{"id":469,"date":"2023-02-12T22:26:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T22:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/?p=469"},"modified":"2023-02-12T22:36:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T22:36:52","slug":"of-hearts-swans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/of-hearts-swans\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Hearts &#038; Swans"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"469\" class=\"elementor elementor-469\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-7716c96 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"7716c96\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6d43192\" data-id=\"6d43192\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e847d9b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e847d9b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 08-12-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p>St. Valentine\u2019s Day approaches, and although it was not a feast day or a festival for the ancient Celts, they did celebrate romantic love.<\/p><p>The Irish, in fact, had what might be considered a God of Love, O\u00e9ngus or O\u00edngus \u00d3g (Old Irish <em>o\u00edngus<\/em> \u201cone choice\u201d &gt; Middle Irish <em>\u00e1engus<\/em> &gt; Irish <em>aonghus<\/em> + <em>\u00f3g<\/em> \u201cyoung\u201d &gt; <em>\u00f3c<\/em>). He was said to be the son of the Good God &#8212; the Dagda &#8212; and of the Goddess Boann, while in Scottish folklore, he was the son of Beira, the Queen of Winter.<\/p><p>Either way, he was invariably depicted as a kind of \u201cPrince Charming\u201d:<\/p><blockquote><p>Angus mounted his white steed and rode eastward to Scotland over the isles and over the Minch, and he reached the Grampians when dawn was breaking. He was clad in raiment of shining gold, and from his shoulders hung his royal robe of crimson which the wind uplifted and spread out in gleaming splendour athwart the sky.<\/p><p>An aged bard looked eastward, and when he beheld the fair Angus he lifted up his harp and sang a song of welcome, and the birds of the forest sang with him. And this is how he sang: \u2014<\/p><p>Angus hath come \u2014 the young, the fair,<br \/>The blue-eyed god with golden hair \u2014<br \/>The god who to the world doth bring<br \/>This morn the promise of the spring;<br \/>Who moves the birds to song ere yet<br \/>He bath awaked the violet,<br \/>Or the soft primrose on the steep,<br \/>While buds are laid in lidded sleep,<br \/>And white snows wrap the hills serene,<br \/>Ere glows the larch\u2019s* vivid green<br \/>Through the brown woods and bare. All hail!<br \/>Angus, and may thy will prevail. . . .<br \/>He comes . . . he goes. . . . And far and wide<br \/>He searches for the Princess Bride.[1]<\/p><p>*The larch is the first tree in Scotland which turns a bright green in springtime.<\/p><\/blockquote><p>In Irish myth, \u00d3engus dreams of a fair maiden and falls in love with her. Every night, he would see her standing beside his bed, but whenever he reached out for her, she would evanesce. After a year of this, he was desperately ill with lovesickness for her and determined to find her.<\/p><p>Her name was Caer Ibormeith (Plump or Succulent Yewberry), and she was the daughter of Prince Ethal Anb\u00faail. After three years of searching for her, \u00d3engus finally visited Loch B\u00e9l Dracon (Lake of the Dragon\u2019s Mouth), in Cruitt Cliach, where he discovered 150 girls chained in pairs, including Caer Ibormeith:<\/p><blockquote><p>\u201c&#8230;a chain of silver between each pair of birds. One bird among them, more beautiful than the birds of the world, with a neck ornament of red-gold about its throat. Three times fifity chains from it with an apple of gold on the end of every chain&#8230;.\u201d[2]<\/p><\/blockquote><p>Every alternate Samain, which began at sunset, Caer Ibormeith would become a human woman, in which form she would remain for a year before the following Samain, when she would become a swan once more for a year.[3]<\/p><p>Told that he could marry her if he identified her correctly in her swan form, \u00d3engus transformed himself into a swan, chose his beloved, circled the lake three times with her, then flew away with her to his dwelling place, Br\u00fa na B\u00f3inne (Palace or Valley of the Boyne), where they sang beautiful music that lulled all who heard it to sleep for three days and nights. Caer Ibormeith remained with him forever after.[4]<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5345f8e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5345f8e\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b462e66\" data-id=\"b462e66\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1704284 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1704284\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 08-12-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=\".svg\"]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"612\" height=\"493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heartswans.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-477\" alt=\"Swans forming a heart.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heartswans.jpg 612w, https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/heartswans-300x242.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Stock Image.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-93d5102 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"93d5102\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ac96631\" data-id=\"ac96631\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7969343 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7969343\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Swans are predominately monogamous birds, who usually mate for life. So they have long been associated with love and romance \u2014 particularly as when they touch their heads together, as they often do in a sign of their love and affection, their beautiful heads and long, graceful necks form the shape of a heart.<\/p><p>In Celtic myth, swans are not only symbolic of love, but also of the soul and its journey to the Otherworld:<\/p><blockquote><p><em>Eala<\/em> brings us the qualities of soul \u2014 of love and depth, grace and beauty. Being associated with the Druid festival time of Samhuinn, the swan is also a bird of the threshold, and represents that part of us which can travel into the Otherworld.[5]<\/p><\/blockquote><p>Last but not least, swans are connected with barques and chariots that bear the Sun into the dawn sky, in which instances their chains are symbolic of their Power and Magick.[6]<\/p><p>Happy Valentine\u2019s Day!<br \/>APs Rhianwen Bendigaid<\/p><p>___________________<\/p><p>[1] Mackenzie, Donald Alexander, \u201cAngus &amp; Bride: The Battle of the Seasons.\u201d <em>Folklore Scotland<\/em>. Web. 12 February 2023.<\/p><p>[2] Ross, Anne, \u201cChain Symbolism in Celtic Religion,\u201d citing the <em>Leabhar Brea<\/em>c, p. 242. JSTOR. Web. 12 February 2023.<\/p><p>[3] Flanagan, Kevin, \u201cThe Dream of Aengus (Aisling \u00d3engus).\u201d The Brehon Academy. Web. 12 February 2023.<\/p><p>[4] &#8220;The Dream of Oengus,\u201d <em>Early Irish Sagas<\/em>, Jeffrey Gantz, trans. Jones\u2019 Celtic Literature Collective. Web. 12 February 2023.<\/p><p>[5] Carr-Gomm, Philip and Carr-Gomm, Stephanie, <em>The Druid Animal Oracle<\/em>. Atria Books, 1995, p. 68.<\/p><p>[6] Ross, Anne, \u201cChain Symbolism in Celtic Religion.\u201d JSTOR. Web. 12 February 2023.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St. Valentine\u2019s Day approaches, and although it was not a feast day or a festival for the ancient Celts, they did celebrate romantic love. The Irish, in fact, had what might be considered a God of Love, O\u00e9ngus or O\u00edngus \u00d3g (Old Irish o\u00edngus \u201cone choice\u201d &gt; Middle Irish \u00e1engus &gt; Irish aonghus + \u00f3g [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,41],"tags":[42,44,14,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fethfiada.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}