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Boldly rendered in fine pewter, our exclusive Raven kilt pin captures the mystique of the mysterious bird, sacred to both the Celts and the Vikings.
This 4" tall, rugged pewter kilt pin design was drawn exclusively for USA Kilts by Doug Cavanagh at Celtic Hammer Club. The pin was hand cast in pewter and polished to a high shine in the UK. It has 2 straight pins and plunger clasps for a secure connection to your kilt.
The Celtic Lore of the Raven
Rather than the symbol of doom modern people see, the raven held complex and powerful significance for the ancients, intertwining concepts of war, prophecy, wisdom, and the cycle of life and death. Above all, the raven was a messenger between worlds; sacred to both Celtic and Norse gods. It represents intelligence, prophecy, and the power of change. As carrion eaters, black ravens would feed upon the dead on battlefields. It was thus easy to associate the bird with war deities.
For the Celts, the raven was connected to the Irish triple-goddess The Morrígan. The so-called "Phantom Queen" was personified by three different entities: Badb ("Battle Crow"), Macha, and Nemain ("Frenzy"). All three are associated with crows and ravens.
As a shapeshifter, the Morrígan would transform into a raven or crow to appear on the battlefield. Her presence could foretell the outcome of a battle or stir the frenzy of warriors. She also claimed warriors as her own. For instance when the warrior Cú Chulainn was about to die, the Morrígan raven alighted on his shoulder to claim him.
The ancient Irish proverb, "To have a raven's knowledge," meant to have a seer's supernatural vision, and this may be related to the idea that ravens and crows were seen as messengers between the mortal world and the Otherworld. As mediators between life and death, ravens represented liminal spaces. This was seen not as morbid, but as a representation of the natural cycle of life and death.
Welsh mythology includes a god named after the raven - Brân the Blessed. It’s said his severed, prophetic head was buried in London to protect Britain from invasion, a legend tied to the ravens kept at the Tower of London.
Ravens were also a favored bird of the Celtic god of arts and artisans, Lugh (Irish) or Lludd (Welsh), who was attended by two ravens. In Scottish myth, the winter goddess, The Cailleach, sometimes appeared in raven form.
The Norse Lore of the Raven
The most famous ravens of myth are those kept by the Norse Chieftain god Óðinn; Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory").
The birds are extensions of Odin's power and act as his spies and messengers. Each day they fly around the multiverse of Yggdrasil - the world tree - and return to their master, the "raven god", with the news.
As with the Celts, ravens were also important to the Vikings as symbols of war and the cycle of life and death. Supposedly, ravens were also considered helpful to navigation since they unerringly found land.
