kind of like a point in time where people were like okay it's not in this period and afterwards type of situation. That goes for a lot of her myths and legends. And if you let me nerd out for a sec, let's go into some etymology of the name Danu. Scholars believe that the name Danu is the nominative form and the genitive form is Danann, spelled as like D. A. N. A. N. N. or D. O. N. A. N. D. or D. A. N. A. N. D., which is seen in the primary sources, that’s also how the name Tuatha Dé Danann is spelled. It's the D. A. N. A. N. N., the genitive form of Danu. Again, with these people, they are the people of the goddess of Danu. And this is the story that I'm actually gonna focus on because spoiler it's great and it's also one of the most well known sources, just if you like do a Google search this is the one that keeps popping up with her. And it's about how… basically Ireland was kind of populated. So opening our book to a short story, while there are a bunch of little stories like within this one story, I'm kind of like lumping it all up. And in Irish mythology  Tuatha Dé Danann were the first people or tribe in Ireland. Since they're supernatural and they're not necessarily human but they are human, the way they arrived to Ireland was like via dark clouds and mist which also gets strange because they landed on Connacht. Am I saying that right, Alana? Alana: Connacht. Haley: Connacht. Alana: C. O. N. N. A. C. H. T.? Haley: Yes! Yes ma’am. Alana: Connacht. Yeah Haley: Which is on the west side of Ireland. And this is where– Alana: It's– throwback to episode two, that is around where Gráinne Ní Máille was born and lived and did her pirate-y thing. Haley: Exactly. So this is like why it gets weird, why I say it's like they arrived via dark clouds and mist because they also had boats. So when I was first reading this, I was expecting like people coming out of like dark mist and clouds because clouds are in the sky! But I think now like boats come along with it, so there might be spaceship boats or like water boats. But– Alana: Like in Treasure Planet. Haley: Exactly! That’s what I was thinking. Lexi: Ancient Aliens? The aliens brought boats down and created the Irish people? Haley: NO. Alana: No no no no. Treasure Planet. Treasure Planet is the analogy that we are going with, Treasure Planet. Haley: Yes. And when they arrived, they supposedly burned the boats, hence forcing them to settle in the land they like docked. Which made little to no sense-tentacles, because you literally like, again, rode in like a cloud of mist. And also I want to know when they settled, and they were like “okay, we have food, water, shelter. Let's burn them boats.” And that's fine, that's a great tradition, I'm not like saying for the tradition. But what if, like, if it was immediate, how did you know that was like a suitable habitat? Because like wouldn't you say “oh, we don't have like one of the three basic needs, four, five basic needs that we need, let's get back on our boats and travel around.” These are also supernatural beings and I'm just overanalyzing mythology. That's what I do. Also once they were settled, so like post-burning boats, I guess… It was said that they stayed there for centuries. And for the archaeologists and all of us here part of the myth that is the ring forts, are also called like the fairy forts… Alana is making a face. And that's because that– Alana: I dug a ring fort! Haley: Connection to you and Susan. Probably Susan, why I know this story. So– Alana: This is the Susan Johnston appreciation episode part two. Haley: I actually have a book that she gave me right next to me on my desk, I have with my library background. Anywho, the fairy forts are like often called fairy forts because the Tuatha Dé Danann used them as portals to another like world. And side note, if a human were to happen across the portal they would be forced to dance until they went mad. Honestly, that’s just like… I read that and it was also kind of like– Lexi: What a way to go. Haley: Exactly. Kelsie: It wouldn't take very long for me, like you know twenty minutes I'm gone. Haley: I know! I was like I can dance through like one album of ABBA but like if we get into an album of the Beatles I might like cease to exist. Alana: (Gagging noise) I hate the Beatles. Famously I hate the Beatles. Haley: Rude. And then she is on a podcast with like one of the best Beatles lovers ever. Lexi, right there and then I’m like a– Alana: I hate the Beatles. I think they're overrated. I think it's just like mediocre white men getting more credit than they deserve. Lexi: Well, Sergeant Pepper takes your note and kindly throws it out.The bird. Haley: He took a nice poop on it. Alana: That's fine. Whatever. Haley: Okay so back to my story, because it’s about me right now. We all went mad. And then lastly, this is my last note, so when the Celts invaded, the legend goes that they all turned themselves into fairies, hence, fairy forts! And then they keep watch over the land. That's them. That's Danu. Kelsie: What's the– I don't know if you know this, and maybe I… maybe there’s not an answer, but what's the significance of… between fairies and circles around things? Like when I think of like– like I know about ring forts, I didn't realize there was a connection to fairy forts. But then like winding up like fairies and circles like… Haley: Yeah. Kelsie: Mushrooms, like that’s also a circle-y thing on the ground. Is that a bigger thing? Haley: So, the circle is like the portal, and the reason why it's called fairies is that the legend says they turned into fairies. So it's like fairy forts, that’s their fort. Kelsie: That makes sense. Haley: That's the most I can tell you. I'm sure there's more. There are a lot of YouTubers out there. Lexi: Also, circles is magic. Alana: I'm talking about Persephone the Greek theological figure, ancient Greek. I identify with her very strongly because I also contain multitudes. There is a poem by Nichole McElhaney who is the author of A Sisterhood of Thorns and Vengeance, a book that apparently just like does not exist, because I cannot find it in print anywhere. But the poem goes “Do not worry about your contradictions - Persephone is both floral maiden and queen of death. You, too, can be both.” And I love that. But apparently like the book doesn't exist Nichole McElhaney has a couple of other poetry books with really interesting cool names similar to A Sisterhood of Thorns and Vengeance. She is also known as Proserpina in Rome, and also known as Kora or Kore, which means maiden. And she becomes Persephone when she is like queen of the underworld which we will get to… the stuff that you might know… because of the Percy Jackson series. So in Homer's Hymn to Demeter… Homer's Hymn to Demeter is kind of the primary source we have for the story of Persephone being taken to the underworld. Homer describes her as slim-ankled, which my friend Kay, shout out Kay, who I brought up earlier, we tried to make a religion together, they are an expert in classical literature and they said that that probably meant like a graceful or delicate or something along those lines. So the story is Hades saw her in a field, abducted her, and took her to the underworld and like made her his queen and something about pomegranate seeds, that he forced her only one in Homer’s hymn. It’s only like one seed. You hear it like three or six other places, but in Homer it's just one. Here's what you might not know about that myth, according to Homer. Hades had Zeus’s permission to do this, but not Demeter’s, who is Persephone’s mother. And Demeter goes searching all over like the whole world for Persephone, and everyone saw what happened– like the sun god saw what happened and was like yeah we're not gonna help you because like basically they said she could do a lot worse as far as a husband goes. She's like queen of the underworld right now. I think like that's a pretty good deal… you know Hades isn't going cheating on his wife like someone we know. Zeus. But according to Homer, one pomegranate seed meant three months in the underworld. Anyway Persephone– this is a really short story I'm sorry– Persephone. She is part of the agrarian triad which is a group of three agricultural slash harvest deities with Demeter and a god called Triptolemus. Kelsie: Lexi would call this an agricultural throuple. Alana: That's an excellent point. I don't think there is any evidence for that but I do like the idea of it being a throuple. So Persephone as queen of the underworld kind of gives a more pleasant face to the concept of death and the afterlife, so it kind of like helps Hades’s reputation and there's not as much stigma about it because yeah you're dying but look the goddess of spring is also queen of the underworld, so that's pretty cool. Now I'm going to cede the rest of my time to modern reinterpretations that are all written by women or some other marginalized group. The only one whose like gender I don't know is married to a man and cis straight men don't marry other men by definition, so this person is marginalized in some other way. I don't know if they know that, but it's really cool story. So first of all, Hadestown. Wow. Anais Mitchell. It's beautiful. It's jazzy. It's so much fun. It's Hades and Persephone but they've like fallen out of love after so long and also the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is in there. I want a live recording of it– it's a Broadway show– I want a live recording of it the way that Hamilton has been. I think that is what we deserve. There is also a couple of webcomics, the first one is Punderworld, which has a very– why are you shaking your head Kelsie? Kelsie: It’s such a bad pun and it has pun in the word! Alana: It’s a bad pun and it has pun in the word. It's a very realistic art style, there are not a ton of episodes, one of them made the rounds on tumblr while ago if you were still there. And it takes place in a more realistic like ancient Greek Olympian kind of setting. Links to the webcomics by the way will be in further learning which is what I've been calling it lately because it's not always reading. The other one is called Lore Olympus. There are a lot of episodes of this one. It is more whimsical but also somehow grittier? Like all the characters are kind of color-coded. Athena has a very androgynous, ace, butch lesbian vibe like someone else in the Zoom right now. So it’s like Olympus is a modern city, but the mortal realm is still in ancient Greece. It's really cool, I was up until five AM last night reading it because I just like gave up and was like I just have to read this. Shout out to my friend Em who told me about those webcomics. Also Madeline Miller, who wrote Circe which was an incredible book and Song of Achilles which I haven't read yet, wrote a really cool piece about Persephone several years ago that basically ends with if Madeline Miller were Persephone we would always have winter because she loves pomegranates so much and that is a mood. Lexi: I love that you brought up Percy Jackson because it always bothers me but there are so many cool modern literary takes on a lot of these things but that's the one that had to get famous? Haley: I'm rereading and I finished the Percy Jackson series, forgot how much like I invested myself into it. I think I only read like the first book and like half of the second because I don't remember the third, fourth, fifth but I have the next series which is like… Alana: The Heroes of Olympus or something? And it’s the Roman? Haley: Maybe. I think that's the next one. Alana: I read the first four Percy Jackson books in a weekend, and I would have read the fifth one in a weekend but it was not out yet. Lexi: I was a fan of them as a child. Alana: I was in like fourth grade. Lexi: Yeah probably fourth grade. But my mom decided I was still a fan of them and for my twenty third birthday I asked for a single ticket to go see Hamilton by myself, but for the same price my mother bought four tickets to see Percy Jackson the Musical. Picture this– Haley: Wait, where was it first? Lexi: It was on Broadway. I mean a real Broadway– Haley: They had Broadway? Lexi: Yes. Picture a thirty two year old gay twink dancing around the stage pretending to be a twelve year old boy. Alana: That just sounds like the Percy Jackson Lightning Thief movie. Lexi: Yes. Alana: But with singing. Haley: To be fair Logan Lehrman because I– Alana: Oh, Logan Lehrman is incredible. Lexi: Also, I won't spoil the musical, the musical's gone now it doesn't run anymore, but in case they ever do another iteration and people want to see I won’t completely spoil it. But it is written where there's only a cast of eight people but all the characters are covered by those eight people, and so there are some weird interesting things where that really take you out of the story because like they have to do double duty as characters and all they do to change is like throw on a jacket. Haley: Is it just the first book? Lexi: Yes and no like how the movie was the first book, but like not. You know I mean? Haley: Yeah. Lexi: It's not a truthful direct adaptation. The songs were like “when your dad’s a god, your dad's a god. The one other thing I want to say about it is my brother and I had both for the books as kids and were like okay we'll go see this as like a family thing, whatever. During the intermission, a girl behind us who was probably maybe fourteen or fifteen would not shut up about Percy Jackson to her family and my brother leaned in and was like if we’d come here seven years ago that would have been you. And I mean probably. But to that team who put that on. Lexi: You can find this podcast on Twitter and Instagram at LadyHistoryPod. Our show notes and a transcript of this episode will be on ladyhistorypod dot tumblr dot com. If you like the show, leave us a review, or tell your friends, and if you don't like the show, keep it to yourself. Alana: Our logo is by Alexia Ibarra you can find her on Twitter and Instagram at LexiBDraws. Our theme music is by me, GarageBand, and Amelia Earhart. Lexi is doing the editing. You will not see us, and we will not see you, but you will hear us, next time, on Lady History. Haley: Next week on Lady History, she’s going to blind us with some science. We're doing a deep dive into the women of twentieth century science. Haley: We good. Alana: Amazing.