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A waking dream, a flight of fancy, memories from times long since gone. This is the music of Enya. I have chosen to couple her music this month, along with my book review, because I think the two will compliment each other nicely, since both the book and the music are along the same timeline. When was the last time you took a journey back into the past? Relived times when the land and its people were shrouded in mystery and danger, times when it was a man's duty to be brave. It's all here in the album titled "The Celts"…
The first song is the same as the title of this album - The Celts. A fierce, and brave race. There were many Celtic tribes, such as the Ordovices, Silures, Cornovii, Iceni, Novantae, and others living in the UK, before it was the UK. In this song, you can visualize what they might be like. It seems as though, for them, life was sacred, and they lived it to the full. In times of war, they fought as bravely as they might, in order to preserve their way of life, and see their lands and families safe. And when things were well, they cared for one another, held their yearly rituals, and had large sustained communities, usually governed by druidic beliefs. The words below suggest a strong people.
Saol na saol,
(Life of lives,)
Ts go deireadh.
(Beginning to the end.)
T muid beo
(We are alive)
Go deo.
(Forever.)
Saol na saol,
(Life of lives,)
Ts go deireadh.
(Beginning to the end.)
T muid beo
(We are alive)
Go deo.
(Forever.)
The Celts weren't without their beliefs, and occasionally, someone was made a sacrifice of, for various reasons. Usually this occurred when the land was dying and a sacrifice was needed as a gift for the land, that it might live again, though this service was usually performed by the year king. And then, sometimes, the Mother demanded a virginal sacrifice. Those chosen were considered to be favored by Her, though no doubt, those chosen weren't in the same mindframe. But vows taken were considered a holy and sacred thing, and to fling back a promise in the face of the divine was unthinkable…
"Dawn breaks; there is blue in the sky.
Your face before me though I don't know why.
Thoughts disappearing like tears from the Moon.
Waiting here, as I sit by the stone,
they came before me, those men from the Sun.
Signs from the heavens say I am the one.
Now you're here, I can see your light,
this light that I must follow.
You, you may take my life away, so far away.
Now I know I must leave your spell
I want tomorrow"...
The song "March of the Celts" is not quite fully instrumental - it does have some words, but the melody and the lyrics are more of a somber note, giving the listener the feeling of foreboding. Most of the song is given to chanting, and the few words there are, pack a real punch and really display how hard these free people fought to keep what was theirs.
"Hi-ri-U-O
(Alive forever.)
Marbh go deo"…
(Dead forever)"
One can hear the swords ringing, and people dying. But one can also sense the bravery, and the sheer love of life and the willingness to persevere, even if it means to look Death Square in the face. But then, their lives were one long sacrifice to the Mother, who supported them. They knew, even if others did not or would not, that there is more to life than light and beauty - there was also darkness, and death.
This whole album is one constant ritual in itself. And like the people it goes out of the way to paint a musical picture of, this song depicts a ritual - that of Samhain, or the New Year. It is that time when the earth is asleep, waiting for the sun to be reborn, and cast its light and warmth on the earth once more. A time of loneliness, and barrenness.
"'S an ghealach,
(It is the Moon,)
mall san oche.
(late in the night.)
'S an ghrian.
(late in the night).
Fn liom go Deo.
(It is the Sun, Stay with me forever.)
Hoireann is O Hi O Ho ra Ha.
'S na Samhna,
(It is Halloween),
ts na Bliain Ur.
(beginning of the New Year.)
'S an crann marbh.
(It's the dead tree.)
Deireadh an tuath.
(End of the tribe)
Hoireann is O Ho O Ho ro Ho.
Hoireann is O Ho O Ho ro Ho"..
Now we move on to an instrumental called "Fairytale”. When you listen to this song, really open your senses up wide, and imagine stumbling within the land of Faery. Imagine what you might come across there. Is your interpretation of it like Marion Zimmer Bradley, where the light was diffused, and softer, the trees and plants ancient and strange to behold? Are those you meet there tall and beautiful? Did one season seem to melt into another, so that there was no real way to discern the movements of time? Did it seem as though time stood still, or maybe that it seemed not to run at all? When you stepped over the boundaries of this world, and into the land of Faery, did you feel wild and strange? Alive, moreso than you ever had been in all your life? Like awakening after being in a dream your whole life! Did the music there stir your heart's emotions so much, that you wept at the sheer beauty of it? Meld this feeling with the instrumental song, "Epona" and you begin to feel the sheer magickal qualities of the world Enya is creating within her music. Consider this to be the rare gift of a modern bard. In the days of old, this was a royal gift, and not one bestowed upon common ears.
Of course, most of us are quite familiar with the old legends of St.
Patrick, and how he was a fanatic. It was said he drove the snakes out of Ireland. Snakes were merely a metaphor for druids, also known as the serpents of wisdom. He even went so far as to prove they were evil, by trying a little test of seeing which will float and which will sink -
Will it be the bible? Or the vast books of druidic wisdom? Sinking meant it was truly a thing of evil, and it was only the sheer grace of God that sunk it beneath the waves, where it could no longer corrupt anyone. This next song is just a prayer he might have prayed.
"Tabhair dom ghrsa,
(Give me your love,)
Formhac D.
(true son of God.)
Tabhair dom do neartsa,
(Give me strength,)
An ghrian gheal gl.
(the clear bright sun)"
Cèulainn was the mighty hero of Ireland. Setanta (Cèulainn) is invited with his friends to a great feast but he starts to daydream and is left behind. By the time he arrives the feast has begun, the gates are locked and worse, the guard dog attacks him. Setanta kills the dog by driving a hurley ball (sliotar) down its throat. The host, Culann, the blacksmith is furious at the loss of the fiercest dog in Ireland. Setanta offers his services as replacement and is duly renamed, Cèulainn, Culann’s Hound. Several women in Celtic myth are said to be his mother, some human and others divine. The god Lugh is sometimes also mentioned as his father, but this relationship appears to be more of a spiritual link than a biological one. Cʃhulainn's human father is Sualtam.
Many of his stories are recorded at length in The Book of the Dun Cow.
A statue in Dublin portrays his dramatic demise in battle when, while his men were asleep, he held off Maeve's armies single - handedly by being tied to a tree to remain standing. Cèulainn's image may have once been that of a minor sun or sacrificial god. His great enemy, the sovereign Queen Maeve of Connacht, seemed ready to replace her husband with Cèulainn, who resisted the sacrificial role, and battled her instead. Predictably, she won the war and his blood was spilled on the earth in the manner of the sacrificial gods. During his death battle, he failed to recognize the Morrighan flying over him, and many believe that was what really killed him -- failure to realize the role he was born to play as symbolized by the death-bird in ages of the Triple Goddess.
On was the great bard, whose music was so pure, and gifted to him by the gods, that when he played and sung, the trees were said to have uprooted themselves, and dropped their leaves in mourning. His songs caused the Giant's Dance to circle round in a constant spiral, which can be witnessed these days as Stonehenge, the Giant's Dance. It is also written of him that Niamh C Owas in love with him, and desired him alone for her husband, and thus she came to Ireland to claim him. Gladly he went with her, as she placed him under a geisa (or bond of honour) to come with her to Tna nӧ, and promised him a hundred steeds, a hundred swords, and a hundred keen-scenting hounds. There he should have warriors to wait on him, harpers to delight him, and there the lapse of time should bring him to neither decay nor death. On replied that since she was his choice he would go with her without delay to the favored land.
Mounting the white steed, the lovers bade sad farewell to Fn and the Fianna, who raised three shouts of lamentation. Then the steed neighed three times and sped like the wind for the west. Through many beautiful lands they passed, and many were the wonders they saw till at last they came to a land of green plains and blue hills, dimpled with lakes, and silvered with waterfalls, and breathing the perfume of rare flowers. They had reached the Land of Eternal Youth, Tna nӧ. Then a great banquet was prepared, and the festivities lasted ten days, during which time, much honour was paid to On and the achievements of the Fianna. On the tenth day, On was wedded to Niamh, and great, indeed, were the rejoicings.
For three hundred years that seemed but three, On lived in Tna
nӧ. At the end of that time, a great longing came over him, and he yearned to see his father, Fn, once more, and his old companions of the Fianna. He confided this to Niamh, and she consented to his brief return, but warned him that the old warriors of the Fianna had gone from the plains of Eirinn. "I will not refuse,” she said. 'but your going brings me grief and fear. The Fianna are gone and you will find instead a holy father (St. Patrick) with his priests and saints. Think well, O valorous On, on what I say, and keep my words in mind. If you once alight from the white steed, you will never return to me, or Tna nӧ again". On promised to abide her words, and giving her farewell, he mounted his white steed and sped like the wind for Eirinn...
Great was the surprise that came on the warriors when he arrived in his native land. The old hunting grounds were no longer to be seen, for a great change had come over them, and On began to think that Niamh's words were indeed coming true. At last he saw a company of little men mounted on horses, as small as themselves, and they received him kindly. There was wonder in their eyes when they saw his great size, and the beauty and majesty of his person. He asked them if the Fianna were still living and they replied that Fn and his mighty warriors had long since departed from Eirinn, and were remembered only through the poets and story - tellers. Saddened by this, On rode for Almhuin and found the famous palace of his father, Fn, to be a crumbled ruin, lost in weeds.
With a heavy heart, the warrior turned for the plains of Baile Atha Clh. At Glenasmole he came upon a gathering of men who were trying to raise a large stone. Seeing his great size, they begged him to come to their assistance. On rode up to them, and leaning from his saddle, took the stone and flung it far over their heads. With the great strain of the throw, the saddle-girth broke and the warrior, to save himself from falling, sprang to the ground. The moment the white steed felt himself free he neighed three times and bounded away to the west. Instantly a great change came over the warrior. The sight of his eyes became dim, the beauty of his face fled, his great strength had gone. On fell to the earth, withered and old and blind.
And how about the killer Queen Boadicea? The Queen of the Iceni tribes. There are no words to this song, just powerful feelings. Julius Caesar had started Britain's invasion in 55 B.C., but never really managed to impose his domination over the Britons. It was in 43 A.D. that the Emperor Claudius ordered that Britain should be conquered. It is during this second invasion that Boadicea's story is set. Boadicea was described as a fearsome, powerful woman. This description comes from a Roman writer:
"She was very tall. Her eyes seemed to stab you. Her voice was harsh and loud. Her thick, reddish-brown hair hung down below her waist. She always wore a great golden torc around her neck and a flowing tartan cloak fastened with a brooch."
-- Cassius Dio
Boadicea was married to Prasutagus, the King of the Iceni tribe in East
Anglia, and they had two daughters. Prasutagus was a rather weak king, and to avoid a war, he made a pact saying that all his lands and riches would be split between his daughters and the Romans at his death. When he died, the Romans plundered the Iceni houses and invaded the entire land. They also flogged Queen Boadicea. This provoked her anger. She started up a great rebellion, capturing the town of Camulodunum (Colchester), then marched onto Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans).
"Among the Romans, Boudicca, the Killer Queen, was still a name to frighten children. In Londinium you could see the marks where the basilica had burned, and workmen digging foundations as the city grew sometimes found the bones of those who had tried to flee the bloodlust of the Iceni hordes."
-- Marion Zimmer Bradley, in The Forests of Avalon.
Boadicea managed to frighten many Romans, yet they were powerful and well organized, unlike the Britons. An army of 10,000 Romans were prepared to counter Boadicea's 100,000 men horde. It is said that she held this speech to them before the battle:
"We British are used to women commanders in war. I am the daughter of mighty men. But I am not fighting for my royal power now... I am fighting as an ordinary person who has lost her freedom. I am fighting for my bruised body. The Gods will grant us the revenge we deserve. Think of how many of us are fighting, and why. Then you will win this battle or die. That is what I, a woman, plan to do. Let the men live as slaves, if they want. I won't."
-- Queen Boadicea
It is well known that the Romans are very organized. Their men managed to vanquish the Britons, and they finally captured Boadicea. Rather than undergo another humiliation from the Romans, according to Roman historian Tacitus, she took poison and died. Another version of the story, by Cassius Dio, says that Boadicea died in her cell, of a disease. According to Marion Zimmer Bradley in "The Mists of Avalon", Boadicea and her daughters had been raped and beaten, and killed on the shores of Britain.
And finally, this last song called "Dan Y Dwr" (beneath the waters). I believe this is about someone who has lost their love and no longer wishes to be among the living. Therefore, the words to this are a fervent plea. This song is written in welsh as opposed to Gaelic, Welsh being one of the Celtic languages, like Gaelic.
Dan y dwr, tawelwch sydd.
(Beneath the waters, there is silence.)
Dan y dwr, galwaf i.
(Beneath the waters, I call you.)
Nid yw'r swn gyda fi.
(There is no company with me. )
Dan y dwr, tawelwch am byth.
(Beneath the waters, silent forever.)
Dan y dwr, galwaf i.
(Beneath the waters, I call you.)
Nid yw'r swn ddim fwy gyda fi.
(The sound is no longer with me.)
It seems that this person found no more beauty in life, and so ended her life by drowning. This was symptomatic of the day. Swimming was not really something many people immersed themselves in, apart from normal bathing rituals, and it has been said that when all hope was lost to a maiden, she drowned herself because going on through life was far worse, and harder to endure.
Well, this is the end of my review, and one hopes that the music of
Enya, once the royal gift of a bard to royalty, will have opened your eyes, and delighted your senses, as well as providing great visual stimuli, and allowing you briefly, to escape into another world where time runs not constant, as it seems to within the world we know. I would like to thank the kind folks on http://www.enya.org/ for assistance on the legends of some of the heroes of old, as well as Wild Pony, for the story of On and Niamh of the golden hair. To those interested, please go here to hear sound clips of Enya's music from the album "The Celts".
Until next month...
Darkest Blessings Be Abundant In Your Lives.
Silver ~
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