The featured image above is of three candles on a table, which is for the celebration of the Celtic Candelmas, also known as Imbolc or Brigid’s Day, which has persisted since ancient times. The following video gives you the history of how and why Candelmas is celebrated today in Ireland, Scotland, and on the Isle of Mana small island in the Irish Sea, located halfway between Great Britain and Ireland. More. These regions are culturally and historically connected. It is interesting to note that modern PagansThose who follow a polytheistic or earth-centered spiritual path often with roots in ancient pre-Christian traditions. An "umbrella" term used to describe various nature-based religious beliefs, distinct from Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). More around the world, as well as some Christians, observe Imbolc as a religious holiday.
Celtic traditions, cultural events, and religious observances are rooted in ancient times. Today, they are a blend of ancient customs and modern interpretations. The modern celebrations often include a variety of traditional music, dance, and storytellingthe interactive art of using words and/or actions to reveal elements and images while encouraging the reader's or listener's imagination; an ancient art form and a form of human expression; storytelling is essential in almost every art form involving a two-way interaction between the art and the observer, reader, or listener More within communal settings. We have mentioned some of these celebrations in prior lessons, but presented here are a few more worth repeating with a more detailed description:
Celebrations and Festivals:
- Beltane – a fire festival celebrated on May 1st, which marks the midpoint between the spring and summer solstices. The celebration has high-energy vibrations from beginning to end. It honors the fertility and passion of the union of the Goddess and the Green Man, while also celebrating the abundance of naturethe phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans and or human creations. The ritualsthe prescribed order of performing a ceremony or act, especially one characteristic of a particular religion or church; rituals are usually collectivistic behaviors and most often include a specialist overseeing the activity or activities include bonfires, maypole dancing, and the wearing of flower crowns to symbolize the rebirth of the season.
- Samhain – past and present celebrations mark the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. The boundary between the living and the dead is believed to be thin, which makes it a sacred time to connect with ancestors, while at the same time preparing for the upcoming winter.
- Lughnasadh – this festival is named after the Irish god Lugh, associated with the sun, grain, and athletic competitions (skills); Tailteann Games are held in honor of Lugh’s foster mother Tailtiu; there is also horse racing, matchmaking, trading, and bonfires; modern echoes of the past include climbing hills, and Christian pilgrimages. Certain fairs, like Puck Fair, are descended from ancient Lughnasadh festivals. Modern celebrations might include baking Lughnasadh bread, making offerings to deities, crafting corn dollies, and decorating with wheat and sunflowers.
- Imbolc – this ancient and modern celebration is observed primarily by Pagans and WiccansPlural for Wicca - a modern, nature-based pagan religion emphasizing reverence for nature, the divine, and ethical conduct. Wiccans often practice rituals of magic to celebrate seasonal festivals like the solstices and the equinoxes, while focusing on personal responsibility and harmony with the natural world. More; it marks the midpoint between the winter and spring equinoxOne of the two annual events where daylight and nighttime hours are nearly equal. The Earth's axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun. More, typically at the beginning of February; it is a time of renewal, purification and honoring the Celtic goddess Brigid (as mentioned before); It is a celebration of the return of light and warmth.
Celtic Cultureculture is not genetically inherited, it is shared, learned, and dynamic- never static – Part IV is the last course in this series of courses and lessons about the Celtsa diverse group of tribal societies occupying most of early Iron-age Europe (1200 BC-700 AD), eventually expanding into a wide range of territories, i. e, from Ireland, to Spain, to Central Anatolia (Turkey). These lessons wrap up the significant inquiries about the historical group of people known as the Celts. As you have learned, they were a group of tribes with shared languages and cultural practices. They left a lasting influence on the ancient world.
These last few lessons discuss Celtic DruidA priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion, or a member of a present-day group claiming to be derived from this religion. More practices (that was then–and this is now). Is there a Celtic literary legacylong-lasting impact of events that took place in the past or of a person's life; or amount of money or property left to someone in a will More to be found in Lesson 2? Visiting a Celtic NecropolisA Greek word meaning "city of the dead." A necropolis is a large cemetery belonging to an ancient city or civilization; a historical burial ground that may include tombs, mausoleums, and other funerary structures. More to discover an amazing find is an archaeological adventure in Lesson 3. You are going to dig deeper into Celtic cultural persistence that lives on in today’s globalized world in the final Lesson 4.
Here are review questions for critical thinking: What were the primary regions where the Celts spread their culture during the Iron Age? What are the key elements of the Celtic languagea system of symbols that allow people to communicate with each other, also the MOST symbolic way that culture is passed down familya family is group of people consisting of parents and children living together in a household; family members can also live away from parents or in a different household? What was a DruidOne of an ancient Celtic priesthood appearing in Irish and Welsh sagas and Christian legends as magicians and wizards, or a present-day group claiming to be followers of Druidry, a nature-based spirituality that seeks harmony with nature. More? What role did women play in Celtic societya group of people who are all interdependent and interconnected by their cultural connections; they live in patterned ways and their behaviors in various circumstances are well established; for instance in the Western world most people adhere to lines (cue) at bus stops, or movie theaters, or when checking out at a grocery store; patterned and regular ways of doing things are expected and accepted, and how is this reflected in their mythologya collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition (i.e., Celtic), the study of myths includes archaeology, folklore, and comparisons among cultures More?