Tarb-feis

Tarb-feis ("bull sleep "), also tarbfeis [ ˈtarveʃ ] or tarb-ḟe (i) s (s) , in the Celtic religion a prophecy practice of the Irish poets ( filid ) is called, which was used to search for the new king .

method

The tarb-feis is described in the stories Togail Bruidne Da Derga ("The Destruction of the Hall Da Dergas") and Serglige Con Chulainn ("Cú Chulainn's sick bed"). To determine the successor of a king, a man, usually a druid , eats the meat and broth of a slaughtered white bull until he is full. Then he lies down to sleep while the other druids sing a spell over him, the ór fírindi ("the gold of wisdom"). The future king now appears to the sleeper in a dream and can be named. If the fili lied about it, his lips would die off.

When Conaire Mór was chosen , the prophecy was that a naked man would come on the road to Tara .

On each of the four roads leading to Temair [= Tara] three princes are waiting with a robe to clothe the prophesied naked king [...] But the people of Temair are disappointed that a bearded youth dictates them through the [sic!] Tarbḟeis is.

See also

• Celtic mythology
• Myths and legends from Ireland
• Geis (mythology)
• Glám dícenn
• Fíth-fáth
• Imbas forosna

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 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 309.
2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 933.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. S. 884. (with Rudolf Thurneysen : The Irish hero and king saga up to the seventeenth century. Halle 1921, p. 66.)