The Adder’s Den

🌳 Does Gaelic really have a “Tree Alphabet”? 🌲 ⚡️Short answer: no, the letters of the Og(h)am alphabet don’t all seem to have had associations with trees.  📜 Slightly longer answer: according to modern etymologists, some of the Og(h)am let…

🌳 Does Gaelic really have a “Tree Alphabet”? 🌲

theaddersden.wordpress.com/2026/03/01/%...

#SeachdainNaGàidhlig
#Gàidhlig #scottishgaelic #GaelicWeek #GaelicCulture
#SeachdainNaGàidhlig2026
#WorldGaelicWeek2026 #cleachdi
#Gaelic #bòrdnagàidhlig #scotland #history #archaeology #linguistics

Love #Wikipedia editors 🥰 We created Ellen's page this morning and already another editor has improved it by adding a photo. This is Ellen Moxley and her partner Helen Steven receiving the Gandhi International Peace Prize in 2004

📷Gandhi Foundation on Wikimedia Commons

“…Languages are not afraid of the water, and the role of the North Channel in particular as a uniter rather than a divider of culture is well known from the early Middle Ages at least.” 🌊

3/3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🗃️🏺

“The migrationist paradigm has come under attack in archaeological circles in general. In the case of Dál Rita, there is no archaeological evidence for any migration at all; and there is no reason linguistically why Gaelic could not have developed concurrently on both sides of Sruth na Maoile…”

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📑 It’s World Gaelic week, so why not read about the history of Gaelic in Scotland: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/20...

#worldgaelicweek #SeachdainnaGàidhlig

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Kate Forbes is being lauded for creating Gàidhlig preservation funding, but she's also a raging queerphobe, so do forgive me if I'm struggling to join in with her enthusiasm.

I now understand how the idea of a kelpie arose conceptually

Happy pancake day to all who shrive

💧The Caoineachag and The Massacre of Glencoe🩸 🕯️Following on from the historical posts shared on FB about the horrific Massacre of Glencoe, I thought I’d share some dark folklore associated with it too. 🧺 Many English and Scots speakers are fa…

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#scotland #history #folklore #scottishfolklore #banshee #folkhorror #horror #massacre #betrayal #death #harbinger 🗃️

A threshold mosaic at the entrance to the Corona Bar on Pollokshaws Road on the Southside of Glasgow. The symbol in the middle is a play on the local place name Crossmyloof.

Cont./

#glasgow #crossmyloof #scottishhistory #architecture #maryqueenofscots

#OtD 6 Feb 1974 with the prospect of a UK-wide coalminers strike Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath called a snap election under the slogan "Who governs Britain?" - meaning the government, or the unions? He lost, and miners won 35% pay increase workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e81-...

Two standing stones forming entrance to chambered cairn. Ante-chamber and chamber comprising lower stone slab boxes in foreground. Distant sky is orange and dark with Mmorning sunrise, green pastures and woodlands below.

And at some places, we can feel closer to the rhythms of the world...

Cairn Holy 1 chambered cairn is a remarkable monument which has been visibly revisted and reused for nearly six thousand years.

#prehistory #TombTuesday @archscot.bsky.social @the.stone.club @megalithic.bsky.social

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Painting “Saint Bride” by Scottish artist John Duncan depicting Brigid being carried over the sea by 2 angles in order to become Mary’s midwife and Jesus’ foster mother, according to Gaelic legend. They are flanked by seagulls and a seal swims along below them.

🌱 Happy St Bride’s Day/Là Fhèill Brighde or Imbolc/Imbolg to those celebrating 🔥

There are so many Gaelic folk traditions associated with this day. For example, the tradition of reciting St Bride’s genealogy 3 times in a row. Read more here:
theaddersden.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/%...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🗃️🏺🇮🇪🇮🇲

Documentary about Kenmure Street protest wins Sundance Film Festival award

Documentary about Kenmure Street protest wins Sundance Film Festival award

Midmar Kirk Recumbent Stone Circle - 3D model by AOC Archaeology Group (@aocarchaeology) Model published for AOC’s In-situ website. Please visit https://insitu.org.uk/. - Midmar Kirk Recumbent Stone Circle - 3D model by AOC Archaeology Group (@aocarchaeology)

🪨♥️ Well worth a look at the article, images & 3D models 👀⬇️

Article: insitu.org.uk/2025/10/30/a...

Example 3D model: skfb.ly/pFTpY

#scotland #aberdeenshire #archaeology #history #stonecircle #religion #christianity #prechristian #pagan #3Dmodel 🏺🗃️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Our brand new podcast, Folklore Matters, launches today.

David Clarke, Sophie Parkes-Nield, and Diane Rodgers speak to people working with or researching folklore to find out more about their work, how they discovered folklore, and to get their thoughts on the findings of the Survey.

Watch yourself out there folks! There’s a lot of bammery about!

#BylinesScotlandAdvice

“Of all the beings with which fear or fancy peopled the supernatural, the Fairies were the most intimately associated with men’s daily life.”
- Campbell, 'The Gaelic Otherworld' 1900

🔥 “The Yules” in Shetland & the Trows/Grey-Folk 🌫️ Even to this day the old Norn Yule-tide festival prevails over the Scottish Hogmanay. County Folklore Vol III: Examples of Printed Folklore Concerning the Orkney and Shetland Isles, collected by G …

theaddersden.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/%...

#scotland #shetland #norse #scots #folklore #history #yule #christmas #folkmagic

Nice to see a Corn Bunting in my garden today. The first time since the Winter of 1982/83 when I had 100+ regularly sitting in the trees here. The farmer had planted the field in front of the house with neeps and they were feeding in there. The same has happened this year. #birdingscotland

Seabird 'blood sport' on remote Scottish island to remain legal despite protests A TRADITIONAL hunt for seabirds on a remote Scottish island – labelled a “blood sport” by campaigners – will be allowed to continue as it is…

Read the full story here: www.thenational.scot/news/2576135...

#OtD 10 Jan 1979 during the Winter of Discontent the number of lorry drivers across Scotland and northern England on wildcat strike against government-union pay restraint reached 50,000. Drivers picketed ports and warehouses to stop trucks moving goods stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8197...

SPNle 1469 3/6

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Thanks ☺️!

MacWordle 1398 2/6

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www.macwordle.co.uk/

Why families living on Foula celebrate Christmas in January The remote Shetland island marks Old Christmas, known locally as Yule, on January 6.

🗓️ While most in Scotland would consider the Christmas period to be over by now, there’s a wee island up in Shetland that celebrates their Christmas Day today. There’s a nice article in the Press and Journal that details Christmas traditions in Foula:

www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/6318...

🗃️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Due to popular demand, 'Traversing the Inner Seas' is available in print again, in case you missed it the first time around!

The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known as The Skating Minister (1790s), by Henry Raeburn.

Image du 3 janvier :

The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known as The Skating Minister (1790s), by Henry Raeburn.

#wikimedia #cpod #fr