Storytelling in the Celtic Tradition: Introduction...(seanchas). It was their role to know the tales, poems and history proper to their rank, recited for the entertainment and praise

Storytelling in the Celtic Tradition

Storytelling in the Celtic Tradition: Introduction

There have always been storytellers, because people enjoy stories. This is true of all

races and periods of history.

We know that Celtic people lived from around 600 BCE to 400 CE and their tribes were

to be found spread out over great tracts of Northern Europe. Their livelihoods

depended so much upon nature for the success of their hunting, fishing, farming,

herding, building, and crafting. It is hard for us living our 21st century lives to truly

appreciate how bonded their tribal societies were to the land, seas and animals

around them.

The ancient Celts were a pre-literate people: they did not keep written records, write

books or leave notes on events or their beliefs. As such, storytellers and others gifted

with the spoken word were vital to society. They memorised the stories of their

ancestors and created new ones: creation myths, epic tales of supernatural heroes,

and stories of pagan gods and goddesses, shape-changers and magical animals.

First composed in Ireland, possibly as early as 300 BC, the Celtic stories were passed

from generation to generation in the oral, druidic tradition until the 5th century AD,

by which time the druidic priesthood had largely decayed. Bards and wandering

minstrels picked up the stories, taking creative license in much the same way that

Homer and others are thought to have done with the cycle of stories that eventually

became the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Archaeology and texts tell us that the Celts focused their spiritual beliefs and holy

practices on environmental forces, the land, and the creatures they lived amongst.

They worshipped every imaginable aspect of nature and their gods and goddesses

were drawn from the land, the sea, rivers, springs and the mountains themselves.

Their most important divinities included the sun, moon, stars, thunder, fertility and

water. Cults of celestial gods, the mother goddesses, water and trees were common


to all of the different tribes. Rivers, springs, rocks, plants, trees and animals also held

important positions in Celtic life. Each was believed to possess its own spirit, and all

were respected and worshipped for their every day, and supernatural qualities. In its

emphasis on magical orality, the Celtic spiritual path is akin to certain Native

American traditions, such as the Lakota and Navajo medicine men and women who

told magical stories, as well as to the Greek storytellers and the Old Norse saga-

singers.

Celtic pagan religion was gradually replaced by the Christian religion. Fortunately,

many of the orally-told stories, sagas and myths were written down by Irish

Christian monks before they were lost. It is thanks to the monks of Ireland and

Wales that we have the earliest written fragments of these stories, dating back to the

sixth century CE.

These ancient Celtic stories were told and re-told from one generation to the next

and the monks' manuscripts were copied and re-copied from century to century,

morphing and changing with the times. The stories have been carried into the modern

era by generations of bards, and by generations of Christians, who were still

transcribing original Celtic myths as late as the 18th century.

Gaelic Storytelling

The oldest continuous tradition of oral storytelling is in Gaelic, deriving from the

centuries when the Gaelic world embraced Ireland and western Scotland without

cultural distinction. This period may stretch back into prehistory but can only be

measured linguistically and historically from the colonistaion of Argyll from Ulster in

the 4th century until the break-up of the Gaelic aristocratic society, first in Ireland

and then in Scotland in 17th and 18th centuries.

In this world, there were professional storytellers, divided into well-defined ranks –

Ollaimh (professors)

FilÌ (poets),

Baird (bards),

Seanchaidh (historians, storytellers)

The Seanchaidh were the wise ones. The word means a bearer of ‘old lore’ or

(seanchas). It was their role to know the tales, poems and history proper to their

rank, recited for the entertainment and praise of the chiefs and princes. One of their

jobs was to be the geanealogical guardian in order to keep the memory of long-dead

ancestors fresh.

These learned classes were rewarded by their patrons, but the collapse of the Gaelic

order after the battle of Kinsale in 1601-2, and Culloden in Scotland (1746), wiped out


the aristocratic classes who maintained the poets, and reduced the role of the

Seanchaidh.

When the traditional hierarchies of Scottish Gaelic society went into decline, the

hearth took on a wider role, sustaining not only the family culture, but the public

traditions of the community. Storytelling was, of course, one of the main forms of

fireside entertainment among the ordinary folk also, and the popular Celtic tradition

became enriched by the remnants of the learned classes returning to the people.

Denied the possibility of enhancing their place in society, and deprived of the means

to promote and progress their art, the storyteller was held in high esteem by the folk

who revered and cultivated story and song as their principal means of artistic

expression.

We know a lot about these stories because of folklorists. In the Gaelic context, one of

the most important collectors was John Francis Campbell, who published 6 volumes of

West Highland Tales.

“Tales seem to have been told on almost any occasion when people met together

socially or for communal work. It could be a wake or a wedding, a funeral or a fair,

or any number of other occasions, but by far the most important focus, certainly

during the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, was the ceilidh house.

Every township had at least one such house which was distinguished as a popular

meeting-place and in these people gathered together to tell and to listen to stories,

to sing songs, to exchange local news and gossip, even occasionally to play cards or to

dance.” Donald Archie MacDonald

The Celtic storytelling tradition embodies the following characteristics:

Poetic and skillful tradition passed down by storytellers from

generation to the next from memory

Belief in the otherworld

Instincts and senses, power of sign, beauty of sound

Animals as deities - boars, deer, hinds, bulls, cows, crows, ravens

dogs, horses, salmon, swans

Connection with landscape

Presence of the ancestors


Types of Storytelling

In the Irish/Scottish world of Gaelic culture, storytellers classified their tales by tape

according to their subject matter. Each tale contains motifs or elements which may

vary from one storyteller or district to another, but the essence of the tale remains

stable.

The categories about which we have information include:

Destructions, Cattle Raids. Courtships, Cave Stories, Battles, Feasts, Voyages, Tragic

Deaths, Advetures, Elopments, Slaughters, Irruptions, Visions, Sieges, Conceptions

and Births, Frenzies, Loves, Expeditions , Invasions

The story types related in a very practical way to particular occasions and audiences.

For example, the recital of a story would convey psycological, spiritual and even

magical benefit at the start of a hung, a voyage or a war, at rites of passage or at

seasonal festivals.

Many tales have spread across the world and are described as international folktales,

while other tales are only to be found within the area of their origin, for example

hero tales such as those of Cu Chulainn and the Red Branch or Fionn MacCumhail

and the Fianna. And even here, we often find international echoes in the elements

which make up the tale.

Celtic stories are more conventionally classified according to the manuscript

collections made by monks and scribes.

Historical Cycles

Mythological Cycle

Ulster Cycle

Fenian Cycle

There is a mythological Cycle of tales mainly preserved in Ireland, and then a wealth

of Hero Tales and Romances common to Ireland and Scotland.

Historical cycles refer to the Ulster and Fenian Cycles, revolving around the

unhistorical heroes of Ulster, principally Cuchulain and Fionn MacCuill and the

Fianna. As folk traditions later intermingled, legends of place, clan stories,

historical tales and humorous anecdotes all asserted their place within the common

cultural stream.


Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle is full of stories of cattle raids, reflecting an Iron Age warrior

aristocracy. One such legendary tale is the Táin Bó Cúailnge (‘the driving-off of cows

of Cooley’) commonly known as The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Táin.)

Cuchulain, the hero of the Tain, is trained by the warrior queen Sgathach, whom

tradition has located in Skye. Cuchulain fights with and then mates with Sgathach's

daughter Uathach or Sgathach herself, before returning to Ulster.

The Tragic Death of the Sons of Uisneach involves exile in Scotland from where

Naoise and his brothers are recalled to a treacherous death, leading in turn to the

suicide of the tragic heroine Deirdre of the Sorrows


Fenian Cycle

The Fenian Cycle was often called Ossianic Cycle (or Ossianic Cycle). This was a col-lection of stories about the warriors within a military order called the Fianna. The main hero was Fionn MacCumhaill (sometimes transcribed in English as Finn MacCool or Finn MacCoul). He was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man. The Fenian Cycle contained many stories of Fionn and his companions, the Fianna. Much of it was narrated in the voice of Fionn's son, the poet Oisín. The Fenian Cycle was less violent and turbulent than previous period of the Ulaid

Cycle. However, the Fenian Cycle are still filled with battles and otherworldly

adventures. Apart from Finn being the principal hero in this cycle, there are tales of

other heroes of the Fianna such as those of his son Oisín, his loyal friends Caílte and

Díarmaid, and even his arch-rival for the leadership of the Fianna – Goll MacMorna.

The Fianna were an elite band of roving hunter warriors whose task was to keep safe

from the foot of any invader the shores of Erin and Alba, the ancient kingdoms of

Ireland and Scotland.

To be a Fian is essentially to step outside the ties of tribe and kin and to undertake

special initiations into skills of hunting, fighting, music and poetry. Finn's warrior band

includes stooges as well as straight men and there are explicitly humorous episodes,

as well as darker passages such has Finn's complicity in the death of the unbearably

handsome Diarmid with the Love Spot.

There was a high code of honour prizing skills in battle and the hunt,

accomplishments in the art of peace and worthy behaviours and the care of women

and children.


This is a world in which the ordeals of magical encounters, battles, loves, disputes

and trickery are overcome. Nature is an important player in the Fenian stories

providing their context and imagery.

Fionn and the Fianna are no more historical than Cuchulan and the Ulster warriors,

since both cycles clearly concern culture heroes with magical and semi-diving powers.

They were Goll mac Morna

Fiercest of the fighting men of the Fianna

Goll of the one eye and that eye

sharper than the eye of an eagle and

He, strong in the hunt of the white deer

They were the Cailte

Swiftest runner of the Fianna, he whose feet

could

race over the meadows or morning without

bending the tips of the blades of grass and

He, swift in pursuit of the white deer

They were Oisin

Clever in the word craft, greatest of word

makers

Greatest of all poets of all lands since the

dawn of time,

He who could unravel all riddles and

He, elegant in pursuit of the milk white hind

And they were Diarmid O Duibhne

Most fearless of the warriors of the Fianna

Diarmid, friend of women

Most handsome of men

Most generous of heart and

He, tireless in pursuit of the beautiful white

deer


Celtic Folk and Fairy Tales

The Celts believed when you died, you went to live with the fairies: therefore, your

ancestors were the fairies.

Tradition tells that the fairies are descendants of the Tuatha Dé Danann, an ancient

folk that were driven to the Underworld by a wave of invaders, the Gaels.

The Tuatha had no other choice than to take refuge under the Sidhe, a Celtic word

for the hills or mounds. The fairies who live in the mounds are known as the daoine

Sidhe. All through Ireland, legends can be heard about Knocks (from the Irish cnoc),

hollow hills which are inhabited by extended fairy communities ruled by a King or a

Queen.

The Sidhe can be found by humans in certain times in the year, especially at

Midsummer, when the daoine sidhe might be seen dancing under the moonlight.

The Sidhe are considered to be a distinct race, quite separate from human beings yet

who have had much contact with mortals over the centuries, and there are many

documented testimonies to this. Belief in this race of beings who have powers beyond

those of men to move quickly through the air and change their shape at will once

played a huge part in the lives of people living in rural Ireland and Scotland.


"The Sidhe cannot make themselves visible to all. They are shape-changers;

they appear as men or women wearing clothes of many colours, of today or of

some old forgotten fashion, or they are seen as bird or beast, or as a barrel or

a flock of wool. They go by us in a cloud of dust; they are as many as the

blades of grass. They are everywhere; their home is in tile forths, the lisses,

the ancient round grass-grown mounds."

In the early Irish manuscripts (which were recorded from an earlier oral tradition) we

find references to the Tuatha De Danaan. In 'The Book of the Dun Cow' and the 'Book

of Leinster' this race of beings is described as ‘gods and not gods,’ pointing to the fact

that they are 'something in between'.

The most well-known of the fairy women both in Ireland and Scotland has to be the

Bean Sidhe, the Banshee. In Ireland she is the ancestress of the old aristocratic

families, the Irish clans. When any death or misfortune is about to occur in the family,

she will be heard wailing her unearthly lament. It was considered something of a

status symbol to have a banshee attached to your family! She is more often heard

than seen, though if you do catch sight of her she may be combing her long hair with

a silver comb.

In the Highlands of Scotland this type of banshee is known as the bean tighe, the fairy

housekeeper, or in some places as the Glaistig Uaine, the Green Lady, who is often

sighted in the rooms and the grounds of the old castles of the Scottish clans, keeping

watch over everything. There is also the wilder type of banshee found in the remoter

places. This type of banshee wanders through the woods and over the moors at dusk,

luring travellers to their doom.


The gruagach is the fairy woman who watches over the cattle fold at night and

protects the goodness of the milk. On Skye, Tiree and other islands are to be found

'gruagach stones', stones with hollows in where milk was poured as an offering to her.

If this daily offering was neglected, the best cow of the fold would be found dead in

the morning. The Book of Arran mentions such a gruagach who minded the cattle in

the district of Kilmory.

There are many stories of sidhe women who help households with spinning,

housework, threshing corn and so on. However, if they are interfered with in any way,

even by the offering of a present, they will never return again. Alexander Carmichael

mentions the 'bean chaol a chot uaine 's na gruaige buidhe', the slender woman of

the green kirtle and yellow hair, who can turn water into wine and weave spider's

webs into plaide, and play sweet music on the fairy reed.

We also find in Scotland the dreaded bean nighe, otherwise known as the Washer at

the Ford. She may be seen at midnight washing the death shirt of someone about to

die. Usually the person who meets her knows that it is his own fate that she foretells.

As she washes she sings a dirge: "Se do leine, se do leine ga mi nigheadh" (It is your

shirt, your shirt that I am washing).

Many spirits of rivers and mountains in Scotland appear in the shape of an old hag, the

Cailleach. The most famous is the Cailleach bheara who washes her clothes in the

whirlpool of the Corryvreckan off Jura, and rides across the land in the form of the

'night mare'.


Within the fairy lore of Scotland and Ireland are to be found the remnants of the old

pagan religion, with gods and goddesses being remembered as the guardian ancestors

of the clans. In fact, all the clans once claimed descent from a particular deity, so

this is nothing new. The old gods still appear in local tales, as kings and queens of

fairy palaces, or as guardians of lakes. In other words, they are still very much part of

the land and the folk memory of the people. Belief in the sidhe has been steadily

diminishing, however, not least through the decline in the Gaelic language, and with

it so many of the folk tales that were only ever told in Gaelic.

Clearly the belief in the sidhe is part of the pre-Christian religion which survived for

thousands of years and which has never been completely wiped out from the minds of

the people.


Explain key aspects of the Celtic storytelling tradition

Explain the importance of storytelling in the Celtic tradition

Describe a selection of storytelling techniques

Explain key elements of Celtic storytelling

Evaluate a selection of Celtic stories

Identify Celtic stories, making use of a selection of sources and evidence from Celtic

culture

Carry out research into a selection of Celtic stories

Identify and evaluate the key elements of a selection of Celtic stories

What you need to be able to do:

Explain the importance of storytelling in Celtic cultures

Describe five storytelling techniques

Identify three key elements of Celtic storytelling

Identify five Celtic stories

Present an individual interpretation of one Celtic story using

storytelling techniques


Celtic storytelling techniques could include:

- An engaging opening (starting with a character or theme and its origins)

– Creating an atmosphere/Setting the stage/scene

– Structuring and pacing delivery to suit the audience

– Establishing the plot/conflict issue

– Engaging the audience through facial expression, hand gestures etc

– Using dialogue and role play

– Combine the story with images/using stage props

– Keeping to the traditional style

Key elements of storytelling include ways of remembering:

– Structural Memory: the ability to remember the sequence of events in the story

– Verbal Memory: the ability to tell the story word for word each time

– Visual Memory: the ability to ‘see’ the story happening like a film

Documents

Storytelling in the Celtic Tradition: Introduction...(seanchas). It was their role to know the tales, poems and history proper to their rank, recited for the entertainment and praise