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Mainsidebar
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Great swan of the heavens 2
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THE
LEGEND OF AONGHUS AND CAER:
One
of the most striking swan legends linked with Newgrange is
the story of the romance of Aonghus and Caer. Aonghus was
a mythical chieftain of the Tuatha
Dé Danann, who were the principal race of the otherworld
– the gods – in ancient Irish mythology. Aonghus resided at
Brú na Bóinne – the tumulus of Newgrange
– and was often referred to as ‘Aonghus an Bhroga’. His father
was the Daghdha, the ‘good god’, a principal diety of the
Tuatha Dé Danann, and his mother was Bóinn, or Bóann,
the goddess of the River Boyne, which
gets its name from her.
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Cygnus
the swan over Newgrange, from a painting by Richard Moore
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The
story tells how Aonghus fell madly in love with a maiden
who visited him while he slept. She visited him in his dreams
for a year, and all this time he could not touch her because
she would disappear. His mother Bóann searched Ireland for
the maiden, but was unable to find her after a year of searching.
Aonghus enlisted the help of his father, the Daghdha, who
in turn sought out Bodhbh, who was the Tuatha Dé Danann
king of Munster. Bodhbh revealed that the maiden was Caer
Iobharmhéith, and brought Aonghus to meet her at Loch Béal
Dragan (Dragon's Mouth) in Tipperary. Bodhbh explained how
Caer was from Sídh Uamhain, an ‘otherworld residence’ in
Connacht.
Caer’s
father revealed to the Daghdha that his daughter went in
the forms of a bird and a girl on alternate years. The story,
as related by Dr. Daithi O hOgain, continues: At the following
Samhain (November) she would be a bird at Loch Béal Dragan,
and the Daghdha instructed Aonghus to go there and call
her to him. He did so, and found her in the shape of a beautiful
white swan, in the company of thrice fifty others. She went
to him, and he too became a swan, and they embraced each
other and flew three times around the lake.
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They
then flew together to Brugh na Bóinne and put the dwellers
of that place to sleep with their beautiful singing. Caer
remained with Aonghus in the Brugh after that.
So
here we had an ancient story relating directly to swans and
to Newgrange. The fact that Caer was from an ‘otherworld residence’
was intriguing, given that there is a constellation in the
night sky called Cygnus, The Swan. A residence in a world
other than our own might place the character in an astral
context.
Unfortunately,
no firm date can be put on the origin of this story. The same
applies to many of the ancient legends, which were only written
down in Christian times, having survived until that time by
word of mouth. Therefore even though the legend mentions Newgrange,
and also swans, we cannot say whether this story comes from
the distant epoch of neolithic Ireland.
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GODS
FROM THE SKY:
The
gods themselves were a mythical race, who according to later
versions of the story lived on earth, “some say in the north,
others in the “southern isles of the world”.” But the earliest
account tells us that the Tuatha de Danann, gods of the
Gaels, “came
from the sky.” We became further intrigued on reading
these accounts. There it was in black and white – the gods
of the ancient legends had a heavenly origin, and the story
of Aonghus’ passion for the maiden Caer related how she
was from an ‘otherworld residence’.
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A
photograph of Cygnus (viewed on its side) and the beautiful
star fields around it.
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NEWGRANGE
AND THE CROSS:
It
was the presence of the Whooper Swans near Newgrange which
put us on the scent of the mystery. This, coupled with the
cryptically intuitive swan mythology, had us convinced we
were onto something important. The language of astronomy,
albeit hidden or disguised by time, was, we felt, integrated
within the foundations of neolithic society in Ireland.
We began by comparing the shape of Cygnus with that of the
ground plans of the Newgrange. The conformity between Cygnus
and Newgrange was perhaps not as precise as we would have
wished, but nevertheless there were some striking comparisons
to be made. With the main star Deneb placed in the northern
recess and the central star of the Cygnus crucifix, named
Sadr, placed near the centre of the Newgrange chamber, all
of the other stars fit the shape nicely with the exception
of one. That star was Gienah (Epsilon e Cygni), which was
a little bit further left than the centre of the western recess.
Despite this inconsistency, there were other factors which
led us to the belief that the passage may have been constructed
in the shape of Cygnus. Besides, we were prepared to accept
that inconsistencies like this could be excused in such a
grand exercise.
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| "The
Cygnus Enigma" article is copyright © Anthony Murphy
and Richard Moore, 1999-2004, all rights reserved. No part of
this article can be copied or reproduced without the permission
of the authors. All photos, images and paintings are copyright
of Anthony Murphy, or where stated Richard Moore. |
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