Scottish mythology

Information about Scottish mythology

Series on
Celtic mythology

Coventina

Ancient Celtic religion

Druids · Bards · Vates
British Iron Age religion
Celtic religious patterns
Gallo-Roman religion
Romano-British religion

British mythology

Welsh mythology
Breton mythology
Mabinogion · Taliesin
Cad Goddeu
Trioedd Ynys Prydein
Matter of Britain · King Arthur

Gaelic mythology

Irish mythology
Scottish mythology
Hebridean mythology
Tuatha D Danann
Mythological Cycle
Ulster Cycle
Fenian Cycle
Immrama · Echtrae

This box: • • [ edit]

Scottish mythology may refer to any of the mythologies of Scotland. Myths have emerged for various purposes throughout the history of Scotland, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being completely rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives.

National mythology

Several origin legends for the Scots were created during the historical period, serving various purposes. Wishing to maintain a connection with Ireland, a common origin in the kingdom of DÃ¡l Riata was asserted for many centuries. The Scottish Crown's claim of independence against the aggressively expansionist English Crown during the Scottish Wars of Independence was the incentive for other more creative origin legends.

Once the Picts were assimilated into the Gaelic world and their actual characteristics faded out of memory, folkloric elements filled the gaps of history. Their "sudden disappearance" was explained as a slaughter happening at a banquet given by Kenneth MacAlpin (an international folklore motif) and they were ascribed with powers like those of the fairies, brewing heather from secret recipes and living in underground chambers. In the eighteenth century, as Lowlanders were eager to be accepted as fellow Anglo-Saxons by the Anglocentric British Empire, the Picts were co-opted as a "Germanic" race despite the fact that linguistic studies have shown the Pictish language to have been either a pre-celtic or a brythonic language.

Gaelic mythology

Because of the close linguistic links between Ulster and the west of Scotland much of Gaelic mythology was imported and in fact created in Scotland. The Ulster Cycle, set around the beginning of the Christian era, consists of a group of heroic stories dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero CÃºchulainn, and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha, close to the modern city of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with Gaelic Scotland, where CÃºchulainn is said to have learned the arts of war. The cycle consists of stories of the births, early lives and training, wooings, battles, feastings and deaths of the heroes and reflects a warrior society in which warfare consists mainly of single combats and wealth is measured mainly in cattle. These stories are written mainly in prose. The centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle is the TÃ¡in BÃ³ CÃºailnge. Other important Ulster Cycle tales include The Tragic Death of Aife's only Son, Bricriu's Feast, and The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel. This cycle is, in some respects, close to the mythological cycle of the rest of the Gaelic speaking world. Some of the characters from the latter reappear, and the same sort of shape-shifting magic is much in evidence, side by side with a grim, almost callous realism. While we may suspect a few characters, such as Medb or CÃº RoÃ, of once being deities, and CÃºchulainn in particular displays superhuman prowess, the characters are firmly mortal and rooted in a specific time and place.

Finn and the Fianna

The stories of Finn (Irish: Fionn) mac Cumhaill and his band of soldiers the Fianna, appear to be set around the 3rd century in Gaelic Ireland and Scotland. They differ from other Gaelic mythological cycles in the strength of their links with the Gaelic-speaking community in Scotland and there are many extant texts from that country. They also differ from the Ulster Cycle in that the stories are told mainly in verse and that in tone they are nearer to the tradition of romance than the tradition of epic. The single most important source for the Fenian Cycle is the Acallam na SenÃ³rach (Colloquy of the Old Men), which is found in two 15th century manuscripts, the Book of Lismore and Laud 610, as well as a 17th century manuscript from Killiney, County Dublin. The text is dated from linguistic evidence to the 12th century. The text records conversations between the last surviving members of the Fianna and Saint Patrick and runs to some 8,000 lines. The late dates of the manuscripts may reflect a longer oral tradition for the Fenian stories, the same oral tradition which was interpreted from Gaelic to English by James MacPherson in the Ossian stories. The Fianna of the story are divided into the Clann Baiscne, led by Fionnghall, and the Clann Morna, led by his enemy, Goll mac Morna. Goll killed Fionnghall's father, Cumhal, in battle and the boy Fionn was brought up in secrecy. As a youth, while being trained in the art of poetry, he accidentally burned his thumb while cooking the Salmon of Knowledge, which allowed him to suck or bite his thumb in order to receive bursts of stupendous wisdom. He took his place as the leader of his band and numerous tales are told of their adventures. Two of the greatest Gaelic tales, TÃ³raigheacht Dhiarmada agus GhrÃ¡inne (The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne) and Oisin in Tir na nOg form part of the cycle. The Diarmuid and Grainne story, which is one of the few Fenian prose tales, is a probable source of Tristan and Iseult. The world of the Fenian Cycle is one in which professional warriors spend their time hunting, fighting, and engaging in adventures in the spirit world. New entrants into the band are expected to be knowledgeable in poetry as well as undergo a number of physical tests or ordeals. Again, there is no religious element in these tales unless it is one of hero-worship.

Hebridean Myths and Legends

Main article: Hebridean Myths and Legends

"Boy on white horse" by Theodor Kittelsen.

The Blue Men of the Minch (also known as storm kelpies), who occupy the stretch of water between Lewis and mainland Scotland, looking for sailors to drown and stricken boats to sink.
Kelpies were said to occupy several lochs, including one at Leurbost.
Seonaidh - a water-spirit who had to be offered ale.
Searrach Uisge - a monster who was said to occupy Loch Suainbhal. Resembling a capsized boat, this creature has been reported swimming around for one and a half centuries. Locals say lambs were once offered annually to the creature^{[1">http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/islands/outedata.php|[1]}. Other such creatures have been reported in several other lochs, including Loch Urubhal.
A family of werewolves were said to occupy an island on Loch Langavat. Although long deceased, they promised to rise if their graves were disturbed.
Various sea monsters have been reported off the shores of Lewis over the years, including a sighting reported in 1882 by a German ship off the Butt of Lewis. The ship, 15 kilometres off the coast, reported a sea serpent around 40 metres in length, several bumps protruding from the water, along its back. Sea serpents have also been reported at the southern side of the island.^{[1">http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/islands/outedata.php|[1]}
A Mermaid by John William Waterhouse.
Glowing Balls have been reported in the area of Sandwick. The lights that float around the area normally announce approaching death for a local. Some say the light belongs to an Irish merchant who was robbed and murdered on the island.^{[1">http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/islands/outedata.php|[1]}
At Loch Duvat in Eriskay, while out looking for a horse that escaped his farm in the mist, a farmer saw what he thought was his missing beast in the loch. As he approached, he realised he was looking at a strange creature which gave an unearthly yell, sending the farmer running home.^{[1">http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/islands/outedata.php|[1]}
At Luskentyre in Harris, a hound has been known to leave oversized paw prints on the damp sand which vanish suddenly half way across the beach. It is alleged that this is a fairy hound.^{[1">http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/islands/outedata.php|[1]}. Then in South Uist, a woman walking with two friends in the pitch dark watched as a self-illuminating dog, the size of a collie but with a small head and no eyes, ran towards her. The creature vanished as it bounded past. On reaching home, she described what had happened to her aunt, the older woman told her it was a Cusith, a fairy dog.
It has been claimed that there is a mermaid's grave in Benbecula, but the exact location is unknown. The mermaid was killed in the early nineteenth century after having been seen for a couple of days, before a teenage boy threw a rock at it, killing the entity. Accounts stated that the upper part of the creature was the size of an infant, while the bottom was like a salmon.

Religious mythology

Myth is sometimes an aspect of folklore, but not all myth is folklore, nor is all folklore myth or mythological. People who express an interest in mythology are often most focused on non-human (sometimes referred to as "supernatural") beings. There have been numerous groups of such entities in Scottish culture, some of them specific to particular ethnic groups (Gaelic, Norse, Germanic, etc), others of them probably evolving from the circumstances unique to Scotland.

The Aos-sÃdhe, SÃ¬dhichean, or "Fairies" were originally the pre-Christian divinities of Gaelic Scotland. They eventually came to "co-habitate" the conceptual spiritual world with Christianity, generally diminishing in power and prominence over the centuries. The medieval Gaelic literati grouped them together as the Tuatha De Danann, who share certain characteristics with other characters in Celtic literature. Folk beliefs about the Banshee also reflect aspects of these beings. There are other supernatual beings whose characteristics reflect folkloric patterns from around the world. Ancestral spirits, and giants who help to form the landscape and represent the forces of nature, are ubitiquous and may point to non-elite registers of mythology.

References

1. ^">[1] Paranormal Database, Outer Hebrides Pages
2. ^">[2] Paranormal Database, Outer Hebrides Pages
3. ^">[3] Paranormal Database, Outer Hebrides Pages
4. ^">[4] Paranormal Database, Outer Hebrides Pages
5. ^">[5] Paranormal Database, Outer Hebrides Pages

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure.
..... Click the link for more information.

Celtic polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Celts until the Christianization of Celtic-speaking lands. At various times those lands included Gaul, Ireland, Celtiberia, Britain, certain territories on the Danube, and Galatia in Asia Minor.
..... Click the link for more information.

The gods and goddesses of Celtic mythology are known from a variety of sources. From the classical and pre-classical period, many statues, dedications, votive offerings, and cult objects survive.
..... Click the link for more information.

druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies, which existed through much of Western Europe and in Britain and Ireland until they were supplanted by Roman government and, later, Christianity.
..... Click the link for more information.

bard was one of a caste of poets and scholars of medieval and early modern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

Etymology

The word is a loanword from Proto-Celtic *bardos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *g^werh₂:
..... Click the link for more information.

The earliest Latin writers used vates to denote "prophets" and soothsayers in general; the word fell into disuse in Latin until it was revived by Virgil [1] . Then Ovid could describe himself as the vates of Eros (Amores 3.9).
..... Click the link for more information.

Gallo-Roman religion was a fusion of Roman religious forms and modes of worship with Gaulish deities from Celtic polytheism. It was a selective acculturation.

Deities

..... Click the link for more information.

Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin.
..... Click the link for more information.

Breton mythology is the mythology or corpus of explanatory and herioc tales originating in Brittany, now in France. Bretons were a subset of Celtic people that adopted Christianity.
..... Click the link for more information.

Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. They draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and on early medieval historical traditions.
..... Click the link for more information.

Taliesin (c. 534 – c. 599) is the earliest poet of the Welsh language whose work has survived. His name is associated with the Book of Taliesin, a book of poems that was written down in the Middle Ages (John Gwenogvryn Evans dated it to around 1275).
..... Click the link for more information.

Cad Goddeu (English: The Battle of the Trees) is a sixth century Welsh poem from the Book of Taliesin. It is set during a battle fought between Gwydion and Arawn, the god of the underworld, Annwn, in which Gwydion animates the trees of the forest to
..... Click the link for more information.

The Welsh Triads (Welsh Trioedd Ynys Prydein, literally "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three.
..... Click the link for more information.

Series on
Celtic mythology

Celtic polytheism
Celtic deities
Ancient Celtic religion
Druids · Bards · Vates
British Iron Age religion
Celtic religious patterns
..... Click the link for more information.

King Arthur is a fabled Brython leader and a prominent figure in Britain's legendary history. A real individual may have been the inspiration of the legend, but later stories of Arthur are almost entirely fictional.
..... Click the link for more information.

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic
..... Click the link for more information.

Hebridean myths and legends. It is a part of Scotland which has always relied on the surrounding sea to sustain the small communities which have occupied parts of the islands for centuries, therefore, it is natural that these seas are a source for many of these legends.
..... Click the link for more information.

The Mythological Cycle is one of the four major cycles of Irish mythology, and is so called because it represents the remains of the pagan mythology of pre-Christian Ireland, although the gods and supernatural beings have been euhemerised by their Christian redactors into
..... Click the link for more information.

The Ulster Cycle, formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly
..... Click the link for more information.

The Fenian Cycle or Fiannaidheacht (modern Irish: FiannaÃocht), also known as the Fionn Cycle, Finn Cycle, Fianna Cycle, Finnian Tales, Fian Tales, FÃ©inne Cycle, FeinnÃ© Cycle and Ossianic Cycle
..... Click the link for more information.

An Immram (pl. Immrama) is one of a class of Old Irish tales concerning a hero's sea journey to the Otherworld (see TÃr na nÃ“g and Mag Mell). Written in the Christian era and essentially Christian in aspect, they preserve elements of Irish mythology.
..... Click the link for more information.

An Echtra or Echtrae (pl. Echtrai) is one of a category of Old Irish literature about a hero's adventures in the Otherworld (see TÃr na nÃ“g and Mag Mell); the otherworldly setting is the distinctive trait of these tales.
..... Click the link for more information.

Celts, normally pronounced /kɛlts/ (see article on pronunciation), is widely used to refer to the members of any of the peoples in Europe using the Celtic languages or descended from those who did.
..... Click the link for more information.

Gaul (Latin: Gallia) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of
..... Click the link for more information.

Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the east by Pontus, on the south by Lycaonia and Cappadocia, and on the west by the remainder of Phrygia, the eastern part of which the Gauls
..... Click the link for more information.

Celtiberians (or Celt-Iberians)^[1] were a Celtic people of late La TÃ¨ne culture living in the Iberian Peninsula, chiefly in what is now north central Spain and northern Portugal, before and during the Roman Empire.
..... Click the link for more information.

Cruithne or Priteni (c. 700 - 500 BC)

The Builg or Ã‰rainn (c. 500 BC)

The Lagin, the Domnainn and the GÃ¡lioin (c. 300 BC)

The Goidels or Gael (c.
..... Click the link for more information.

Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Obviously, throughout this period there was no such thing as Scotland or a national identity.
..... Click the link for more information.

Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 225,000 years ago, the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now Wales, to the year 48 AD when the Roman army began a military campaign against one of the Welsh tribes.
..... Click the link for more information.

The word mythology (from the Greek μύθολογία mythologÃa, from μυθολογείν mythologein
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

EnglishInfo