Kildonan Times issue 35 February 2003

Welcome to Kildonan Times ezine! Kildonan Times is the occasional newsletter/ezine of the novel, Clovenstone, and beyond to things medieval, Celtic, literary, and mythic.

BACK ISSUES OF KILDONAN TIMES are now published on the Kildonan Times website. If you wish to subscribe to, read or print any of the back issues, the Kildonan Times website can be accessed from pages on Clovenstone Celtic Medieval Fantasy Novel or you can go directly to the website at Kildonan Times . You can also sign up to subscribe to Kildonan Times at either website.

Your Kildonan Times is a little later than usual this month. That's because I changed to a different mail service. Thanks to Eric Williams of Friends of Allen website for setting it up for me. Kildonan Times is now coming to you in html web code. If you do not get any pictures, or have trouble reading it, please let me know at clovenstone@aol.com, and I will send you a text version of the ezine.

MEDIEVAL FOODS

Brown Peasant Bread

This is not a medieval recipe. It is a fake medieval recipe, with some modern ingredients in it. The product, though, is dark and heavy, much like the peasant breads of yore. I have never made it, but my husband makes it every now and then, and it's always a hit with guests. It's particularly good with a hearty soup or used to sop up gravy.

2 and 1/2 c. warm water
1 T. dry yeast
1/2 c. dark molasses (black strap if possible)
1 c. wheat gluten
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. rye flour
1 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. oat flakes
salt

1/2 to 1 cup additional whole wheat flour
additional oat flakes
vegetable oil or oil spray

1. Stir yeast and molasses into water.
2. Mix all dry ingredients except the additional flour and oat flakes.
3. Combine dry mixture with yeast mixture. Knead in additional flour to form a workable dough.
4. Let rise in bowl (covered) until size doubles.
5. Punch down and shape into two loaves or rounds. Oil the loaves and roll them in oat flakes.
6. Place the loaves on oiled cookie sheet(s), cover, and let rise for 45 minutes.
7. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until done. Check after 35 minutes of baking, as some ovens are faster than others.

PORTRAITS

This is a new feature in Kildonan Times. In it, I will draw a word portrait of one of the characters from the Kildonan Chronicles. I will not only describe the character, but tell how I created the character, and what influences helped shape it.

Cormac

Cormac's name is taken from the name of the legendary Irish Celtic king of Tara. I had originally called the character "Padraig." But, in talking to readers of the early version of Clovenstone, I found that they visualized "Padraig" as a little man in green sitting under a rainbow with a pot of gold on his head - the stereotypical leprechaun. That wasn't what I wanted at all, so I changed the name to one that had no popular connection, but still was Celtic.

Cormac is a member of the Little People (Little Folk), who are the brownies, leprechauns, elves, dwarves, pixies, faeries, and such. Actually, particularly in older tales, brownies, elves, and some other creatures that we now visualize as being little were the size of humans.

Cormac is a fyr derrig (fear dearc, far darrig. for derrig, for duearga), which means "red man." In most legends the fyr derrig is a small gray-haired gnome in a scarlet hat and coat, but the Fear Dearc of Donegal is a huge red-haired prankster. The Little People are also called the Ad-Hene, or "Themselves," which is a Manx Gaelic word for them. I use both Little People and Ad-Hene in Clovenstone and Stones Seven.

The fyr derrig in Clovenstone, Cormac, draws on the legendary fyr derrig, but is mostly from my imagination. Cormac is short, only three feet tall. He has a beard and longish hair, mostly brown but threaded with gray. His age appears fiftyish, but is really indeterminate. He could be over a hundred years old. He's not telling.

Cormac wears an old-fashioned brown frock coat, for the most part. In the winter the coat has a half-cape on it and is of heavier wool. He always wears a hat, usually a brown or green felt with a brim like a farmer's hat. Sometimes he has a Robin Hood type hat, and sometimes a stocking cap. Under the brown coat he wears his red fyr derrig coat, a splendid coat with large brass buttons up the front of it. On special occasions he will take off his brown coat and strut around in his red one.

He carries a haversack, a large pack or sack with a strap that goes over one shoulder. This haversack has an amazing capacity, yet never seems to look any bigger no matter what all is put into it. Cormac has other magickal talents, like shooting flames from his fingertips, and "scooning," transporting himself over great distances in seconds.

Cormac is always hungry, has a bit of a testy personality, and is popular with readers. I had one reviewer name Cormac as his favorite character in Clovenstone.

According to legend, if a fyr derrig comes knocking at your door, let him in. He will sit by the hearth and bring you good luck. Cormac doesn't do much hearth sitting, but before he met Fiona, he watched over children and travelers in the forest, protecting them as best as he could from harm. When he comes upon Fiona in the The Greenwald, he senses her magic stone and feels premonitions of great and dangerous things ahead. So he attaches himself to her as a "familiar," or magickal protector, and travels with her through all of the Kildonan adventures.

I have a pile of "Celtic" music CDs. My internet friend in Canada, Claude (aka Lady Bird), also has a pile of Celtic music, not only on CDs, but on her computer and her website Castle Cove (http://castle_cove.tripod.com). We were emailing back and forth about Celtic music, and that got me to thinking of all the kinds of Celtic music I have heard, from rousing local Irish folksingers on Prince Edward Island to Enya.

I put "Celtic" in parentheses, as the name applies to a variety of musical types, not all historic. For the most part, when one thinks of Celtic music, one visualizes dreamy, misty music floating over the moors and mountains. Or, perhaps you like the rollicking rhythm of jigs and dance tunes played and danced to a festivals and in pubs, and that's Celtic music to you. Celtic music can come from a lot of places and take many forms. The present areas of the world that have the most peoples of Celtic ancestry are Britain, Ireland, Brittany in France, and pockets of Celts in the U.S. They all produce their own music.

The web site Standing Stones, What is Celtic music? (http://www.standingstones.com/celtmusic.html) by Celtic musicians Michael Robinson and Vicki Parrish puts it very well:

"The beginning of this probably started to happen around the time the television series The Celts (about the ancient Celts) appeared with new-agey theme music by Enya. However, Riverdance accelerated the process tremendously. The term 'Celtic' is now starting to get applied to groups playing what used to be called 'pub ballads', not to mention movie theme music (if it uses a whistle), new age music, and even classical music composed by anybody who lived for any length of time in Scotland, Ireland, etc. So far Handel's Messiah (which received its first performance in Dublin) has escaped this, but if a way can be found to add low whistle or uilleann pipes to his orchestration, who knows? I have even seen Haydn's and Beethoven's rather Germanic settings of Scottish songs being referred to as 'Celtic'!"

I went to Google, and came up several hundred websites for "Celtic Music." Most of them wanted to sell you their CDs. But if you're really interested in music, you might want to explore some of the factual and musical sites. Claude, who is French, sent me a list of websites she likes for Celtic music. Ceolas was one I have gone to frequently in the past. Enya and Loreena are well-known to any lover of Celtic music, but a couple of Claude's sites are not so well known in the U.S., and will widen your musical background.

Claude's List

Ceolas celtic music archive
http://www.ceolas.org/ceolas.html

my fave French Celtic Breton group
Tri Yann: Brittany
http://www.rootsworld.com/interview/triyann.html

Tri Yann official website in French
TRI YANN: Le site officiel
http://edoll.free.fr/

French Folk Group playing sometimes with Tri Yann
MP3 page under construction, but the music on the homepage is really great
Elixir, le groupe folk de Lorraine.
http://elixirfolk.chez.tiscali.fr/Accueil.htm

enya.com | The Official Enya Website
http://www.enyamusic.com/

Loreena McKennitt Table Of Contents
http://www.quinlanroad.com/flash.html

HERBS

In my discussions of herbs in all the issues of Kildonan Times, I present only general information. It is not intended to be a guide for the use of the herbs. If you wish to use any of the herbs described in Kildonan Times, consult an herbalist or a definitive guide book to using herbs.

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chickweed: Almost any plant that grows has some part that is useful, and that includes the lowly chickweed. Chickweed is found all over the world, creeping between stepping stones and along fence rows and irritating the gardeners who have to pull it up all the time.

As a food, you can boil chickweed and eat it like spinach. It does have a fair amount of nutrition, including trace elements and several vitamins, most notably vitamin C. The texture isn't great, but the flavor isn't bad, even a little salty. It would go well in a mixed greens pottage. Raw, it would add flavor to a tossed green salad.

Chickweed has a host of traditional medical properties, and is of interest to modern science testing these properties. It can be used fresh or dried. It is most notably used for constipation or anything else having to do with digestion, including ulcers. The fresh plant can be eaten raw, or made into a tea. Crushed fresh leaves are a good poultice for any kind of external wound or sore.

It can also be made into a salve by mixing it with lard or Vaseline that is good for healing and for improving skin quality. Culpeper (1616-1654) said that chickweed "boiled with hog's grease applied, helpeth cramps, convulsions, and palsy." In fact, so many medical uses are attributed to this little weed, that you can try using it for whatever ails you!

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anise: Anise seeds, like fennel seeds, are good for digestion. Anise and fennel have similar flavors, and are both Mediterranean plants that were carried around the world in ancient trade. Both anise and fennel seeds are found in medieval recipes, and an equally popular today. Anise is sweeter than fennel, and used for candies and the liqueur, anisette.

Both anise and fennel are used extensively in baking, casseroles, meats, and sauces. From Swedish springerle to Italian biscotti to German lebkuchen, anise flavors the world.

Anise, like chickweed, is good for any digestive problem, including colic. Anise oil in warm milk before bed promotes restful sleep. A tea of fennel, caraway, and anise makes a good intestinal purifier.

Anise is also good for colds and bronchitis, and for asthma spasms. You can use a tea for these complaints. Even better to use is anisette, the liqueur. Taken in hot water, anisette will soothe your respiratory problems. Below is a recipe for making your own home made anisette. (from the Boke of Gode Cookery website)

• 5 tsp. anise seed, crushed
• 1 1/2 tsp. fennel seed, crushed
• 1 1/2 tsp. coriander, ground
• 1 cup honey
• 3 cups brandy

Combine the spices with the brandy and steep for 2 to 3 weeks. Shake the jar occasionally to mix the spices well. Strain liquid through a cheesecloth several times. Add honey and stir. Let stand until clear.

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My basic herb reference books for the herbs I use either for food or medicine in Clovenstone and Stones Seven are: The Herb Book by John Lust (Bantam Books), Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden by Robin Whitman (Bullfinch Press) and Herbs by Lesley Bremness (DK Publishing).

A FEW THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR (me, Ruth)

It was cold in Florida this weekend. The homeless sought shelter from nights in the thirties. A local paper showed and interviewed folk in a salvation army shelter. I was struck by one picture of a fellow who was interviewed. The photo showed him lying on a folding cot, reading a book. Life on the road is his choice. Sleeping under bridges and under bushes is how he lives.

We see these wandering folk all the time flowing past our subdivision on their way to Key West or Miami for the winter. Then they flow back North in the spring. You may be tempted to say, "Who are these lost souls?" But I don't think a lot of them are really lost. They're following their own life pattern.

There are poets, writers, musicians, in that stream going by my gates. They play and recite on streets for coins in St. Augustine and Seattle. Or, a step up, they perform as contortionists or tale tellers in collective shows like the sunset on the pier in Key West. Then they stuff their belongings in a backpack and guitar case, and move on. They follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, the wandering poets and players of times past. I'm not talking about the professional trained harpers and troubadours. I'm talking about the poor, the homeless vagrants, who sang for their suppers and lived by their wits in the olden days.

Yes, the modern swagmen drink too much. But so did their medieval counterparts. They probably steal, too. That's nothing new, either. They're a problem to society, but a few of them enrich society, too. They are a colorful subculture that has always been around.

St. Augustine chased the transient artists off touristy historic St. George Street a year ago. I missed, this year when I went there, the violin players, the mime, the man with the parrot, and the woman who paints herself all silver and poses without moving for hours. There were vagrant beggars on St. George Street, too. There were problems. But the public hue and cry over the banning of the vagabond performers is causing the authorities to consider another way of handling the situation. Maybe next year I'll get to hear the violinist in the green tights again—if he wanders that way.

R