At the beginning of Tocmarc Étaíne, we have the tale of the conception and birth of Óengus Mac Ind Óc and his claiming of Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) as his territory. We touched on this story back in Series 1, Episode 3, “Tales of Eithliu”, and compared it to the Metrical Dindshenchas poems on Bóand, the…
Tag: Óengus Mac Ind Óc
The Text of Tocmarc Étaíne Part 1
Here is the part of the text of Tocmarc Étaíne we covered in “Tocmarc Étaíne 1: A Fly On the Wall“. Edited O. Bergin & R. I. Best, Translated by Isolde Carmody, based on Bergin and Best’s translation. View Bergin & Best’s edition on CELT
Dindshenchas 09: Tocmarc Étaíne 1 – A Fly On The Wall
The saga Tocmarc Étaíne, “The Wooing of Étaín”, is a complex and engaging tale of love, loss and time twists. We encounter jealous husbands, repudiated wives and bewildering shape-shifting, all stretching over a thousand years. The Story Archaeologists wander through the first part this magnifigant story, rediscovering old friends and meeting some new, including a…
The Dindshenchas of Knowth – Cnogba
From the Metrical Dindshenchas, Volume 3, poem 4, pp 40 – 46 Edited by Edward Gwynn; Translated by Isolde Carmody Notes to the text appear at the end. Terms with notes below are marked in bold. Cnogba Fland Mac Lonnán cecinit. Fland Mac Lonnán chants: 1. Búa, ingen Rúadrach rúaid Búa, daughter of…
Dindshenchas 02: Dindshenchas and Dreamtime
Mythic cartography is the art of mapping stories onto a living landscape. In Ireland, these patterns are visible through the corpus of Dindshenchas poems and prose: in Australia, they have traditionally been painted onto rocks by the First Australians. Join the Story Archaeologists as they chart the Songlines and Storylines in these, environmentally differing, mythic map libraries….
The Proto-Story – A Speculation
And the Morrigan spoke at last. “The time will soon be upon us, and unrest will not pass us by. The leader of our people will be fatally blemished. Núada will be wounded in heart and hand. No longer will he hold golden prosperity within his grasp.” The Dagda grinned. “Dían Cécht will make him…
The Battle of Moytura 12: An Experiment In Story Archaeology (Part 2)
We have dug down as far as we can go in this Story Archaeology dig of Cath Maige Tuired. We’ve studied the landscape, examined related stories, collected linguistic potsherds. So what are we left with? For the last episode in “The Battle of Moytura” series, the Story Archaeologists engage in some experimental story archaeology. What…
The Battle of Moytura 12: An Experiment In Story Archaeology (Part 1)
We have dug down as far as we can go in this Story Archaeology dig of Cath Maige Tuired. We’ve studied the landscape, examined related stories, collected linguistic potsherds. So what are we left with? For the last episode in “The Battle of Moytura” series, the Story Archaeologists engage in some experimental story archaeology. What…
Stories in the Landscape ~ Accompanying Map
The main events of the saga of Moytura are mapped onto this image of Ireland. There are too many events happening in the region around Lough Arrow, on the plateau where the battle takes place. When the story is mapped like this it is clear how much Moytura truly is a story in a landscape….
Goibniu and the Gobbán Sáor
In the podcast episode on “The Four Craftsmen”, we discussed the manner in which characters found only within the saga of Moytura developed an enduring popularity in folklore and story. This would seem to have particular relevance in the case of Goibniu the Dé Danann smith. Goibniu is certainly connected, if not cognate, with the…