Graham Jones noted:
> Ingegerd's interesting comments on St Sunniva encourage me to return to
> the
> particular point about orientation... or rather occidentation in this
> case. Is
> there any evidence, whether from Scandinavia or anywhere else, that a sun
> cult
> can involve west-facing ritual? I can easily envisage east-facing ritual,
> as
> presumably in the Sun Day greetings. On west-facing coasts, fiery sunsets
> can be
> spectacular reminders of the ocean's vastness and the world's end, as well
> as
> the hoped-for return of the sun itself.
>
Despite the fabulous sunsets one may see on the west coast of
Ireland, I'm not aware of any evidence suggesting that western orientations
were part of sun-related worship there. In medieval Irish lore and later
Irish, Scots, and Manx folklore, the directions had associations that were
used in ritual, apparently. The east was the future and material riches
while the west had associations with the past and lore and the north with
battle and strife. Orientation was measured facing east and one moved
deiseal (sunwise). For example, the first cut of harvest is described in a
Scots ortha as: "I will put my sickle round about/The root of my corn as was
wont;/I will lift the first cut quickly;/I will put it three turns round/My
head, saying my rune the while,/My back to the airt of the north;/ My face
to the fair sun of power." Even today, the ritual walking in circles that is
part of some pilgrimage devotions takes place in deiseal direction.
It's probably also worth noting that despite the eastern
orientation, days were apparently reckoned from sundown to sundown, just as
years were reckoned beginning with winter, the darkest season. The
Otherworld and the world of the dead were associated with the west. The
island of Teach Duinn--considered the burial place of Donn, the lord as well
as ancestor of the Irish dead--is still synonymous with the land of the
dead; that island is located off the southwest coast. It may be that burials
were conducted facing west; I don't know.
I'm not sure whether *facing* west would be contraindicated, but
moving against the sun (anti-clockwise) was considered unlucky, at best.
Kings were put under geis (taboo) not to travel around their boundaries
except in sunwise direction (it was thought that to do otherwise would risk
disturbing the harmony which was believed necessary for the tribe's
prosperity). In the Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel, one of the signs that
Conaire Mo/r's doom is sealed is that he is forced to ride anti-sunwise
about his tribe's territory. Also, moving against the sun was done
deliberately as part of laying a curse, if I recall correctly.
Although the evidence dates only from the Christian period (the
pre-Christian Celts being generally adverse to recording religious
philosophy in writing), I think the persistence of the traditions suggests
that orienting to the east was one of those practices that predated from
Christian times. Apparently, it was not discarded because it did not
contradict Christian beliefs or practices.
Graham Jones also wrote:
For Christians, God is the Sun-Giver but the liturgical emphasis is
generally on the east.
It may be worth noting that seventh-century Irish monastic writers
thought that the sun was animate, created by God, the Master of the
Elements, and subject to his will, but with a will of its (sometimes her)
own.
A quick introduction: My name is Francine Nicholson, independent
scholar living in New Hampshire and working in Massachusetts (the United
States). My primary interest at this time is evidence for and against the
survival of pre-Christian traditions in Irish myths, medieval hagiography,
medieval worship sites, and later folk remains. Within that broad category,
I am especially interested in ideas about the soul and inspiration, and the
cults of headless saints, especially those associated with holy wells, and
whether or not they are remnants of the pre-Christian Celtic cult of the
head.
Francine Nicholson
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