ÉTAíN

1. ÉTAíN TochmarcEtaine Manuscript sources: • Lebor na hUidre: Book of the Dun Cow (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin) • Yellow Book of Lecan (Trinity College, Dublin) • Egerton (British Library)

2. EtainEchrade This is the story of Etain (Eadaoin) Echrade (‘horse-riding’).The association with horse-riding connects her probably with other goddesses such as Rhiannon (*Rigantona) of Celtic Britain and the famous Epona (divine horse-woman) of ancient Gaul (France 2000 years ago).

3. Etain-fantasy lit.

4. EtainEchrade References to her stunning beauty are made in this narrative and others:

5. Étaín • Descriptions of Étaín: • In the dindsheanchas (traditions about Irish placenames) she is described as having golden tresses, but no description is more elaborate than that given in the sequel The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’ , pp. 61-63.

6. ÉTAíN • Three distinct tales bearing this title have been handed down. • They were transcribed into the Lebor na hUidre (c1100), where however owing to loss of pages, only the second part is preserved in its entirity. • The first part lacks the beginning, and the third the middle and end portions.

7. ÉTAíN • It seemed that the complete text had been irretrievably lost until another copy came to light in the 1930s (Egerton) which was complete.

8. Structure of Étaín saga There are threeinterlocked sections: • Regenerationtheme of rival lovers: Elcmar and Dagdaecompete for Boand. • Echu and Ailill as rival claimants; Ailill’s love-sickness. Etain. • Mider and Echucompete for Étaín

9. The main characters: • Echu Ollathair (Dagdae) • Elcmar (Nuadhu) • Eithne (Bóand) • Óengus (Macc Óc) • Mider • Fúamnach • Echu Airem (Eochaid)

10. Lesser characters • Tríath (of the Fir Bolg) • Dían Cecht (the physician) • Lug (of the TDD*) • Ogmae (of the TDD) • Ailill Angubae (falls in love with Étaín) • Echu Feidlech • Eterscélae

11. Etain • Because of the slightly fragmented form of the reunited text, several questions arise as to the original form of the myth. • As Gantz notes, the three sections which make up the story almost seem like separate tales, except for the underlying theme of the love-story between Midir and Etain.

12. Section One • The first section is chronologically situated in the time when the Tuatha De Danann controlled Ireland (in the Book of Invasions version of early Irish history). • We see the Irish deities and their interaction.

13. Section One • Alternate names: this is a feature of this narrative (and a small number of others). • Dagda (EchuOllathir), Boand (Eithne), MaccOc (Oengus), Etain (Be Find), Elcmar (Nuadhu, Nuadu).

14. Section One • Two of these names are known also in Iron Age Celtic civilisation: • Nuadhu=Nodens, Nodent- (W Britain). In Wales=Nudd. • MaccOc= Maponos (known later in Wales as Mabon). • Boandfrom an earlyform *bou-winda.

15. Section One • Boand is a river name (Boyne today, in Modern Irish Bóinn). • The Brittonic myth of Mabon also has a connection with a river goddess Modron (=Matrona). • Undoubtedly this first part of the narrative preserves a very ancient myth which explained the conception and birth of a god called *makkwonos. (in Irish MaccOc).

16. Section One • BrunaBoindeis the Irish name for the great archaeological site of Newgrange, built by pre-Celtic speaking peoples of the early Bronze Age but subsumed into the mythology of early Celtic Ireland.

17. BrunaBoinde-Newgrange

18. Newgrange today:c3200-2600BC) Newgrange (BrunaBoinde)- great passage grave

19. Inside Newgrange

20. Newgrange In the mythology of Ireland, Newgrange becomes the major residence of the sidh or Otherword inhabitants, and especially the god of poetry MaccOc (Oengus).

21. Section One • Something of the nature of the Tuatha De Danann is reflected throughout this narrative but especially this early section where we see Dagda manipulate Elcmar’s sense of time. • In fact, the TDD seem to have a very poetic sense of how time passes.

22. Section One • For Elcmar, nine months pass like a single day to allow for Boand to give birth to Dagda’s child. • This unusual manipulation of time also occurs in the famous phrase ‘it is in days and nights that the world passes’. Metaphorically a day and a night represent all time.

23. Section One • Although we are dealing with deities, the social structure presented in the narrative is very much one that reflects the customs of the day (ie c8th century in Ireland). • Fostering for instance.

24. Fostering • Dagda sends his son MaccOc to be fostered by Mider who owns the Sidh of BriLeith. • So, Oengus alias the MaccOc: ‘young the son who is conceived at dawn and born before dusk’.

25. Section One • During his fosterage we are reminded of the previous people who controlled Ireland (for a short period) namely the fir bolg. Triath of the Fir Bolg is described as ‘the son of a slave’. But MaccOc does not know who his own parents are.

26. Section One • The acknowledgment by the father of the son (Dagda and his son Oengus) obviously reflects a social reality. Compare Caesar’s comments on the Gauls. • Oengus the teenager/young man wants a home and land. • Dagda will give him Elcmar (Nuadu)’s sidh (BrunaBoinde=Newgrange).

27. Section One • The mention of Samuin (Hallowe’en) is significant since major events in the Irish mythological world take place at that time. • The reference to the day and the night (=eternity), should be compared to the single day (=nine months).

28. Section One • Samuin is also mentioned as the time when Mider visits his foster-son and is wounded in the eye (mythological connection with the eye?). • This brings up the concept of shame and blemish which in early Irish terms is associated with kingship (Mider is king of his sidh at BriLeith, in Co Longford). • His sidh is guarded by Three Magical Cranes.

29. More about the Sidh (shee) See MacKillop pp. 116-119. The word probably meant ‘abode of divinities’ originally, but later often refered to the inhabitants themselves. They were abodes which were also routes to the Otherworld. They were seen as independent ‘kingdoms’ under the ground.

30. The Sidh The sidh is not an abode of the dead (Tech Duinn) but the palace of otherworld dignitaries. Hundreds of these residencies are known from Old Irish literature. BriLeith, Femen, Uamain, Clettig.

31. Section One • The early Irish social system (law) is also invoked after Mider has been healed (Dian Cecht). • He is entitled to demand reparation for a physical wound. Because of his very high status, he can ask for almost anything. He asks for the most beautiful woman in Ireland (he is married already).

32. Section One • This brings EtainEchrade into the story. Her father is Ailill ( a very common name in early Ireland). Mider already knew of her. • Ailill seems not to be of the TDD. • The transfer of Etain from her family to Mider reflects the extremely patriarchal nature of early Ireland, especially on the elite level.

33. Section One • Payment must be made to the father. • However the demands made rather reflect again the nature of the early Irish deities. • They are frequently (as in all Indo-European mythologies) associated with the creation and laying out of the land (mountains, rivers, pathways). • The goddess Macha is described as performing such actions, for example.

34. Section One • Clearly the TDD were imagined as having also perfomed such deeds. This is integrated into the story as part of the payment for Etain. • The Dagda is described clearing land, diverting rivers, draining the land in one night).

35. Section One • Much of the magical side of the TDD is shown in the following episodes when Mider brings his bride back home to BriLeith, where he already has a wife- the powerful druidessFuamnach. • This would not have been shocking to most in early medieval Ireland (or before). A certain degree of polygamy existed especially amongst the Gaelic aristocracy.

36. Section One • One of the first examples of ‘shape-shifting’ in the narrative takes place here. This is a very common feature of early Celtic narratives. • Fuamnach is protected by three gods when she confronts Mider. (Lug, Ogma, and Dagda himself). • Her comment that ‘she preferred being good to herself than to other people’ is again an interesting reflection on the nature of the Irish TDD.

37. Section One • Time again plays a role in this part of the narrative when she magically causes another wind to blow Etain away north to Ulster. • A mythic form of conception takes place (compare the conception of Cu Chulainn), whereby Etain is reborn after 1012 years.

38. Section One • She grows up not apparently aware of her previous life amongst the TDD. • As a young woman she is approached by a rider in green from the Sidh who recites a poem about her and her life before. • Meanwhile Oengus takes revenge in the domain of the TDD againsFuamnach. • This brings the first section to a close.

39. SectionTwo • Time has passed, and we are now in the post TDD period. The Sons of Mil (Gaels) have now taken over the island and the TDD exiled in their sidh abodes under the earth. • (Remember that Dagda held court in Tara-)

40. SectionTwo • That same site is now occupied by a mortal king known as EchuAirem. • Early Irish literature often mentions the Feast of Tara (Da Derga’s Feast etc). This too had deeply mythic origins. • The concept of the sovereignty (ie land) goddess was very much associated with that ritual and ceremony. The king would be united with the land goddess in order to rule. Etain as sovereignty goddess.

41. SectionTwo • This concept survives in this narrative but instead of referring to a land goddess we hear that the people will not accept the new high-king without a wife. • They are obliged to seek out the most beautiful woman in Ireland (guess who!).

42. Section Two • The king in Tara isdescribed as being the son of Find son of Findlug. • The twolaternamesbothbelong to the fragmented world of Irish mythology (deities). Find (Finn) was an ancientseergod. The nameFindlugis an amalgam of Finn and Lug. So we have not entirelyleft the world of deities.

43. Section Two • The brothers of Echu are EchuFeidlech and AilillAngubae. • The latter fallshopelessly in love withEtainat the weddingfeast (feis) and becomessickwithlust and infatuation. • Theyreach the point wherethey are preparing for A Angubae’sfuneral, the grave, preparations for the slaughter of hiscattle.

44. Section Two • OnlyEtainseeminglycanhealhim back to life. She acquiesces to a love-affairwithhim to healhim. • Atthis point we have another notable example of shape-shifting. Midirat the crucial point causes AA to sleepwhilsthemeetsEtain on the hillside.

45. Section Two • The ‘narrator’ mentions thathehad come the previousyear to wooEtain but had been unsuccessful. Wasthis the otherworld man in green in Section One? • MidirremindsEtain of herprevious life, and the pleasures of the Otherworld (Sidh) are described in the poemherecitedbefore..

46. Section Three • The high-kingsits on the ramparts of Tara (Temuir). He isEchuAirem. The high-kingwasnormallyrestricted to a life in and around Tara. • The rider whoapproachesis the agelessyoung rider Mider (TDD). He has come to play the aristocraticgame of fidchell. (Playedonly by kings, pinces and deities).

47. Section Three • Theyplaythreegameswithincreasingwagers and forfaits. • MidirletsEchuwin the first two and accepts the forfaits. Echu’sfoster-fatherissuspicious and warnshis son. • EchugivesMidir super-humantasks(worthy of a deity).The people of the Sidhtake part in the work.

48. Section Three • NowMiderisangry. The final gameisplayed and won by Mider. The wagerwasthat if Mider won as hedid, hewoulddemand ‘myarmsaroundEtain and a kissfromher’. Mideristold to return in a month’s time.

49. Section Three Another poem that Mider had recited a year previously. P55. The description of the Otherworld, or sidh.

50. Section Three • Midiris able to relocatehimselfatwill, and appears in the feasting hall of Tara despite how well the site has been guardedagainsthim. • Etainiswilling to go if herhusbandsellsher. • The escape through the skylightis of course verypoetic, and againintroduces the theme of shape-shifting. Birds as sidh people (comp. The WastingSickness of Cu Chulainn).