An Chraobh Airgid

Idea

The Three Strains

goltraí · geantraí · suantraí

Sorrow, laughter and sleep: the three kinds of Irish music.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

In Cath Maige Tuired the Dagda plays all three on his harp. “He played wail-strain to them, so that their tearful women wept. He played smile-strain to them, so their women and children laughed. He played sleep-strain to them, and the hosts fell asleep.” (Stokes, 1891) The harp on this site plays them too.

See also

  • The Dagda “The good god”: father, druid and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
  • The Dagda’s Harp “Oak of two greens” and “four-angled music”: a harp with two names.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

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