fandomhigh | Celtic Studies (03/15)

"Ah, my dear class, good morning!" Camulus is always chipper when his students have just rolled out of bed, but today he's extra happy because he had a croissant for breakfast. Don't ask. "I hope that you all remembered that you had some reading to do on the stories of the Kings Cycle over the break, because today we will be discussing the Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon which is also a really fun name to say - say it with me: Yockee. Five brothers, an evil stepmother, two tests to determine which of the five would be king over Ireland.

"I'd like you to notice the professions of two of the supporting characters - Sithchenn and Torna. Torna is the poet or bard of this particular kingdom, which is why he is the only one who can touch the child Niall, despite the orders of Mongfinn. A bard was one of the most powerful figures in ancient Celtic society. He could not be denied anything or - horrors of horrors - he might write a satirical poem about you. Which sounds ridiculous, but was a very real threat. You've already come across the power of the bards when Phoebe introduced you to the story of Deirdre of the Sorrows. Besides her foster parents, Deirdre lives with a bard, because he is he only person Conchobhar cannot order away. In the story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which we won't be covering this semester, bards ask the hero Cu Chulainn for his spear, and he has to give it to them." Camulus smirked. "Of course, he gave it to them right through the head, but the general principle stands. We may be looking closer at the roles of bards and bardic poetry later on.

"Next, Sithchenn, the smith whos smithy is set alight. Not only is he a smith, he's also a wizard and prophet. Not the most common of trades to be associated with wizardry. Anyone have any idea why this could be?"

[[OCD threads ~~coming~~ up. And I swear to Bog I will interact today >.<]]

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Moose bites can be pretty nasty.

Lyta signs in ~~and thinks that the person responsible for this message should be sacked~~.

Phoebe is sitting on the edge of the desk, writing notes.

Macbeth signs in.

Bel signs in.

What about the llamas?

My sister was bit by a moose once

"Possibly because a smith was generally a commoner, and wouldn't have had much of an education?" Lyta ventured. "A wizard, on the other hand, seems to be associated with books and words and wordly knowledge a smith wouldn't have had access to."

She paused only briefly between thoughts, brow furrowed. "Then again, I think it was Susan Cooper who wrote that the smiths were neutral -- neither light magic nor dark magic -- because both sides had to call on their services; their craft belonged to the road, and not to the magicks." She tilts her head to the side as she tries to remember details from a book read too long ago.

"Interesting ideas," Camulus nodded, taking notes so he could steal her ideas later. "Now, the opposite question - why do you think a smith would also be a highly respected figure in Celtic culture, someone who would be considered a wizard?"

Today I went to Celtic Lit, where we learned about bardic poetry and how it has all these strict technical elements to it. Like a certain number of syllables per line. So, in order to help us understand, Seumas turns to the class and drawls in his South Carolina-Scottish hybrid accent, "Any of y'all know what a haiku is?"

And then I headdesked.

*facepalm* Okay, so I reread my question and I totally misphrased it. Dammit.

Celtic Studies (03/15)

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