Hankerings of a Celtic Heart.

When I was a little, little girl I loved fairy stories.  One of my very favourites was the story of The Wild Swans.  We had a beautifully illustrated copy of the Hans Anderson version & after the first time it was the only story I re~read again & again. I have no idea what any of the other stories were.

Until I was about halfway through High School I never, of my own volition, read a non~fiction book.  To me, they were dull beyond belief. My experience was the result of a scientifically minded brother who never read fiction.  His reading diet consisted solely of scientific books , the Guiness Book of Records & weird & wonderful scientific data that no~one in their right minds could possibly want to know about. Consequentially it was something of a shock to discover that not all non~fiction books were about math & science! Some were much more interesting.  There was this vague line that blurred fact & fiction & brought me @ last into the fascinating world of Celtic archaeology.

A long time later, wading through the Mythological Cycle of Ireland, I came across the story of The Children of Lir & was immediately struck by the similarities to The Wild swans.  Still in High School I had no idea about scientific comparison, no idea about the movement of peoples across Pre~Christian Europe or the Indo ~European languages, how artifacts were classified & recorded but I was intrigued to discover, again & again & again, that the old stories invariably told the Truth about things.  The example that really brought this home to me is the story of the harp.

Celtic stories often go into a great deal of detail but I assumed that rather a great deal of poetic licence went into the descriptions of Celtic harps being strung with silver & gold & bronze.  In the way of these things there are 3 or 4 old harps in existence @ various museums in the Gaeltacht & also rather invariably some harp fanatic made replicas ~ only ...problemo! These harps would not tune across the soundboard using the usual wire strings.  If you want all the lurid details you can read about it here. However, they do tune properly if you use gold, silver & bronze wire. [I want an Irish Harp. I can't play ~ naturally ~ but one could learn...]

Still with me? Because the other thing the old stories talk about rather a lot is a game called Fidchell ~ or chess ... or a variety of chess.  Now gaming boards are generally made of wood & wood deteriorates over the centuries so there aren't too many of them around. The National History museum of Dublin has one.  You can see it on 19/27.  And here has a modern replica.  I think I'm in love.  That is seriously cool! The original pieces would have been of gold & silver because fidchell was a king's game but I like these porcelain ones better.

Here gives instructions for how to play.  What I want to know is: How do they know?  Sure, there are hints in the old stories ~ a bit here, a bit there but a lot of what I've read sounds more like our modern chess than this extremely peculiar game.  Obviously I need to do more research because knowing peculiar things no~one needs to know about any more is what  do.

I can't say I really play chess.  I know how the pieces move.  I taught the kids but I'm too defensive a player to be much good & no strategist!   But I hanker for a really nifty set.  These ~ or replicas of the Lewis Chessmen with what looks like Irish knotwork though they are supposed to be Norse.  Something to sit & admire.  Something wonderfully tactile.  Something visitors will want to pick up & handle ~ like pretty shells or smooth pebbles. *sigh*  I could be waiting a while.  These things cost the earth!