Oberon : Oberon first appears as a character in medieval French legend as the son of Julius Caesar (100-44BC) and Morgan le Fay. He is also possibly descended from Alberich, king of the Elves in Germanic legend. Oberon is only three feet tall, with an angelic face. The fairies gave him the power to look into people’s thoughts and the ability to go anywhere instantly. The Oberon known best was created by William Shakespeare, who may have read about him in James IV (1598), a play about Scottish history by Robert Greene (1558-1592). In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon is king of the fairies and husband of Titania. Because Oberon has quarreled with his queen, he contrives magic spells to cause Titania to fall in love with a comic weaver, Bottom. His magic also complicates, mixes up, and then unscrambles the four young human lovers in the play.
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Pan
Pan : Pan is the Greek mythological god of woods and fields, flocks and herds, and shepherds and huntsmen. Since in Greek “pan” means “all or everything,” the god Pan pervades all things, including food or fertility. He is the son of either Mercury or Jupiter or even various other parents. Though he walks upright, he has horns, legs, and a tail like a goat’s, while his head, arms, and chest are like a man’s. His musical pipe — which he is credited with inventing — is called “syrinx” and is named for a nymph who was changed into a reed to escape Pan’s advances. His companions are often satyrs, half-man, half-horselike creatures. Pan was worshipped as a nature deity and so is one of the most ancient of the Greek gods. The Greek festivals to Pan were later taken over by the Romans, who identified him with the nature spirit Faunus. You use his name when you say the word “panic,” for, though he was considered a good guy, he was said to frighten lonely travelers who thought the strange sounds they heard at night were made by him.
Heaven
Heaven : In most religions and mythologies there is a place to which it is believed the souls, or even the bodies, of the deserving go after death. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all picture heaven as the abode of God, where all worthy souls find eternal peace. In ancient pagan Greek religion the gods took dead heroes to the Elysian Fields in the distant west at the edge of the world. In Celtic legend the Fortunate Isles, or Isles of the Blest, or Tir nA nOg, somewhere on the Western Ocean, is the home of the gods, who welcome the souls of heroes. In Norse mythology Valhalla is the place warriors go after death, and they are welcomed there by the Valkyrie. The word “heaven” appears in many common expressions. When you are very happy you are “in seventh heaven”; but, if you are a bit annoyed, you say, “For heaven’s sake, hurry up!”
Hell
Hell : In Christian belief, hell is the eternal dwelling place of the souls of sinners. It is related to the Jewish concept of Sheol, the abode of all dead, and also to Hades. In Greek mythology Hades (or Pluto) was the ruler of the underworld of the dead. Later the place itself, gloomy but not a place of punishment like the later Christian hell, became known as Hades. Islam has a similar hell. The Christian Hell figures in many works of literature, notably in Dante Alighiri’s The Divine Comedy and in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The word appears in many common expressions, as in “going to hell in a handbasket,” meaning that a person is rapidly deteriorating in one way or another, and “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” meaning that your deeds speak louder than your words.
Celtic Cross
Celtic Cross : The Celtic cross is essentially a traditional Christian cross with a circle overlying the point where the lines meet. This symbol evolved in the British Isles, and the earliest forms date from the seventh to ninth centuries in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. The oldest Celtic crosses were carved into large slabs of rock that lay flat on the ground. Later versions stand in an upright position, with rock carved away from the cross. Tenth-century Irish crosses were sometimes capped with a pitched roof. Celtic crosses were often decorated with interlaced knot work, spirals, key patterns, animal figures, foliage designs, and Biblical stories. Some crosses were memorials, inscribed with names of individuals; modern Celtic crosses are often used as tombstones in Irish churchyards.
Also see this excellent page by metalsmith Stephen Walker.
Ogham
Ogham (Old Irish Ogam, from Middle Irish ogom, ogum) was an alphabet used primarily to represent Gaelic languages that was probably often written in wood in early times. The main flowering of the use of “classical” Ogham in stone seems to be 5th–6th century AD. Monumental Ogham inscriptions are found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and the Isle of Man, mainly employed as territorial markers and memorials. The more ancient examples are standing stones, script being carved into the edge (droim or faobhar) of the stone, which forms a stemline against which individual characters are cut. Text is read beginning from the bottom left-hand side of a stone, continuing upward, across the top and down the right-hand side in the case of long inscriptions. Inscriptions written on stemlines cut into the face of the stone, instead of along its edge, are known as “scholastic”, and are of a later date (post 7th century). Notes were also commonly written in Ogham in manuscripts down to the sixteenth century.
Ogham Alphabet
Some people have theorized that Ogham could also be used as a secret gestural cypher, because of its structure: the fingers of one hand, using the nose or shin or any other “straight” edge as a stemline could, it is suggested, be used to signal individual Ogham letters, which, it is asserted, could be readily read by an Ogham practitioner. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence to support this theory.
The Ogham alphabet consists of twenty-five distinct characters (feda), the first twenty of which are considered to be primary, the last five (forfeda) supplementary. The four primary series are called aicmà (plural of aicme “family”). Each aicme was named after its first character (Aicme Beithe, Aicme hÚatha, Aicme Muine, Aicme Ailme, “the B Group”, “the H Group”, “the M Group”, “the A Group”). Some of the names and all of the values of the forfeda are open to question.
Ogham is sometimes referred to as the “Celtic Tree Alphabet“.
Beith (BEH), birch – The silver birch (Betula pendula Roth)
Luis (LWEESH), rowan – The rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia L.)
Fearn (FAIR-n), alder – The common alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertner)
Sail (SAHL), willow – 60+ types of willow (Salicaceae; Salix sp.)
Nion (NEE-uhn), ash – the common ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.)
Uath or hÚath (OO-ah), hawthorn – The common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna Jacq.)
Dair (DAH-r), oak – The great oak (Quercus robur L.)
Tinne (CHIN-yuh), holly – The holly (Ilex aquifolium L.) or holly oak (Quercus ilex L.)
Coll (CULL), hazel – The hazel (Corylus avellana L)
Ceirt (KAIRT), apple – The European crabapple (Malus sylvestris Miller)
Muin (MUHN, like “foot”), vine – The grape (Vitis vinifera L.)
Gort (GORT), ivy – Ivy (Hedera helix L.)
nG̩adal or Ngetal (NYEH-dl), reed РThe common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel)
Straif (STRAHF), blackthorn – The blackthorn (Prunus spinosa L.), sloe
Ruis (RWEESH), elder – The common elder (Sambucus nigra L.)
Ailm (AHL-m), silver fir – The silver fir (Abies alba Miller)
Onn (UHN), furze – Furze, or gorse (Ulex europaeus L.)
Úr (OOR), heather – Heather (Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull)
Eadhadh (EH-wah), poplar – The aspen (Populus tremula L.)
Iodhadh (EE-wah), yew – The yew (Taxus baccata L.)
Primitive Irish is the oldest known form of the Irish language, known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Britain up to about the 4th century.
Transcribed Ogham inscriptions show Primitive Irish to be Old Celtic in character, lacking the letter P, and in morphology and inflections similar to Gaulish, Latin, Classical Greek or Sanskrit. It has few of the distinctive characteristics of modern Irish and is difficult to recognise as a form of Irish.
By contrast, Old Irish, written from the 6th century on, is recognisably Irish, complete with initial mutations, distinct “broad” and “slender” consonants, the letter P, consonant clusters created by the loss of unstressed syllables, along with a number of significant vowel and consonant changes.
Ages of Man
Ages of Man
The Ages of Man are the stages of human existence on the Earth according to Classical mythology.
In his Works and Days, the Boeotian poet Hesiod described Five Ages of Man:
* The Golden Age – This took place during the reign of Cronus. Peace and harmony prevailed during this age. Humans did not grow old, but died peacefully. Spring was eternal and people were fed on acorns from a great oak as well as wild fruits and honey that dripped from the trees. This race eventually died out.
* The Silver Age – These people lived for one hundred years as children without growing up, then they suddenly aged and died. Zeus destroyed these people because of their impiety.
* The Bronze Age – These humans were fierce and warlike and their tools and implements were made of bronze. They destroyed one another in wars.
* The Heroic Age – In this period lived noble demigods and heroes. This race of humans died and went to Elysium.
* The Iron Age – This is the current age where humans bicker and fight, and have to struggle to eke out their existence. Zeus will someday destroy this race of humans. In Roman literature the Iron Age is commonly regarded as a time of decline from the great literature and culture of the Heroic age, beginning after the taking of Rome by the Goths, 410 AD. Through Greek and Assyrian oral tradition iron production was believed to have begun with the discovery of iron near the mineral-rich region north of Assyria.
In Metamorphoses, Ovid followed a similar tradition, translated into Roman terms. Ovid described Four Ages of Man: Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron.
These mythological ages are sometimes associated with historical timelines. In particular, the Bronze Age and Iron Age are well-known eras in archaeology, which may have some relation to the mythology.
Cashel, Caiseal
Cashel, Caiseal : (An Caisleán in Irish, meaning “the castle”) Stone-walled ring forts or cashels are essentially the same as Raths except that they are surrounded by drystone walls rather than earthen embankments. There are even a few sites on which both techniques are used. Cashels are more frequently found in the west of Ireland where stone is more easily acquired and excavation in the stony earth is correspondingly more difficult. A ráth (anglicised rath), was made of earth, caiseal (northwestern Ireland, anglicised cashel) and cathair (southwestern Ireland) were built of stone.
In a cattle-dominated society it is generally argued that the purpose of the ringfort was to provide protection to a small community and their livestock during a ‘hit and run’ raid for cattle. The idea being that the ringfort would provide adequate defense for a small period of time. Early Christian texts stress the importance and role of the banks in signifying nobility, kingship and authority. This relationship can be quite clearly seen in the following extract from the CrÃth Gablach:
What is the due of a king who is always in residence at the head of his tuath? Seven score feet of perfect feet are the measure of his stockade on every side. Seven feet are the thickness of its earthwork, and twelve feet its depth. It is then that he is a king, when ramparts of vassalage surround him. What is the rampart of vassalage? Twelve feet are the breadth of its opening and its depth and its measure towards the stockade. Thirty feet are its measure outwardly.
As can be seen from the above text, the relationship between the banks of a ringfort and vassalage is quite clear. With the argument being that the more elaborate the ringfort, usually in the forms of multiple outlying banks, the higher of the status of the occupant.
Cairn
Cairn : (Middle English; cárne, from Scottish Gaelic; cárn, from Old Irish) a manmade pile of stones. They are nearly always in uplands, on moors or mountain tops. In prehistoric times it was usually erected over a burial. A barrow is sometimes called a cairn. They are built for several purposes:
*To mark a path across stony or barren terrain, and across glaciers.
*To mark the summit of a mountain.
*To mark a burial site, or in commemoration of the dead.
*Some are also merely sites where a farmer has removed large amounts of stone from a field.
Additionally cairns have been used to commemorate all kinds of events from sites of battles to places where a cart has tipped over.
They vary from loose, small piles of stones to elaborate feats of engineering. In some places, games are regularly held to find out who can build the most beautiful cairn. The word can take in various types of hill, and natural stone piles. Naturally, due to the idea’s simplicity, cairns can be found all over the world in alpine or mountainous regions.
The present-day traditions of building cairns emerged from the Bronze Age habit of putting cists into cairns, which would be situated in conspicuous positions, often on the skyline above the village of the deceased. These cairns are still to be found, but are often much bigger than modern day ones in Scotland.
Tumulus
Tumulus : A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn.
The method of inhumation may involve a cist, a mortuary enclosure, a mortuary house or a chamber tomb. Examples of barrows include Duggleby Howe and Maes Howe.
Dun
Dún : (dOOn) Dún comes from the Brythonic Din and Gaelic Dún, meaning fort, and is now used as a general term for small stone-built strongholds, enclosures or roundhouses in Scotland, as a sub-group of hill forts. In some areas they seem to have been built on any suitable crag or hillock, particularly south of the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth down across the border into Northumberland.
Dúns appear to have arrived with the Brythonic Celts in about the 7th century BC, associated with their Iron age culture of warrior tribes and petty chieftains. Early Dúns had near vertical ramparts constructed of stone laced with timber, and where this was set on fire (accidentally or on purpose) it forms the vitrified forts where stones have been partly melted, an effect that is still clearly visible. Use of Dúns continued in some cases into the medieval period.
The word in its original sense appears in many place names, and can include fortifications of all sizes and types, for example Din Eidyn, in Gaelic Dún Éideann which the Angles (Anglos) renamed Edinburgh, and the Broch Dun Telve in Glenelg.
Crannog
Crannog : (Irish Gaelic – crannóg, wooden structure, pole, from Middle Irish; crannóc, from Old Irish; from crann = tree) Prehistoric habitation built over the shallow waters of a lake shore or a marsh, usually erected on pile-supported platforms, but sometimes on artificial mounds. Crannogs were used for a settlement and usually linked to shore with a timber gangway or stone causeway. Such a site afforded easy access to a varied food supply by the availability of fish, marsh fowl, and good crop lands. Remains of Bronze Age lake dwellings were discovered in Britain, Ireland, and central Europe.
Rath
Rath : (Ir. rath) circular hill fort protected by earthworks, used by the ancient Irish in the pre-Christian era as a retreat in time of danger. Some of the larger raths, such as that at Tara, were important in early Irish history and were used by chieftains or kings. Many raths remain throughout Ireland. The interior diameter can range from 50 to over 200 feet. The interior is sometimes sited on a natural or artificial mound. There may also be a souterrain, a subterranean room used probably for storage.
Barrow
Barrow : in archaeology, a burial mound. Earth and stone or timber are the usual construction materials; in parts of SE Asia stone and brick have entirely replaced earth. A barrow built primarily of stone is often called a cairn. Barrows occur in many parts of the world; they were built during the Neolithic period in Western Europe and in recent times in Buddhist countries. In European prehistory the characteristic barrows are either long or round. The long ones are from the Neolithic period and often contain several burial chambers. They may have been intended to simulate cave burials. The stone chambers were placed at one end of the mound and were approached by a passage, sometimes over 300 ft (90 m) in length. Round barrows, usually dating from the Bronze Age, normally contain a single burial. The round barrow was commonly bell shaped; another type had a low central mound that invariably contained cremated remains and was surrounded by a walled ditch or a circle of standing stones, usually about 150 ft (50 m) in diameter. Barrow building in Europe continued until the Christian era. Roman, Saxon, and Viking barrows are known, though such burials were apparently reserved for important personages. The erection of mounds over burials has been widespread. The round barrow or stupa of Asia is usually a shrine for relics of the Buddha.
Cromlech
Cromlech : (Welsh or Breton) crom, feminine of crwm, arched + llech, stone; =crooked stone, term that has changed in meaning from its original equivalent to dolmen. It later came to be used for a single standing stone and now usually refers to a circle of such stones; however, the term is used in this sense for such remains on the Continent, e.g., Britanny and Portugal, rather than for those on the British Isles.
Dolmen
Dolmen : n. A prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone [syn: cromlech, menhir]; French, from Breton *taolvean : *taol alteration (influenced by taol, table), of tol, key + men, stone.
Danaan, Tuatha De
Danaan, Tuatha Dé : Literally, “the people of the goddess Dana / Danu.” The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Irish who inhabited the land before the coming of the Milesian Gaels. Their history is chronicled in the Leabhar Gabhala Erenn (‘Book of Invasions’) and other ancient texts, as well as in oral folktales passed from generation to generation. When Christian monks started to write down the sagas, these gods and goddesses were demoted into heroes and heroines, although much remains to demonstrate their god-like abilities. Under their leader, Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Dé Danaan came to Ireland from an unknown northern country where they had four fabulous cities – Falias, Gorias, Finias, and Murias. In these great places they studied with learned sages. They became masters of the arts and sciences, both magical and mundane until they advanced to the point where they embodied the supernatural. They could go back and forth between the worlds at will, conjure weather, shape-shift, and they attained the utmost skills in poetry, magic, music, art, and weaponry. From each of the four cities the Tuatha Dé Danaan brought with them magical treasures : the Dagda’s Cauldron (‘Undry’), the magical Spear of Lugh, the Stone of Fal (Lia Fáil, Stone of Destiny – the Lia Fáil would roar its approval when a rightful leader was elected to take leadership), and the Sword of Nuada (Cliamh Solais, for it was the Sword of Light). They defeated the FirBolg (“bag men”) and then overcame the Fomorii.
This is not to say that they were without vice. All human passion was experienced by them. Eventually, they were overcome by the Milesian Gaels, with whom in some texts they are also related and are regarded as the Ancestors of the Gaels. The Milesians drove them underground. The gods and goddesses of the Dé Danaan were common to all Celtic peoples : their names are cognate with many deities who appear in the Welsh myths. As they were pushed underground, they were demoted in the eyes of the people and became Faeries.
Dagda, the Good God, was their greatest and wisest ruler when the Milesian Gaels arrived. His daughter Brigit was the patroness of craftsmen and poets and came to be loved by the people of Ireland. Lugh was worshipped as a Sun God, and Badb, Macha, and Morrigan as triple War Goddesses. The triple goddesses would shape-shift and appear as old crones at times, and often as young maidens, as well. They (and some of the other goddesses) would take the form of crows or ravens, and fly over battle fields, goading the warriors into a frenzy. Many other of the Dé Danaans became well known in various Celtic legends, and were known as gods and goddesses and Ancestors. Whether they were or were not in fact deities, what the old texts tell us is that they were god-like beings (something between deities and humans), and were the basis for the Irish Faerie race. Many of them intermarried with humans. In fact, it is believed that almost all of the main clanns in Ireland were descended from the Tuatha Dé Danaan somewhere along their family lines, and many of the great genealogies of these clanns show direct lineage from the Danaans. Known as the Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, Little People, fae, elves, and a whole host of other names, there are numerous faeries of all types and descriptions all over the world today. (more…)
Names of Ireland
Source: Part 11 of The History of Ireland (BOOK I-II) by Geoffrey Keating.
In the first place, we shall set down every name that was at any time on Ireland.
The first name which was given to Ireland was Inis na bhfiodhbhadh, that is to say Island of the Woods; and the person who called that name to it was a warrior of the people of Nin, son of Bel, who came from him to spy out Ireland, and on his coming thither he found it to be all one forest-wood, except Magh-n-ealta alone. Three times, indeed, Ireland was one continuous wood, according to this old saying, which is in the ancient record : “Three times Eire put three coverings and three barenesses off her.” (p.99)
The second name was Críoch na bhfuineadhach from its being at the limit or end of the three divisions of the world which had then been discovered; fuin indeed, from the Latin word finis being equivalent to ‘end’.
The third name was Inis Ealga, that is, noble island; for inis and oiléan are equivalent, and likewise ealga and uasal: and it is during the time of the Firbolg it was usual to have that name on it.
The fourth name was Eire, and it is said that wherefore that name is called to it, according to a certain author, is from this word Aeria, which was an old name for the island which is now called Creta or Candia; and why that author thinks that is because the posterity of the Gaedheal glas dwelt in that island some space of time after Sru, son of Easru, son of Gaedheal, had been driven out of Egypt: and, moreover, Aere is given as a name for Egypt whence the Gael proceeded. However, it is the common opinion of antiquaries that why it is Eire is from the name of the queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann who was in the land a the time of the coming of the of the Clann Míleadh into it: Eire, daughter of Dealbhaoth, was her name, and it is she was wife to Mac Gréine who was called Ceathúr who was king of Ireland when the sons of Míleadh came to it.
The fifth name was Fódhla, from a queen of the Tuath Dé Danann, who was called Fódhla: it is she was wife to Mac Cécht, whose proper name was Teathúr.
The sixth name was Banbha, from a queen of the Tuatha (p.101) Dé Danann, that was in the land, who was called Banbha: it is she was wife to Mac Cuill, whose proper name was Eathúr. These three kings held the sovereignty of Ireland each year by turns; and it is the name of the wife of each one of them would be on the island the year he was himself king. It is why the island is called Eire oftener than Fódhla or Banbha, because that is the husband of the woman whose name was Eire was king the year the sons of Míleadh came there.
The seventh name was Inis Fail; and it is the Tuatha Dé Danann gave that name to it, from a stone they brought with them into it, which was called the Lia Fail: and Saxum fatale, i.e. ‘Stone of Destiny’, Hector Boece calls it in the history of Scotland; and it was a stone on which were enchantments, for it used to roar under the person who had the best right to obtain the sovereignty of Ireland at the time of the men of Ireland being in assembly at Tara to choose a king over them. However, it has not roared from the time of Conchubhar forward, for the false images of the world were silenced when Christ was born. Here is a verse of quotation proving that it is from this stone Ireland is called Inis Fail, as Cionaoth the poet said : –
1. The stone which is under my two heels,
from it is named Inisfail;
Between two shores of a mighty flood,
the plain of Fál on all Ireland.
The eighth name was Muicinis; and it is the children of Míleadh who gave it that name before they arrived in it. When, indeed, they had come to the mouth of Innbhear Sláinghe, which today is called the Haven of Lochgarman, the Tuatha Dé Danann, with their druids, assemble to oppose (p.103) them there, and they practise magic on them, so that the island was not visible to them but in the likeness of a pig, so it is, therefore, they gave (the name) Muicinis to Ireland.
The ninth name was Scotia; and it is the sons of Míleadh who gave that name to it, from their mother, whose name was Scota, daughter of Pharao Nectonibus; or it is why they called it Scotia, because that they are themselves the Scottish race from Scythia.
The tenth name was Hibernia; and it is the sons of Míleadh gave that name to it. However, it is said that it is from a river that is in Spain which is called Iberus (the name) Hibernia is given to it. It is said also that it is from Eibhear (Eber), son of Míleadh, it is called Hibernia; but, however, holy Cormac, son of Cuileannan, says, that why it is called Hibernia is from this compound Greek word ‘hiberoc’ (ie. occasus in Latin) and ‘nyaon’ (i.e. insula) that is equivalent to saying insula occidentalis, i.e. ‘western island’.
The eleventh name was Iuernia, according to Ptolemy, or Iuerna, according to Solinus, or Ierna according to Claudian, or Vernia according to Eustatius. I think there is no meaning in the difference which is between these authors concerning this word Hibernia, but that they did not understand whence came the word itself; and, accordingly, that each one of them separately gave a guess from himself at it, so that from that came this variation on the word.
The twelfth name was Irin, according to Diodorus Siculus.
The thirteenth name was Irlanda; and I think that the reason why that name was given to it is, because that (p.105) it was Ir, son of Míleadh, was the first man of the Clanna Míleadh who was buried under the soil of Ireland, and accordingly, the island was named from him: ‘Irlanda’ and ‘land of Ir’ being indeed equivalent, for ‘land’ in English, and ‘fonn’ or ‘fearann’ in Gaelic are alike. The truth of this thing is the more admissible, since the book of Armagh says that a name for this island is Ireo, that is to say, the grave of Ir, because that it is there is the sepulchre or grave of Ir.
The fourteenth name was Ogygia, according to Plutarch: indeed, ‘Ogygia’ in Greek and insula perantiqua, i.e. most ancient island, are equivalent; and that is a suitable name for Ireland, because that it is long since it was first inhabited, and that perfect is the sound information which its antiquaries possess on the transactions of their ancestors from the beginning of eras, one after another.
For information on other Irish names, such as for people, see this page.
Book of Kells
The Book of Kells contains a wealth of decoration, featuring not only abstract interlacing patterns and zoomorphic motifs but portraits of the Evangelists, of Christ, and of the Virgin and Child. The patterns that flank this portrait are typical of the Hiberno-Saxon style of manuscript illumination.
Book of Kells : Book of Kells, largest and most sumptuously decorated of the few illuminated Gospel books to survive from monasteries in Ireland and the north of Britain between the 7th and the 9th centuries. The date and place of origin of the Book of Kells have long been disputed. The rich monasteries of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, and Kells, in County Meath, Ireland, could well have produced such a lavish illuminated manuscript, whose vellum pages required over 185 calf-skins. It may have been begun at Iona in the late 8th century and then taken to Kells, where in ad 807 a monastery was established as a refuge from Viking raids.
The manuscript is incomplete and now comprises 680 pages of the Gospels in Latin preceded by canon tables and other introductory text pages usual in such manuscripts. Much of the Gospel of St John is missing.
The manuscript’s glory lies in its decoration. Illustrations include the symbols of the Evangelists, their portraits, and those of Christ, and the Virgin and Child. The additional scenes of the Temptation and Arrest of Christ are the earliest narrative scenes to survive in a Gospel manuscript. Each Gospel opens with a richly decorated initial. The text is filled with abstract and zoomorphic (animal-form) interlace patterns which characterize not only this manuscript but also the other Hiberno-Saxon gospel books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels or the Book of Durrow. It is the use of the human figure, the unusual colours, and the wealth of decoration that set aside the Book of Kells from the other manuscripts. It is not known how many scribes contributed to the elegant and confident majuscule text (written in large letters), nor whether they were also the artists who produced the intricate and magnificent decoration that makes the Book of Kells one of the finest exemplars of the Insular, or Hiberno-Saxon, style (the British and Irish style of manuscript illumination).
The Book of Kells is in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. [Image : Bridgeman Art Library, London / New York / The Board of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland]
Cailleach Beara
Cailleach Beara, (Beare, Bera) : (kill-ogh vayra) “Crone of Beare” The ancient mountain mother of the south-west of Ireland. South-west Munster was believed to be the abode of the dead and here the Cailleach had lived for countless ages so that her successive husbands died of old age while she enjoyed endless youth. She is almost identical with the Cailleach Bheur of the Highlands except that she is not so closely connected with winter nor with the wild beasts. She is a great mountain builder, and, like many other gigantic Hags, she carried loads of stone in her apron and dropped them when the string broke. She is considered a goddess of sovereignty giving the kings the right to rule their lands. She usually appears as an old woman who asks a hero to sleep with her, if the hero agrees to sleep with the old hag she then transforms into a beautiful woman.
Cailleach is referred to as the “Mother of All” in parts of Scotland. Also known as Scotia, she is depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a wild bear and boar’s tusks. She is believed to be a great sorceress. She is also known to have created the earth. “With her hammer she alternately splinters mountains, prevents the growth of grass, or raises storms. Numerous wild animals follow her…” — Encyclopedia of the Occult, 1920
