The date in which the Celts arrived in Europe is ambiguous and hard to pin point exactly. However, the literature can be traced all the way back to about 1000 BC. Magic is forever in Celtic literature, and evident in Early Irish and Myths and Sagas throughout a series of stories. Magic is not always wizards and warlocks, it’s in the little details that can make up a story. Stories have been told to help pass the time, but also to document events and keep history. Stories have not always been recorded on paper, so many details may have been switch for the person who told the storied general pleasure to appease the crowd.
In the first story in the Irish stories told it The Wooing of Etain, and right away within the second sentence a God is introduced. The Good god is a famous king that could cast spells. Where this resembles witches and warlocks, its how the spells are used and how the story is told that brings a different air to the magic. Time passes within in a blink of an eye. It made to seem that when time passes in such a manner no one actually notices, and life resumes as I no time has passed. The story also contains parts of history, which is evident when a child born from a love affair is sent off to be fostered at a different house. Boys were often sent away to be fostered at another clan’s castle to gain skills that will benefit their family when they return after being full grown and taught. Little details throughout the story, although not true magic, are to preposterous it creates an atmosphere of magic. A great example is when children got into a scuffle and when one through holly at the other their eye fell out. This allows for children, if they were the audience, to use their imagination and have enjoyment from the story.
The Wooing of Etain is not the only saga among Irish myths to contain magic. The Destruction of da Derga’s Hostel has characters in it with characteristics that are not human. A character has the ability to see things at a long distance without any assistance and one has the ability to interoperate what the other has seen. The qualities are not normal and yet the way the story is told it is not unusually to have characters with these powers. Everything has a glow about it in the story. Everything is gold encrusted with jewels and lavish gifts are always bestowed on the hero of the story. Although the gifts are not magic, it is how they are given and the importance they are given that emphasizes the magic quality of the story. Not only do characters and magical qualities, so do animals. In the Cattle Raid of Froech there are animals with white with red ears and had great importance to the royal family. Having abnormal animals allows the readers, as well as the listeners, to imagine a world of magic because of these differences. Along with magical animals, large amounts of men would die for reasons unexplainable. Men died from the beauty of the music coming from a gold encrusted harp. That is not normal and doesn’t just happen. Although when read within in context the author states such a act as if it were fact that makes the reader believe that an act as such could possible happen. People have wept from beautiful music, but none have died.
Along with people dying from music, there are characters that fall into a deep slumber from a prophecy. In The Wasting sickness of Cu Chulaind and The Only Jealousy of Emer, Cu Chulain feel into a deep slumber after listening to a prophecy resisted about him. Although he fought the sleep and was determined to full under the spell, once a prophecy is spoken, it cannot be taken back. Prophecies have shaped cultures and provided belief systems for many cultures. Having prophecies in stories allows for cultures to believe in them since they have been retold so many times over. Having magic so engrained in a cultures history, especially one that has a long-standing o stories being told, helps to shape a culture and create a lifetime of glory, even is the characters were only fictional.
Cassandra's Celtic Blog 