Macalistick — Temair Breg : Remains and Traditions of Tarn. )j65 



ami, according to the poem of Cuan 6 Lothchain, which enumerates i hese tabus, 

 his partaking of these dainties, which were brought I" the king on the 

 • 'alends of August, secured fruitfulness in the earth, victory in battle, and 

 wisdom in counsel. 1 



Mr. A. B. Cook has already discussed these tabus. 2 In addition to the 

 important points which he there brings forward, and which it is unnecessary 

 here to repeat, a possible connexion may lie drawn between the Boyne, the 

 river of the white cow, on the bank of which is situate the cemetery of the 

 kings, and the well of the white cow at Temair. Luibnech is doubtless the 

 place of that name near Gorey, in Wexford, chiefly remarkable as the retreat 

 of Finnachta, who in the ninth century abandoned the kingship of Connacht 

 in order to take up the life of a hermit at this place. According to the 

 curious story of the Ecstasy of Finnachta* he was assisted by certain wild 

 cattle in the task of building his church, which seems to indicate a tradition 

 that the cattle of this place possessed a supernatural character. There is 

 nothing to prove the sanctity of Brosna, so far as I know, except the passage 

 before us, which however leaves it beyond doubt. That the water of 

 Tlachtga should be sacred to the king of Temair will be intelligible after 

 what we have already learnt about that place, and the druidess from which 

 it was said to have derived its name. 



These gessa and tabus are in themselves quite sufficient to prove that the 

 king of Temair was a god incarnate: after the work that has been done on 

 kindred subjects by Frazer, which has already been applied to the case before 

 us by Cook and by Baudis, there can be no possible doubt on this subject. 

 But the question remains, what god was supposed to take up his abode in 

 the body of the king ? 



Probably a simple answer can hardly be given to this question. What 

 has already been said would seem to show that even in primitive times there 

 was a complicated variety of religions and of cults meeting at Temair. Bui 

 some light is available on this question from a consideration of t ho Assemblies 

 which at stated intervals were convened on the ridge, and especially from 

 the time of the year at which they were held. The association ol a good 

 kino- with good crops, and of a bad king with bad crops, would lead us 

 prima facie to expect that the king was an incarnation of the spirit of 

 vegetation. This is continued by the dates of the Temair assemblies. 



The Assemblies, the technical term for which is fiis or oenach, were a 

 prominent feature in the religious life of ancient Ireland. The chief centres 



i Lebor iui ccert, ed. O'Donovao, pp. 8, 9. 



2 Folk-lore, xvii, 1G2. 



3 Yellow Book of Learn, facs, li'l a : Book of BoMymote, facs. 260 b, 



