This was a paper written for Anthropology of Religion, a class I took at Plymouth State college in Fall 1998. Why do I put it on my webpage? Well, I learned alot while working on this. Most people's conception of mythology is limited to so-called "Classical" Greek and Roman myths. Once I began reading some of the Celtic myths, I was very interested. I hope you will, too.
Celtic mythology is one of the oldest mythologies of Europe. It
is complex with stories of heroes and warriors, kings and queens, divinity
and mortality, sexuality, and ribaldry.
The Insular [Irish] Celts were not a literate people. They did
not write down their stories or any of their knowledge. The mythology was
handed down orally from generation to generation within certain sects of
society. Roman travelers wrote of the Celtic religions with little
detail. When Christianity found its way to Ireland with St Patrick, the
native religions were suppressed to the point of near-extinction.
Monastic scholars, knowing that Pagan religions were outlawed by the
Church, began writing down some of the oral traditions that were passed on
through the ages, but many of these were written with a Christian spin on
them. Archaeological evidence turned up along the way and helped to
clarify what the monks recorded [Green, 1993]
According to Gertz [1973], symbolism in mythology is important
because it serves as a means of transmitting the meaning of things.
Symbolic analysis is primarily descriptive and does not work well with
methodology or quantitative analysis. With imaginative insight, the
symbolism of an event can be interpreted.
This paper will focus on two Insular myths and the symbolism
involved with events and characters. The myths to be studied are the Book
of Invasions, and the Ulster Cycle. Sacral Kingship will also be
discussed as a means to understand key aspects of the two myths.
Book of Invasions
The [Celtic language name], or Book of Invasions, is the creation
myth of the Celts. It tells the story of a series of invasions to the
land that led to the shaping of the land, society, and the people. The
land is shaped in the second and third invasions during battle.
Territories and kingships were established by the Fir Bholg. The 6th
invasion describes how mortals finally arrived on Ireland, and how the
divine and the mortal coexist today.
The Book of Invasions was first written in the 12th Cn by monastic
scholars. This was based on previous compilations made in the 7th Cn
[Green, 1993].
The 1st invasion was led by Cesair, granddaughter of Noah, or
possibly daughter of Banbha, one of three eponyms of Ireland. When the
Great Flood began, her husband, Fintan, left her and turned himself into a
salmon in order to survive [Ellis, 1989]. Fintan in still invoked to tell
the Irish past [Mac Cana, 1968].
The 2nd invasion, led by Partholon, resulted in the formation of 7
lakes and 4 cleared plains. Partholon also led his people in battle
against the Formorians, a demonic race that had previously lived in
Ireland. This battle was the first battle fought on Irish land.
Partholon and his people were later wiped out by a plague [Mac Cana,
1968].
The 3rd invasion saw the arrival of Nemhedh. With his arrival, 4
more lakes were formed and 12 plains cleared. When Nemhedh died, the
Formorians came back and ruled over his people. They taxed very harshly,
taking two thirds of the harvest and children, collecting their tax on
Samhein. The two groups went to war by sea. Nemhedh's people sailed to
the Formorian fort in two boats. Neither boat ever made it to its target.
One boat was blown to Greece, and the other to northern islands [Mac Cana,
1968].
The 4th invasion was the return of the Nemhedhians from Greece.
They were now known as Fir Bholg. They divided the land into 5 provinces;
Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Meath around the center at
Uisnech. The Fir Bholg introduced kingship. Eochaid mac Eirc, one of the
first kings, was seen as a model for kingship. Under his fair reign, the
land prospered. Righteousness of the king resulted in prosperity of the
land and people [Mac Cana, 1968].
The 5th, and most important invasion, was the return of the
Nemhedhians from the northern islands, where they had begun to practice
magick and druidic arts. They were known as Tuatha de Danann, the People
of the Goddess Danu. They brought with them 4 talismans: the Stone of
Fal, which shrieked by touch of the rightful king, the Spear of Lugh,
which ensured victory, the Sword of Nuadha, from which no one escaped, and
the Cauldron of Daghdha, which was inexhaustible. The Fir Bholg, however,
were not ready to give up their land to the Tuatha. The result was the
First Battle of Magh Tuiredh, where the Fir Bholg were defeated [Mac Cana,
1968].
It was during this battle that Nuadha, the Tuatha king, lost his
arm. One of the Tuatha's requirements for kingship was perfect health.
When word reached the people of what had happened to Nuadha, he lost his
kingship. Bres, half Formorian, stepped forward to assume the throne.
His reign, however, was abusive and oppressive. The land became barren,
and the Tuatha became subject to Formorian rule. It was during this time
that Dianchect made a new arm for Nuadha out of silver so that he could
reclaim kingship. He reclaimed power due to Bres's unpopularity [Green,
1993].
During a feast at the royal court, now established at Tara, a
young man arrived by the name of Lugh. He was permitted to enter the
court because he was skilled in many things. Lugh was an accomplished
craftsman, smith, poet, harper, magician, druid, historian, and warrior
[Mac Cana, 1968]. Nuadha gave Lugh control over the army to fight the
Formorians [Green, 1993].
Lugh's first strategies involved use of magick to make weapons, hide
lakes, rain fire and weaken the Formorians. The actual battle is known as
the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. There were many casualties on both
sides. However, the Tuatha were given the ability, through their magick,
to restore life. Lugh fought on the front lines with the men he led in
battle, saying incantations to give them fortitude. The Formorians were
routed. Bres was spared because he knew about agricultural cycles and the
Tuatha did not [Mac Cana, 1968].
The Formorians are seen as a counterbalance to the various immigrations.
Like the Tuatha, they are a divine race [Green, 1993]. They serve as a
darkness against the light of the Tuatha. They could never be fully
destroyed because they were needed for agriculture advice. The Formorians
and the Tuatha needed each other for survival.
One of the more significant stories from this battle is the slaying of the
Formorian leader, Balor of the Baneful Eye. His one eye was said to be
able to kill whole armies just by its gaze. A druidic prophecy foretold
that Balor's own grandson would kill him. He hid his daughter as best as
he could, but she bore three sons. Balor had the infants killed by
drowning. One of the infants, Lugh, survived and was brought up by the
Tuatha. During the battle, Lugh threw a spear into Balor's eye, killing
him and his armies immediately [Mac Cana, 1968].
Lugh was hero for the Tuatha, despite being half-Formorian himself [the
grandson of Balor]. He was skilled in many trades and made use of all of
them in battle. It was his spear, one of the 4 talismans the Tuatha
brought to Ireland, that killed Balor. Lugh is the archetypical god of
the Insular Celts. He is a multi-talented warrior and a skilled
craftsman.
The Tuatha had two significant leaders, Nuadha being one of them. The
other is known as Daghdha, literally, "good god". Daghdha was very wise
in magick and druid lore. He had two attributes: a club and a cauldron.
The cauldron was one of the four talismans brought over by the Tuatha to
Ireland. Those who drank from it were never thirsty again. It also
controlled the weather and crops from the Otherworld. Daghdha's club,
analogous to Thor's Mjollner, could kill from one end, and restore life at
the other end. Daghdha was known to be of very shabby appearance, wearing
a tunic that did not cover as much as it should have. He was also known
to have a disgusting appetite, especially for porridge [Green, 1993]. The
Formorians knew of this, and tried to use it against the Tuatha before the
Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. The Formorians caught him spying, and
forced him to eat a large abundance of porridge served in a hole dug in
the ground. He finished all of the porridge and fell asleep from the
massive meal. He awoke to find he was alone with a Formorian woman. They
mated on the agreement that she would magickally hinder the Formorians.
In another story, Daghdha encounters Morrigain in her form as the Washer
at the Ford, which usually foreshadows a deadly battle. Daghdha makes
love with her, ensuring that the Tuatha would be victorious over the
Formorians [Mac Cana, 1968]. He is also linked to the land by virtue of
his marriage to Boann, the goddess or the River Boyne [Green, 1986].
Daghdha is a father figure to the Tuatha. He is a shabby, nearly naked
man of large proportions with a huge appetite for food and sex. It is his
matings with women that reinforce his role as a father figure, and as a
god of fertility [Green, 1993]. He only marries Boann, a river goddess,
and cannot claim to be married to any land.
The only invasion that may be more significant than the 5th is the
6th. In this invasion, the Sons of Mil, later called the Gaels, land on
Ireland's shores from Spain on the holiday Beltane, 1 May. They
encountered three divine eponyms: Banbha, Folda, and Eriu. Each of the
three were promised that the land would be named after them. To the poet
Amhairghin, Eriu promised that the land would belong to them for all time
because of his politeness towards them. Donn, the leader of the Gaels, was
not as polite. For this, he was cast off the land to die on an island
[Mac Cana, 1968].
The Gaels went to Tara and demanded surrender of the land.
Amhairghin advised a retreat to regroup and gather more forces. When they
set out for Tara once again, a wind rose up that kept them from making
landfall. Amhairghin invoked the goddesses of the land and the wind
stopped, allowing them to land [Mac Cana, 1968].
The Tuatha and the Gaels divided the land into two parts: an
Upperworld that the Gaels would live in, and an Otherworld that the Tuatha
would live in. The Tuatha live underground. However, each god and
goddess has their own passage to Upperworld through a "faery mound", or
sidh [Green , 1993]. Humans do not interfere with the Otherworld, and the
Tuatha do not interfere with the Upperworld. In Otherworld, time has no
meaning. A mortal visiting the Otherworld will not age one day. Upon
returning to Upperworld, however, the years will catch up to him almost
instantaneously [Green, 1993]. One of the rare times the two worlds do
interact is on Samhein, when the sidhs open up [Mac Cana, 1968].
Sacral Kingship
The Tuatha did not recognise one man as ruling over all five
provinces of Ireland. Each province had its own ruler. Tara was the site
of a council made up of the kings of each of the provinces [Mac Cana,
1968].
Tara was also the site of the Feis of Temhra, or Feast of Tara.
The Feast of Tara was the inauguration ceremony of a new king. It was a
ceremony in which the king was married to the sovereign goddess of the
land. The righteousness of the king was what gave prosperity to the land
[Mac Cana, 1968]. Eriu, one of the goddesses of the land, gave the king a
golden cup full of red wine to bind him to the land [Green, 1993]. For the
Insular Celts, this was an important process. A king must be carefully
chosen. The wrong king could spell disaster for the land.
A new king was elected from a group of possible candidates
descended down from royalty. One must be physically perfect to become
king. The Stone of Fal must shriek by his touch, and the royal chariot
must accept him [Green, 1993]. The king must be seen in a dream by a
participant in a druid ritual called tarbhfhess, or bull sleep [Mac Cana,
1968].
Ulster Cycle
First written in the 7th Cn, the Ulster Cycle had been passed on
for centuries by oral tradition. Three monks in Clonmacnois compiled
these writings around 1100 [Green, 1993].
The Ulster Cycle took place when the Tuatha de Danann occupied the
land. This myth tells the story of Tain Bo Cuailnge, or the Cattle Raid
of Cooley, in which Ulster and Connacht go to war over a prized bull.
This myth also tells the story of three great superhuman heroes: Ferghus
mac Roich, Conall Cernach, and the greatest hero, Cu Chulainn.
Queen Medb and her husband, Aillil, ruled over Connacht. They
begin comparing possessions, and are equally matched until Aillil tells of
a great bull he has. Medb searches the land for something to equal
Aillil's bull, but cannot. She hears of a supernatural bull, Donn, in
Ulster and raids Ulster to get it. On the night before the final battle,
the Donn is sent into Connacht for safety. The Donn encounters Aillil's
bull and the two animals battle all over Ireland in a battle symbolic of
the battle between Ulster and Connacht until finally, the Donn kills the
other bull with his horns, then died of exhaustion [Green, 1993].
Ferghus mac Roich was originally in Conchobar's court in Ulster.
The elopement and subsequent murder of Dierdre and Naiose led to the
defection of Ferghus and 3000 of his followers to Connacht [Ellis, 1989].
He is slain by Aillil while bathing in a lake with Medb.
Conall Cernach slept with the severed head of a Connachtman under
his knee [Green, 1993] perhaps symbolising a superiority over his enemies.
He was killed in battle by a spear forged by Vulcan [Green, 1986].
Cu Chulainn is considered the greastest hero of the Tain Bo
Cuialnge. He is conceived from Lugh and Deichtine, son and daughter of
Conchobar. This incest is said to have given him semi-divine status. At
the time of his birth, two horses are also born; the Grey of Macha and the
Black of Saingliu. Cu Chulainn gets his name when he kills the guard dog
of a smith, then promises to serve as a guard dog for the smith in return.
Cu Chulainn literally means the Hound of Culann [Mac Cana, 1968]. This
forms a sacred bond with dog-flesh that, if broken, will start the stage
for his demise. This bond symbolises, for Chulainn, becoming a dog by
replacing himself for a dog.
Cu Chulainn makes his way to the royal court of Conchobar by killing 150
of the youth brigade. He arrives in the court and demands to be given
arms. He had heard a prophecy from a druid, Cathbadh, that whoever goes
to the court and demands arms on a specific day, will have his name live
on in infamy. Chulainn destroys 15 weapons before being given the king's
own weapons [Mac Cana, 1968].
Cu Chulainn became one of the fiercest warriors for Ulster. He
can go into a battle rage, or berzerker, in which his body moves within
its skin, his hair stands on end, one eye becomes very large, and a halo
of light appears around his head [Mac Cana, 1968]. He is immune to
Macha's curse, which causes the men of Ulster to suffer from pain
equivalent to childbirth at critical times [Ellis, 1989].
Chulainn is closely associated with the supernatural. He is the
son of Lugh. He has seven pupils and as many digits on his hands and
feet. He has many encounters with Morrigain, the war goddess [Green,
1993].
His death is also foreshadowed by the supernatural. Having broken
his bond of dog-flesh, his death is now inevitable. One of his horses
cries tears of blood. On his way to his last battle, he encounters the
Washer at the Ford. He is killed in battle by a spear. As he dies, the
battle fury, in raven form this time, appear on his shoulder, inviting
others to decapitate him [Mac Cana, 1968].
The Washer at the Ford is usually one of the battle furies, the war
goddesses in one of their many forms. She is seen washing the blood off
of the armour of those that are going to die in the forthcoming battle.
This is the most common manifestation of the triad war goddess. The three
deities are Morrigain, who appears as the Washer at the Ford, Badhbha, who
appears over the battlefield as a hooded crow, and Nemhain, whose battle
cry causes fear so great that it is fatal [Mac Cana, 1968].
The representation of goddesses as being associated with battle in such a
way is symbolic of the domination women over their men. No better is this
symbolism illustrated than by Medb, whose husbands are merely sleeping
partners [Ellis, 1989]. This sexuality is related to the mother aspect of
the goddess and personification of the land, as well as fertility. A king
marries a goddess, hence, marries the land itself. The Tuatha de Danann,
in fact, are named after a goddess.
Conclusion
Insular Celtic mythology, the myths of the Celts in Ireland, is
full of tales of gods and goddesses, heroes, royalty, divinity, sexuality,
and symbolism to link all of these elements together. Gods as magickal
warriors and craftsmen. Goddesses as sexual queens of the land.
Sacral kingship is the clearest symbolism in Celtic mythology. It
symbolises the process through which one must go through to marry the
sovereign goddess of the land.
The Book of Invasions is the creation myth for the Celts. It
establishes how the gods and goddesses, as well as mortal people, got to
Ireland. It explains some of the landforms of the British Isles. It also
explains the duality of the two lands: the Upperworld, and the Otherworld.
Using symbolism, the Tuatha's talismans are explained.
The Ulster Cycle is important because it tells the story of
superhuman heroes. They are not gods, but are semi-divine. Cu Chulainn
might be considered the tragic hero of the story. He goes to the royal
court and demands arms after hearing a prophecy, granting fame. With fame
comes the price of a short life.
The Ulster Cycle also starts the idea that animals are
supernatural. The conflict between Ulster and Connacht starts with a
supernatural bull. It was not evident that the bull was a god appearing
in the form of a bull. However, gods appearing as animals was not
uncommon. Such was the case with the triad war goddess, Morrigain, who
would appear as a female or as a crow.
Symbolism gives us insight into the meaning of the myths. We can
interpret what a story was really trying to tell by analysing recurring
themes, and studying closely what one thing might represent.
References cited
Ellis, P.B. [1989]. A dictionary of Irish mythology. Santa Barbara, CA:
ABC-Clio.
Green, M.J. [1993]. Celtic Myths. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Green, M.J. [1986]. The gods of the Celts. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton.
Mac Cana, P. [1968]. Celtic Mythology. New York, NY: Peter Bedrick.
McGee, J. Warms, R. [1996]. Anthropological Theory. Mountain View, CA:
Mayfield