Latest / Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast / Lughnasadh E3: Matchmaking

Transcript

Lughnasadh E3: Matchmaking · Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, friend.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Wild Kin, where we reconnect to Celtic myths, one story at a time.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Jess.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love for you to pull up a chair by my fire as we step into one of
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: the most interesting traditions related to Lunasa, which is matchmaking.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let's step back in time as a woman wakes before dawn,
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: just outside of the fair, preparing to meet her match.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The young woman sat braiding her hair in the cool pre-dawn light.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: She had redone it three times already, her hands stiff in the brisk morning.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it needed to be just right, for today she would meet her husband-to-be.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't necessarily a stranger to her,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: as they'd met five summers ago here at the Lunas Affair.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: They were just gangly children then,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: daring each other to climb the trees at the edge of the meadow.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: She clambered up too high at his encouragement, slipping on a branch and scraping her leg.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: As tears pricked her eyes,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: she remembered his face twisted in concern as he staunched the trickle of blood.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: They hadn't seen each other since,
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: but as he was heir to his father's tribe in the neighboring village,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: it seemed fate had intertwined them again.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now they were both grown, no longer awkward youths but of the age to be married.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard to imagine having a household of her own with a man at her side.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: But as long as she approved, it would be her reality soon enough.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Their families had already corresponded throughout the spring,
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: messengers passing between the two villages to settle everything
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: before this day could come.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: The land and livestock she would bring to the Union,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And what she would keep herself if he ever gave her cause to end it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The terms were deemed fair and both fathers seemed content,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: at least based on the messenger replies.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But terms she knew were not the same as knowing the man himself.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So as sunrise began to crest the hill, she inhaled deeply as she picked up her summer cloak.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: She wrapped it protectively around herself.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Pinning her mother's bronze brooch near her shoulder.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It gave her courage as she lifted herself onto her horse and rode toward the fair,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: her family in tow.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: They reached the grounds as smoke began to twirl into the sky,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: the smell of baked bread and cooking meat already filling the air.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: People began to appear from their tents,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: eyeing the entourage passing with interest at their finery.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Another matchmaking ceremony.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: As many villages were gathering here to form similar bonds with their neighbors.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it was packs of marriage or cattle or trading,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: everyone wanted to carry their goodwill into the next season.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: She dismounted as they reached the central square,
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: nervously scanning the crowd as she knew he must be near.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently he'd already found her as she caught him staring,
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: his dark curly hair catching the sunlight.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: He smiled,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: and she could just see the same skinny boy she'd climbed the tree with under
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: that grin.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now he'd grown into his height to become the man walking toward her.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: With a nod from her mother, the two disappeared into the crowd.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The fair came alive as they wandered,
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: shyly reacquainting themselves as they gauged what their life was about
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: to look like.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: They watched a horse race,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: joking as they placed bets, before making their way to a smith stall.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: When she eyed a spiral brooch among the wares,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: he bought it for her,
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: pinning it to her cloak himself,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: his fingers brushing her collarbone as their eyes met.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: By the end of the day,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: they'd found the same tree they'd climbed as children,
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: but instead of clambering up into the branches, they simply sat beneath its shade.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: He took her hand in his and softly told her he was happy to become her husband,
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: if she would have him.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: She smiled and simply nodded before leaning her head against his shoulder.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: For what better marriage could she hope for than one with this simple, beautiful piece?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: If there was ever a time for matchmaking,
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: it would be at the ancient Celtic festival of Lunasa,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: a time when the kingdom gathered together to celebrate the beginning of
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: the harvest season, bringing people from all over the land into a single place.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was a time for trading,
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: settling legal disputes,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: and holding competitions across villages, all under the same open sky.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Matchmaking would naturally fall into the same category of building relations
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: between different communities.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a time to gather both families and a judge to legitimize these unions too.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: we can't know for sure if this was actually the case,
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: as no documents directly state that matchmaking was part of this ancient tradition.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: But we can piece together what we know about these fairs from medieval writing
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: and oral traditions collected across Ireland,
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Pointing back to this fair being a prime wedding venue.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Celts saw unions as both an economic advantage and clearly
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: a very human enterprise that could change with time.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: We know this from the Brehan Laws,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: a medieval law book outlining in detail how unions formed,
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: were funded, and dissolved.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It shows how practical their culture was, even more so than modern marriage.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Which carries this assumption that love should endure for a lifetime.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: But Brahan law didn't share that assumption.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: It recognized nine distinct kinds of union, and even Welsh legal traditions recognized ten.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: In every case, the law accounted for the possibility of change.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: People could join,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: separate,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: renegotiate,
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: and reform bonds throughout their lives,
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: and none of it carried the moral weight we've since attached to it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: The first was the Union of Equal Contribution,
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: where both partners brought equal property into the household and
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: with it equal status.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: This one shows up vividly in the Irish story The Battle Raid of Cooley,
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: which opens with Queen Mev and her husband in bed comparing their respective wealth,
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: which is quite the pillow talk.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: At first glance,
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: they're completely equal,
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: the same amount of livestock, coin, land, etc.,
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Then her husband mentions he has a prized white bull and suddenly the balance
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: of power in their marriage shifts in his favor.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maeve will not stand for this and she refuses to be lesser in status to her husband.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So when she hears of a legendary brown bull of coulee,
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: she launches an entire battle campaign to restore her equality in the marriage.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: An epic story essentially kicked off by a bride price dispute.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: This would have been understood by those who heard the story at the time as
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: when one partner brought more into a marriage than the other the law accounted for
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: that imbalance directly.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That spouse held more power and greater protection if they separated.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: If a woman had more land or cattle her husband's authority
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: over those assets was limited and the reverse held true as well.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: In modern times this would equate to a prenuptial agreement where terms
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: and assets were defined before the union takes place.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Divorce carried none of the stigma we've since inherited either.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Brehon Law recognized 14 separate grounds on which a woman could end a marriage,
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: more than the seven available to a man,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: including infidelity,
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: impotence,
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: failure to provide,
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: and, pointedly, a husband revealing their private life to others.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: The law also made room for less tidy arrangements.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: A man could keep a primary wife and a secondary partner.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Their rights carefully ranked, but recognized.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: An acknowledgement that lifelong monogamy wasn't really the only social reality.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than pretend otherwise, the law simply assigned responsibility accordingly.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Relationships that started in secret,
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: without family negotiation or blessing,
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: also still carried legal protection,
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: almost like Ireland's own Romeo and Juliet clause.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And a category that's uncomfortable to acknowledge but also important is
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: the law accounting for unions formed through assault.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Celts didn't pretend this never happened,
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: but instead they assigned real consequences to the man responsible,
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: holding him to his actions both legally and monetarily,
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: perhaps even more so than we recognize today.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then there was the concept of the trial union where couples could live together Or,
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: as the law put it, quote, share bodies, without fully merging their properties.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: There are fewer legal obligations and less permanence expected.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Love and lust can often make fools of us,
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: and the Celt seem to legally take this into account,
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: much like living with someone without getting married today.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: This might sound similar to the concept of hand-fasting.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: The term shows up constantly around Lunasa and in popular culture,
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: but the two aren't directly related.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hand-fasting is Scottish and comes from the Old Norse word of hand-festa,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: to strike a bargain by joining hands.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: In medieval Scotland,
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: it simply meant the public betrothal ceremony as the moment
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: when two people clasped hands before witnesses and declared their intent to marry.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Trial marriages were real in Ireland, though,
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: and with evidence from at least the last few centuries,
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: we know what that might have looked like at Lunasa.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Across a field from the great mound of Telltown sits two long parallel banks with
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: a ditch running between them, and nearby a hollow known as the Hollow of the Fair.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's here that the most vivid version of the trial marriage tradition is said
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: to have played out.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Young men would gather on one side of the wall,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: with young women on the other,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: and the wall was so high that you couldn't see across it.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then a woman would put her hand through a hole in the gate,
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: And a man on the other side would take hold of it.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: By nothing more than the feel of her hand and blind everything else,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: the two were bound to live together for a year and a day.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: If it didn't suit them,
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: at the end of the trial marriage,
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: they'd return to the mound, stand back to back, and walk off in opposite directions.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: A divorce of literally parting ways.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: This was a test of not only if love is blind, but if fate intervenes for a proper match.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a striking image,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: and may have genuinely taken place according to oral accounts that
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: a folklorist gathered in the 1800s.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps traditions passed down from the Iron Age,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: perhaps not, as no earlier documents describes this.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: But, as with much of the Celts, a lot was passed down through spoken word, not story.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the origins,
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: we do know Lunasa is an ancient fair,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: carried on since the Iron Age,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: and there's a real hollow near Telltown where matches might have taken place.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: That, plus the medieval Brehon laws that clearly highlight the extent
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: of what marriage meant to this culture.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: What all of this suggests is something quieter than the tidy,
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: permanent picture of marriage in the modern world.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: This shows that we are flawed creatures,
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Usually acting out of a real intention of love and need to connect.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Celts built a system that made room for change,
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: for renegotiation, and for endings without shame.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Which seems especially poignant for this time of year,
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: as Lunasa sits at the hinge of the season.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: The peak of summer already turning toward autumn,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: the first grain cut and gathered, even as the rest still ripens in the field.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing about a harvest is permanent.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And nothing about it is meant to be.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to keep everything you planned.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: You take what's ready and you let the rest go to seed.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Trusting that there's another season coming to try again.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the Celts understood this as this time of year always carries that hope of possibility.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: When we can gather together to take stock as we ready for the next turn of the year.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: That there's always the possibility of creating something beautiful.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps even just for the touch of a hand.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: What we can know for certain,
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: no matter how the season might change, is that love is always worth the risk.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more Celtic-inspired stories and resources,
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: subscribe to Wild Kin Studio on Substack.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Link is in the show notes.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: So glad you could join me by the fire, and we'll meet again soon.