Cult Accessories CT054
Celtic Tomes
This chapter covers Temples, Altars, Images, Symbols, and the Cult of Weapons of the Ancient Celts.
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Festivals CT053
Celtic Tomes
The Celtic year was not at first regulated by the solstices and equinoxes, but by some method connected with agriculture or with the seasons.
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Tabu CT052
Celtic Tomes
The Irish geis, pl. geasa, which may be rendered by Tabu, had two senses. It meant something which must not be done for fear of disastrous consequences, and also an obligation to do something commanded by another.
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Sacrifice and Prayer CT051
Celtic Tomes
The Celts offered human victims on the principle of a life for a life, or to propitiate the gods, or in order to divine the future from the entrails of the victim. We shall examine the Celtic custom of human sacrifice from these points of view first.
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Cosmogony CT050
Celtic Tomes
The Celts may have possessed the Heaven and Earth myth, but all trace of it has perished. There are, however, remnants of myths showing how the sky is supported by trees, a mountain, or by pillars.
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Animal Worship CT049
Celtic Tomes
Animal worship pure and simple had declined among the Celts of historic times, and animals were now regarded mainly as symbols or attributes of divinities.
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Tree and Plant Worship CT048
Celtic Tomes
The Celts had their own cult of trees, but they adopted local cults. This chapter also details how the Celts made their sacred places in dark groves, the trees being hung with offerings or with the heads of victims.
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River and Well Worship CT047
Celtic Tomes
Among the Celts the testimony of contemporary witnesses, inscriptions, votive offerings, and survivals, shows the importance of the cult of waters and of water divinities. This chapter also details the many fairies and folklore creatures associated with water.
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Primitive Nature Worship CT046
Celtic Tomes
McCulloch talks about animism, where everything was a person and the greater objects of nature were worshiped for themselves alone.
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The Cult of the Dead CT045
Celtic Tomes
The custom of burying grave-goods with the dead and other grave customs is the subject of this chapter. McCulloch also talks about the role of fairies and the festival of Samhain.
info_outlineWelsh Death Omens
British Goblins: Welsh Folk Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1881)
Book 2 Chapter 7
by
Wirt Sikes
Welsh Death Omens includes the Welsh Banshee or Gwrach y Rhibyn, crying spirits, the groaning spirits as well as corpse candles and the chirping of a bird at the door of a person about to die. Taliesin predicted the frightful monster known as the Fad Felen which comes from the marsh with hair, teeth and eyes like gold and brings death in its wake. Sikes also talks about the frightful female spectres, banshees and black maidens familiar across the Celtic World as harbingers of death.
Running Order:
- Cambrian Death Portents 1:33
- The Corpse-Bird 2:48
- The Tan-Wedd 4:00
- Listening at the Church Door 6:12
- The Lledrith 7:27
- The Gwrach y Rhibyn 9:22
- The Llandaff Gwrach 12:08
- Ugliness of this Female Apparition 15:03
- The Black Maiden 15:13
- The Cyhyraeth, or Crying Spirit 16:45
- Its Moans on Land and Sea 17:55
- The St. Mellons Cuhyraeth 21:22
- The Groaning Spirit of Bedwellty 23:05
Names Used in this Section
All proper names, and words in Welsh or other languages, are recorded here in the show-notes and we've done our best to get the pronunciations right for you.
Tan-Wedd
Lledrith
Gwrach y Rhibyn
Llandaff Gwrach
Cyhyraeth
St. Mellons Cuhyraeth
Bedwellty
The Banshee
Mr. Baring-Gould
Tolaeth
Cwn Annwn
Cwn y Wybr
Canwyll Corph
Teulu
Aderyn y Corph
Warwickshire
Mr. Davis to Mr. Baxter
Walter Watkins
Neuadd, parish of Brecknockshire
Taf Fechan Chapel
Llewelyn Sion of Llangewydd
Fad Felen
Rhos Church
Maelgwyn Gwynedd
Taliesin
Mallt y Nos
Rev. D. R. Thomas
Archaeologia Cambrensis
Croker
Ceffyl heb un pen
Marw coel
Y mae mor salw a Gwrach y Rhibyn
Fy ngwr (my husband)
Fm ngwraig (my wife)
Fy mlentyn bach (my little child)
Och Dduw!
Cardiff
Cow and Snuffers Inn
Benshi
Sir Walter Scott
Hermes
Black Maiden
Caerleon
Peredur
Avagddu
Glamorganshire
Prophet Jones
David Prosser, of Llanbyther Parish
'Woolach!'
Joshua Coslet
Towy
Carmarthenshire
Inis Cenin
Non, mother of St. David
Llan-non, Church of Non
Monmouthshire
Mary Morgan
Crumlyn Bridge
'O Dduw, beth a wnaf fi?' (O God, what shall I do?)
Meredith Thomas
Thomas Edward Morgan
Anthony Aaron
William Harry Rees
British Goblins can be found on Archive.org
You can find out more about Wirt Sikes on Wikipedia.
Try the Celtic Myth Podshow for the Tales and Stories of the Ancient Celts at http://celticmythpodshow.com or on Apple Podcasts.
Our theme music is "Gander at the Pratie Hole" by Sláinte. You can find their music on the Free Music Archive.