Cúchulainn

In the Irish Celtic Mythology, Cúchulainn is the prototype even of the hero, one of the most important characters, a quasi-god. Its physical force, its magic capacities and its divine supports make of it an extraordinary man, able of all. He can also be regarded as a Berserk. One of its favorite weapons is the Gae bolga , i.e. the the javelin-lightning which is inevitably fatal: when it penetrates in the body of an enemy, the shoed end is spread in many points. It is at the time of its stay in Scotland, at Scáthach that he learned the handling from it. It appears in many accounts (76 different texts) and its interventions comprise various versions, sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory. Its epopee is related to the reign of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Its first name is Setanta (the “way”), it is renamed Cúchulainn, i.e. the “dog of Culann” (the blacksmith) by his/her grandfather and tutor the druid Cathbad, at the five years age when it kills the watchdog.

Its genesis is multiple: he is the son of Lug the polytechnician, god supreme of the Celtic Pantheon and Eithne the mother of all the gods, symbol of maternity. At the human level, its design is the consequence of a meeting in the Other World of the king Conchobar Mac Nessa and of his sister Deichtire, which is also its coachman. His/her adoptive father is Sualtam while his/her feeder father is Amorgen the poet of king Conchobar. He lives Dun Delgan in the field of Mag Muirthemm ( Dun means “flat” “fortress” and Mag ).

He is sometimes called “Contorsionist” because he with faculty to take all appearances, the heat of his body makes boil water and to melt snow, he incarnates also the Knowledge and its head irradiates Knowledge. It was initiated in Scotland, in company of his friend Ferdiad by the large magician Scáthach of which it married the girl Uatach. Thereafter, to marry Emer, it will have to remove it. A short connection will link it with Fand in the Other World.

Its adventures and exploits are innumerable, in the account Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Raid of the cows of Cooley), it is the only man to escape the “magic spell from Chewed” and to defend the Ulster vis-a-vis the armies of Medb, the queen of the Connaught. It fights continuously and kills its enemies, until the curse ceases. He dies the day of Samain, Morrigan is on his shoulder in the shape of a crow.

If it represents the warlike magic, it is vainly that it tries, on several occasions, to obtain sovereignty.

One of its horses Liath Macha (the Gris of Chewed ) has a human intelligence.

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