Sean O’Faolain’s The Irish: A Character Study: “The great tales must be well known, Deirdre and Conchubar, Cuchulainn and Emer, and Fand and Etain, Diarmuid and Grainne, Oisin and Finn. The modern romantic poets who have made them popular have sinned only in softening their starkness and decorating their decoration. But the gods do whistle in the air, appear and vanish, hover, shimmer through a veil, the Otherworld is always at one’s shoulder and the sense of poetry is everywhere, though not always tamed to its purpose and never, outside the lyrics to which we must return later winnowed of its chaff” (7).

Irish mythical and legendary literature falls into three main divisions:

I. The Mythological Cycle (Book of Invasions, compiled in 9^th and 12^th century by monks)

II. The Ultonian/Ulster or Conorian Cycle (Tain Bo Cualigné, compiled in 8^th century)

• Cuchulainn, Maeve, Deirdre, etc.

III. The Ossianic or Fenian Cycle (3^rd century)

• Finn mac Cumhaill
• Oisin/Ossian, son of Finn Mac Cumhaill

The functions of myth: 1) Using the past to understand the present; 2) Seeking/establishing order; 3) Building nations/ “a people”; 4) Building tradition; 5) Creating beauty.

The Pagan Calendar

• August 1: Lughnasa
• October 31: Samhain (pronouned /Sawan/)
• February 1: Imbolc
• May 1: Beltane

Freeman’s Celtic Mythology, “Introduction: Who Were the Celts?”

Irish Mythological Characters: Lugus (Lugh) (x); Cú Chulainn (x)

Irish Mythological Texts: Tain Bo Cualinge (xv)

Irish Mythological Objects: Gold torques/torcs (xi) (“The Dying Gaul”); stone tombs & monuments (xiii); human sacrifices (xii); “human heads that decorated the halls of their tribal chieftains” (xi)

Mythological Constructs: The Otherworld (x); gods and goddesses (“divine women with the gift of their sexuality” (xiv)

Celtic Christianity (5^th century CE): Patrick (xiii, xiv), Brigid (weaving, fire) (xiv), and Brendan (xiv)

Social Order: “Kings, warriors, and druids” (xiii)

Palimpsest: CELTS | Greeks and Romans (| 5th-century Christians (xii-xv)| W.B. Yeats | Conál Creedon, Deirdre Sullivan, Sarah J. Maas, etc.

The Celts Video

Differences Between Irish and Celtic Mythology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gPS8G5qhns