Our Tribe

Our organization, which we sometimes call “our community” or “our tribe”, is made up of several independent households in the Delaware Valley.  While in the past Celtic tribes may have been centered around ties of kinship, fealty to a particular chieftain and/or ancestral heritage, our tribe was founded based upon a desire to establish religious ties between our households.

We call our tribe “Tuacondate” (approximately… TOO-ah-KAHN-da-ta).  This name was developed using a combination of proto-Celtic words and essentially means “people from where two rivers meet”.  We feel that this is a fitting name for our tribe considering our location in regards to the Delaware and Schuykill Rivers.

Tuacondate is under the patronage of Nuada, Brighid and Lugh.  They are the “chieftain deities” of our tribe and we turn to them and seek their counsel via divinations and omens and ask them to assist and guide our community.

Not all individuals who belong to the organization called “The Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans of the Delaware Valley” will consider themselves members of the “tribe”.  Membership in the “tribe” is defined by participation in the group activities – particularly activities where the community comes together to honor the Deities, the Spirits and Ancestors.  Membership is not something that is stated “outright” in some sort of initiatory ritual, but is something that is naturally recognized by the other households in the “tribe” based upon the individual actions of a particular household.  In other words, there is a mutual recognition among the households as to which households are a member of the community based upon desire and participation.   We have no initiations and no “gurus”.  We are a simple organization and believe that each individual is the priest/priestess of his own household  with its own deities, ancestors and spirits.

Individual households in our community have their own deities and pantheons which they honor, have their own ancestors and acknowledges their own spirits of the land.  Each household may also have its own way of doing things, with its own rituals, prayers and practices.  Some of our households may follow an Irish path and honor the Tuatha De Danann while others follow a path more geared towards understanding the religious practices of those in ancient Gaul.  Some households may apply the principles of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism very conservatively to their household practices to the complete exclusion of other systems and other households may apply these principles more liberally.  Anyone is welcome in our tribe regardless of individual household beliefs as long as they respect the prinicples of the larger group and demonstrate honor, hospitality and piety in daily life.

Our tribe meets as a gathering of independent households in order to establish ties between our households, to socialize, to support each other in our religious practices and to engage in education regarding the culture, language, folklore and mythology of the Celtic speaking individuals who inhabited certain areas of Europe in pre-Christian times.

Our community meets monthly for education and socialization.  We also meet for four major celebrations throughout the year.  These are:

• Oíche Shamhna/Samhain (generally around October 31st)
  • A celebration in honor of the ancestors.  A time when the “veils are thin” and when communication with the ancestors is easily achieved via divinations and omens.
• Lá Fhéile Bríd/Oímealg/Imbolc (generally around February 2nd)
  • A celebration in honor of the Goddess Brighid and the first signs of the coming of Spring.
• Lá Bealtaine/Bealtaine (generally around May1st)
  • A celebration in honor of the land, the coming of the growing season and of the spirits and
    deities of the land.
• Lá Lúnasa/Lughnasadh (generally around August 1st)
  • A celebration in honor of the God Lugh and his foster mother Tailtui.  A celebration of
    thanksgiving for the blessings and boons that have been bestowed upon us by the gods, the
    land and our own hard work.

Our celebrations generally follow a simple format where we gather as a community, prepare the food together, organize the celebration area together and set up any shrines and make offerings to the Patrons of our group and to any other Deities we may be honoring.  We then celebrate a meal as a community, in the presence of the invited deities, ancestors and spirits, and tell stories, play musical pieces and perform divinations.  It is a very simple, but fulfilling, way of doing things.

In addition to our four major celebrations, certain members of the community may gather together to engage in “seership” and divination practices or they may join another household in honoring its particular deities.  For example, at midsummer, several of us make a pilgrimage to the ocean to present offerings to Manannan mac Lir in the form of a reed boat containing offerings which we float out to sea on the waves.

When joining us, we ask that you observe certain rules of hospitality by making all feel welcome at our community gatherings regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and etc.  Further, we ask that you show respect to any visitors or devotees of “foreign” deities at our community gatherings.  We also ask that you act in a respectful manner towards those in our community and our guests by not engaging in mean-spirited arguments, impolite behavior, intimidation, disrespect of another’s spiritual practices or anything similar at our community gatherings and meetings.