Ancient Celtic Literature in Retrospect

So before I get this final post started, I'll let you listen to the first thing I started blasting in my car as I came home from a (in my opinion) fairly successful final exam. A great traditional Irish folk song as played by my favorite Irish rock band, Thin Lizzy. You can just let it play as you keep reading.

I can't believe it's over, it feels like it went by so fast even though we covered such a huge amount of material. I can say with confidence that I came out of this course with a lot more than I went in with. I feel like even if it's only rudimentary, I've got a pretty good grasp on the tail of the great bull that is Celtic literature. Four months ago if you had asked me what I knew about real Celtic culture (excluding all the shamrocks, leprechauns, and Guinness), I would've said that the names Cúchulainn and Finn McCool sounded familiar and then I probably would've gone on to play that Thin Lizzy song if I had my guitar with me. Now I've come away with a huge appreciation for the rich canon of work spanning centuries from the Taín Bo Cuailnge all the way up to the origins of Arthurian legend.

Who would've thought a giant, hairy, green knight came from Ireland?

Now of course I could do a google search for Celtic influences on modern culture and copy and paste every hurling team, metal band, and video game with a Celtic name, but I feel like that would be a disservice to the true value of the culture, which is in the stories themselves. Though the style was difficult to get used to (and in the case of 10-page-long name lists, tedious), the stories were as colorful and engaging as any of the Greek myths I grew up reading as a child. I see the Taín as Ireland's Iliad, the Voyage of Mael Duin's Boat its Odyssey.

Though only the Irish could come up with Macc Da Thó's Pig...

I think the only reason I was surprised at this revelation is the fact that we just don't hear too much about Celtic stories nowadays. The western world was built upon the work of the Greeks and Romans, but what nobody seems to understand is that we owe just as much to the Celts. Though they were originally never a cohesive nation, the original Celtic tribes of the early world have been around as long as the Egyptians and inhabited an area of Europe so widespread that Alexander the Great or Napoleon wouldn't have been too ashamed to own it. In fact, if every "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt read "Kiss Me I'm Celtic," there still wouldn't be that much kissing, but it would be a much more accurate statement since a lot more people have Celtic roots than they might think.

"Hey look! I'm being multicultural! Wait...what do you mean I'm still white?"

Ok, slightly better. At least they're being honest now.

Anyway, if there's anything this new appreciation for Celtic culture and literature has taught me, it's that we need more of this stuff in the modern world. Everyone knows about Patrick driving out the snakes, but that's not nearly as cool as when he burns pagan wizards, banishes demons, or makes the earth swallow up people who cross him. And why are we putting tiny, bearded, green-clad men everywhere on March 17th when we should be putting up posters of Cúchulainn going into a warp spasm and liquidating an army or two.

Maybe not the most family-friendly imagery...Probably just save this one for the taverns...

The point is, this is a big part of our western cultural history and it's something so few of us know about (though I do love knowing things that other people don't). I really am glad I got this opportunity to learn about a culture I didn't know much about and more importantly to read so many great stories. Now I feel obligated to keep it alive somehow. Maybe I'll name one of my kids Fergus. Or my dog. It's probably a better dog name. It'll have to be my second dog, though, because the first one is going to be named Strider for the double Tolkien/Led Zeppelin reference.

Anyway, there's not much left I wanted to say. I realize this is shorter and less comprehensive than my other entries have been, but I intended it to be a sort of farewell, fondly remembering all that we've been through this past semester. So with that in mind, I'll sign off this last entry with a beautiful song from another Irish rock band, this one with more of a Celtic flair to it. Gerald of Wales (despite coming off as fairly racist against the Irish) had one thing right when he said the Irish were good at their music.

As a short P.S. to my teacher, Thomas Goodmann, the only person of the three or four that follow this blog who will likely read this final post, I'd like to say thank you again for such a great class and let you know that I plan on hanging on to the knowledge I've taken away from it (though don't quiz me on it next time we meet, the one final exam was stressful enough). My personal favorite parts of the class were the Taín and the Mabinogion, the various group discussions and readings, and watching the Secret of Kels was a wonderful little interlude. Have a great winter break and I hope to see you again before I graduate next semester.

Mythological Parallels

Before taking this class, I had next to no knowledge of any of the Celtic stories we've read, but I've always had an interest in other mythological traditions from around the world. Reading through some of these Celtic tales it's hard not to notice certain striking parallels between various other stories from around the world. I guess this post won't necessarily be exclusively about Celtic literature, but I think it's a very interesting subject and one worth exploring. Now I'll preface this with a few disclaimers: first of all, I'm no expert on any of these various mythologies I plan on comparing, but I have at least a basic knowledge on a fairly broad spectrum. Not to go on a tangent, but if I hadn't devoted my college career to painting, studying world mythologies and folklores would've been something I'd have liked to spend more time on. Secondly, though I am going to draw all these connections, I don't mean to suggest that these similarities come from a direct influence (except perhaps in the case of Norse mythology due to the geographic proximity of Scandinavia and the British Isles); my goal is simply to call attention to the common themes that run through so many of the stories of our little world.

Now, to cover all of the possible connections I could make would take up much more than a single blog post. It would probably take up a whole book or two. Or three. Or more...

"Hey guys! It turns out all of our stories use almost exactly the same themes and motifs!"

So because I'm the farthest thing from an overachiever, I'll just pick out a few of the ones that come to mind and then stop whenever I get tired of writing, so don't expect a Game of Thrones-length discussion.

Not pictured: The forklifts required to cart these literary behemoths around. 5/5

So let's start with one of the most common archetypes of any culture ever: The Trickster. Everyone has one, and they usually make for the best stories: African Anansi, Greek Hermes, Norse Loki, Native American Coyote, etc. But something I noticed in Celtic literature is that they don't seem to have one main trickster figure. I suppose it makes sense, since they would've rather heard about warriors tearing trees out of the ground and beating each other to death with them than a little man playing pranks, but there are still several characters, particularly in The Mabinogion, that share the typical Trickster characteristics.

Efnysien from the Second Branch of The Mabinogion is the first character I want to look at. Perhaps not the archetypal Trickster figure, he still possesses one of its most important qualities: he likes to start trouble and piss people off for the sheer hell of it. This is the guy who, because he wasn't consulted in his sister's marriage to the king of Ireland, decided to slice and dice the king's horses to a degree that would drive PETA into a warp spasm. His brother is able to cool things down, but we know from experience that the Irish don't forget insults very easily (Cuchulainn murdered his own son for refusing to give his name...), so the next time the Welsh get invited to Ireland, the Irish king hides a bunch of soldiers in bags around the house, claiming that they're bags of flour.

"No bloodthirsty Irishmen here, boss!"

This is where Efnysien displays another of the Trickster's qualities: the ability to see through deception. He casually pretends to inspect the flour by squeezing the bags and popping the heads inside like bubble-wrap. For whatever reason, the Irish let him do this to all of the bags. So it looks like everything is cool until, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, Efnysien decides to throw his sister's child onto the fire. The purpose here seems to be to make as many people angry as possible. This results in a huge fight in which the Irishmen keep bringing back their dead with a magic cauldron, but Efnysien, being the morally ambiguous guy he is, jumps in and breaks it apart himself. So good for him.

Next up we have Gwydion from the Fourth Branch of The Mabinogion. Though there isn't any one character that I'd consider the trickster of Celtic mythology, if I had to choose one, it'd be him. Not only is he clever, but he's also skilled in magic that he uses to accomplish his own personal needs. Chiefly, starting a war by tricking Pryderi and stealing his pigs so his brother can rape their uncle Math's foot-holder (the most oddly specific occupation of any virginal house servant). He later uses his magic to kill Pryderi in battle, but Math finds out about the whole rape thing, so Gwydion and his rapist brother get turned into wild animals for three years. Every year they switch genders so one is male and the other is female and they're forced to bear each other's children as a punishment. Gender ambiguity is another trait of the archetypal trickster, but specifically it calls to mind the Norse Loki who in one myth turned himself into a mare and gave birth to Odin's horse, Sleipnir.

Marvel conveniently omitted the gender-swapped bestiality from their recent movies featuring Loki

Now this isn't the only parallel we see to Loki in Celtic myths, there's actually a huge similarity in the story of Bricriu's Feast. Though the story is known for being a precursor of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the beginning has a very similar theme to the Norse Lokasenna. Bricriu invites the men of Ulster (or Ulaid, in our translation) to a feast at his brand new house with the intention of starting trouble. He tricks the three greatest heroes of the Ulstermen into competing for the champion's portion of the meal, and even convinces their wives to fight amongst themselves while he sits back and laughs at them all. In the Lokasenna, Loki comes to a feast of the gods and begins to cause trouble until he gets kicked out, but he comes back in and keeps insulting everyone until Thor gets tired of his BS, and then they all agree to chain him down while poison drips onto him for eternity until Ragnarok. Bricriu is also expelled and then reenters the feast when Cuchulainn lifts a wall to let his wife in, though he doesn't get such a bad punishment in the end. As I said before, I can't prove any influence between the two cultures, but it seems too coincidental that Bricriu's other name, Nemthenga, means "Poisontongue" while Loki's main epithet is "Silvertongue."

Think they're related to Grima Wormtongue? Tolkien was a fan of Celtic and Norse mythology...

I spent a lot more time talking about that then I had planned, so I'll just list a few of the other cool similarities I've found:

1. Rhiannon - Doesn't she remind you of Medea? A magical woman from a distant land, rebelling against her father's will, using magic to help the man she wants to marry (Pwyll and Jason, respectively), and murdering her children (though in Rhiannon's case she didn't actually do it, but was framed)

2. The Voyage of Mael Duin's Boat - A lot of the islands they come across are very reminiscent of the Odyssey. They find islands of women trying to keep them there forever (Calypso/Circe), islands where men lose their identities and forget their homes (the Lotus Eaters), and a whole bunch of islands with people/beasts throwing rocks at them (Polyphemus).

3. The Voyage of Bran - The concept of a magical land hidden across the sea isn't too specific to any single culture, but their return is very similar to the Japanese story of Urashima Taro who was taken by a turtle to a magical kingdom under the sea. When he left he was given a box and told to never open it, but when he inevitably does, all of the many years he spent their catch up with him and he turns into an old man, much like the one of Bran's sailors who turns to dust upon touching the land of his home when they return after centuries.