Celtic+Mythology

 

= Celtic Mythology =  **__Link to Story:__** http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/fionn-maccool.html 
 * __Story:__** Finn MacCool

**__Introduction__** The myth of Finn MacCool released a lot about the Irish. The story revealed what they thought of things in nature, characteristics they valued, and how both them and the Greeks spoke through their myths.

__**Summary**__ Finn Maccool was the biggest and strongest giant in all of Ireland, however, he was challenged by another giant. he was called Angus. Finn was not afraid of Angus. However, when he heard that Angus was the largest and strongest giant in the world, he became worried. Fin and Angus started building the Giant’s Causeway, (this relates to how the Giant’s Causeway was created, or so the Celtic people believe.) Finn worked all through the night, making blankets and a giant cradle. Fin and his wife pretended that Fin was a baby, and hoped that would dissuade Angus from fighting Finn, that Angus would make an image of the baby compared to the father. Angus came, and did exactly that. (This relates to how the Irish display the Scottish in their stories.) Angus ran away. Finn MaCool was never bothered again. The Celtic came up with this story to explain how the Giant’s Causeway was created.

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 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Causeway-code_poet-4.jpg width="536" height="403" caption="Giants Causeway" link="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Causeway-code_poet-4.jpg"]]
 * Giants Causeway

__**Story Analysis**__ The natural event explained in this story is the Giant’s Causeway. The nature of humanity explained in this story is fear and that everybody can get tricked, one way or another. The Giant’s Causeway was supposedly created by Finn MacCool, and the nature of humanity is that everybody can get scared, even giants like Angus (who is the biggest giant on earth, and that everybody can get tricked, even supernatural beings, like giants. (Although Angus was not quite the brightest bulb in the group.)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif">  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">    <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> ** __Culture Analysis__ ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> The story of Finn MacCool told of many beliefs in the Irish culture. One thing the myth revealed was their thoughts on how Giant’s Causeway came to be in Ireland. Giant’s Causeway was built “to enable the giants to cross between Ireland and Scotland.”(Giant’s Causeway). However “the people of Ireland destroyed the bridge” upon the return of Angus to Scotland (An Irish Tale). The competitiveness between the two Giants caused them to put the stones in place in order to compete with each other. After Finn caused Angus to run back to Scotland in fear, the Irish people decided that they were content with not knowing if there was a giant bigger than Finn. They then destroyed the causeway (An Irish Tale). Through the story, the power the Irish thought was in deception and fear was revealed. Finn MacCool dressed like a baby to trick Angus into thinking “if this is the son, then the father must be huge” (An Irish Tale). At the sight of the supposed baby, Angus “ran out of the castle as fast as he could” and “did not stop until he reached his country” (The legend of Fionn MacCool). Finn MacCool’s clever trick led to Angus being completely terrified. If it hadn’t been for the deception by Finn in the story, then Finn probably would have been destroyed by Angus. At the same time, if Angus hadn’t been completely driven with fear, then he might have stayed long enough to catch on to the fact that Finn was actually the baby. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">   <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">[|Giants Causeway photo link]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">**__Culture Comparison__** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">The Celtic Myth’s were very similar to the Greek Myths, They used Myths for many things similar to the Greeks, and these are a few of the similarities that really stuck out in our myth about Finn MacCool. They used the Myth about Finn MacCool to explain how the Giants Causeway was built as a bridge for giants from Scotland and Ireland. The Greeks also used myths to explain how a landmark came to be, for example Mount Olympus was used as a tall mountain that the Gods lived on. The Celtics also used myths     <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">      <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">to show their superiority over Scotland, they showed that the Scottish Giants were scared of the Irish Giants. The Greeks were also doing that, they said that the God Athena said Greece was her favorite place, so they named a city Athens after her. Last, the Celtics Used the Myth about Finn MacCool (and other Myths) as a Hero to look up to; they wanted someone great and powerful as a hero, so they used Myths such as Finn MacCool. The Greeks also did this, they always had great and powerful characters in there myths that they respected and looked up to highly. An Example is Zeus, everyone in Greece respected him and he was a hero to them, he  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> was even a symbol used as a sort of safety. The Celtic Myths were very similar to the Greek Myths, they used them for basically the same reason. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">http://www.marksnyder.ca/image/FinnMacCool.jpg

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> __**Conclusion**__  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> Overall, the story of Finn MacCool gave us insight on how the Irish explained things in nature, valued characteristics, and how similar the Greeks and Irish are in their myths. Through Finn MacCool we discovered what the Irish thought of Giant’s Causeway and how they valued deception and the strength of fear. This myth was more than just a story; it was a way for the Irish to share their culture and beliefs with the world. __**Citations:**__ Anonymous. "An Irish tale." __Scholastic News (Ed. 1)__. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> 01 Mar 2000. B3. __eLibrary__. Proquest CSA. CHAPARRAL HIGH SCHOOL. 28 Sep 2008. <[|http://elibrary.bigchalk.com]>.

Bergin, Alan. "THE LEGEND OF FIONN MAC COOL." Baby Names of Ireland. 28 Sept. 2008 < <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/fionn-maccool.html>. Hutchinson <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive"> Unabridged Encyclopedia. Helicon Publishing. 2005. __eLibrary__. Proquest CSA. CHAPARRAL HIGH SCHOOL. 28 Sep 2008. <[|http://elibrary.bigchalk.com]>.

Poet4, Code. "Causeway-code_poet-4.jpg." <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive">__Wikipedia__. 26 Nov. 2006. 29 Sept. 2008 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/causeway-code_poet-4.jpg>.