Celtic Symbols

Tain Bo Cuailnge meaning the Cattle Raid of Cooley is a legendary epic from early Irish literature. The Táin Bó Cuailnge represents the oldest vernacular tale of Western Europe, predating both Beowulf and Homer’s Odyssey. It describes the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Queen Medb of Connaught and her husband Ailill intending to steal the Brown Bull of Cuailnge. They are faced only by the boy warrior Cuchulainn, the rest of the men of Ulster being incapacitated by an ancient curse placed by the ancient Celtic goddess of war, Macha. Cuchulainn is young enough to be free of the curse, he manages to hold off the invading armies until the Ulstermen are free of the curse. Aided only by his charioteer Laeg he wages a guerrilla campaign against the invading hordes. However Medb succeeds in capturing the bull but Cuchulainn prevents her from returning to Connaught by invoking the right of single combat at fords. For months Cuchulainn challenges and defeats warrior after warrior. The greatest of these fights is against his foster brother and best friend Ferdiad, a fierce contest rages for three days, Cuchulainn eventually killing his opponent with the mighty spear called the Gae Bulg. Eventually the Ulstermen are freed from their curse and one by one they appear on the battlefield and the final conflict occurs in which Medb’s armies are routed, however she manages in hauling the Brown Bull of Cuailnge back to Conaught where he fights her white bull, Finnbheannach. The Brown Bull kills him but is mortally wounded, it wanders around Ireland creating place names before returning home to die of exhaustion.
The world portrayed in the Tain is an essentially pre-Christian heroic age. War is conducted between warriors armed with swords and spears and mounted in chariots with drivers. Interestingly, it is also a world in which a queen may possess wealth independently of her husband and, indeed, compete with him and raise an army. The Tain Bo Cuailnge has survived in two main recensions, the first is contained in the Lebor na hUidre, an eleventh century text compiled in Clonmacnoise and in the fourteenth century Yellow Book of Lecan. A complete text can be compiled by combining these two sources. The second recension can be found in the twelfth century Book of Leinster.

Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net