Ritual and Myths between Ireland and Galicia. The Irish Milesian Myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann: Over the Ninth Wave. Origins, Contacts and Literary Evidence. This dissertation investigates the accuracy of the the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann and a consequent pre-Christian relationships possibly existing between Ireland and Galicia, as described in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann. Student Name: Monica O‘Reilly Vazquez Student Number: 56117507 A dissertation submitted to Dublin City University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA by Research. School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS). Supervisor: Jean-Philippe Imbert, School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS). Dublin City University. September 2011 1 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of MA by Research is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ____Monica O[Reilly Vazquez_______________ (Candidate) ID No.: 56117507 Date: _10th September 2011__ 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………..7 LIST OF APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………...8 INTRODUCTION AND CONCEPTUALISATION ................................................................9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION- BACKGROUND 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................12 1.1. Definition of culture .............................................................................................12 1.2. Cultural anthropology and cultural patterns of behaviour ....................................14 1.3. Language and culture ...........................................................................................17 1.4. Space, time and culture ........................................................................................18 1.5. Post-modern approaches to cultural anthropology. Rituals, symbolism and the group ............................................................................................................................18 1.6. Cultural history of Ireland ………………………………………………………23 1.7. Cultural history of Galicia ....................................................................................26 1.8. History of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, The Book of Invasions of Ireland .....29 1.8.1 Contemporary criticism of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann ...................30 1.8.2. Historical influences of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann .......................32 1.9. Conclusions ..........................................................................................................34 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY AND LITERATURE REVIEW 2. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................39 2.1. Methodology ........................................................................................................39 2.2. Mythocriticism: Myth and meaning, Myth and theory ........................................40 2.3. Myth, language and culture ..................................................................................41 2.4. Myth and rituals ...................................................................................................45 3 2.5. Myth, magic and religion .....................................................................................47 2.6. Myth, power and symbolism ...............................................................................52 2.7. Comparative Mythology .....................................................................................56 2.8. Sociolinguistics ....................................................................................................58 2.9. Palaeolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) .................................................................60 2.10. Toponymy ..........................................................................................................62 2.11. Conclusions ........................................................................................................64 CHAPTER THREE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann: ―Milesian myth and the Ninth Wave” 3. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................68 3.1. Milesian‘s myth in the LGE: hero-myth theory? ……………………………….68 3.2. Synopsis of the LGE: cultural analysis of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann – Fictional story or true historical account? ………………...…………………………70 3.3. Milesian‘s myth in the LGE: credibility and acceptance? ………………...........82 3.4. Symbolism and spirituality of the Milesian‘s myth and the ―Ninth Wave”. The Leabhar Gabhála Éirean ............................................................................................83 3.5. Analysis of linguistic aspects ...............................................................................87 3.5.1. Investigation of Galician toponymy compared to Gaelic language …..87 3.5.2. Myth and rituals in contemporary Galician poet Luz Pozo Garza. Celtic identity? ..........................................................................................................93 3.6. Conclusions ..........................................................................................................96 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS 4. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................98 4.1. The Leabhar Gabhála Éireann does not comply with Raglan‘s theory ………..98 4 4.2. The cultural analysis of the LGE is a historical account, rather than being of a fictional and literary nature ………………………………...…………………100 4.3. Finding of credibility and acceptance of the LGE …………………………….104 4.4. Findings of symbolism and spirituality of the Milesian‘s myth and the ―Ninth Wave Ritual‖ .............................................................................................................106 4.5. Findings of Galician toponymy compared to the Irish language .......................107 4.6. Findings of a Celtic identity in the poem Páxina Atlántica by the contemporary Galician poet Luz Pozo Garza ...................................................................................109 4.6.1. Metalinguistic function of the text ......................................................111 4.7. Questionnaire analysis with Irish Professor Ó hÓgáin of University College Dublin, and with Galician Doctor Alonso Romero of Universidad de Santiago de Compostela ………………………………………………………………………... 112 4.7.1. Summary of findings from the questionnaire ......................................114 4.8. Changes to the Dissertation ................................................................................116 4.9. Conclusions of findings ......................................................................................117 10. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................120 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................123 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................133 5 ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is to investigate whether the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann is an accurate historical account and, therefore, this discussion explores the possibility that Galicia may share a Gaelic/Celtic cultural identity with Ireland. This dissertation proposes to compare the Milesians pre-Christian myths in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann and their rituals, with those of Galicia, for example, The Ninth Wave. Early traces of Gaelic/Celtic Galician identity are difficult to identify, and the Celtic language of Galicia is no longer spoken; all that remain are place names which seem to have a foundation in Celtic lexis (Murguia, 2000, Caridad: 2006) This dissertation hypothesises that Galicia may have shared an early cultural identity with Ireland, as stated in the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, chapter XIII. The framework for the thesis will be anthropological and I will therefore use anthropological methodologies in order to compare Irish/Galician myths and rituals, with a view to providing a description of a particular culture and the social foundations of this culture. For the first time, anthropological theory will be applied to the Milesian myth of the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann. The cultural studies comparison between Ireland and Galicia will focus firstly on diachronic written material: I will thus analyse chapter XIII, that is, the Milesian myth in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann, in order to establish its historical accuracy. I will also analyse some of Galician toponymy, which have no meaning in any Latin-based languages, and I will compare it to the Irish/Gaelic. Secondly, contemporary written material will be analysed, namely, a poem by the contemporary Galician poet Luz Pozo Garza, as translated by Irish poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.