1.
Mare
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A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a horse more than four years old. The word can also be used for other female equine animals, particularly mules and zebras, a broodmare is a mare used for breeding. A horses female parent is known as its dam, an uncastrated adult male horse is called a stallion and a castrated male is a gelding. Occasionally, the horse is used to designate only a male horse. Mares carry their young for approximately 11 months from conception to birth, usually just one young is born, twins are rare. When a domesticated mare foals, she nurses the foal for at least four to six months before it is weaned, the estrous cycle, also known as season or heat of a mare occurs roughly every 19–22 days and occurs from early spring into autumn. As the days shorten, most mares enter a period during the winter. The reproductive cycle in a mare is controlled by the photoperiod, as the days shorten, the mare returns to the anestrus period when she is not sexually receptive. However, for most competitive purposes, foals are given a birthday of January 1. Therefore, many breeding farms begin to put mares under lights in late winter in order to bring out of anestrus early. One exception to this rule is the field of endurance riding. Fillies are sexually mature by age two and are bred at that age, but generally should not be bred until they themselves have stopped growing. A healthy, well-managed mare can produce a foal every year into her twenties, in addition, some mares become anxious when separated from their foals, even temporarily, and thus are difficult to manage under saddle until their foals are weaned. Mares are considered easier to handle than stallions, however, geldings have little to no hormone-driven behavior patterns at all, thus sometimes they are preferred to both mares and stallions. Mares have a notorious, if generally undeserved, reputation for being marish, however, there is considerable evidence that much marish behavior is mostly the result of humans expecting or allowing the mare to misbehave. Because horses in general are very attuned to the state of their riders, expectation by a rider of difficult manners during estrus can create a self-fulfilling prophecy
2.
Coracle
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The word coracle comes from the Welsh cwrwgl, cognate with Irish and Scottish Gaelic currach, and is recorded in English as early as the sixteenth century. Other historical English spellings include corougle, corracle, curricle and coricle, oval in shape and very similar to half a walnut shell, the structure is made of a framework of split and interwoven willow rods, tied with willow bark. The outer layer was originally an animal such as horse or bullock hide, with a thin layer of tar to make it fully waterproof – today replaced by tarred calico or canvas. The Vietnamese/Asian version of the coracle is made differently, using interwoven bamboo and waterproofed by using resin. Each coracle is unique in design, as it is tailored to the conditions where it was built. In general there is one design per river, but this is not always the case, Teifi coracles are made from locally harvested wood – willow for the laths, hazel for the weave – while Tywi coracles have been made from sawn ash for a long time. The working boats tend to be made from fibreglass these days, Teifi coracles use no nails, relying on the interweaving of the laths for structural coherence, whilst the Carmarthen ones use copper nails and no interweaving. The coracle is propelled by means of a paddle, which traditionally varies in design between different rivers. It is used in an action, the blade describing a figure-of-eight pattern in the water. The paddle is used towards the front of the coracle, pulling the boat forward, another important aspect to the Welsh Coracle is that it can be carried on his back by one person. Llwyth dyn ei gorwgl — the load of a man is his coracle, remains interpreted as a possible coracle were found in an Early Bronze Age grave at Barns Farm near Dalgety Bay, and others have been described, from Corbridge and from near North Ferriby. According to Ian Harries, coracle fisherman, coracles are so light and portable that they can easily be carried on the shoulders when proceeding to. Coracle fishing is performed by two coraclers, where fishing is performed by two people, there is one fisherman per coracle. The net is stretched across the river between the two coracles and drawn downstream. When a fish is caught, each hauls up an end of the net until the two coracles are brought to touch, and the fish is then secured, using a priest to stun the fish. In the 1920s and 30s James Hornell personally visited hundreds of rivers in the British Isles to talk with remaining coracle makers and users and this resulted in his major book British Coracles and the Curraghs of Ireland containing drawings, diagrams and construction details gleaned from regular makers. The Welsh Rivers Teifi and Tywi are the best places to find coracles in Wales, on the Teifi they are most frequently seen between Cenarth, and Cilgerran and the village of Llechryd. In 1974 a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in 13½ hours
3.
Final Fantasy XIV
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Final Fantasy XIV, also known as Final Fantasy XIV Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game for Microsoft Windows personal computers, developed and published by Square Enix in 2010. It is the entry in the main Final Fantasy series. Eventually, they are embroiled in a plot by a Garlean Legatus to destroy the Primals by bringing one of the planets moons down on Eorzea. The game had been in development since 2005 under the codename Rapture, and was announced in 2009 for Windows and it ran on Square Enixs Crystal Tools middleware engine, which was adjusted to suit the games specifications. During development, the team carried over multiple aesthetic elements from Final Fantasy XI while attempting to create something that stood on its own, due to several factors, the development was beset by problems that would later have drastic effects on the game. Attempts to bring the game to Xbox 360 consoles fell through due to disagreements with Microsoft about the use of Xbox Live. After its alpha test and a beta test, the game went live on September 30,2010. Yoshida decided to make marginal improvements before shutting down servers in favor of Final Fantasy XIV, A Realm Reborn, Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in which the player controls a customized Adventurer avatar from one of the five playable races. Each race has two tribes, and all but two allow for the selection of male or female characters, the avatar can have their eye and hair color, facial features, and skin tone customized, and features such as birthmarks and scars can be added. Their chosen tribe, along with their patron deity, affect their stats. The games opening varies depending on which starting location is chosen, leves are broken down into multiple types, focusing on gathering or combat. Levequests are associated with particular non-playable characters, as the player completes leves, they gain favor with three different factions and unlock new abilities, with rewards only coming from the NPCs within the factions who issued the quest. Gaining favor also unlocks a new type of level called Faction leves, compared to Final Fantasy XI, where party-based gameplay is forefront at all times, the gameplay in XIV is adjusted so that players can go for longer periods without joining a party. There is no option, with each action needing a manual input while an enemy is targeted. Each action uses up a stamina bar, through defeating monsters, crafting items, and completing quests, players accumulate EXP which, when a certain threshold is reached, automatically increments the players level. The players level affects attributes such as HP, MP, under the Armory System, a characters equipped weapon or crafting tool, determines the players character class, allowing them to switch roles at will. Some classes are associated with a starting point. Certain abilities learned under one class may be equipped and used by other classes, the Job System builds upon the Armoury System for Disciples of War and Magic
4.
Irish mythology
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The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity. However, much of it was preserved in medieval Irish literature and this literature represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. There are also a number of extant mythological texts that do not fit any of the cycles. Additionally, there are a number of recorded folk tales that, while not strictly mythological. Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition, the earliest of the prose can be dated on linguistic grounds to the 8th century, and some of the verse may be as old as the 6th century. The first of these part of the earliest known version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and is housed in Trinity College. The other three are in the Royal Academy, when using these sources, it is, as always, important to question the impact of the circumstances in which they were produced. There was also a tendency to rework Irish genealogies to fit into the known schema of Greek or Biblical genealogy and it was once unquestioned that medieval Irish literature preserved truly ancient traditions in a form virtually unchanged through centuries of oral tradition back to the ancient Celts of Europe. A consensus has emerged which encourages the critical reading of the material, the Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. The most important sources are the Metrical Dindshenchas or Lore of Places, Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as The Dream of Aengus, The Wooing Of Étain and Cath Maige Tuireadh, The Battle of Magh Tuireadh. One of the best known of all Irish stories, Oidheadh Clainne Lir, Lebor Gabála Érenn is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before Noah. They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye, Balor was eventually slain by Lug Lámfada at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the people of later myth. The Metrical Dindshenchas is the great work of early Ireland. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians. It is important to note that by the Middle Ages the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier Golden Age Ireland. Texts such as Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuireadh present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, however, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered deities. Even after they are displaced as the rulers of Ireland, characters such as Lug, a poem in the Book of Leinster lists many of the Tuatha Dé, but ends Although enumerates them, he does not worship them
5.
John Rhys
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Sir John Rhys, PC, FBA was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, Celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University. He was born John Rees at Ponterwyd in Ceredigion, to a miner and farmer, Hugh Rees. Rhys was educated at schools in Pantyffynnon and Ponterwyd before moving to the British School, here Rhys was enrolled as a pupil and teacher, and after leaving studied at Bangor Normal College from 1860 to 1861. Upon leaving Bangor Normal College, Rhys gained employment as headmaster at Rhos-y-bol and it was here that Rhys was introduced to Dr Charles Williams, then the Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, in 1865. This meeting eventually led to Rhys being accepted into the college, in 1869, he was elected to a fellowship at Merton College. Rhys also travelled and studied in Europe during this period, staying in Paris, Heidelberg, Leipzig and he attended lectures by Georg Curtius and August Leskien whilst in Leipzig, and it was during this period that his interest in philology and linguistics developed. Rhys matriculated from Leipzig in 1871, and it was around this time that he adopted the Welsh spelling of his name and he returned to Wales as a government inspector of schools, covering Flint and Denbigh, and he settled in Rhyl. Rhys also began to write, with articles on the grammar of the Celtic language and articles on the glosses in the Luxembourg manuscript being printed, in 1872 Rhys married Elspeth Hughes-Davies. In 1874 Rhys delivered a series of lectures in Aberystwyth, later published as Lectures on Welsh Philology and this reputation saw him appointed as the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University in 1877. He was also made a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, Rhys was elected bursar of the college in 1885, a position he held until 1895, when he succeeded Daniel Harper as principal. Rhys served on public bodies. Rhys gained his knighthood in 1907, and in 1911 was appointed to the Privy Council
6.
Boann
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Boann or Boand is the Irish goddess of the River Boyne, a river in Leinster, Ireland. According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn she was the daughter of Delbáeth, son of Elada and her husband is variously Nechtan, Elcmar or Nuada Airgetlám. Her lover is her uncle, the Dagda, by whom she had her son, in order to hide their affair, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months, therefore, Aengus was conceived, gestated and born in one day. As told in the Dindsenchas, Boann created the Boyne, though forbidden to by her husband, Nechtan, Boann approached the magical Well of Segais, which was surrounded by hazels. Hazelnuts were known to fall into the Well, where they were eaten by the speckled salmon, Boann challenged the power of the well by walking around it widdershins, this caused the waters to surge up violently and rush down to the sea, creating the Boyne. In this catastrophe, she was swept along in the waters, and lost an arm, leg and eye. The poem equates her with famous rivers in other countries, including the River Severn, Tiber, Jordan River, Tigris and she also appears in Táin Bó Fraích as the maternal aunt and protector of the mortal Fráech. Her name is interpreted as white cow in the dinsenchas, ptolemys 2nd century Geography shows that in antiquity the rivers name was Bubindas, which may derive from Proto-Celtic *Bou-vindā, white cow. Modern-day commentators and modern paganism sometimes identify Boann with the goddess Brigid or believe Boann to be Brigids mother, however there are no Celtic sources that describe her as such
7.
Lugh
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Lugh or Lug is an important god of Irish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Lugh is portrayed as a warrior hero. He is associated with skill, crafts and the arts as well as with oaths, truth and he is sometimes interpreted as a sun god, a storm god or a sky god. Lugh is also associated with the harvest festival of Lughnasadh. Lugh is known by the epithets Lámfada, possibly for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach, Samildánach, Lonnbéimnech, Macnia, as to ancestry, Lugh is given the matriname mac Ethlenn or mac Ethnenn and the patriname mac Cein. He is the grandson of the Fomorian, Balor, whom Lugh kills in the Battle of Mag Tuired. His foster-father is the sea god Manannán, Lughs son is the hero Cú Chulainn, who is believed to be an incarnation of Lugh. He wields a fiery spear, a sling stone. He also owns a boat named Scuabtuinne, a horse named Enbarr. He is a reflex of the pan-Celtic god Lugus, and his Welsh counterpart is Lleu Llaw Gyffes, Lughs father is Cian of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and his mother is Ethniu, daughter of Balor, of the Fomorians. In Cath Maige Tuired their union is a dynastic marriage following an alliance between the Tuatha Dé and the Fomorians, in the Lebor Gabála Érenn Cian gives the boy to Tailtiu, queen of the Fir Bolg, in fosterage. In the Dindsenchas Lugh, the foster-son of Tailtiu, is described as the son of the Dumb Champion, a folktale told to John ODonovan by Shane ODugan of Tory Island in 1835 recounts the birth of a grandson of Balor who grows up to kill his grandfather. In this tale, Balor hears a prophecy that he will be killed by his own grandson. To prevent this he imprisons his daughter in the Tór Mór of Tory Island, cared for by twelve women. On the mainland, Mac Cinnfhaelaidh owns a cow who gives such abundant milk that everyone, including Balor. While the cow is in the care of Mac Cinnfhaelaidhs brother Mac Samthainn, Balor appears in the form of a little red-haired boy and tricks him into giving him the cow. Looking for revenge, Mac Cinnfhaelaidh calls on a leanan sídhe called Biróg, who transports him by magic to the top of Balors tower, in time she gives birth to triplets, which Balor gathers up in a sheet and sends to be drowned in a whirlpool. The messenger drowns two of the babies, but unwittingly drops one child into the harbour, where he is rescued by Biróg and she takes him to his father, who gives him to his brother, Gavida the smith, in fosterage
8.
Aengus
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In Irish mythology, Aengus is a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration. He is traditionally described as having singing birds circling his head, in Old Irish his name is spelled Oíngus or Óengus, from Proto-Celtic *oino- one and gus strength. In Middle Irish this became Áengus, and in Modern Irish Aengus or Aonghus and his parents were the Dagda and Boann. He was said to have lived at Newgrange by the River Boyne, the Dagda had an affair with the river goddess Boann, wife of Nechtan. To hide her pregnancy, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months so that Aengus was conceived, gestated, when he came of age Aengus dispossessed the Dagda of his home, Brú na Bóinne. Irish has no article, so a day and a night is the same as day and night, which covers all time. In a different version of story, appearing in The Wooing of Etain, Aengus uses the same ploy to trick Elcmar out of Brú na Bóinne. In this version, Midir is Aenguss foster-father, while Elcmar is the husband of Boann cuckolded by the Dagda, according to Death Tales of the Tuatha de Danaan, Aengus killed his stepfather Elcmar for killing Midir. Aengus also killed Lugh Lámhfhadas poet for lying about his brother Ogma an Cermait, the poet claimed that Ogma an Cermait was having an affair with one of Lughs wives. In The Wooing of Etain, Aengus was able to lift a spell against Étaín. Midirs wife Fuamnach in a jealous rage had turned Etain into a beautiful fly, turning her into a woman at night, Aengus made her his lover until Fuamnach found out about it and drove her away. Aengus killed his mother for her treachery. In the Tale of the Two Pails, a woman, foster daughter of Aengus, got lost. The girl converted to Christianity, and Aengus could not win her back and he left, and she died of grief. Aengus fell in love with a girl he had seen in his dreams. His mother, Boann, goddess of the River Boyne, and a cow goddess whose milk formed the Milky Way, searched Ireland for a year, then his father, finally, King Bodb Derg of Munster found her after a further year. Aengus went to the lake of the Dragons Mouth and found 150 girls chained in pairs, his girl, Caer Ibormeith, on November 1, Caer and the other girls would turn into swans for a year, every second Samhain. Aengus was told he could marry Caer if he could identify her in her swan form, Aengus turned himself into a swan and they flew away, singing beautiful music that put all listeners asleep for three days and nights
9.
Anu (Irish goddess)
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Not to be confused with Annan. In Irish mythology, Anu is a goddess and she may be a goddess in her own right, or an alternate name for Danu. In the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Anand is given as a name for Morrígu. While an Irish goddess, in parts of Britain a similar figure is referred to as Gentle Annie, in an effort to avoid offense, a tactic which is similar to referring to the fairies as The Good People. As her name is often conflated with a number of other goddesses and this name may be derived the Proto-Celtic theonym *Φanon-. Anu has particular associations with Munster, the hills known as the Paps of Anu, at 52°00′55″N 9°16′09″W, near Killarney. Evidence that Anu may be the deity as Danu appears in the following comment from Sanas Cormaic. Well did she feed the gods, Oxford, Oxford University Press,1998, ISBN 0-19-280120-1. Wood, Juliette, The Celts, Life, Myth, and Art, Thorsons Publishers, ISBN 0-00-764059-5
10.
Brian (mythology)
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In Gaelic mythology, Brian was one of the three Sons of Tuireann along with Iuchar and Iucharba. In Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann, the three set out to kill their fathers enemy Cian, Cian is the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Cian shapeshifts into a pig to disguise himself, but the brothers shapeshift into dogs and they kill him, dismember his body and try to cover up their crime. In recompense, Lugh makes them quest all around the known world fetching magical weapons and they succeed in obtaining all that Lugh demanded, but return to Ireland badly wounded, pleading for Lugh to heal them, but he refuses. In at least one version of this tale, Brian is the clever and subtle one, while his brothers Iuchar and Iucharba are bumbling and this tale of the Sons of Tuireann has sometimes been likened to an Irish Argonautica. In later Scottish folklore, Brian was the name of a man who helped the Cailleach rescue Deò-ghrèine. Brian is one of the characters in As Baile, A Story
