Obsessed with butter

Buttering toast, the Irish way...

In 2015 an article entitled "Milking the megafauna: Using organic residue analysis to understand early farming practice" was published in the Journal of Environmental Archaeology by Jessica Smyth and Richard P. Evershed... 

The authors of the paper analysed residues found in nearly 500 cooking pots from Neolithic Ireland dated to the period 4,000 to 2,500 BC...

Ninety per cent of the residues tested for fat origin were found to be dairy fats, with ten per cent found to be meat fats (beef or mutton) or a mixture of milk and meat...

Dr Smyth, who led the study, said: "We know from previous research that dairying was an important part of many early farming economies, but what was a big surprise was the prevalence of dairy residues in Irish pots.  It looks to have been a very important food source".

Dr Smyth also said: "We know that settlements were small in the Irish Neolithic, usually one or two houses, so it’s likely that early farming groups had just one or two animals supporting the household with their products, which were perhaps part of a wider community herd"...

"Such results are even more significant given the fact that domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep and goats had to be physically shipped to Ireland as part of the process, as these animals were not native to the island"...

It just so happened that when this paper got published, I read an article in Irish Times about a paper written by UCD professor of archaeology Liam Downey and environmental archaeologist Dr Ingelise Stuijts about the history of "banbidh" (Irish for white foods) in Ireland...

They collated and analysed the data about food consumed in Ireland from the time of the earliest documentary sources up to the late 17th century...

They concluded that despite "extraordinarily high number of cattle in Ireland and an abundance of fish in the Irish waters, ordinary Irish people ate very little beef or fish".

Research had found that people lived primarily on dairy products. The Irish favourite food was butter. But there was also drinking milk, and buttermilk, and fresh curds, and old curds, and something called “real curds,” and whey mixed with water to make a refreshing sour drink...

In 1690, one British visitor to Ireland noted that the natives ate and drank milk "above twenty several sorts of ways and what is strangest for the most part love it best when sourest". 

He was referring to bainne clabair (thick milk), something between old milk and sour cream.

In the 12th c. vision of MacConglinne, he traveled to "the Land of Food" where he saw a delicious drink made up of "very thick milk, of milk not too thick, of milk of long thickness, of milk of medium thickness, of yellow bubbling milk, the swallowing of which needs chewing"...

Medieval British military advisors proposed that the best way to suppress Irish rebellions "would be just to kill all the cows because the majority of the population lived all summer on their cows’ milk"...

The second most important food were cereal products. The ordinary Irish people "ate tons of bread and porridge".

As for meet, it seems that "beef was most commonly consumed by the higher ranks of society, while pork was eaten by the common people..."

It is not surprising then that people so obsessed with butter, cheese and milk valued cattle above all else, to the point of being completely obsessed with them...

Fergus Kelly in his books "A Guide to Early Irish Law" and "Early Irish Farming" talks about cattle as currency in the early medieval Ireland. He gives the list of types of cattle used for payment and their relative value...

The basic unit was a milking cow, usually with her calf.  Different ancient texts give different exchange rates for different types, but they were all given as a fraction of the value of the milking cow. Example:

In-calf cow = two-thirds of a milking cow

Three-year-old heifer = half of milking cow

Two-year-old heifer = one third of milking cow

Yearling heifer = one quarter of milking cow

Yearling bullock = one eighth of milking cow

In one law text, there is an equal value given for a milking cow, a cumal (female slave), an ounce of silver and 2 sét (jewels)...

Cattle was so valued by the Irish, that Cattle raiding and plundering was an intrinsic part of the Old Irish (Scotish) way of life. To the extent that the most important old Irish epic is called Táin Bó Cúailnge which means "the driving-off , stealing, of cows of Cooley".

This epic which is more commonly known as "The cattle raid of Cooley" is a masterpiece of the early Irish literature. And as its name tells us it is a story about a cattle raid. A cattle raid ordered by the Queen Medb of Connacht who wanted to steal the champion bull of Ulster.

This lead to a bloody war between Ulster and Connacht which caused terrible devastation and many casualties on both sides. The most famous of these casualties was the Ulster hero Cú Chulainn, who died defending Ulster from the Connacht forces...

Táin Bó Cúailnge is traditionally set in the 1st century AD in an essentially pre-Christian "age of heroes". I think that the much better name for this period of the Irish history is the "age of armed shepherds"...

Shepherds had to be armed and skilled in battle if they wanted to protect their cattle from other armed shepherd who wanted to steal it. Eventually this must have lead to a formation of a warrior shepherd caste...

That this is probably what happened during the Irish Iron age can be seen from the emergence of the so called "cattle lords" or "cow lords" or "bóaire" in Irish. Bóaire was a freeman ranked below the noble grades but above the unfree...

He would own a share of land, which he inherited from members of his kin and which he could not sell without his kin's approval. He would normally have cattle given to him by a lord (the head of his clan) in exchange for entering into a clientship relationship...

The today Irish are still equally obsessed with milk and milk products...Especially butter...

Anyway, while I was reading all this, one question popped into my mind: is there anything special about the Irish, genetically, that makes them love milk so much?

After all, milk tolerance is not that common...Here is today's lactose tolerance distribution map. See how the maximum is in North Western Europe...Look how dark Ireland is...

So then I looked at the genetic maps and I noticed a strange correlation between R1b haplogroup distribution and the lactose tolerance distribution...I mean, look at Ireland...It's black...So I thought that these two things could be linked...

But then, while researching butter churns and cheese strains from Neolithic and Chalcholitic Central Europe, I came across the data that seems to point to the link between I2a and G2a haplogroups and the earliest cattle herding and milk processing cultures. I talked about this in my post "Milk, butter, cheese"...

Neolithic butter churn

Neolithic cheese strainer

I finished my above article still unsure whether it was I2a or R1b people who were the original milkmen...Well...Today I remembered this article about milk residues in Neolithic Irish cooking vessels...

All the vessels date to 4000-2500BC...Very very important...Why is this important? Because according to the latest genetic data, R1b people most likely didn't arrive to Ireland until mid 3rd millennium BC...

So who were the milking cow obsessed Neolithic Irish...I2a...Neolithic megalith builders...And milk drinkers...So is it possible that this is another indicator that the original lactose tolerance genes developed among the I2a people?

Did the Bronze, Iron, Medieval and Modern age R1b Irish get their love of milk and all things milky (and get the ability to process lactose) through mixing with the Neolithic I2a Irish? I think so...

Distribution of I2a and I2b haplogroups in Europe...

Sunwise

Q: "Which way to turn myself I know not?" 

A: "If you worship the gods, right-hand wise, I apprehend."

Ever wondered why "clockwise" means "circle to the right" and "anti clockwise" means "circle to the left"? 

Cause the original clocks were sundials

You can make a sundial by sticking a stick in the ground, and drawing a circle around it. As the sun moves from east to west, which is in the northern hemisphere "to the right" the shadow made by the sundial stick will move in the opposite direction, to the left...

But by doing that it will draw "rightward" circle around the sundial stick, with the stick, and the sun, always "on the right" side...This movement eventually became known as clockwise, but really it is "sunwise"...

Now for the Gaels (The Irish), doing thing "sunwise" was super important...

According to the 19th century ethnographers, no ceremony "religious or superstitious" could be performed without who ever performed it "turning sunwise" (from left to right)...

Turning to the left, counterclockwise, against the sun...was considered unlucky, evil and believe or not pagan, by the Christian church🙂 who completely adopted the "sunwise" turning as their own...And turning to the left became associated with curses, magic and witches...

In "Traces of the elder faiths in Ireland..." (1901) we can read that: "Camden relates that, in his day, when an Irishman happened to fall, he immediately, upon rising, turned three times to the right..."

In "The origin and history of Irish names of places" (1875) we can read that "Even at this day the Irish peasantry when they are burying their dead, walk at least once, sometimes three times, round the grave yard with the coffin from left to right"...

Also "To the south of the old church of Carran, county Clare, Ireland, there is a small cairn, around which the corpse is carried before burial in the churchyard"...and "whilst on the way to the cemetery, corpse is carried sunwise around the cross at Monkstown, county Dublin"...

Even today in Ireland when holy wells are visited at Gaelic festivals of Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasa, people would pray for health while walking "sunwise" around the wells...

Also processions around the churches are also performed "sunwise"...

The same belief is found among the Gaels in Scotland. In Scottish folklore, Sunwise or Sunward (clockwise), turning from east to west in the direction of the sun, was considered the "prosperous course"...

In "A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland" (1703) we can read that: "Some of the poorer sort of people in the Western Isles retain the custom of performing these circles "sunwise" about the persons of their benefactors three times, when they bless them"...

"Some are very careful when they set out to sea, that the boat be first rowed "sunwise", and if this be neglected, they are afraid their voyage may prove unfortunate"...

Also people avoided turning boats anti-clockwise at all if possible, cause it was bad luck to do so...

"When a Gael goes to drink out of a consecrated fountain, he approaches it by going round the place from east to west, and at funerals, the procession observes the same direction in drawing near the grave"...

"Hence also is derived the old custom of describing "sunwise" a circle, with a burning brand, about houses, cattle, corn and corn-fields, to prevent their being burnt or in any way injured by evil spirits, or by witchcraft"...

In Carmina Gadelica (1900) we find this prayer song performed on the Feast day of Mary, which says: 

"I went sunways round my dwelling,

In name of the Mary Mother,

Who promised to preserve me,

Who did preserve me,

And who will preserve me..."

In "The silver bough" (1959) we read that "The Caledonians paid a superstitious reverence to the sun"...

"Practically every religious festival began with the ceremony of walking thrice deiseil, that is, in the sunwise direction, round the circle, cairn, altar or bonfire that marked the site, the object of the rite being to aid the sun by virtue of mimetic magic"...

"Until recent times...at a wedding, the company went trice round the house before entering...expectant mothers went thrice round a church in order to ensure an easy delivery...fire was carried thrice round an infant before baptism to save it from the fate of changling"...

In " Waverley" Sir Walter Scott describes how the old Highlander, called in to attend the wounded Edward, walked round the patient three times, from east to west, "sunwise", and this ceremony was considered a matter of the utmost importance towards effecting a cure...

In "A smaller social history of ancient Ireland..." we can read that: "When a king of any grade ascended the throne, he usually made a visitation or royal progress through his kingdom, to receive allegiance and hostages from his sub-kings"...

"He moved leisurely in a round-about, "sunwise", from left to right; and during the whole journey, he was to be entertained, with all his retinue, free of charge, by those sub-chiefs through whose territories he passed: so that these visitations were called Free Circuits"🙂...

The arrival of Christianity changed nothing in this respect. Actually church adopted this custom wholeheartedly. "For instance, St. Patrick consecrated Armagh, as St. Senan did Scattery Island, each by walking sunwise with his followers in solemn procession round the site"...

But not all saints liked this right turning business. "At the battle of Cooldrumman, fought near Drumcliff, county Sligo, in the year 561, St. Columbkille, in his prayer before the contest, denounces his adversaries for employing pagan rites to assure victory"...

He anathematizes them as: "the host which has taken judgment from us, a host that marches round a earn" i.e. performs the desiul, walks "sunwise"...

"By the strange irony of fate the saint's manuscript of portion of the Holy Scriptures the origin of the conflict, hence styled the Cathach, or 'the book of the battle' became the battle-standard of his tribe, the Cinel Conaill"...

"And an old Irish manuscript recounts that before a fight 'it was proper the Cathach should be carried three times to the right round the army of the Cinel Conaill at going to battle...If that was done, 'it was certain they would return victorious'"...

And so the custom survived and the 10th c. Cormac's Glossary says that: "when the spirit of poetry met Chief poet in Ireland in the time of Guaire Aidhne king of Connaught in the 7th c. it went sunwise round poet and his people"...

And in the 12th c. Vision of Mac Conglinne we read that the hero when parting from his tutor went right-hand wise round the cemetery...

Dr. P. W. Joyce states that Tempo, a little village in Fermanagh is called in Irish An tIompú Deiseal (the right-hand turn) and that the place received its name, "no doubt, from the ancient custom of turning sunways, i.e. from left to right, in worship"...

It is also possible that the name refers to a bend in the Tempo River near the village. But there is also a local legend that Saint Patrick left a manuscript here on his way to Enniskillen and that he told his servant to "turn right" to go back and retrieve it...So...

The belief in the magical power of "sunwise turn" existed in England too...It was considered unlucky to travel in an anticlockwise (not sunwise) direction around a church...

19th c. antiquarian Mr. F. T. Elworthy recounts that: "in Somerset, quite recently, and within his own knowledge, a number of children were brought to be baptized, and, of course, were ranged in a group round the font"...

"The officiating minister, not being accustomed to such a number, or not knowing the custom, began with the child on his right hand, of course following on in order, and going round to the child on his left"...

"This action caused great indignation: parents, who had never before seen the importance of having their children baptized at all, were quite sure that now they had not been done properly"...

"...and that they must be taken to another church, 'to be done over again'. Thus it was held of far greater moment that the parson should proceed from left to right than it was that the children should be baptized or not"...

I don't know if this "superstition" once existed in other parts of Europe...If you have any info about it please post it in this thread... 

But it turns out, references to the "sunwise" turn in religious rituals exist in Roman and Greek culture...

And so in "On the Ceremonial Turn, Called Desiul" we find that in the comedy by Plautus, one of his characters says: "Which way to turn myself I know not"; the other jestingly replies, "If you worship the gods, right-hand wise, I apprehend;" Was Plautus here mocking "peasants"?

Anyway, I will stop here...

Sources:

"A smaller social history of ancient Ireland"

"Traces of the elder faiths in Ireland"

"The origin and history of Irish names of places"

"A description of the Western Islands of Scotland"

"Sanas Chormaic. Cormac's glossary"

"Carmina Gadelica"

"Silver bough"

"On the Ceremonial Turn, Called 'Desiul'"

"Meeting the sun"

Jani

Greeting of "Jāņi children" by the house owners during Jāņi (Yanee) day, Latvian summer solstice festival. Pic: Leonid Vladimirovic.

There is something strange about this Latvian holiday. It has part of what we find in Slavic mid summer rituals and part of what we find in Slavic beginning of summer rituals all mixed in one...

For instance, Gathering the fern flower ritual is in Slavic countries performed during mid summer Ivan dan (Jāņi dan) celebrations, just like in Latvia.  

Bonfire lighting which is done in Latvia on the eve of the Jāņi day, is another ritual which is in Slavic countries done on Ivan dan. Pic: Jāņi bonfire 

I talked about this Slavic custom in my post "Slavic pyramids" 

But, gathering flowers and making flower wreaths is in Latvia done on mid summer, Jāņi day.

While in Slavic (Balkan) countries this is done at the beginning of the summer, in late April, early May...I talked about this in my post "Flower girls"...

And particularly interesting is the belief in Latvia that "medicinal herbs picked on Jāņi day have special powers and are particularly potent". In Slavic (Balkan) countries the belief is that the "medicinal herbs picked at the  beginning of the summer have special powers are are particularly potent". Which is when medicinal herbs are gathered...I talked about this in my post "Herb Friday"...

Finally, Latvian belief that"girls should, on Jāņi day, wash their faces with the morning dew, so their face will always be white and beautiful" is in Slavic (Balkan) cultures and in Celtic (Gaelic) cultures is done at the beginning of summer. I talked about this in my post "Morning dew"...

I wonder if this is an example of customs and rituals, which as they moved up north, to the colder parts of Europe, were moved from the beginning of summer to the middle of summer, to fit with the local climate (medicinal herbs flowering later and dew appearing later)...

The reason why I believe flower wreath, medicinal herbs and morning dew rituals didn't originate in Latvia, and were originally performed at the beginning of summer, is because both the Irish and Serbian traditions agree when dew face wash should be done (beginning of summer)

As we know the Irish and the Serbs didn't really have much cultural contacts in say, few thousand years...🙂 So we could be pretty sure that this is an ancient custom preserved by both people independently, and not borrowed from each other recently...

Anyway, very interesting I think and worth further research...