Tribe.net. Local Connections Morchú http://tribes.tribe.net/thread/4a27980a-dcf6-4b54-b468-3b74c2fe0414#4cbe8c9e-f578-490f-92c4-7e9d65f9f906 2008-04-11T21:49:19Z 2008-04-11T21:49:19Z

Hey, guys. I don't mean any disrespect or anything here, but my field touches on the languages of Ireland and, while I really like a lot of the above (go team sex-in-the-fields!) I can't let that last bit about the 'fitz's and 'O's slide. O is a very well attested Anglicisation of the Gaelic word 'Ua': grandson. Ui Neill (apologies for the lack of length marks) means the grandsons of Niall - as in the fourth century Niall of the Nine Hostages (definitely not Norman). Likewise, 'fitz' is a very well attested Norman prefix from the Laitn 'filius': son (as in the Christian phrase "in nomine patris, et filius et spiritus sancti"). To switch these two to fit the above paradigm requires the utter discountenance of more than two hundred and fifty years of lexical research across the globe. That last paragraph basically says "every scholar of ancient Ireland (excepting the three authors above, of course) for the last thousand years or so was in on a vast ecclesiastical conspiracy and doctored every Gaelic manuscript in existence to fit their cover up". At least absurdly improbable if not patently false. Now I'm not saying the whole thing is wrong, just the lexical 'O vs. Fitz' part. There's plenty of indication that the Beltaine festivals involved something like the above and it makes good sense that children of Beltaine unions would be considered somehow 'different'. INdications of this would show up in individual naming traditions. Cu ban an tSleibhe - the white hound of the woods - for example, shares a similar name element with the famous Cu Chulainn - the hound of Culann (a smith). Perhaps Cu carried with it some of these connotations. Perhaps there are other names more appropriate ... Anyway, a great piece. Thanks for posting it and I hope I haven't stepped on any toes.

Morchú 2008-04-11T21:49:19Z $item.owner.firstName http://tribes.tribe.net/thread/4a27980a-dcf6-4b54-b468-3b74c2fe0414#651b10d2-c34f-407f-a2cf-dc29f19378bc 2008-04-11T06:18:58Z 2008-04-11T06:18:58Z

(Following is an excerpt from the Reformed Druidism 101 course, written by Adam Walks Between Worlds, El Arseneau and Ceridwen Seren-Ddaear. The CDROM course is available online at Avalon Risen: http://avalonrisen.mithrilstar.org/brit3.htm): Beltane / Calan Mai -- May 1 "Of great importance is the festival of Beltane, which is at the beginning of Samradh. Then shall ye observe great ceremony; and with the kindling of large fires on the hilltops, and the glorification of the renewed tree shall ye celebrate the renewed life." – DC(R) The Book of the Law, 4:5 It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May, That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray. It's here, it's here, that shocking time of year, When tons of little wicked thoughts merrily appear. It's May, that gorgeous holiday, When every maiden letches for fun, wholesome or un. It's mad! It's gay, depraved in every way. Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks, everyone makes divine mistakes. The lusty month of May. ~~From the musical, "Camelot" Beltane celebrates the midpoint between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Beltane (bauL-Ti-Ni, or bauL-Hi-Ni), known in Modern Irish as L· Bealtaine (Laa bauL-Hi-ni, or Laa baul-Ti-ni), in Welsh as Calan-Mai (calends of May), in Scottish Gaelic as Baltiunn, and in Manx as Shenn da Boaddyn, La Boaldyn, or Laa'nTourey (Day of Summer; is, of course, the day we know in English as May Day. It is also called by a variety of other names, such as Roodmas, Summer Day, Walpurgistag, St. Pierre's Day, Red Square Day, etc. It is the beginning of the Summer Half of the Year (the seasons of Samradh; Foghamhar) and is a festival of unalloyed joy. A very large number of important mythological events are connected with this day. It was on a Beltane that Partholan and his followers, the first inhabitants and partial creators of Ireland, landed on that isle. Three hundred years later, on the same day, they returned to the Other World. It was on a Beltane that the Tuatha De Danann and their people invaded Ireland. It was on a May Eve that Pryderi, the missing son of Rhiannon and Pwyll (Rulers of the Welsh Otherworld) was lost by them and later (on another May Eve) was found by Teirnyon Twryf Vliant (and eventually restored to Them). On every first day of May "till the day of doom," Gwyn-son-of-Nudd fights with Gwyrthur-son-of Greidawl, for the hand of Lludd's (Lugh's) fair daughter, Creudylad. Most of these events, again, as all over Europe, have to do with stories of the forces of light defeating the forces of darkness. Why did you think the Marxists chose May Day as their international Holiday? And can you guess why Adam Weishaupt chose Walpurgistag as the day to announce the founding of the Bavarian Iluuminati, and why the date at which the forces of evil later tired to Imannetize the Eschaton? The focus is on fertility and the planting of crops. This is a more intense holiday, magickally speaking, than Oestara. The rites include as many people as are available making love in the fields, in the gardens, on hilltops etc. Traditionally, marriage vows are suspended. Everyone is encouraged to share and grow closer with as many different partners as possible. The "Balefire" is lit on the hilltops and in ceremonial groves, and couples jump the bale fire in order to insure their own fertility. During the day, the May pole is erected, and the traditional dance is performed around it. The May pole is a symbolic penis decorated with multicolored ribbons and topped with a wreath. I found it amusing (living as I did in Santa Cruz, CA) that some of the local Dianic Wiccans always hold public rites involving the May Pole. These are folks who believe that men are inherently evil, that there is only a Goddess, and that real magick and spirituality are the sole dominion of women (or wymen as some like to put it) yet here they are on the front cover of the local paper dancing around a symbolic penis! May Day is also sacred to the Goddess. The Catholic Church makes it the day for the crowning of the May Queen, Mary, and her statue is decorated and paraded around by school children, who also usually build home "May altars" in her honor. More explicitly Pagan rites involving Mary can be found in many Latin American countries as well. May Day is also "International Workers Day." This socialist holiday is celebrated everywhere in the world except in the United States (we do the first Monday of September and call it Labor Day -- this was to divorce it from its socialist origins). Is there a connection between Labor and Beltane? Perhaps blue collar people are more into fertility (and therefore production) than the bourgeois. It's something else I am researching. In Ireland up to fifty years ago, the very devout Catholics there still were lighting the bale fires, and making love in the fields (marriage vows suspended for the day). Children born of such unions were referred to as "fairy children," and treated as special gifts from the fairy folk. The prefix "Fitz" was once given to children born of Beltane unions, hence the proliferation in Ireland of "Fitzgeralds," "Fitzsimmons," etc. For every "sinful" tradition, there has to be a cover up, so today some Irish say the "Fitz" prefix actually refers to those of Norman origin who immigrated to Ireland. In fact, it is the "O'" prefix (as in "O'Connor, O'Flarherty, "O'Hara," etc.,) that refers to Norman heritage, not the "Fitz." (Copyright 1996 - 2008, Order of the Mithril Star of the Reformed Druids of Gaia, Eureka CA USA -- http://www.mithrilstar.org )

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