#WALES
Tumblr posts tagged #WALES from across Tumblr — no login required.
Howl’s Moving Castle : the Book was Not Better …but the book was still pretty great. Fun fact: in the novel Howl’s Moving Castle , we learn that the titular Howl is a Welshman. In the English translated film adaptation, he’s played by Christian Bale, who was born in Wales but identifies as English, doing an American accent. Was that a fun fact or was it just a story? This is a question that often comes to mind when reading Diana Wynn Jones. Really enjoyed this, will definitely pick up the sequel although it seems vaguely orientalist. Read if you like the Ghibli movie but thought it had too much war and not enough Wales.
The Celtic Calendar - The Myths, The Facts, and the Misinformation When we think of the Celtic Calendar, the main image that comes to mind is thus: This is the Wheel of the Year. It is the Calendar used by a lot of Celtic Pagans, Wiccans, and British Neopagans. Popularised in the mid-20th Century, it focuses on Pagan holidays coinciding with the solstice and harvest schedule of the year. Through this, they are able to calculate dates upon which these festivals fall upon. And I’m just going to say. This is NOT a Celtic Calendar. This is a Pagan Reconstructionist Calendar used by Wiccans. It combines Gaelic fire festivals with the Germanic festivals/months of Yule, Litha, and Ostara. Mabon appears too, which is actually Welsh in origin, and simply a reference to a character from Welsh mythology; Mabon ap Modron. Whilst it is mostly compromised of Celtic festivals, it actually has zero information in common with how Celts actually split up their year. It is also often confused with Robert Graves’ Celtic Tree Calendar, which affixes a British tree and letter of the Ogham alphabet to one of his 13 Calendary months. For both the Celtic Tree Calendar and the Wheel of the Year, you will find supposed ‘Celts’ and fans of Celtic folklore who insist that these are real, authentic Calendars used by ancient Druids and civilisations to track the year. WRONG. They are modern day reconstructions cobbled together. Graves’ calendar has zero foundation in historical calendars or Celtic astrology. It’s made up from his theories about Ogham language. The Wheel of the Year is influenced by Graves’ writings, and has misled many modern pagans to believe the Celts had an overarching narrative for every season of the year. In reality, the beliefs and cyclical nature of the Celtic year varied from culture to culture. Some things remain static, but the festivals, beliefs, and superstitions vary throughout the differing Celtic peoples. Onto the real part: What We Do Know Unlike the Gregorian Calendar, which is a Solar calendar, the Celts as a whole seemed to focus on a Lunisolar calendar. There is evidence of this amongst both the Continental Celts and the Insular Celts. The Continental Celts show this in the Coligny Calendar, as each month appears to begin in the same lunar cycle. Similarly, historical evidence in Ireland points to the Gaelic days beginning and ending at sunset. This meant that the start of a new year began in darkness, suggesting a lunisolar connection across both groups of Celts. So we know that the Celts tracked their year according to the cycles of the moon, rather than the sun. Any 'Celtic’ calendar claiming otherwise is false. We also know that the Celts had a large focus on the 'light half’ and 'dark half’ of their calendar. For the Insular Celts, the year was split into two. The Coligny Calendar of the Continental Celts does the same, dividing the year into only two seasons: Summer and Winter. The Coligny Calendar, being a mostly intact reconstruction, goes on to divide it’s 12 lunar months into a 'dark’ fortnight and a 'light’ fortnight. We’ll explain more on how the Coligny Calendar works further down this post. Fun fact: the fact that we use the term 'Fortnight’ and 'Sennight’ is lasting proof of lunisolar calendars being commonly used it early English history. The terms aren’t actually Celtic- they actually span from Old English and originate in the Germanic culture, who also followed a lunisolar calendar. Germanic + Celtic = Moon Freaks. Love to see it. And it makes sense for the Celts. The year began on the first quarter moon, and according to Pliny: “This is done more particularly on the sixth day of the moon, the day which is the beginning of their months and years, as also of their ages, which, with them, are but thirty years. This day they select because the moon, though not yet in the middle of her course, has already considerable power and influence; and they call her by a name which signifies, in their language, the all-healing.” — Pliny, Natural History 16.95 The Celts had an obsession with 'between times’. Their festivals were held at midpoints of the seasons rather than the direct season, and much of Celtic folklore has tales regarding liminal spaces and a 'world between worlds’. The actual reason we see lunisolar calendars is simple: it solves an oddly specific problem in the calendar year. By keeping the months aligned with the natural cycles of the moon, the year stays synchronised with the seasons. This makes it easier for farmers attempting to track the harvest seasons, for fishermen and coastal tribes to predict the patterns of the ocean, and kept the major cultural holidays on track with the correct seasons associated. Now, there did come a problem with this kind of calendar. A lunisolar calendar is 12 months, usually beginning with the first quarter moon (according to Pliny the Elder) and lasting the whole lunar cycle. This adds to 29.5 days in total. The problem? Altogether, a 12 month lunar year only adds to 354 days, leaving 11 days to make up for in order to match with the solar year. This is apparent on the Coligny Calendar. So, the Celts came up with a solution. Every 2.5 years, an Intercalary Month is added. This keeps the lunisolar calendar aligned with the solar calendar, and prevents losing those 11 days and causing the seasons to drift out. This maintains the year in both the moon cycles and the sun’s position. Clever, right? The Coligny Calendar itself lays out a 5-year cycle of 62 months. It would go as follows in a few cycles: Cycle One Year One: 12 Months Year Two: 12 Months Year Three: 13 Months Year Four: 12 Months Year Five: 12 Months Cycle Two Year One: 13 Months Year Two: 12 Months Year Three: 13 Months Year Four: 12 Months Year Five: 12 Months The Intercalary Month isn’t needed any other year, as those lost days are made up for by adding that one extra month of the cycle. To those of us who use the Gregorian calendar, this might seem odd or even extraneous. But to the Celts, it kept the year in perfect symmetry between the moon and the sun, and gave them an easier time managing the planting, farming, and harvesting of crops. So, to clarify. BOTH the Continental Celtic and Insular Celtic calendars had a year split into 'light’ and 'dark’ halves, began their days at sunset, and focused on a lunisolar cycle. Not myth. Not misinformation. A known, proven correlation. These kind of correlations help historians prove that these cultures descend from the same Proto-Celtic peoples. Unfortunately, we know significantly less about the months and schedule of the Insular Celtic calendar. What we do have is marred by the influence of Christianity, including fasting days and translations of Latin equivalents. So, we’re going to focus on the Coligny Calendar. The Coligny Calendar Coligny calendar - Wikipedia The Coligny Calendar was discovered in France in, you guessed it, Coligny. Written in Gaulish language but Latin script, it is one of the oldest and only living pieces of proof of the Celtic year. It had been engraved on a bronze tablet, and the 40% of the tablet that still remains now provided an amazing base-work for a reconstruction of the calendar. It has been dated to the 2nd Century AD by historians. However, the nature of the calendar, combined with our knowledge of Celtic history, suggests that whilst the bronze tablet itself is from the 2nd Century, the actual usage of the calendar probably predates this. The calendar not only notes months and lunar cycles, but also auspicious months. On the calendar, two words reappear. MAT and ANM(AT) Historians have linked these to the Middle Welsh words mad and anfad , and also the Old Irish words mad and ni-mad . To put it simply, MAT means 'good, auspicious’ and ANM(AT) means 'not good’. The Celts seemed to have used this to determine which months brought good luck, and which ones were associated with bad luck. From what I can tell, Intercalary Months had no MAT or ANM(AT) bearing, as they existed solely to right the lunisolar year. With the Celtic year being split into two seasons, we can see which season was considered auspicious. Summer possesses 4 MAT months and 2 ANM(AT), whilst Winter is the opposite. Makes sense for a cultivating civilisation. Summer brought crops, birth, sunlight, and hunting. Winter would have been harsher, a time of cold and stockpiling for survival. I’ll go into why I think the months were split this way in regards to superstitions down the line. Please bear in mind I am simplifying it here. For further info look into the Wikipedia article or research the Coligny Calendar! It is from this calendar that we are able to understand how and why the Celts divided their year. And below, I will give a rough, theoretical explanation. DISCLAIMER: Whilst most of the below information is generally accurate and based on already available information, I have provided my own insights based on my own knowledge of the Celts and the linguistics of their languages. Before I begin, I’ve linked to pages below that Celtic fans may want to browse to compare with my own notes. Khaliela Wright has some really interesting ideas and theories behind the months and what they represented, and some of her opinions of translations may differ from mine. I highly recommend her articles for further reading. I also reference her ideas quite often in my work. The Celtic Year | Khaliela Wright The Celtic Calendar | Khaliela Wright The Celtic Months Samonios {the summer month} MAT Technically, if we follow the alignment with the solar year, the first Intercalary Month would be our starting point. However, for the sake of the article we’ll leave those until the end. Samonios. The beginning of the Celtic year. The Celtic calendar always begins and ends in what we consider to be Spring. It is a MAT month, which meant the Celts saw this month as a good omen. The name itself derives from the Proto-Celtic word * samos , meaning 'summer’. The Gaulish word for this is * samo . To the Celts, Samonios was the month where the light half of the year was in full swing. We know from the Coligny Calendar that a three-night festival took place in this month. Now, some historians will argue that the Summer Solstice should appear in this month to mark the start of the new year. I, however, agree with others and Khaliela that the month of Samonios came after the Solstice. The Solstice marked the first signs of summer. Summer came after. I haven’t done enough research on Samonios to determine what- if any- gods were symbolic of this month. Likely gods related to summertime, the sun, and perhaps livestock. Dumannios {the fumigation month} ANM Dumannios follows Samonios, and is actually an ANM month, which is a little odd to me given the context of the month. The name likely comes from, again, Proto-Celtic words. The main one is * dumako , which means 'mist, smoke’. Khaliela suggests a second word is * nina , which was Proto-Celtic for 'roof’. However, a lot of months in the Celtic Calendar end with 'nios’, and she makes no mention of this translation in others. Therefore, I disagree and believe the correlation between the fumigation month and * nina is simply coincidence. During this month, historians believe the Celts would spend time cleaning and fumigating their homes for the year ahead. Spring Cleaning come to mind for anyone? The Celts believed smoke could purify, and often drove their cattle between bonfires to rid them of fleas, ticks, and other insects. They would continue to use this practise in their homes to clear away insects, lice, you name it. And of course, in doing so most likely replaced their beddings and flooring. Animals avoid smoke, so it kept their homes clear of rodents too. Which is why I find it so strange that its an ANM month. Rivros {the bountiful month} MAT One of my favourite months I researched, purely because I was able to link so much detail to it. Upon reading Khaliela’s article, I noticed that she could not find a linguistic link between the name of Rivros and any sort of translation. I did some digging, however, and I think I found it. The Wikipedia page links it to Old Irish remor and Welsh rhef . These words translate to 'thick, stout, fat, large’. I went back further, and found the Proto-Celtic word * remros , which also means 'great, fat, thick’. Remros/Rivros. You see it, right? I think I can say with at least 80% certainty that * remros is a high contender for the linguistic basis for Rivros. And the fact that this is a MAT month makes perfect sense. We’re heading into what I believe would be July/August in the solar year. Fruits and berries would be plentiful, and wild game will have reproduced and be running rampant in the forests that the Gauls were known to have lived in. The month is 'fat’ and 'great’ because of the sheer amount of food resources the Celts would have had access to. Rivros is also the month of Lughnasadh, the Gaelic festival. In Wales, I believe the 'Brittonic’ equivalent is Calan Awst/Gwyl Awst. Crops are sown and cattle has full access to hay pastures and would require less watching. The God that seems to have played a central role in this month has different names according to the area. He is most well-known as the Irish god Lugh. However, the Welsh refer to him as Lleu Llaw Gyffes, and on the European Continent he was Lugus. He was a god of 'light, craftsmen, warriors, and trade’ which I think fits in with the symbolism of Rivros perfectly. Anagantios {the month of unknowing/ritual ablutions} ANM This is a weird one. Wikipedia suggests Anagantios as 'the month of ritual ablutions’ but offers no reasoning or translation beyond that point. Khaliela’s article has little more luck. It seems that whatever ritual was supposedly celebrated during Anagantios is lost to time. Khaliela does, however, find at least one potential origin. The Proto-Celtic * an-gnato means 'the unknown’. I went a step further myself, and put forward the Proto-Celtic * aneg-tlo , which was used in Gaul as a reference to the Hellenic god Apollo with translation of 'he whose protection is great’. From what I can tell, the word boils down to 'refuge’ or 'protection’. Whilst * an-gnato certainly sounds more like Anagantios phonetically, it is * aneg-tlo that seems to run in line with the idea of a ritual month. I think context is key here. Anagantios seems to have run sometime between mid-August and mid-September. The biggest thing about this timeframe is how quick the weather shifts from hot, summery August to a colder September. In Anagantios, the smallest first signs of winter would have appeared just before Ogronnios. In my personal opinion? The 'rituals’ of Anagantios were an attempt to keep winter at bay for a few weeks longer. Perhaps the Celts prayed to their gods to try and halt the oncoming frost. It was a month of uncertainty, not knowing when August heats would fade into September colds. In this scenario, both * an-gnato and * aneg-tlo could work as root words. Given this theory, its no shock that Anagantios is an ANM month. The initial signs of winter were as bad an omen as any. Ogronnios {the month of first frost} MAT This was another month that Khaliela struggled to find a linguistic root for. Wikipedia notes it as the 'month of cold/winter’ and offers no actual translation. Well, I found what is almost definitely the right one. At least in my mind. The Proto-Celtic word * ougros literally means 'cold’. It’s the most likely candidate for the origin of Ogronnios, to the point that I have a hard time believing it could be anything else. Ogronnios is the official first signs of winter encroaching on the year. We know this by looking at the events that took place in the same month. To the Celts, this was the time of the rutting stags during the breeding season of deer, or * sido-bremo , which translates as 'bellowing of stags’. This natural event is well known in the Celtic world, even now. To the Gaelic, this is called Bhuiridh 'day of roaring’ and the Welsh use the term Hydref, which is also their modern name for October. Interestingly enough, Ogronnios is marked as a MAT month. Now, you might wonder why a month associated with the start of winter is considered a good omen. So let’s provide some theoretical context. Ogronnios is the month of stags. And the Celts revered stags. To them, they represented a divine connection to the Otherworld; many Celtic tales from the Mabinogion and Arthurian legend feature a stag that leads our heroes into their quest. A stag’s shedding antlers were also important, as they were symbolic of spiritual renewal and rebirth. As the Celts seemed to have believed in reincarnation, this is a very important detail. So important were stags, that the Celts had a whole God modelled from them. You may know him by the Latinised version of his name, Cernunnos. Cernunnos was the 'Horned God’ of nature, fertility and wild animals. And whilst his name only seems to appear once in history, there are thousands of examples of a cross-legged horned deity across the world. In a culture build around the idea of life, death, and rebirth, Cernunnos is someone I estimate to have been a well-worshipped god. To that end alone, Ogronnios would be an auspicious month. Kutios {the month of invocations} MAT Now, the Wikipedia will show Kutios with a 'C’ as Cutios. I feel I should state that the Coligny Calendar was written in Latin script, and therefore Latinicised significantly. So I chose to represent it with a 'K’ as this is likely the most accurate version we will have. The etymological origin of Kutios possibly derives from the Proto-Celtic word * Kʷrito , the Celtic word for 'poetry’. Hence Kutios being the month of invocations. Now, you may ask, why poetry? Because Kutios was the month of Samhain, or Calan Gaeaf as the Brittonic equivalent. Specifically, it was likely celebrated towards the end of the month. Kutios is the final month of our 'summer’ seasons. From here on out, we hit winter. I assumed this is one of the reasons why Kutios is a MAT month. I’ll deep delve into Samhain on a later date, but what you should know is that the word has two etymological roots. The first being a combination of the words * samo and * fuin , which together make 'summer’s end’. But the second suggested was the Proto-Celtic word * samoni . This word translates to 'assembly, coming together’ and historians believe it had links to the assembly between the living and the dead. It was a time of coming together for a week-long festival that celebrated death. Clans partook in customs to forsee future marriages, children, deaths, and life itself. And to the Celts, poetry was a great power in this. In Ireland, the Filid were a class of poets and seers. The fact that the ancient Irish equated poetry with the divine sight should say enough about this month. Giamonios {the winter month} ANM Another easy month. Giamonios derives from the Proto-Celtic word * giamos , meaning 'winter’. This month fell directly after the festival of Samhain/Calan Gaeaf, and was the first of the dark half of the Celtic year. Naturally, Giamonios is an ANM month. This would have been the start of a long, hard winter. Celts would have needed to stockpile food and water prior to the cold months, and not everyone in the family would always survive it. Cattle struggled, and like all medieval farms, likely the family was forced to slaughter animals to survive. Not a great month all around. There’s very little to say about this month. Giamonios has no outward links to any major festivals or gods that I know of. The only one I can think of is the Cailleach, also known as Beira in Scotland. She was classes as the undisputed ruler of the dark half of the year, and associated with winter, mountains, and storms. Cailleach is a primeval goddess who they claim shaped the wilderness and landscapes of Scotland. Honestly, she seems a little cool. Simivisonnios {the month of the half-sun} MAT One of the months that is a bit of a mouthful. Simivisonnios derives itself from the Proto-Celtic word * simi , which means 'half’. Theoriests suggest that this is because the year has hit the midpoint of the solar cycle. It may also possess a Proto-Indo-European origin; the PIE root * wesn-ont-s is suggests, which means 'spring’. Put them together, and we get 'half-spring’. The fact that the year is halfway around back to warmer nights suggests that is why Simivisonnios is a MAT month. It is also the month the Celts venerated Epona, the Celt goddess of horses. Here’s where it gets a little confusing. Epona gets her name from the Proto-Celtic word * Ekʷwos , meaning 'horse’. Funnily enough, our next month after this also has the hypothesised same root origin. Which makes you wonder why Epona’s festival Eponalia does not appear in that month. It’s something we’ll never know. But we have historical proof that Eponalia took place during the Winter Solstice in Simivisonnios, so there’s little argument to be had there. For me, I have to think outside the box. A lot of festivals celebrating the beginning of something (Samhain in Kutios, Beltene in Kantlos etc) occur PRIOR to the actual month. So maybe this suggests that the actual events Eponalia celebrate occur in Ekuos? Ekuos {the month of livestock} ANM As stated previously, Ekuos’ root etymology stems from * Ekʷwos i.e. 'horse’. But most historians seem to think this is compounded, and that Ekuos is the month of livestock. Which kinda makes sense, since we’ve just celebrated Epona only a month ago by this point in the year. Khaliela goes further and tries to make the connection to the festival of Imbolg, which falls in the month of Ekuos. Imbolg is the most heavily Christianised of the four Gaelic fire festivals, so finding its actual celebration was tricky. Basically, it stems from cleansing and the celebration of pregnant ewes. She points out that sheep are some of the first animals to lactate, and therefore the livestock month makes sense. She does, however, note that Ekuos has no linguistic link to the Proto-Celtic words for sheep. Most importantly, Ekuos is an ANM month. Whatever this month was about, it was not regarded as a month of good omens. If I had to take a real good stab in the dark, I would say that this was a time of year where the Celts lost a lot of animals to the cold, especially pregnant ones. A quick bit of research told me that a lot of animals spend their last months of pregnancy in the winter. To me, this sounds an awful lot like a month where the Celts toughed it out in the cold and took extra care of their cattle, hoping to make it through. It vaguely reminds me of an Irish tale I heard as a kid in a fairytale book. An old cow survived the harsh winters, and so boasted that she had survived. The month of March, hearing this, became angered and borrowed days from February. The extra days proved too much for the cow, and so she died. Make of that little tale what you will. Elembivios {the herd month} ANM Elembivios is one of the months where I still struggle with the translations. Historians and Khaliela both suggest two Proto-Celtic words are the root basis. The fist being * elna , the word for 'herd’ and the second being * biwoto , which is the word for 'life,food’. Wiki defines Elembivios as month of the stag, but I agree with Khaliela and say the herd sounds more likely. To put it across in simple terms, this was the month where deer herds struggled in the cold, and were most vulnerable to attack from the clan’s hunters. If food stores were running low, tracking the tired and hungry herd would certainly improve the clan’s chances. The only thing I struggle with this is that Elembivios is an ANM month. The tired herd should be a good omen. The only thing I can think of is that a herd of hungry, scared deer can be dangerous, and that hunters were risking their lives to secure food for their families. We won’t always seem logic in the MAT/ANM months. Omens were something Druids tended to look into, and perhaps they see something I don’t. Once again, another month almost entirely devoted to deer and stags. I reckon Cernunnos was again at play here. Edrinios {the fire month} MAT We move on to Edrinios, our only other MAT month in the dark half of the year. Whilst Khaliela struggled with a translation, I found mine quite easily. The Proto-Celtic word * aidos literally transates to 'fire’. I think this sounds similar enough to the beginning of Edrinios to be a contender; we must remember some of these spellings were Latinicised. Edrinios is an ironic month. It’s name originates from fire, and yet it is not a month that holds one of the four 'fire festivals’ the Celts seemed to have celebrated. Theories: some people suggest that Edrinios meant 'the end of summer heat’. But that seems a little odd, given where it is on the calendar. Plus, it doesn’t correspond with any festivals to suggest this. We can clearly see on the Coligny Calendar that the four main festivals of the Celtic year occur in other months. Edrinios does appear to have its own smaller festivals, but none on the scale of these other four. My theory? Edrinios meant the START of the summer heat, not the end. It seems to occur mid-March to mid-April, where winter chills are finally dying off. This makes sense to me, as the final dark month comes next. We near the summer solstice. It’s equivalent in the first half of the year would have been Ogronnios. I also think this is why its a MAT month. The start of summer and the first signs the snow was melting would have been a great omen to the clan. Kantlos {the month of song} ANM Once again, this month on the calendar was spelled Cantlos. But the Celts had no actual concept of 'C’ in their words, which is ironic given we use it for them. So I changed it to what I felt would be accurate. And yes, I’ve not done with it a lot of the other months, but Kantlos and Kutios are the ones where it irritates me the most. Kantlos gets it’s name from the Proto-Celtic * kantlo , which means 'song’ or 'to sing’. A great name for a month. This is the final month before the year begins anew in Spring, and it is also the month of Beltene, the last of our fire festivals. Beltene would have been a day dedicated to the Celtic god Belenos. His name is basically the same for the Gaelic people, though the Brittonic Welsh know him as Beli Mawr. Belenos was the 'Shining One’, a god of light, fire, and healing. And nothing says light, fire, and healing quite like a festival designed to bring in the Summer Solstice and the warm months ahead in the renewed 'light’ half of the year. The reason Kantlos is an ANM month eludes me. I actually could not give a good reason for this. So please, if you find anything do let me know. Intercalary Months Now we move into our shifting months. Be warned, this was a LOT of guesswork and relying on Wiki and Khaliela to establish a groundwork. Take everything following this paragraph with a pinch of salt because I’m really stretching some ideas here. Intercalary months have no MAT or ANM placement on the Coligny Calendar as far as I can tell. Makes my job a lot easier. Quimonios?/Kamonios Now, hear me out. We actually have no idea what the first Intercalary month is called. ZERO. Khaliela suggests it as a goddess month, as the other intercalary month seems to relay to a god. And after doing some research on what we DO know, I think I actually agree. This month took place at the start of the year when added. It’s condensed version on the Coligny Calendar is QVIMON. Historians and theorists believe this may have stood for Quimonios. Now you might be thinking, what would that mean? What Celtic word had 'quim’. But, let’s look at that word for a second. Because almost every modern Celtic language does not possess a 'Q’ in their alphabet. My guess is that Quimonios is a Latinicised spelling. In which case, we must look for the closest possibility that they may have been translating from. To me, this would be the Proto-Celtic *k ʷ . It brings us back to the term Q-Celtic. Whilst this is the given term, what it really stands for is the Celtic language groups that kept their original hard /kw/ sound from the Proto-Celtic *k ʷ , whereas other languages turned to /p/. To this end, I renamed the month Kamonios. I took this from the Proto-Celtic word * kumba , meaning 'valley’. This eventually evolved into the Brittonic cwm . I think of all the possible words, this is likely. The reason I believe it could be a goddess month is because 'Quim’ is modern slang for female genitalia. And whilst I obviously cannot prove it, one of the popular theories for it’s origins is the Welsh cwm . The other popular theory is from the Scots language that descends from Old English, which in turn descends from Germanic, which in turn descends from, you guessed it, Proto-Indo-European. I’m not saying no coincidence, but both theories coming from historically Celtic areas? A little too coincidental if you ask me. I’ll never know if I’m right. And there’s every chance I’m not. But I think my reasoning is as sound as any current theorists, and who knows? Maybe I’m close. [.]antaran?/Barantaranos Another intercalary month. This one I give complete kudos to Khaliela for. I’ve essentially worked from her theory and expanded upon it a little bit. We are unsure of what the beginning of this month was. We know it likely began with a 'B’, 'R’, or an ’S’. But the end seems pretty resolute. It is similar to Taranis, who was a Celtic weather god of storms and thunder. Given that this month was added in during the end of the year, that seems to track. Khaliela narrows the possibility down to Barantaranos. It comes from the Proto-Celtic * baran , meaning 'anger’. In the November months, heavy windfall and weather could definitely be interpreted as an angry god’s judgement. The month would translate as 'Anger of Taranis’. * baran itself seems to come from a PIE word meaning 'to pierce or strike’, which certainly lends credibility for a lightning god. Go figure. My only problem with this theory is that the Celts have zero other months named after Gods. They tend to name them after natural events or the time of year they were in. However, thunder and lightning were a phenomenon that even the Celts might not be able to explain away. Perhaps this was a natural occurrence so great they believed only a god could perform it?
About the #WALES tag
What is the #WALES tag on Tumblr?
#WALES is a Tumblr tag people add to their posts so others can find related content. This page collects public posts tagged #WALES from blogs across Tumblr so you can browse them in one place.
Can I browse #WALES posts without a Tumblr account?
Yes. Zoomblr shows posts tagged #WALES with no login or account required — just scroll the feed above. It's completely free.
How do I save an image from a #WALES post?
Open the blog of any post you like via its link, then use Zoomblr's post viewer to download the image in full resolution.
