Welcome to my weekly blog,  SATURDAY SESSIONS!

In this blog, for the perusal of all our students, past, present and future, I include an extract from our interactive presentation Course, Ireland and its Culture.

If you wish to ask me any question about the text, by the way, just send me an e-mail at greg@bluefeather.ie

                         The legend of the Achilles of Ireland 

CÚCHULAINN

In ancient Ireland, it was not uncommon for women to delay the birth of their child until the day was right to give birth. A mat day was a good or auspicious day; an anm day was a bad or inauspicious day.  Sometimes, these women would consult the druids for advice on the best day to give birth.

One such woman was the mother of Setanta, later to be known as Cúchulainn; she was told by a druid  that her son would die young but that his name would last forever. Indeed, Cúchulainn eventually became the Achilles of Irish mythology.

Cúchulainn means the Hound of Culann.  One day, Setanta went to visit his uncle, Culann. He had his hurley and sliotar with him as he loved hurling and practised his skills at every opportunity.

As he approached the castle, Culann's Irish wolfhound attacked him, but Setanta struck his sliotar down the throat of the dog and killed him.

Culann was very disappointed but Setanta offered to be his 'guard dog' until Culann found a new animal to replace him. From then on he was known as Cúchulainn, the hound of Culann. 

Cúchulainn grew up and became an elite member of the Red Branch Knights of Ulster, the province in the north of Ireland.  A story of epic proportions was about to unfold, not unlike the story of Troy. Unlike Troy, however, this was story of petty jealousy, not the rescue of the beautiful Helen of Troy, but the theft of a bull for no other reason than to satisfy a woman's greed!

At the time, in the west of Ireland, Queen Maeve of Connaught  was restless and unhappy about the fact that her husband was wealthier than she was. In particular, he had a stud bull called Finbhennach which was regarded as one of the best in Ireland.  Cattle was a unit of currency in those days; the more cattle you had, the wealthier you were. Maeve knew that there was a stud bull in Ulster which was as good as Finnbhennach and she was determined to get it, even if it meant going to war.

This momentous event was known as Táin Bó Cuailgne, the Cattle Raid of Cooley. Maeve marched north with her army and succeeded in crossing the border because the man in charge of protecting the Ulster border at the time, Cúchulainn, was in bed with a lover.

In a desperate attempt to delay the approach of Maeve's army into Ulster, Cúchulainn demanded single combat, as was one's right at the time.

Cúchulainn defeated all the best warriors from Maeve's army and was eventually forced to face his best friend and fellow warrior, Ferdia, from Connaught.

The combat lasted for three long days and both men suffered terrible wounds. In a final act of desperation, Cúchulainn reluctantly used his most powerful weapon against Ferdia, the Gae Bolg, a barbed spear that was hurled from one's foot.

Ferdia died from the wound and Cúchulainn, in tears, carried him across the stream where they had fought, to be taken away for burial by his people.

Cúchulainn braced himself for more fighting, but he had lost a lot of blood. 

Eventually, he tied himself to a standing stone in a field and although very weak from his wounds, he was still able to hold his sword. Nobody dared approach him until a raven had landed on his shoulder. It was only then that they were sure that he was dead.

Maeve got her bull and brought him back to Connaught. However, the bull, Donn Cuailgne (The Brown One from Cuailgne), fought in the fields with her husband's bull, Finnbhennach, and killed him; but Donn Cuailgne, like Cúchulainn, died shortly afterwards from his wounds.

A bronze statue of Cúchulainn can be seen at the GPO (General Post Office) in O'Connell St. Cúchulainn was a source of inspiration to the leaders of the 1916 Rebellion which had the GPO as its headquarters.