We were so much enjoying just being lazy for once, that we got a late start today after breakfast at “home.”
We first went to take a look at Dumbarton Castle. This castle has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Great Britain. It overlooks the Scottish town of Dumabrton and sits on a plug of volcanic basalt know as Dumbarton Rock, which is 240 feet high. The presence of a settlement is first recorded in a letter Saint Patrick wrote to King Ceretic of Alt Clut (or Clyde Rock) in the late 5th century. This is the castle I tried to get a picture of from our cruiseship, but it was too foggy.
Then we headed south to Mearns Kirk. February 1 is Brigid’s Day. "This is the day of Bride, the Queen will come from the mound" goes the Celtic song and the lore about Life's energy returning again after winter.
Apparently they knew such things in the early times of Albion, the Scotland of today. Some people call the British Isles the new Holy Land, and in the early days of these isles, Mary Magdalene was not dismissed as an apostle.
Barry Dunford, in “Vision of Albion, the Key to the Holy Grail” reflects on the fact that there are many, many religious sites in Scotland dedicated to St. Bride , while there are none specifically dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. "This is rather unusual," he says, " when other leading personalities around Jesus, as well as Christ Himself, are venerated in numerous chapels and churches throughout this region of Scotland. There was certainly no antagonism towards Mary Magdalene in the early Celtic Christain church. Could the simple explanation for this omission be due to the fact that the Gaelic people of the Hebrides and the west highlands of Scotland knew of Mary Magdalene as the Holy (Saint) Bride of Christ?"
In the Mearns Kirk there is a beautiful stained glass window which is called "St. Brigid." Brigid is the Goddess of these Celtic lands. In this window, there are the typical symbols associated with Mary Magdalene--her long beautiful hair, her book of wisdom and contemplation, her towers which represent her role as protector of the land, people , and city. Perhaps St. Brigid /St.Bride was thought of as a partner to Jesus, Bride and Beloved of Christ. Margaret Starbird describes how the Song of Songs in other lands was the most popular poetry of love and lovers, and that when Jesus was seen as filling the messiah role of God, people looked around for his Goddess, because the Song of Songs in the Bible told them there would be a goddess, a lover. In the northern lands where the religious stories flowed from the Celtic Druid clergy into the Jesus teachings, they too expected a Bride, a Goddess, to be a part of Him in sacred union. Mary Magdalene most likely became St. Bride, the Holy Bride of Christ.
Unfortunately, the church was locked when we arrived. I walked around to see if I could find the window from the outside and I did. If we had been able to walk in, it would have been to our left. Hopefully you can see some of the details from the pictures I took.
Then we went by McDonald’s so I could do some posting to this blog. If you see strange notations or numbers in some of the posts, they are just reminders to me that I need to add pictures later—it takes WAY too much time to upload pictures. Even I can’t stand spending that much time at McDonald’s.
Sainsbury’s way right across the street—or roundabout, I should say. So we pooped in to find a small skillet for scrambling my eggs in the morning and some goodies. Ray is cooking chicken now.
Other interesting notes for today:
1) funny how you can go to a superstore here and still not find a pad of paper. Or alcohol—it is the best thing for cleaning rings—but none here. I suppose I need to go to a pharmacy for it. Here, there are many more specialty stores for things: newsagents—who sell newspapers and greeting cards and snacks, stationery stores probably sell the paper we were looking for.
2) the word for car tires is spelled tyres
3) The aisle in the grocery store had a sign above it saying that that aisle had: Chocolate, Confectionery, Squash—interesting to include a vegetable here until you realize that Squash means fruit juice as you squash the fruit to get the juice.
pictures from top: Dumbarton Rock; St. Brigid stained glass window from outside; here is what the stained glass of St. Brigid would've looked like if we had been able to get inside.
