In our second dip into Mongan’s mysterious waters, we compare several stories showing off Mongan’s miraculous poetic skill. As a boy-wonder, he humiliates his father’s chief poet; as a king, he terrifies a poor student into a mysterious quest; and finally lets slip that he may have been here before… Join the Story Archaeologists as…
Tag: dindshenchas
Rowing Around Immráma 05: Immrám Curaig Máel Dúin 2 – The Voyage of Mael Duin’s Boat Part 2
We are reaching the end of our voyage into “official” Immráma. As we turn for home with Mael Duin and his crew, we ask, “So what does it all mean?” Journey into new waters with the Story Archaeologists as we begin to chart our Immrám adventures. Don’t forget to subscribe to get the latest posts!…
The Dindshenchas of Inber Ailbine: Gormanston, Co. Dublin
In Dindshenchas: A Magical Mystery Tour, we linked the characters and themes in this poem with two characters from Cath Maige Tuired, “The Battle of Moytura“. We explored connections between Rúad in this poem and Rúadán in Cath Maige Tuired, and his father, Rígdonn, with Rúadán’s father Bres. We have discussed Rúadán’s story in Series…
The Dindshenchas of Carmun
In Dindshenchas; A Magical Mystery Tour, we discussed the poem on Carmun as an example of dindshenchas celebrating a particular geographical place. It describes a major óenach which takes place every three years, and the activities of that fair, as well as the origin-tale of the character Carmun said to be buried there. We discussed…
St. Colmcille and the Water Monster
In the episode “Dindshenchas: A Magical Mystery Tour“, we discussed the dindshenchas story of Áth Clíath. It concerns the destruction of the great beast that created the Boyne Valley. Now, there may be no Irish dragons, but there are plenty of tales of water beasts, the ollphéists. We mentioned a few in the podcast episode. I…
The Dindshenchas of Áth Clíath Cúalann: Dublin
As we discussed in Dindshenchas: A Magical Mystery Tour, the Modern Irish name for the city of Dublin is Baile Átha Clíath, “The Town of the Ford of the Hurdles”. The “English” name of Dublin comes from Dublind, “Black Pool”,. This version is pretty much as translated by Gwynn, with some updating of the English!…
The Dindshenchas of Dublin
This poem on Dublind (dub = “black”, lind = “pool”) was the second dindshenchas we discussed in Dindshenchas: A Magical Mystery Tour. This version has been written for readability by Chris Thompson. You can read Gwynn’s original translation here. Dublind Metrical Dindshenchas, Volume 3 poem 11, pp 94-95 Ingen Roduib chaiss chalma The bold and…
The Dindshenchas of Brug na Bóinde, Boyne Valley, Co. Meath
The Metrical Dindshenchas, Volume 2 Poem 3, pp 19 – 25 The first Dindshenchas poem we looked at in this episode was the second of the poems on “Brug na Bóinde”, the Boyne Valley complex of Co. Meath which specifically centres on Newgrange. We didn’t go through every stanza in the episode, since…
Dindshenchas 12: A Magical Mystery Tour
Have your tickets ready for inspection and your guide-books open to page 1! To round off Series 3, we’re going to discover some Dindshenchas gems in the Irish countryside. Join the Story Archaeologists as they take you on a magical mystery tour of mythic cartography, mapping myths as they go. Don’t forget to subscribe to get the…
The Corlea Trackway
The Irish bog is a remarkable environment. Not only is there a wide diversity of flora and fauna to be found, but these wetlands also provide a rich resource for archaeological discoveries. Things survive under the bog. Materials that would generally perish , wood, leather, and even the soft tissue of a human body, may…