comraind
legis ‘equal division of healing’
by Jacqui Devenney Reed.
Title is taken from the
Irish legend the Tain or ‘Cattle raid of Cooley’, when the warriors and
childhood friends Cuchulan and Ferdia were forced to fight each other in single
combat. The fight lasted several days and at the end of each day the two
warriors shared their healing herbs equally between them , so that eachight
dess their wounds in the same way. This gesture was called comraind legis or
equal division of healing
Connecting Ancestral
Herb-lore of two neighbouring islands
My residency is at Skriduklaustur Cultural Center, and what I am proposing is
to explore the connections between Donegal and Iceland through the knowledge of
plants and their Natural Recipes, Remedies and Folklore.
My inspiration at the heart of this
project is the ancient thread that connects the Irish Monks who departed from
Teelin in Southwest Donegal and the first settlers in Iceland. For me to get a
sense of what it was like at Teelin Pier I visited the area and spent some time
there. Teelin is a small natural harbour surrounded with steep jagged black
cliffs, cloaked in green wild sea grasses and peppered with purple heather.
Under ancient knarley Oaks and wizened Ash trees, turf brown waters of the Glen
river flow down in to the bay from the surrounding valley where to days
residences have nestled in blanked from the wild Atlantic winds.
As I stood on the cliff edge
amidst the remains of the Coast Guard Station build prior to 1813, looking out
over the open stretch of silver seas, I tried to imagine how those early monks
must have felt leave this wee safe harbour and sailing out to the unknown.
Miles.......
The Pilgrams path,
Sliabh Liag.
Monastery site of Saint Aedh Mac Bricc.
Sliabh Liag.
Monastery site of Saint Aedh Mac Bricc.
Margret Cunningham
Local tradition insists that sea- faring monks left Teelin, in Co Donegal and settled in Inis Tuile (Iceland) centuries before the Viking Occupation.The remains of an old church beside Teelin pier marks the spot where it is a believed a community of 5th century Teelin monks lived before they undertook the precarious sea journey to Iceland. A small bronze memorial to them now sits on the pier next to the remains of a 6th century Church.
Esteemed Icelandic scholar Professor Einar Olafur Sveinsson and Hermann Palsson
made a trip from Iceland to Teelin in June 1947 with James Hamilton Delargy and
visited Slieve League, Teelin Pier and the Well of The Holy Women (Tobar na
mBan – Naomh).
images from we love Donegal
In 1493, the year of Columbus’ second
expedition to the New World, a monastery was founded at Skriðaby the
Augustinian monks(Institute of Gunnar Gunnarson, 2009).On a more likely note,
the farm at Skriða was donated to the monastery by HallsteinnÞorsteinsson
and CecilíaÞorsteinsdóttir prior to 1496, possibly to assure their entrance
into the afterlife (Skriduklaustur: Center of culture and history/Founding of
the monastery, n.d.)
Herbs
at medieval monasteries were often the sole form of medicine for the ill.
Healthcare followed a different system of application than today, but utilized
active herbal compounds to relieve symptoms and provide care. At
Skriðuklaustur, examination of skeletal remains suggests hospital patients
received symptomatic palliative and nursing care from the monks as well as
obstetrical care.
About ten herbs were grown in Skriðuklaustur’s monastery
garden for these uses. Among the ten herb species were “…three not native to
the medieval Icelandic flora. These three are Allium, Urtica major and Plantage
major, all internationally well-known monastic plants”(Kristjánsdóttir, 2010,
p.51).
Those herbs not indigenous to Iceland could have been brought there by
way of the thriving trade between Iceland and other European countries. REF;
Medicinal Herbs and Medieval Healthcare at Skriđuklaustur Monastery, East
Iceland Deborah Smith, Ed. D., RN, PMHCNS-BC .
What if any Traditions Traveled with the Monks?
In Donegal and Ireland wild plants and herbs have been
bound up in our culture and folklore from the earliest of times. For a small
island, Ireland contains a wealth of different landscapes from moorland and bog
to hedgerow; seashore to lakeside, forest to meadow, as does Iceland and I wish
to explore if there is a shared influence and dependence and folklore with the
wild plants growing around. Did any travel with the early settlers across the
sea. Are there any influences left of them today if they did?. If so were there
similar Folklore and stories surrounding these cures, remedies and herbs.
One example is the Appalachian Trail in America and the
stories about the folklore and remedies taken from Donegal/Ulster and Scotland
by the early settlers and the mixing with the Native American practices of
healing with plants has lead to many of the medical scientific discoveries in
medicine today. Because of the rural and secluded nature of the Appalachian
community, the old customs, wisdom, and practices were not as often lost,
forgotten, or 'modernized' as the 'old world' traditions that came over to
other, more urban areas of the 'new world.' Many of these old Scot/Irish
traditions, as well as the Tsalagi traditions, both magical and mundane have
been passed down for many years that way, though sadly, sometimes only by rote,
with the original meanings beings lost in the shifting sands of time.
As part of my residency
•
I wish to research and explore to see if any of
the same practices or folklore or natural remedies are still in existence in
Iceland to day and if they bare resemblance too or were influenced from
Donegal.
•
I would also hope to explore their use of plants and folklore
surrounding them in Iceland to see if they're similar in any way to Donegal, Ireland.
•
I will be visiting the monastic site and see what I can find out with regards to the herb gardens and the medicinal
uses of them and its influences today.
This would be a wonderful opportunity for me to explore and
build on a concept based on not just the community but the landscape of Iceland
and what stories it has to reveal from the past. It would give me the time to
research, collect information, Photograph the plants, landscape and its people,
do some creative writing with the stories collected with the view to a
publication. With almost 20 years’ experience in alternative medicine including
herbalism and being an armature photographer, writer, I feel this would be a
notable undertaking and would be of value as future archives as well as a
creative endeavor and form deeper roots of connection between our neighboring
island.
Ciall, Tuisge agus Naire
Sense, Understanding and Modesty.
The three holy women
who blessed the holy well in Teelin
Teelin Pier from the Holy Well by emcsphotos
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