Time, Memory and the Boyne Necropolis
Searles

Tue Jan 26 19:09:45 1999
Time, Memory and the Boyne Necropolis*p*There are many tales and dindshenchas regarding calendrical and astronomical events associated with the Brughs of the Boyne river valley in Ireland. Such noted Celtic scholars as Miles Dillon, Nora Chadwick and Kevin Danaher, all seem to be in agreement with my own opinion that the brughs and their nature was well known and understood among the ancient Irish Celts. In two, separate dindshenchas about Dowth and Newgrange, the Sun is said to stand still, so that a year seems as if it were only a night and a day. In the dindshenchas regarding Knowth (Cnogba), the two wives of Lugh are mentioned (with one of them, being said to be buried there).  IMO all of these references are to astronomical events.*p*My family has a long association with Knowth, O'Dubhains having been lords of it and the area around it until about 1100 CE or so. This doesn't mean there is any big family history with secret information about it that I've (yet) discovered, but it certainly makes me feel more closely tied to the brughs themselves and is one reason why I'm so interested in them.  That's not the only reason, of course.  I'm interested in the Brughs of Ireland because they are unique in themselves and a doorway to the esoteric knowledge of the ancients.*p*I'm not alone in my thinking, as I previously indicated. "There is abundant evidence of the continuance, all through the Bronze Age, of populous and prosperous communities in Ireland.  They had, for instance, a high degree of craftsmanship in working metals, producing tools, weapons and ornaments in bronze and gold which exhibit very considerable technical and artistic virtuosity, and finds of which, over a wide area of western Europe, betoken a wide and vigorous trade.*p*To accept that an active, prosperous, cultured people had a system of time reckoning and a series of popular festivals, as is the case in analogous cultures all over the world, is mere common sense. To assume that their calendar accorded with their environment and their way of life is merely to recognize a normal pattern of cultural development.*p*Thus we may conclude that the four-season calendar of modern Irish tradition is of very high antiquity, even of late Neolithic or megalithic origin, and that its beginnings predate the early Celts in Ireland by at least as great a depth of time as that which separates the Early Celts from us." *p*- Kevin Danaher in "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar,"  and article in _The Celtic Consciousness, edited by Robert O'Driscoll-*p*I think that there was a much greater continuity of culture from the earliest of times to the present day in places like Ireland, than most of us realize. A knowledge of the astronomical and calendrical orientations of the circles and brughs can be shown to have survived in the folk memory of the people that live near to such places.*p*"Structural and other remains of material culture traditionally associated with Celtic heathen religion, which have been known to be relatively rich in Gaul, are comparatively sparsely preserved in Roman Britain.  In Ireland they are less numerous than in Gaul, but more spectacular, and they originate in a totally different age and tradition. In Ireland the chief monuments associated with the heathen religion are the great barrows dating from the Bronze Age, especially the barrows of the Valley of the Boyne. These date from an earlier period than the monuments which tell of Celtic mythology in Gaul, and they are, moreover, wholly free from the earliest traditions in Gaul and Britain. On the other hand from the earliest period of our knowledge these Irish Bronze Age barrows, or the great chamber tombs, have been associated in Irish mythological tradition with Celtic gods."*p*- Miles Dillon and Nora Chadwick, in _The Celtic Realms_ -*p*It appears to me that our ancestors were influenced to a great degree in their sense of mythological time by the landscape and especially by the remnants of the ancient cultures in Ireland that had preceded them.  Later, I'll post a few dindshenchas associated with these sites to demonstrate.*p*While researching the question of solstices and equinoxes in the Irish year, I came across the following information in _Understanding the Universe in Seventh-Century Ireland_ by Marina Smyth, which references information by the Irish Augustine in his work, "De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae."*p*"In this system, months had either 29 or 30 days and remained fairly closely attuned to the observed phases of the moon (with a correction one day every 19 years, the "saltus lunae"). Some 'years' had 12 months (the common years), others had 13 (the embolismic years), and these were ordered in a definite pattern, which alternated what was known as ogdoads and endecads, and repeated every 19 years. This system ensured that the computus year and the solar year remained roughly in step at all times, in a relationship which followed a 19 year pattern."*p*C = common year E = embolismis year*p*An ogdoad would be:  CCE, CCE, CE. An endecad would be: CCE, CCE, CCE, CE.*p*Now, this looks a *LOT* like the way the Coligney calendar is ordered with a few variations to more closely synchronize the Sun and the Moon over time.  The areas in common are the lunar months of 29 and 30 days and the "CCE" variation between years with 12 months and those with 13 months.*p*Here is what the Irish Augustine said:*p*"After which, having gone, according to lunar reckoning, through the twelve common years and the seven embolismic years, and the ogdoads and the endecads and the lunar increment which computists call "saltus," and in solar reckoning, through the four year cycles with the intercalary days carefully computed, the two luminaries have at last precisely the same number of days and agree completely in all aspects of their courses. It is as though the first year of the created world were beginning anew...  Each of these cycles, in the very same way, having completed 532 years, turns back into itself - this, into the beginning of the next cycle - after competing both nineteen 28-year solar cycles and twenty-eight 19 year lunar cycles."*p*I'm wondering if this is a carryover from the knowledge that constructed the Coligney calendar or if it is from a tradition that perhaps influenced them both?  Clearly our ancestors were very concerned with determining their dates by using the Sun and the Moon as a celestial calendar.*p* The Kings of Tara were buried at Brugh na Bo/inne in later Celtic tradition.  The mound at Newgrange was known as the "Sun Brugh" and is aligned on the Mid-Winter sunrise, while the mound at Dowth is called "Darkness" and is aligned on the Mid-Winter sunset. All of these mounds have been opened periodically throughout their history and have been used for a variety of purposes (though, it is presented by O'Kelly that Dubad and Cnogba have been opened more frequently). One of these purposes was as a cemetery at Brugh na Bo/inne, while Cnogba and Dubad were perhaps used for residences and storage at times.*p*Five tales about Brugh na Bo/inne associate it with possible "Solar Return" activities: "The Tale of Bo/ann and the Well of Segais," "the Tale of The Dagda and Bo/ann's Mating,"  "the Tale of How Angus won the Brugh," "The Tale of the Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne,"  "the Colloquy of the Two Sages."  As an example of how the Irish Celts viewed Newgrange, here is an excerpt from the dindshenchas regarding it and Bo/ann its goddess:*p*"Bóand," (from the Metrical Dindshenchas, Part III translation by Edward Gwynn)*p*Sid Nectain is the name that is on the mountain here, the grave of the full-keen son of Labraid, from which flows the stainless river whose name is Bóand ever-full.*p*Fifteen names, certainty of disputes, given to this stream we enumerate, from Sid Nectain away till it reaches the paradise of Adam.*p*Segais was her name in the Sid to be sung by thee in every land: River of Segais is her name from that point to the pool of Mochua the cleric.*p*From the well of righteous Mochua to the bounds of Meath's wide plain, the Arm of Nuada's Wife and her Leg are the two noble and exalted names.*p*From the bounds of goodly Meath till she reaches the sea's green floor she is called the Great Silver Yoke and the White Marrow of Fedlimid.*p*Stormy Wave from thence onward unto branchy Cualnge; River of the White Hazel from stern Cualnge to the lough of Eochu Red-Brows."*p*In another tale, two Fili/ are contending (Nede and Ferchertne) and Bóand is referred to by Ferchertne as he answers the question, "Where are you from?" This excerpt is found in "the Colloquy of the Two Sages," when he describes where he has been:*p*"Along the elfmound of Nechtan's wife, (Brugh na Bóinne, Nechtan-cupbearer for the Well of Segais) along the forearm of Nuada's wife, (Ethlinn daughter of Balor and mother of Lugh) along the land of the sun, along the dwelling of the moon, along the young one's navel string." (the passageway into New Grange).*p*It is very obvious that the Two Poets are using the exact same phraseology as the dindshenchas about Bo/and. They have associated it with the Sun and the Moon. It is my opinion that Nechtain is the Sun and that Bo/ann is the Moon.  It is also my opinion that The Dagda's power caused the Sun to be absent (or to stand still in a state of virtual paralysis) while he had a tryst with Bo/ann. My imbas tells me that The Dagda is associated with the planet Jupiter. I also believe that this connection references a time when the Sun was eclipsed by the Moon, while Jupiter was close to it in the Sky, but invisible until the "mating" started.  I won't advance that inspiration as a reason for the Celts to have known much about the Brugh, though it is intriguing. The young one being referenced above is none other than Angus mac n'Og, Angus of the Brugh.  This is the same Angus who brings Diarmuid to the Brugh to breath a soul into him everyday after he is killed by the great Boar of Ben Gulban:*p*"Alas, O Diarmuid O'Duibne, *br*O thou of the white teeth, though bright an fair one, *br*Alas for thine own blood upon the spear, *br*The blood of thy body hath been shed.*p*Alas for the deadly flashing tusk of the boar, *br*Thou hast been sharply, sorely, violently loped off; *br*Through the malicious, fickle, treacherous one.*p*..  .  .  .  .  .  .  .*p*Numbing venom hath entered his wounds, *br*At Rath Finn he met his death; *br*The Boar of Ben Gulban with fierceness, *br*Hath laid low Diarmuid the bright faced.*p*Raise ye fairy shouts without gainsaying, *br*Let Diarmuid of the bright weapons be lifted by you; *br*To the smooth Brug of the everlasting rocks - *br*Surely it is we that feel great pity."*p*In most of the tales surrounding Brugh na Bo/inne, from Irish Celtic tradition, we have obvious references to deities with names that are associated with solar and lunar characteristics. There are also deities associated with darkness (or the contrast between dark and light: *br*Bo/ann (the White Cow), *br*The Dagda (Life and Death, the Seasons, Time), *br*Angus mac n'Og (the Young Son, Dreams), *br*Diarmuid O'Duibhne (his name suggests to me a vessel [muide] for holding the day's [dia] brightness out of the family of darkness [Duibne]), *br*Finn (Bright), *br*Grainne (this name suggests to me a turning away from the Sun as "grainne" itself means horror or repulsiveness, yet the lady of the same name was very beautiful, the promised wife of Finn (who turned away from him), and the lover of Diarmuid,*br* Nectan (a water deity whose name connotes "brightness" for me), *br*Segais (known far and wide as the well of "bright knowledge").  *p*In short, Brugh na Bo/inne has many solar and some lunar associations as well as being know as the place where the Sun was made to stand still by the Dagda.  It is no mistake that the Irish word for a solstice, grianstadh, literally means "sun standing."*p*If we consider the dindshenchas about Dowth (Dubad), then we see a slightly different way that the mating of the Sun and the Moon can be presented.  Here it is the high king, Bressal Bo/-dibad who has the brugh of Dowth built by the men of Ireland. He seems to be the same king after whose bull the plain of Brega is named:*p*"Dubad, whence the name? Not hard to say.  A king held sway over Erin, Bressal bo/-dibad by name. In his time a murrain came over the kine of Erin, until there were left in it but seven cows and a bull.  All the men of Erin were gathered from every quarter to Bressal, to build them a tower after the likeness of the Tower of Nimrod, that they might go by it to Heaven.  His sister came to him, and told him that she would stay the sun's course in the vault of heaven, so that they might have an endless day to accomplish their task.  The maiden went apart to work her magic.  Bressal followed her and had union with her: so that place is called Ferta Cuile from the incest that was committed there.  Night came upon them then, for the maiden's magic was spoilt. 'Let us go hence,' say the men of Erin, 'for we only pledged ourselves to spend one day a-making this hill, and since darkness has fallen upon our work, and night has come on and the day is done, let each depart to his place.' 'Dubad (darkness) shall be the name of this place for ever', said the maiden.  So hence are Dubad and Cnoc Dubada named."*p*To me, the astronomical references are again very apparent:  Bressal bo/-dibad is obviously associated with the bull ruler of the night sky (the planet Jupiter and the constellation Taurus).  The bull and seven cows are Taurus and the Pleides (called in Irish an Tre/idan or the little herd). The sister is the Moon who causes the Sun to stand still in the sky yet also brings about the "darkness,' which is the eclipse of the Sun.  It is no mistake that this brugh aligns on the Mid-Winter sunset whereas Newgrange aligns on the sunrise. A third brugh represents the middle pathway between the two, yet it is also associated with a mating (in a dindshenchas) and an astronomical alignment (the Sun at the Equinoxes).  The three great Brughs at the Cemetery of the bo/inne are the three spots in Ireland (aside from Tara itself) that are most closely associated with the deities of the Sky.  I do not believe that it is a coincidence that they are also associated with astronomical alignments, nor do I believe that these facts were lost on the Druids of Ireland or our ancestors.*p*I realize that much of this argument is based on a symbiosis of various pieces of the ancient Celtic and Irish lore, yet it all seems to fit with what we know about them, their deities and their respect of the signs of the Sky. I have not been to any of these places yet, but I have studied everything that I could find about them.*p* In researching the topic of Brugh na Bo/inne, I ran across an article by John Carey entitled, "Time, Memory and the Boyne Necropolis," in Volume X of _Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium_.  In it is an Early Modern Irish retelling of the story about how Angus won the Brugh.  This is contained in the tale, "Altram Tighe Da/ Mheadar" (The Fosterage of the House of the Two Vessels):*p*" 'Do you know, Oengus,' said Mananna/n, 'that this house is not suitable for Elcmar, and that he is not worthy of the stronghold, and that the Bruig, will not always be his?  When we are seated in the drinking-hall, arise before Elcmar and command him to depart, for that will be a good omen and good luck for you, and destruction and misfortune for him. And the means of his expulsion will be the charm (se/n) through which the angels came from the King of heaven and the Lord of the universe, the charm through which we took the sovereignty of Ireland from the Fir Bolg, the charm through which the sons of Mi/l in  turn took the lordship of Ireland from us.  Command him not to come (again) to the house from which he departs until "ogam" and "achu" are mingled together, until heaven and earth are mingled together, and until sun and moon are mingled together (nogu cumusgti ogham 7 achu re che/ile, 7 nocu cumusgi neam 7 talamh ara ce/ile, 7 nogu cumusgi grian 7 e/sga ara che/ile).' "*p*This is another clear indication that Irish Celtic tradition tied the nature of the Brugh to that of the Sun and the Moon (and all of time).  Carey discusses this continuity of tradition by first referencing Michael J. O'Kelly (the archaeologist who excavated and rebuilt Newgrange).  Carey quotes O'Kelly as saying, that he wondered if it may have been "the people who built the Boyne tombs... who planted first seeds of Irish oral literature?"  O'Kelly also surmised that "one should begin to think of [the literature] not as a window on the Iron Age but as one of the Late Neolithic."  Carey goes on to mention the speculations of Martin Brennan (which I think have merit) regarding the parallels between the literary and the monumental evidence.  Regarding whether such a tradition could have survived over such large time periods (3000 BCE or so), Carey states, "Could an idea survive such far-reaching changes, and in so many centuries? No apriori dogma can settle such a question in advance: the evidence must be considered on its merits. In my own opinion the specific localization of the legends, taken together with the apparent uniqueness of the design of Newgrange, cannot reasonably be dismissed as mere coincidence."*p*I personally find the expression "ogham 7 achu" to be very interesting from an esoteric point of view as what it is implying is an improbable event which is the same as a collapse of time and the way that it is measured or divided.  In this the ancients anticipated perhaps the ways in which time and space are related by theories of modern day relativity. They are saying that the event and its observation become one and the same and in a way echo the concepts of the Yogis who contend that the state that is outside of reality is that which is neither illusion or not-being, but the annihilation of both.  It is this sense of the improbable occurring that I personally believe motivated the construction of the great passage graves or Brughs on the Boyne.  I believe the ancients saw eclipses, and journeys of the Sun and the Moon in the Sky, as being cosmic events that represented occasions out of time and extreme Otherworldly events.  That is why the temples were built, so that such events could be controlled, observed and regulated by their priests, and eventually their Druids.  When we see the sites today, our own spirits are moved by the same oneness of spirit with the builders of the sites themselves.  We are taken out of time and stand between worlds, as a connection between Land and Sky along the birth canal of gods.*p*Searles*p* *br*