Taylor Devine 6th hour CELTIC HEROES OVERVIEW
The Celts were known for their use of iron and more importantly horses. This is because they were trying to sustain their territory from the Roman Empire. This relates to celtic myths because all celtic myths have a half man half horse, or a man riding on a horse. The reason that most gods or heroes in celtic myths are those who would fight to provide for their families is because the celts were split into clans. These clans consisted of their family and extended family and the men of the family were responsible for all. We know most about the warrior and nobility groups of celtic myths because most all myths recovered are one of those two. Celtic stories were known as epics because of the nonhuman characteristics they would give to the heroes that were doing out of this wold things.
Aine of Knockaine was the goddess of fertility and love. She would look over the crops and cattle which had always been important to the Irish for each clan to have their own food supply. Anu brought prosperity to the land and magic to the moon and air. Because the Irish were always having to deal with worry their gods and heroes would take care of it for them. They later were forced to adapt to the christian ways of culture and that is what then altered their heroes from animals like horses and wolves to actual people.
EXPLANATION
Celtic myths, unlike other myths, are hard to recognize due to the fact that most of the celtic myths we know today are only here because christian monks found them and translated them. In every myth there is a hero and celtic heros seem a lot like christian heros because that is how they were translated. There are at least one hundred different gods throughout the Celtic stories. The god Dagda was the leader of the gods for the celtics. Dagda had male traits that aquired the ideal look for the Irish culture. Some popular Celtic stories are The Birth of Finn macCumhaill, The Story of MacDatho’s Pig, The Pursuit of Dairymaid and Grainne, The boyhood Deeds of CuChulainn, and The Cattle Raid of Cooley.
These stories originated in the Heroic Ages and were found during medieval times. Many of the Celtic gods faded fast during the rise of christianity because there was no need for them in the culture. Because no one really knows what the celtic gods were, people would tend to think of them as their own clan. During these times everyone in Irland was part of a clan that contained their family and many others, they lived together, hunted together, and fought together. Many of these heroes, like Lugh, were popular for being “the bright, with a stronger hand.”
The Celtics believed in the Otherworld as a very peaceful, beautiful, tropical place. They thought of it as the islands, filled with love and happiness. The heroes are the ones that set out on a long quest bad most of the time dont return with that they are searching for. Others they will go on short journeys, but in reality they have been gone for hundreds of years until they finally find their magical love land. Those are the trips that Lugh and Manannan mac Lir found themselves on.
The celts were very family generated and were all part of clans. They had to spend their time honing off the romans in order to keep their country the way it has always been. The incorporation of half men half horse, gods of land, and gods of crops display the pride that one had in his work. These heroes would be how the celts learned to live as they grew older.
CELTIC HEROES
OVERVIEW
The Celts were known for their use of iron and more importantly horses. This is because they were trying to sustain their territory from the Roman Empire. This relates to celtic myths because all celtic myths have a half man half horse, or a man riding on a horse. The reason that most gods or heroes in celtic myths are those who would fight to provide for their families is because the celts were split into clans. These clans consisted of their family and extended family and the men of the family were responsible for all. We know most about the warrior and nobility groups of celtic myths because most all myths recovered are one of those two. Celtic stories were known as epics because of the nonhuman characteristics they would give to the heroes that were doing out of this wold things.
Aine of Knockaine was the goddess of fertility and love. She would look over the crops and cattle which had always been important to the Irish for each clan to have their own food supply. Anu brought prosperity to the land and magic to the moon and air. Because the Irish were always having to deal with worry their gods and heroes would take care of it for them. They later were forced to adapt to the christian ways of culture and that is what then altered their heroes from animals like horses and wolves to actual people.
EXPLANATION
Celtic myths, unlike other myths, are hard to recognize due to the fact that most of the celtic myths we know today are only here because christian monks found them and translated them. In every myth there is a hero and celtic heros seem a lot like christian heros because that is how they were translated. There are at least one hundred different gods throughout the Celtic stories. The god Dagda was the leader of the gods for the celtics. Dagda had male traits that aquired the ideal look for the Irish culture. Some popular Celtic stories are The Birth of Finn macCumhaill, The Story of MacDatho’s Pig, The Pursuit of Dairymaid and Grainne, The boyhood Deeds of CuChulainn, and The Cattle Raid of Cooley.
These stories originated in the Heroic Ages and were found during medieval times. Many of the Celtic gods faded fast during the rise of christianity because there was no need for them in the culture. Because no one really knows what the celtic gods were, people would tend to think of them as their own clan. During these times everyone in Irland was part of a clan that contained their family and many others, they lived together, hunted together, and fought together. Many of these heroes, like Lugh, were popular for being “the bright, with a stronger hand.”
The Celtics believed in the Otherworld as a very peaceful, beautiful, tropical place. They thought of it as the islands, filled with love and happiness. The heroes are the ones that set out on a long quest bad most of the time dont return with that they are searching for. Others they will go on short journeys, but in reality they have been gone for hundreds of years until they finally find their magical love land. Those are the trips that Lugh and Manannan mac Lir found themselves on.
The celts were very family generated and were all part of clans. They had to spend their time honing off the romans in order to keep their country the way it has always been. The incorporation of half men half horse, gods of land, and gods of crops display the pride that one had in his work. These heroes would be how the celts learned to live as they grew older.
MYTHS
http://books.google.com/books?id=UN929gFRF4EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=celtic+heroes&hl=en#v=twopage&q&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=rsPNup_a2owC&printsec=frontcover&dq=online+celtic+myths&hl=en#v=onepage&q=online%20celtic%20myths&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=YpTzdxAHx_IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=online+celtic+myths%5C&hl=en#v=onepage&q=online%20celtic%20myths%5C&f=false
PICTURES
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QcBzDyBeA-0/ShUfrweoyLI/AAAAAAAAAKs/A79qLaSR_1g/s400/celtic_warriors_Captives.jpg
http://www.oghme.com/origins/celticheroes/public/celtic-heroes/Tuatha-Oghme/ogme1_mirlikovir-thumb.jpg
http://www.howarddavidjohnson.com/Danu_of_the_Tu_atha_De_Na_naan.jpg
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_mythology
http://www.livingmyths.com/Celticmyth.htm
http://www.chalicecentre.net/stories.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugh
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QcBzDyBeA-0/ShUfrweoyLI/AAAAAAAAAKs/A79qLaSR_1g/s400/celtic_warriors_Captives.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Otherworld
http://books.google.com/books?id=Nz2T3cquzRAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=celtic+heroes&hl=en&ei=yKuhTvnJGXg0QGq4cT8Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=bookthumbnail&resnum=2&ved=0CDUQ6wEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://books.google.com/books?id=Mqmn0mWvdW8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=celtic+heroes&hl=en&ei=U6hTqunOrPr0QGi72RBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/st-patricks-day/short-stories/the-story-of-deirdre.html