The Story of Cu Chulain

One of the things I am loving most here in Ireland is the mythology.

Ireland is ancient.

Of course, the world and all countries are ancient, so this may sound like a ridiculous statement, but being from the US, I am continually blown away by the archaeological evidence of ancient peoples, and there is a lot of that here in Ireland.

There is evidence of Mesolithic (the time between the last ice age and the beginning of the Neolithic Era) hunter-gatherer societies throughout Ireland that date back to 12,000 BC. 

The oldest arechaeological site in Ireland is located not far from where Laura Giddings was born (my nephew's wife for those of you just catching up on the blog) in Coleraine, County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It is the Mount Sandel Mesolithic site, essentially a collection of huts that carbon dating puts it at 7,000 BC.

Evidence of Neolithic people (around 3,500 BC) abounds throughout Ireland. These people left behind stone circles (which I love), and stone tombs. We are planning a visit to Newgrange (a colleague of mine recommended a visit). Newgrange is a passage tomb that is dated at about 3,200 BC -- older than Stonehenge.

We have an equivalent archaeological timeline in America -- the Archaic period in America is equivalent to the Mesolithic period in Europe and the term "formative stage" is used instead of Neolithic* -- and there is evidence of social organization with similar stages, moving from hunter-gatherers to more complex societies that controlled their environment through agriculture and domesticating animals, and consequently grew their population.There is evidence of large scale ceremonial architecture among the Olmec civilization as well as the Maya civilization.**

I think what is different and unique to me (if not to any American) is the extensive study of this period of Irish history in both formal history (Johnny has a little assignment notebook that contains a foldout of Irish history that includes information ranging from Neolithic archaeological evidence in Ireland, to the arrival of the Celts, to the invasion of the Normans, World War I, The Easter Rising and the Irish Civil War, World War II--notably beginning in 1939 here as opposed to our "day that will live in infamy"--to JFK's visit to Ireland and later the Celtic Tiger and subsequent recession) and informal history as in Irish mythology.


Let's face it, while I am sure that North American mythology exists, it's not in our children's books, or evidenced in our nation's cultural tapestry. We are all familiar with Greek and Roman mythology, bit Irish mythology is a bit more elusive and I find myself captured by the lore.

A bit of research has shown me that there are four distinct (but overlapping) cycles of Irish mythology: the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the Historical Cycle.*** All of the cycles predate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and so often refer to pagan gods and loads of tribal wars and heroic legends or sagas.While these are myths, they are steeped in real history and you can see how current, modern Ireland still bears the traces of these times in its geo-political lines (the provinces of Ireland, for example have roots in the heroes of these stories with the local and provincial kingdoms often at war with each other, not unlike the rugby teams now!). I also like how the stories were recaptured in the hearts of the Irish during the Irish revival beginning in the late 1800s.

My current favorite story comes from the Ulster Cycle and is about the "Champion of Ireland", Cu Chulainn.

I got interested in it because, well, he is everywhere or maybe its just that phenomenon for me that I noticed the name and then started seeing it everywhere. In any case, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, there is a statute of Cu Chulainn in the General Post Office that commemorates the heroes of the 1916 Easter Rising that died.

Basically the story goes that there was a young boy named Setana. Depending on the source, you can get into incredible depth about who his parents are and how he came to be etc.

I've now read three versions, one of which is in a children's book, and all of them are very complicated.

In any case, I think his grandfather or his father is consistently reported as the king of Ulster at the time and Setana he was perhaps born at Newgrange.

But maybe the king is a stepfather... Or a foster father?

In all accounts of his birth, there are always magical birds. Flocks of magical birds and snowstorms and the seeking of shelter among a bunch of "Ulstermen".

And the shelter always seems to be hosted by some god or "Lug".

Of course, at some point in his life (some sources say at age seven) Setana heads out on his own. He meets a dude named Culann (a smith) who helps him out when he gets into a scuffle with a few neighborhood boys. The smith just happens to be hosting some feast at his place for the King of Ulster (see above... this is Setana's dad/grandpa/stepfather/foster father... Coincidence perhaps?)

In any case, Setana didn't get too far.

Imagine the following scene (my own flourishes):

Some drama and argument ensues at the Castle between father and son. Perhaps the son's been asked to do chores before than play Wii.

Setana:  "I'm running away!"

King of Ulster: "Good luck. Here's five bucks. Don't let the door hit you in the arse!"

Setana rushes out in a storm with a little towel of bread, bacon and extra underwear tied around the end of a stick.

All puffed up  and angry, he runs into a bunch of hooligans and picks a fight against the group of them, which he seems to be winning (which eggs him on even more) when a some adult stops the fight. Setana then joins  the boys in a hurling game which he has never seen before but loves it.

Naturally, he's pretty good.

On his way to the feast at the Smith's place, Daddy-O catches the hurling game and is blown away by his son's performance. He invites him to tag along at the feast and Setana says he's got to see the game out but will catch up with him later (apparently all is forgiven between the two).

Daddy-O heads to the feast and by this time has forgotten that Setana will be following afterward so Culann lets loose his "ferocious hound" to protect his house while they are inside probably having too much to drink.

When Setana arrives at the house, the dog attacks him and out of self defense he kills the dog (in all versions he's this slim young kid who kills this huge hound.... i.e. HIGHLY unlikely and basically he's lucky to be alive). One version has him driving a sliotar (the hurling ball) down the dog's throat with his hurley (the stories are all pretty gruesome).

The Smith (Culann) is devastated that his dog is dead so Setana promises to protect his house until he can rear him a replacement.

That's how he got his name Cu Chulainn (or Culann's Hound).

He goes on to meet some hot chick named Emer who basically tells him that unless he becomes a hero of Ireland (essentially defending all of Ulster) he's got no chance with her. More complicated stories ensue. He gets trained by some old lady on an island (Scathach), who is totally impressed with him and gives him this crazy spear (the Gae Bulg). Loads of battles are described and he always comes out on top, until he doesn't. In the end he straps himself onto a stone so that he dies standing, facing his enemies. His legacy is that he was "small, youthful and beardless" but fierce and unbeatable and, of course with great hurling prowess.

I suspect at least some of this story is based in reality and I'd love to know how much of this was really true.







*See this list of archaeological periods in Mesoamerica. I am not an archaeologist and can only surmise that the different classification systems, while along a similar timeline are not exactly the same.
** I have become increasingly curious about this difference between the Americas and Western Europe so if anyone has any information or suggested readings, I'd love to see them. Why, for example, did the American Indians remain rather nomadic well into the 15th and 16th centuries? I suppose we could ask a very similar question of the peoples who populated the continent of Africa. Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel addresses the economic question about why Western Europe got so rich, which I suppose is essentially the same question, but I'm looking for even earlier evidence... Why are there no stone circles or the equivalent in North America/Canada?
***Even more interesting, many of the myths have dates that correspond to other world events such as the birth and death of Christ.