ISSUE 21 VOLUME 1
Proudly Serving Celts in North America Since 1991
FEBRUARY 2012
Inside This Month's Issue
WELSH schoolboys wave the red dragon - the official national flag of Wales. On March 1, Welsh around the world celebrate the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales. [To learn more, see page XX.]
Beacons to be lit across Commonwealth in honour of Queen Elizabeth II
LONDON - To mark 60 years of the Queen's reign, the Diamond Jubilee will take place in 2012. The celebrations will centre around an extended weekend June 2-5.
Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne on February 6,1952 and her coronation took place on June 2, 1953. She celebrated her Silver Jubilee (25 years) in 1977 and her Golden Jubilee (50 years) in 2002.
Wounded British servicemen will join climbers from other charities in scaling Britain's four highest peaks to light beacons to mark the occasion, organizers announced on January 30.
A total of 2,012 beacons will be lit throughout the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and Commonwealth countries on June 4, with the Queen igniting the final torch near Buckingham Palace in London.
The first beacon in the Commonwealth will be lit in Tonga in the South Pacific, while Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and many Caribbean states have also agreed to take part.
Five soldiers injured in Afghanistan will also attempt Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, j ust two weeks before the anniversary on June 2.
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Brigid: Goddess of the ^ home and hearth
By HAMISH BURGESS
MBOLC - the coming of Spring - a time to honour the feminine aspect of the divine.
The great wheel of the year turns again on February 1, with the ancient sacred day of the Celtic goddess Brigid - Mother Goddess of Ireland and daughter of the Morrigan and the Daghda. She was also called Brigit, Bride, Brighid. Brig, and Brigantia.
The root of her name means 'bright' or 'exalted', and possibly 'firebrand'.
Tradition has it that she walks the earth Imbolc eve, and the portrait shows Bride with her white wand and open mouth said to "breathe life into the mouth of dead Winter, and bring him to open his eyes to the tears and smiles, the sighs and laughter of Spring" (Carmina Gadelica Vol.1).
She is goddess of the home and hearth, and associated with sacred flames, representing the return of the sun and warmth, coming with the lengthening days.
Legend has it that the fire goddess was born at sunrise, in a house that burst into flames, and a pillar of fire was said to have risen from her head when she took the veil. Her three fires are the hearth, the forge and inspiration.
Brigid is the triple goddess of Smithcraft (with Celtic warriors invoking her protection before battle) represented here by the hammer and tongs; healing represented by the serpent (still seen on the medical staff of today); and poetry and the arts represented by the smoke coming from the fire of inspiration on her head.
The early La Tene style Celtic art of the smoke is based on the Turoe Stone
ARTWORK by Hamish Burgess
in Bullaun, Co. Galway, Ireland, with connections to Brigid as a fertility stone.
As patroness of Druids and Bards, she ruled over inspiration, poetry, and divination - tradition has it that she curled her palm and 'looking through it's pipe' could see the future.
She is also goddess of weaving, shown here by her tartan cloak, which in legend she could throw over Ireland for protection, and was famously said to have hung it up to dry on a ray of the sun.
Along with healing, she is the goddess of childbirth, with the ancient fertility symbol of the sheelagh na gig on her right cloak. Her season Imbolc, also spelled Imbolg, has one translation as 'in the belly'.
Our goddess was to cross from the old world into the new - in the later Celtic Christian Church, an extraordinary woman was to become a famous abbess, who after her death in 523AD, became Brigit's counterpart as Saint Brigid.
Imbolc is celebrated today as St. Brigid's Day - her sanctuary at Kil-dare, or Cill-dara (Church of the Oak), was likely continued worship on an older Druidic site to the goddess.
The saint had a sacred flame tended by nuns, which was kept alight for about a thousand years. The following church day is Candlemass, a continuation of the sacred fire tradition.
The wickerwork St. Brigid's Cross, a popular talisman since the Seventeenth Century, is thought to have origins in the ancient symbol for the sun, a stylized version seen here on her left cloak.
Another symbol of Brigid is the Serpent, who at this time of year was said to come out of her hole, like the badger, to see if the warming weather will affect her winter sleep.
A fine frosty day forbode more winter ahead, but a cloudy day meant the quick end of winter. This tradition continued in the Americas, with European settlers seeing this habit from a new animal, and is now Groundhog Day.
Limited edition prints available on watercolour paper approximately 8 x 10 inches - $60 plus shipping; 11 x 14 inches - $90 plus shipping. The original piece measures approximately 8x10 inches.
For more about St. Brigid, see page XX.
MICHA€L FLATL€YS
LORD&DANC6
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COMING TO WESTERN CANADA!
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