Macalistkr — Temair Breg : Remains and Traditions of Turn. 363 



is late, dating from the tenth century, it preserves l" us. especially in its 

 opening section, much that is extremely primitive. It may be likened to a 

 telescope, through which we look hack far into t lie earl) days of our 8a\ 

 ancestors, long anterior to the beginning of written record ; and we thus learn 

 something about their ways of thought. 



According to this document the king of Temair was uol allowed — 



(1) To let the sun rise on him in his bed in Temair. 



(2) To alight in Mag Breg on Wednesday. 



(3) To cross Mag Cuillind after sunset. 



(4) To slaughter 1 his horses in Fan Chomair. 



(5) To come on Tuesday to Northern Tethba. 

 (b) To go on a ship on Monday after Beltene. 



(7) To leave the track of a host on Ath Maigne on Tuesday after Samain. 



It is obvious that the greater number of the above restrictions are excerpts 

 from an elaborate calendar of dies nefasti, other fragments of which are 

 to be found in the lists of gessa on the provincial kings contained in the 

 same tract. What evil influences were abroad on Mag Breg on the 

 third day of the lunar phase, or on Mag Cuillind after sunset, or in 

 Northern Tethba on the second day of the lunar phase, we are unable 

 to say ; possibly these were holy days and holy places of the aboriginal 

 and therefore rival religion. That such creed-exclusiveness was part of 

 the scheme is shown very clearly by the gessa of the king of the Ulaid, which 

 are by far the easiest to understand. These included (1) presence at Echras 

 Eatha Line among the warriors of Dal nAraide; (2) listening to the fluttering 

 of birds of Lind Sailech after sunset— clearly because these bird-flights were 

 oracular; (3) partaking of the feast of the flesh of the bull of Daire macDaire. 

 that is to say, the ceremonial eating of the flesh of the bull-god better known 

 as Dond Cualnge; (4 i coming on MagCoba in March; and (5) drinking of 

 the water of Bo Nemid (the cow of Nemed, the legendary leader of the 

 aboriginal tribes to Ireland) between two darknesses. /..-. in the daytime. It 

 is plain that the king of the Ulaid had to he especially careful to guard his 

 divinity uncontaininatcd from aboriginal rites in the northern province, where 

 the Pictish tribes were more closelv concentrated. The Dal nAraide were a 

 pre-Celtic people, and they presumably had a sacred assembly at Echras 8 Ratba 

 Line; and in the prohibition of the bull-feast of Dond Cualnge and of the 

 well of the aboriginal sacred cow we si bher indications of the war o\ pre- 

 Celtic and of Celtic creeds. 



1 Slaidi a each. O'Donovan, who presumably could nol guess why the king of Temair 

 should slaughter his horses under any circumstances, gives the milder rendering ■' incite." 

 - O'Donovan translates this word " horse-fair," which is hardly exact. 



