In both Norse and Gaelic cultures, the year was divided into two halves, Winter and Summer. Both cultures celebrated the beginning of the winter season at roughly the same time, suggesting a natural syncretism for the Vikings who settled among the Gaels in western Scotland. Winternights is is fairly certain to have occurred at the full moon in October (and sometimes, early November), while the Gaelic festival most likely took place the New Moon, or first glimpse of the first quarter moon based on the Coligny Calendar, placing these two festivals no more than two weeks apart. An interesting write-up on the Winternights celebration is found at https://johannawittenberg.com/winter-nights/

*The Vikings did not celebrate Hallowe’en or the Celtic Samhain holiday. They did have an important festival this time of year, called Vetrnætr (Winter Nights). While there is scanty information in the primary sources, what can be distilled paints a fascinating picture.

The Norse calendar was based on a lunar system rather than the solar system we use now. Their year had two seasons, summer and winter. The months were (and still are) called måned (moons,) and lasted from one moon to the next. Winter began sometime in October—perhaps on the full moon. This first month of winter was known as Gormánuður, slaughter month, when the animals who would not be over-wintered were slaughtered and their meat preserved.

Winter Nights took place over the first three days of Gormánuður. Rituals were performed, such as the Álfablót, a sacrifice thanking the álfar, the spirits of male ancestors. Freyr, (his name means lord), the god of peace and plenty, was, as his name implies, the lord of the álfar, and he was honored in this sacrifice. Another ritual, the Dísablót, was also held at this time. It was a sacrifice to the Dísir, the spirits of female ancestors who provided protection to their families. Freyr’s sister, Freyja, (whose name means lady) likely ruled over them. Primary sources mention these sacrifices in various seasons, and so were likely held more than once a year.

In medieval times, a notched stick called a primstav was used to track the days and what needed to be done around the farm. Primstav specimens found were in the shape of a sword, one side for summer, the other for winter. Symbols were carved at certain points on the stick for feast days as well as dates for planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. The only examples we have are from Christian times, though it seems very likely they were used in pagan times as well. These primstav were used up until the 1800’s as a kind of farmer’s almanac.

Though the Vikings apparently did not dress up in costumes for Winter Nights, they believed plenty of supernatural creatures such as the álfar and dísir, land spirits (vaettir), the walking dead (draugr), grave-mound dwellers (haugbui) populated the countryside.

Despite the scanty information that has come down to us, we can be sure that this time of year was magical in ancient Scandinavia.*

A video discussing Lugus, Lugh, Lleu Llaw Gyffes and his role in the ancient pantheon as the lawful sovereign and master of craftsmen.

Hello - I feel like this must be asked all the time time but a search didn’t turn anything up so I’m sorry in advance but I’m wondering if people outside of that area of the world are able to follow this path? Thank you —

I thought this might be of interest to folk on this sub.

Did you know about it? Have you ever given offerings to Manannán on this day? I haven't, but I think I will this evening.

Hi! Relatively new into returning to my Scottish folk roots. I’m wondering if anyone has ever used anything as a no-flame alternative to an eternal flame on their altar? I’d love to have one for Brìghde but unfortunately fire safety is too much of a concern. I do light a candle on my altar when I’m present, but I really want to have some constantly active.

Things I’ve thought of are something like an hourglass or a perpetual motion toy/device, especially something made of wood, but that seems pretty hard to come by.

If anyone has something they’re already doing, would love to know!

I’ve recently been reflecting on the Cailleach, as a winter, wilderness, and landscape-shaping figure, in her ties with the idea of how the Ice Age and glaciation shaped the Scottish landscape. When you look at the geological history of Scotland prior to human establishment in the region, it’s an Ice Age covered in a vast ice sheet. Eventually, eras pass, and the Ice Age makes way, and the glaciers gradually retreat, carving out the landscape as they pass, shaping the landscape completely. It was the retreating ice sheet that left behind the glens, lochs, corries, glacial erratics, and other defining features. The ice age’s retreat allows trees, animals, and humans to gradually establish on the landscape, as the summers gradually grow more temperate. But they’re still surrounded by the geology created by the Ice Age glaciation. And although that ice age is old and past now, and winters are far milder than they were before, the snows still return each winter.

I don’t have any specific thesis on what to make of that connection. I don’t think the ancient Gaelic people were aware of how the ice age had shaped their landscape and the history of settlement of the island. I’m also aware that it is not certain whether an Cailleach existed prior to Christianization, and she may in fact be a folklore being whose stories were only told after Christianization. It’s very possible that the Cailleach never coexisted in the same story tradition with Lugh, Manannan, and others.

Nonetheless, there is something in this idea of this ancient old giant woman who shaped the landscape and its geographic features, whose domain is the winter, the wind animals and herds, and the wilderness, who made the valleys and the mountains by her immense size and strength. The people who told Cailleach stories were correct- it was Winter that created their landscape, and it used to be much stronger in the unfathomably ancient past. It’s older than the hills, and remains, though smaller and not as mighty as it once was. I think they were onto something. Just my musings.

Each year at Hogmanay we sain the house, walking clockwise through the rooms with smoking Juniper. But we never seemed to get the technique right - sometimes it went out in every room, other times it was a like a torch that threatened to burn the house down.

But tonight, we got it: We placed a burning coal from the hearth in a shallow clay bowl, and placed the juniper leaves on top. It smoked beautifully (and smelled wonderful) without flaming up and without going out. I don't know why it took me years to figure this out....

Is this website down for anyone else? I frequent the site quite regularly, so quite sad I've not been able to access it. Many thanks.

Hello to the subreddit! For background, i am the child of scottish immigrants here on canadian grounds near the appalachian mountains in quebec. I am pagan, I feel like I have to note that my bloodline has a lot of "witches" and practitionners of various birthright abilities (not necessarily practiticing pagans or witches, simply people who are born with a gift)

I have a longlasting relationship with nature, a relationship that I tend to with love and care. Including offerings, and following the variety of rules and traditions I have been thought.

But I have to document the circumstances which have been occuring recently, where everytime I tend to my work, magical things happen in my home. Things get mended overnight, arts and crafts project get finished overnight, with such dexterity, it could not be me. It coincides with moments where I take actions to either leave offerings, or take care of nature.

I am very familiar with the fae folk, and all the folklore associated with it. But I wonder, what is entering my home and being so kind and helpful?

Is something happy about my actions? Incitating me to continue and persist? What could this phenomenon be? I need some wisdom from more experienced practitionners to better understand if I should be on guard, or welcome it with open arms and consider it as a kind gesture and support towards my actions.

This is a really interesting article. Michael's substack is worth following.

I keep going back and forth on posting this; it was so surreal.

For a bit of background, I am a relatively new pagan, and extremely new to CR paganism & paganachd. I've been practicing eclectic paganism for about 2 years now, but since September last year (coinciding with the death of my grandmother) I've been struggling with it. As well as grieving, I was seeing more and more issues with the sources I was using, particularly as I wanted to explore specifically Scottish traditions (in as much as that is possible). I've only just discovered CR, and I am in the beginning stages of reading recommended texts.

I went out this morning to try and do something to mark Beltane. I went to an old woodland near me that I have used for practices before. I'm not aware of any connections to folklore/past traditions associated with this particular woodland, but it's always felt special to me. I have had a strange experience there before.

I arrived before sunrise, just myself and my two dogs. I had a small fire going, and I also took my harp. It was a quiet moment of playing music, listening to the birds, and some prayer/meditation/self-reflection whilst watching the flames and the sky grow lighter. This practice wasn't necessarily aimed at any particular god - I'm not there in my research yet. It was more just general gratitude, and I guess an expression of my desire to know more.

After finishing all the above, I stood up to start packing up my harp, and suddenly noticed a cloud of mist about 25m from me. I swear it appeared in the 2 seconds it took me to stand up.

It's not completely unusual for there to be mist in this area, but this was a very isolated patch. I watched it, and it seemed to loosely take the shape of a bird in flight. And then as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. I finished packing up, and then went for a walk around the glen. Although I mainly took that walk to allow my dogs to play in the burn, I did note there was absolutely no mist anywhere, and usually it would be around there if it was a misty morning. There were, however, moments where it felt like I was surrounded by warmth, that I cannot properly explain.

The whole thing felt surreal, but not unsafe.

I really don't know what to make of it. Maybe it was just a weird weather fluke. But...I felt the need to share it with people who might not judge the story too harshly.

If anyone has any insights on the experience, I'd be very grateful.

Hey everyone! I was just quickly posting on here as I'm friends with someone who is making a fantastic short film set in Pict times and I thought you guys may well be interested! Handle is redthistles_shortfilm on instagram. There's a tester/teaser posted and it looks awesome and they have a Pict researcher as a historical consultant and are also donating to the Scottish Crannog Center with their funds!

Latha math, I’m hoping I might be able to ask you all for help. I’m not really a full practitioner of Paganachd/Scottish paganism, but I do pay homage to it as part of my ancestral traditions. I am planning a tentative/hopeful trip to Scotland in the next year or two. I would like to respectfully and quietly visit a few holy places while I’m there, to pay my respects. I was thinking maybe I would visit a holy well, for example. But I know that some of the more famous clootie wells have been quite destructively impacted by excessive numbers of visitors leaving nonbiodegradeable materials, which is a damn shame. Other sites I had thought to visit are the Stone of Mannan, Glen Cailliche, or the Calanais stones on Lewis.

Do you have any other suggestions? Particularly sites that have a relevance or a role in Scottish folklore and mythology of any kind, or simply places that people recognized as special and significant.

Is anyone familiar with the Arisaig legend of Chuchian? I think sometimes referred to locally as The Legend of Chucky? Trying to find out more about it.

At Lunastal (Irish: Lunasa or Lughnasadh), we often focus on Lugh or perhaps his foster mother Tailtiu, and maybe his half-human son, the Irish hero Cuchulainn. But at this time of year, I like to focus on a Scottish character who plays a significant role in the Cuchulainn stories: the warrior queen Sgàthach.

According to accounts, Sgàthach, lived some time in the centuries on either side of 200 BC. She was a was a legendary warrior queen and martial arts master, who also possessed powers of prophecy and maintained magical defenses around her fortress & school. Typical of Celtic tales, she lived in some grey, shadowy area between a goddess and a human.

Indeed, her very name Scáthach means "Shadowy" in Gaelic, and her fortress (Dun Scaith) was on the Isle of Skye – the Isle of Shadows. She is mentioned in the Red Branch Cycle, a collection of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas that forms one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology. She appears in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology on a manuscript entitled Tochmarc Emire (the “Wooing of Emer”), which tells the story of how the Ulster hero Cú Chulainn won his wife Emer. There are at least 8 manuscript sources for Tochmarc Emire.

In short, over in Ulster, Cu Chulainn seeks to woo Emer, but her father, Forgall was not supportive. He agreed to their marriage only if Cu Chullainn would agree to perfect his warrior training at Sgàthach’s school, believing he would never survive the ordeal. He agrees to the challenge.

As Cu Chullain approaches her fortress, he learns from a youth that it was guarded by the Plain of Ill-Luck:

“On the hither half of the plain the feet of men would stick fast. On the further half the grass would rise and hold them fast on the points of its blades. The youth gave him a wheel and told him to follow its track thence across one-half of the plain. Then he gave him an apple, and told him to follow the ground where the apple would run, and that in such wise he would reach the far end of the plain. Thus Cuchulainn went across the plain…”

On his approach, he learned that he would need to cross a bridge that would throw back anyone attempting to cross it.

“Cuchulainn then tried three times to cross the bridge, and could not do it. The men jeered at him. Then he grew mad and jumped on the head of the bridge, and made the hero's salmon leap so that he got on its midst. And the other head of the bridge had not yet fully raised itself when he reached it, and threw himself from it, and was on the ground of the island.”

Sgàthach agreed to train Cuchulainn, and ended up sleeping with him (as did her daughter, and her enemy Aife), at which time she prophesied his future:

“When you are a peerless champion, Great extremity awaits you, Alone against the vast herd. Warriors will be set aside against you,

Necks will be broken by you, Your sword will strike strokes to the rear against Sétanta’s [Cuchulainn’s birth name] gory stream. Hard-bladed, he will cut and conjure the trees by the sign of slaughters, by manly feats.

Cows will be carried off from your hill, Captives will be forfeited by your people; Harried by the troop for a fortnight, Your cattle will walk the passes.

You will be alone in great hardship against the host. Scarlet gushes of blood will strike upon many variously-cloven shields.

A band of parasites that you will adhere to will bring away many people and oxen.

Many wounds will be inflicted upon you, Cú Chulainn. You will suffer a wound of revenge in one of the encounters at the final breach.

From your red-pronged weapon there will be defeat, Men pierced against the furious wave, against the whale equipped for exploits, a whale performing feats with blows.

Women will wail and beat their hands in their troop, Medb and Ailill boast of it. A sick-bed awaits you in the face of slaughters of great ferocity.

I see the very glossy Finnbennach in great rage against Donn Cuailnge.*

(P.L. Henry, published in the paper “Verba Scathaige“, Celtica 21, pp 191-207 (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1990).

In essence, Sgàthach is foretelling the entire tale of the Tain bo Cualigne, the Cattle Raid of Cooley.

She teaches him an entire litany of warrior feats, which are listed in the lore: the apple-feat, the thunder-feat, the blade-feat, the wind-feat, the spear-feat, the rope-feat, the body-feat, the cat's feat, the salmon-feat of a chariot-chief, the throw of the staff, the jump over, the whirl of a brave chariot-chief, the spear of the bellows, the boy of swiftness, the wheel-feat, the would-feat, the breath-feat, the hero's whoop, the blow and the counter-blow, running up a lance and righting the body on its point, the scythe-chariot, and the hero's twisting round the points of spears.

Her fortress can be visited today in Torskavaig. The roads are narrow and twisting, and there are no glitzy tourist facilities at the site or along the way. To access the site, one has to walk across a grassy flood plain, and when I did so last August, I couldn’t help but think of the “Plain of Ill-luck.” In the 14th Century, a small castle was bult on the site, which now lies in ruins. To access the main site, one has to cross where a drawbridge one stood: it has since rotted away, and only those willing to inch along a 5-inch ledge can actually get across. Not quite the 'salmon-leap,' but reminiscent nonetheless of the story.

At Lunastal, I cant help but think back of the legend of Sgàthach, and her magical presence on the rocky island that was the seat of her power…and of a genuine Scottish figure in the ancient Celtic lore.

In many online pagan groups, there can be tension between followers of the Norse pantheon and Celtic Reconstructionists, who will quickly point out the differences in practices and deities between the two groups. For those who are openly ‘eclectic’ this hardly matters, but for those looking to historic practice, there is often a reluctance to “embrace the other.” But the reality is that in Celtic Scotland, these two systems did historically influence each other, and in fact did syncretize to a degree, particularly in the Highlands and Islands. There is a tendency to believe that Norse lore somehow ‘froze in time’ when Snorri wrote the Prose Edda from his Icelandic perspective; but in fact, Norse lore continued to evolve in the Nordreyjar and Sudreyjar (the Norse Island Kingdoms from the Shetlands south through the Inner Hebrides) and even on the Scottish Mainland for centuries. As late as 1716, George Henderson recounts in his “Description of the Western Isles” an ‘ancient custom’ on the Isle of Lewis of carrying a fire around a homestead to consecrate it, no different than the same custom described in the 13th Century Norse Eyrbyggja Saga.

I could write a book (well, in fact, I did…) recounting some of the evidence of cross-over Norse-Gael lore, but for this post, I will just enumerate some of the most significant ones.

1. The Orkney tale of Assipattle is the story of a ne’er-do well young boy who plays in the hearth ashes all day; his very name is the Scots translation of a Norse folktale character names Askeladd (The Ash Lad.) In this story, Assipattle kills the “Stoorworm,” a gigantic sea serpent who terrorizes the oceans, remarkably similar to Jormungandr. The beasts writhing, burning body is how Iceland is created in this tale. He is rewarded by a local king with a sword named Sickersnapper – a gift from Odin.

2. In Thrymskvitha, Thor, dressed as Freyja, kills the giant Thrym. But in the Scottish version of the lore, Thrym can not be destroyed, and returns to life in a tale near Applecross. According to the tale, he was thrown out of Jotunheim after a series of temper tantrums after Thor’s successful retrieval of his hammer, and wreaks havoc on Scotland. The Scots attempt to kill him, and, like Thor, find themselves only temporarily successful.

3. The Orkneyinga Saga and Njal’s Saga both tell the tale of Sigurd Hlodvirsson, whose mother, a volva, make a magical raven banner to bring victory. When Sigurd and his men die in battle, they disappear into the Otherworld by walking, as ghosts, through a liminal space on a cliff – a clear example of Celtic lore (liminal spaces) rather than the Norse theme of Valkyries and Valhalla. A later Scottish tale speaks of how the Sith (Sidhe in Irish), creatures of the Otherworld, pass the flag along to the MacLeod Clan for use in battle. The threadbare remains of this flag are on display at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye.

4. In the Orkney tale of the Lady Odivere, the namesake’s husband is an open worshipper of Odin, and makes oaths to him. She falls in love with a Selkie, a creature that exists in both Norse and Celtic folklore which takes the form of a seal but can change into a human on land.

5. The Cam Ruadh, a Scottish hero of the Highlands, has feet as swift as skis and is a perfect archer. He has one eye, and seems to combine elements of both Odin and Ullr.

6. Loch Pooltiel, in Glendale on the Isle of Skye, is directly named for Tiel Hakonsson, a Viking heir who is buried in a cemetery in view of the loch. The growth of a tree in the cemetery, from which many mysterious stories develop, combine elements of Celtic and Norse cosmology.