Here’s an article that I wrote for the 2024 Beltane edition of the Òran Mór Celtic E‐Zine that explores the history of the Fire Festival of Beltane.
The Sacred Fires of Beltane
Category: Music
Noctiluca
Once upon a time, long, long, ago, there was a Celtic band called Noctiluca. Now, you might say, Noctiluca is not a Celtic name. No, it is not. Unfortunately, no one in the band spoke Gaelic. Noctiluca was the best they could come up with. One of the band members was an oceanographer, and Noctiluca, meaning “night lights” in Latin, is the name of a genus of microscopic phytoplankton that produce bioluminescence at night. Go figure, eh?