Unhappy New Year, O friends! Here passes the glorious season of Light into the season of Darkness. I hope that we are all paying the proper homage to Cromm Cruaich by sacrificing a third of our local, healthy children. Failing to do so, as we are all aware, will lead to a very harsh winter for ourselves and for our cattle. For it was on this day that the Fomorian King Morc delivered a monumental slaughter upon the people of Nemed, purging them from the land of Eire forever. The valiant struggle of the people of Nemed is not to be forgotten, though, as they defied the oppression of the Fomors in refusing to sacrifice two-thirds of their children, instead facing the doomed battle that resulted in their wholesale slaughter. Thus won the Fomors, the gods of Darkness. With the coming of Beltaine, however, the Tuatha de Dannan would arrive, ushering in a new age of Light, and this is to be remembered throughout the wintertime. Though on this day the gods of Darnkess wax strong over the gods of Light, the gods of Light shall see victory again, and we shall feast on their plentiful bounty with the coming of the sun.
Alas, tonight the faeries and the pixies are out, not least among them the Samhanach, and these demand immediate appeasement. Thus one must consult the local Bard or Druid to find out what rites and libations are demanded by the local bogeys. Surely you know where to find the Boreadae, and heed their lamenting songs, accompanied on the Irish harp or the crwth* or the pipes. They shall have the bonfires lit, and their wicker and bone cages shall hold their own, grand sacrifices of man and cattle alike. With the combined efforts of each individual and of the Boreadae, after the bloodbath we can surely awake in the morning unafraid of the faeries and assured of the well-being of the cattle for the duration of the season of Darkness.
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*That is actually how it is spelled. Apparently the earliest violin-type instruments are Welsh. I found it when looking for interesting musical terms in my music dictionary today.
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