Macha
Macha [ 'maxa ] is in the Ulster cycle of the Celtic mythology of Ireland the name of several country deities and also legendary figures. The name is derived from the Indo-European word root * magh ("to fight"). Another version would be a derivation from the proto-Celtic root * makajā ("plane").
mythology
The country goddess
Macha is considered female descendant of those gods before the gods of the Celts over Ireland prevailed. In the myths and legends she is the wife of kings through the "holy wedding" ( Greek Hieros Gamos , ιερός γάμος, ierós gámos ), who thereby became the rightful rulers of the country.
As a goddess, she is part of the Morrígan trinity , along with Badb and Nemain , who appear in various myths as a washerwoman at the ford, a raven and a female fighter with a chariot. She is considered a hippomorphic ("horse-shaped") goddess, as the first of the following legends shows.
In the Lapidarium of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin there is an approximately one meter tall sculpture of a naked woman (goddess?) With horse ears - possibly a representation of the macha.
Noínden Ulad
In the story Noínden Ulad ("The weakness of the Ulter ") it is reported that Macha ingen Sainrith meic Imbaith ("Macha, daughter of the peculiar of the son of the sea"?) Was forced to race against the horses of the king. Thereupon she died and cursed the Ulter for having to endure the frailty of a woman giving birth whenever the kingdom was in danger. The place of her death was named Emain Macha (now Navan Fort in County Armagh ).
Macha Mongruadh
Another story tells of Queen Macha Mongruadh (" Macha Redhead "), the daughter of King Aed Ruad ("Red Fire"). She defeated one of her uncles, Ditorba (“the useless”), in the struggle for rule after the death of her father, the other, Cimbaeth (“silver fire”), she married (see Hieros Gamos ). After she had also defeated and enslaved the five sons of Ditorbas , they had to build her a ruler's seat , to which she gave the name Emuin Macha (from eo , "clasp" and muin , "neck", ie "neck clasp / brooch Machas"), there she had marked the boundaries of the castle with her clasp.
See also
- List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
- Celtic religion
- Myths and legends from Ireland
- Celtic women
- Cailb
literature
- 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 .
- Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .