The King, The Bull and Sacral Kingship in Tain Bo Cualinge

ArdRi79

The King, The Bull and Sacral Kingship in Tain Bo Cualinge

I was studying Tain Bo Cualinge(The cattle raid of Cooley) and I wondered why Medb wanted the black bull so badly? I saw how the Bull was used in Rituals concerning the King during the Tarabh Feis (Bull Feast) where the flesh of a Bull was offered and consumned to bring a vision that aided in choosing a new King. I also knew that Bulls were prized as cattle in Gaelic society, but, could the Bull be tied symbolically to the King and but subject to acts of Sympathetic magic?

In my opinion Bulls can be symbollically tied to the King because a virile King symbolised the clan and its fertility and the Bull, the leader of Cattle, symbolised the fertility of the herd. By the law of Similarity (Like affects like) that would make the Bull a valid subject for any act of sympathetic magic with the intent of affecting the kingship.

Having established a symbollic link between the Bull and The King it occurred to me, What would be the point in injuring Conchobar in Tain Bo Cualinge, a single warrior already debilitated by the curse of Macha, when Cu Chulainn was the one doing the fighting?

That can be explained by the Gaels having a tradition of Sacral Kingship. In a Sacral Kingship the King would marry or impregnate a Goddess of Sovereignty and in that way be tied to the tripilism of Clan, Cattle and land to ensure fertility therin. As is seen in Tochmarc Etain (the wooing Of Etain) where the Dagda (the good god) who governs the weather and the crops impregnates Boann (White Cow) whose name marks her as a Goddess of Sovereignty. It can be seen again in the marriage of Bres to Brid in The Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh. Brid (Brigit) is associated with the festival of Oimealc or modern Imbolc (literally in the belly) which marks the perceptable beginning os spring, the lengthening of daylight and the reawakening of fertility in the body of the land.

Further proof of Sacral Kingship as a Gaelic tradition can be found in Togail Bruidne Da Derga (The destruction od Da Derga's Hostel) Where under the Rule of conaire, Son of Mess buachalla it was said there was

“... Oakmast up to the knees every autumn, and plenty of fish in the river Bush and Boyne in the June of each year, and such abundance of good will that no one slew another in Erin during his reign. And to everyone his fellows voice seemed as sweet as the strings of lutes. From mid-spring to Mid-autumn no wind disturbed a cows tail. His riegn was neither thunderous nor stormy.”

Proof that failure to affect the Clan, Cattle and Land through the sacral kingship could disqualify a King from ruling can be seen in The Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh where Bres is deposed and begging to be spared:

“... If I be spared,' says Bres, the cows of Erin will be always in milk.'
'I will set this forth to our men,' said Lug.
So Lug went to Maeltine Mor-Brethach, and said to him 'Shall Bres have quarter for giving constant milk to the cows of Erin?'
'He shall not have quarter,' said Maeltine, he has no power over their age and their offspring, though he can milk them so long as they are alive.'...”

Bres goes on to offer them a harvest in each quarter of the year and is refused but is spared in the end for telling the men of Ireland when to plough, sow and reap. Showing that while Bres can aid the Clan, has knowledge of the Cattle and of the Land that he has now power over them.

If Medb wanted to injure Conchobars sacral Kingship it would explain why she wanted the Black Bull so badly in Tain Bo Culainge but for a working theory I still need proof that sympathetic marriage was comon practice among the Gael.

Ensuring tgood harvest and fertility in Cattle by marrying the King to a Goddess of Sovereignty shows belief in sympathetic magic but to avoid hinging my argument on sacral kingship I'll point out the passage concerning Coire Breccain in Sanas Cormaic (Cormacs Glossary) where the blind poet Lugaid performs a Dichetal do Chennaib (One of the three illuminations) upon a dogs skull he finds on the beach and says

“This is the skull of Breccains dog, the merest remnant of someone much greater for Breccain himself drowned among his people in this whirlpool”

Through the Law of Contagion Lugaid devines information about breccain from the dogs skull because Breccain had owned the dog it carried a residue of him.

But after all is said and done, what use is my theory in our modern world? It puts another spin on an already interesting story, reveals some of the religious beliefs of our ancestry, and shows how the study of legend does honor to our Gods, shines truth on modern misconceptions and returns strength to our culture.

Seamus O'Broin 2005

An Buannach leis na Fian Craobh Crua

Sources:

Three Irish Glossaries
Sanas Cormaic ed. and trans. Whitley Stokes.
Clannada na Gadelica
http://www.clannada.org
Rites of the Sacral Kingship v. 2.6 by Tara NicScothach bean MacAnTsaoir
Craobh Crua
http://www.CraobhCrua.org
Imbolc and Brid by Sean Mac An Rí
The (Second) Battle of Magh Tuireadh,
Tochmarc Etain


C.E.L.T. The Corpus of Electronic Texts
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/
Tain Bo Cualinge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)

Imbas
http://www.imbas.org/
Animal Symbolism in Celtic Mythology:
A paper for Religion 375 at the University of Michigan
by Lars Noodén, 22 November 1992

Clan na Fhaoil-Choin
http://www.fhaoil-choin.org/duile.htm
The Elements of the Dúile by Searles O'Dubhain

Sacred Texts
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/

The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer

ConConnor

Hi,
I agree that bulls were prized in Irish Gaelic Society but suggest that the horse was more highly regarded as a supreme beast because of its otherworld powers. The bull was tops in pre Celtic times but in Celtic times in Ireland it was the horse. I share an essay below it is presented for your enjoyment and stimulation.

The White Mare of Tara

Tara was the royal city and ancient capital of Ireland; it was the residence of supreme kings from ancient times until the sixth century. It was abandoned in the reign of King Dermot, the son of Fergus Kervall, on account of the curse of St. Ruadan. We should never assume archaeological closure. For this reason it is the act of a vandal to alter and degrade any ancient sacred site. For this reason I have sought with many others to prevent the destruction of the integrity of Tara by the creation of a new giant double toll-road, the M3, which, if it is built, will destroy for all time the exquisite record that is the Landscape Setting of Tara, unique not alone in this country, but world-wide. There are alternate routes for motorcars.

I wish now to relate a short account of an insight I had, that led to my deeper investigation into old topographical treatises and learned conversations with experts in these matters, and from these on to an understanding that expands my sense of Tara well beyond the Hill itself and forces one to find in this magical place the focus and matrix not alone of the five great roads of Ireland but of the four historical roads that traverse our Irish culture.

It was while returning from a "Ritual of Protection" on the Full Moon at Tara that as I walked, reflecting on the sacred hills of Tara and nearby Skryne, that I was seized with a sudden insight or intuition: that the little-known stream that runs between these hills was made to run north. This stream is called in English the Gowra, which is a corruption of its Irish name, variously given as the Gabhair or the Gabra or Gabor, which is understood to translate as the ‘goat’: that is, the stream is named after an animal, a goat.

Returning with this insight to my topographical materials, I became increasingly certain that I was correct. The stream was fed from a raised bog to the southeast of the crossroads of Tara village and, examining the natural landscape, it should properly run eastwards. That it ran north could only have come about through engineering and modification, in archaeological terms the stream itself constitutes ‘built heritage’ (land modification other than a fort or enclosed or circumvallation or mound or suchlike). Following the present course of the Gowra, one sees that it rises in the southeast corner of the map as illustrated below, runs north between Tara and Skryne, then it turns west after Lismullen, and, passing through Blundelstown, ultimately joins the river Boyne. This entire area is a huge, extended royal complex of temples and raths and holy wells and many other ancient monuments that date back to the Stone Age, in a word it contains the signature of thousands of years of human inhabitation.

One of the first strange pieces of information I was given (by Muireann Ni Brochalain) was that the name ‘the Gowra’ in Old Irish means not the goat, but rather ‘the white mare’. This means that the White Mare was designed to gallop north to join the Boyne. This river-name is an Anglicisation of the Old Irish word Bōann, which means ‘cow goddess’. The area where the White Mare enters into the Cow Goddess is currently owned by the Columban Fathers and is a nature reserve [Dalgan Park] open to the public. The Columban Fathers are actively opposing the construction of the motorway, which is designed to cross the Boyne at the southwest edge of the Park. There is something ironic in the action of the priestly followers of Saint Colum Cille, who tried to seize the royal seat of Tara for the O Neill dynasty, seeking to defend it from another and perhaps more formidable usurper. Colum Cille caused a huge battle to be fought over Tara in which some 20,000 men died, not far from Sligo. As a penance he left Ireland and vowed never to set foot on it again. When as it happened he returned for a special gathering, he wore sods of Scottish turf on his feet in order to preserve his vow.

The justly world-famous Newgrange, is better known in Irish as Brú na Boinne, or ‘the other world of the Cow Goddess’. Here was the main residence of the Dagda, the good god. The Dagda predates the Celtic period by thousands of years. In ancient times, it was understood that the God of the Brú would ritually marry the Boyne (the Cow Goddess) to ensure fertility and happiness for the people and the land. Only later did the Celts arrive and with them, the horse. The Celtic culture was different from that of the Dagda and naturally conflicts arose. The horse (a short stocky creature) gave the Celts a military advantage: control over distance. In due course, the Celtic position was supreme and imposed its own traditions on pre-Celtic practices. Thus the sacred ceremony of the marriage to the land was by ritual marriage of the king to a white mare and not to a white cow.

In volume 6 (see pp.106ff.) of the Discovery Reports ISBN 1 874045 95 X we can read under the entry Horse about the discovery of horse bones at Tara – the highest incidence from an Irish prehistoric site – and how many of the bones were broken, deliberately shattered to facilitate the extraction of the marrow. A small number of the bones displayed gnawing marks. It is tempting to equate these bones with the inauguration rite described by Geraldus Cambrensis that entailed the slaughter, butchery and consumption of horseflesh. (To come back to the Irish names for the Gowra, the rarer word Gabor evokes an array of mythological equine associations. It is defined as an ‘ech gel’ or airegale ‘bright, white, silver horse’: primarily a poetic word for a white horse and a mare.)

One can evoke an ancient ceremony whereby the High King married the White Mare in a sacred ritual of union with the land. The whole valley would form a central part of the royal city. Dadga ritually married the Cow in a ritual of union with the land, but in the newer culture it was at Tara that the marriage was held, when the High King was joined with the White Mare. This Mare was then killed, divided and eaten by the King, so that the ritual was internalised and made one.

There are other deep resonances. The Opus Dei lands in the Valley of the White Mare are called Lismullen, a name meaning ‘the Fort of the Mill’. The oldest known mill location was said to originate in the 1800s, but we can now locate the oldest mill in Ireland in the Valley of the White Mare. It was built by Cormac mac Art (reigned A.D. 254-277) for his mistress, a slave who carried his child. The Valley has other historical significance, not least as the graveyard of the Fianna. The last battle of the Fianna was fought in the ‘Valley of the Gabair’. This has been understood to mean ‘the valley of the goat’, but no one to date has identified its exact location until now. It was also in this Valley that Oscar, son of Oisin, son of Finn, drew his last breath; and for him Finn cried tears of sorrow. The only other time Finn cried was when Bran, his faithful hound and other world voyager, died.

Finn and his band of warriors were at Tara in the reign of Cormac mac Art and link the King Cycle of Tales with the Finnian Cycle. It is highly probable that the warriors of the Fianna are buried in the horseshoe-shaped mound that is today called Rath Lūg. (Lūg was the father of Cū Chulainn.) The place names are also linked and so is the death of Ulster’s greatest hero, Cu Chulainn. Both the head (the cauldron of wisdom) and the sword hand of Cu Chulainn are buried at Tara. Thus we have the four cycles of Irish history are interlinked in this lovely valley in the Royal City of Meath.

The whole complex of Tara, Skryne and the Valley of the White Mare is surrounded by a series of defensive embankments and huge ring forts. This Royal city is uniquely rich and varied, forming a historical tapestry of many axes. It should seem insane to disturb this sacred landscape, let alone to disembowel it with a double tolled motorway. But, alas, the sacred landscape will be sifted not by hand, but by 22 tonne earth-moving machines, indifferent to everything. The NRA, for example, intends to destroy the southwestern section of Rath Lug for the proposed double-toll road. Is it possible, one asks, even at this eleventh hour, some form of sanity will prevail and the State will appreciate its responsibilities to future generations. Insofar as the compulsory purchase order for the lands needed for the MS double-toll road has been issued, the State now owns these lands at Lissmullen and this existing semi-modern complex of buildings and roads with mature trees is highly suitable for an Interpretive Centre for the Tara Skryne World Heritage Park, were it to be created.

To proceed with the double toll road through Tara will occasion not alone the immediate destruction of the landscape and its heritage, but will create conditions ideal for the gradual commercial development of the area, such as is planned for the northern slope of Tara. Those of us who oppose this are few, but we believe it is because the public at large are unaware of the richness and coherence of the Landscape Setting of the Royal City of Tara, and that this ignorance is the vehicle whereby the whole plan of campaign for the destruction of Tara can be carried forward.

I hope this helps.

Grá
Con

ArdRi79

I had read in one of Gantz translations that Eochaid Ollathair (the Dagda) translates as Horse-lord All-father but there are a number of Eochaid's in the Legends. A remarkable one being Eochaid Mac Eirc, who was supposedly king of the Fir Bolg at the time of the Tuatha Dé Danann. You have said marrying the White Cow was an older tradition replaced through Celtic influence, what do you think of the name Eochaid being used that far back?

Thanks for responding Con your paper was an interesting read both in content and writing style but we live in a backwater democracy and bertie is our Boss Hog if he wants to have his inbred cousins build a road theres nothing we can do about it accept show history it didnt go unopposed. That said your paper gave me an insight into things missing from my own.

One of the complaints I've had is that I relied to much on the mythological cycle and didnt prove things in a more modern context. I'd left out some obvious stuff from the Ulster cycle, Macha whose name translates as "Plain" marking her as a goddess of the land is married to a farmer (who tends the crops, the fertility of the land) who shares some charictaristics of a horse, (her speed in racing Conchobars chariot) curses the Clan to suffer her labour pains, all showing her link to the tripilism of Land, Clan and Cattle.

Macha also gives birth on Emain Macha giving it its name (in one tale) and it was the Kings ability to impregnate the Goddess of the Land, who was also the Goddess of Sovereignty, which allowed bounty and other good to come to the people.

I'll tie that into the next version. I had ingored the Horse connection because the papers I'd read on Sovereign goddess had been based on Indian - Vedic beliefs I prefer to work from Insular literature, being Irish with a rich heritage it's a shame not too.

ConConnor

I suggest that after the Spanish Gaels took Ireland - the Celtic position was supreme and imposed its own traditions on pre-Celtic practices. Thus the sacred ceremony of the marriage to the land was by ritual marriage of the High King to a white mare and not of a God to a white cow. Horses and Cattle were and are important to the Irish but with the comming of the Spanards the white female horse was so revered that the high valley of the Royal City of Tara was named after such a white mare. You should not have a problem with this as it is just a translation by modern scholars.

It is a sad day when a person who claims the title of ArdRí states that if our leader and his inbred cousins intend to build a double toll-road that there is nothing he or she can do about it. It is terribly wrong if that high king who openly declares to have no power - encourages others to accept bad decisions of a corrupt leader. As a Celtic Druid I suggest that you disqualify yourself from any title of high office by your overt display of subservience to corrupt puppets of the hidden government.

For those who do wish to be involved and defeat corruption and apathy -
please see http://www.tarasos.com/ and http://tara-skryne.org/ because it is unlikely that Tara will be saved by those who say it cannot be saved.

Nevyn

Well a nick is just that a handle that one uses for email and for forums like this.
You may or may not read more into it then that.
Still it is strange what battles warriors pick these days.
Battles are won and lost in the heart long before a scian is lifted.
Yes names and word have power but only if we will it so.

remember personal attacks are not permitted here.
Thaed

ArdRi79

I agree that Eochaid was imposed by a later order, but I believe sacral Kingship predates Celtic influence and I hold that the Dagda impregnating Boann is evidence of this and is evidence of an older matrilinear system that is represented in the Bruig. In my next draught I'll remove that reference there are other less controversial and more relevent examples

As for the Battles I pick, Ive been on plenty of marches and protests. What to do about the road through tara-skryne valley has been the subject of many moots among Fian and coven but Bertie and his ilk represent the people of Ireland, heart sickening as it is. its the truth. In the end aslong as the majority of the Irish people support Fianna Fail nothing will change short of violence.

Orwell said "Politicians can discuss things til the cows come home, its violence they fear" but I believe it would only delay the road and put us in jail that is why I say there is nothing we can do.

Lastly, I dont claim the title of ArdRí, its my email address so I use it for my login. The End, I think it says so in my profile.

Thanks for posting the paper but this has gone way off topic Im not replying to anything on this thread unless it concerns either my paper or your own.