Poems: A pagan psalm?

Hi guys!

Today I have another poem for you, just because Celtic poems are too damn awesome.This poem is written in Latin, so it's not linguistically Celtic, but it is written down (so it may have been written earlier) by Tírechán, an Irish bishop. James Carney dates the poem to the 6th century.
The translation is primarly by James Carney but I changed it somewhat because I like to translate more literally than he does.

Quis est Deus?                                      Who is God?

et ubi est Deus                                      And where is God

et cuius est Deus                                        And of whom is God

et ubi habitaculum eius?                            And where is his dwelling?

Si habet filios et filias,                           Has He sons and daughters,

aurum et argentum, Deus vester?                       of gold and silver, this God of yours?

Si vivus semper,                              Is He ever-living

si pulcher                                    Is He beautiful

si filium eius                                  Was his son

nutrierunt multi?                            Nurtured by many?

Si filiae eius                                         Are His daughters

carae et pulchrae sunt                         loved and beautiful

hominibus mundi?                            by the men of the world?

Si in caelo                                     Is He in the heaven

an in terra est?                                 or in the earth?

In aequore,                                             in the sea

in fluminibus,                                    in the rivers

in montanis,                                  in the mountains

in convallibus?                                 in the valleys?

Dic nobis                                 Tell us

notitiam eius:                                His tidings

Quomodo videbitur,                                  How will He be seen?

quomodo diligitur,                                 How is He loved?

quomodo invenitur?                                How is He found?

Si in iuventute,                                  Is it in youth

Si in senectute                               is it in old age

invenitur?                              that He is found?

Book of Kells

It is obviously a christian poem, but it doesn't feel like a standard psalm or praise-poem, which makes it way more interesting in my opinion. And if you look closely, it seems that the writer himself is a pagan, and asks a christian about his God, who is so different from the 'gods' of his pagan belief. The questions he asks even remind me of the people of the Otherworld, who never die and aren't young nor old, and live in the fairy mounds. 'Was his son nurtured by many?' It was an Irish custom to give your sons and daughters away for fostering, which is less normal in the christian customs. In the end, I think this poem sheds more light on the pagan beliefs than the Christian faith, and that's why I love this poem so much :)

I hope you have enjoyed it too,

Lian

James Carney 'Medieval Irish Lyrics' (Dublin 1967) 

A Celtic God: Cobannus

Hi guys!

A statue of Mars Cobannus in the Getty museum

I'd like to summarize a small research project I've done for the course Continental Celtic last semester. We were supposed to write a small essay about a Gaulish inscription and say something interesting about it. Well, of course, I got too excited and I actually went to do research.. And since it's about Celtic religion and I know a lot of people are interested in that aspect of Celtic culture I'd like to share my findings with you :)

My inscription was from Bern, with the romantic name 'L-106'. It reads 'dobnoredo gobano brenodor nantaror' and it is written in Greek script. Rudolph Fellmann has translated it as 'To Cobannus who travels the world with his chariot, the inhabitants of Brenodurum (Bern) in the valley of the Aare.'
So I went to research who this god Cobannus is!

There seem to be two logical hypotheses that determine the function of Cobannus in the Gaulish pantheon (if we agree that there was one..) was the patron of smiths ór a war-god. 'Cobannus' literally means 'smith', like Old-Irish gobae, gobann. But his later name is Mars Cobannus, so he is equated by the Romans with their war god Mars. But why would they equate him with Mars if he was a god of smiths?

Well, there are a lot of other arguments, but neither of them satisfied me in picking one hypothesis. So I think Cobannus wás a god of smiths, but more a maker of weapons for battle. Smiths were very important in the time of the Gauls (and not only then) because they made the weapons with which a Celt could raid neighbouring provinces and earn his place in society. This would mean Cobannus was very associated with war, more even then, say, Vulcan in the pagan Roman religion. And as the Gauls don't seem to have gods with one 'purpose', so to say, he would be more a patron of weapons, or other war-materials. And when the Romans invaded Gaul they thought 'Oh well, he looks like Mars. So he must be him!'. Cute.

So that is what I think on the subject, it is a very interesting field of research because we don't know ánything. This research is only done by the name 'Cobannus'. Fun huh? :D My professor used to say 'you're having fun now, but when you're dealing with the study of Continental Celtic you wíll become depressed because we. know. nothing.' Fortunately I still love it! But then, I don't have to focus on this field 24/7.

Bye for now!
Lian

bibliography
Lambert, Pierre-Yves 'Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises'

Fellman, Rudolph 'Die Zinktafel von Bern-Thormebodewald und ihre Inschrift' Archäologie der Schweiz 14 (1991-1994) 270-273

Lavagne, Henri 'Un Nouveau dieu de la Gaule Romaine: Mars Cobannus (avec l'appendice de M. P. Y. Lambert)' Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 143 (1999) 689-720

Duval, Paul-Marie, 'Vulcain et les métiers du métal' Gallia 10 (1952) 43-57

  

Random Fun: Fer Loga

Hi guys!

I'm not the biggest literature-freak you can be within Celtic studies, but sometimes I definitely enjoy it. Mainly the weird inexplicable funny stuff. And that stuff I tell to my best friends. Now, one of my best friends happens to be really talented and she makes a funny comic every week. And when I told her of a passage from Scéla Mucce Mac Dathó she made a comic of it!
This passage tells how the great king Conchobar was accidently captured by a charioteer (who isn't really supposed to fight.. just steer the wagon of his champion) and Conchobar says 'I will give you anything you want, just release me!' and Fer Loga says 'I want every woman in Emain Macha (the capital of the Ulsterpeepz) to sing 'Fer Loga is my darling' to me everynight.' And thus happens.
I found this hilarious, because that isn't really the answer you would expect.. And every woman means every ugly old woman as well. And then my friend Eef made this comic. Be sure to check her website with all her comics on http://supereefsel.wordpress.com/. Every week a new one!

  

Until next time!

Lian