Re: Triad #68
Searles

Sat Jan 16 15:01:37 1999
Mast is a term for the nuts, acorns and seeds that are used for feeding the animals of the farmstead.  It was a common practice among the Celts to turn their animals loose in the forests so that they could feed on such a bounty from its trees.*p*The word Bro/n in the Triad is a play on Bro/n Trogain (another name for Lughnasadh), a harvest festival.  The sorrows are the nature outgrowth of giving up something to the cycle of harvest, death, birth, regrowth.  In a sense it is about learning as well as agriculture as the student must eventually go away or beyond the lessons of the teacher.  In much the same way, sons and daughters, leave the homes of their mothers and fathers to enter the activities of the world.*p*A herd feeding on mast is the students.  The heaviness of a ripe feed is students ready to graduate or be initiated  The heaviness of a wood under mast might be the knowledge of the Coimgne and the Druids. Literally these three might be animals ready for slaughter, wheat and barley ready for harvest and a forest full of fruit and nut bearing trees that are ready to be picked.  Each gives up its products of growth, in the expectation of continuing that growth.*p*Searles*p**br*TopazOwl wrote,*br*:      I think #s 66 & 67 are pretty straightforward, but I *br*: find that I have some trouble with triad # 68.*br*:*br*: Triad # 68:*br*:*br*: "Trí bróin ata ferr fáilti: brón treóit oc ithe messa, *br*: brón guirt apaig, brón feda fo mess."*br*:*br*: Meyer translation:*br*:*br*: "Three sorrows that are better than joy: the heaviness *br*: of a herd feeding on mast, the heaviness of a ripe field, *br*: the heaviness of a wood under mast."*br*:*br*:      First, what the heck is mast? I am unfamiliar with that *br*: word both in English and in Irish! I can't really know the *br*: precise meaning of this triad without knowing that word, so *br*: I looked it up. Definition follows:*br*:*br*:      "Mast - the fruit of forest trees, used as a food *br*: for animals."*br*:*br*:      Something tells me this triad might be a play on the *br*: words "sorrow" and "heavy"...but first, *br*: I'd like to know why your herd feeding on mast, or a great *br*: crop ready to come in, is a "sorrow that is better than *br*: joy." Why would either of those things be a sorrow at *br*: all?*br*:*br*:      ::: Owlie scratching her head in puzzlement with one *br*: long talon :::*br*:*br*: Leigh*br*
Triad #68
TopazOwl
312
Sat Jan 16 14:46:35 1999