Rites of the Sacral Kingship v. 2.6

by Tara NicScothach bean MacAnTsaoir

While the great bulk of Celtic religious practice seems to have fallen into the realm of personal votive practice, there are two instances where the community good was the purpose of the rites. The first of these are the rites that were done on the hill tops at the festivals. These in ancient times would seem to have been accompanied by sacrifices. The second were the rites of the Sacral Kingship. The latter is the topic of this article.

The Marriage to the Land

Thanks to the writers of fiction, a conventional wisdom has developed that portrays the King as having mated with some "priestess" to gain the power of rulership. This was certainly not the case. We in fact have the exact knowledge of what the actual rite itself entailed.

We know from Topographica Hibernica by Giraldus Cambrensis exactly what transpired at the rites wherein the King was vested with the authority to rule. According to Cambrensis, the king-in-making literally mated with a white mare, which was then slaughtered. The blood and flesh which have been collected were put into a cauldron and boiled. The king then bathed in the broth, drank it the broth and ate the flesh.(1)

We have to reinsert what appears from lore to be the last component of the rite, that of fulfilling the test of stepping onto a stone such as Lia Fail. This was probably the act of the new king setting his foot into a "footprint."

The veracity of the account given by Cambrensis has been the pursuit of many academians. What they have established is that not only is the account given by Cambrensis accurate, but it is also the oldest example of a set of practices found throughout cultures of Indo-European extraction. The Hindu versions on one side of IE expansion, which represent a culture who had gone to symbolism almost exclusively by the time of the Vedas, is contrasted to the frugal Gael, who held onto a version of the rite which probably very closely follows the original rites used by the IE. (2)

From this the King was empowered to govern. Though, not exactly in the ways one might think from the start. The old laws established that a king was not only elected, but could be replaced under established circumstances. The removal from power of Bres is an example of this. One of the things that a king could removed for, aside from being a curmudgeon, was if the land wasn't fruitful. While these are indeed a difficult set of ideas to grasp within the western mindset, careful study of the ancient of the Brahmin Hindu ideas gives clues about the meanings found in these rites. These ideas are preserved in the Vedas and earlier teachings.

According to writings of the Arryan Hindus of the Vedic period (which would be the closest relatives to the Celts through the IE), as well as what can be extrapolated from other cultures which descended from the Indo-Europeans, the base concept involved the mixing of fluids. These would be the fluids of the the Goddess of Sovereignty, with those of the king.

In the the post Vedic period the focus is put on the menstrual blood. Yet, in the Vedic period, and, from some ancient Irish prose, apparently so too among the Gael, the focus was on the feminine counterpart to semen, her milk.(3) The fruitfulness of the land was seen to have been because of his part in the marriage to the Goddess of Sovereignty. He impregnated her, then she produced milk. His ability to imprgnate depended on his Truth (truth equaled virilty. It was a matter of his ability to impregnate the Goddess of the Land, who was also the Goddess of Sovereignty, which allowed bounty and other good to come to the people. One clue is such zoomorphic icons as Boann, a the white Cow, the pertinent parts of the icon being the udders. If she were impregnated then Her bounty, milk from Her breasts, would flow (abundance). This, as said, because ancient IE thought held the milk of the woman to be cognate with the milk of the male, the semen (4). If the land were barren, then the absence of the moisture of the Goddess would be evidence of the absence of virility in the "moisture" of the king. This would also be seen to be evidence of a lack of truth in the king. This is portrayed in the ideas of the "truth" being the quality of a good king. In simple words a virile king was one who embodied the Truth. Dr. Daithi OhOgain points out one early Irish tract which says:

"Truth in a ruler is as the foam cast up by a mighty wave of the sea, as the sheen of a swan's covering in the sun, as the color of snow on a mountain. A ruler's truth is an effort which over powers armies. It brings milk into the world, it brings corn and mast."

Dr. OhOgain then points out, like O'Flaherty, that parallels are to be found in other IE cultures (5). In India, rice was the symbol of fertility; in Ireland and Scotland it was corn. The word "corn" in this application applies to wheat, rye, oats, millet, and barley. It does not refer to the grain that Americans call corn, which didn't get to Europe until at least the 15th century. While today it is very popular on pizzas in the U.K., it was hardly a staple of the ancient Celts.

In the earliest examples of the sacral kingship, a failure to impregnate the Goddess of Sovereignty was probably the grounds upon which the king himself saw his own most precious fluids then given to the land in his sacrifice. It is also thought that, in some places, even if the crops continued to grow in abundance, that after a set number of years a new king was created and the old one sacrificed.

The sacrifice of a king is is thought by many to be evidenced in an obscure statement in the Leabhar Gebhala Erenn, where Partholon had gone on a hunt, during which time his wife had taken another lover. Upon his return, Partholon threw a veritable hissy fit. The text becomes clogged with things we cannot decipher, such as used tubes and such. However, a common, though usually overlooked, item is tucked in there - the killing of a dog. The connection of the killing of a dog to the sacrifice of the king has only been touched upon by a few. While I wouldn't necessarily utilize his interpretations, even "The Golden Bough" by Sir James Frazier notes the continuing folk practice. The meaning of these practices are conceptually congruent as dogs, like cows and mares, are also often associated with female fertility and nurturance, as icons of Gods of the Land. Pertaining to dogs in Celtic religion, in The Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend (6), Green notes:

"In both Classical and Celtic mythology and religion, dogs possessed composite symbolism in which the animals could represent hunting, healing, and death. The significance of the hunt speaks for itself, but healing symbolism derives from the belief that the saliva of the animal contains curative properties. The death role may come from observation of the dog's carrion habits."

Green also notes, "In the archaeology of Celtic religion, dogs feature in two distinct ways: in the iconography they appear as companions of many different divinities; and dogs were buried with a specific set of rituals, attesting, perhaps, their chthonic symbolism."

Then Green goes on to cite the numerous sites where dog images appear alongside gods and goddesses and the evidence for their healing and chthonic roles. She notes that the site at Lydney contains no iconography of dogs but "nine images of dogs were offered at the temple." Green also discusses the numerous examples of dog remains at known worship sites, especially as pit offerings, concluding, "All the foregoing evidence of ritual associated with the bodies of dogs points to a complex series of religious activities which must have been concerned with the appeasement of the powers of the underworld." As Green points out, this evidence recalls the classical figure of Cerberus, the mythological dog guarding the entrance to Hades.

Hence, we see perhaps where the killing of the dog by Partholon was a fulfilling of a role by the dog, that once Partholon himself would have filled. He wasn't sacrificed to renew the world and keep the powers of decay and death i.e. the UnderWorld away. A dog was sacrificed instead and for some reason it wasn't accepted and death came. What should also be apparent here, with Partholons hunt, and the dog being associated with the hunt, is that perhaps the Great Hunt was a pan-Celtic idea, having a home even here in the Goidelic worldview.

Most think that by the time of the Goidelic invasions of the Isles, that literal sacrifice of the king had stopped. Regardless, the rites of the Sacral Kingship continued well into Christian times as evidenced by the testimony of Cambrensis. This brings into clarity the demands of the law that the King be without blemish upon his physical self or upon his moral and intellectual self (7).

Through the mating with the Mare, the King coupled to the Goddess of Sovereignty of the land. Through the sacrifice the cosmos was renewed. Through the division of the sacrifice into three parts, each representing a segment of the society, and the king consuming of the three parts, he belonged to all three segments. The whole of the people became represented in him, and he became of each segment of the culture. (8)

Selection of the King

What has not been addressed yet, is the selection process of the kings in Gaelic culture. This is a topic that is rarely if ever addressed from a factual point of view. Usually the focus is on the potential meanings of the metaphorical language found in lore. While we can with some confidence speculate that the lore is addressing possible initiatory elements in the ascent to kinghood (9), what is being addressed here is the actual selection process of the king himself.

The scene that Cambrensis described happened in the 11th century. There are quite a few Irish law tracts from around that time, which describe the process for selecting kings. While things may have changed slighlty through the centuries, we know from these law tracts exact details of the procedure. According to Fergus Kelly, things were pretty much the same at the fall of Gaelic civil order in the seventeenth century, as it was in the 8th century (10).

One such tract is called C/oic Conairi Fuigill, which interpreted means "The Five Paths Of Judgement". This law tract states that a pretender to kingship must be a son of a king (mac flatha) and the grandson of a king. This tract is detailed enough to tell us that if a mans father had been a king, but his grandfather had not, then he was only a "middle ranking king" (flaith med/onac).(11)

C/oic Conairi Fuigill also confirms what has been found in many other places about the condition of the pretender. In the eyes of the law he must be beyond reproach (innraic), nor could he be guilty of theft, nor could he have any physical blemish.(12)

According to this tract, there were even minimum requirements for property owned (ni bi r/i r/i cen fola). To the new kings own property, new land was added. These lands came from gelfines. This makes sense when one considers the laws regarding the requirements of the Kings Brugiadh and other things. He had to be able to fulfill his title. This included taking care of those who functioned as royal officials.(13)

Initiation Into Kingship

We know that the king was confirmed by popular vote. We also know that the king could be empeached by the people as well. In Gaelic culture at least, the people were seen to have come from a union with one of the Tuatha and the Goddess of Sovereinty. Therefore, there is more than meets the eye when we remember that the king was said to have been chosen by the Goddess of Sovereignty . This chosing by Her was put into metaphorical language where it is said that one of many candidates chose to kiss the Hag or follow duty over preference. The souterrains of Uisnech may also have served a similar function during kingship rites. Each is symbolic of choice and rebirth, though one may have been a choice of mates, while the other was a choice of pathways. The kissing of the Hag itself is thought to have been related to the initiatory aspects of assuming the Kingship.

The science of anthropology and in particular the study of cultural anthropology shows us that there would have been a time of preparation for the king prior to the rites themselves. During that time the king would be prepared for his reign.

During this time of preparation he would have gone through purification. In addition, he would have been shown the relics held as holy by the people as well as been rehearsed in the laws to which he was to be bound. He was probably also instructed in his part in any of the rites he had to lead for the benefit of the people.

The Acts Of The Goddess Of Sovereingty After The Marriage

According to Mallory, elements of the Sacral Kingship that are found among the various Indo-European descended cultures include the Horse Goddess (14). Furthermore, She gives birth to twins, then disappears (15). Eventually one of the twins kills the other (16).

We can see this echoed in Irish lore. In particular in the story in which Macha raced against Conchobar's chariot. Macha is intrinsically connected to Emain Macha, the site of the Kingship of Ulster. Macha means "plain" which helps establish Her as a Land Goddess, and she is recognized as the Goddess of Sovereignty (17). She also has an unmistakable connection to horses (18). Horses are well established as the icons of deities associated with the land(19).

In this tale Macha is the wife of a farmer named Crunnchu. The tale unfolds at a festival. At this festival horse racing is in abundance. King Conchobar's horse had been taking the day, winning every race. Cruuchu, seeing the victories, boasted that his mate could win a foot race against the King's fastest horses. This was something he should never have done, but he did it anyway. At the time, Macha was pregnant, but because of the circumstances, she ran the race anyway. She was victorious, but her dying act was giving birth to twins.

It would seem that the subsequent tales are missing. Or are they? While anything that directly and clearly belongs attached to the tale of Macha giving birth to twins is not available, there are some interesting things to look at. In Co. Galway, there is a tale which has the mother of CuChullain in a race against the chariot (20). If this is an older, purer form of the tale, then we are still at a loss for the identity of the other twin. By looking at the tales of CuChullain's life we could easily see Ferdia as the twin of CuChullain. This would help go a long way in explaining the undertones in the Tain Bo and supplementary tales which establish Lugh as CuChullain's father. Granted, at this point it's entirely speculation to establish CuChullain and Ferdia as the twins of Macha. Especislly as Ferdia Mac Damain had a different father and mother than Cu/Chualainn. They were brothers by fosterage and tutelage (as well as the shield and the blanket), but not by blood (to my knowledge). It is however, helpful in seeing some of the other possible meanings in the battle between Ferdia and Cu at the ford, as well as help us remain clear that the old lore has been corrupted.

Considering the relationship to dogs that was written about above, another place to look in the Ulster Cycle of lore is the stories of Cu Chulainn's initiatory experiences as a warrior. On his first day of taking arms, he kills the hound guarding a man's home and then has to replace the dog as guardian for a year. It makes one wonder whether the story has more than one layer and whether it may be metphorical language for some sort of initiation, perhaps regarding the kingship itself. For the rest of his career, Cu Chualinn keeps encountering forces from the otherworld--Fand and Li Ban, the Morrigan--and/or protecting borders from invading forces. This is the explanation for slaying his son: attacking an invading figure. Also, in the Tain Bo itself, Cu Chulainn spends a lot of time defining loyalties, another way of setting and defending borders. One could argue, that the role of any champion is to defend borders, but is there more going on in Cu Chulainn's story.

We know that amongst the Celts, women ruled as did men. Surely there was a similar set of practices for the queens. We can see a great many things in the relationship between Maeve and Ailill. His role as king next to Maeve, is very similar to the roles of queens next to kings, in those instances where the King is the primary concern.

Sources:

1.Topographia Hibernica, Giraldu Cambrensis

2. Women, Androgyne and Other Mythological Beasts, Wendy Donniger-O'Flaherty
Prehistoric India to 1000 BC, Stuart Piggott
Celts and Aryans: Survivals of Indo-European Speech and Society, Myles Dillon

3. Women, Androgyne and Other Mythological Beasts, Wendy Donniger-O'Flaherty

4. Women, Androgyne and Other Mythological Beasts, Wendy Donniger-O'Flaherty

5. Myth Legend and Romance, Dr. Daithi OhOgain

6. The Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Green

7. Senchus Mor, Alexander Thom

8. Death War and Sacrifice, Bruce Lincoln

9. The lore is repleat with examples of metaphorical language regarding kings and kings to be. A frequent theme is the "kissing of the Hag". In this there is repulsion felt by many pretenders to the kingship. But one overcomes the repulsion of sovereingty, kisses the hag, after which she turns into a beautiful woman.

10.Guide to Early Irish Law, Fergus Kelly

11. "C/oic Conairi Fuigill, Die funf Wege zum Urteil, ein altirischer Rechstext", Thurneyson, Berlin, 1925

12. "C/oic Conairi Fuigill, Die funf Wege zum Urteil, ein altirischer Rechstext", Thurneyson, Berlin, 1925

13. "C/oic Conairi Fuigill, Die funf Wege zum Urteil, ein altirischer Rechstext", Thurneyson, Berlin, 1925

14. In Search Of The Indo-Europeans, JP Mallory

15 In Search Of The Indo-Europeans, JP Mallory
Women, Androgyne and Other Mythological Beasts, Wendy Donniger-O'Flaherty

16. In Search Of The Indo-Europeans, JP Mallory
Women, Androgyne and Other Mythological Beasts, Wendy Donniger-O'Flaherty

17. Myth Legend and Romance, Dr. Daithi OhOgain
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Peter Berresford-Ellis
Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Miranda Green

18. Myth Legend and Romance, Daithi OhOgain
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Peter Berresford-Ellis
Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Miranda Green

19. Celtic Mythology, Ward Rutherford

20. Myth Legend and Romance. Daithi OhOgain
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Peter Berresford-Ellis
Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend, Miranda Green

21. Irish popular Superstitions, Sir William R. Wilde

Special Thanks To (in alphabetical order):
Leah NicGreagoir
Searles O'Dubhain

prepared by Tara NicScothach bean MacAnTsaoir

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