New Views over Megalithia

[Boreades]

Tut, I was expecting that someone would by now have said "that's very pretty, but what's supposed to be in Scotland at the Daneb, δ-Cygnus and γ-Cygnus positions?"

[Boreades]

Daneb, δ-Cygnus and γ-Cygnus

γ-Cygnus is close to A'Chromraich, The Sanctuary
On the same longitude as Lands End (so what? well, if being on the same longitude as Stonehenge is supposed to be significant...)

δ-Cygnus
might be close to Skara Brae

Daneb
Might be the Carinish Stone Circle

Some might say might be close, but not proven. A lot depends on how the map projection is projected.

[TisILeclerc]

It's very pretty Borry.

When you say Carinish do you mean Callanish?

Carinish is in North Uist. The picture shows your location actually somewhere on the east coast of Harris I think. But the stones at Callanish are the major stones in the whole area and there are lots of circles not just the one.

But it is further north and west although the main site is a 'cruciform' shape as wiki has it. Or maybe a bird with outstretched wings?



Which may tie in with the swan motif. There are lots of swan legends as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callanish_Stones

It appears that the Swan was appreciated in all parts of Britain but especially in the western Isles.

A more direct association between swans and the northerly transmigration of the soul comes in the knowledge that in the Scottish Western Isles people saw whooper swans (and also greylag geese) migrating northwards to their breeding grounds in Iceland each spring as carrying the souls of the dead to heaven, which lay 'north beyond the north wind', an expression borrowed from classical mythology. Should a person be alive when the birds depart, then they would be free from death for another year. Cygnus being essentially circumpolar in Scotland would always have been seen in the northern night sky. Is this how the stars of Cygnus became associated with the swan, and why the bird was linked with not only the cosmic axis, but also the journey of the soul into the afterlife - because it was seen to fly towards the celestial pole? If so, then this connection can only have begun when Deneb occupied the position of Pole Star in c. 15,000 BC.

http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/artic ... y_swan.htm

They even give a date to work with.

[Boreades]

When you say Carinish do you mean Callanish?

Noted, map updated:
https://tme.cartodb.com/tables/the_mega ... empire/map

[Mick Harper]

All this migrating souls mullarkey serves to disguise a more prosaic reality. The Megalithics were expert in tempting swans (and other large eatables) to take a break during their migrations at places where ... the Megalithics wanted them to.

[TisILeclerc]

Yes. I remember my father climbing on to the roof to tie a turkey to the chimney pot every Christmas as an offering to Father Christmas to get him to land.

Well, he was in the navy and after a few tots of rum he was up for anything. It was only when the bloke over the road spilled the beans and said that Father Christmas never got a look in because our next door neighbour was up before him that the tradition stopped.

Having said that the men of Ness are being threatened by the Scottish National 'Heritage' people because apparently going out to Suil Skerry on the annual guga hunt is 'barbaric' and must be stopped. No mention of Norfolk turkey factories from them mind you. It would appear that Scottish Heritage is as stupid as English Heritage.

http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2015/09/1 ... ed-by-snh/

Now that is a tradition that goes back to perhaps the iron age. And of course is directly related to the activities of the St Kilda islanders who lived off their harvest of gannet chicks.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/scot ... n-gugahunt

The Guradian article was a little over-optimistic in thinking that there was no threat to the tradition as the article highlighting the massive increase in gannet numbers was from the year before. Yes, hunters to lay traps but I'm sure they didn't just wait once or twice a year for the birds to fly past. As in the case of Ness they went, and go out after them. And in the example of St Kilda, at extremely great danger to themselves.

Sule Skerry or Sula Sgeir is quite interesting and might be one of the feathers in the cap of Borry's argument perhaps. Being home to a temple and all the other things associated with isolated hermits.

St Ronan's sister didn't have a happy end. Perhaps she didn't like the taste of guga. But she was found dead with a gannet's nest in her ribcage. An early form of spread gannet if not spread eagle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sula_Sgeir

The article tells us that it gets its name Sula from the Norse for gannet. It is also Gaelic for gannet but interestingly suil also means 'eye'. Perhaps there was an observatory connected with the temple?

[Boreades]

Ancient Irish musical history found in modern India?

I'm not sure what to make of this article.

An archaeologist studying musical horns from iron-age Ireland has found musical traditions, thought to be long dead, are alive and well in south India.The realization that modern Indian horns are almost identical to many iron-age European artifacts reveals a rich cultural link between the two regions 2,000 years ago.

The realisation that modern Indian horns are almost identical to many iron-age European artefacts reveals a rich cultural link between the two regions 2,000 years ago, said PhD student Billy Ó Foghlú, from The Australian National University (ANU).

"Archaeology is usually silent. I was astonished to find what I thought to be dead soundscapes alive and living in Kerala today," said the ANU College of Asia-Pacific student.

"The musical traditions of south India, with horns such as the kompu, are a great insight into musical cultures in Europe's prehistory.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 100848.htm

It supposes a connection without saying how the connection was made.

[hvered]

suil also means 'eye'. Perhaps there was an observatory connected with the temple?

A book I've been reading claims that Din-sul, the 'original name' for St Michael's Mount, means 'hill of the sun' for some unexplained reason. Could din-sul simply refer to a heap of soil? Much muck makes a Michael (hill).

[Boreades]

Perhaps Din-sul is a pismonouncation of Don-Sol?

[TisILeclerc]

A book I've been reading claims that Din-sul, the 'original name' for St Michael's Mount, means 'hill of the sun' for some unexplained reason. Could din-sul simply refer to a heap of soil? Much muck makes a Michael (hill).

I imagine they are assuming that Sul refers to Soleil or any of the variants.

If it referred to Soil wouldn't they just call it Din. Assuming that most Dins are composed of soil it would be unnecessary to highlight the fact I would have thought?

Looking back at Sol, soleil we seem to have words that are similar to oeil which is of course eye. The last 'l' is not pronounced which makes it close to the pronunciation of 'eye'.

I wonder if the sun was seen as a giant eye in the sky?