Joe Neil MacNeil holds in his memory a wealth of Gaelic folktales, learned in his youth in Cape B... more Joe Neil MacNeil holds in his memory a wealth of Gaelic folktales, learned in his youth in Cape Breton. For over a decade, he has told his tales to John Shaw, a specialist in Celtic folklore and fluent speaker of Gaelic. Shaw has recorded, transcribed, edited, and translated the tales and folklore into English. This rich and entertaining collection is the result of their collaboration. Folktales, anecdotes, proverbs, expressions, rhymes, superstitions, and games are presented in translation and, in the cloth edtion, in the original as well. All variations of the genre are represented: a fragment from the Ulster cycle, some items from the Fenian cycle, hero and wonder tales, fairy and witch lore, romantic tales, tales of the exemplum type, tales of cleverness, "numbskull" stories, animal tales, and tall tales.
MacNeil also describes his early years in a Gaelic-speaking rural community, where story-telling is still a basic element of community life. He explains how he learned the tales and the customs and practices associated with their telling. He also introduces us to the families and individuals who were custodians of the tales. John Shaw's introduction outlines the informant's tradition and its place in the world of the European story-teller.
The commentaries of MacNeil and Shaw, the tales, the games, and the other folk material offer a rich and unique perspective on the Gaelic culture generally, and as it has developed on Cape Breton Island in particular.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press and Edinburgh University Press)
Lauchie MacLellan (1910-1991), carpenter, farmer, and woodsman, was one of this century's outstan... more Lauchie MacLellan (1910-1991), carpenter, farmer, and woodsman, was one of this century's outstanding Scottish Gaelic singer-storytellers. MacLellan, part of a Scottish family with an extensive Gaelic oral tradition who emigrated to Canada early in the nineteenth century from Morar in the Western Highlands, helped keep this tradition alive. In his native parish of Broad Cove, Cape Breton Island, such centuries-old songs and stories, supplemented by more recent compositions, have been the primary form of self-expression and entertainment.
Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kindto be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps.In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history. (From McGill-Queen's University Press)
Gaelic tales from the best of Cape Breton's storytelling tradition.
John Shaw has been documenti... more Gaelic tales from the best of Cape Breton's storytelling tradition.
John Shaw has been documenting Cape Breton's Gaelic traditions since the 1960s. In The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton he presents thirty tales recorded between 1964 and 1989. The collection includes popular tales such as The Dragon Slayer, hero-tales of Fionn Mac Cumhail and his warrior band, accounts of the famed carpenter Boban Saor, stories of robbers and thieves, comic tall tales, historical legends, and accounts of clan traditions brought over from the western Highlands.
Shaw provides both the Gaelic texts and English translations. When possible, he identifies both the original Gaelic storyteller and the local reciters. Reciters in the collection include Joe Neil MacNeil, a major Canadian storyteller, as well as others whose stories have never before been published. The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton showcases a unique and neglected storytelling tradition.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
The late Hector Campbell ('Eachann Nìll Thearlaich') of Hillsdale, Inverness County was one of t... more The late Hector Campbell ('Eachann Nìll Thearlaich') of Hillsdale, Inverness County was one of the foremost reciters of Gaelic traditional tales recorded in Cape Breton. His accurate memory for a story, understated humour and lively use of language were developed over a lifetime of listening to and practising the scores of elaborate folktales that were current until recently in Cape Breton's Scottish communities. Until well into this century such stories, known in Gaelic as sgeulachdan comprised an important source of entertainment in the island's rural households; refined over many generations of telling, they have provided enjoyment to listeners of all ages.
Like countless storytellers in Cape Breton before him, Hector Campbell was heir to the highly evolved oral folk tradition, shared between the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland, which arrived in the Canadian Maritimes with the first Highland settlers and passed down unchanged to our own time. This collection of his stories, transcribed from recordings made by the editors between 1964 and 1970 and supplied with an English translation, owes as much the reciters personal generosity as it does to his art and the tradition from which he came.
Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 2019
Since ancient times celestial thunder gods have been a familiar feature in mythologies throughout... more Since ancient times celestial thunder gods have been a familiar feature in mythologies throughout the Indo-European language area. Their Irish counterpart, the Dagda, is a major personage at the centre of the Mythological Cycle, and his possible connections to the Scandinavian god Thor are examined here. Following a brief section dealing with questions of methodology, points of comparison are addressed which include the two gods' common primary role as defenders of their realm; their place in the assembly of gods; their principal weapons and implements (iron club/hammer/harp, cauldron); their associations with cosmology and artisans; and their visits to the abode of their monstrous adversaries, incorporating elements of the burlesque. Both gods appear in versions of the international tale ATU 1148B 'The Thunder Instrument' (Thor in the Old Norse poem Þrymskviða, and the Dagda's recovery of his harp from the Irish Mythological Cycle), and the nature of the parallels between the two versions is examined. The question of a borrowing during the Viking era, or of an inherited body of tradition possibly from Indo-European times, is discussed: the international tale type also leads to the myth, at a further temporal and geographical remove, of the Greek god Zeus and the theft of his thunderbolts. A proposed sequential account of the development and evolution of both gods from remote antiquity is provided.
Abstract : The ‘Return Song’ theme (ATU 974 ‘The Homecoming Husband’) is most widely known from ... more Abstract : The ‘Return Song’ theme (ATU 974 ‘The Homecoming Husband’) is most widely known from its oldest recorded variant: Homer’s Odyssey. Its numerous variants are widely distributed throughout the cultures of Europe and central/western Asia. From the mid-20th century, one view advanced is that the type is inherited from a common Indo-European tradition. However, according to Viktor Zhirmunsky’s (1966) comprehensive comparative study, the story more likely originated in Central Asia near the Altai. In his analysis Zhirmunsky identifies two main varieties: an older ‘heroic’ version in Asia and ancient Greece with mythological content; and a more recent ‘romantic’ version that characterises medieval and modern European variants. This paper aims to identify and interpret additional ‘heroic’ variants appearing in northwestern Europe and attempts to place them in a wider comparative context. Brief comparative summaries of the Odyssey and the Central Asian epic Alpamysh are provided, and a re-examination of the Scandinavian variants from the Middle Ages brings to light ‘heroic’ versions from Norse saga literature heretofore not considered by comparatists. Further west, from its content and structure a Gaelic hero tale, with probable origins in Ireland, is revealed to be an additional example of the ‘heroic’ version in Europe. For this tale, influences from the literature of the Odyssey, as well as transmission through Norse-Gaelic contacts are shown to be unlikely. Interestingly, the Gaelic hero tale contains structural features and mythological content present in the Central Asian epic but absent from the Greek Odyssey. We conclude with a discussion of what the evidence may reveal concerning the geographical and historical questions raised by the presence of the older ‘heroic’ variants in northwestern Europe.
Le thème de la « Chanson du Retour » (ATU 974 « The Homecoming Husband ») est principalement connu par sa plus ancienne variante enregistrée : l'Odyssée d'Homère. Ses nombreuses variantes sont largement répandues dans les cultures d'Europe et d'Asie centrale/ occidentale. À partir du milieu du xx e siècle, une opinion avancée est que le type est hérité d'une tradition indo-européenne commune. Cependant, selon l'étude comparative complète de Viktor Zhirmunsky (1966), l'histoire est plus probablement originaire d'Asie centrale, près de l'Altaï. Dans son analyse, Zhirmunsky identifie deux variantes principales : une version « héroïque » plus ancienne en Asie et en Grèce antique avec un contenu mythologique ; et une version plus récente « romantique » qui caractérise les variantes européennes médiévales et modernes. Cet article vise à identifier et à interpréter d'autres variantes « héroïques » apparaissant dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe, et tente de les placer dans un contexte comparatif plus large. De brefs résumés comparatifs de l'Odyssée et de l'épopée d'Asie centrale d'Alpamysh sont fournis, et un réexamen des variantes scandinaves du Moyen Âge met en lumière des versions « héroïques » au sein des saga noroises, jusqu'alors non considérées par les comparatistes. Plus à l'ouest, de par son contenu et sa structure, un conte héroïque gaélique, avec de probables origines irlandaises, se révèle être un exemple supplémentaire de la version «héroïque» en Europe. Pour ce conte, l'influence littéraire de l'Odyssée, ainsi que la transmission par le biais de contacts norrois-gaéliques sont peu probables. Fait intéressant, le conte héroïque gaélique contient des caractéristiques structurelles et un contenu mythologique présents dans l'épopée d'Asie centrale mais absents de l'Odyssée grecque. Nous concluons par une discussion sur ce que ces faits peuvent révéler concernant les questions géographiques et historiques soulevées par la présence des variantes «héroïques» plus anciennes dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe.
Variants of the dragon-slayer myth in Indo-European traditions
have been studied extensively by ... more Variants of the dragon-slayer myth in Indo-European traditions
have been studied extensively by comparatists, among them
Dumézil (1939), who pointed out in passing an Irish parallel in
the Dindshenchus (lore of place-names), examined here in detail.
Among the points of comparison identified and dealt with below
are the various divine personages in Celtic and Indo-Iranian, and
shared cultural themes surrounding the myth, which are
examined in their larger context of a common mythological
system partially retained at either end of the Indo-European
world. The close parallels between Celtic and Indo-Iranian are
noted, along with the dragon-slayer’s clear affinities with the role
of healer inherited from a common tradition
ATU 20C is an international tale with an eschatological theme and a wide distribution throughout ... more ATU 20C is an international tale with an eschatological theme and a wide distribution throughout the world. Gaelic variants
recorded in Ireland and Scotland during the 19th and 20th
centuries have been observed to contain cosmological themes and formulae, along with the pagan theonyms Crom and Donn. These
are examined in their relation to a medieval Irish cosmological
formula appearing in the Táin and other sources. The pre-
Christian traditions, particularly that of a tripartite cosmological
structure consisting of sky-earth-sea, are discussed within the
contexts of early Celtic belief. Comparisons with Iranian, Indic,
Greek, and Germanic systems indicate the presence of three such
cosmic realms from Indo-European times, suggesting that the
modern Gaelic variants, taken together, may be regarded as a
remarkable instance of long-term oral transmission.
It is observed that relatively little has been published in the field of Indo-European cosmology... more It is observed that relatively little has been published in the field of Indo-European cosmology in relation to the output of comparative mythology as a whole. Lyle’s comprehensive scheme of cosmological structure is reviewed in the light of Georges Dumézil’s work, and sources are examined. On the basis of comparisons from Indic, Iranian, Greek, Anatolian, Celtic and Germanic traditions an alternative triad is suggested for the visible world. Both systems are examined and compared in terms of explanatory power; issues of geographical distribution; the likelihood of cultural contact with neighbouring ancient civilizations, e.g., Mesopotamia; change and development in Indo-European over the millennia before written texts; comparisons across the Indo-European linguistic area; and applications to other aspects of the cultures studied. On the basis of what has survived in the various language groups, an attempt is made to explain the differences between Lyle’s system and the one outlined below. The proposed model is extended to include Allen’s “fourth function” that deals with what is beyond or outside of the tripartite cosmos, providing a system intended to outline an earlier Indo-European vertical cosmic structure, as expressed in later literatures and iconography.
In the list of gods from the pre-Christian Celtic world, there is little doubt concerning the imp... more In the list of gods from the pre-Christian Celtic world, there is little doubt concerning the importance of the Dagda, who makes his first appearance in the mythological stories of medieval Ireland. He is regarded as having been at some time a principal deity, ‘the most prominent of the older chthonic gods’. Yet for all the perceived standing accorded him in the Celtic equivalent of the pantheon, his appearances in the academic literature have been infrequent and brief. Studies that go beyond passing references are chiefly in the form of short surveys, with a few more detailed and speculative works by Gustav Lehmacher and William Sayers. On the basis of the medieval Irish sources, most studies have effectively confined themselves to listing his characteristics and interactions with the other gods. Given the nature of the materials that have survived in the manuscript traditions, this is not surprising; the picture that emerges for those attempting to establish a comparative context is an aggregate of mixed attributes as inconsistent as it is varied. His legacy is best regarded as a prime example of the ‘chaotic’ state of a long-existing oral mythology transmitted from the advent of writing. With the exceptions of references by de Vries and Sayers to parallels mostly within Norse mythology, none of the studies mentioned has looked beyond Celtic traditions to explain his character or origins. However, these comparisons, incomplete as they may be, raise the question as to whether more complete correspondences can be identified. The aim of the present chapter is to draw on a parallel deity within the mythologies of the Indo-European world – the Indian artificer, Tvaṣṭr̥ – to better understand the place of this enigmatic and multivalent mythological personage and his Indo-European counterparts.
The uses of increasingly sophisticated technologies and wider fields of comparison have enabled r... more The uses of increasingly sophisticated technologies and wider fields of comparison have enabled researchers to explore the history of tales in a considerably deeper timeframe than was heretofore possible. The linking of such extended comparisons with genetic evidence has begun to lead to a clearer understanding of the migration of tales. Central to this progress has been the work of Yuri Berezkin and his studies interpreting the global distribution of ‘motifs’. His results, available online in distribution maps and interpreted in his publications, provide the potential for a new perspective on long-standing questions regarding the history of Scottish storytelling traditions: How old are our stories and what are their origins? We look briefly at the history of research into the origins of folktales, Scotland’s part in it viewed through the work of the Victorian folktale collector John Francis Campbell, and advances over the past few decades. Following this is a selection from a list of items from our archived collections and fieldwork, compiled earlier by the writer with a view to supplementing Berezkin’s data for Scotland, together with geographical distributions and comments. KEYWORDS: folktales, Scotland, prehistory, comparative mythology.
including the islands of Mull, Coll, JTiree,Jura and Islay, has provided evidence ofan oral tradi... more including the islands of Mull, Coll, JTiree,Jura and Islay, has provided evidence ofan oral tradition rivalled only by that which has come to light in the Outer Hebrides from the nineteenth century, then beginning with the work of John Francis Campbell and Alexander Carmichael. This shared lore, largely orally transmitted and dating from the time of the first Gaelic settlements in Argyll from lJlster by the D6l Riada from sometime before 5oo AD, embraces a wide variety ofgenres: custom and belief, songs ofall kinds, international folktales, hero tales and romances, legends, word games and ritual formulae.
ffn" srudy of contacts between b{orse storytelling rradirions and Gaelic traditions. Throrrrsh ne... more ffn" srudy of contacts between b{orse storytelling rradirions and Gaelic traditions. Throrrrsh necessiry, my discussions of Norse, and especially lcelandic, rrrateriars have also bee'confrned to their r.lation ro scot_ land. Frrnlll', I wilr briefly review dhe recent work thar has taken prace in the.fielcl of migratory legends, highrighcintr; exampres thar q,ith furdrer study seem likely to produr:e resultso, u. leus. ,o-" fruidul questions.
lnScotlardaccountsofbandsofitinerantperformersareentered inbgpvernment records from late medieval... more lnScotlardaccountsofbandsofitinerantperformersareentered inbgpvernment records from late medieval times. These are in the form of enactments which, in W.i. Watson'g words 'were primarily directed atbands of wanderingbards known from old as Clbr Shandsin or Seanchan's Band, who had no fixed residence, but went around quarterlng themselves on the people and often bchaving themselves ln a most insolent fashion" (Watson "Classic Gaelic Poetr{' 201). ln 1,()7 the Scottish Parliament enacled legislation to the effect "that in all justlce ayres the kingis iustice tak inquisicione of sornaris, bardis, masterful beggars -.. and...banyeh them thecuntryorsend them to lhe kingis presone" (201). The year 1574 saw an 'Actag'ainst'masterhrl'idle beggars and sorners and bardsand rhymers and hymners roaming the country." lf theyhad resources they were to be imprisoned, or lacking these, their ears were nailed to a pos t or tree, or cu t of f, a nd they were ba ni shed, to b€ ha nged if they rehrrned (Carmichael "Traditions" 322). The thrust of the legislation is made doubly clear regardingrestrictionsonsorningin theStahatesof lona in 1609(Thomson C-omponion 13$-39). On August 23 of that year in the court at lona held by Andrew, Bishop of the lsles, it was enacted of common consent that "no vagabond, bard or profest pleisant pretending liberty to bard and flatter be recelved within theboundsof the said Islesbyany of the said specialbarons and gentlemen or by any other inhabitrnts thereof, or be entertained by them, but in case any vagabonds, bards, iugglers or such like be apprehended by them, such are tobe put in sure seizementand kept in the stocks, and thereaftcr tobe debarred forth of the counhy with all goodly expedition." ln his discussion of theenactmenls Watson adds that"the familyorcourtbards were not meanl is sufficientlyclearfrom the namesof thechiefs subscribed to the statutes, several of whom we know to have kept a bard then and long afterwards." I n fact some provision to this effect was made a generation or two earlier in an enactment stating that "all menlsrales, sangstares and tailtellaris Isg euu,iclul not avouil in special s€rvlcebe someof the lordisof parliamentorgreatbarronis," wcreliable to be scourgcd or bumton thecheek or hanged (Watson "Classic Gaelic l'oetr/' 201-21. That some political motivations were present in the legislation over lwo centuries is evident frcm Acts of Parliament and the Privy Council passcd between 16fl) and 163O designcd to enforce earlier legislation. Here the
In embarking on a general survey of the oral poetry of Gaelic Scotland and its relationship to fi... more In embarking on a general survey of the oral poetry of Gaelic Scotland and its relationship to fieldwork and dissemination, we must first of all remind ourselves that we are dealing with a tradition -indeed an entire culture -that for historical reasons has remained largely remote and obscure for outside researchers; not only ethnologists, but a good number of Celticists as well. An evident factor, of course, is accessibility to the materials through the language, not only in its written forms providing first-hand access to manuscript or printed sources, but also in its colloquial or 'heightened' spoken forms encountered as an integral part of the experience of direct contact with traditions in the field. This assertion should not be understood as attempting to promote an impression of the unique nature or complexity of Gaelic tradition -it is merely intended to identify some of the causes of the marginalisation whose main result for our discipline is that the tradition is not widely known outside of the British Isles.
Scotland's intellectual and literary circles, along with those of other countries in nineteenth, ... more Scotland's intellectual and literary circles, along with those of other countries in nineteenth, century Europe, witnessed a growing interest in their indigenous, if marginalised, popular traditions that paralleled the exposure to exotic peoples and cultures in the outer reaches of a growing empire. The Ossian sensation and its ensuing controversies had effectively brought to the surface issues of nationhood and identity surrounding the largely unwritten traditions still current in the Highlands, leading directly to the fruitful and productive freld collecting that continued into the first decades of that century. In terms of the Highlands, however, the preservation and publication offolklore are to be seen within an overall social and political contexr of massive depopulation; increasingly explicit expressions of social stratification through language, culture and wealth; and a devaluing of the orally transmitted tradidons that played a central role in the lives of the common people. The major collections based on fieldwork from the opening decades of the century consisted primarily of folk songs and Fenian ('Ossianic') verse, and included few items of prose narrative. It was not until after the middle of the nineteenth century that John Francis Campbell of Islay (lain Og ile) and hls younger colleague Alexander Carmichael were to emerge as the major Scottish folklorists of the century, whose work was to determine the direction of subsequent folklore studies in Scotland. Both were Gaelic-speaking, raised in the Highlands, well educated, and respected by their contemporaries from rural Gaeldom to academia. Among Scotland's literati, interest in Highland traditions, at least in its initial stages, was intimately attached to a growing awareness from various perspectives of the Gaelic Finn Cycle. The collecting of 'Ossianic' ballads began around the mid,eighteenth century (and thus at least a decade before the 1761 publication of James Macpherson's Fingal) with the early collections of the Highland clergymen Revs. Alexander Pope of Reay (fl. mideighteenth century) and Donald MacNicol (1735-1802), a native of Glenorchy. Rev. James Mclagan (1728-1805 of Blair Atholl, a contemporary, was generous in providing Macpherson with ballads from his own collecting in 1760-1. Those from outside the Highlands were also active, an early collector being Jerome Stone, a schoolmaster in Dunkeld, originally from Fife, who published ballads in translation in 1756. Thomas Ford Hill, an Englishman, gathered material in Dalmally in i780, to be followed by a Doctor Young from Ireland, who visited the Highlands in 1784 with the express purpose of testing the authenticity of Ossian. A strong pro-Ossian position was taken by Ranald MacDonald of Eigg in his Gaelic song collection (1776),and a good number of ballads appeared in later
In northwestern Europe, the migration of legends has been a growing
area of study, exploring the... more In northwestern Europe, the migration of legends has been a growing
area of study, exploring their history, development, and geographical/cultural
distribution. The past two centuries have been a time of large-scale voluntary or
forced migrations that have provided new opportunities for investigating how
folklore, including legends, has survived and changed during mass population
movements. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is foremost among the Scottish
Gaelic diaspora communities, established in North America during the Highland
Clearances, where oral storytelling traditions have been extensively recorded,
and provides a unique opportunity for ethnologists to study survival and
adaptation of various folklore genres through comparisons with those surviving
in the Scottish Highlands from the early 19th century. This article will examine
the kinds of legends that have travelled over the Atlantic; how they have adapted;
legends that have sprung up in the new environment; and what distinctive new
developments have appeared in post-migration tradition.
Joe Neil MacNeil holds in his memory a wealth of Gaelic folktales, learned in his youth in Cape B... more Joe Neil MacNeil holds in his memory a wealth of Gaelic folktales, learned in his youth in Cape Breton. For over a decade, he has told his tales to John Shaw, a specialist in Celtic folklore and fluent speaker of Gaelic. Shaw has recorded, transcribed, edited, and translated the tales and folklore into English. This rich and entertaining collection is the result of their collaboration. Folktales, anecdotes, proverbs, expressions, rhymes, superstitions, and games are presented in translation and, in the cloth edtion, in the original as well. All variations of the genre are represented: a fragment from the Ulster cycle, some items from the Fenian cycle, hero and wonder tales, fairy and witch lore, romantic tales, tales of the exemplum type, tales of cleverness, "numbskull" stories, animal tales, and tall tales.
MacNeil also describes his early years in a Gaelic-speaking rural community, where story-telling is still a basic element of community life. He explains how he learned the tales and the customs and practices associated with their telling. He also introduces us to the families and individuals who were custodians of the tales. John Shaw's introduction outlines the informant's tradition and its place in the world of the European story-teller.
The commentaries of MacNeil and Shaw, the tales, the games, and the other folk material offer a rich and unique perspective on the Gaelic culture generally, and as it has developed on Cape Breton Island in particular.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press and Edinburgh University Press)
Lauchie MacLellan (1910-1991), carpenter, farmer, and woodsman, was one of this century's outstan... more Lauchie MacLellan (1910-1991), carpenter, farmer, and woodsman, was one of this century's outstanding Scottish Gaelic singer-storytellers. MacLellan, part of a Scottish family with an extensive Gaelic oral tradition who emigrated to Canada early in the nineteenth century from Morar in the Western Highlands, helped keep this tradition alive. In his native parish of Broad Cove, Cape Breton Island, such centuries-old songs and stories, supplemented by more recent compositions, have been the primary form of self-expression and entertainment.
Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kindto be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps.In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history. (From McGill-Queen's University Press)
Gaelic tales from the best of Cape Breton's storytelling tradition.
John Shaw has been documenti... more Gaelic tales from the best of Cape Breton's storytelling tradition.
John Shaw has been documenting Cape Breton's Gaelic traditions since the 1960s. In The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton he presents thirty tales recorded between 1964 and 1989. The collection includes popular tales such as The Dragon Slayer, hero-tales of Fionn Mac Cumhail and his warrior band, accounts of the famed carpenter Boban Saor, stories of robbers and thieves, comic tall tales, historical legends, and accounts of clan traditions brought over from the western Highlands.
Shaw provides both the Gaelic texts and English translations. When possible, he identifies both the original Gaelic storyteller and the local reciters. Reciters in the collection include Joe Neil MacNeil, a major Canadian storyteller, as well as others whose stories have never before been published. The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton showcases a unique and neglected storytelling tradition.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
The late Hector Campbell ('Eachann Nìll Thearlaich') of Hillsdale, Inverness County was one of t... more The late Hector Campbell ('Eachann Nìll Thearlaich') of Hillsdale, Inverness County was one of the foremost reciters of Gaelic traditional tales recorded in Cape Breton. His accurate memory for a story, understated humour and lively use of language were developed over a lifetime of listening to and practising the scores of elaborate folktales that were current until recently in Cape Breton's Scottish communities. Until well into this century such stories, known in Gaelic as sgeulachdan comprised an important source of entertainment in the island's rural households; refined over many generations of telling, they have provided enjoyment to listeners of all ages.
Like countless storytellers in Cape Breton before him, Hector Campbell was heir to the highly evolved oral folk tradition, shared between the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland, which arrived in the Canadian Maritimes with the first Highland settlers and passed down unchanged to our own time. This collection of his stories, transcribed from recordings made by the editors between 1964 and 1970 and supplied with an English translation, owes as much the reciters personal generosity as it does to his art and the tradition from which he came.
Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 2019
Since ancient times celestial thunder gods have been a familiar feature in mythologies throughout... more Since ancient times celestial thunder gods have been a familiar feature in mythologies throughout the Indo-European language area. Their Irish counterpart, the Dagda, is a major personage at the centre of the Mythological Cycle, and his possible connections to the Scandinavian god Thor are examined here. Following a brief section dealing with questions of methodology, points of comparison are addressed which include the two gods' common primary role as defenders of their realm; their place in the assembly of gods; their principal weapons and implements (iron club/hammer/harp, cauldron); their associations with cosmology and artisans; and their visits to the abode of their monstrous adversaries, incorporating elements of the burlesque. Both gods appear in versions of the international tale ATU 1148B 'The Thunder Instrument' (Thor in the Old Norse poem Þrymskviða, and the Dagda's recovery of his harp from the Irish Mythological Cycle), and the nature of the parallels between the two versions is examined. The question of a borrowing during the Viking era, or of an inherited body of tradition possibly from Indo-European times, is discussed: the international tale type also leads to the myth, at a further temporal and geographical remove, of the Greek god Zeus and the theft of his thunderbolts. A proposed sequential account of the development and evolution of both gods from remote antiquity is provided.
Abstract : The ‘Return Song’ theme (ATU 974 ‘The Homecoming Husband’) is most widely known from ... more Abstract : The ‘Return Song’ theme (ATU 974 ‘The Homecoming Husband’) is most widely known from its oldest recorded variant: Homer’s Odyssey. Its numerous variants are widely distributed throughout the cultures of Europe and central/western Asia. From the mid-20th century, one view advanced is that the type is inherited from a common Indo-European tradition. However, according to Viktor Zhirmunsky’s (1966) comprehensive comparative study, the story more likely originated in Central Asia near the Altai. In his analysis Zhirmunsky identifies two main varieties: an older ‘heroic’ version in Asia and ancient Greece with mythological content; and a more recent ‘romantic’ version that characterises medieval and modern European variants. This paper aims to identify and interpret additional ‘heroic’ variants appearing in northwestern Europe and attempts to place them in a wider comparative context. Brief comparative summaries of the Odyssey and the Central Asian epic Alpamysh are provided, and a re-examination of the Scandinavian variants from the Middle Ages brings to light ‘heroic’ versions from Norse saga literature heretofore not considered by comparatists. Further west, from its content and structure a Gaelic hero tale, with probable origins in Ireland, is revealed to be an additional example of the ‘heroic’ version in Europe. For this tale, influences from the literature of the Odyssey, as well as transmission through Norse-Gaelic contacts are shown to be unlikely. Interestingly, the Gaelic hero tale contains structural features and mythological content present in the Central Asian epic but absent from the Greek Odyssey. We conclude with a discussion of what the evidence may reveal concerning the geographical and historical questions raised by the presence of the older ‘heroic’ variants in northwestern Europe.
Le thème de la « Chanson du Retour » (ATU 974 « The Homecoming Husband ») est principalement connu par sa plus ancienne variante enregistrée : l'Odyssée d'Homère. Ses nombreuses variantes sont largement répandues dans les cultures d'Europe et d'Asie centrale/ occidentale. À partir du milieu du xx e siècle, une opinion avancée est que le type est hérité d'une tradition indo-européenne commune. Cependant, selon l'étude comparative complète de Viktor Zhirmunsky (1966), l'histoire est plus probablement originaire d'Asie centrale, près de l'Altaï. Dans son analyse, Zhirmunsky identifie deux variantes principales : une version « héroïque » plus ancienne en Asie et en Grèce antique avec un contenu mythologique ; et une version plus récente « romantique » qui caractérise les variantes européennes médiévales et modernes. Cet article vise à identifier et à interpréter d'autres variantes « héroïques » apparaissant dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe, et tente de les placer dans un contexte comparatif plus large. De brefs résumés comparatifs de l'Odyssée et de l'épopée d'Asie centrale d'Alpamysh sont fournis, et un réexamen des variantes scandinaves du Moyen Âge met en lumière des versions « héroïques » au sein des saga noroises, jusqu'alors non considérées par les comparatistes. Plus à l'ouest, de par son contenu et sa structure, un conte héroïque gaélique, avec de probables origines irlandaises, se révèle être un exemple supplémentaire de la version «héroïque» en Europe. Pour ce conte, l'influence littéraire de l'Odyssée, ainsi que la transmission par le biais de contacts norrois-gaéliques sont peu probables. Fait intéressant, le conte héroïque gaélique contient des caractéristiques structurelles et un contenu mythologique présents dans l'épopée d'Asie centrale mais absents de l'Odyssée grecque. Nous concluons par une discussion sur ce que ces faits peuvent révéler concernant les questions géographiques et historiques soulevées par la présence des variantes «héroïques» plus anciennes dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe.
Variants of the dragon-slayer myth in Indo-European traditions
have been studied extensively by ... more Variants of the dragon-slayer myth in Indo-European traditions
have been studied extensively by comparatists, among them
Dumézil (1939), who pointed out in passing an Irish parallel in
the Dindshenchus (lore of place-names), examined here in detail.
Among the points of comparison identified and dealt with below
are the various divine personages in Celtic and Indo-Iranian, and
shared cultural themes surrounding the myth, which are
examined in their larger context of a common mythological
system partially retained at either end of the Indo-European
world. The close parallels between Celtic and Indo-Iranian are
noted, along with the dragon-slayer’s clear affinities with the role
of healer inherited from a common tradition
ATU 20C is an international tale with an eschatological theme and a wide distribution throughout ... more ATU 20C is an international tale with an eschatological theme and a wide distribution throughout the world. Gaelic variants
recorded in Ireland and Scotland during the 19th and 20th
centuries have been observed to contain cosmological themes and formulae, along with the pagan theonyms Crom and Donn. These
are examined in their relation to a medieval Irish cosmological
formula appearing in the Táin and other sources. The pre-
Christian traditions, particularly that of a tripartite cosmological
structure consisting of sky-earth-sea, are discussed within the
contexts of early Celtic belief. Comparisons with Iranian, Indic,
Greek, and Germanic systems indicate the presence of three such
cosmic realms from Indo-European times, suggesting that the
modern Gaelic variants, taken together, may be regarded as a
remarkable instance of long-term oral transmission.
It is observed that relatively little has been published in the field of Indo-European cosmology... more It is observed that relatively little has been published in the field of Indo-European cosmology in relation to the output of comparative mythology as a whole. Lyle’s comprehensive scheme of cosmological structure is reviewed in the light of Georges Dumézil’s work, and sources are examined. On the basis of comparisons from Indic, Iranian, Greek, Anatolian, Celtic and Germanic traditions an alternative triad is suggested for the visible world. Both systems are examined and compared in terms of explanatory power; issues of geographical distribution; the likelihood of cultural contact with neighbouring ancient civilizations, e.g., Mesopotamia; change and development in Indo-European over the millennia before written texts; comparisons across the Indo-European linguistic area; and applications to other aspects of the cultures studied. On the basis of what has survived in the various language groups, an attempt is made to explain the differences between Lyle’s system and the one outlined below. The proposed model is extended to include Allen’s “fourth function” that deals with what is beyond or outside of the tripartite cosmos, providing a system intended to outline an earlier Indo-European vertical cosmic structure, as expressed in later literatures and iconography.
In the list of gods from the pre-Christian Celtic world, there is little doubt concerning the imp... more In the list of gods from the pre-Christian Celtic world, there is little doubt concerning the importance of the Dagda, who makes his first appearance in the mythological stories of medieval Ireland. He is regarded as having been at some time a principal deity, ‘the most prominent of the older chthonic gods’. Yet for all the perceived standing accorded him in the Celtic equivalent of the pantheon, his appearances in the academic literature have been infrequent and brief. Studies that go beyond passing references are chiefly in the form of short surveys, with a few more detailed and speculative works by Gustav Lehmacher and William Sayers. On the basis of the medieval Irish sources, most studies have effectively confined themselves to listing his characteristics and interactions with the other gods. Given the nature of the materials that have survived in the manuscript traditions, this is not surprising; the picture that emerges for those attempting to establish a comparative context is an aggregate of mixed attributes as inconsistent as it is varied. His legacy is best regarded as a prime example of the ‘chaotic’ state of a long-existing oral mythology transmitted from the advent of writing. With the exceptions of references by de Vries and Sayers to parallels mostly within Norse mythology, none of the studies mentioned has looked beyond Celtic traditions to explain his character or origins. However, these comparisons, incomplete as they may be, raise the question as to whether more complete correspondences can be identified. The aim of the present chapter is to draw on a parallel deity within the mythologies of the Indo-European world – the Indian artificer, Tvaṣṭr̥ – to better understand the place of this enigmatic and multivalent mythological personage and his Indo-European counterparts.
The uses of increasingly sophisticated technologies and wider fields of comparison have enabled r... more The uses of increasingly sophisticated technologies and wider fields of comparison have enabled researchers to explore the history of tales in a considerably deeper timeframe than was heretofore possible. The linking of such extended comparisons with genetic evidence has begun to lead to a clearer understanding of the migration of tales. Central to this progress has been the work of Yuri Berezkin and his studies interpreting the global distribution of ‘motifs’. His results, available online in distribution maps and interpreted in his publications, provide the potential for a new perspective on long-standing questions regarding the history of Scottish storytelling traditions: How old are our stories and what are their origins? We look briefly at the history of research into the origins of folktales, Scotland’s part in it viewed through the work of the Victorian folktale collector John Francis Campbell, and advances over the past few decades. Following this is a selection from a list of items from our archived collections and fieldwork, compiled earlier by the writer with a view to supplementing Berezkin’s data for Scotland, together with geographical distributions and comments. KEYWORDS: folktales, Scotland, prehistory, comparative mythology.
including the islands of Mull, Coll, JTiree,Jura and Islay, has provided evidence ofan oral tradi... more including the islands of Mull, Coll, JTiree,Jura and Islay, has provided evidence ofan oral tradition rivalled only by that which has come to light in the Outer Hebrides from the nineteenth century, then beginning with the work of John Francis Campbell and Alexander Carmichael. This shared lore, largely orally transmitted and dating from the time of the first Gaelic settlements in Argyll from lJlster by the D6l Riada from sometime before 5oo AD, embraces a wide variety ofgenres: custom and belief, songs ofall kinds, international folktales, hero tales and romances, legends, word games and ritual formulae.
ffn" srudy of contacts between b{orse storytelling rradirions and Gaelic traditions. Throrrrsh ne... more ffn" srudy of contacts between b{orse storytelling rradirions and Gaelic traditions. Throrrrsh necessiry, my discussions of Norse, and especially lcelandic, rrrateriars have also bee'confrned to their r.lation ro scot_ land. Frrnlll', I wilr briefly review dhe recent work thar has taken prace in the.fielcl of migratory legends, highrighcintr; exampres thar q,ith furdrer study seem likely to produr:e resultso, u. leus. ,o-" fruidul questions.
lnScotlardaccountsofbandsofitinerantperformersareentered inbgpvernment records from late medieval... more lnScotlardaccountsofbandsofitinerantperformersareentered inbgpvernment records from late medieval times. These are in the form of enactments which, in W.i. Watson'g words 'were primarily directed atbands of wanderingbards known from old as Clbr Shandsin or Seanchan's Band, who had no fixed residence, but went around quarterlng themselves on the people and often bchaving themselves ln a most insolent fashion" (Watson "Classic Gaelic Poetr{' 201). ln 1,()7 the Scottish Parliament enacled legislation to the effect "that in all justlce ayres the kingis iustice tak inquisicione of sornaris, bardis, masterful beggars -.. and...banyeh them thecuntryorsend them to lhe kingis presone" (201). The year 1574 saw an 'Actag'ainst'masterhrl'idle beggars and sorners and bardsand rhymers and hymners roaming the country." lf theyhad resources they were to be imprisoned, or lacking these, their ears were nailed to a pos t or tree, or cu t of f, a nd they were ba ni shed, to b€ ha nged if they rehrrned (Carmichael "Traditions" 322). The thrust of the legislation is made doubly clear regardingrestrictionsonsorningin theStahatesof lona in 1609(Thomson C-omponion 13$-39). On August 23 of that year in the court at lona held by Andrew, Bishop of the lsles, it was enacted of common consent that "no vagabond, bard or profest pleisant pretending liberty to bard and flatter be recelved within theboundsof the said Islesbyany of the said specialbarons and gentlemen or by any other inhabitrnts thereof, or be entertained by them, but in case any vagabonds, bards, iugglers or such like be apprehended by them, such are tobe put in sure seizementand kept in the stocks, and thereaftcr tobe debarred forth of the counhy with all goodly expedition." ln his discussion of theenactmenls Watson adds that"the familyorcourtbards were not meanl is sufficientlyclearfrom the namesof thechiefs subscribed to the statutes, several of whom we know to have kept a bard then and long afterwards." I n fact some provision to this effect was made a generation or two earlier in an enactment stating that "all menlsrales, sangstares and tailtellaris Isg euu,iclul not avouil in special s€rvlcebe someof the lordisof parliamentorgreatbarronis," wcreliable to be scourgcd or bumton thecheek or hanged (Watson "Classic Gaelic l'oetr/' 201-21. That some political motivations were present in the legislation over lwo centuries is evident frcm Acts of Parliament and the Privy Council passcd between 16fl) and 163O designcd to enforce earlier legislation. Here the
In embarking on a general survey of the oral poetry of Gaelic Scotland and its relationship to fi... more In embarking on a general survey of the oral poetry of Gaelic Scotland and its relationship to fieldwork and dissemination, we must first of all remind ourselves that we are dealing with a tradition -indeed an entire culture -that for historical reasons has remained largely remote and obscure for outside researchers; not only ethnologists, but a good number of Celticists as well. An evident factor, of course, is accessibility to the materials through the language, not only in its written forms providing first-hand access to manuscript or printed sources, but also in its colloquial or 'heightened' spoken forms encountered as an integral part of the experience of direct contact with traditions in the field. This assertion should not be understood as attempting to promote an impression of the unique nature or complexity of Gaelic tradition -it is merely intended to identify some of the causes of the marginalisation whose main result for our discipline is that the tradition is not widely known outside of the British Isles.
Scotland's intellectual and literary circles, along with those of other countries in nineteenth, ... more Scotland's intellectual and literary circles, along with those of other countries in nineteenth, century Europe, witnessed a growing interest in their indigenous, if marginalised, popular traditions that paralleled the exposure to exotic peoples and cultures in the outer reaches of a growing empire. The Ossian sensation and its ensuing controversies had effectively brought to the surface issues of nationhood and identity surrounding the largely unwritten traditions still current in the Highlands, leading directly to the fruitful and productive freld collecting that continued into the first decades of that century. In terms of the Highlands, however, the preservation and publication offolklore are to be seen within an overall social and political contexr of massive depopulation; increasingly explicit expressions of social stratification through language, culture and wealth; and a devaluing of the orally transmitted tradidons that played a central role in the lives of the common people. The major collections based on fieldwork from the opening decades of the century consisted primarily of folk songs and Fenian ('Ossianic') verse, and included few items of prose narrative. It was not until after the middle of the nineteenth century that John Francis Campbell of Islay (lain Og ile) and hls younger colleague Alexander Carmichael were to emerge as the major Scottish folklorists of the century, whose work was to determine the direction of subsequent folklore studies in Scotland. Both were Gaelic-speaking, raised in the Highlands, well educated, and respected by their contemporaries from rural Gaeldom to academia. Among Scotland's literati, interest in Highland traditions, at least in its initial stages, was intimately attached to a growing awareness from various perspectives of the Gaelic Finn Cycle. The collecting of 'Ossianic' ballads began around the mid,eighteenth century (and thus at least a decade before the 1761 publication of James Macpherson's Fingal) with the early collections of the Highland clergymen Revs. Alexander Pope of Reay (fl. mideighteenth century) and Donald MacNicol (1735-1802), a native of Glenorchy. Rev. James Mclagan (1728-1805 of Blair Atholl, a contemporary, was generous in providing Macpherson with ballads from his own collecting in 1760-1. Those from outside the Highlands were also active, an early collector being Jerome Stone, a schoolmaster in Dunkeld, originally from Fife, who published ballads in translation in 1756. Thomas Ford Hill, an Englishman, gathered material in Dalmally in i780, to be followed by a Doctor Young from Ireland, who visited the Highlands in 1784 with the express purpose of testing the authenticity of Ossian. A strong pro-Ossian position was taken by Ranald MacDonald of Eigg in his Gaelic song collection (1776),and a good number of ballads appeared in later
In northwestern Europe, the migration of legends has been a growing
area of study, exploring the... more In northwestern Europe, the migration of legends has been a growing
area of study, exploring their history, development, and geographical/cultural
distribution. The past two centuries have been a time of large-scale voluntary or
forced migrations that have provided new opportunities for investigating how
folklore, including legends, has survived and changed during mass population
movements. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is foremost among the Scottish
Gaelic diaspora communities, established in North America during the Highland
Clearances, where oral storytelling traditions have been extensively recorded,
and provides a unique opportunity for ethnologists to study survival and
adaptation of various folklore genres through comparisons with those surviving
in the Scottish Highlands from the early 19th century. This article will examine
the kinds of legends that have travelled over the Atlantic; how they have adapted;
legends that have sprung up in the new environment; and what distinctive new
developments have appeared in post-migration tradition.
Over a half century after its publication, Charles Dunn's Highland Settler: a Portrait of the Sco... more Over a half century after its publication, Charles Dunn's Highland Settler: a Portrait of the Scottish Gael in Nova Scotia still makes interesting reading. In the preface Dunn states clearly the purpose of the work, 'to record the experience of the settlers and their descendants and to describe the effects of emigration upon their folk-culture' (vii). The result has been a pioneering and lasting contribution to the currently burgeoning field of Scottish emigration, notable for its effective combining of extensive written sources with the author's own very valuable work carried out in the field during the 1940s. This 'rounded' representation of Gaelic culture parallels important work carried out in Scotland around the same time -William Matheson's
siod ann: bha cat beag 's cat m6r ann' 'S e naidheachd-sgeulachd--na Banrighinne Ruar4headh a bh'... more siod ann: bha cat beag 's cat m6r ann' 'S e naidheachd-sgeulachd--na Banrighinne Ruar4headh a bh'ann: bha nrghean aice. ;\gus ge b'e dh'fheumadh i, nuair reachadh an tsearbhanta amach dha'n t-sabhat a h-uile madainn dh'fheumadh i cupan do bhainne blith fhaighinn a h-uiic maciainn nuair rhigerdh iastaigh. Ach madainn a'bha seo bha'n car beaŝ sus an car mrir'san t-sabhal agus dh'fhalbh iad agus chaidh iad'sa mhiosair bainne -'sa chuman-mir>sair bainne bh'aig an t-searbhant' agus bhuail i s/ap ort^ car . . . an cumail as. Agus dh'inaibh rbineagan dha'n fhionndacih as nacait, agu.r chaidh iad'sa bhainne.
In this volume of fifteen essays, twelve deal with the Irish sean-nós ('old style') singing tradi... more In this volume of fifteen essays, twelve deal with the Irish sean-nós ('old style') singing tradition and are written in Irish. Three articles, however, are relevant here because they deal with the Gaelic song traditions on both sides of the Atlantic. The articles are written in Gaelic. Cape Breton island, Nova Scotia, is the only region outside of Scotland where Gaelic song has persisted and flourished over a number of generations. The late Seumas Watson ('Ag éirigh air Òrain an Albainn Nuaidh: Suas e!') provides a survey of Gaelic singing in the island's rural Gàidhealtachd communities. After summarising the background to 19th century settlement and the development of distinctive communities, he describes how the tradition flourished. Earlier songs continued to be transmitted, and new compositions were added to the repertoire as local bards emerged. Watson describes the social contexts in which singing continues to thrive, mentions the efforts of recent field collectors, and enumerates the variety of song collections available, including those available in digital form. Both earlier and recent printed sources are ably dealt with. Of particular interest, however, is the availability of live field interviews with Gaels-conversations that lend life and
book for those whose interest in Gaelic place-names has surpassed the level of Nicolaisen's Scott... more book for those whose interest in Gaelic place-names has surpassed the level of Nicolaisen's Scottish Place-names or Watson's The Celtic Place-names of Scotland but may not be able, for whatever reason, to spend the time to familiarise themselves more fully with the more detailed literature on the subject.
The dictionary is well-researched, clearly laid out and, above all, fun. It can be ordered on the... more The dictionary is well-researched, clearly laid out and, above all, fun. It can be ordered on the MUP webslre
BOOK REVrE\7S 271 context. The book is written in an engaging and clear manner that brings the su... more BOOK REVrE\7S 271 context. The book is written in an engaging and clear manner that brings the subject matter of storytelling to as wide a readership as possible.
BOOK REVIE\rS tune was played in this manner'a definitive account of style in eighteenth-cenrury ... more BOOK REVIE\rS tune was played in this manner'a definitive account of style in eighteenth-cenrury Highland scotland such as that proposed by Allan MacDonald in his r99y M.Lin thesis -will therefore be disappointed and frustrated. Although such an approach would have been more appealing to pipers hungry for the stuff of repertoires, Gibson is concerned with the broader questions of function, conrexr, and the dynamics of inexorable change. Instead of casting judgement on either style, he merely identifies the points and means by which they diverged, and offers justification for the aural idiom's value to current scholarship. He places piping in the hands of the Gael uninfuenced by Empire, and proceeds to observe its evolution within Empire as the cultural pillars which had previously supported it eroded over decades and centuries. It is an important and timely point to make nowadays, as the feis movement gains in popularity and more competitors look to early nineteenth-century manuscripts for 'new' settings of familiar tunes; and therein lies Gibson's opportunity to capture the imagination of the performers as well as the scholars. His work emerges at a time when the piping world is looking more and more at what was, as inspiration for what will be.
A retrospective of the pioneering work of the 19th Scottish century tale collector John Francis C... more A retrospective of the pioneering work of the 19th Scottish century tale collector John Francis Campbell of Islay. His work has contributed to every important level of the discipline: preparations for field work; field transcription; translation; publication; and development of theory, particularly with regard two origins of stories and the mental prehistory (now termed by some ‘paleo-ethnology’) of humanity. These developments have benefited study internationally as well as in Scotland.
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Books by John Shaw
MacNeil also describes his early years in a Gaelic-speaking rural community, where story-telling is still a basic element of community life. He explains how he learned the tales and the customs and practices associated with their telling. He also introduces us to the families and individuals who were custodians of the tales. John Shaw's introduction outlines the informant's tradition and its place in the world of the European story-teller.
The commentaries of MacNeil and Shaw, the tales, the games, and the other folk material offer a rich and unique perspective on the Gaelic culture generally, and as it has developed on Cape Breton Island in particular.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press and Edinburgh University Press)
Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kindto be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps.In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
John Shaw has been documenting Cape Breton's Gaelic traditions since the 1960s. In The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton he presents thirty tales recorded between 1964 and 1989. The collection includes popular tales such as The Dragon Slayer, hero-tales of Fionn Mac Cumhail and his warrior band, accounts of the famed carpenter Boban Saor, stories of robbers and thieves, comic tall tales, historical legends, and accounts of clan traditions brought over from the western Highlands.
Shaw provides both the Gaelic texts and English translations. When possible, he identifies both the original Gaelic storyteller and the local reciters. Reciters in the collection include Joe Neil MacNeil, a major Canadian storyteller, as well as others whose stories have never before been published. The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton showcases a unique and neglected storytelling tradition.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
Like countless storytellers in Cape Breton before him, Hector Campbell was heir to the highly evolved oral folk tradition, shared between the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland, which arrived in the Canadian Maritimes with the first Highland settlers and passed down unchanged to our own time. This collection of his stories, transcribed from recordings made by the editors between 1964 and 1970 and supplied with an English translation, owes as much the reciters personal generosity as it does to his art and the tradition from which he came.
Acair Ltd. Stornoway, Scotland. 1981
Papers by John Shaw
in the Central Asian epic but absent from the Greek Odyssey. We conclude with a discussion of what the evidence may reveal concerning the geographical and historical questions raised by the presence of the older ‘heroic’ variants in northwestern Europe.
Le thème de la « Chanson du Retour » (ATU 974 « The Homecoming Husband ») est principalement connu par sa plus ancienne variante enregistrée : l'Odyssée d'Homère. Ses nombreuses variantes sont largement répandues dans les cultures d'Europe et d'Asie centrale/ occidentale. À partir du milieu du xx e siècle, une opinion avancée est que le type est hérité d'une tradition indo-européenne commune. Cependant, selon l'étude comparative complète de Viktor Zhirmunsky (1966), l'histoire est plus probablement originaire d'Asie centrale, près de l'Altaï. Dans son analyse, Zhirmunsky identifie deux variantes principales : une version « héroïque » plus ancienne en Asie et en Grèce antique avec un contenu mythologique ; et une version plus récente « romantique » qui caractérise les variantes européennes médiévales et modernes. Cet article vise à identifier et à interpréter d'autres variantes « héroïques » apparaissant dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe, et tente de les placer dans un contexte comparatif plus large. De brefs résumés comparatifs de l'Odyssée et de l'épopée d'Asie centrale d'Alpamysh sont fournis, et un réexamen des variantes scandinaves du Moyen Âge met en lumière des versions « héroïques » au sein des saga noroises, jusqu'alors non considérées par les comparatistes. Plus à l'ouest, de par son contenu et sa structure, un conte héroïque gaélique, avec de probables origines irlandaises, se révèle être un exemple supplémentaire de la version «héroïque» en Europe. Pour ce conte, l'influence littéraire de l'Odyssée, ainsi que la transmission par le biais de contacts norrois-gaéliques sont peu probables. Fait intéressant, le conte héroïque gaélique contient des caractéristiques structurelles et un contenu mythologique présents dans l'épopée d'Asie centrale mais absents de l'Odyssée grecque. Nous concluons par une discussion sur ce que ces faits peuvent révéler concernant les questions géographiques et historiques soulevées par la présence des variantes «héroïques» plus anciennes dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe.
have been studied extensively by comparatists, among them
Dumézil (1939), who pointed out in passing an Irish parallel in
the Dindshenchus (lore of place-names), examined here in detail.
Among the points of comparison identified and dealt with below
are the various divine personages in Celtic and Indo-Iranian, and
shared cultural themes surrounding the myth, which are
examined in their larger context of a common mythological
system partially retained at either end of the Indo-European
world. The close parallels between Celtic and Indo-Iranian are
noted, along with the dragon-slayer’s clear affinities with the role
of healer inherited from a common tradition
recorded in Ireland and Scotland during the 19th and 20th
centuries have been observed to contain cosmological themes and formulae, along with the pagan theonyms Crom and Donn. These
are examined in their relation to a medieval Irish cosmological
formula appearing in the Táin and other sources. The pre-
Christian traditions, particularly that of a tripartite cosmological
structure consisting of sky-earth-sea, are discussed within the
contexts of early Celtic belief. Comparisons with Iranian, Indic,
Greek, and Germanic systems indicate the presence of three such
cosmic realms from Indo-European times, suggesting that the
modern Gaelic variants, taken together, may be regarded as a
remarkable instance of long-term oral transmission.
KEYWORDS: folktales, Scotland, prehistory, comparative mythology.
area of study, exploring their history, development, and geographical/cultural
distribution. The past two centuries have been a time of large-scale voluntary or
forced migrations that have provided new opportunities for investigating how
folklore, including legends, has survived and changed during mass population
movements. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is foremost among the Scottish
Gaelic diaspora communities, established in North America during the Highland
Clearances, where oral storytelling traditions have been extensively recorded,
and provides a unique opportunity for ethnologists to study survival and
adaptation of various folklore genres through comparisons with those surviving
in the Scottish Highlands from the early 19th century. This article will examine
the kinds of legends that have travelled over the Atlantic; how they have adapted;
legends that have sprung up in the new environment; and what distinctive new
developments have appeared in post-migration tradition.
MacNeil also describes his early years in a Gaelic-speaking rural community, where story-telling is still a basic element of community life. He explains how he learned the tales and the customs and practices associated with their telling. He also introduces us to the families and individuals who were custodians of the tales. John Shaw's introduction outlines the informant's tradition and its place in the world of the European story-teller.
The commentaries of MacNeil and Shaw, the tales, the games, and the other folk material offer a rich and unique perspective on the Gaelic culture generally, and as it has developed on Cape Breton Island in particular.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press and Edinburgh University Press)
Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kindto be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps.In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
John Shaw has been documenting Cape Breton's Gaelic traditions since the 1960s. In The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton he presents thirty tales recorded between 1964 and 1989. The collection includes popular tales such as The Dragon Slayer, hero-tales of Fionn Mac Cumhail and his warrior band, accounts of the famed carpenter Boban Saor, stories of robbers and thieves, comic tall tales, historical legends, and accounts of clan traditions brought over from the western Highlands.
Shaw provides both the Gaelic texts and English translations. When possible, he identifies both the original Gaelic storyteller and the local reciters. Reciters in the collection include Joe Neil MacNeil, a major Canadian storyteller, as well as others whose stories have never before been published. The Blue Mountains and Other Gaelic Stories from Cape Breton showcases a unique and neglected storytelling tradition.
(From McGill-Queen's University Press)
Like countless storytellers in Cape Breton before him, Hector Campbell was heir to the highly evolved oral folk tradition, shared between the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland, which arrived in the Canadian Maritimes with the first Highland settlers and passed down unchanged to our own time. This collection of his stories, transcribed from recordings made by the editors between 1964 and 1970 and supplied with an English translation, owes as much the reciters personal generosity as it does to his art and the tradition from which he came.
Acair Ltd. Stornoway, Scotland. 1981
in the Central Asian epic but absent from the Greek Odyssey. We conclude with a discussion of what the evidence may reveal concerning the geographical and historical questions raised by the presence of the older ‘heroic’ variants in northwestern Europe.
Le thème de la « Chanson du Retour » (ATU 974 « The Homecoming Husband ») est principalement connu par sa plus ancienne variante enregistrée : l'Odyssée d'Homère. Ses nombreuses variantes sont largement répandues dans les cultures d'Europe et d'Asie centrale/ occidentale. À partir du milieu du xx e siècle, une opinion avancée est que le type est hérité d'une tradition indo-européenne commune. Cependant, selon l'étude comparative complète de Viktor Zhirmunsky (1966), l'histoire est plus probablement originaire d'Asie centrale, près de l'Altaï. Dans son analyse, Zhirmunsky identifie deux variantes principales : une version « héroïque » plus ancienne en Asie et en Grèce antique avec un contenu mythologique ; et une version plus récente « romantique » qui caractérise les variantes européennes médiévales et modernes. Cet article vise à identifier et à interpréter d'autres variantes « héroïques » apparaissant dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe, et tente de les placer dans un contexte comparatif plus large. De brefs résumés comparatifs de l'Odyssée et de l'épopée d'Asie centrale d'Alpamysh sont fournis, et un réexamen des variantes scandinaves du Moyen Âge met en lumière des versions « héroïques » au sein des saga noroises, jusqu'alors non considérées par les comparatistes. Plus à l'ouest, de par son contenu et sa structure, un conte héroïque gaélique, avec de probables origines irlandaises, se révèle être un exemple supplémentaire de la version «héroïque» en Europe. Pour ce conte, l'influence littéraire de l'Odyssée, ainsi que la transmission par le biais de contacts norrois-gaéliques sont peu probables. Fait intéressant, le conte héroïque gaélique contient des caractéristiques structurelles et un contenu mythologique présents dans l'épopée d'Asie centrale mais absents de l'Odyssée grecque. Nous concluons par une discussion sur ce que ces faits peuvent révéler concernant les questions géographiques et historiques soulevées par la présence des variantes «héroïques» plus anciennes dans le nord-ouest de l'Europe.
have been studied extensively by comparatists, among them
Dumézil (1939), who pointed out in passing an Irish parallel in
the Dindshenchus (lore of place-names), examined here in detail.
Among the points of comparison identified and dealt with below
are the various divine personages in Celtic and Indo-Iranian, and
shared cultural themes surrounding the myth, which are
examined in their larger context of a common mythological
system partially retained at either end of the Indo-European
world. The close parallels between Celtic and Indo-Iranian are
noted, along with the dragon-slayer’s clear affinities with the role
of healer inherited from a common tradition
recorded in Ireland and Scotland during the 19th and 20th
centuries have been observed to contain cosmological themes and formulae, along with the pagan theonyms Crom and Donn. These
are examined in their relation to a medieval Irish cosmological
formula appearing in the Táin and other sources. The pre-
Christian traditions, particularly that of a tripartite cosmological
structure consisting of sky-earth-sea, are discussed within the
contexts of early Celtic belief. Comparisons with Iranian, Indic,
Greek, and Germanic systems indicate the presence of three such
cosmic realms from Indo-European times, suggesting that the
modern Gaelic variants, taken together, may be regarded as a
remarkable instance of long-term oral transmission.
KEYWORDS: folktales, Scotland, prehistory, comparative mythology.
area of study, exploring their history, development, and geographical/cultural
distribution. The past two centuries have been a time of large-scale voluntary or
forced migrations that have provided new opportunities for investigating how
folklore, including legends, has survived and changed during mass population
movements. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, is foremost among the Scottish
Gaelic diaspora communities, established in North America during the Highland
Clearances, where oral storytelling traditions have been extensively recorded,
and provides a unique opportunity for ethnologists to study survival and
adaptation of various folklore genres through comparisons with those surviving
in the Scottish Highlands from the early 19th century. This article will examine
the kinds of legends that have travelled over the Atlantic; how they have adapted;
legends that have sprung up in the new environment; and what distinctive new
developments have appeared in post-migration tradition.