#sídh

[invasive-flora]

poem about being autistic i wrote before i knew im autistic

I am something that perhaps was once human

A thing caught in glimpses

But never clear enough to be real

Never seen fully enough to construct

  Something beautifully terrible

A wild thing

A child abandoned in the wood

Taken in by faeries

  Not a swap, not an even deal

One life for another

Just a quiet whisking away

For the chance that was in it

  But sídh are not men

They are secrets and whispers

Strange-mannered folk, easily angered

Not the type to make grown from a child

  I would have to do the raising myself

Create a person without seeing one

How odd, to craft what one has never lived

Like a medieval painting of an animal, never quite right

  So I set to task to build a self

A something, at least

A haphazard making of a man

An insulting impression of a woman

  A mask can take a battering

[alovelyburn]

This post is a chaotic mess of stuff I don’t feel like writing a larger individual posts about. I mean they do connect, but it’s a connection like you get if you’re using a series of different methods to go from a -> b -> .... -> g rather than connected in the way of like, a and g are the same.

...what i mean is it’s not structured. Oh well.

So this ask really did send me down a rabbit hole. Because my first thought was, "Idk that she really looks like Griffith, she looks like Danann doesn't she?" So I pulled up that scene and then I get to this:

Followed by Skull Knight having this sort of... strange romantic moment with Danann:

And I mean, I did remember this happened - for a long time I've been kind of torn between thinking she is somehow the same person as the deceased lover (despite the lover in question being, well, explicitly deceased) or being just connected to her in some way. They even have similar titles - flowerstorm monarch, lady maiden of the cherry blossoms.

Anyway so I googled Danann, which brings me to the Tuatha de Danann, a supernatural race in Irish mythology. And I mean, I don't know much about Irish mythology at all so I'm sitting around reading it and some interesting things come up in the course of the basic bitch guide to Tuatha de Danann that is wikipedia's entry on them:

The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from ageing and sickness, and who have powers of magic.[1] The powers most often attributed to the Tuath Dé are control over the weather and the elements, and the ability to shapeshift themselves and other things.

So this reminds me of Schierke's initial belief that the Moonkid was an avatar of the Flowerstorm Monarch, which of course turned out to be Danann. Let's keep going.

They live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface.[1] Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the sídh mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms.

Okay, kinda like how Elfhlem is beyond the sea and rooted, seemingly, by a tree such that when it was destroyed the island itself vanished. Continuing on.

In some tales, such as Baile in Scáil, a king receives affirmation of his legitimacy from one of the Tuath Dé.[1] In other tales, a king's right to rule is affirmed by an encounter with an otherworldly woman. It has been argued that the inauguration of Irish kings originally represented his ritual marriage to the goddess of the land (see sovereignty goddess).

See this is interesting to me because we have a woman who  looks just like Danann who was the lover of Gaiseric, a king who came out of nowhere (which is to say seemingly had no blood claim of "legitimacy"). And now the lover herself is gone, but there appears to be some kind fo connection between Skull Knight (Gaiseric) and Danann.

So like, if Danann can send avatars around, it's wholly possible that Gaiseric's lover was an avatar of Danann's, thus the feelings between them and the resemblance given that Danann was presumably not just wandering around the world as Gaiseric's lover, bc if she were, what's in the tomb?

The medieval writers who wrote about the Tuath Dé were Christians. Sometimes they explained the Tuath Dé as fallen angels; neutral angels who sided neither with God nor Lucifer and were punished by being forced to dwell on the Earth; or humans who had become highly skilled in magic. However, several writers acknowledged that at least some of them had been gods.

NEUTRAL ALIGNED FALLEN ANGELS. O.K. Potentially former gods. O. K.  

The former thing is just thematically resonant with the series itself, but the latter thing is fascinating to me because some of the old Godhand were seemingly designed to resemble ancient Gods and Monsters, for example...

Artemis of the Ephesians...

Or that guy who looks a lot like either the Chimera of Arezzo or Sumerian Lions or both.

Whereas Beardo here seems to evoke certain depictions of Zeus or Poseidon, see the hair shape.

Which brings me back to the old theory that the world before Void's rise - the era that ended with the last set of 5 - was sort of aligned with the ancient world on Earth. This makes sense because obviously now that Griffith's around there's this sort of push against Polytheism as Griffith appears to embody the rise of monotheism. Also because the architecture of Gaiseric’s time echoes Hellenic design.

So then you'd have something like

The old God Hand's world - ancient Earth - seemingly full of magical beasts and gods, as has been referenced by Schierke so that makes sense. The current group's world - well, we see what it looks like. If we assume that the reincarnated Godhand of that time was Void (the fifth of one group, the first of the next), with his seeming to represent 0rationality in some way (he’s a sage, he’s a big flayed man with an exposed brain, his domain is just. brain matter.) then it kind of makes sense that this where you start seeing the suppression of the old world, the rise of the Holy See. Supernatural beings fall out of the physical realm and are confined to the astral realm, elves become invisible to most people, etcetc. Which brings us to Griffith’s world - its funny, he's said to create an "age of darkness," so that did make me sort of look up... the dark ages? Since Miura seemed to like referencing real world history and movements (in a mix and match fashion). This just reminded me that what we call the Dark Ages were actually a period of social, material and intellectual advances in which you started seeing universities founded, the christian doctrine of “equality under God” started to chip at class hierarchy, and technological developments thrived. And II thought...

Well that all sounds pretty on Brand for Griffith actually - his whole thing has always been breaking down class barriers, advancing people toward universal equality or at least a meritocracy, and well, he’s currently inventing public education. He also does appear to represent/embody the rise of monotheism as both he and the Holy See that symbolically serves him are involved in the persecution and execution of polytheists (in Griffith’s case for practical reasons, see Flora).

And then I thought, well, it wouldn’t be surprising if the term “age of darkness” was both meant to evoke the real historical period, which involved a lot of progress, and sound kind of sinister and foreboding. It makes sense, because Griffith himself is dual-natured and so is the world he’s creating: a nation of dignity, equality and enlightenment set inside a world so dangerous that it traps people inside that place.

[ofviolentdeathmuses]

name: Eireen

what: Leanan sídh

age: Appears mid 20’s

birthday: August 8

occupation: Bartender

location: Louisiana

faceclaim: Charlie Murphy

status: Single Verse

relationship: Single

parents: Lyri and Jasper (adoptive)

siblings: Odessa, Damien, Elise, Jett, Asher, Delilah, Ben, Aella, Caleb and Aaron, Todd, Dion, Terra, Asha, Rafe, and Dominic

kids: None

Neither Lyri nor Jasper are entirely sure where Eireen came from. She showed up on their doorstep when she was about six years old and asked if she could stay with them. This was roughly a week or so after they got Rafe and she never told them this but she had followed him. They figure that she was a changeling that had accidentally killed her human parents, but they’re not positive. When asked, Eiree just shrugs and says it doesn’t matter. She’s maintained that line the entire time she’s been with them.

She can alter her appearance with glamour and does from time to time, but she generally sticks to the same look. She has a very adaptive personality but drops it when she gets home. She sees no reason to pretend around her adoptive family.

Most of the time, she’s hanging around Rafe. Despite being near polar opposites, she’s very attached to him and would kill anyone who even looked at him wrong.

Other Info Threads Face Drabble

[euesworld]

"I half expect her to have wings and live in a sídh, cause she has a magical way about her.."

She's a lot kinder than Tinkerbell but if you mess with her heart, well.. she will sprinkle on the hell - eUë

[chimaeracabra]

How do you pronounce this word, though?

sídh

[firewolf1864]

Baobhan Sídh / Baobhan Sídhe: A solitary Faerie woman often confused with the ban sídh, but which acts like a succubus, luring men into a passionate embrace, only to suck the blood from their bodies.

Credit @whisperthedead

[secondratefiction]

Jealous with legolas please

-

J: Jealous (“Claiming” a partner)

He's not quite sure if it's a difference in cultures, or if this particular man is as bold as he is stupid, but Legolas's skin is crawling.

Any elf would have recognized the intricate pattern without a problem; he'd spent the better part of the afternoon brushing and braiding your hair and the smile you'd worn when he finally let you see his work had lit up his heart like no power he'd ever felt before.

The dwarrow were not the only one's who's hair held special significance, you were clearly wearing courting braids. His courting braids. And yet this cur continued to follow you around all night trying to put his hands on you at every turn.

"N- at sídh Legolas." Aragorn's hand on his shoulder snapped the elf-prince back to the situation at hand, "You have no reason for worry. Go to her."

[lucien-the-parental-figure]

I would love to hear about your culture!

Hoi, am Irish!

Okay 2 things!

Halloween was originally a celtic pagan holiday in which it was believed that the barrier between our world and the spirit world was down. People dressed up so that the Sídh wouldn't take them away and so they could blend in with the spirits that roamed the streets at this time. It was also believed that dead relatives could visit and so celebrations and games were held to appease them. Samhain is a celebration and remembrance of the dead, it's not supposed to be about bringing your kids out to get sweets from your neighbour.

The bastardization started with the church (as per) who just LOVED claiming celtic holidays (see Christmas and Easter). Originally they tried to also make it a Christian holiday, creating All Saints Day at the start of November. This didn't really catch on and so is why Oíche Shamhna became associated with demonic celebrations.

In later years when the Irish travelled (often forcibly sent) to America they tried, as many immigrants do, to hold on to atleast some of the tradition. This is how some of the celebrations became associated with Halloween today ie dressing up and going door to door. (trick or treating is a variant of a Samhain tradition). It is interesting that these traditins were adopted then americanised massively when other countries celebrations are not so much (maybe because the Irish were predominantly white lol)

And something sillier!

When the irish say “i like pizza” they say “íosfaidh mé pizza go dtí go bhfaighidh mé bás,” which means “i will eat pizza until i die,” and i think that’s beautiful.

[under-the-lake]

Hallowe’en - What We Kept from Samhain

What we see today, when Hallowe’en is on the doorstep - or rather about two months earlier in shops - can be summarised in a few words: spiders, pumpkins, scary monster faces, witches’ hats, sweets. Moreover, it is a festival now made for kids. Obviously, because it would make more money than if you targeted adults. If you have read more about Samhain here or elsewhere, you’ll know that this lot sounds veeeeeery much mercantile and far from any Celtic tradition. Indeed, but.

Because there is a but. There is a link, even if people are not aware at all that what they do is deeply rooted in pre-Christian traditions. Let’s have a look.

Obviously, if you ask anyone in the street today about what Hallowe’en means, they’ll answer monsters and sweets and kids. Not a festival for adults. Well, that was not the case back when Samhain was important. It was a festival for everyone because it was New Year, and everything had to be cleaned (physically or financially or whateverally, really), new fires were lit, etc… Sweets can be related to the offerings made to more-or-less malevolent spirits and fairies that night, and monsters can be related to the fact that the culture included a spiritual world not completely separated from the realm of the living, and that Samhain was a liminal period in the year, which would make the two worlds even closer to each other than they would be during the rest of the year. Disguises were already in use at Samhain too, and we’ll see why later.

Monsters & Co.

Barriers between worlds were breachable during Samhain, so offerings were made during the festival to fairies, for instance. The gifts were placed well out of the villages. Fairies weren’t those unsavoury little winged things people have inherited from a Victorian tradition and that Disney-dictatorship has translated into Tinkerbell (though the original book already had her so, but you know how books struggle against other media… ; see picture below). Fairies, or faerie, are supernatural beings or enchanted ones, living in a realm of their own. In Irish myths we have the aos sídh, who are the barrow-dwellers, and also called the faerie. Remember Aillén Mac Madgna? He was a fallen of the Túatha Dé Danann, and was called a fairy, though he burnt Tara every Samhain for twenty-three years until Fionn came and stopped him.

There are some creatures and beings more specifically active at Samhain, and here is a short description of some of them. None of them is really remembered at Hallowe’en, replaced by screaming ghost figures and werewolves.

Among the specific creatures associated with Samhain is the púca, a fairy and a shape-shifter. He is said to appear most often in the shape of a black horse (see picture). The púca got offerings from the harvest to keep him checked. Some beliefs are that if the harvest, cattle and foraging is not done before Samhain, the púca will render it all inedible.

Another Samhain-apparition is the Lady Gwyn, who is a headless wanderer-chaser and who’s accompanied by a black pig. Why the heck a pig? At any rate, she is pictured in two different ways according to different sources. Either she’s a good spirit, guarding crossroads and graveyards from other less nice creatures, or her purpose is darker, and she is there to lure the odd wanderer to their doom by asking for help, or offering some glowing treasure.

Then there’s the Dullahan. The Dullahan is a headless rider (male or female, depending on sources), who roams the land in quest of victims (picture below, credit to https://www.theirishplace.com/). He is more prone to appear at some particular festivals, carrying his severed rotting head with him. No gate stays locked before the Dullahan, and anyone spotting him would go blind. The Dullahan can take lives, but, according to some sources, only if he speaks their name, and he can do that only once in his journey. The name spoken will mean death for the bearer, and there is no countercurse. The myth of the Dullahan has survived in many cultures, and for instance in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving, published in 1820. It tells the story of a soldier who lost his head during the American War of Independence, and comes back every Hallowe’en to look for it.

Worse or not? - the Sluagh, a creature that steals souls from houses, always flying from the West (so… the Enemy doesn’t always come from the East, does he, Mr Tolkien?). Are those sort of Dementors? Whom do they steal souls from? Dead souls from the family? Or straight from living people? At any rate, ancient tradition says they are faerie gone terribly wrong, fearless and merciless. People would keep their western windows closed tight at all times, for fear of the Sluagh coming for a soul. Some sources say that it is because the Sluagh come out at Samhain that all fires had to be extinguished at that time, so as to avoid detection. Other sources say it was because a year had ended and needed to start afresh. I’d rather back that second one.

Now about the banshee. Aka the Bean Sídhe (picture of the Bunworth Banshee, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 1825). Bean Sídhe actually means woman of the barrow/rath. They were originally graceful and gentle women of the people of Danu (i.e. the Túatha Dé Danann). Today we think about banshees as horrid howling old hags. Actually, Irish mythology tells that the Bean Sídhe can take three forms, one being that of a beautiful woman, one that of an old woman with red eyes, and one that of a red-headed long-haired woman in a white dress. Some sources say Bean Sídhe sings people to their deaths, though most say they foretell whom in the clan will die, and that hearing her keening meant someone in the clan or family would die. They are, in some sources, considered a household fairy, who would be attached to a family and move with them. Myth has it that at first, the Bean Sídhe would keen only for the five foremost Irish families, the only ones being blessed with a lament by one of the faerie, wherever the dying person was. Her cry was the first news of someone snuffing it in the family. Those families were the O’Neills, the O’Briens, the O’Connors, the O’Gradys, and the Kavanaghs.

During Samhain, people also wore disguises. Usually, those were animal skins, along with their heads. And not bunny rabbits. Usually scary animals. The idea was to hide themselves from their deceased relatives who would be able, that night, to come back and visit, since the barriers between the realms would vanish. The disguise would prevent relatives from imposing upon the living, or taking them to the otherworld. Spirits were also believed to leave their barrows/raths to mingle with the living, which would probably be one more reason to hide oneself. Those people were called aos sí (pronounce ‘ees shee’), meaning ‘the people of the hollow hills’ and the raths were the sídh (shee). As barrows go, those were believed to be portals to the otherworld and very prone to opening during Samhain, the most liminal time of year. Remember the story of Fionn against Aillén and the saving of Tara? And again, rings a Tolkien bell? The Barrow Downs (aka Tyrn Gorthad) are exactly that, and Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry experience the trouble of meeting the Barrow-Wights on their way to Bree. The Hobbits meet the Barrow-Wights during a foggy morning, which is, as fog goes, a liminal moment in weather: orientation goes haywire, sounds are muffled, nothing is really right.

All Hallows Eve

In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III decided that 1st November would be All Saints Day. That’s yet another example of how a new religion takes hold of what they would call pagan traditions and usually consider a threat to their domination. Using a traditional feast to build a new one (or a sacred location to build another temple) is common throughout history, and has as an aim to assess the power and predominance of the newly come/imposed belief. That is particularly true for monotheistic religions, though in the case of Samhain, it was not completely possible to annihilate the old rituals, but it looks like Christianity had to do with it rather than completely against it. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on 2nd November since it was created by the abbott Odilon at the monastery of Cluny, France, in the 11th century, and is either ‘only’ a way to remember the dead, because they don’t come back in the realm of the living, in Christianity, or is a way of feasting over their coming back for a day, like in Mexico, where traditional and Christian beliefs mingle for that feast.

There was no real way to occult the idea that the realms of the living and the dead would be in closer contact during that time, so the Church had to make do, basically. It is now widely believed that the Church tried to wipe off the important festival of Samhain and replace it with something that it would sanction, as it did with many other celebrations, like for instance Christmas.

About the name of Hallowe’en, though, as feasts tended to start on the evening before the actual day - as they did in Celtic tradition too - the day of All Saintss, i.e. All Hallows, started on All Hallows’ Even, 31st October. Evolution of language made it into Hallowe’en or Halloween. Traditions of disguising and hiding from the otherworld were kept. There are also the lanterns and the sweets… but why?

Why Do We Carve Pumpkins? - Jack o Lanterns

And why Jack? You could ask. Well. They weren’t always pumpkins, to start with. Pumpkins sailed to Europe in the 16th century, so millenia after the beginning of any sort of Samhain festival. At some point in history, people, in addition to using disguises, started to carve root vegetables like turnips into scary faces and place a candle inside, to keep the evil spirits away and with them a bloke called Stingy Jack. Having lanterns was an expensive business, so people used root veggies to the same effect. Later those were replaced by pumpkins, but the idea was the same. Some casts of carved turnips are visible at the National Irish Museum.

So what about that Jack person? That is a tale that comes after Christianity had overtaken Ireland. It goes like so: Stingy Jack was a penniless drunkard, who liked roaming the roads at night. One such night, he came upon a body with a twisted face on the road. Thinking it was his end at last and that Death had come for him in the shape of Satan. Not willing to depart this world without a last sip, he asked the devil to come and have a drink with him at the pub. They went. After a few pints, it was time to pay, and true to his name, Jack asked the devil to cough up, because he was skint. The devil was too. Jack told the devil: ‘Turn into a coin so I can pay and then you turn back into yourself whenever the bartender is not watching.’ So the devil, acknowledging the level of trickery in Jack, turns into a coin. Jack, trickster among the tricksters, decides not to pay but to pocket the coin and go. Trouble is, in his pocket was also a crucifix, meaning that the devil was basically at Jack’s mercy. You can imagine that Satan wasn’t very happy with the arrangements. He asked Jack to free him, but Jack bartered with the devil: ten years to let him go. And Satan agreed. What were ten years for an immortal thing like him?

Ten years later, the same scene repeated: Jack stumbled upon Satan on the road and the devil told him it was the moment to fulfill his part of the bargain. Jack, true to himself, asked for an apple to feed his empty stomach. Satan - he was really daft - didn’t see the trick, and climbed up an apple tree to get what Jack asked. Meanwhile, Jack carved a cross into the trunk, and Satan couldn’t get down. Asking for his release, the devil heard a second demand from Jack: ‘I’ll let you down if you promise never to take my soul to Hell.’ To which the devil agreed, frustrated to have been outwitted once more.

Eventually, Jack died. He arrived at the gates of Heaven, but was rebuked and sent to try his luck in Hell. Arriving in Hell, Satan, keeping his promise to Jack, didn’t take his soul in. And Jack was then left to roam the limbo with an ember inside a hollowed turnip for light.

That’s how we have turnips and now pumpkins at Hallowe’en. Naturally, this story has many versions, and the number of years allowed to Jack and the ways the crosses are used change from one story to the next. However, he always meets the devil twice and is denied entrance to both Heaven and Hell, and wanders the Earth with a turnip lantern. The Irish first called him Jack-of-the-Lantern, which soon shortened into Jack-o’-Lantern.

How Come Hallowe’en Is a United-Statesian Affair?

I’m not speaking of Dias De Muertos, which is a Mexican festival that is, though related, completely different, mostly because it has a way more religious connotation than Hallowe’en (which has none).

If we look back at the US history of immigration from Europe, it is quite obvious that Hallowe’en cannot have travelled there via the so-called first settlers, because of their rigid protestant laws. The celebration of some sort of yearly festival seems to have started in the southern colonies, by the telling of ghost stories, and pranking, maybe to remember the púca and other pranksters from Irish folklore? Nothing really widespread happened before the great waves of immigration of the 19th century, when a massive arrival of Irish settlers fleeing the Potato Famine brought Hallowe’en with them. Before the 19th century waves of immigration arrived, there was a move to change the prank-and-witches feast into something more neighbourly, more community-centered. By the mid-19th century, the feasts had become more centered on games, food and festive costuming, trying to remove anything frightening or grotesque from the feast (quite intriguing, given that it was also the boom of the gothic movement). The consequence was that by the 20th century, Hallowe’en was basically a garden-party/town parade business. The 1950s baby boom meant more children, and the parties moved to classrooms and homes, and were more directly designed for younger humans. The trick-and-treating was also revived, and giving out sweets was a relatively cheap way to avoid getting pranked. Obviously, this can be related to the tradition of making offerings to faerie and getting disguised to avoid recognition by malevolent spirits, but it has come a long way from Celtic Ireland to this.

Today, Hallowe’en is a huge commercial event: for instance, 25% of all sweets bought yearly in the USA are bought for Hallowe’en. Europe had not been touched a lot by this wave until recently, but there are not really parties or trick-or-treaters on continental Europe. They are a thing on the British Isles, obviously, but I reckon the US version of Hallowe’en has taken over the traditional one. There are sort of revivals of new fires and traditions, of course, but they are marginal compared to the mercantilism of today’s Hallowe’en.

How it happens in the Harry Potter books

There is not much in the Harry Potter series about Hallowe’en, but it is a time of danger and a turning point in the story, usually, because weird things happen that shouldn’t be happening: Lily and James Potter die at the hand of Voldemort, and Harry survives; Quirrell makes the Troll enter Hogwarts in Philosopher’s Stone; Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday is on Hallowe’en, and famously, Harry, Ron and Hermione attend his 500th Deathday party in Chamber of Secrets, and it was on the same day that the Chamber of Secrets was opened for the first time after fifty years, and the Basilisk Petrified its first victim, Mrs Norris; in Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black enters Hogwarts on Hallowe’en, frightening the Fat Lady who must be replaced by Sir Cadogan for a while; in Goblet of Fire, the Triwizard Cup is launched and Harry chosen as fourth champion.

Besides, as Harry and Neville were born on 30th/31st July, it is likely they were conceived on or around Hallowe’en the year before.

So Hallowe’en is an important date, because in the first four books something central to the plot happens. However, in terms of links with Samhain, there is practically nothing. Is it because the lore in the Wizarding World is already rich enough? Because no kind of religious reference was wanted there, be it ‘pagan’ or not? Pumpkins and live bats are the only references to any kind of tradition in the books.

Everyone can make their own idea about how they want (or don’t want) to celebrate Samhain or Hallowe’en. I separate the two because now that I've learnt a bit about Samhain, it is impossible to relate it completely to the 21st century version of Hallowe’en. However, I hope you enjoyed this trip throughout cultures and history. I did.

Sources

Online Sources:

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/jce/beansidhe.html

https://brewminate.com/samhain-the-celtic-inspiration-for-modern-halloween/

Text of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired: https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T300010/index.html

https://celticmke.com/CelticMKE-Blog/Samhain-Tlachtga.htm

http://fermoyireland.50megs.com/bansheestory.htm

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - text: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41/41-h/41-h.htm

https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

https://www.knowth.com/the-celts.htm

https://thefadingyear.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/the-puca-and-blackberries-after-halloween/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/samhain.shtml

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbkdcqt

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samhain

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7448.html

https://www.theirishplace.com/heritage/the-dullahan/

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/samhain

https://www2.nau.edu/~gaud/bio300w/frsl.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/when-people-carved-turnips-instead-of-pumpkins-for-halloween-180978922/

Bookses and Papers

Farrar, J., Farrar, S., & Bone, G. (2001). The Complete Dictionary of European Gods and Goddesses. Capall Bann Publishing, Berks, UK.

Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.

Johnson, P. (2008). The Little People of the British Isles - Pixies, Brownies, Sprites, and Other Rare Fauna. Wooden Books, Glastonbury, UK.

MacKillop, J. (2006). Myths and Legends of the Celts. Penguin UK.

Meuleau, M. (2004). Les Celtes en Europe. Ed. Ouest-France.

Rees, A., & Rees, B. (1991). Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales. 1961. Reprint.

Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury, London.

Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury, London.

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Tori Amos quotes

- Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.

- I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing.

- I know I'm an acquired taste - I'm anchovies. And not everybody wants those hairy little things.

- Some of the most wonderful people are the ones who don't fit into boxes.

- I have so many different personalities in me and I still feel lonely.

- The violence between women is unbelievable.

- I'm too wacky for most weirdos. Who am I to judge?

- If they keep crashing stuff into the moon, the moon's gonna get pissed off, and the tides'll change, and all the women'll start PMS-ing together. Then you guys are going to fucking regret it.

- If you really want a challenge, just deal with yourself.

- I don't see myself as weird, I just see myself as honest.

- I see the dream and I see the nightmare, and I believe you can't have the dream without the nightmare.

- Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much.

- Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin.

- On some of my darkest days, Lucifer's the one who comes and gives me an ice cream.

- Most people would rather be sheep than stand on their own with antlers on.

- The sense of loss is such a tricky one, because we always feel like our worth is tied up into stuff that we have, not that our worth can grow with things we are willing to lose.

- When you've got the virgin and the whore sitting next to each other, they're likely to judge each other harshly.

- I think you have to know who you are.

- Get to know the monster that lives in your soul.

- Dive deep into your soul and explore it.

- I don’t want to renounce my dark side.

- The truth has always held an enormous interest for me.

- Healing for me is being able to sit next to the butcher and say 'Yes, I’m sitting next to the butcher now,' instead of saying 'there is no butcher'.

- This is very simple in the world of chicks; some are hoochies, some are not, and some should never try to be.

- We don't often see our own stories. Good artists are the ones that whisper our own stories back to us.

- Music is about all of your senses, not just hearing.

- Again, we go back to the power of words and how they can make you feel. They bring liberation or stagnation, they're chains.

- You don't have to apologize for growing and learning and changing your mind.

- Music has an alchemical quality.

- Certain relationships can just wear you down.

- Containment of your opinion is a must if you are going to nurture an artist's development.

- It's a good thing I'm curious, because sometimes I just research how a soccer player kicks a ball and the impact it has on his foot. I haven't used this yet, but I might.

- But over the years you can cultivate hate for the art you love.

- I don’t believe anyone’s story is boring. Every story has value because it belongs only to you.

- Sometimes I fantasize backstage about how people do their laundry. Woolite? Mixed-color loads? Do they fold? Do they press? Do they Shout it out? And the thing that kills me—do their whites come out dingy?

- Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at the same time it loves to complain and not really change.

- We like our pain. And we’re packaging it, and we’re selling it.

- Festivals or radio shows can be the heavyweight championships of arrogantly detached clusterfucks.

- People who are addicted to power can live on the same street or attend the same school as us or even play on the world stage.

- None of us are this light and dark fantasy. What's dark to you may be light to me and vice versa.

- I don't think that many performers necessarily want to see their audience empowered. I think a lot of performers, no different from priests, need the hierarchy.

- Modern, celebrity-driven entertainment turns the stage into an altar, and so many celebrities refuse to be removed from those altars once they manage to ascend.

- All storytellers, all troubadours worth their salt knew their myths.

- The Sídh's historical myth is the source of the bastardized concept of a fairy—as if anyone gives a rat's ass.

- The problem with Christianity is, they think everything is about outside forces, good and evil. There's not a lot of inner work encouraged.

- Over the last few hours I've allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won't be afraid of that feeling anymore.

- I'm the queen of the nerds.

- Don't give up. Don't listen to these foolish critics that are so small minded they don't get it tonight.

- Sometimes listening to music can motivate you.

- I think even in a good marriage, especially if you stay together long enough, there are going to be events that happen.

- An ounce of breast milk is even more potent than the finest tequila.

- Music is always a reflection of what's going on in the hearts and minds of the culture.

- Many people lock a part of themselves away. It's a bit sacred.

- I've always seen the songs as having a consciousness.

- Our world is a huge mess right now, and not big enough for masses of intolerant people.

- We are all fairies living underneath a leaf of a lily pad.

- That is some funky-fresh, pop lockin' shit.

- If I saw someone destroy a piano I'd fuckin' kill 'em. Wouldn't think twice.

- I experiment with things that are usually an internal experience, because that's just what excites me. And yes, it does sometimes give me visions.

- Some of those trips were eighteen hours long and I'll never forget, once I ended up sitting by the bush trying to ask the flowers why they didn't like me. It's like, Why can't I be your friend?

- You might not like my story because I'm not gonna tell you how it ends yet, and you need to travel it with me.

- I just imagined a huge juicy vagina coming out of the sky, raining blood over all those racist, misogynist fuckers.

- You can't control your popularity

- If you can't create physical life, you find a life force. If that's in music, that's in music.

- I started to find this deep, primitive rhythm, and I started to move to it.

-I held hands with sorrow, and I danced with her, and we giggled a bit

- I usually get myself into situations that cause sparks.

- I love feeling alive, I love walking out in the cold in my bare feet and feeling the ice on my toes.

- For the most part, pianos are female to me.

- Anger is natural. It's part of the force. You just have to learn to hang out with it.

- In our minds, love and lust are really separated.

- I think all the boys that write the screaming stuff would write the best love songs

- When you stop putting yourself on the line, and you don't touch your own heart, how do you expect to touch other people?

- Guys would sleep with a bicycle if it had the right color lip gloss on. They have no shame. They're like bull elks in a field.

- Your worst enemies are made when you ignore people.

- It's as if the horses have come to take us back, to descend, to find the dark side. By dark I mean what's hidden, not necessarily satanic.

- There's room for everybody on the planet to be creative and conscious if you are your own person. If you're trying to be like somebody else, then there is isn't.

- Sometimes you have to do what you don't like to get to where you want to be.

- You know that saying, bad things don't happen to good people? That's a lie.

- I'm not a habit, I'm a lifestyle.

- There are a lot of hidden nerds.

- People who become the front runners often used to be outcasts or loners.

- Um, don't get me wrong because I love boys, it's just that sometimes we don't need you.

- There are only ten ideas under the sun. What makes the difference is how you spice them.

- So I'm in Virginia, and I had crabs--I keep saying that! I had crab sickness, I had eaten bad crabs in Maryland!

- I'm a winter girl; I like coming out when things are desolate and everybody's ready to slit their wrists.

- You can only be you. A lot of times it's never enough for people.

- I've never played the guitar, except throwing it against the wall cause it was pissed off I couldn't play it.

- Truly, I was a sweetheart when I was little, like the Honeysuckle Faery. Sweet-pea. But sweet-peas are not popular after second grade. Sweet-peas become nerds really fast.

- I really enjoy having a giggle with a friend, but then someone crosses my line, then I don't really take it lightly.

- I sometimes forget I'm not 7'2" and a Viking.

- A boundary was crossed. And maybe I drew a boundary, consciously.

- It was a bit violent, a bit sexual.

- When nothing makes sense, music seems to come and bring me a margarita and sit down with me.

- You don't have to justify everything. Being pissed off is just absolutely okay.

- There is a level of the vampire in me, which is OK.

- It hurts me when a woman doesn't come through for me, more than a man.

- I'm a grown woman. I've earned my experiences, my scars.

- What is an angel but a ghost in drag?

- I'm beginning to accept and love the parts of me, of women that I was trained to hate all my life.

- People can be so vicious toward the imaginary world and it saddens me. You kill a lot of little people's dreams that way.

- Even if you don't read history or you aren't interested in anything that happened before the '60s, there are reasons why we think the way we do.

- That's how the story goes but I don't believe the story.

- I would find myself either the lovey-doveyest-woviest sweet pea, or a mad-woman.

- I believe in eating.

- You can't change what happened. And nobody's asking you to forgive.

- Why be afraid of these cuddly, soft, adorable things?

- I have good days. Like if I get really good coffee ice cream with just the right amount of chocolate syrup.

- A lot of people see themselves as victims, even when you have to stand in line for ice cream.

- It's so difficult to be critical of children because they need to discover themselves. We're always telling them, "No, the tree has green leaves!"

- I'm tired of being a rebel. Now I just want to be me.

- When things get really empty for me, empty in my outer life, in my inner life, the music world, the songs come across galaxies to find me.

- Do you know what it's like to be a girl and have blood running down your legs and think that you're dying, just because no one's told you that's what happens? It's horrible.

- An angel's face is tricky to wear constantly.

- Mess with me and you will not survive.

- I think that happiness is when you can let yourself feel every emotion you want at any time instead of being a lying little fuck.

- I'm not into this dieting thing.

- The cross has been used as a weapon, as it has been used against all women throughout the ages. And that's the greatest evil of all.

- I think you've got to find a giggle somewhere in stuff that would scare the poop outta ya.

- A cornflake girl is Wonderbread whereas a raisin girl is whole wheat bread.

- I would like to think I'm a raisin girl, because in my mind they're more open minded. Cornflake girls are totally self centered, don't care about anything or anybody.

- I like butter and the people who like butter."

- I'm known as that girl who has tea with the Devil.

- I'm not afraid of sadness.

- Everybody has creativity and each person has it in a different way. Some people aren't musical, some musicians can't even think about painting or gardening. There's so many different ways to be creative.

- I wanna be burned, definitely burned, like the witches.

- Give the kids tools, so they can go build their own houses; not the blueprint of what the houses should be.

- Look at me now. I'm breast feeding pigs.

- I wish I had more of a sense of humor.

- I can be so hard on people.

- If somebody's being a jerk, I would like to go wee on their head. And then I do that, mentally.

- The people on the internet know more about what I am doing than I do. Like, they will say that I am going to be in this mall on this day, and sure enough, I am there!

- I'm like a lioness who kills her own prey and no one else has to kill for her. But if some other lioness comes to me and says "I just got a good prey, do you want a piece?" I can say "of course" - and the other way around.

- There are things that I would disagree with Jesus about, and I feel really good about that.

- History has recorded some pretty nasty things that have happened to people. I think we remember. I think it's in our cells and I think it can still hurt sometimes."

- I don't believe in the saying that it all happens for the best, it's just not appropriate.

- Of course I believe in past lives, I mean, three quarters of the human race believes this, it's not like a great new thought here.

- I use innocence in my demeanor like a Venus flytrap.

- I do like to talk about things no one wants to hear at the dinner table.

- I'm not interested in being a really nice person; I want to be a creative, responsible person that's balanced.

- Boys are cute but food is cuter

- Do any of you dream about crocodiles?

-I know I dream about crocodiles. I'm obsessed with them.

- If people can't see things from the other side that's not my problem, it's theirs.

- I think I give equal time in my hatred, right?

- Sometimes I'm mad at some guy, sometimes I'm mad at some girl, and sometimes I'm totally loving some guy, so and sometimes I'm loving some girl.

_ Well, Pele is the volcano goddess and I thought of like, um, sacrificing some of the boys in my life to her but then I decided that that wasn't really a very good idea.

- Anger originates from envy and outrage, not being seen, not being heard.

- We don't know where souls go when they die. We don't know a lot of things. We didn't create the planets. We didn't do this all by ourselves. So, therefore, why wouldn't there be a creative force if it can create humans and planets?

- I've been hanging out with some of the Hell's Angels in England. They're some of the sweetest people I've ever met.

- Real friends have to be understanding of each other, and their faults.

- I think I'm really hard to get to know on a personal level.

- Thailand is calling me.

- People I see laughing all the time, check for razor blades in their anal-force underwear, because it's just a little lie.

- I'm not interested in taking drugs. I do hallucinogens once in a while for journey experiences.

- I hear the wine. It's like a structure. I see it as a piece. I hear it before I taste it. It's calling me. And then I start to hear it when I'm tasting it.

- Not that I use crystal suppositories, I'm not New Age.

- A peach tree says, 'Some of me will be juicy and some of me will be dry I'm not growing for you; I grow because that's what I do.' You always hear some person complain about how dry their peach is and the peach says, 'It's not our fault you have no understanding on the proper use for dry peaches.'

- My theory is that women were the Mona Lisas for a long time and now men are Mona Lisas with little goatees. They are our muses.

- If you're gonna tell a story, you have to grow into the head of the rapist as well as the raped.

- He was a lite sneeze, and not the flu. Most boys would like to think they're the flu, wouldn't they? But they're really just a achoo.

- If you call me an airy-fairy new age hippy waif, I will cut your penis off.

- It's a double-edged sword and if you pretend you don't want it you're a liar and that is going to rip your soul to pieces.

- I'm always dreaming that these bulls are chasing me. Half the time I don't get away - I almost get over the fence, and then they gore me.

- I believe in energy, everything is energy. And therefore sometimes magic can be created if somebody is open to letting energy do what it does, instead of being so cynical, that you miss magic happening.

- I feel like a work really has many sides to it when people have such extreme reactions. When a work is greeted with just, 'Oh, you know, it's nice', then it's not affecting people. So love it or hate it, that's okay.

- I am a real believer in looking at pain and taking it out shopping.

- The music is the magic carpet that other things take naps on.

- I just try to strip myself, peel myself like an onion. At different layers I discover stuff.

- Why is the world where it is? It's so deep-rooted, if we really start looking, and we might not like what we find. But I think we have to, we have to ask the questions.

- I'm beyond the fury of youth.

- I love young women who are angry. They're wild mustangs.

- I didn't want her looking and hearing me and thinking, "Oh my God, that's a scary lady!"

- They felt that it was detrimental material for their children and that it was blasphemous.

- They've decided they kinda' have you figured out.

- My nightmares are so bad, that I mostly reject it when my friends want to take me to a cinema to watch a horror movie. Then I say, "No, thank you. I will dream in a few hours."

- I don't know of anybody who's gonna be fulfilled if they get hit by a bus. You have to surrender to that eternal need to be fulfilled.

- How do you know I'm not having a margarita with Jesus tonight at 10 o'clock?

- Let's be honest, religion has not supported women and men exploring all sorts of their sides, their unconscious. It has not been supportive of, you know, go into the places without shame, without blame, without judgment, and just let yourself really see what's cooking in there.

- I think human beings are so much more capable of what they told us we're capable of.

- Anyone can attend yoga, kabbalah classes, church, lectures by the 'Dalai Lama', yada, yada, yada - but can you be present for your life, and live with the way you treat other people?

- Only a few people should have a "greatest hits". I'm not one of those people.

- I feel like our leaders have hijacked America's personality, and taken her to personality plastic surgery school. And they decided this is who she is.

- The playground is the biggest war-zone in the world.

- You have to read visionaries to have visions.

- They squash the baby bird because their bird got squashed.

- I love reading. I'll read the first sentence and if it makes sense to me I pick it up.

- It's ridiculous saying there's only one true faith, it's like saying there's only one map to get you up the mountain. I want to see those other maps, man.

- I kinda have all the aspects of my personality round one table for spaghetti.

- If it's too loud, turn it up.

- I was doing drugs with a South American shaman, and I really did visit the devil and, well, I had a journey.

- There is no passion without broken crockery.

- You have to ask, how could a nation nearly vote in somebody who isn't qualified for the job?

- We're living in a frightening time and I wish people would wake up and realise they're surrendering their civil liberties.

- Who wouldn't want to shag a queen?

[alexa-crowe]

Interesting Finola Facts for the Non-Irish, Like Me

[The Children of Lír] tells of Lir and his wife Aobh [Eve] and their four children called Aodh [Ay], Fionnghuala [Finola], Fiachra and Conn. Lir’s wife died and he married again. His new wife was called Aoife and she became the children’s stepmother. At first she loved them dearly but after a time she grew jealous of their father’s affection for them.

One day she bore them away and put them under a spell. They were turned into four white swans at Lake Derravarragh in County Westmeath. They remained there for four hundred years. Then they flew away and settled on the Sea of Moyle between Ireland and Scotland, where they stayed for three hundred years in cold and misery. From there they spent three years in Erris, County Mayo where they endured even further sorrow.

At the end of that time they returned to their old home at Sídh Fionnachaidh in County Armagh. Their father was long dead and the place was desolate and empty. They flew off again to Erris and there met the Christian Missionary, St. Mochaomhóg who treated them with great kindness.

At last their period of enchantment came to an end and they were turned into three withered old men and an old woman. The saint baptised them and they died peacefully. They were buried together.

— Ask About Ireland

Also, Finola apparently means “white shoulder”, which I’m assuming has something to do with the concept of having an angel on your shoulder. (I know it’s used to denote someone having a fair complexion, and she sort of does depending on how you look at it, but mostly I’m ignoring it because I seriously doubt that that’s why the name was picked.)

[ofbloodandfaith]

Mythologically, he came, as, according to Celtic ideas, all things came originally, from the underworld. His father is called Uther Pendragon. 1 But Uther Pendragon is (for the word "dragon" is not part of the name, but a title signifying "war-leader") Uther Ben, that is, Brân, under his name of the "Wonderful Head", 2 so that, in spite of the legend which describes p. 331 [paragraph continues] Arthur as having disinterred Brân's head on Tower Hill, where it watched against invasion, because he thought it beneath his dignity to keep Britain in any other way than by valour, 1 we must recognize the King of Hades as his father. This being so, it would only be natural that he should take a wife from the same eternal country, and we need not be surprised to find in Gwynhwyvar's father, Ogyrvran, a personage corresponding in all respects to the Celtic conception of the ruler of the underworld. He was of gigantic size; 2 he was the owner of a cauldron out of which three Muses had been born; 3 and he was the patron of the bards, 4 who deemed him to have been the originator of their art. More than this, his very name, analysed into its original ocur vran, means the evil bran, or raven, the bird of death. 5 But Welsh tradition credits Arthur with three wives, each of them called Gwynhwyvar. This peculiar arrangement is probably due to the Celtic love of triads; and one may compare them with the three Etains who pass through the mythico-heroic story of Eochaid Airem, Etain, and Mider. Of these three Gwynhwyvars, 6 besides the Gwynhwyvar, daughter of Ogyrvran, one was the daughter of Gwyrd Gwent, of whom we know nothing but the name, and the other of Gwyrthur ap Greidawl, p. 332 the same "Victor son of Scorcher" with whom Gwyn son of Nudd, fought, in earlier myth, perpetual battle for the possession of Creudylad, daughter of the sky-god Lludd. This same eternal strife between the powers of light and darkness for the possession of a symbolical damsel is waged again in the Arthurian cycle; but it is no longer for Creudylad that Gwyn contends, but for Gwynhwyvar, and no longer with Gwyrthur, but with Arthur. It would seem to have been a Cornish form of the myth; for the dark god is called "Melwas", and not "Gwynwas", or "Gwyn", his name in Welsh. 1 Melwas lay in ambush for a whole year, and finally succeeded in carrying off Gwynhwyvar to his palace in Avilion. But Arthur pursued, and besieged that stronghold, just as Eochaid Airem had, in the Gaelic version of the universal story, mined and sapped at Mider's sídh of Bri Leith. 2 Mythology, as well as history, repeats itself; and Melwas was obliged to restore Gwynhwyvar to her rightful lord.

Celtic Myth and Legend: The British Gods: Chapter XXI. The Mythological ''Coming of Arthur''

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

Hilarious thing that I just saw someone say using Fae was cultural appropriation of Ireland, and buddy. That’s just factually untrue.

Let me explain, yes Ireland has faerie Folklore, but the word faerie is actually from the french, because Celtic peoples lived along the french coast. It also ignores the fact that ideas spread and affect other cultures. Faerie Folklore also existed in Celtic England (The country my parents and older siblings were born in by the way).

The thing is that yes Cultural appropriation is bad, but it’s also bad to fundamentally misunderstand where myths are from. If we want to get into the Fae are not culturally connected to any specific group because they’re more a creation of later medieval Europe basically categorizing older gods into a new christian system. 

As a result the Faerie’s we see are a mix of the Sídh, the Tuatha De Deannan, and germanic Elves, along with a whole bunch of other mythical groups. 

Also if you just even look up the word Fairy it comes from Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic folklore. So essentially the entirety of Europe.

TLDR; Faerie’s aren’t culturally specific to one group in Europe.

[oblivionlotus]

//For once my knowledge of Celtic mythology/history has come in handy as I mention it to a dear friend just now. But now I'm sitting here stunned that despite much being lost to time, a lot is still alive & believed in today. Like... the stuff I know, I've learned from school & from simply living in Ireland. It's stuff we are still superstitious about because things happen & we just, with hands on heart & no shred of humour, believe it's really faeries. Or a bann sídh. Or a dearg duí.

Some of the old ways live on in Ireland to this day, which is beautiful but odd when I really think about it. Not an hour from me is a forest where druid caves stand & many trees are adorned in gifts for the fae folk lest they seek to harm visitors to the forest. How odd is that? The site is full of energy & many strange & horrible things happen there often (to the point guards patrol there at night). You could have the most Catholic, devout person still tell you that you shouldn't go hanging around oak trees. You shouldn't talk to crows. Keep knitted "worry men" under your pillow. Don't pass a hearse in traffic. Always say hello to a magpie. Don't put new shoes on a table. How my mum once berated me as a wee child for going to pick up a comb I saw on the street because she said I'd be inviting a bann sídh into our house. How when my partner's sister lost a child, we all said faeries in her house did it & she should make them an offering in her garden (which she did without question, which in turn may have something or nothing to do with her going on to have 3 healthy kids).

I'm over-tired & experiencing a culture shock I think. Feed me a stray cat please, ta.

[firewolf1864]

Ban Sídh / Ban Sídhe: A spirit of a young woman, or a solitary Faerie impersonating such, that attaches itself to specific families or locales, and warns of impending disaster or death.

Credit to @whisperthedead

[thehawthorntree]

Not to sound like a stupid party pooper but I really despise the sort of cannibalisation of Irish culture that is prevalent at this time of year. Halloween was originally a celtic pagan holiday in which it was believed that the barrier between our world and the spirit world was down. People dressed up so that the Sídh wouldn't take them away and so they could blend in with the spirits that roamed the streets at this time. It was also believed that dead relatives could visit and so celebrations and games were held to appease them. Samhain is a celebration and remembrance of the dead, it's not supposed to be about bringing your kids out to get sweets from your neighbour.

The bastardization started with the church (as per) who just LOVED claiming celtic holidays (see Christmas and Easter). Originally they tried to also make it a Christian holiday, creating All Saints Day at the start of November. This didn't really catch on and so is why Oíche Shamhna became associated with demonic celebrations.

In later years when the Irish travelled(often forcibly sent) to America they tried, as many immigrants do, to hold on to atleast some of the tradition. This is how some of the celebrations became associated with Halloween today ie dressing up and going door to door. (trick or treating is a variant of a Samhain tradition). It is interesting that these traditins were adopted then americanised massively when other countries celebrations are not so much (maybe because the Irish were predominantly white lol)

Essentially this holiday doesn't sit well with me because the people celebrating it really shouldn't be. It's a religious and culturally significant holiday to my people and if it's respected properly than I don't take issues with the celebrations. The issue is people don't respect it. I hardly think slutty Elsa or the Joker are costumes that wouldn't get you absolutely fucked up by the Sídh

I know that I sound kinda whiny and of course people can have fun but it just feelsbadman when it's my culture that I'm watching getting ripped to shreds every year. Anyway ask me about my culture anytime I WANT to educate you