Jazz Etymology:
Irish American Vernacular English
and the hidden influence
of Irish and Scots-Gaelic

The Historic Beginnings of St. Brigid's Fire
My Fire Quest Journey and the Source of Jazz from Ireland

TAKE THE JOURNEY WITH ME

ALL OF PROFESSOR CASSIDY'S ESSAYS FOUND ON PAGE 3

My 2006 journey will take you to Ireland, Philly and California.
We will visit St. Brigit's Cathedral and St. Brigit's ancient Fire House. Then meet Sister Mary leader of the Brigidine Sisters and learn about the Nuns of St. Brigid. You will also and learn where the Sacred Fire is located now that burns once again for all eternity. 

BACKGROUND:

The Goddess Religion History
St. Brigid's Fire

Many Religions still have Residual Fire Rituals in use today.

Etymology of the word Pagan

It is believed the initial Mesolithic hunter-gatherers -- the first Irish -- arrived around 8-10,000 B.C

"St. Bridget was the founder of the first monastery in Ireland at the end of the 5th century where this college treated language and literacy as a gift from the Goddess.
When she died her body was interred at her church in Kildare, where her memory was honored by keeping a fire forever burning. Hence the church was known as the House of Fire, until in 1220 the Archbishop of Dublin, "to take away all occasion of superstition," ordered the fire to be extinguished. Bridget's Fire was not extinguished.
Her sacred fire is held within the spoken and written Irish word Teas (jass), meaning in English, heat, excitement, vigor, and the passion of high spirits. St. Brigid's Teas." ~ Dan Cassidy

I went to visit Kildare and Bridget's Church.

Luck of the Irish: coincidentally when traveling in Ireland my cab driver happened to be a member of the 3rd generation Callowglass Ceili Band, one of the great bands of traditional Irish music and one of the oldest families living in Kildare, where I was staying.
The uniquely Irish phenomenon of the showband " first emerged in the early '50s as a wholesome way to cut a rug while minding the Church's prohibitions against displays of earthy sensuality. The name of The Gallowglass Ceili Band will always be closely associated with Irish dancing. [The term Gallowglas or Galloglass is an Anglicisation of the Irish, Gallóglaigh ("foreign soldiers"), incorporating the Celtic word Óglach, which is derived from oac, the Old Irish for "youths", but later meaning "soldier".* ]

Boyes Hot Springs are 10 miles away from this hot spring that I visited at the last mission built in Sonoma.
© 2006 Karen Ellis all rights reserved world wide.

From Kildare to Sonoma County California where you find Boyes Springs, where you'll find the the original Jazz Water, the hot bubbly water originally used by First Nation People then used by the baseball players and musicians for it's healthy healing heat!

In the Irish language, the word Teas (pron. jass or chass, depending which Irish dialect you speak - means heat and passion. The Irish American American Vernacular English word "Jazz" was spelled the way Americans thought they heard it pronounced.  How far back does can this word TEAS be traced?  Reference: The Sanas of Teason.

ABOUT ST. BRIGIT

St. Brigit's Cathedral
is known as
the Fire House because her priestess' were in charge
of the fire.

In pagan times Brigid was the goddess of fire, whose manifestations were song and poetry, which the Irish considered the flame of knowledge.

Brigid supposedly became a virgin in service to the Goddess Brigid and eventually ascended to high priestess at the Cill Dara ("Kildare", the temple of the oak), a pagan sanctuary built from the wood of the tree sacred to the Druids. In 468, she converted to Christianity and she followed St. Mel of Armagh to Meath.

Brigintine Nuns in Kildare

Just over 1500 years ago (and only 35 years after Saint Patrick settled at Armagh) Saint Brigit arrived in Kildare with her nuns in the year 480 A.D. Her original abbey church would have been a simple wooden building, but she became so famous and powerful that after her death in 523 A.D. a huge and costly shrine was erected to honor her. For many centuries in Kildare a WOMEN an ABBESS RULED over a double community of women and men and the bishop was subordinate in jurisdiction to the Abbess!
I visited the recently restored site of Saint Brigit's FIREHOUSE or FIRE-TEMPLE where the sacred met a Christian. In Ireland's pagan history, the sacred perpetual fire burned in the pagan religion and this sacred fire was extinguished in the sixteenth century, during the reformation.

Brigid was the Goddess of Fire

Her first monastery, and the first headed by a woman, became the hub around which the cathedral city of Kildare eventually grew. A college where language and literacy were treated as a gift from God. St. Bridget of Kildare, Abbess - Bridget (Brigid, Bride, Bridey) was born around 450-525) at Faughart, two miles northwest of Dundalk into a Druid family, being the daughter of Dubhthach, court poet to King Loeghaire Kildare had formerly been a pagan shrine where a sacred fire was kept perpetually burning, and Bridget and her nuns, instead of stamping out the fire, kept it going but gave it a Christian interpretation.

"The Cunt: Own the language - Own the Conversation" ~ Karen Ellis

The word 'Cunt' in the vernacular means vagina. To many the word “cunt” is one of the most vile, obscene and vulgar swear words in the English language.
The word itself was originally a term of respect and reverence for a powerful, spiritually enlightened woman. 'Cunt' devies from 'Kunda' or 'Cunti', the Oriental Great Goddess. She was the Great yoni (Sanskrit = Source of all life) of the Universe, where all life came from and to where all life returned for renewal. ~ origin unknown
In its original Brigette was Sacred Cunt - a, consciously awake women.
Linguists have debated for a long time over the true roots and it is impossible to really know exactly where it is originated. The prefix 'cu' has been deemed “quintessentially feminine” and pre-dates written language. Therefore it can be found in the forms of 'cu', 'qu', 'ku', 'coo', 'qy' or 'cy'.
A High priestess: “Phallic Worship” which explored how “Cunts” have been high priestesses who had sexual union with people to bring them to a higher level of spirituality.
There are ancient stone sculptures of women all over Ireland and the UK on old churches and castles. These incredible figures are known as the Sile Na Gig (pronounced Sheela Na Gee) and are all sitting in a squating position with their hands holding their cunts open. Wide open. They are seen by many as 'The Divine Hag' or 'The Sacred Whore' or as a fertility symbol. It is believed that they were seen to ward off evil and the Christians allowed them on churches to appease the Celts whose sacred sites they were building churches on. There are two of them in Kildare that honors the power of women's Cunts.
One connection lies with the Celtic Goddess 'Sil' who is represented in the ancient mound and surrounding landscape and the River 'Cunnit' (Kennett) in Wiltshire. Irish linguists believe it is very likely that the goddess 'Sil' is connected with the 'Aos Sidhe' (pronounced Aus Shee) people in ancient Irish folklore who were also known as the 'fairy folk' and are still believed today by some to live in forts and glens all over Ireland.
The word 'Gee' is commonly used in place of 'Cunt' today in Ireland and is seen to be linked to 'Ghee' in Sanskrit, the clarified butter from South Aisa. There is a special dish called 'Kunda' in India which is made from ghee and milk. Today in India, Ghee is also used on the genitals of statues of the Goddess Yakshi, a fertility earth goddess in the quest to aid fertility. Cows are sacred in India and traditionally 'Ghee' was made from only cows milk. The 19 Priestesses of the Goddess Brigid of Kildare made their own special type of 'Ghee' from sacred cows that lived on their land. This was used for cuts and wounds during childbirth and as wax for the fire that was kept lit there in honour of Brigid for over 1000 years.
Some people also claim that the Goddess Kilda is Ireland's counterpart to India's Goddess Kunti who resided in Kildare. The Goddess Kilda allegedly had shrines all over Ireland until the Christians came and destroyed them. Is it possible that the Sile Na Gigs are connected somehow to Kilda's shrines? It also is claimed that 'Kil' in old Irish means 'cave' which relates to the ultimate cave in the female body - The Cunt.
Legend has it that in Ireland the word 'Cunt' was once a birthing call for women in labor.
http://www.triviavoices.com/cunctipotence.html
http://mytinysecrets.com/why-consciously-awake-women-are-cunts/
http://www.amazon.com/Phallic-Worship-History-Sexual-Rites/dp/1859581951

Brigit has the same name as the goddess Brigid, derived from the Proto-Celtic *Brigantī "high, exalted." and ultimately originating with Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ-.

Some scholars have suggested that the saint is a Christianization of the goddess Brigid. Medieval Art Historian Pamela Berger, for example, argues that Christian "monks took the ancient figure of the mother goddess and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart. Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin and others suggest that the saint had been chief druidess at the temple of the goddess Brigid, and was responsible for converting it into a Christian monastery. After her death, the characteristics of the goddess became attached to the saint.

Three biographies agree that her mother was Brocca, a Christian Pict and slave who had been baptised by Saint Patrick. They name her father as Dubhthach, a chieftain of Leinster. The vitae say that Brigid's mother was a slave, and Dubthach's wife forced him to sell her to a druid when she became pregnant. Brigid herself was born into slavery. From the start, it is clear that Brigid is holy. When the druid tries to feed her, she vomits because he is impure. A white cow with red ears appears to sustain her instead. As she grows older, Brigid performs many miracles, including healing and feeding the poor. According to one tale, as a child, she once gave away her mother's entire store of butter. The butter was then replenished in answer to Brigid's prayers. Around the age of ten, she was returned as a household servant to her father, where her habit of charity also led her to donate his possessions to anyone who asked. In two vitae, Dubthach was so annoyed with her that he took her in a chariot to the king of Leinster, to sell her. While Dubthach was talking to the king, Brigid gave away his jewelled sword to a beggar to barter it for food to feed his family. The king recognized her holiness and convinced Dubthach to grant his daughter her freedom.

Fire was critical in human evolution.

About St Brigid's Fire.

Described by Giraldus Cambrensis in the 12th century, as having been tended by twenty "servants of the Lord", at the time of St Brigid; Brigid herself being the twentieth. When Brigid died the number stayed at nineteen. Each of the nineteen nuns took their turns at night and on the twentieth night the nineteenth nun puts the logs on the fire and St. Brigid miraculously tends the fire, which never goes out. Although the fire had been burning for some 600 years, by the time of Giraldus, the ashes had never had to be cleaned out and had never increased. He goes on to describe the fire being surrounded by a hedge which no man may cross. One archer who was with Strongbow is said by Giraldus to have crossed the hedge, and he went mad. Another had put his leg over the hedge when he was restrained by his companions. However the leg he put across was maimed and he was crippled for the rest of his life. There is another legend associating Brigid with fire. When she was a child, her mother had gone out one day leaving the child asleep. The neighbors saw the house on fire but when they went to rescue the child there was no fire. The cult of fire is very ancient indeed, going back into pre-history. The fire continued to be tended for at least 1,000 years, with one interruption in the 1200s when Henry of London, Norman arch-bishop of Dublin, ordered it to be extinguished as he considered the tending of the fire to be a pagan practice. It was soon re-lit, by the locals, but was finally extinguished at the Reformation.

Meet and learn about the Nuns of St. Brigid
and Sister Mary leader of the Brigidine Sisters.

Some historians record that a few attempts were made to have the fire extinguished but without success.  It survived possibly up to the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. The sacred fire/flame was re-lit in 1993, in the Market Square, Kildare, by Sister Mary Teresa Cullen, the then leader of the Brigidine Sisters, at the opening of a justice and peace conference.  The conference, entitled "Brigid: Prophetess, Earth woman, Peacemaker" was organized by Afri, (Action from Ireland), a justice, peace and human rights organization, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its St. Brigid's Peace Cross Project.  Since then, the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare have tended the flame in their center, Solas Bhride. Each year the flame burns in the town square for the duration of File Bride.This year will be significantly different.  On February 1st 2006 St. Brigid's Day, the flame will be lit in the town square by President Mary McAleese from the flame tended in Solas Bhride for the past fourteen years.

President McAleese to attend St Brigid's flame ceremony 2006

SPRING February 1st Imbolc Brigid's Feast

File Bride, the festival of St Brigid, has been running in Kildare since last week.   The highlight, however, takes place tomorrow on the feast of St Brigid, 1st February; the rekindling of the legendary St Brigid's flame. The ceremony will be presided over by a great ambassador for Irish women, President Mary Mc Aleese. Kildare County Council has commissioned a sculpture to house the flame.The piece comprises a twisted column, which flourishes at the top into large-scale oak leaves, nestled into which is a bronze acorn cup holding the flame.  The use of oak leaves symbolizes both the Christian beliefs of St. Brigid and the earlier Druidic worship of the trees.  Of course, the oak is also the namesake of Kildare, Cill Dara, Church of the oak.It is surely an apt and fitting tribute to honor this historic flame. The sculpture, designed by Brian Swan, is located in front of the Heritage Center in Market Square, Kildare.

Brigit's name comes from the root word brig and means "power, strength, vigour, force, efficiency.

St. Bride's Eve, is when that saint took over the functions of the earlier Goddess Brigit (a.k.a. Brigit "breet"; Brid "bre-eed"; Brid; Brigid; Brighid).

In St. Brighid's time - Medieval Music Database

St. Brigids Day Customs/Foods and Celtic Recipes

Ground hogs day had as its origin a pagan fesitival named Imbohlc wherein the goddess gives birth to her consort.

Oimelg, Briget's Eve or Imbolc
©1994 by Wendilyn Emrys, B.A.

We can trace Brigit's Eve back to Irish Keltic Tradition, and even into the pre-Keltic period, where it was called Oimelg or Oimelc or "sheep's milk." Oimelg is the time when the ewes are milked at the beginning of Spring. It is associated directly with the birth of the new lambs and indirectly with the rebirth of the agricultural world as a whole. It is specifically analogous with the life cycle of sheep. A female lamb born in late January or early February, or in Oimelg time, will reach maturity and first enter into estrus from seven to eight months later. If she is then impregnated she will give birth by the next late January or early February in Oimelg time. The gestation period of sheep takes from 144 to 151 days. Later the term Oimelg or Oimelc was transformed into Imbolc or Imbolic. It is also associated with the words for "Power", "Renown" or "Fiery Arrow of Power = Breo-Saighead". Brigit is called "The Poetess".

MAYPOLE / MAY DAY DANCE

MAY 1: BELTAINE THE RETURN OF THE SUN
http://www.celticspirit.org/beltaine.htm

Beltaine is an anglicization of the Irish "Bealtaine" or the Scottish "Bealtuinn." While "tene" clearly means "fire," nobody really knows whether Bel refers to Belenus, a pastoral god of the Gauls, or is from "bel," simply meaning "brilliant." It might even derive from "bil tene" or "lucky fire" because to jump between two Beltane fires was sure to bring good fortune, health to your livestock, and prosperity. When the Druids and their successors raised the Beltaine fires on hilltops throughout the British Isles on May Eve, they were performing a real act of magic, for the fires were lit in order to bring the suns light down to earth. In Scotland, every fire in the household was extinguished, and the great fires were lit from the need-fire which was kindled by 3 times 3 men using wood from the nine sacred trees. When the wood burst into flames, it proclaimed the triumph of the light over the dark half of the year.
Then the whole hillside came alive as people thrust brands into the newly roaring flames and whirled them about their heads in imitation of the circling of the sun. If any man there was planning a long journey or dangerous undertaking, he leaped backwards and forwards three times through the fire for luck. As the fire sunk low, the girls jumped across it to procure good husbands; pregnant women stepped through it to ensure an easy birth, and children were also carried across the smoldering ashes. When the fire died down, the embers were thrown among the sprouting crops to protect them, while each household carried some back to kindle a new fire in their hearth. When the sun rose that dawn, those who had stayed up to watch it might see it whirl three times upon the horizon before leaping up in all its summer glory.

The Rites of Spring

Beltaine was a time of fertility and unbridled merrymaking, when young and old would spend the night making love in the Greenwood. In the morning, they would return to the village bearing huge budding boughs of hawthorn (the may-tree) and other spring flowers with which to bedeck themselves, their families, and their houses. They would process back home, stopping at each house to leave flowers, and enjoy the best of food and drink that the home had to offer. In every village, the maypoleusually a birch or ash polewas raised, and dancing and feasting began. Festivities were led by the May Queen and her consort, the King who was sometimes Jack-in-the-Green, or the Green Man, the old god of the wildwood. They were borne in state through the village in a cart covered with flowers and enthroned in a leafy arbor as the divine couple whose unity symbolized the sacred marriage of earth and sun.

CELEBRATE BELTAINE TODAY...

Arise at dawn and wash in the morning dew: the woman who washes her face in it will be beautiful; the man who washes his hands will be skilled with knots and nets.
If you live near water, make a garland or posy of spring flowers and cast it into stream, lake or river to bless the water spirits.
Prepare a May basket by filling it with flowers and goodwill, then give it to one in need of caring, such as a shut-in or elderly friend.
Beltane is one of the three "spirit-nights" of the year when the faeries can be seen. At dusk, twist a rowan sprig into a ring and look through it, and you may see them.
Make a wish as you jump a bonfire or candle flame for good luck but make sure you tie up long skirts first!
Make a May bowl wine or punch in which the flowers of sweet woodruff or other fragrant blossoms are soaked and drink with the one you love.

May-day in Ireland was very strictly observed, as it had been in Babylon ages before. "Even now," says Mrs. Bryant, "in remote places, if the fire goes out in a peasant's house before the morning of the first of May, a lighted sod from the priest's house to kindle it is highly esteemed." On that day they once burnt hares, from a fancy that they stole the butter. [1]

Ancient Irish Instrument ornamented with birds found at Ballymoney, County Antrim From The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 1, Number 41, April 6, 1833

IRWMST-L has been set up by the Irish Higher Education Equality Unit for people involved or interested in Women's Studies in Ireland. It is hoped that the list will facilitate discussions of teaching and research, exchanges of information and advice, and increased contact. Send subscription message SUB IRWMST-L Forename Surname to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.HEA.IE

Evolutionary Science

Keep in mind the the Celts migrated from a large area of Europe, over to the shore, tne to England, and then on to Ireland.  The Celts were not the first ones there!  The legends tell of 2 earlier races before the current inhabitants showed up.

An Analysis of Pre-Christian Ireland Using Mythology and A GIS
Dimitra-Alys A. Caviness

This paper synthesizes cultural anthropology and archaeology: it promotes mythology as a historic source for archaeological research, and uses GIS to help interpret mythological and geographical data relevant to the Celts of pre-Christian Ireland. The ArcView program establishes correlation between geographic characteristics and pre-Christian Ireland's mythology, recorded in the dindshenchas - a collection of legends describing the origins of Irish place-names. Routes are predicted by ArcView using a cost analysis query procedure and sites from the dindshenchas known to associate with the roads, thus providing archaeological reference to the Five Roads of Tara, the ancient Seat of Ireland's High Kings.
Introduction
There are, in anthropology, several themes that continually challenge the attempt to understand the past. Among these themes is the dichotomy presented by the notion that both cultural continuity and cultural change occur over time. It is the attempt to understand this dichotomy and explore themechanisms of continuity and change that provide anthropology and its subfields of archaeology, linguistics, cultural anthropology and physical anthropology with fascinating questions. In response, each subfield has developed its own favorite theories and methods of investigation, thus causing a degree of divisiveness within anthropology as a whole.

There has never been any snakes in Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day March 17th which as you know celebrates Patrick's success at ridding  Ireland of all the snakes.
Snakes have always been identified with the Goddess Religion. St. Bridget was a Pagen Goddess and St. Peter did his best to get rid of the Goddess Religion. Rome wanted to control the cash flow and power.

The development of methods and tools for controlling and using fire was critical in human evolution. Evidence exists for deliberate fire use in the PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, beginning about 500,000 years ago. Fire was very precious, it required constant attention and was affectionately kept in a special place.

Hapiru - Hebrews (the "Dusty Ones" from the mountains and the deserts) - called themselves "The Children of Israel (Yaakov son of Avraham)" Yaakov has 12 sons by his 2 wives and 2 concubines who turn into the 12 tribes of Israel, people who would later become known as the Jews.

• A Synagogue has an ever lasting light burns daily and is not allowed to ever go out. And "Lag Ba'Omer" the Lighting bonfires, a central form of celebrating until this day in Israel among religious and non-religious Jews, is quite likely based on an ancient, heathen, light-ceremonial. It is the 33rd day between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (the timing means the holiday usually occurs in late spring).
• On Friday nights - Challa literally means that portion of dough which, according to the Law, was to be separated and dedicated to God [Goddess]. During the time when the Temple was in existence it was given to the Priest. [Use to be the Priestess / Goddess ] Afterwards the custom developed of taking a piece of raw dough and burning it in the fire, thus symbolising the portion which formerly went to the Priest. Since the kneading of the dough was done by women, [Earth Goddess] this was one of the few mitzvoth (commandments) which was made their special responsibility, just like the lighting of Shabbath candles'. [ FIRE ] As the burning of the raw dough was done when the loaves were made for Shabbath, the term Challa has come to be applied to the Shabbath or Festival loaves of bread. [Earth Goddess source of all life] A directory of links for the Jewish holiday Lag Ba'Omer, The links represent a range of information about the Lag Ba'Omer, including explanations of the holiday, traditions (such as the lighting of bonfires), and biographies of Rabbi Akiva.
  

The Cult of Isis worshipped the goddess with fire.

• MayPole Dance People did everything in their power to encourage the growth of the sun and his light. Fires, celebration and ritual were an important part of the festivities to ensure the warmth of the sun's light and to promote the fecundity of the earth.
• Yule log that must burn for 12 days at Christmas time.
• Candlemass - all candles are lit and blessed.
• Hindus and Zoroastrians - Iranians and Indians share the same ancestors identified as proto-Indo-Iranians. These people belonged to the Indo-European family of nations and lived as pastoralists on the Southern Russian steppes, to the east of Volga. Pre-Zoroastrian religion of the ancient ancestors centered on natural/nature cults mostly belonging to the Stone Age, such as the cults of water and fire.
  Fire, the provider of heat and light and the source of life and growth, was the center of all religious rituals of the ancient Indo-Iranians, and till this day, fire plays an important role in the religious ceremonies of the Hindus and Zoroastrians.

Irish Library

Irish American Books

Ireland Google

How the Irish Invented Slang

ISBN: 9781904859604
Subtitle:
The Secret Language of the Crossroads

2007 American Book Award