I found The Tain to be my favorite of the mythologies. Perhaps because I found it a quick read, or maybe the prevalence of Celtic influence in pop-culture; being the heavy metal geek I am one of the recent albums getting play on my morning commute is by a band Suidakra. Crógacht actually details Cuchulainn's travel to the Isle of Skye where he learned many of his warrior traits from a warrior woman named Scathach.
Consider that Cuchulainn learned much of his fighting craft from a female, then consider the prominent role that Queen Medb has in The Tain. Not only did she use womanly guile and blatant sexuality to achieve her ambitions, but is a fierce warrior in her own right and unafraid of combat.
It's obvious that women are given a powerful role in Celtic Society that far surpasses their roles in Greek and Hindu mythology. My question is why do you think this was? I'm curious as to why what theories there are about how a matriarch-driven society evolved during a time when so much of the world was dominated by men.
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William,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your question. I believe that Celtic mythology was created prior to Christianity and prior to the shift to male dominant societies. I believe that early on birth was considered a miracle, and women were the birth givers. For this reason they were elevated in status and worshiped. I think in those days women and men were worshiped equally, and it was understood that they needed each other for survival. An image that comes to mind regarding women as warriors is the image from the movie The Gladiator where all the men and women were gathered in the Colosseum to watch the fights. Death and battle was appreciated by all sexes, not just by the men. This makes me think that women weren't always the peacemakers and that in previous societies they also enjoyed war. Maybe because war was the norm and men and women were worshiped as equal, it was not unusual to see a woman attend battle. I'd be interested to read what others think as well.
-Heather
Celtic society was very different from the Greeks and Hindus. I appreciate that they empower women more.
ReplyDeleteBefore there was male dominance, woman was worshipped as the creator. She was considered all powerful and she represented fertility, life, death, transfiguration, and rebirth. She contained all the opposites like life v. death and light v. dark. (From themes in course documents)
I think the Celtics kept true to their original beliefs and didn't veer off to empower man. And maybe that is why they are more powerful in the Celtic society than in the Greek or Hindu societies.
I find both responses kind of interesting. I know that as far back as the neanderthal man that there was worship of a goddess-mother figure. Yet from what I've read about the Tain, and most Celtic mythology, it was documented or put into prose much later than The Iliad or The Mahabharata- from the class documents or Wikipedia- I forget which, but it's generally assumed that The Tain was written in the 11th century or so. Of course by then Christianity had spread to Ireland; one legend states that Cuchulainn appeared before Saint Patrick in a vision to warn him of how awful hell was.
ReplyDeleteI guess the next question I ask is if role of women in Celtic society suggests that their mythology pre-dates Greek or Hindu society. It was always my assumption that Indian civilization was among the oldest in the world...
Well, Celtic culture is all about Nature. If I remember correctly, the "dr" prefix of druid even relates to the trees from which they derive their powers. In Nature, the female is often the more powerful and dangerous of the species. It makes sense that this would translate to humans as well. Plus, there's that whole mystery of life and female power of birth angle to consider.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Celtic society is very different in the way they treat women. They see women and goddesses as being very powerful. It is nice to see that Celtic mythology gives the role of women the justice it deserves. I think they have very powerful female figures in this myth and the men almost have no choice but to respect them and give them the status they deserve. The women in Celtic mythology seem to demand respect, giving them a greater and more powerful role in their society.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick one of the societies to be older than the others without researching it first...my guess would be the Celtics. Not that I remember much from His 101, but I do remember them being a very a old society.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed you legend of Cu Chulainn appearing to St. Patrick and telling him how aweful hell is. It makes you think that maybe...The Tain could be more than just a myth.
I think that although the women are more empowered than men in this myth, the men are not brought down to a completely low level like they were in the Greek Myths. It was said that in Greek Mythology, the men sometimes overtook the role of the women, which clearly was not the case in Celtic Mythology. However, I do not think that all women dominated the men in this society because for example Queen Medb was still able to offer her daughter like she was an object “You can have Finnabair if you take on that man” (79)
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