SWANS IN MYTHOLOGY:

Further stories about Newgrange contain references to swans with possible astronomical undertones. The most striking of these is the conception of the great hero Cuchulainn at Newgrange by the deity of light, Lugh. But there are many stories containing swans.

The story of how Cúchulainn was begotten tells how Conchobor and the nobles of Ulster were at Emhain Macha. A flock of swans came to the plain and ate all the grass and plants out of the ground. The Ulstermen were angry at this and chased the birds away in their chariots.

Conchobor mounted his chariot with his sister, Dechtine. The birds flew to Breg Plain, which is in modern Ireland the eastern part of County Meath and contains all the major neolithic sites of the Boyne Valley. The story tells how there were "nine score" birds with a silver chain between each couple. Each score went in its own flight with two birds out in front of each flight.

The chasing party pressed on until they reached Brug on the Boann river (Newgrange), and night overtook them there. It snowed heavily upon them, indicating that the story took place in midwinter, and Conchobor told his people to seek shelter.

It is during this fascinating story that Dechtine is visited in a dream by Lugh, one of the supreme deities of the ancient Irish, while she is inside Newgrange. After this she is conceived of Setanta, who later becomes Cuchulainn, the best-known hero of Irish mythology.

The story of the Children of Lir, a tragedy in which four children are changed into swans for 900 years, moved the Milesian invaders to enact a special law when they came to Ireland. The Milesian chiefs made it law that no-one should harm a swan in Ireland from that day forth.

THE DRAGON:

Another aspect of the Aonghus-Caer romance is interesting. It is the reference to the "Lake of the Dragon's Mouth", where Aonghus found Caer. This could be a possible reference to the constellation of Draco, which is a prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere of the sky.

The constellation is particularly relevant in the Neolithic period, because the main star of Draco, called Thuban, was the pole star for a few hundred years around the date 2,800BC. It is also fascinating to our story in light of the fact that Cygnus the constellation is located very close to the head of the dragon in the sky.

A star map showing Cygnus near Draco.

There is also a story about a great mythical 'monster' which was killed at Newgrange. The story relates how "when the men of Erin broke the limbs of the Matae, the monster that was slain on the Liacc Benn in the Brug of Mac Oc, they threw it limb by limb into the Boyne, and its shinbone (colptha) got to Inber Colptha ("the estuary of the Boyne"), whence "Inber Colptha" is said, and the hurdle (clíath) of its frame (i.e., its breast) went along the sea following the coast of Ireland until it reached yon ford (áth); whence "Ath Cliath" is said."

REFERENCES:

Larry Lenehan, Irish East Coast Bird Report, 1995
Dr. Daithi O hOgain, Myth, Legend and Romance, An Encyclopedia of the Irish Folk Tradition.
Charles Squire, Celtic Myth & Legend, Newcastle Publishing, 1975.
Denton P. Walter, Astronomy & Space magazine, August 1997.
Claire O’Kelly, Illustrated Guide to Newgrange, 1967.
George Eogan, Knowth and the passage-tombs of Ireland, Thames and Hudson, 1986.
Tom P. Cross & Clark Harris Slover, Ancient Irish Tales, Barnes & Noble, 1996 (1936).
Martin Brennan, The Stars and the Stones, Thames & Hudson, 1984.
Thomas Kinsella, The Tain, Oxford University Press, 1969.
Graham Hancock, Heaven's Mirror - Quest for the Lost Civilisation, 1998.

PAGES OF INTEREST:

The High Man - a vast 12-mile high representation of Orion
Click here to view the Cygnus Enigma documentary - 23MB movie file.