The subject of Lughnasagh is worthy of a whole podcast episode on its own, as are any of the traditional Irish festivals. We may well examine these these in more detail sometime in the future. In essence, however, Lughnasagh is a festival that marks an important phase in the agrarian year. It is the close…
Category: Articles
Supporting articles, texts and translations and related materials for each episode
Lugh Who? Where did Lugh come from?
In the Irish stories, Lugh, sometimes Lug, is a central and popular figure. To summarise his story, as it is given in text and tale, he is a child born in secret to a Fomoire mother and a Dé Danann father. In text, his father and mother are contracted to each other to form an…
The Coming of Lugh
The Door-Keeper Speaks… Who is this young warrior who came late to the gate of Tara, after the feasting was begun? Who is this fine and shining youth who stood before me, Camall Mac Riagail, gate-keeper of the Túatha Dé? Oh, he was pleasant to look upon, his cloak threaded with gold. He was tall…
Carrowkeel
High above the western shore of Lough Arrow are the Bricklieve hills. From the plain of Moytura, these hills rise clear, and the grey limestone domes that top them are highly visible. These domes are a part of the megalithic complex of passage tombs known as Carrowkeel. The complex comprises of 14 cairns, with a further…
Bres in Other Texts
Bres Mac Elathan appears in a number of texts besides Cath Maige Tuired, and often in a more sympathetic light. He appears as one of the Túatha Dé Danann, as in Tocmairc Étaíne, “The Wooing of Étaín”, where the Dagda sends Elcmar of the Brug away on business to Bres in Mag nInis so that…
Bres – Kingship and Status
In the 21st century, we have quite different ideas of government, nationhood, sovereignty and royalty to our ancestors of 1000 and more years ago. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that an island as small as Ireland had as many as 150 túatha (usually translated as “tribes” or “petty kingdoms”) between the 5th and…
The Story of Bres
It wasn’t his fault. How could one so noble, so beautiful, have been at fault? He was the golden youth, the beloved one chosen by his mother’s people. How could it all have gone so wrong? How had his golden dreams become so tarnished? He had grown up with his mother’s glowing stories. “When you…
Midsummer Midnight Skies over Leitrim
In the podcast episode, we mentioned how bright the night skies can be, here in Leitrim, even at midnight. The sun does not go far down behind the horizon then, and even at midnight the sun glow is still visible. It is easy to imagine that there is some wonderful city casting its light into…
The Romano-British temple to Nodens at Lydney Park:
I have never visited Lydney Park in Gloucestershire so I cannot give a personal impression of the complex. However, the site is very relevant to any exploration of Nuada. There are definite etymological connections between the British Nodens, the Welsh Lludd (Nudd) and the Irish Nuada. Descriptions of the temple complex given below are largely…
The Fisher King
The Fisher King is a figure closely associated with the Arthurian cycle and, more directly, with the legends of the search for the Grail. A discussion on the development and varying source materials for the stories is beyond the scope of this article, but similar motifs and character types appear in each version, the main…