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The word "ichtar" in Irish means both "down" and "north", while "tuas" means both "up" and "south"; in the Breton language, traces of this primitive spatial orientation have been preserved in the dialects of the islands of Mayana and Seine: "an tu dehou" - "right side", means south (Sanskrit: dakshina - honest, right; Other Rus. HAND, ten - right; HAND - right hand.), and "an tu kleiz" - "an tu kleiz", "left side" - refers to the north. The same is found in Welsh with the words "dehau" and "gogledd". [492 - J. Cuiliandre, La droite et la gauche …, 22-223, and J. Loth, Rev. celt., 21, 27.]
For an observer facing the rising sun, the south will be on the right, north on the left, and west behind; the sun, passing from east to west, stays in the south all day: this is the bright half of the world, left to the living, at least not hidden from them. All night long, the sun stays in the north: for the living it is a dark and hidden half, the abode of the dead, mythological creatures, heroes and gods - sid. Druid Katbad teaches his students his science [493 - See the present. ed. pp. 94, 97.] just east of Emine Mahi - on the threshold of the domain of the day.
When moving, it is desirable to maintain the direction of the sun, from left to right, which is comparable to the Roman ideas about "dexter-sinister" - "right-left". Thus, Queen Madb's charioteer turns the leash to the right, wishing to ward off the thickening omens. [494 - See present. ed. p. 177.] This is "deisil" ("des", "right"), and this custom must have persisted in Ireland long enough - during the funeral, the procession went around the cemetery once or three times in the direction of the sun. [495 - Joyce, op. cit., I, 302.]
The same kind of movement from left to right (dex-tratatio), this time carried out by a divine being, ends one successful adventure that Senkhan Torpeist got into: he was forced to sit with his companions in a boat along with a calcified old woman, ugly and dressed in rags. Then the old woman turns into a handsome young man, and, “when they arrived in Ireland, they again saw this beautiful regal youth, with elongated eyes, hair as light as gold, surpassing all mortals in the beauty of their camp and clothing. Then he walked around on the right Senkhan and his retinue. " The scribe ends in Latin: “Since then, he has never appeared again. So there is no doubt that it was the spirit of poetry … ". [496 - Strokes, Three Ir. Gl., 38.] On the contrary, returning to Emine Mahu after the first march to the Ulster border, Cuchulainn,wishing to show his warrior's anger, "he turned the cart with his left side towards Eminem Maha, although this was forbidden to him." [497 - T. B. C, version du Livre Jaune de Lecon, op. cit., 28, lignes 715-716] This hero had a chance to face the same bad sign, already against his will, when he persists in the desire to go to the battle, which should be his last: “He told Loeg, Riangabaira's son:
- Lay down the chariot for us, Loeg friend!
“I swear to the God that my people swear by,” Loeg replied, “that even if all the settlements from the kingdom of Conchobar had gathered today at the Gray of Mach, they would not have been able to harness him to the chariot. He had never resisted until today and was used only to please me. If you wish, go yourself and ask Gray.
Promotional video:
Cuchulainn went to the horse, and he turned his left side to him three times (impa in t-ech a chle fiss fo thri). Morrigan had defeated Cuchulainn's chariot the night before, for she did not want to let him into battle. She knew that then the hero would never return to Emine Mahu. " [498 - Livre de Leinster, 119A, 44-52. - Per. S. V. Shkunaeva.]
The movement in a circle generates magical power: according to Plutarch, [499 - Plut, Cesar, 27.] Vercingetorin, upon surrendering after the defeat in Alesia, galloping around his enemy, victorious. It is a pity that the Greek author does not specify in which direction the leader of the Gauls made this detour. However, the writers of the classical period were not always clearly aware that the Celts had a no less developed idea of how to act correctly than they themselves. While Posidonius with Athenaeus [500 - Posidon. Hist, XXIII apud Athen. (IV).] Rightly points out that "in order to honor the gods turn to the right," Pliny [501 - Plin, Hist Nat, XXVIII, 4.] asserts the opposite. "Good" is carried out in the course of the sun, and the kings of Ireland, making detours, observed this rule;
Celtic folklore has preserved many memories of the respective meaning of the right and left sides. In the Hebrides, not so long ago, wedding processions circled a church or house three times in the direction of the sun, [502 - Rhys, Celtic Heathendom, 567.] and in Brittany, every six years, a ceremony called Trameny at Locronan is always performed in the direction of the sun. [503 - J. Loth, R. Archeol., 1924, 67.]
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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