Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and their Stories in a Global Perspective PDF
Preview Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and their Stories in a Global Perspective
New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology CELTIC MYTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY CM21C.indd 1 07/01/2018 14:35:41 NEW APPROACHES TO CELTIC RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY Series Editor Jonathan Wooding, University of Sydney Editorial Board Jacqueline Borsje, University of Amsterdam John Carey, University College Cork Joseph F. Nagy, University of California, Los Angeles Thomas O’ Loughlin, University of Nottingham Katja Ritari, University of Helsinki CM21C.indd 2 07/01/2018 14:35:41 New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology CELTIC MYTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY THE GODS AND THEIR STORIES IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE EDITED BY EMILY LYLE UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2018 CM21C.indd 3 07/01/2018 14:35:41 © The Contributors, 2018 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP. www.uwp.co.uk British Library CIP Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-78683-205-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-78683-206-1 The right of the Contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Typeset by Marie Doherty Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham CM21C.indd 4 07/01/2018 14:35:41 CONTENTS Preface vii List of Illustrations ix List of Abbreviations xi List of Contributors xiii Introduction: Celtic Myth in the 21st Century Jonathan M. Wooding, Series Editor 1 SECTION 1: MYTH AND THE MEDIEVAL 1 God and Gods in the Seventh Century: Tírechán on St Patrick and King Lóegaire’s Daughters Elizabeth Gray 11 2 Identity, Time and the Otherworld: An Observation on The Wooing Of Étaín John Carey 23 3 The Celtic Dragon Myth Revisited Joseph Falaky Nagy 31 4 Tory Island and Mount Errigal: Landscape Surrogates in Donegal for the Gods Balor and Lug Brian Lacey 43 SECTION 2: COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY 5 Ireland as Mesocosm Grigory Bondarenko 53 6 Hunting the Deer in Celtic and Indo-European Mythological Contexts Maxim Fomin 73 7 Gods, Poets and Entheogens: Ingesting Wisdom in Early Irish Literary Sources Sharon Paice MacLeod 89 CM21C.indd 5 07/01/2018 14:35:41 CONTENTS 8 The Armorican Voyage to the Afterlife and Celtic Myths Fañch Bihan-Gallic 107 SECTION 3: THE NEW COSMOLOGICAL APPROACH 9 Towards Adopting a Double Perspective on Celtic Mythology and its Prehistoric Roots Emily Lyle 121 10 Sisters’ Sons in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi Anna June Pagé 137 11 Fashioner Gods in Ireland and India: the Dagda and Tvaṣṭṛ John Shaw 149 12 Psycho-Cosmology: Mental Mapping in Táin Bó Cuailnge James Carney 163 Bibliography 179 Index 203 vi CM21C.indd 6 07/01/2018 14:35:42 PREFACE This publication stems from an initiative at the University of Edinburgh begun when Professor Rob Dunbar became head of the department of Celtic and Scottish Studies in 2013. At that time, he encouraged the holding of a colloquium on ‘Thinking about Celtic Mythology in the 21st Century’, with a board consisting of Professor Dunbar, Professor Wilson McLeod, Dr John Shaw and myself. The first colloquium was small but stimulating, and led to the holding of further colloquia on the same topic in 2014 and 2015. All the contributors to this volume, except Brian Lacey, attended one or more of these gatherings. When a call for contributions to this proposed publication was circu- lated, an advisory board was established, consisting of John Carey, Rob Dunbar, Elizabeth Gray, Barbara Hillers, John Koch, Wilson McLeod, Daniel Melia, Joseph Nagy, John Shaw and Jonathan Wooding, and I am grate- ful to all these scholars for their careful work. I am especially indebted to Elizabeth Gray, who advised on all the contributions, and to Wilson McLeod, who kindly undertook the burden of final preparation. Happily, the University of Edinburgh initiative coincided with the establishment of the University of Wales Press series entitled ‘New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology’, under the editorship of Jonathan Wooding, and this book seemed to find its natural place in that development. I should like to thank the members of the Press for their friendly help in the process of bringing the book to publication. Emily Lyle, Editor CM21C.indd 7 07/01/2018 14:35:42 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 4.1 Cloch Cenn Fáelaid – the stone of Cenn Fáelad, 45 Falcarragh, Co. Donegal FIGURE 6.1 Cernunnos, the antlered Celtic divinity, 78 second century ad FIGURE 6.2 Stag God, Grandfontaine, Donon, third century ad 79 FIGURE 9.1 The spatio-temporal structure of the Lyle 3-axis 132 cosmological model FIGURE 12.1 The spatio-temporal structure of the 167 Genesis narrative TABLE 12.1 The eight semantic locations in the Táin 169 CM21C.indd 9 07/01/2018 14:35:42
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