Mythology

[beloitpiper]

I was wandering around Wikipedia last night (one of my favorite activities!) and I stumbled across the article on Celtic mythology. I have to admit, it is quite entertaining. Here are some of my favorite little snippets (forgive me if they're wrong, I'm just pulling them from Wikipedia).

-Y Ddraig Goch (the red dragon of wales) once fought with an invading white dragon. His pained shrieks cause women to miscarry and animals and plants to become barren.

-Cúchulainn (the hero of Ulster) was almost undefeatable in battle due to his spear named the Gae Bulga (which sang for the blood of its enemies) and his warrior frenzy. When the "Warp-Spasm" overtook him: it seemed each hair was hammered into his head, so sharply they shot upright. You would swear a fire-speck tipped each hair. He squeezed one eye narrower than the eye of a needle; he opened the other wider than the mouth of a goblet. He bared his jaws to the ear; he peeled back his lips to the eye-teeth till his gullet showed. The hero-halo rose up from the crown of his head.
This frenzy caused him to turn about in his skin; his sinews bulged with knots the size of a baby's head; a poisonous black mist rose above his head; and he snapped his jaw shut with enough force to kill a lion, showering sparks. In this fearsome state he could not tell friend from foe, killing in front and behind alike.

-The Morrígan (the phantom queen of death) keeps a tryst with the Dagda before the battle against the Fomorians. When he meets her she is washing herself, standing with one foot on either side of the river Unius. After they have sex, the Morrígan promises to summon the magicians of Ireland to cast spells on behalf of the Tuatha Dé, and to destroy Indech, the Fomorian king, taking from him "the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valour".

[GMan]

Cuchulainn is probably the one who has inspired me the most. Glad you found the information.

[slohairt]

Dia Dhuit,

Actually they seem pretty accurate. When I was at university (UCD) we studied those stories quite extensively in my Irish folklore class. What always stands out to me is how blunt and to the point they were. Not a lot of subtley there. Our professor said that much early literature of humanity was like that. Juvenile, insomuch that it was like two young boys recounting a story. Plenty of detail and description concerning fighting but only passing detail about much else.

[wgority]

I've always enjoyed both of those tales, but, by far, my favourite is the myth cycle surrounding Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool). Waaaaaaaaaay back when I was an undergrad I took courses in Irish lit and mythology because I thought they'd be easy A's (and they were). But more than that, they reminded me of the tales of heros and gods that I'd heard from my father and grandfather as a boy. Those courses also drove my interest in my ancestry in Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Bill

[Rufus]

I just finished an Anthropology class titled "Prehistory of Europe" where we studied the Celts a bit, but sadly, there was little said about the myths. We talked about Cerrunos a bit, and a lot about Thor and Loki, but hardly anything about the other mythology. Our book on the subject didn't have much to say on the issue either. Too bad.

[McClef]

I found the following about the Red Dragon:

"The red Welsh dragon "Y Ddraig Goch" owes its origins to folklore and Arthurian legend. Originating from a serpent representing the Welsh God Dewi, Celtic King Arthur was said to have had a dream about a red dragon (symbolically representing Wales) which slayed a white dragon (which represented the Saxon invaders). In later times a crude red dragon design was adopted by Prince Llywelyn of Gwynedd in the 7th Century and taken into battle by Welsh hero Prince Owain Glyndwr in conflicts with the invading English. In later history, at the Battle of Bosworth, Welsh-born King Henry VII (Henry Tudor, crowned 1485) unfurled the red dragon, which he in turn had adopted as his own emblem. As such, the beloved red dragon has always represented the defiant Welsh nation; iconising Wales's unique cultural and historic heritage as a proud and ancient nation which has long survived external threat. The Welsh dragon is often associated with the motto, "Y Ddraig Goch a ddyry Gychwyn" - or "The red dragon will show the way".

The Wikipedia article talks about a prophesy, which mean it has not yet come to pass...