CELTS- CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH
Traditions and Stories, Fairy Folk, Fairy Tales, Folktales, Folklore, Legends,
Myths, Leprechauns, Blessings, Superstitions and General Information

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CELTS - CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH
Traditions and Stories, Fairy Folk, Fairy Tales, Folktales, Folklore, Legends, Myths, Leprechauns, Blessings, Superstitions and General Information

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Books about Celts - Celtic - Ireland - Irish - Children
Books about Celts - Celtic - Ireland - Irish - Adults/Reference
Online sources for stories/info - Celts - Celtic - Ireland - Irish
SOS - Searching Out Stories / Info
~~Advice/References from Storytellers, Teachers & Librarians
 


Be sure to check out these other sources...
1) Ireland - Irish Stories
http://www.story-lovers.com/listsirishstories.html

2) St. Patrick's Day Stories and Information
http://www.story-lovers.com/listsstpatricksdaystories.html

3)
A full collection of Irish stories, jokes, poems, expressions and proverbs!
Bare Bones Volume 8 - A Bit O' the Irish!
at
http://www.story-lovers.com/barebonesvol8irish.html

4) Leprechauns
http://www.story-lovers.com/listsleprechaunstories.html


BOOKS ABOUT CELTS - CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH - CHILDREN



To retell the stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always give credit to your sources.

Book titles are in dark blue and underlined.
Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
Alphabetized for your convenience and to save you research time.

Ancient Celtic Festivals: and How We Celebrate Them Today by Clare Walker Leslie and Frank E. Gerace. (2008 - Ages 9-12)
An enormously engaging and informative book. The Authors have included aspects of science, history, mythology, and literature in their explanation of Celtic festivals. . . . will provide the answers for all the children and adults who ever wondered about the mysterious rituals of some of our most well-known holidays. A valuable resource for homes, schools, and libraries.

Celtic Animals Coloring Book by Mallory Pearce. (1997 - Ages 9-12)
Imaginative, skillfully rendered depictions of stylized birds, fish, serpents, mythological creatures and other fabulous fauna, illustrated in the appealing, sinuous Celtic style. 43 highly colorable vignettes for artists, craftspeople and coloring book enthusiasts.

Celtic Body Art Tattoos (Temporary Tattoos) by Anna Pomaska. (2001 - Ages 4-8)
Easy-to-apply tattoos in popular blue-black ink: mythical creatures, human figures in spirals and weaves, abstracts, and more. Instructions.

Celtic Design Coloring Book (Dover Coloring Book) by Ed Sibbett.
(1979 - Ages 4-8)
Children and adults alike will enjoy adding their own hues to an array of interesting interlacings, geometric-animal combinations, decorative initials, and much more. Each design has been culled from authentic Celtic sources including Book of Kells. Captions accompany each illustration. 37 illustrations.

Celtic Jewelry Tattoos (Temporary Tattoos) by Marty Noble. (2000 - Ages 4-8)
Bracelets, 5 rings, and 5 pairs of earrings—all featuring dazzling Celtic designs—safe for wrists, fingers, ear lobes.

Illustrated Treasury of Read-Aloud Myths and Legends: More than 40 of the World's Best-Loved Myths and Legends Including Greek, Roman, Celtic, Scandinavian, Indian, Mexican, and Many More by Joan C. Verniero and Robin Fitsimmons (editors). (2004 - Ages 4-8)
Read-Aloud Myths and Legends collects time-honored stories from the Greek, Roman, and Celtic traditions including: "The Adventures of Odysseus," "Pandora's Box," "Psyche and Cupid," "Lugh, the Sun God," "Queen Maeve and the Wild Sow," and much more. Also included are myths from Egypt, Arabia, China, Japan, Hawaii, and Mexico. Thirty full-color illustrations throughout bring the myths to life and further enhance read-aloud enjoyment.

Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. (1968 - Baby-Preschool)
Leading British folklorist selected 20 tales embodying the wonderful humor and heroism of Celtic folklore. Originally published in 1894, the stories are lavishly illustrated by pen-and-ink drawings of John D. Batten. 38 drawings.

Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales (Dover Children's Thrift Classics) by Joseph Jacobs.
(1995 - Ages 9-12)
For young and old alike—eight captivating tales filled with whimsy, charm and magic: "The Fate of the Children of Lir," "The Shepherd of Middvai," "Beth Gellert," "The Tale of Ivan," "Morraha," "The Story of Deirdre," "The Llanfabon Changeling," and "The Sea-Maiden." Reset in large, easy-to-read type.

Fun with Celtic Stencils (Dover Little Activity Books) by Paul E. Kennedy.
(1996 - Ages 4-8)
Sturdy and unusual designs for decorative uses by children and adults: human face, horse’s head, mythical creature, 3 more.

Life in Celtic Times (Dover Pictorial Archive) by A.G. Smith. (1997 - Ages 9-12)
Fourteen centuries of Celtic life and culture are depicted in over 40 well-researched, excellently rendered illustrations. Intriguing scenes of an Iron-Age village, Glastonbury fishermen, farmers harvesting grain, Celtic warriors on horseback, St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, and much more are featured. Descriptive captions.

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BOOKS ABOUT CELTS - CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH - ADULTS / REFERENCE


To retell the stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always give credit to your sources.

Book titles are in dark blue and underlined.
Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
Alphabetized for your convenience and to save you research time.

Age of Chivalry (The) by Thomas, 1796-1867 Bullfinch. (Kindle edition - 2004)
This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CD-ROM drive and start reading. The simple, easy-to-use interface is child-tested at pre-school levels.

Celtic Fashions (Dover Pictorial Archives) by Tom Tierney. (2002)
Scores of carefully rendered illustrations depict more than 4,000 years of Celtic apparel--from cloaks worn by European Celts ca. 2000 b.c. to the plaid tunics of British-Celtic farm women (100 b.c.) and the elaborately embroidered costume of a 20th-century Irish step dancer. Fascinating, ready-to-color archive with detailed captions also includes illustrations of period headgear, footwear, and jewelry.

Celtic Tale (A) by David Riley with Angelika Pia Schmid-Riley (illus). (2008)
This is an interesting twist on a 2000-year-old Irish legendThe original tale describes the plight of a small band of young heros when confronted by the manipulative power of kings. Nothing less than true love is at stake when a druid’s curse seals the fate of an unborn child, the beautiful Deirdre. The child is to be held captive until her 16th birthday when she is to wed the High King of Ulster. However, true love is not to be denied by any mortal and thus begins the tribulations of Deirdre and her ill fated lover, Naisi. This adventurous tale recaptures the old virtues of loyalty among friends, perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds, and the human battle for basic rights.

Complete Guide to Celtic Music: From the Highland Bagpipe and Riverdance to U2 and Enya by June Skinner Sawyers. (2000)
The first guide that charts Celtic music from its ancient roots through its modern performers Celtic music means many things to many people. To some it recalls the Irish rebel songs of the Clancy Brothers, to others the ensemble playing of the Chieftains or Enya's ethereal vocals. Yet Celtic music is much more than reels, jigs, and sentimental ballads; it is also unaccompanied singing, feverish fiddle tunes, the sweet strains of the Irish uileann pipes. It comes not just from Ireland and Scotland but from Wales, Brittany, the Isle of Man, and Cornwall. It informs the musical roots of Van Morrison and U2, the performances of Riverdance, and the scores for such films as Braveheart and Titanic. Celtic Music explores all aspects of this music-from its roots to the exciting developments on the contemporary scene.

Creatures of Celtic Myth (The) by Bob Curran with Andrew Whitson (illus). (2001)
Celtic tradition is rich in tales of wondrous beings, including giants, demons, fairies, merfolk, monsters, halflings, wizards, and witches. In this compelling explanation and celebration of these strange and fascinating creatures and entities, a master storyteller and folklorist and a talented artist bring the archetypes to life in a vivid, authentic, and entertaining manner.

Dark Spirit (The): Sinister Portraits from Celtic History by Bob Curran and Andrew Whitson. (2001)
This collection of grim Celtic characters is sure to have you checking under the bed--twice. Among them, lurching out of the dark shadows of Celtic folklore, you'll meet the Black Sisters, who brought death wherever they went...the wolf of Badenoch, a blasphemous sorcerer who plundered church and countryside...and canny Alexander Colville, who did a deal with the Devil. In these ominous stories, the strand of Celtic myth threads its way through the British Isles and across the Atlantic to colonial shores, drawing into its coils along the way immigrant and indigenous American folklore.

Folklore of Orkney and Shetland (The) by Ernest W. Marwick. (1975)
Reader review: This is an enchanting book that in plain terms describes the enduring customs and folk beliefs that have long made Orkney and Shetland special and unique in the British Isles. From the Sea Mither and the Stoor Worm to the hogboons and trows of hill and mound, the denizens of the deep and wights of the earth are delightfully described.

Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World (A) by Michael Steven Newton. (2000)
Reader review: Anyone who is interested in any aspect of Scottish Gaelic culture- the language,clan history, pipe or fiddle music, bardic poetry, Highland dance, spirituality and so on- should read this book first. Why? Because all these things are parts of a whole, and this may be the first book to treat them that way. As a result, they are all much easier to understand, and every part of the culture makes sense on a deeper level than in previous studies.

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ONLINE LINKS TO STORIES AND INFORMATION - CELTS - CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH




Online links are in light blue and underlined.
Click on them to go to the Internet for more stories/information.
Alphabetized for your convenience and to save you research time.


• Celtic Gods and Heroes
http://www.mythome.org/celtic.html
http://realmagick.com/articles/76/1776.html
http://www.celticpagan.com/celt/deities.htm

• Celtic Sites
http://www.mythome.org/celturl.html

• Celtic folklore. Belinus Press:
http://www.belinus.co.uk/folklore/Homeextra.htm

• Celtic Music - many selections from the Celtic Arts Center
http://tinyurl.com/dhkkvd

• Celtic Wonder Tales by Ella Young
http://tinyurl.com/cqcyvx

• Irish culture class. Music has several parts. I am sure someting in gaelic will be there if not several....good luck!
http://www.bcpl.net/~hutmanpr/bibs.html#Lesson


• Irish songs of passing or wakes - I'm not sure they are suitable for kids. Songs that deal with leaving this world...
~ Roisin the Bow (about drinking)
http://www.ireland-information.com/irishmusic/roisinthebow.shtml

~ Finnegan's Wake (about drinking and fighting)
http://devel.diplom.org/manus/music/irish/finnegan.html

~ Fiddler's Green (nautical)
http://home.t-online.de/home/pheld/1irland.htm


• Music class on line....scroll down for the individual tunes....
http://www.geocities.com/justirishmusic/ersesong.html

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SOS - SEARCHING OUT STORIES ABOUT CELTS - CELTIC - IRELAND - IRISH
~~Advice and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians



To retell the stories, get permission from the copyright holder if material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always give credit to your sources.

Book titles are in dark blue and underlined.
Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
Online links are in light blue and underlined.
Click on them to go to the Internet for more stories/information.
Posts are listed as they are received by Story Lovers World.
Posts received prior to 2005 contain no attributions or dates.

1) Query: Is anyone familiar with a Celtic myth involving pigs or pig-herding, fertility rites (involving sacrifice of chosen pig or sometimes even human) and a female (divine or otherwise) named Mokie or something similar?

Response: Animal Symbolism in Celtic Mythology
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lars/rel375.html

Response: Celtic Deities and Myths
Animal symbolism found in Celtic myths include boars, birds, serpents, fish, horse and cattle. Boars symbolise courage and strong warriors. Power and strength is attached to the bristles of the boar, which was held in high esteem by the Celts. There are many examples of supernatural boars and their adventures in the literary traditions of the Irish and the Welsh. The otherworld feast is supposed to be sustained by magical pigs which, no matter how many times they are cooked and eaten, are alive again the next day to be cooked again.
http://www.eliki.com/ancient/myth/celts/content.htm

Response: Isn't there something in Welsh mythology about herding pigs? I'm thinking of the Prydain books The Prydain Companion: A Reference Guide to Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. And my handy pocket The Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends by Stuart Gordon mentions that the Welsh Cerridwen ttranslates as the Old White Sow. Here's more: "In Welsh myth the hag Cerridwen (Old White Sow) who lived on an isle in Lake Tegid, set young Gwion Bach to stir a cauldron in which bubbled a Brew of Inspiration meant for her husband Tegid Foel, or maybe for her hideously ugly son, Afagddu, to compensate him for his looks. Gwion is warned never to taste the brew. Yet one dark night, with Cerridwen absent, the boiling pot spits out three drops, burning his thumb. Thrusting it into his mouth, he is thus inspired, he sees all things - including the fact that Cerridwen means to kill him. Pursued by her, he changes himself into a hare, she changes into a greyhound. Desperately he turns into a fish, but she turns into an otter: he becomes a bird, she becomes a hawk. At length he hides as a grain of corn on the threshing-floor, but as a hen she swallows him. Yet this is not the end. In seasonal myth, as in modern physics, there is no 'end': transformation is continual. Cerridwen is also fertility: having eaten him, nine months later she gives vbirth to him again. Unable to kill him, she puts him ina leather bag and throws him into Cardigan Bay. He drifts into a fish-weir to be found and renamed Taliesin, 'Radiant Brown', the wonder child who makes fools of all the poets at King Gwyddno's court."

Response: Pigs do feature in some Welsh stories, and also Irish. In the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion, Math fab Mathonwy, the king of Dyfed in south-west Wales is said to have been given a herd of pigs by the King of Annwn (the Otherworld or Hell); he is tricked into selling them to the wizard Gwydion in return for leaves disguised as gold, and Gwydion escapes with them back to the north. A whole list of placenames including the element "moch" is then given, "mochyn", plural 'moch', being the Welsh for pig. I guess that your Mokie is derived from this (or Irish "mucc").

Response: There's also a story about a miraculous sow called Hen Wen (Old white) who comes from Cornwall and leaves gifts in the different regions, like wheat (gwenith) in Gwent. Her name was used by Lloyd Alexander. But she's more closely related to the wild boar Twrch Trwyth, and I think you're talking about domestic pigs.

The meaning of Ceridwen's name is disputed; a connection with "cariad," love, has been suggested.
Fertility rites sometimes/often need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Response: Pigs / boars are very important in Celtic mythology, and they crop up in various places. There's an important part of the The Mabinogion (Penguin Classics) which tells of a herd of pigs. I think it may be in the Fourth Branch, when Gwydion tells Math that Pryderi of Dyfed has pigs, which were gifts to his father Pwyll from Arawn, king of the underworld. Gwydion uses magic to get the herd of pigs, with major consequences. a female (divine or otherwise) named Mokie or something similar?

Moccus was the swine god of the continental Gauls. Moch and muc are the Welsh and Irish for pig. I don't know about a female - that could just be a fashionable feminising.

2) Query: Is Cap O'Rushes (and Other Folk Tales) Celtic?
What makes something a Celtic story? One told in, or translated from, a Celtic language certainly, i.e. Welsh, Irish, (Scottish) Gaelic, Manx, Breton.

Response: What about stories from Celtic countries which are told in English or French, but can be assumed to have been in Celtic originally? That's fair enough for most of them, including Cornwall , but what about Scotland? Should any Scottish story be called Celtic, or only those from the Highlands and Islands (and some from the Travellers, who travelled in both English and Gaelic areas, and even Ireland)? Scotland is nowadays usually labelled as "Celtic", but does that reflect its solidarity with the rest of the non-English nations more than its cultural inheritance? For instance, Thomas the Rhymer can be linked in with the historical Thomas of Ercildoune, who would have spoken Scots and lived in the C13th long after the Borders had ceased to be Celtic. It's certainly unreasonable to class the Scottish Border ballads as Celtic, but not the Northumbrian ones.

And similarly with stories from England, and that includes Cap O' Rushes, which comes from the very English county of Suffolk (the South Folk)? Are English stories to be called Celtic because England was
Celtic-speaking before the English invasions? Perhaps we should divide English stories into those which are of "Celtic" origins, and those which are Germanic? I can think of a German parallel with Cap O' Rushes, but nof offhand of any Celtic ones.

How do we decide? Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has an Irish relative with the Beheading Game, but is told in medieval English. There is an idea that the Fairy world is Celtic, which then claims Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin, but the Germanic peoples had their elves, and human-sized fairy women appear in many medieval countries - the French "fée" and "fay" ("faery" was originally the "glamour" cast by the fays) coming ultimately from the Latin "fata".

Response: Of course, there isn't a simple answer, or one that people will agree on. My own preference is not to say Celtic, unless I want to include more than one of the Celtic-speaking countries, but to be specific and say Welsh, Irish etc. Or if I want to include England, then British.

Response: James MacKillop, author of the Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (1998), which was cited here recently for its pronunciation guide, has just published Myths and Legends of the Celts, Penguin, ISBN 0-140-51552-6. It's an expanded narrative version of the Dictionary that takes in the most recent historical and archaeological evidence and scholarly opinion. As with the Dictionary, Irish material predominates, but MacKillop is more knowledgeable than most Celtic scholars about the little-known Breton traditions, and so these are also given the attention they deserve. Unlike the Dictionary, there is a useful pronunciation guide for the leading names and terms in Celtic mythology, so you don't have to work out the pronunciation of each name letter by letter from the more general guide in the Dictionary.

Response: I can't give a critical review because I was involved in the editing of the book, and I contributed a section on Galicia and Asturias, the often neglected Celtic regions of northwest Spain.
Richard M. Irelnnd 5/31/05

3) The Parting Glass (traditional farewell)
http://www.contemplator.com/ireland/pglass.html

THE PARTING GLASS
Oh, all the money e'er I had,
I spent it in good company,
And all the harm I've ever done,
alas it was to none but me,
And all I've done for want of wit
to mem'ry now I can't recall;
So fill to me the parting glass,
goodnight and joy be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades e'er I had,
they're sorry for my going away,
And all the sweethearts e'er I had, t
hey'd wished me one more day to stay.
But since it falls unto my lot,
that I should go and you should not,
I'll gently rise and softly call,
goodnight and joy be with you all.

If I had money enough to spend,
And leisure time to sit awhile,
There is a fair maid in this town,
That sorely has my heart beguiled.
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips,
I own she has my heart in thrall,
Then fill to me the parting glass,
Good night and joy be with you all.



(This web page updated 7/3/05; 10/16/06; 3//12/09)


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