Irish Folklore

Using place-name, folklore and topographic evidence, this guide details the route of Táin Bó Cúailnge, the famous medieval story of Queen Medb's raid on Cooley in south Ulster to steal a prize bull Donn Cúailnge. This, the third guide in this series, focuses on the route in counties Meath and Westmeath. It includes new detail on the the site of the mythic 'Last Battle'  - near Ballymore, Co. Westmeath - in which the Connacht forces were engaged and defeated by the pursuing Ulster army led by King Conchobar

This article explores the tentative theories of Seán Ó Súilleabháin regarding the origin of certain legends connected to the Feast of St. Martin in Ireland. Ó Súilleabháin's theory proposed links with near-eastern mythology, and narratives concerning Tammuz/Dumuzi, the Muslim figure of El-Khadir, and St. George, and these links are critically examined by the author. The article also examines links between the figures of Ss. George and Martin, and their role in the agricultural year.

The film Song of the Sea reflects a Irish folkloric network in its use of the selchie legend, characters from Celtic and Irish folklore, and stylistic elements that reflect the prehistoric and historic past of Irish art. These aspects combine to serve as a celebration for sacred nature. 

**Note: I am an undergraduate student who is just beginning their scholarly career so if anything in the paper is factually incorrect or if you have any suggestions please let me know!

Inthe third volume ofJohrr Francis canrpbell's major collecrion of scottish Caelic folkmles from thc nineteenth century, Poputar Tateiaf the wtst Highl,tnis, rhc morif olrhe Loarhly Lady (D7J2 in Sdth Thompson's nrorif classificarioir sysn:m) appcar:; in the story sumnrarised below:l Fionn M,rc Cumhaill and his h,and arc passing a rvild and snor*y rrighr on Bcinn Eudainn in Ircland when rhey areipproiched around midnishibv an uncouth lemale w.irh hair down ro'her hiels who knocks on Firrn"n'rr'ltor asking him 'to let her in under rhe border of his covcring'. Vihen Fionn comments on her hideoru appcarancc and sends her arvay shlc gives a scrcarn and apprc'aches Oisean, askirig rhe same favour, and he iikcwi"se remarks on her bizarrr: appearance wirh rhe,same derail and sends her awai', g.ving rise to asecondscream. Diarmaid,howt:ver,aftcrrrertinghelnrLhcsar,,c-ob*.ivarions, i.vires her in. oncc under the covering shc rela-tcs her srory, sayine rhar sht: has spenr scven veani 'travelling orer dccrn rnd sea' tnd juri'ie rEar enrin, rirne. has nor spenr one-single nighr.: After warnring herself bcide rhe fire. nruch to the distasre of the Ferri-an band, they rcriri and she asks ro .o*i, under Diarmaid's blanker. Diarmaid .n,n*.ni, on hcr boldness bur asrees" tucking a lold of ir bcrween rhem, and beFore long he qlances n"., ,o"find himsellbeside'the finesr drop oFblood rhrr ever wis, f.Jm rhe begihnins of the universe dll the end of thc world', Hc imnrediarely sunrmons-the Filnn and on v-c,,ving her rhey agree rhar shc has beconrc 'rhc mosr beaureorr woman rh.rr man evcr saw'. She awakens shorrly thereafrcr, asking Diarmaid where he worrld likc a castle ro [.e brrilr, and when he r,cxr awakeni she show, him a fine casrle on the spor he ha.l specified above Beinn Eudainn. Diarmaid asla her ro go rhcre wrth hirn, anC she agree\ on rhe condition rhar he never say ro her thiee rimes how he had foundler. . . A-frer.rhree^days in rhe casrle, rvhich is equipped dorvn ro thc lasr derail including a he rd for rhe geesc, Diarmaid bqiins'to'rniss his comrudes arrd soes ro find them, enrrusring rhe woman rvirh-rhe carc of his fernale grcyho;nd and her rhrec pups. 'l'hJFeinn u,elcome Di;rrmaid, bur in rhe m.r,iri*. hau. beg.uq 19 harbour ill-vrill toward him on account oftheir own losr opportunities and rheir enry of his good fortune. Consequentlv rvhilc l)iarm:rid is away Fionn approaches rhe woman, reqrrcsring .,ne o[ the ttups, which she hands over withour quesriorr, giving Fionn his chorce of rhern. l)iarmaid rerurns and Fdin/Fianna and OiseanlOisin are uscd inrerchangeablr.

In the late summer of 1798 and through the following year, the forces of the British Crown stationed in the west of Ireland were in hot pursuit of Father Manus Sweeney [an tAthair Manus Mac Suibhne]. Escaping into remote regions of west County Mayo, the outlawed priest evaded his pursuers for many months before he was finally apprehended, convicted of treason and executed. Nevertheless, popular memory of him would linger on into the present day. An examination of how this elusive Mayo hero was remembered by the people of the area can offer an appreciation of the particular workings of local folk history and, while acknowledging influences of the more familiar discourses which tend to dominate discussions of the Irish past - on the one hand scholarly history writing and on the other national myth making - demonstrate that provincial history-telling remained distinct and made a valuable cultural contribution in its own right.

The year 2015 will mark eighty years of Irish-language film. Although many in the field of Irish Studies are aware of George Morrison’s Mise Éire (1959), Bob Quinn’s Poitín (1978), and Tom Collins’s Kings (2007), there has been little detailed discussion in English-language scholarly publications of the first Irish-language film, Robert J. Flaherty’s Oidhche Sheanchais (1935)—largely because the film was long thought to have been lost.

This article is a modified version of an item published in 1983: Analysis of ATU 306, “The Danced-out Shoes,” reveals that Irish versions of the folktale drew from translations of the Brothers Grimm, and these include two instances of plagiarism. This raises questions about other rarely expressed narratives identified in The Types of the Irish Folktale (1968), by Seán Ó Súlleabháin and Reidar Th. Christiansen. Research finds no evidence that several tale types (ATU 51***, ATU 577, ATU 840B*, and ATU 870), represented exclusively in the Irish Schools’ Collection, were ever part of the oral tradition of Ireland. These supposedly Irish folktales nevertheless found their way into Irish and international indexes.

This paper examines the concept of the blason populaire in a corpus of Irish-language proverbial material covering the period 1858-1952. It will demonstrate that the focus of these blasons populaires is primarily regional, as opposed to national or ethnic, and, furthermore, that such proverbs are usually jocular, descriptive, and benign, rarely exhibiting ethnic or racial slurs. The study identifies and analyses the most salient stereotypical characterizations, and the proverbial forms in which they appear.

The present study arose from a decision to erect a wind turbine on the hill of Knock Iveagh, Co. Down, a place that is believed to have ancient ritual associations. In order to assess the likely importance of the hill, the study looked into the archaeology, history, mythology and folklore of Knock Iveagh as well as the interrelatedness of the hill with the wider physical and cultural landscape; including other sites and monuments in the region and further afield.

The historiola of an ancient Egyptian spell (AEMT 90) describes how Isis becomes a fugitive to protect her unborn/young son Horus from Seth, the murderer of her brother/husband Osiris. As her travel-group seeks refuge in the Nile Delta, a noblewoman’s inhospitality to the unexpected visitors results in her young son being stung by Isis’s scorpion escort; however, the goddess takes pity on him and uses an incantation to assuage his pain and save his life. Christian equivalents of this spell – probably derivatives, but now framed around disguised holy men who inflict other ailments on members of the unwelcoming household and then cure them – have long circulated in southern and central Europe as folk-charms. This paper strengthens the case for a genetic relationship between the Egyptian spell and the European charms. It also highlights the existence of an Irish-language counterpart to the continental charms which is unusually close to the Egyptian prototype; in it, the protagonists are a wandering Virgin Mary and her young son Jesus. Some Irish variants even return the historiola’s setting to Egypt, where – in a striking parallel with Isis’s circumstance – Mary seeks to protect her infant son from the murderous Herod. The parallels between the Egyptian and Irish embodiments attest to the cohesion and latent unity of the Egyptian/European corpus of this charm-type as a whole – a family line in which the underpinning tale-type eventually recapitulates the configuration of the ancestral Ur-Tale.

The paper introduces Goibniu, the ancient Irish God of Smithcraft and related versions of the smith god found in other Indo-European cultures. Later legendary avatars are also referred to  such as The Gobán Saor, a popular figure about whom numerous tales were told throughout Ireland and Scotland during medieval and later times. Another avatar of Goibniu - the enchanted smith, Lon mac Liomtha – also features widely in Scottish and Irish tradition.

Beware the Faerie Food You Eat: Examination of the "Food Taboo" In Irish Folklore Food is a popular feature in Irish mythology, where the fantastic becomes recognized. However, between pre-modern myths and modern folklore, a shift results in which consuming Otherworldly cuisine becomes taboo, and forbidden. The motif of faerie food with a loss of life originates in pagan superstition but ultimately transforms out of changing religious doctrine and intense famine, even shaping the social climate so much it became a tool for survival amongst the starving. Irish Celtic culture, defined relative to one's hospitality, determined social caste using classifications of hosting. In Guesting and Feasting in Gaelic Ireland, Katherine Simms outlines two types of host/guest interactions within old Irish society: that of "guesting," and of "feasting." Guesting she considers any sort of visitor who asks (or demands) hospitality of another, while feasting she denotes as: one who freely offers their generosity to those around them (Simms 68). The implied difference lies in the expectation for a return of favor: while the guests may be inclined to repay their host's kindness, feasts were a requirement of prestigious elites, and the solidification of their honor should suffice. Moreover, a successful host, heavily revered by both pagan poets and Christian theologians alike, influenced the social hierarchy in early Irish caste systems (Simms 68-69). It is apparent the association between an entertainer and their visitant impacted many societal facets of Celtic antiquity, including that of their oral literature.

In this final of four articles on Brigid, the ancient Irish goddess and (subsequently) saint, the antiquity of the celebration of her festival (Imbolg) on 1st February is looked into. The festival of BrigidIt is a joyful community festival about  fertility,  protection  and  blessings and the widespread rituals and practices surrounding its celebration are documented and illustrated..

In this essay I try to argue a broader and deeper notion of fairy tale, beginning from an overview of some of the key terminologies and classifications devised and employed by folk-narrative research, passing through an etymological and semantic scrutiny of the word 'fairy', and developing, eventually, a structural analysis purposely framed within the historical-cultural context of the Irish tradition. What I attempt to let emerge – challenging to some extent the established concepts and theories – is a more comprehensive narrative category, characterised by a specific epistemological and ontological value, through which a sort of intermediate, neutral space is modelled, where boundaries are crossed and elements more or less heterogeneous are connected. Thus, the fairy tale can express a multi-dimensional worldview and the potential for a more complex idea of reality.

This essay regards the Middle Irish and Early Modern Irish motif of christening a fairie [V331.8. “Fairies converted to Christianity”] from a theological perspective, dwelling at some length on onthological implications assigned to an act of baptism by Catholic theology. The author demostrates how both in Early Modern and Middle Irish narratives the motif in question is utilized to portray the fairies as humans, entitled as such to Christian salvation. These pragmatics, according to the author, survive well into Modern Irish clerical comments, becoming an instrument of political speculation via attributing Irish sovereignty to a continuous bloodline shared by the fairies and Irish Gaelic nobility. Therefore, the said motif should not be considered as just a Christian rendition of pre-Christian mythology, but a representation of much wider pattern represented in Irish aristocratic and clerical tradition.

The food miracles of St. Brigit, between a third to a half of the miracles recorded in her various Lives, are a unique indication of her sanctity, and are essential to who and what Brigit is.  While many of them are direct descendants of the miracles performed by Christ in the Gospels, such as turning water into other beverages or multiplying existing food supplies to feed a multitude, others do not fit so neatly into this category. .  I wish here to emphasize St. Brigit as a miraculous version of a good Irish ban a tigh, or housekeeper.  She is the apotheosis of good housewifery in her provision of abundant food for her dependents, even in the face of shortages, making her an ideal hostess.  She provides miraculous solutions to common household problems, such as the feeding of unexpected guests, the replacement of lost stores, the care of milch cows and other food animals, and the successful production of dairy products.  St. Brigit's always got milk, if you need it.

In 1941, Brian Ó Nualláin published An Béal Bocht under one of his many pseudonyms, Myles na gCopaleen. Although An Béal Bocht is primarily recognised as a parody of the Gaeltacht autobiographies, Ó Nualláin’s satirical critique of professional folklore collection and the field of ethnography is also of significant interest. At the time of the novel’s publication, the Irish Folklore Commission (1935–1971) was gaining momentum and the era of the Irish Folklore Institute (1930–1935) was within recent memory. This article focuses on the brief account given by the main character of the novel, Bónapart Ó Cúnasa, in which he depicts a folklore collector as he attempts to record oral material from ‘scoth an bhochtanais’ (the very best of poverty). Comprising a mere four pages within the novel, this satirical account nonetheless raises numerous questions about the dynamic between collector and ‘informant’ and indeed, about the ethics of collecting and archiving oral material.

Drawing on folkloristic and ethnographical perspectives, this article explores some of the most interesting questions that Ó Nualláin raises concerning fieldwork in An Béal Bocht. By utilizing sources from both folklore scholarship and the Gaeltacht biographies, Ó Nualláin’s critique is situated within its ideological context in terms of literature and folklore. Accounts of professional folklore collectors employed by the Irish Folklore Commission, as well as Ó Nualláin’s Irish-language journalism, are also drawn upon to better understand the national and international context of Ó Nualláin’s critique.

Metaphor has featured frequently in attempts to define the proverb (see Taylor 1931, Whiting 1932, Mieder 1985, 1996), and since the advent of modern paremiological scholarship, it has been identified as one of the most salient markers of ‘proverbiality’ (Arora 1984) across a broad spectrum of world languages. Significant language-specific analyses, such as Klimenko (1946), Silverman-Weinreich (1981), and Arora (1984) have provided valuable qualitative information on the form and function of metaphor in Russian, Yiddish, and Spanish proverbs respectively. Unfortunately, no academic scholarship has engaged with the subject of metaphor in Irish proverbs. This study builds on international paremiological research on metaphor and provides for the first time a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of the form, frequency, and nature of linguistic metaphors in Irish proverbs (1856-1952). Moreover, from the perspective of paremiology, it presents a methodological template and result-set that can be applied cross-linguistically to compare metaphor in the proverbs of other languages.

Of all the beings in Irish-and more generally Celtic-folklore one of the most interesting may be the Leannán Sí. The name literally means 'fairy lover'* and we see two distinct pictures emerge in mythology and folklore of this type of being, very different in nature although both perhaps equally hazardous in various ways. One has become very well-known and even found a place in modern novels and pop culture, while the other may be the better documented but less often discussed in modern contexts. Although seemingly very different in nature and interaction with human beings, both share similar roots and can often lead a human to the same end, suggesting a closer connection than may first be apparent.

As is well known, the Western worldview brings into play an extended colour-coded cultural model known as the Great Chain of Being, grounded in a mutually exclusive, asymmetric opposition between ‘black’ and ‘white’. In contrast, the Basque model introduces complementary colour-coded oppositions consisting of ‘black’ and ‘red’. The Basque dataset model should not be understood as merely some kind of inversion of the Western one, but rather as being composed of a radically different set of cognitive alignments. Nonetheless, there are junctures where the reader may be able to identify a certain overlap between the component parts of the two systems. Moreover, in the case of the Basque model it is clear that these alignments harken back to earlier indigenous pan-European beliefs in the efficacy of the colour black, its intrinsic epistemological grounding in notions of fecundity and wholeness as well as the positive role of black animals in general.

So far our provisional research results argue for the following scenario: that in the case of Europe the powerful life-giving and protecting characteristics associated previously with the colour black have been distorted, although not totally eradicated from the consciousness of Europeans, in part because of the influence of the Catholic Church and the Inquisitional authorities. The task of countering black’s positive polarity was central to the Church’s efforts to win converts. Given that the colour black was a key component in the competing eco-centric cosmology, attempts to assign a different value to it constituted an assault on one of the principle tenets of the indigenous interpretative grid. The fact that the colour black continues to have a highly charged aura about it – the sudden appearance of a black cat still generates a certain level of uneasiness in modern urban dwellers – testifies to the resilient nature of the older eco-centric cosmology: it has not been forgotten.

In contrast to the hierarchical anthropocentric cultural model encountered in and propagated by the ontological metaphors encountered in the Western dataset, we allege that those found in the Basque dataset derive their vitality from this earlier pan-European eco-centric cosmology, grounded in a different myth of origins, namely, in the belief that humans descend from bears. Reflexes of the belief in the sacredness of bears are still encountered in the rich folkloric traditions and practices of Euskal Herria.

Certain Irish folktales appear to preserve elements derived from ancient myths that arose out of the religious cosmology of early Indo-European society. The earliest religious beliefs of farming communities recognized the fundamental necessity for a successful interaction between the sun and the earth to produce fertility and growth and this led to belief in a male sun god and a female earth goddess. Throughout Indo-European tradition , a key role of the primary female deity came to be personified in the form of a Cow Goddess. The paper reviews and documents the tradition that extends back over five thousand years, linking Ireland with cultures as far afield as India, eastern and northern Europe and ancient Egypt.

This article aims at analyzing the representation of women within the boundaries of the festivities held at the beginning of the month of May in Ireland. We will tackle the superstitions and rituals performed by young maidens at that time of the year as well as the numerous fears linked with the arrival of the summer time (including the fear of witches and ageing women). The purpose of this study is to gain better knowledge of the customs and insular traditions held by women in connection with the celebrations of May and therefore to understand, at least partially, the role they played in rural Ireland in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Although various analogues have been cited to Bede's account of the poet Caedmon, none are very close. The plot of a tale well known in modern Irish and Scottish tradition, however, "The Man Who Had No Story" (Irish type 2412B), resembles the first part of Bede's chapter so closely as to suggest that Bede shaped his account under the influence of this narrative pattern. Bede's monastic milieu was not impervious to oral culture, it seems. His account of Caedmon involves much myth-making, and it is best read as an example of the storyeller's art.

This paper was reworked as chapter 8 (pp. 309-24) of my book 'Old English Heroic Poems and the Social Life of Texts' (2007).

This is a chapter in the book, Affective Landscapes in Literature, Art and Everyday Life, ed. by C. Berberich, N. Campbell, and R. Hudson. Farnham: Ashgate, 2015, pp. 30 - 52.
This chapter explores the theme of loss, specifically as related to the Irish landscape, in the work of three female poets of the Irish diaspora: Eavan Boland, Catherine Byron and Maura Dooley. I make explicit these three poets’ links with Irish folklore. I delineate their connections with traditional Gaelic-language narratives such as those of Peig Sayers and Tomás Ó Crohan, and with notable works produced by W. B. Yeats, Patrick Kavanagh, and James Joyce, all of whom helped lay the foundations of Irish diasporic literature.

Gné lárnach den bhéaloideas is ea an seanfhocal, agus le blianta beaga anuas tá an-spéis á fhorbairt ann mar ábhar taighde acadúil. Tháinig dhá réimse ar leith taighde chun tosaigh mar gheall ar an bhorradh suime sin: an phairéimeolaíocht (léann na seanfhocal) agus an phairéimeagrafaíocht (bailiú na seanfhocal). Is i ngort na pairéimeolaíochta idirnáisiúnta is mó atá dul chun cinn déanta le leathchéad bliain anuas, áfach, go háirithe i réimsí ar nós: an seanfhocal a shainmhíniú (Dundes 1975a); saintréithe an tseanfhocail (Klimenko 1946); comhthéacs úsáidte agus brí an tseanfhocail (Grzybek 1987); foinse agus forbairt an tseanfhocail (Taylor 1962); an bhaint idir seanfhocail agus seánraí eile béaloidis (Taylor 1962; Carnes 1988; Rölleke 1988); fealsúnacht na seanfhocal agus blason populaire (Dundes 1975b); ról na dtástálacha seanfhoclacha i scrúduithe diagnóiseacha leighis (Benjamin 1944; Gorham 1956, 1961; Rogers 1986; Mieder 1996); agus araile. Is de thairbhe nach leis an bhéaloideas amháin a bhaineann an phairéimeolaíocht atá an oiread sin taighde déanta ar an ábhar .i. gur ábhar idirdhisciplíneach é a mheallann scoláirí ó chúlraí acadúla éagsúla: teangeolaithe, béaloideasaithe, staraithe litríochta, staraithe cultúir, síceolaithe, socheolaithe, antraipeolaithe agus neart eile. In ainneoin na bhforbairtí suntasacha ar bhonn idirnáisiúnta, áfach, is beag an méid taighde a rinneadh i bpairéimeolaíocht na Gaeilge, agus níor cuireadh bunús na modheolaíochtaí idirnáisiúnta i bhfeidhm ar ábhar seanfhoclach na Gaeilge go fóill. Ar na cúiseanna atá leis seo, dar liom, tá easpa corpais náisiúnta seanfhocal a bhféadfaí an taighde a bhunú air sa teanga. Níor cuireadh na seanfhocail Ghaeilge le chéile in aon ollchnuasach amháin go dtí seo; tá a mbunús siúd a bhaineann le tréimhse na Nua-Ghaeilge le fáil i dtrí fhoinse chanúnacha a bailíodh sa chéad leath den fhichiú haois. Sa pháipéar seo, amharcfar ar chúlra na pairéimeagrafaíochta sa Ghaeilge, is é sin le rá, na bailiúcháin féin; déanfar scrúdú criticiúil ar na mórbhailiúcháin chanúnacha agus déanfar moltaí faoin tslí is éifeachtaí chun an t-ábhar seanfhoclach sa Ghaeilge a chur le chéile go cruinn amach anseo.

In this thesis the criteria of mental process, as presented by Gregory Bateson, are deployed as a holistic theory of mind against which the Irish farm and its origins are assessed. Using this framework, I make the argument that a specifically chosen modern farm is a mind which is
capable of self-generation and self-regulation.

Beginning with a critical reappraisal of the notion of “fairy tale” and extending it to include categories and genres which are in common usage in folklore and in literary studies, this book throws light on the general processes involved in storytelling. It illuminates the fundamental ways in which a culture is formed, while highlighting important features of the Irish narrative tradition, in all its wealth and variety and in its connections with the mythical and historical events of Ireland. The Irish Fairy Tale argues that the fairy tale is a kind of “neutral zone,” a place of transition as well as a meeting place for popular beliefs and individual creativity, oral tradition and literary works, historical sources and imaginary reconstructions, and for contrasting and converging views of the world, which altogether allow for a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of reality. The book focuses on stories by Yeats and Stephens, whose approach to the subject marks the culmination of a long tradition of attempts at linking past and present and of bridging the gap between what appear to be contradictory facets of a single culture. This leads to a comparative study of Joyce’s Dubliners, which illustrates the universal and exemplary nature of the notion of fairy tale put forward in the work.

West Kerry storyteller Seán Mac Criomhthain (1873-1955) was born almost a quarter-century after the Great Irish Famine. Nevertheless, his upbringing occurred in a context which included both overt and covert references to the kinds of sectarian divisions which initially had contributed to the famine, and which later were entrenched by it. Sectarian division in the Irish context expressed itself primarily via denominational attachment, and to a lesser extent, along linguistic lines. Such divisions were explored across the country through traditional lore and through song; and in the specific repertoire of Seán Mac Criomhthain, through the medium of a mellifluous 'brand' of Munster Irish for which the Corca Dhuibhne peninsula has since become renowned. This article attempts to describe attitudes to sectarian division in the evidence of Mac Criomhthain's repertoire. With extensive reference to a composition translated for the first time to English, it will be argued that concerns of immediate social pragmatism are afforded much greater importance than those of denominational or linguistic attachments.
See the rest of the articles from this particular edition of the journal at this link: https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/scp/scp-overview.xml?tab_body=latestIssueToc-68822

Суммировав то, что известно в настоящее время об индоевропейском (ИЕ) наследии в «Махабхарате» (Мбх), автор выявляет в ней еще один мотив, имеющий параллели в нескольких других ИЕ эпических традициях. Исследователи и переводчики эпоса испытывали затруднения при интерпретации эпизода, в котором герой, победив врага, «испивает славу», одинаково усматривая в этих словах иносказание. В статье приводится ряд контекстов из более поздней поэзии кавья, где обыгрывается мотив «испития славы». Автор высказывает предположение, что «испитие славы» изначально могло прямо обозначать питье как обрядовое действие, утверждающее славу победителя. В подтверждение даются ссылки на несколько эпизодов их Мбх, в которых фигурирует vīrakāṃsya «кубок героя». Смысл термина был непонятен большинству переписчиков, комментаторов, переводчиков и исследователей Мбх. Героиня эпоса, Драупади появляется на своей сваямваре (обряде выбора ею будущего мужа из числа состязающихся претендентов), держа в руках «кубок героя». Этот же предмет (vīrakāṃsya) фигурирует в воинском ритуале выступления на бой: его выносили, по-видимому, девушки, и прикосновение героя к кубку наделяло его удвоенной силой.  Ритуал поднесения кубка с напитком герою-победителю известен у носителей индоиранских языков: скифов, осетин, нуристанцев. Свадебный обряд типа сваямвары, в котором девушка выбирает мужа, поднося ему кубок с напитком, существовал у скифов и широко представлен в ирландском фольклоре. Учитывая, что мотив «кубка победителя» присутствует в кельтской, индийской, нуристанской, скифской и осетинской традициях, можно полагать, что он восходит к общеиндоевропейской древности.

The tale about a fairy child, sequestered by local humans, has several variants across Asturias, each one containing a distinctive line: "My mother is calling for me". I will explore the meaning of each version, as well as the significance of the differences among them. I will also throw in a few versions of the same from Great Britain and Ireland, which will highlight both the similarities and the differences in Celtic folklore and myth across Atlantic Europe.