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Irish & Celtic Mythology
Mention mythology and classical figures may first come to mind -- such
as the Roman gods Jupiter, Juno, and Mercury, dressed in togas or leather
gladiator garb. But the Romans had nothing on the Celtic peoples of Ireland,
Scotland, and western Europe; prior to the time when Christianity swept
western Europe, the Celts had their own vital mythological cycles and pantheons
of deities.
Many of the oldest manuscripts of Irish mythology have failed to survive, but the remaining ones make up four cycles of myth: the Mythological Cycle, The Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the Historical Cycle. Popular heroes and characters mentioned in these cycles also have been accorded starring roles in the numerous folk tales that later sprang up around them.
Cu Chulainn and The Cattle Raid of Cooley
The centerpiece of Celtic mythology, its most ripping yarn, is undoubtedly Táin Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), included in the so-called Ulster Cycle of myth. Commonly known as "The Táin," this story chronicles the battle over a prize bull waged by competing armies from Connacht and Ulster. And there's no hero of Celtic myth like Cu Chulainn (often spelled Cu Chulaind), the most feared warrior of the Ulstermen.
You've gotta love this guy. When Cu Chulainn enters battle, he suffers what the literature calls a riastrad or warp spasm, and turns into an ancient Celtic version of the Incredible Hulk. Here's an excerpt from the Táin describing what happens to Cu Chulainn when the fighting gets ferocious:
"The Warp-Spasm overtook him: it seemed each hair was hammered into his head, so sharply they shot upright. You would swear a fire-speck tipped each hair. He squeezed one eye narrower than the eye of a needle; he opened the other wider than the mouth of a goblet. He bared his jaws to the ear; he peeled back his lips to the eye-teeth till his gullet showed. The hero-halo rose up from the crown of his head."
The Celtic Pantheon
According to myth, Cu Chulainn is an incarnation of Lugus, one of the five gods comprising the Tuatha Dé Danann deities:
1. Lugus the Long-Armed, the magician-king
2. Noudons the Silver-Armed, the judge-priest
3. Ogmios, the warrior
4. Epos Olloatir, the horse god
5. Epona, the horse goddess
In the same way that the central character of the Ulster cycle is Cu Chulainn, the Fenian cycle showcases the adventures of its primary hero, Finn Mac Cumhail. Both the Fenian and Ulster cycles are rich with magical deeds and epic battles.
