Time to light the Beltaine fires
Ready the tinder! Round up the cows! Roll out the barrels! Beltaine is fast approaching and there's going to be a big party in Celtia. Soon you'll see bright bonfires burning on every hill and mountaintop in the land. What's so significant about Beltaine? Well, it was the beginning of pastoral summer for the Gaels of old: a time to celebrate! On Oidhche Bhealtaine - Beltaine Eve - ritual fires were lit, livestock was driven to summer pastures and decorated boughs of flowering rowan and hawthorn were hung.
This year, the annual Beltaine Feis is being held in ancient Ebrauc, home of the Brigantes. One of the customs we'll be celebrating is the ritual burning of the Nine Sacred Woods with the treasure hunt
Flidhais Brigantes and
Jacques Elliott Cruithni have up their sleeves. May Boughing is also being highlighted with a secret gift exchange of May flower baskets coordinated by
Moss Dubhdara Niall and
WinterMist Manach. To learn more about this delightful event, visit the
May Baskets thread.
Beltaine is also a time for war games, romance, dancing, feasting and telling tales. Rumour has it Fenian Niafer will be offering a challenge for the warriors among us that involves wooing. Also on the agenda is another literary pub crawl extravaganza, this time led by Bardic College poet
Owen Cormac. Each pub taking part will have a Beltaine theme for participants to write poems and tell tales about while eating, drinking and making merry. Five pubs have signed up so far, including two new Celtia Hood pubs:
The Red Gryphon Inn in
Caerleon and
The Claddagh in Ebrauc.
The festivities begin on April 27, at 5:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the
Planning for Beltane 2007 thread for more information, where you can post a message if you'd like to help (or contact a Celtia Scribe, or one of the event organisers). And when the time comes, head for the nearest bonfire to celebrate the coming of summer!
Take the magical mystery Meath Hood tour
One of the most exciting moments in AncientWorlds history was the launch of the neighbourhoods in the Fall of 2004. Then, three months later, on Sunday, December 12, 2004, awards were handed out to the best Hoods. One of those award-winning Hoods was our very own
Eire. Now another Best Places contest is in progress and we're holding our collective breath to see which Hoods will win. Celtia has entered the realm of Meath, including the much-loved district of Tara.
But wait! The story doesn't end there. When Tara's Ceannmor Fenian Niafer asked if he could enter Tara, the contest rules indicated that he would also have to enter Meath. This prompted a flurry of activity and a renovation team was formed, new districts were created and the Meath Hood Tour was born. Inspired by the idea of using tour guides to make the Hoods more personable and inviting places to live, the articles were rewritten from the perspective of the early inhabitants - except Meath. Here tourists and prospective home owners will meet the Celtic river goddess Boand herself, whose stunning silver-haired avatar was created by talented Poser artist
Louisa Agis.
The contest winners will be announced on the
The "Best Places in AncientWorlds" Awards thread. Whether or not Celtia wins this time round, the Meath Hood Tour is well worth taking. To go on this fascinating adventure, simply click on the Tara brooch below and you'll be transported to another time and place in the blink of an eye.
Another Gem in Celtia's crown
Imbolc brought many wonders to Celtia this Spring, including
Zorbie the Zombie, a page-turning graphic novella by the enigmatic
Stewellen Helvetti. Stewllen and her brother,
Zorbulin have become a fixture in this neck of the woods and have knack for delighting us with their entertaining and oftimes quirky antics, like the time they set fire to the Tara wheat field and almost put an end to King Cormac's Hurley game. Fortunately for Zorbie and Stewie, the king was in a forgiving mood that day, especially after the errant siblings apologised and the fire was contained.
Then, to our delight, when the
Tara Fair and Marketplace opened, this dazzling duo opened
Z's Magic Parlor and continued to entertain us, this time with animated graphic presentations of their stage show. Zorbie's finale was the guillotine trick...at least we thought it was a trick, until things went terribly wrong and Stewie ended up in a convent. No spoilers here! Read
Zorbie the Zombie to find out what happened to the magician who dared to stick his neck under a falling blade and why AncientWorlds' first graphic novella won a Gem award.
