Echtrae Nerai / Echtrae Chonlai
A Cultural and Structural Analysis:
Part one:
The Echtrae Nerai may be read as a melding of the predominant cultural beliefs of the tribes and peoples roaming the isles in the pre-roman period which during the melding period of monk monasteries and Christendom. The traditions held by the medieval Irish and Gaelic tribes during Samhain began to fuse with the Roman Christian colonizers’ biblical ideology when creating translations of orally held myths, which Echtra Chonlai is.
The period Samhain, economically speaking, represented a shift into the final new quarter of the year; however, the day is also time in which the boundaries that separate the “other” world, or fairy world, from our own physical plane of reality. Whatever aligns occur allow for a weakened barrier between our world and the world that sits on top of the visible light spectrum world. Through the use of portals individuals or entities were allowed easier passage between worlds, one of the most famous being “the cave of the cat”or the portal to hell.
The story takes place during this transitory period and alludes to many of the commonly held beliefs and practices of that time. By closely examining this text, its structure, syntax, and the allusions made within the story help provide a better understanding of the narrative of Echtrae Nerai and its intent. This translation of Echtrae Nerai was made by Kuno Meyer and was used for the interpretation of this text. The text has been transcribed from an orator, to a manuscript, and then translated creating shifts in the linguistic form causing the interpretations of the text to be debated. The arguments are centered around the structure of the narrative versus what it is saying. By examining the narrative structurally, there are two arguments which seek to understand the narrative one in parts and the other as a whole. The first focuses on the structure of the narrative as having distinct episodes separate of each other. The second states that the tale is constructed through use of time paradoxes to explain its narrative, which are pivotal and cannot be omitted. Through examining both aspects of the debate a better understanding of the text’s cohesion and dissonance can be attained in its relation to its medieval audience. The structure is vital to understand the references included within the narrative as it shifts between the cultural festivities of Samhain, Halloween, and the depictions of the otherworld.
The story begins on a Halloween night, or Samhain, and the protagonist Nera agrees to tie a “withe” around the foot of a hanged corpse outside for a reward. However, “demons would appear on that night always,” this depiction reiterates the medieval held beliefs of Samhain as being a time in which boundaries between our worlds are weakened (Meyer p.215,1889). The following lines depict the “captive” speaking to Nera despite being a corpse. The story focuses on the use of the term “demons” to describe what comes out at night during this time, but the audience would still be aware of these beings as part of the other world. The corpse in return for the favor provided to Nera requests a drink with him, Nera accepts, and the story seemingly continues. However, at this point in the story that a scene change occurs as Nera takes the corpse on his back toward nearby homes (Meyer p.217, 1889). The corpse can be interpreted as either a “demon” or death incarnate as described in the story and it is alluded to previously because of time in which this occurs. The next scene highlights certain traditions during Samhain that the audience is potentially aware of as good or bad practices given of how the scene ends. The first house which is described as having, “A lake of fire round that house” denies Nera entry then corpse replies with, “there is no fire without sparing in it ever” (Meyer p.217, 1889). The audience may interpret this as proper housekeeping warding off the dead from entering the home, and as a good practice during Samhain.
The following two houses directly contrast each other both with opposite outcome and practices. The second house has a lake of water around it preventing them from entering the home. The corpse states, “there is never a washing-nor a bathing-tub, nor a slop-pail in it at night after sleeping” (Meyer p.217, 1889). This may have been interpreted by the audience as a good practice because it prevents illness (and bacteria) from spreading because the still water is removed from the home and isn’t reused or tainted stopping death from literally and metaphorically entering the house. The third house is does not follow the practices of the former and they enter. The corpse, “then drinks a draught of either of them and scatters the last sip from his lips at the faces of the people that were in the house, so that they all died” (Meyer, p.217, 1889). From this point it would become clear to the audience that this scene is a cautionary tale highlighting the foreshadowing within the scene. The narrator then reiterates this part of the tale as the origin of these traditions, “henceforth it is not good (to have) either a tub for washing or bathing, or a fire without sparing, or a slop-pail in a house after sleeping” (Meyer, p.217, 1889). The scene ends as Nera puts the corpse back at the gallows and returns to Cruachan.
It is at this point that the structure of narrative is debated by its interpreters, for example, Seán Ó Coileáin in his paper, “Echtrae Nerai and Its Analogues” examine how Echtrae Nerai can be split into separate narrative dialogues and the debate surrounding it. The significance of Nera and the corpse is interpreted as being absent in the aristocratic lifestyle as suggested by Ó Coileáin but, “one feels that this part of the tale first took shape at a more plebeian level; this feeling is supported, although not finally proven, by its barely altered continuation in modern folk narrative and belief” (Ó Coileáin p.432, 1990). This interpretation highlights the distinction between the separate social classes’ relation to the story and the interpretations of a medieval audience, explaining this distinct shift in narrative as it was carried on. Because the differences come from how the monied classes retained a different set of customs and practices because they did not do these housekeeping traditions it appears the narrative had been passed down orally. Ó Coileáin then highlights another aspect of the split in narrative which would come from the orator themselves mixing elements of different narratives together by swapping similar lines and motifs (Ó Coileáin p.433,1990). When these breaks occur, it is because of the difficulty in reproducing oral method and the manuscripts which the stories are transmitted to. This method is not necessarily the most reliable way of retaining a narrative as a cohesive piece, but did serve the audience of that time in a manner that helped unite communities and share culture.
Furthermore, Ó Coileáin suggests that the narrative split of Echtrae Nerai comes not from the story itself but from the narrator seeking to, “regenerate the thematic energy that will carry the narrative through,” or as “compositional breathing space […] where none already exists” (Ó Coileáin p. 438, 1990). This relates directly to the limitations of the period because the audience’s relation to the narrator for these stories, and as consequence they must be not only relatable geographically but entertaining.
So, Echtrae Nerai continues and total shift occurs in the narrative when arriving back home, “the dun was burnt before him, and he beheld a heap of heads of their people (cut off) by the warriors from the dun” (Meyer p. 217, 1889). The next few lines create a rhythmic pattern because of the repetitive nature of the phrase, “a man on the track here!” and “the heavier is the track,” but it also suggests a passphrase when passing into the cave of Cruachan (Meyer p. 217, 1889). The audience is able to directly associate what has occurred with the real location of the cave, but the phrase causes the creatures to enter the other world with Nera. At this point it is the first time Nera appears in the otherworld and he meets the king and is sent to carry wood for a woman. The audience might interpret this as normal house hold duties, but it is during this that Nera witnesses a lame man carry a blind man to search for the king’s crown. It is a parallel to the narrative that the audience is aware of that just occurred in the first section of the story. As previously stated, it is widely debated whether it is a true continuation of the narrative or a split. But as suggested by John Carey in his paper, “Sequence and Causation in Echtra Nerai” simply omitting the parallels, “did not consider ways in which the first episode is echoed later in EN itself” (Carey p.67, 1988). The two men in this scene seem to directly imitate Nera and the corpse’s own search ensuring the crown is still within the well at the very end of the sid. Furthermore, after Nera’s interaction with the corpse he tells the women what he witnessed, “I was going into the sid methought the rath of Cruachan was destroyed,” but she corrects him by saying, “en elfin host came to thee that will come true” (Meyers p. 220-221,1889). Suggesting after Nera’s interaction with the corpse he received a “vision” showing alternative reality from the sid while wandering home that night.
Carey suggests that the first and second segments share, “the idiosyncratic diction of a single redactor” suggesting that “unskillfully combined parallel accounts’ becomes more problematical” (Carey p.68,1988). This association of diction to narrative structure suggests the opposite of what Ó Coileáin states and highlights Carey’s own structural thesis, a time paradox. Nera struggles with the news of his “vision,” but is told that virtually no time has passed in the outside world despite being in the sid for three days. So, it becomes narratively established that time functions differently within the sid, and the audience would know that given their own relationship with other texts of period. Suggesting that the day Nera had his vision was on Samhain, when the barrier between worlds breaks down, and after interacting with a magical dead creature witnesses, while still in our world, a possible alternative future. Consequently, it would suggest the necessity of the first segment of the story needed to have taken place during Samhain for the story to retain continuity. Nera then asks how he is to prove this to Ailill and Medb. The women states, “take these fruits of summer with thee,” and “he took wild garlic with him and primrose and golden fern” (Meyer p.221, 1889). Suggesting that the otherworld is a different point of time than our world. Additionally, the woman mentions that, “I shall be pregnant by thee […] and bare thee a son,” foretelling future events and what will be told to him later, “thou mayest take thy family and thy cattle from the sid” (Meyer p.221, 1889). From this point it is not mentioned that either of these events have occurred nor does Nera have any cattle. However, the audience would have a direct relation to this reference of cattle given that Samhain is also when spring calves are considered worth more with the passing of the new quarter.
Nera then exits the sid and returns the same night after leaving the corpse “and found them [his people] around the same caldron,” suggesting to the audience that no time has passed. Then confirming what saw he when entering the sid the first time as an alternative reality. The narrator now uses Nera’s yearlong return to tie this story to ulster cycle. Stating that Nera, “staid with his people to the end of a year. That was the very year in which Fergus mac Roich came as an exile from the land of Ulster to Ailill and Medb to Cruachan.” The events the woman foretold come to pass as Ailill tells Nera, “Arise and bring thy cattle from the sid, that we may go to destroy the sid” (Meyer p.221, 1889). The audience would then be able to make a direct connection to what was told to Nera by the woman before he left the Sid the first time. Nera after a yearlong absence for a second time is given a cow after the birth of his son, which was foretold. Nera spends time in the sid since time functions differently here to tend to his land. It is in this that Carey makes the case for the necessity of a time paradox motif to occur within the narrative because, “cause and effect are in fact redundant and disconnected only in this world: in the sid, events unfold in a continuous, tightly connected sequence” (Carey p.68, 1988). It is during this second return that the calf is taken by Morrigan and the calf is bulled by Donn of Cualgne, after the birth of Nera’s son which was foretold in the first visit to the sid. The women would then appear to the medieval audience as having prophetic abilities, while also suggesting that there is not continuity breaks contrary to what Ó Coileáin suggests.
The manipulation of time is what makes the narrative more cohesive in structure because Nera returns to the sid before the raid. He is sent there to prepare the calf is given to him and stolen within that time frame, and because the sid’s timeline does not function in a linear fashion these events occur prior and on alternative timelines. Carey describes these moments as “Temporal Disparities” which makes the Echtra Nerai unique as a narrative because, “Nera visits different versions of particular moments as his Otherworld experiences shunt him forward and backward through time” (Carey p. 69, 1988). Nera then returns to his home and so does the cow after being taken and the women tells him to prepare for Halloween. Carey notes that, “EN centres upon the night of Samain […] when traffic between worlds is easiest and most frequent” (Carey p.70, 1988). Nera returns to our world and Ailill and Medb ask, “and where hast thou been since thou didst go from us?” (Meyer p. 225, 1889). This line is pivotal in explaining the paradox within the narrative because it would be suggested to the audience because from that moment time has gone backwards, virtually no time has passed, or Nera is now on an alternative timeline in which they conquer the sid. Ailill once again tells Nera to prepare himself again so he does. It is important to note that, “at that same hour Ailill and Fergus were playing drafts, when they heard the calf in the plain” (Meyer p. 225, 1889). They battle the calf to ensure it does not ruin the heard, the audience would understand that it’s directly related to Samhain and cattle pricing, so they invade the sid early because of Donn of Cualgne. Indirectly, trapping Nera inside forever after destroying and pillaging the sid. This close reading would suggest that both Halloween and its relation to Samhain directly influence the Echtrae Nerai because of its structure, motifs, themes, and narrative plot points.
Textual Interpretation: Echtrae Chonlai
As scholars interpret the manuscripts of Echtrae Chonlai various cultural influences impact the meaning, message, and overall rhetorical structure of the text. The story itself is derived from Old Irish and Medieval Irish which affect its cultural interpretations and translations because it switches between the oral and written mediums. The manuscript itself was meticulously assembled and translated within a monastery given the technological limitations of the time. The manuscript and its creation consequently tied to Christian interpretations given the period of time which it is dated is around the 8th or 9th century. The methods and translation which produced the text takes hint at many Christian influences. However, the similarities between the text and other texts at the concurrent time also show stories’ roots in a pre-Christian Irish culture.
Furthermore, the links between the who produced the text and how it is interpreted highlight the distinctions within the text both in how the text is structured thematically and narratively. These influences effect whether this manuscript can be interpreted as a historical document or a work of fiction as whole. The text directly links certain pagan influences in Irish society to the advent of Christianity at the time of its production is concurrent with the stories’ origin. Therefore, the manuscript can be interpreted as something caught between multiple cultural transitions within the society at the time creating a, sort of, historical work of fiction.
For example, John Carey writes in “The Rhetoric of Echtrae Chonlai” examining the manuscript “Cín Dormma Snechtai” which “Echtrae Chonlai” is derived there is disagreement as to when the text was written but provides insight to some of the oldest surviving stories and motifs (Carey, 42). There are similarities within the “Echtrae Chonlai” that echo that of other stories like the Welsh tale of the Mabinogi while still containing heavily Christian motifs (Carey, 43-45). Additionally, James Carney in “The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition” link “Echtrae Chonlai” to the similar tale of “Immram Brain” its interpretation of the Otherworld. Both texts containing a “mysterious woman ‘from strange lands’” who invited the protagonist to join her in an Otherworld “paradise” at sea (Carney, 36). These influences cannot be taken as mere conscience given the manner in which ancient manuscripts were assembled and whom they were assembled by. They provide direct connections between interpreted texts as sharing motifs and ideas around similar geological locations. These similarities created a cultural bypass in which the older stories were adapted as the cultures transitioned toward a more Christian base, while retaining its cultural heritage, creating these in between manuscripts.
Additionally, these new Christian influences are reflected within the stories structure and interpretation by both the manuscript writer and the interpreter. To begin the land in which the woman describes herself as hailing from in “Echtrae Chonlai” is described as being a land, “of the living where is neither death nor sin nor transgression” (Echtrae, 207). Already paralleling the biblical interpretations of paradise amongst the “king of kings” as well as contrasting the realm in which Conle the red resides. Later, she continues by saying, “If you follow me, your beauty will not lose its youth or its beauty till the pertaining to visions Day of judgement” (Echtrae, 207). These statements further parallel the beckoning of Christian thought of salvation and eternal life in heaven. Next, comes from the rejection of the druid and his beliefs as, “He will destroy the charms of … druids in the sight of the evil spirit, the black sorcerer” (Echtrae, 207). This can be seen as the Christian faith finding its place within the current cultural climate and it begins to establish itself as a form of salvation not of the body but of the soul. It flips the motif and shapes the world of Conle as a fallen world.
Conle is shown as accepting the woman’s offer through the gift of the “apple” and abandon the world and the people from which he came to follow the woman to the land of eternal life. Carey interprets the woman as, “having escaped the downfall of Adam and Eve–a Christian interpretation of the native Otherworld reflected in other features of her speech” (Carey, 45). This is backed up by his interpretation of the phrase “tír na mbéo” describing it as a “straightforwardly Christian expression” (Carey,46). By showing that Conle becomes totally transfixed by the women and the apple which replenishes itself the text forms a clear distinction between the worlds which Conle and the Women reside. It creates a narrative which overtly favors the “Otherworld” over the present reality of Conle, and, consequently, the desire within the story to abandon all that is tied to it for the pursuit of this “Otherworld.” Kim McCone in Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature targets this specific trend within manuscripts interpretation as “hybrid texts” while in dialogue with Mac Cana. McCone highlights the use of “dualistic view” of the stories incorporating both traditional and Christian cultures (McCone, 79.) These interpretations show that there are heavy cultural influences on both sides of spectrum as an attempt to bridge the cultural gaps within the region at the time.
These cultural gaps become evident from the interpretation of what and specifically where the “otherworld” is. Carey points out that in Echtrae Chonlai that, “there has been no preparation for such a conclusion” it felt as if, “the theme of an Otherworld voyage appears to be secondary and extraneous” (Carey, 39). Reinforcing his belief that the text might not only be fictitious but an attempt to connect these ideas. He continues by stating that these, “texts are so far as I know the only old Irish sources in which the overseas Otherworld appears” (Carey, 39). Furthermore, he continues by providing evidence of alternative interpretations of the “Otherworld” through “fairy mounds” or “hills” which are “plentiful” in Old Irish sources (Carey, 39). The “Otherworld” in Echtrae Chonlai becomes a contrast rather than a part of the physical manifestation of the world that already is. The interpretation frames it as a far-off world completely contrasted to the world in which we live and not a part of it. Carey highlights the specific use of the phrase, “Day of Judgement” as it reorients not only the messaging but the audiences’ interpretation of story. “The woman now appears as a sort of prophetess of the new religion […] condemning paganism […] (as) she denounces them as servants of the devil” (Carey, 59). These specific motifs used create a new framing that assembles pre-Christian thought through a Christian lens highlighting the historical and fictitious elements within the text.
Thus, the interpretation of the text amongst scholars is disputed as being both hybridization of cultures, interpretation, transition, or a fabrication meant to appear historically accurate given the narrative structure, prose, and word choice within the narrative.
Works Cited:
Meyer, Kuno [ed. and tr.], “The adventures of Nera”, Revue Celtique 10 (1889): 212–228, 520. Corrigenda in Revue Celtique 17: 319.
McCone, Kim, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature (maynooth 1991[1990 1st ed.]) pp. 79-82,152,157-8.
Carey, John. “Sequence and Causation in Echtra Nerai.” Ériu, vol. 39, 1988, pp. 67–74. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30024130.
Ó Coileáin, Seán, “Echtrae Nerai and its analogues”, Celtica 21 (1990): 155–176.
Carey, John, ‘The Rhetoric of Echtrae Chonlai.’ Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 30 (Winter 1995), pp. 41-65.
Echtrae Chonlai, ed. and trans. H. P. A Oskamp, Études Celtiques 14 (1974-5), pp. 207-208