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History and Ideals of Gaelic Traditionalism v 1.6
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History and Ideals of Gaelic Traditionalism in the Diaspora & The Hearthlands And Clannada na Gadelica's Cultural Commitment - v. 1.6 by Iain MacAnTsaoir and Kathleen O'Brien Blair Introduction: Gaelic Traditionalism is, simply, the Gaelic cultural traditions as they are defined by the Gaelic speaking cultures themselves, alone, from within their own authentic, living, extant, intact, viable cultural matrices. The only authority on these cultures are the cultures themselves, and it is to these authorities, these Wells and these Witness Trees, that we now turn.
This article is about Gaelic Traditionalism (GT) in general, both in the Diaspora (a.k.a Diasporal or Diasporan GT) and Hearthlands (a.k.a Hearthland GT a.k.a Native or Indigenous GT), both of the Gaelic Traditionalist Christian (Celtic Christian) and Gaelic Traditionalist Polytheist (a.k.a polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalism a.k.a traditional Gaelic polytheism, which is the traditional Gaelic Traditionalist polytheism of the Gaelic Hearthlands and the Gaelic Cultural Tradition sometimes also referred to as Classicist or Classicalist GT) varieties of authentic cultural expressions. Though there is a healthy Celtic Christian component to GT, this article specifically addresses the reemergence of polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalism.
It is worth reiterating here here that Gaelic Traditionalism *IS* the Gaelic Cultural Traditions themselves as they and they alone define themselves from within their own authentic internal cultural matrices, and from which the embedded religiosity is *never* fungible from the cultural whole. As such Gaelic Traditionalism has *ALWAYS* contemplated and encompassed the *entireties* of the pre-Christian, Christian (polytheistic as well as Christian, side-by-side and inter-twined), and post-Christian ( once and still polytheistic as well as Christian, side-by-side and inter-twined) authentic cultural expressions of Gaelic Traditionalism. This has been true for the life of the Gaelic Cultural Traditions, neo-pagan polytheistic religious bigotry and propaganda, notwithstanding. GT, carried the Elder Ways intact, extant, and viable across the Conversion Boundary where it remained and ran, and still runs, intact, extant, and viable, side-by-side, intertwined and undiminished with the New Religion. To want to believe otherwise is bigotry and willful ignorance. The 3000 year old extant, intact, viable, Gaelic Cultural Tradition fully documents the truth of this assertion for those with the unclouded eyes to see, the minds to reason, and the hearts with which to apprehend.
All of these specific definitional phraseologies and terms of Art (and more on the Clannada e-mail list discussions) which Clannada have documentably coined since the early 1980’s in order to explicate the 3000+ year old Gaelic Traditional culture that manifests as polytheistic (as well as Christian) Gaelic Traditionalism, have been copied, imitated, even absconded with by many, but Clannada is documentably the Well and Witness Tree for it.
Before we continue let us emphatically state that none of the following should be construed to say that other religious paths are without validity, or that they are inferior. It is only to say that they are not cultural if the culture they are borrowing from isn't what is defining what they are using, and providing the context for their use.
Mainly, the following sets the bar and establishes the direction which Gaelic Traditionalism in the Diaspora has taken since Clannada coined the specific definitional phraseologies and terms of Art which we have employed privately since the early 1980's and publicly since 1991 in explicating this 3000 year old cultural expression both in the Diaspora and as our interface with authentic Gaelic Traditionalists in the Hearthlands, who are the Well & Witness Trees of the culture, as well as with academics in the field. The Once and Future History of Clannada na Gadelica, and the Re-Emerging Culturally Authentic Expression of Gaelic Traditionalism in the American Diaspora and the Hearthlands:
In the Diaspora:
In the Diaspora, the question may arise, "Why do you call it Gaelic Traditionalism?" The answer could well go meandering through Irish & Scottish political history, and indeed, that the traditions were preserved at all owes much to those brave souls who gave their lives to secure a free Ireland, and to those who worked so hard to restore a Parliament to Scotland. But, that isn't where the modern extant cultural expression of polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalism came from. Indeed, there have always been Gaelic Traditionalists in the Gaelic Hearthlands of Scotland, Ireland, Man, Galicia and Asturias, as well as in the American and Antipodal Diasporae, who kept the lore, customs, beliefs, languages and other elements of the Gaelic culture alive, up to and including those modern Gaelic peoples who strive to keep Gaeilge and Gaidhlig living and spoken. For the most part though, these were/are Catholic (in Ireland and "The Islands & Highlands") and Protestant Christians (Scotland and the Irish Plantation). (1)
Some of us here in the Diaspora, (and many in the Hearthlands as well) have always been more than a bit on the heathen side of things. There were questions which we simply did not find answers to from mainstream pastors and priests. There was a calling, an imperative from deep within, that impelled us to look for those answers. Some of us who experienced that moving were called to directly take back up the ways of our ancestors. The ways of our ancestors are alive in the extant Gaelic Cultural Traditions. Gaelic Traditionalism, like any other genuine Traditionalist cultural expression, is about the cultural traditions as the cultures alone define those traditions from within their own authentic, living, viable, extant cultural matrices. Period.
Through the late 1970's some of us looked to Native American teachers and elders, such as Crowdog and Wanbli Sapa, for direction on how to address the moving need we felt in our souls. The answer from those teachers and elders was that we needed to find, and take back up, the ways of our own ancestors. Those early counselors gave encouragement, and stated the absolute truth that the ancestral ways of our own ancestors hadn't gone anywhere. These wise souls pointed out that it is we who had left the Traditions of our ancestors, but that the Traditions were still there to again be taken up. They were alive. They just needed to be found and lived. And so the quest began to find the ways of the Gaelic ancestors.
Through the 1980's the course often became bogged down. Wrong turns were made into other paths, paths which presented that they were the surviving ways of the old folk, but were not, in fact. As time progressed more and more information came to the fore, and what was most incredible was that just as stated by those trusted friends in the First Nations, it was all still alive and well. During this decade and into the new Millennium, Clannada coined specific definitional phraseologies and Terms of Art in order to explicate Gaelic Traditionalism and the Gaelic Cultural Tradition.
By 1993 enough of the ideals, beliefs, values, and customs had been gathered to hand that the path could again be walked. At the encouragement of Red Bear, it was determined that what some very few of us were again living should be gifted to the world. But what should we call that gift? Red Bear and a couple of others noted that amongst the First Nations, if one walked the culturally defined path as the culture alone defines that path, in a context that speaks that cultures language, then they are a Traditionalist. The cultural traditions as the culture alone define them. Checking out a dictionary, it became clear that to call our gift "Gaelic Traditionalism" was the way to go. The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines traditionalism as, "adherence to the doctrines or practices of a tradition." Gaelic is a Celtic culture whose primary defining aspect is the Gaelic language. In the case of Gaelic Traditionalism it is the strict adherence is to the Gaelic cultural traditions as the Gaelic speaking cultures themselves define those, with these practiced within the context of Gaelic language.
Finally, in 1994, a small group of like minded "Gaelic Traditionalists" in the American Diaspora banded together, and began to reach out to authentic Gaelic Traditionalist Tradition Bearers in the Hearthlands, and in the Diaspora where they could be found, as well as to academics in these fields of study. We hammered out a founding set of by-laws through which this work could be done, and set out as the Clannada na Gadelica. In the old country there have always been Gaelic Traditionalists steadfastly holding to the customs, beliefs, lore, values, and language of the culture. Our work was to bring all of that living extant viable culture from the Well & Witness Tree of the living Gaelic Cultural Traditions of the Gaelic Hearthlands, to full frontal-lobe living consciousness in the Diasporan Gaelic peoples as Traditions and Culture to be lived out in the Art of daily living. The work was not done though, as there were years worth of further study yet to be done.
With the truths that everything still existed, we proceeded. The effort at becoming assimilated into the Gaelic speaking culture thus started with learning the lore and taking up the customs, by rote, lock, stock and barrel. As Gaelic Traditionalism was and is defined as taking up the cultural traditions as the Gaelic speaking culture defines those traditions, and re-employing them in the Art of daily life, there was no other way to go. We met the culture on its own terms and conformed ourselves to it. The ancient traditions still existed, and it was our job as Gaelic Traditionalists to take them up. As we proceeded we came into possession of more and more lore, ideals, beliefs, and customs. Quite quickly we became faced the same daunting task that faced Dr. Maire MacNeill, when she set about collecting surviving customs and lore. Thinking there was little left from the earlier times, her intent had been to record what remained of the folk tradition. However, she was so overwhelmed that her pending book, a tome unto itself, had to focus on one festival. (2) It was similar for us as we struggled to find the accurate sources, to add those to academically solid and culturally correct reading lists, and finally to present the traditions in a way that people could pick up themselves and re-employ to assimilate themselves into the cultural traditions.
Finding the solid sources wasn't so hard. The hardest part about source material was finding materials which were still in print. But these were to be had. It wasn't even too terribly difficult to strip off the Christian overlays. Let us explain.
As for Christianity, everyone from academics to common people in the culture agree that nothing went away. Christianity is but the most recent veneer, or most recent expression of the authentic deeply embedded indigenous cultural religiosity of the Gaelic peoples.
It is rather like when we paint a room. We put masking tape over the wooden trim and door jam of our door. We paint the walls and paint over the tape. The more paint we get on the tape the harder it is to see that there is something under that tape. The farther we step away from door, the harder it is to see that there is even tape. But, when we get close to the painted surface, we see that the paint of ages has only camouflaged that there is tape, and when we then peel away that Christian masking tape we see that the wooden trim and jam of the Elder ways is there complete and whole. And the Gaelic Traditions have already been "modernized," by the Gaelic speaking culture itself as an organic part of cultural evolution. So, without concerns for human sacrifice, slavery, discrimination, and other topics that are an affront to modern sensibilities, we can take up what has been found under the masking tape of time and a Christian veneer.
Alternatively, think of the Gaelic Traditionalism and the Gaelic Cultural Tradition as a palimpsest.(3) A palimpsest is a parchment or painting which has been written over, partially hiding the still existing original text. The original text of pre-Christian Gaelic culture enriches, informs, and shapes the newer layer of Christianity as an authentic cultural expression. Gaelic Traditionalism at once encompasses and transcends the pre-Christian, Christian, and post-Christian expressions of the embedded religiosity in the culture.
In the case of Gaelic Traditionalism, the Spirit Boat of the Gaelic Cultural Tradition bore the old ways across the Conversion Boundary intact and living, sanctified within the new Christian iteration of the authentic expression of the much older indigenous cultural religiosity, but still polytheistic, none the less.
Assimilation Into Culture:
To understand the imperative for Gaelic Traditionalists in the Diaspora to assimilate into authentic Gaelic culture, it's important to first see the evolution of the modern neo-pagan movements which have attempted to Borg, subvert, commodify, consumerize, marketer, and monetize authentic Traditionalist cultures of various Peoples' by cherry-picking out of them bits and pieces of the culturally embedded religiosities which can never be fungible from the cultural wholes.
It all began about 50 years or so ago, with Gerald Gardner, Alex Saunders, Raymond Buckland, and Sybil Leek's efforts to introduce their knowledge of traditional English folk religion to the American masses.
Gardner claimed possession of folk magic knowledge and to that he added Masonic ritual strucutre. After that, the ball kept rolling with Saunders, Leek, and Buckland, all the way up to the seminal publication of Spiral Dance, by a leftist social worker calling herself Starhawk. Then the neo-pagan movements hit the steroids and began to outpace themselves in iterations. Since the time of Gardner et. al, there have arisen out of those well-meaning efforts a number of modern leftist-influenced neo-pagan "movements," such as Wicca, Fairy Wicca, and modern druidism, which to varying degrees claim to be Celtic or Gaelic. Invariably though, none of these other paths have held the course and remained true to either the Celtic cultures in general, or the Gaelic culture in specific. To be fair, it was never their intent to be culturally authentic, but rather to feed the real human need for ritual theatre which had become so lacking in modern post-War Christianity in the United States, and thereby gain leadership positions that would give them a sense of personal esteem and prestige.
By borrowing from the modern early 20th century English traditions of Gerald Gardener and Alex Saunders, and now discredited anthropological work, Starhawk, during the decades of the late 1970's through 1990's made herself into the Mother of the modern neo-pagan pantheon of Wicca, now called Reclaiming Collective, and all other derivative variants listed here-in. She managed it by creating from nearly whole cloth what have become the modern neo-pagan movements in this country. Those who admired her work simply imitated and put their own marketing spin on it, latterly by adding "shamanic," "Celtic," "Welsh," "Fairy," "Reconstructionist," "Revivalist," "Polytheist," flavors. Even more latterly, some have taken to niche-marketing by adding terms that look more authentically cultural but aren't such as "gaelic" or "ivernian", or some word in Gaeilge, Gaidhlig, or Cymraeg which is supposed to convey a culture-vultured polytheistic ancestor worship model.
The Father of modern American neo-Druidry, Isaac Bonewits, began his neo-Druidic movement more honestly by simply wanting his own religion of which he could be Pope, and he forthrightly said so in as many words. Those who admired the work began research and eventually linked up with the meta-druidry that had been revived in the UK in previous centuries, but there was, and is, a fair amount of imitation and "marketeering" there as well. Over time these modern neo-pagan druidic movements took on the Celtic flavours they have simply because as far as modern scholarship can show, the Druids came out of the various Celtic cultures of Europe, not from any authentic culturality.
In all of these modern neo-pagan movements, most of the time some few selected things were lifted from their cultural context and set into another set of ideologies. The stated goal was to use Celtic cultural materials as a base from which to develop a new Celtic path, "modernizing" Celtic materials, to be a vehicle for neo-pagan ideals. In effect, these folks were assimilating or Borg-ing the Celtic cultural materials for their own non-cultural uses. The amount assimilated varied from path to path and group to group.
The critical difference between Gaelic Traditionalism and those modern neo-pagan movements is that instead of assimilating from the culture, Gaelic Traditionalists necessarily assimilate themselves into the Gaelic culture(s) of their own heritage, and simply pick the culture back up and live it out in the Art of daily life.
The Clannada na Gadelica went down the path of assimilating into the culture. With dogged tenacity we followed the definition of "Traditionalist," and followed the examples set by Native American Traditionalists and other "old school" Traditionalists from the Hearthlands and in the Diaspora. Gaelic Traditionalism is simply picking up and re-employing by living out in the Art of daily life the cultural traditions of the 3000 year old Gaelic cultures, as those cultures define themselves from within their own authentic cultural matrices, and express themselves out of that, including their embedded religiosities which are not fungible from the cultural wholes. Therefore, Gaelic Traditionalism is not, never has been, and never could be even if it wanted to be, derivative of any neo-pagan creation, and it is ridiculous and disingenuous for anyone to imply that it might be.
It cannot be stressed enough that instead of assimilating selected bits from the culture, we chose to assimilate ourselves into Gaelic culture(s) of our own ancestral heritages. We chose to take up, not make up.
The means by which one assimilates oneself back into the Gaelic cultural tradition, thus becoming a Gaelic Traditionalist, particularly for those of us in the Diaspora, is to learn the extant lore and the lessons within the lore; to learn and understand the customs and put them to practice; then to learn a Gaelic language and speak it whenever possible; and finally to re-read the lore, poetry, history, customs and etc wherever possible in the original Gaelic, thus coming full-circle.
There is no direct unbroken connection between modern *polytheistic* Gaelic Traditionalism and the last time polytheistic Gaelic traditions were practiced on par with Christianity. Though the polytheistic cultural ways and beliefs crossed the Conversion Boundary encapsulated within Christianity, the practitioners considered themselves Christian. Every culture has its own expression of Christianity, made possible because Christianity is a religion of creed. Thus, people in Gaelic speaking communities could, can, and do adhere to the creed even while keeping heathen practices and beliefs alive; even to often ascribing capabilities to Christian priests that at one time they ascribed to druids. (4) There is a connection though. The connection that polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalism has comes through having assimilated into the cultural continuum wherein those ancient ways have been preserved. Polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalists simply remove the tape and go to what lays under. Every cultural element, lore, language, custom, values, etc, are kept wholly in tact in their cultural context.
For Gaelic Traditionalists in Diaspora, the first language that most learned is English. Yet, language is a critical component, perhaps the most important component, to actually being a cultural Gael. Language is the soul of culture. It is the eyes through which culture sees itself, the world, and its place in the world. It is the eyes with which to see and the heart with which to understand itself and its place in the world. And it is how the culture tells itself about itself and how it tells the rest of the world about itself. And so, at some point in their development as cultural Gaels, adherents must begin some effort at taking back up the language. For that reason the Gaelic Traditionalists in the Diaspora strives to become bilingual encompassing both the primary language of the land in which the adherents live, as well as one of the Gaelic languages. For many Gaelic Traditionalists in the American Diaspora, this may extend to trilingualism, since ancestors are considered to be living members of a large extended kinship group, and in many cases, First Nations Peoples are part of a Gaelic Traditionalists extended kinship group.
The Emergence and Foundation of Culturally Expressed Polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalism:
In the 1890's, the renowned Lady Augusta Gregory wrote: "We found startling beliefs & came to the conclusion that Ireland is pagan, not Christian.... "This discovery, this disclosure of the folk learning, the folk poetry, the ancient tradition, was the small beginning of a weighty change. It was the upsetting of the table of values, an astonishing excitement." - Lady Augusta Gregory, Diaries (5)
At about the same time Yeats wrote: "My part is to show that what we call Fairy Belief is exactly the same thing as English and American spiritism except that fairy belief is very much more charming...(these folk tales represent) an ancient system of belief, which had been overlaid by Christianity." - W.B. Yeats (6)
Nearly a century later it was still the same when Dr Conrad Arensberg wrote: "This people preserves an unbroken ancient tradition that goes back, perhaps long into pre-Christian times. Their variant of Celtic culture and language is lost in prehistory. Yet isolation here in the 'outpost of western Europe' has preserved it. Today the historian is in a better position to understand the history of all Europe because the Celtic past has survived latest here, outliving Roman and Christian inundation only here." Dr. Conrad Arensburg, The Irish Countryman (7)
Lore: Celtic Christians have been heard to say that, "the old lore is the Old Testament of the Gael." (8) Polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalists say that the lore is their religious Testament. The lore exists, and to polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalists it is sacred liturgy. The ancient texts exist. The beliefs exist. The customs exist and they are sacral religious expressions. The modern can be cross referenced with the old. And just as a Christian reads from tales throughout the Bible to gain a deeper understanding of God, so does a polytheistic Gael read and compile ideals about their Gods from the great number of tales that abound. For the polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalist, the process of peeling away the masking tape is simply a matter of coming to understand those cultural elements in their polytheistic context. For the polytheistic Gael, compiling ideals about the divine from the tales is one step.
With the other step we turn to academia where we see just how to remove the tape. Let me use the personage of Donn to make an example.
In extant folklore across Gaelic lands Donn is known by variations of the same name. Examples are Donn na Duimhche in Co. Clare, Donn Cuailgne in Co. Louth, Donn Dumhach and Donn Dumhaighe Co. Kerry. In the story, "The Death Tale of Conaire" certain characters pronounce, "Donn, king of the dead at the red tower of the dead." Thus in extant folk tales Donn is firmly posited as the Lord of the Dead. The extant folk tradition holds that there is an entrance in the hill Knockfierna in Co. Limerick that is an entrance to the palace of Donn, known as Teach Duinn. Teach Duinn (pronounced 'chek dune'), as the place where those Gaels go after death, is a rather common belief, and is widely known in Gaelic speaking lands. (9) This is shown by it even being referenced in the popular movie "The Secret of Roan Inish." There are customs, such as offerings, that are enacted at each of the sites held to be associated with Teach Duinn.
The modern lore can be cross referenced to ancient texts showing an ancient cultural connection. In the Lebor Gabala Erenn we are told that at the coming of the Milesians to Ireland Donn, referred to there as Eber Donn, was blown off the mast of the ship. His body sank into the sea at Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare Bay in Co. Kerry. The text then states that the place he drowned is Teach Duinn, the place where Gaels go when they die. (10) That exact place, today called "Bull Rock," still has the same associations with Donn. In another ancient text, the tale "Tain Bo Cualnge" has Donn showing up as the Brown Bull. By reading all the lore about Donn one comes to a deep knowledge of the ancient Gaelic deity and customs related to him. The same process of "coming to know" can be done with each and every ancient deity.
What the folklore itself states is enough. But it is helpful to broaden ones understanding. Using solid academic materials that deepened understanding is attained. Academic Analysis and Exploration expounds on the lore, and in regards to our example Donn, we again gain understanding of the sacrifice and renewal themes surrounding Donn, and his association with creation itself. (11) Thus still, there is nothing to make up, only take up as it sits. The only thing added is the personal effort to attain deeper understanding.
Custom: To both Polytheist and Christian Gaelic Traditionalists in the Diaspora, traditional customs are religious methodologies; that is to say the customs practiced in the Art of daily living and within the correct cultural context and in conjunction with the liturgical lore *are* the ritual. Both hold the same lore as sacred; the polytheist simply has an expanded understanding of that lore. The Christian maintains the persons of lore in a diminished capacity compared to the Christian God. The Polytheist holds the old gods as their Gods, and some may even recognize the coming of the Christ as a turning of the World and the indication of the last human sacrifice, yet prefer to stay with their hereditary Gods. Gaelic Traditionalist religion is a culturally embedded religiosity of custom, and both work with the same customs. These customs can be found by even those outside of a Gaelic speaking area in the many tomes written by academicians who spent their lives collecting those customs and lore.
Gaelic Traditionalism simply re-employs the living cultural practices in which is found a deeply embedded religiosity which is not fungible from the cultural whole. The customs express that cultural religiosity. As Kathleen O'Brien Blair stated, "GT ably demonstrates through folk life ways, folk lore, cultural values, and a specific world view shaped by 3,000 years of living culture, that there is nothing to make up or reconstruct. The living cultural tradition, with its deeply embedded religiosity, is simply taken back up and re-employed. To the Gaelic Traditionalist, the only real authority, the only primary source for the cultural traditions are the Gaelic speaking cultures themselves." (12) And so, the Gaelic Traditionalist not only comes to know and fully understand the lore, but they also employ the customs as religious acts that reinforce the spiritual significance of every moment of life, and every thought, word, and deed. The customs are there for both individuals and for whole communities. But always, they provide a means for a direct and intense religious experience whether the customs are enacted by individuals or with any number of people.
Gaelic culture and its traditions are ancient, perfect just as they are found, and preserved in the folk ways and Bardic traditions. As has already been stated, all modernizations have already occurred to the traditions within the Gaelic speaking culture. To be a Gaelic Traditionalist one takes up the cultural traditions as they sit in Gaelic speaking culture. Any evolution or alteration that occurs to any facet of the cultural traditions must come from within the Gaelic culture that was the parent of that facet. Any needed modernizations have already occurred within the culture, there is no reason to make any alteration. Any sort of alteration that comes from a place other than within the Gaelic speaking culture subjects whatever is altered to a loss of validity as a Gaelic thing. Because of having such a steadfast dedication to the cultural traditions as the cultures alone defines them, Gaelic Traditionalism in the Hearthlands and as lived in the Diaspora, meets the UNESCO definition of an indigenous native cultural religion. It furthermore meets the World Congress of Ethnic Religions definition for an ethnic religion. (13)
The Lore and Oral tradition is the Liturgy, and the Customs of everyday life and the seasons are the Ritual. The two together comprise the authentic cultural expression of the deeply embedded religiosity of Gaelic Traditionalism which are the Gaelic Cultural Traditions, in cultural whole, and can never be fungible from the same.
Community: There are indeed many approaches to creating a community. Ancient Irish tribal structures are seen as potentially dangerous to people under the system, and certainly anachronistic hence detrimental to the Gaelic cultural tradition. Here, as in other aspects of the cultural tradition, anachronisms are harmful to the extant cultural tradition. For this reason the CnG espouses an approach as much in line with the term community as possible. We currently utilize the word "tuath" to refer to GT communities. As we do so, we do it line with the modern definition of the word. Look into any number of dictionaries and you will see definitions of the word "tuath" which hold words in common. Those words make up a consensus amongst those several dictionaries. The words common to various dictionaries are laity, people, district, community, a body of people within a specific geographical area. To Gaelic speakers in the Hearthlands the term certainly regards a specific area and *every* person in it. To Gaelic Traditionalists here in the Diaspora the application is a specific area and every cultural Gael in it. The definitions are identical, and the application is similar though divergent to meet local necessities here. It is a natural application allowed by the very definition of the word itself without anachronisms.
Gaelic Traditionalists in the Diaspora hold that their local ethnic communities should be a part of the broader communities and societies in which they are found (much like the Jewish Diaspora or any other traditional ethnic community), but with a common land to act as a cultural center, for religious, educational and other types of meeting purposes at the least. These traditionalist communities have elected officers to govern their local communities. This keeps things in line with the modern definitions, and avoids dangers to people and traditions.
A Few Words About The Place of Reconstructed Material and Other Anachronisms: To introduce anachronisms, reconstructions, or syncretism from outside of the Gaelic speaking culture indeed causes the construction to lose its cultural validity. With those elements introduced the whole becomes syncretic. That because it was no longer a thing that arose organically within the cultural milieu. To do so puts everything onto a slippery slope that leads to a complete loss of original ideals, values, beliefs, worldview, and other aspects of the cultural tradition that only the Gaelic speaking culture can define. Some of those possible destination points at the end of the slope are very dangerous.
*First, the cultural tradition is about culture and not blood or race.
*Second, anachronistic reinstitution of castes and nobility are intrinsically dangerous because of the tendency of power to corrupt, and for followers to idolize to the point of drinking cool-aide.
*Third, if someone from this Post-Industrial Western Society constructs or reconstructs things from previous eras then the constructed thing cannot help but have the influence of the Post-Industrial western culture imposed upon it. That because doing such a thing is simply a projection of Anglo culture's current needs and it has nothing to do with the Gaelic cultural needs or traditions. In other words there is no way to bring back the past. Such attempts only dilute understanding of the cultural item from the past to the point that what still exists in the modern culture loses its intent and meaning. Because of this what is potentially dangerous to the adherents under such a system is certainly, definitely, and absolutely detrimental to the extant cultural traditions. Let me give one of many examples. If one attempts to throw back to the middle ages, then the experience and wisdom, knowledge and insight, gained from the last 1000 years of cultural experience is lost. Furthermore, because the constructed thing cannot help but be imprinted with Post-Industrial Western ideals, it loses the experience and wisdom, knowledge and insight of the culture at that point in history. To be sure, if there is any reconstructed or other syncretic element, then it is not Gaelic Traditionalism.
Celtic Reconstructionism is a modern neo-pagan path which is very different from Gaelic Traditionalism. Celtic Reconstructionism is rather like an umbrella wherein one finds neo-pagan paths that are based on different Celtic cultures.
That contrasts with Gaelic Traditionalism wherein only living extant Gaelic cultures are found. Within CR there is more latitude for syncretism, whereas in GT anything created must strictly adhere to Gaelic traditions as the cultures define those.
CR is derivative of the modern neo-pagan movements. Conversely, Gaelic Traditionalism is the practice of living out the customs and traditions of the living, extant, intact, viable Gaelic Cultural Tradition, which the culture itself has defined from within its own 3000 year old cultural matrix. Therefore Gaelic Traditionalism can never be derivative of any modern neo-pagan movement.
There have been attempts along the way to hijack both CR and GT, but the elder states-people of both movements are working hard to reclaim. Through the efforts at reclamation, those states-people are learning that the hijackers have sowed the field with misunderstanding between the two movements, but those have now been fixed again by and large. Celtic Reconstructionists are honest about themselves when they plainly state that while theirs is a culturally based syncretic neo-pagan religion that is not wholly cultural. (15)
Gaelic Traditionalism though, is about the Gaelic cultural traditions as the Gaelic speaking cultures alone define them. By definition Gaelic Traditionalism must be. Whenever there is reconstruction or any other syncretism involved or included, it is not Gaelic Traditionalism that is being presented. That is fine so long as the differences are kept in mind and people are honest about what they are doing. The problem is that there are some few who have at various times claimed to be part of both movements who in actuality are not a part of either. They say they are Gaelic Traditionalists even while creating and practicing anachronistic reconstructions. This is a wholly dishonest muddying of the waters that have caused no end of problems for both the CR movement the non-derivative original Gaelic Traditionalists. The very definition of Gaelic Traditionalism disallows anachronisms and other syncretism. They deny being CR, so they aren't CR, but neither are they Gaelic Traditionalists because they don't fit the definitions.
Dictionaries, UNESCO, the WCER, and other such sources are the objective outside bodies that recognize and elucidate authentic cultural traditions and their living artifacts to the rest of the world. It is the Gaelic speaking cultures alone that may rightfully define what the Gaelic cultural traditions are, how they should be understood, and how they should be lived. Gaelic Traditionalism is about the Gaelic cultural traditions as the Gaelic speaking cultures alone define them. Gaelic Traditionalism is about taking up, not making up.
Because of the definition of "traditionalism" it is the same for any path that claims to be "traditionalist.” It goes back to, 'learn the extant lore and the lessons within the lore; to learn and understand the customs and put them to practice; then to sincerely attempt learning a Gaelic language and speak it whenever possible'.
Again, none of this should be construed to say that other religious paths are without validity, or that they are inferior. It is only to say that they are not cultural. This only establishes the bar which Gaelic Traditionalism must achieve and maintain.
Becoming A Gaelic Traditionalist in the Diaspora:
Meet the Gaelic culture of your heritage on its own terms and assimilate yourself into it. Learn your genealogy and be able to recite it. Learn the Gaelic language of your heritage(s), either Irish or Gaidhlig, or both if it suits you, but learn one at a time or you'll confuse and frustrate yourself. Gaelic Traditionalists in the American Diaspora see our Hearth cultures as our families' dowries we can offer to the American experience as Americans, and as the Well & Witness Tree from which we navigate the future course. Cultivate these kinds of eyes with which to see and these kinds of hearts with which to comprehend.
Polytheistic Gaelic Traditionalists and Celtic Christian Gaelic Traditionalists in the Diaspora use the same sources to assimilate themselves into the culture. One does not need a mentor, and there are no gurus, High Priestesses, shamans, ban-draoi, etc etc. Historically speaking, when the Christian priests took over the sacrificial aspects of Celtic religion the druids were no longer needed. By the 10th century at the latest there were no more druids. What remained was carried on by the Filidh, and even some of the sacrificial matters were continued under their watch. The Filidh carried on until the early 1600's when Gaelic culture fractured and they too disappeared. After that point the cultural traditions were carried on by common people and the bardic poets and story tellers. Even customs that addressed the old ideals about sacrifice were evolved to meet modern sensibilities and carried on by the laity in Gaelic speaking communities. There still are no druids, and modern "reconstructions" are anachronistic syncretisms. It is still a matter of individuals establishing and maintaining the proper, culturally defined, relationships. Gaelic Traditionalism is centered on the entire extended family incarnate and non-corporeal, at the Hearth in the home first, and the family's direct kinship and contract-based sacred marital relationship with the Land upon which they live and from which they derive their living. From there the next layer out is the community as a body of mutually supporting groups of extended family groups and individuals. Thus, it requires effort on the part of individuals and families to assimilate themselves into the cultural tradition.
Though it is certainly easier within a community setting, individuals can study and assimilate themselves into Gaelic cultural traditions. In the early days there was no set outline to follow. This often resulted in new people seeing the great task of assimilating into the culture, with all that entailed, and then becoming discouraged. It need not be that way. Time has shown that there is a way to work, but it isn't an instant process. Gaelic Traditionalism is a way of living that takes a long time. It takes a long time but growth always does. Therefore it is suggested that people first read about the culture and begin to apply it to their lives. This is followed by an in depth study of lore, the first step of which is to learn what all is contained in the lore, and the second step is to begin studying the lore itself. Absorb the lessons and learn the history contained in the lore, and get to know the gods, heroes, Saints, and ancestors. The third step is to begin studying customs and actually applying them to daily living. Lastly, and the hardest part, learn a Gaelic language and use it.
I. Primer:
A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World
Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland
The Year in Ireland
Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland
The Gaelic Otherworld: Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands
Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
You can get both of the above books in one volume titled as The Gaelic Otherworld: Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands and Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands
II. Lore:
A. Lore Step One:
1. Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology & Practice
2. Myth, Legend, and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of Irish Folk Tradition
3. Myths and Symbols of Northern Europe - Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions, H.R. Ellis Davidson, ISBN 0-8156-2441-7
B. Lore Step Two:
Followed by any ancient text and or reputable book of Gaelic lore you can find. This will be an ongoing thing. Personal meditation times are an excellent time to read these sacred tales. These are found in four cycles: the Mythological Cycle, The Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the Historical Cycle, and then a set of tales about voyages, dreams and the Otherworld. You can find many of the tales listed below in these works:
1. O hOgain, Daithi "Myth, Legend, and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of Irish Folk Tradition
2. Cross, Tom Peete and Clark Harris Slover, eds, Ancient Irish tales : edited by Tom Peete Cross and Clark Harris Slover
3. Dillon, Myles. Early Irish Literature
4. Gantz, Jeffrey. Early Irish Myths and Sagas. London: Penguin Books, 1981. ISBN 0-14-044397-5
5. Lady Augusta Gregory: Gods and Fighting Men (1904) http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/gafm/
6. See also C.E.L.T. at http://www.ucc.ie/celt/ and Celtic Literature Collective at http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/index_irish.html for more on-line resources for these tales. Mary Jones site is nice because she's arranged the tales by Cycle.
C. The Mythological Cycle:
i. Cath Maige Tuired Cunga - The First Battle of Moytura – http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/1maghtured.html
ii. Cath Maige Tuired - The Second Battle of Moytura http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T300010/index.html
iii. Lebor Gabala Erenn: 'The Coming of the Milesians'_, trans. R.A.S MacAlister, Irish Texts Society and here http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/leborgabala.html
iv. Metrical Dindshenchas - Lore of Places http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T106500A/index.html v. The Dream of Aengus
vi. The Wooing Of Etain
vii. Oidheadh Clainne Lir - The Tragedy of the Children of Lir http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lir.html
D. The Ulster Cycle: This one begins about the time Christianity begins to take hold in Ireland in the areas of Ulster and Connaught. Many of these stories either illustrate examples of the Elder ways moving across the Conversion Boundary, or show how the Elder ways coexisted with the new religion
i. Tain Bo Cuailnge - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16464 & http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cool/ see also Joseph Dunn: The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Tain Bo Cuailnge (1914) and Kinsella, Thomas. The Tain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-19-281090-1
ii. Cuchulain of Muirthemne, by Lady Augusta Gregory (1902)
iii. The Tragic Death of Aife's only Son http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/aoife.html
iv. Bricriu's Feast - http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/bricriu_henderson.pdf
v. The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1100derga.html
vi. The Exile of the Sons of Usnach - http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/usnech.html
vii. The Fenian Cycle: The adventures of Fionn Mac Cumhall and his band of Fenians in 3rd century Munster and Leinster.
viii. Acallam na Senorach - Colloquy of the Old Men
ix. Toraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghrainne - The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne - http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/f15.html
x. Oisin in Tir na nog
E The Historical Cycle:
i. Buile Shuibhne - The Frenzy of Sweeney - http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G302018/index.html
ii. Tales of the Kings Labraid Loingsech to Brian Boru - see: Dillon, Myles. The Cycles of the Kings. Oxford University Press, 1946; reprinted Four Courts Press: Dublin and Portland, OR, 1994. ISBN 1-85182-178-3
F. Adventures - Echtrae:
i. The Adventure of Conle
ii. The Adventure of Loegaire
G. Voyages - Immrama:
i. the Voyage of Mael Dúin - http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/MaelDuin.htm
ii. The Voyage of the Ui Chorra - http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/UaCh.htm
iii. The Voyage of Snedgus and Mac Riagla - http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/SnedgusaVerse.htm
iv. The Voyage of Bran mac Ferbail - http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/branvoyage.html
v. The Voyage of St. Brendan
H. See also:
i. C.E.L.T. at http://www.ucc.ie/celt/ and
ii. Celtic Literature Collective at http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/index_irish.html
for more on-line resources for these tales
III. Customs: - Learn the customs. Think about what they are addressing. Then live them.
1. The Year in Ireland, Kevin Danaher ISBN 0937702137
2. The Silver Bough Vol. 1 - Scottish Folklore & Folk Belief, F. Marian McNeill, ISBN 0853351619
3. Carmina Gadelica - Hymns and Incantations Collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the Last Century, Alexander Carmichael in 6 volumes ISBN 0940262509
4. Scottish Customs From the Cradle to the Grave, Margaret Bennett ISBN 0748661182
5. The Folklore of the Scottish Highlands, Anne Ross ISBN 1566192269
6. Crossing the Circle at the Holy Wells of Ireland, Walter L and Mary G. Brenneman, 0813915481
7. Silva Gadelica (I-XXXI); A collection of tales in Irish with extracts illustrating persons and places, Standish O'Grady ISBN 0876960093
IV. Learn a Gaelic language either Gaeilge or Gaidhlig; if you want to learn both, do one at a time. You might choose according to which ancestral lines in your family are the ones you feel closest to or most intrigued about. Speak it at every opportunity and make your own home you’re your own little Gaeltacht/Gaidhealtachd. Involve yourself in Gaelic cultural organizations and speak the Gaelic there. If you have difficulty taking up a new language keep trying. There are great rewards in having only even a little of the Gaelic. Learn your own genealogy and family heritage. Practice good American citizenship and draw from the Well & Witness Tree of the Gaelic Cultural Tradition to inform, support, and nurture those activities.
That is it. And the easiest approach to assimilating oneself into the Gaelic cultural tradition is now in your possession. No gurus, no kings, no High Priestesses nor Ban-Drui, nor "shamans," nothing to reconstruct, no trauma-drama, no ritual theater, no problems. Just a need for one to feel the call and then take personal responsibility to assimilate themselves into the culture and its traditions. There are not anything like Gardnerian degrees, and everything is at your pace. __________________________________________________ Footnotes__________________________________________ 1. To the Golden Door: The Story of the Irish in Ireland and America, George W. Potter, Little, Brown, 1960, pg. 13
2. Festival of Lughnasa, Máire MacNeill, Oxford University Press, 1962
3. Palimpsest:
4. The Celts, Frank Delaney, Little, Brown; ISBN: 0316179930 *note* This phenomena is found not just in areas that still speak a Celtic language, but also in ex-Celtic areas as well. See also Folklore de France, Paul Sebillot, French & European Pubns, ISBN:0785915664
5. Lady Gregory's Diaries, 1892-1902 by Isabella Augusta Gregory (Author), James Pethica (Editor) , A Colin Smythe Publication (June 13, 1996)
6. WB Yeats
7. Irish Countryman: An Anthropological Study, Conrad M. Arensberg, Waveland Press, 1988, ISBN: 0881334014
8. Rev. Patti MacClellen, Celtic Christian Church, San Francisco, CA.
9. Myth Legend & Romance - An Encyclopedia of the Irish Folk Tradition, Dr. Daithi OhOgain, Prentice Hall Press, ISBN 0-13-275959, pgs 165-168
10. Lebor Gabála Érenn: 'The Coming of the Milesians'_, trans. R.A.S MacAlister, Irish Texts Society, 1-870166-418
11. Death, War & Sacrifice - Studies in Ideology and Practice, Dr. Bruce Lincoln, University of Chicago, 0-226-48199-9, chapter 3
12. Wikipedia, Gaelic Traditionalism Discussion, March 2006, Kathleen O'Brian-Blair, Taoiseach Clannada na Gadelica.
13. http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL ID=20362&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECT\\ION=201.html
14. World Congress of Ethnic Religions (http://www.wcer.org/) "The purpose of the WCER is to serve as an international body that will assist Ethnic Religious groups in various countries and will oppose discrimination against such groups. By Ethnic Religion, we mean religion, spirituality, and cosmology that is firmly grounded in a particular people's traditions. In our view, this does not include modern occult or ariosophic theories/ideologies, nor syncretic neo-religions."
15. Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, The CR Essay Collective, http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=trads&id=6645
All content herein, including all specific definitional phraseologies and terms of Art, is copyright 1991-2008, Iain Mac an tSaoir and Kathleen O'Brien-Blair – all rights reserved. License is issued to the Clannada na Gadelica exclusively for public presentation. All uses are for private individuals only, and may not be used by any other entity for any purpose.
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The following specific definitional phraseologies are Service Marked (SM) for the exclusive use of Clannada na Gadelica: |
, by Michael Newton ISBN 1851825401
, by Nerys Patterson
, by Kevin Danaher, ISBN 0937702137
, Lenihan, Eddie; Carolyn Eve Green, ISBN 1585422061
, by John Gregorson Campbell 
, by Gregorson, John; edit. Ronald Black, ISBN 1841582077
, by Bruce Lincoln, ISBN 0-226-48199-9
, by Dr. Daithi OhOgain, ISBN 0-13-275959
. Barnes and Noble Books, Totowa, New Jersey, 1936 repr. 1988. ISBN 1-56619-889-5
. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948; reprinted : Four Courts Press, Dublin and Portland, OR, 1994. ISBN 0-7858-1676-3|
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