Geis (mythology)

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Geis , also geiss , ges , Pl. Gessi (or geasa ) as well as airmert , airmit ( ar-bert , “to wear”) are old Irish words that describe an irrational command or prohibition in contrast to the rational legal statute. In Welsh it is called cynnedyf . One can compare the geis with the taboo . There were similar restrictions to a lesser extent with the Roman and Germanic sacred kingships, in Rome especially with the flamines .

Examples of collective do's and don'ts

A distinction must be made between collective and individual gessi . The former include e.g. B. Food taboos: with the Britons hare, chicken or goose (Caesar de bello gallico, v. 12), with the Caledonians fish (Cassius Dio, LXVII 12), with the Galatians pork (Pausanias, VII 17, 10) and with the Irish banned crane meat. According to the grave goods, these gessi have not been completely observed everywhere. Another food taboo for ancient Ireland was that after eating horse meat three times nine days, no chariot could be boarded.

A king ( rí ) could not have a physical flaw; therefore Nuada had to resign when he lost an arm in the battle of Mag Tuired . If he was unjust ( gáu flathemon ) or said untruth, misfortune struck his whole tribe; B. complete sterility of humans, animals and nature. Therefore this gáu flathemon was named in the old Irish legal texts with the rough term cacc for enech ("shit on his face / his honor"). The (High) King of Tara ( County Meath ) must have got out of bed before sunrise, did not interrupt a journey on Wednesday in Mag Breg and did not drive through Mag Cuillin at night. The King of Leinster was not allowed to sleep between Dublin and the Dodder River (tributary of the Liffey ), stay nine days at Mag Cualann , travel via Belach Duiblinne on Monday and hold his head crooked (!). The King of Connacht was forbidden to go to Samhain around the royal seat of Cruachain . The King of Ulster was not allowed to eat the meat of the bull of Dáire mac Dáire or drink it from the Bó Nemid river in daylight .

The warriors of Ulster were not allowed to go into battle in a chariot accident. It was also a good idea to speak before the king; the king was only allowed to speak after three druids . Furthermore, the Ulter were not allowed to climb over a red wall and their chariot was never allowed to turn its left side to Emain Macha .

Examples of individual do's and don'ts

For the Celtic heroes, contradicting gessi were often the cause of their downfall. An enemy just had to put them in a situation where the hero could either obey one or the other geis , but not both at the same time.

  • In “ Kulhwch ac Olwen ”, Cilydd is only allowed to marry again when a rose bush with two shoots has grown on the grave of his first wife Goleuddydd .
  • In the same legend, Cilydd's son Kulhwch is only allowed to marry Olwen because of a geis from his stepmother .
  • Olwen's father, Ysbaddaden , will die at his daughter's wedding.
  • In the “Fourth Branch of Mabinogi” Math fab Mathonwy , the Welsh King Math has the maiden Goewin as his beautiful foot holder, because the king can only exist “[...] if he put his foot on the crack that is between the thighs of one Virgo gapes. "
  • In the same legend, Llew Llaw Gyffes is assigned the gessi by his mother Arianrhod , stating that only she could give him a name and weapons and that he was not allowed to marry a human woman.
  • King Conaire Mór was never allowed to spend the ninth night outside of Taras , not to spend the night in a house whose hearth fire shines outward at night and into which one could see, no three redheads are allowed to precede him to a redhead's house, etc.
  • Cú Chulainn had the pleasure not to eat dog meat, but also not to pass a stove without tasting the food that was offered to him (see also Aided Chon Culainn [“The Death of Cú Chulainn”]).
  • Cú Chulainn's son Connla was never allowed to be dissuaded by a single person, never to reveal his name to an individual and never to refuse a duel (see also Aided Oenfir Aífe [“The death of Aífe's only son”]).
  • Fionn mac Cumhaill was forbidden to hunt or eat red deer (deer, roe deer).
  • Fergus mac Róich was not allowed to refuse any beer that was offered to him.
  • Fergus mac Léite was never allowed to dive in the water of Lough Rudraige (see also Echtra Fergusa maic Léte ["The Adventure of Fergus ma Léite"]).
  • Fothad Canainne always had to have the heads of three slain opponents with him while drinking beer.
  • Caier mac Guthair, King of Connacht , always had to carry a specific knife with him.
  • Conall Cernach had to wait at each ford crossed until the water was clear again.
  • Cormac Connloinges was not allowed to drive over an ash yoke or hear the sound of a particular harp.
  • The Ulter large farmer Blaí Briugu had to sleep every woman who slept with him without a husband.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 827 f.
  2. ^ A b Rudolf Thurneysen: The Irish hero and king saga up to the seventeenth century. Halle 1921, p. 385.
  3. ↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick: The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Kindler's cultural history, ISBN 3-89340-058-3 , p. 170 f.
  4. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 889.
  5. ↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick: The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Kindler's cultural history, ISBN 3-89340-058-3 , p. 195.
  6. ^ Táin Bó Cuailnge, translation in: E. Windisch: The Celtic Brittannien up to Emperor Arthur. Royal Saxon Academy of Sciences, Leipzig 1912, No. VI, p. 142 f.
  7. ↑ Myles Dillon, Nora Kershaw Chadwick: The Celts. From the prehistory to the Norman invasion . Kindler's cultural history, ISBN 3-89340-058-3 , p. 194.
  8. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 268.
  9. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p 878. (The geis the redhead is particularly strange, especially in Ireland!)