La femme celte

[la_marquise]

I'm blogging today about the myth of the Celtic Woman, over on Charles Stross' blog, for those who are interested. Comments are down there, at present, due to spambots, but you can comment here, if you're interested.

Skirt of the day: red and gold silk wrap.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Well, Hild was Anglo-Saxon, and one of a number of remarkable churchwomen there in the 7th and 8th centuries. As a culture, they were much more comfortable with powerful women, which blended well with the message of that the Irish missionaries brought about protecting and respecting women -- something more needed in Ireland than Northumbria, in fact, but Aidan came from that Iona tradition started by Adomnan.
Brigid is interesting, because she was probably not a person but, originally, a local goddess associated with fire, whose image was Christianised in line with the attitudes to women that the early missionaries and churchmen wanted to promote. I have a lot of time for many of these early Irish Christians: some fine defenders of human rights! Patrick was anti-slavery, for instance.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Said powerful women were often (I think usually) royal, and the daughters and sisters of powerful kings.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, absolutely.