|
Culture & Traditions Please Consider Helping to Keep This Website Online.
|
|
Manannan by Dawn O'Laoghaire Manannan is son of Lir, the primary ocean god, and took over Lir's role as the god of the seas. [1] In Welsh tradition, Manannan's mother was Penardun, daughter of the Mother Goddess Don. [2] Manannan ruled from Emain Ablach (Emain of the Apple Trees) in Tir Tairnigiri (Land of Promise.) [3] Manannan appears frequently in Irish and Scottish mythology and plays an important role in several Gaelic epics. [4] In addition, Gaelic myths about Manannan influenced certain aspects of the Arthurian legends. 5 Manannan's wife was Fand, the Pearl of Beauty.6 His appearance is always as a noble and handsome warrior, but he is a shape-changer and sometimes a prankster. He can drive his chariot over the waves as if they are a plain.[7] Manannan is also the keeper of the Well of Knowledge. [8] Cormac's Cup One important story about Manannan is the tale of how he gave Cormac, Hing King at Tara and patron of the Fianna, Cormac's magic cup and how Cormac traveled to the Otherworld to meet Manannan and recover his wife and children.9 Manannan teaches Cormac that knowledge has its source in the Otherworld and that those seeking truth must turn to the Otherworld to obtain it. By accepting the branch on an Otherworld tree and then by journeying to the Otherworld, Cormac obtains all that he has lost and the power to discern the truth in addition. [10] Cormac was alone at Tara and saw an armed man with grey hair approaching him. The man was carrying a shining silver branch which bore nine apples of gold on his shoulder. When the branch shook, it made a wonderful sound and the sound of the branch would take the trouble or worry or tiredness or want from anyone who heard it. [11] Cormac greeted the man and asked where he came from. When the man replied that he came from a land without age or sadness or jealousy or envy or pride and where there was nothing but truth. [12] Cormac replied that such was not true of his own people and offered the man friendship. The man accepted Cormac's friendship and then offered the wonderful branch in exchange for three gifts in return. Cormac agreed and the man left the branch and vanished. [13] A year later the man returned and asked for Cormac's daughter, Aille, as his first gift. A month later he returned and asked for Cormac's son, Carpre Lifecar, as his second gift. He then returned a third time and asked for Cormac's wife, Ethne, as his third gift. [14] The loss of his wife was more than Cormac could bear and he followed after the man with his people. As Cormac and his people followed them, they were trapped in a great mist and Cormac soon found himself alone on a large plain. When Cormac traveled across the plain, he came to a royal palace with a well full of salmon eating hazelnuts outside of it. Inside, Cormac found a man and a woman waiting for him. [15] The man offered Cormac the meat of a magic pig for supper and as it cooked, a true tale was told for each quarter of the pig to enable it to cook. The man, the woman and a member of their household each told a story and then Cormac told the story of how he came to be there. As Cormac finished his story, the pig was finished. After hearing their tales, Cormac knew the man of the house to be Manannan. After Cormac ate, Manannan sang to him and Cormac went to sleep. When he awoke he found that his family was with him and they were surrounded by fifty armed men. They were very glad and ate of the ale and food given to them.[16] Manannan joined them and told Cormac that the well he had seen was the Well of Knowledge and the streams which flowed into it were the five streams through which all knowledge flows. Manannan told Cormac that no one will have knowledge who does not drink a draught out of the well itself or one of the streams of knowledge and that the people of many arts are those who drink from all the streams. Manannan then showed Cormac the magic cup, which would break if three lies were told over it and would mend itself it three truths were told over it. He then gave the cup to Cormac as a sign of friendship and told Cormac that he had done all that he had done in order to bring Cormac to the Otherworld to be with Manannan in friendship. [17] Cormac and his family spent the day with Manannan at his palace and in the morning awoke in Tara, with the branch and cup beside him. [18] Manannan as Trickster Manannan was widely reputed to be both a shape-shifter and a trickster. He would appear at the courts of kings and perform tricks and wonders. If kings tried to keep him out of their holdings they would find that Manannan could pass any gate with ease and if they tried to keep him in a cell or on a gallows, they would find that Manannan could always escape. He never did harm to any person, however, and if any person came to harm Manannan would heal him with an herb from a bag that he carried.[19] He appeared dressed as a clown during a feast held by Aodh Dubh O'Donnell without passing the gate and mocked the playing of O'Donnell's musicians. After mocking the musicians, he took out a harp and played the most beautiful music that anyone had ever heard. When O'Donnell praised him for the sweet music, Manannan replied "One day I am sweet, another day I am sour." [20] The next day Manannan traveled the entire length of Ireland and appeared at a gathering held by Seaghan, dressed as a clown and pretending to be a man of great learning. When Seaghan asked the guest to read from a book or play music, Manannan acted as if he could not. When Seaghan mocked him for being unable to read or play, Manannan drew his harp and played as sweetly as he had for O'Donnell and read from the book in a sweet-sounding voice. When Seaghan complimented him on his playing and reading, Manannan replied "One day I am sweet, another day I am sour." [21] At other times, Manannan appeared as a servant to a tribal leader or as a magician who performed tricks for the king.[22] Manannan and Cuchulain Manannan was reputed to have had many forms and some said that he was Culainn, the Smith who gave Cuchulain his name. [23] As a patron of warriors, particularly the Fianna, Manannan may have been expected to have a special interest in the greatest warrior of all, Cuchulain. [24] Manannan was said by some to have taught Cuchulain the use of the Gae Bulg and taught Diarmuid of the Fianna the use of all weapons. [25] Manannan's most well known role in the Tain, however, involved the relationship of Cuchulain with his wife Fand. Fand was attacked by three Fomorii warriors when Manannan was away. Her brother-in-law sends Fand's sister to entreat Cuchulain to come and protect Fand from the warriors and offers him Fand as his lover as a reward. Cuchulain comes and defeats the Fomorri. He then becomes Fand's lover and brings her home to Ulster. Emer, as Cuchulain's first wife, protests the presence of Fand in her home and then attempts to kill Fand when Fand makes an assignation to see Cuchulain again. Manannan arrives and demands that Fand choose between her husband and Cuchulain. Fand chooses her husband and Manannan shakes his cloak between Fand and Cuchulain to ensure that they will not see one another again. [26] Manannan and Bran Manannan also makes an appearance in the Otherworld voyages of Bran. Bran, the son of Febal, has a vision of a beautiful woman and sets out with his brothers and twenty-seven warriors to find the land from which the woman came. In the vision, the woman sings to him of Emain Ablach, where Manannan rules and tells Bran that it is a land without grief, without sorrow, without death, without sickness, and without weakness.[27] Bran travels to several mystical islands and meets Manannan before arriving at the Isle of Women. After staying for a time on the Isle of Women, Bran and his men long to return to Ireland and set sail. When they arrive, they discover they have been away for centuries. When one of the crew attempts to set foot on shore, he turns to dust and Bran and his men are forced to return to the Otherworld. [28] Manannan is the first person to greet Bran after he has sailed into the Otherworld. As Bran and his men sail they sea a man driving a chariot across the sea. When the man approaches he introduces himself as Manannan Mac Lir and speaks to them in a song: "It is what Bran thinks, Manannan's influence on Arthurian legend Even after Britain, Ireland and Scotland were nominally converted to Christianity, pagan practices held wide-spread power over the bulk of the rural population. Urban centers and the wealthy, Romanized villas held to the new Christian faith, but the pagan beliefs persisted in the country-side. The presence of wide-spread pagan belief in the cultural environment provided ample sources for writers even after the introduction of Christianity. One important result of this is the borrowing of pagan gods and goddesses into the Christian (or Christianized) Arthurian tales. Many Gaelic and Welsh gods and goddesses appear as magicians, wizards, fairies and heroes in the Arthurian tales. Manannan appears in the Arthurian tales as Manawydan, [28] a wise and patient counselor. As Manawydan fab Llyr, Manannan also appears in the Third Branch of the Mabinogion. [29] Arthurian mythology also borrows heavily from earlier Gaelic tales about Manannan in describing how Arthur was sired. In a Gaelic tale which predates the Arthurian tale of Arthur's conception, Manannan is said to have appeared to Fachtna, the King of the Dal nAraidi. Fachtna was being bested in battle and Manannan offered to turn the tide if Manannan could sleep with Fachtna's wife. Fachtna agrees and Manannan wins the battle for him. He then goes to Fachtna's wife disguised as Factna and begets a child upon her.[30] Mongan, his child by the queen becomes a great king and a might warrior who had supernatural gifts as the result of his parentage. A historical Mongan is recorded as ruling Ulster in A.D. 625. [31] Contributed by Dawn O'Laoghaire Notes
Sources |
|
'Clannada na Gadelica' is a trademark of the Clannada na Gadelica.
|
|
Heart in Hands
Support the |
