A Multi-Celtic Honoring...

So, today is the day many in the (particularly Celtic-influenced) pagan world know as Lugnasad (though often spelled the Modern Irish way rather than the Old Irish), and on which many do not honor Lug so much as Tailtiu, the foster-mother of Lug. You can read a translation of the relevant part of The Metrical Dindshenchas on Tailtiu and Óenach Tailtenn here.

But, there’s a lot of other stuff involved in this holiday as well, and I’d like to explore a bit of it. I did a kind of pan-Celtic honoring last year on this day as well, but this year, I’m going in a slightly different direction. I’m splitting my honoring this year into two bits: one for Lugus, on whom a great deal depends (!?!), and one for the Three Gods of Skill, the Trí Dee Dána, in honor of Iuchar, which is a goidelic form of the dog-days.

First, our friend Lugus, who is very widely assumed to be the “Gaulish Mercury” that was mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar. There was once a city in Gaul–a walled fort, actually–called Lugudunum, which is now known as Lyon, France; however, Octavian, a.k.a. Augustus Caesar, took it over, renamed it Augustodunum, and instituted a festival to himself on the first of August there, kicking off the month that he named after himself (and from which he stole a day in February to add to it, just as he did for the previous month of July, named after his adoptive father). A place called Lugudunum, which was taken over and had a festival to Augustus instituted at it? It all looks pretty suspicious…and thus, it seems possible that this day was one celebrated in honor of Lugus, at least in parts of Gaul, very far back into time. (No, it doesn’t appear on the Coligny Calendar in any definite manner, but oh well…!) I wrote a poem to Lugus in The Phillupic Hymns, which I’d like to give here as well.

Lugus

With one golden shoe ever on the path,
there is no route which Lugus does not know.

By every art and skill of his creation
he rules all gods and slays surer than swords.

At summer’s height, at fortress and fair
he is celebrated with horse races.

His laws govern good relations among tribes,
swift as scent–hounds his vengeance.

An emperor stole his feast, his fort—
he builds his name’s strength on Lugus’ own!
 




*****

Ave Luge!

[No, I don't particularly like that Winter Olympics event, in case you wondered...but, its etymology is actually Gaulish!]

Today is also Iuchar, which is more of a “season” than a particular day or date, and extends to the week or more before this day, as well as the week or more after it–in essence, the “dog days of summer” once again, but in an Irish and Scottish context. (I’m personally not aware of there being a counterpart in Manx culture, but I could be wrong…!?!) While the photo above was intended to portray Gwydion in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, it also vaguely fits today, for reasons you’ll see below…

No doubt, the name for this season comes from Iuchar, who is one of the Three Gods of Skill, the Trí Dee Dána, who are sons of one of the three goddesses called Brigit, daughter of the Dagda. They run into problems with Lug, however, because the three of them ended up killing Lug’s father Cian, who was one of three sons of Dian Cécht (though he had many more children than that, but this was a particular set of triplets, apparently) that also included Cú and Cethen, who ended up killing each other (not unlike Narvi and Váli, perhaps?). Cú and Cethen’s names connect them to dogs/wolves/canids as well, and the two transforming and reincarnating swineherds who eventually become the bulls of Táin Bó Cúailnge are also said in the Rennes Dindshenchas to have had the form of wolves at one point when they fought, and their names in that form were Cú and Cethen. So, a tendency toward violence and kin-slaying isn’t removed from any of these warring branches of the families of Lug and Brigit. The story of the repayment of the honor-price for Lug’s father Cian by the Three Gods of Skill is best known in its early modern form as Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann, or “The Fate of the Children of Tuireann,” which is known in Irish as one of the “Three Sorrows of Storytelling.” (The roots of the story, however, go back to Lebor Gabála Érenn.) When Cian was fleeing from the Three Gods of Skill, he took the form of a pig, and in order to pursue him, Brian changed his brothers Iuchar and Iucharba into hounds…and, hence, “dog-days”…or, at least, I think so.

There is a poem honoring the Three Gods of Skill that is found in several medieval manuscripts, often amongst a kind of miscellaneous list of various Irish deities (including several animal-based deities that few Celtic Recons today even recognize!), which I adapted into a ritual a few years ago. I’d like to share that here. The first part is in Old Irish, but it is translated below.

Iuchar Ritual

Lug mac Ethlenn, is é cetaránaic oenach 7 echlaisc 7 debaid d’echaib, ut dicitur:

Lug mac Ethlenn, alt cen meirg,
leis cétna ‘riacht oenach ard.

Tuatha Déi in sin .i. déi int aes dána, andéi immorro int aes trebtha.

Bendachta Dé 7 An-Dé forunn!

Batar iat na trí déi Donand ó n-ainmnigter .i. trí meic Tuirill Bicreo .i. Brian 7 Iuchar 7 Iucharba.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Robb 7 Brott 7 Robcuid a trí drúith.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Fis 7 Fochmarc 7 Éolus a trí druid.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Dub 7 Dobar 7 Dorcha a trí deogbaire.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Sáith 7 Lór 7 Línad a trí rannaire.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Féig 7 Rosc 7 Radarc a trí dercaide.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Tailc 7 Trén 7 Tres a trí gillai.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Athach 7 Gaeth 7 Side a trí gabra.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Aig 7 Taig 7 Tairchell a trí con.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Céol 7 Bind 7 Tétbind a trí cruittire.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Glé 7 Glan 7 Gléo a trí tiprata.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Buaid 7 Ordan 7 Rocad a trí aite.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Síd 7 Sáme 7 Suba a trí muimme.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Cumma 7 Sét 7 Samail a trí cuaich.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Mell 7 Téte 7 Rochaín a trí muige cluiche.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Áine 7 Indmas 7 Brugas a trí druimne.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.
Caín 7 Álaig 7 Rochaín a trí dúine.
Guidmi dóib: Gaibid gréin, da-beirid bráen.

[Lug son of Ethliu, who first invented the assembly, the riding crop, and the horse-race, ut dicitur:

It is Lug son of Ethliu, a circumstance without stain,
by whom the noble assembly was first invented.

Those were the Tuatha Dé: the professionals were gods, while the farmers were non-gods.

The blessings of the Gods and the Non-Gods be on (all of) us!

They were named after the trí déi Donann (the three gods of skill), i.e. the three sons of Tuirill Bicreo: Brian and Iuchar and Iucharba.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Brute and Spike and Flare-Head were their three buffoons.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Wisdom and Inquiry and Knowledge were their three druids.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Black and Water and Darkness were their three cupbearers.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Enough and Plenty and Full were their three stewards.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Keen and Vision and Eyesight were their three lookouts.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Strong and Mighty and Struggle were their three serving-lads.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Gust and Wind and Blast were their three horses.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
“Go!” and “Come!” and “Guard!” were their three hounds.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Song and Melodious and Sweet-Stringed were their three harpers.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Bright and Pure and Combat were their three wells.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Virtue and Dignity and Fortune were their three fosterfathers.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Peace and Tranquility and Delight were their three fostermothers.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
As-Much and Equivalent and Same were their three goblets.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Sport and Gathering and Delightful were their three playing fields.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Splendor and Wealth and Hospitality were their three ridges.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!
Fine and Merit and Delightful were their three strongholds.
We pray to them: Take the sun, give the rain!]

*****

There was also a ritual feast that accompanied this, and what was the food of the feast, you might ask: hot dogs! The perfect summer outdoor barbecue food! The best hot dogs to be found in Ireland, incidentally, are at a chip shop near the bus stop in Bantry, out in West Cork–but the rest of the country, it was pretty hit-and-miss (usually “miss”). You might wonder why hot dogs are the best food for the day. Well, putting on my fili hat, here’s an explanation:

Pilib Fáelchar was asked: Why is the sacrifice on Iuchar a hot dog? Not difficult!

It was on this day that the Three Gods of Skill chased Cían, the father of Lug, in order to kill him. Cían in his cleverness changed himself into the likeness of a pig and hid amongst the pigs on a plain, but Brian changed his two brothers Iuchar and Iucharba into two swift hounds in order to give Cían pursuit. It was in the form of a pig that they caught him, but it was in the form of a man that they slew him. And this was to their detriment, for Cían said, “If it had been in the form of a pig that you had slain me, only the honor price of a pig would be due to my heir upon my death.”

Therefore the meat which is called “hot dog” is appropriate to offer on this occasion for three reasons: namely, it is mostly made from the meat of pigs in honor of Cían’s transformation into a pig; it has the name of a dog, in honor of Iuchar and Iucharba’s transformations into dogs; and it is also called “hot,” for the days of Iuchar are plagued with intense heat of the sun.

(Whence comes the phrase Trí Con Te, “The Triad of the Hot Dog.” Not to be confused with cáinte, “satirist,” for a dog’s head is upon the satirist when he satirizes, as a dog’s head was upon St. Christopher and St. Conchenn celebrated in the days of Iuchar, or with cainte, “speech,” for every word from a satirist is satire, and every word from a dog’s head is nonsense.)

So, you can hold that ritual/feast anytime for the next week or so, if you’re able and interested, since Iuchar isn’t so much a single-day’s festival as much as it’s this general season of the year and the extent of the dog-days…and what better time to have an outdoor ritual and feast in the form of a barbecue!

I’ve also written a short poem for the day that re-tells (in brief form) the story of Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba in vague outlines for those who don’t want to read the full story given in the link above. While the items named in the poem are pretty much the same as they are in the story above, and in the earlier poem from Lebor Gabála Érenn, you’ll note how (pleasantly) syncretistic they are, in certain respects!

Trí Dee Dána

Iuchar, Iucharba, and Brian
were charged by Lug at Óenach Tailtenn
to produce for him the honor-price
for Brigit’s three sons’ slaying of Cian:

The three apples of the Hesperides
was the first part of their task;
the skin of the pig of King Tuis of Greece
was the second part of that fine;

The poisoned spear of King Pezar of Persia
was the third part of the body-price;
the two horses and chariot of King Dobur of Sicily
was the fourth part of the honor-price;

The seven pigs of Asal of the Golden Pillars
was the fifth part of Cian’s death-fee;
Failinis, the hound-whelp of Iroda in Norway
was the sixth part of Lug’s father’s restitution;

The cooking-spit of the warrior-women of Fincara
was the seventh part of their damages;
three shouts on the hill of Midcena in Lochlann
was the eighth part of the Sons of Tuirill Bicreo’s penalty.

As hounds, Iuchar and Iucharba pursued Cian,
therefore they would pay a hound of wonder to Lug;
as a pig was Cian when he fled and was wounded,
thus seven living pigs and the skin of an eighth was deemed fair.

Great in magic were the Three Sons of Tuireann,
skilled warriors trained from their birth
in healing and poetry from their aunts, daughters of the Dagda,
and in smithing and the warrior’s whistle from Brigit their mother.

For their fault, Cian’s death, and their chase
and also for their death, brought about by Lug
the days are long, the sun hot, and rain is wished for
in the season of Madhramhail, in remembrance of Brian, Iucharba, and Iuchar.

*****

May the Three Gods of Skill, their father and mother, and may Lug, his father, and his relatives, all be honored on this day!