The Ancient Fair of Carman
" Listen, O Lagenians of the monuments, Ye truth-upholding hosts,Until you get from me, from every source, The pleasant history of far-famed Carman."
From: 600 C.E. To: 600 C.E.
Location: Ireland
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
The Ancient Fair of Carman, from the Books of Ballymote and Leinster, ca. 7th century, and translated by Eugene O'Curry.
1. Listen, O Lagenians of the monuments, Ye truth-upholding hosts, Until you get from me, from every source, The pleasant history of far-famed Carman.
2. Carman, the field of a splendid fair, With a widespread unobstructed green The hosts who came to celebrate it, On it they contested their noble races.
3. The renowned field is the cemetery of kings, The dearly loved of noble grades; There are many meeting mounds, For their ever loved ancestral hosts.
4. To mourn for queens and for kings, To denounce aggression and tyranny, Often were the fair hosts in autumn Upon the smooth brow of noble old Carman.
5. Was it men, or was it a man of great valour, Or was it a woman of violent jealousy, Gave the name without the merit of noble deeds, Bestowed the true name of beautiful Carman
6. It was not men, and it was not a fierce man, Bit a single woman fierce, rapacious, Great her rustling and her tramp, From whom Carman received its first name.
7. Carman, the wife of the fierce Mac Dibad, Son of Dorcha, of legions and choice hospitality, The son of Aneges, of rich rewards, The renowned hero of many battles.
8. ..Carman, who gave death and battles, Once so destructive with her spells, Received her fate, as she well deserved, Among the oaks of these firm mounds.
9. Hither came, to celebrate her [funeral] rites, To lament her, to inaugurate her Guba, The Tuatha Dé, upon the noble beautiful plain: This was the first regular fair of Carman.
10. The grave of Carman, by whom was it dug. Will you learn, or do you know? According to all our beloved forefathers, It was Bres, son of Eladan. Listen.
11. Four score and five fair hundreds, Is the number, not false, of years, From Carman of demonaic spells, To the manifested birth of Jesus after humanity.
12. Two years, thirty, and four hundred, From the birth of Christ not small the span To Crimthan over Carman's plain, To Patrick the great and glorious
13. Heaven, Earth, sun, moon, and sea, Fruits, fire, and riches, Mouths, ears, alluring eyes, Feet, hands, noses, and teeth.
14. Steeds, swords, beautiful chariots, Spears, shields, human faces, Dew, fruits, blossoms, and foliage, Day and night, a heavy flooded shore.
15. These in fulness all were there, The tribes of Banba without lasting grief, To be under the protection of the fair, Every third year without prohibition.
16. The gentiles of the Gaedhil did celebrate, In Carman, to be highly boasted of, A fair without [breach of] law, without crime, Without a deed of violence, without dishonour
17. ...Patrick and Bridget together, Caemgen and Colum Cille [Columba], They are dominant over every host, And they durst not be "cavalcaded."
18. The fair of the saints, with pomp is celebrated, it is meet at first to pay homage to God, The fair of the high king of bright heaven, It is after the [latter] it comes.
19. The fair of the women of Leinster in the afternoon, A noble most delightful host; it is no false assertion: Women whose fame is not small abroad, Their fair is the third fair.
20. ..Seven games, as to you we have told, That is what Patrick ordained, On every day of the sportive week, Enjoining that to sweet devotions they should ever listen. Listen.
21. ...On the Kalends of August without fail, They repaired thither every third year; There aloud with boldness they proclaimed The rights of every law, and the restraints.
22. To sue, to levy, to controvert debts, The abuse of steeds in their career, Is not allowed to contending racers, Elopements, arrests, distraints.
23. That no man goes into the women's Airecht, That no women go into the Airecht of fair clean men; That no abduction is heard of, Nor repudiation of husbands or of wives.
24. Whoever transgresses the law of the assembly, Which Benen with accuracy indelibly wrote, Cannot be spared upon family composition, But he must die for his transgression.
25. These are its many great privileges: Trumpets, Cruits, wide-mouthed horns, Cuisig, Timpanists, without weariness, Poets and petty rhymesters;
26. Fenian tales of Find, "an untiring entertainment," Destructions, Cattle-preys, Courtships, Inscribed tablets, and books of trees, Satires, and sharp-edged runes;
27. Proverbs, maxims, royal precepts, And the truthful instruction of Fithal, Occult poetry, topographic etymologies, The precepts of Cairpri and of Cormac
28. ...Pipes, fiddles, chainmen, Bone-men, and tube-players, A crowd of babbling painted masks, Roarers and loud bellowers.
29. They exert all their utmost powers For the magnanimous king of the Barrow; Until the noble king in proper measure bestows Upon each art its rightful meed.
30. Elopements, slaughters, musical choruses, The accurate synchronisms of noble races, The succession of the sovereign kings of Bregia, Their battles, and their stern valour.
31. Such is the arrangement of the fair, By the lively ever happy host; May they receive from the Lord A land with choicest fruits...
32. ...Twenty-one raths of enduring fame, In which hosts are under earth confined: A conspicuous cemetery of high renown, By the side of delightful noble Carman.
33. Seven mounds without touching each other, Where the dead have often been lamented; Seven plains, sacred without a house, For the funeral games of Carman.
34. Three markets in that auspicious country: A market of food, a market of live stock, And the great market of foreign Greeks, Where gold and noble clothes were wont to be.
35. The slope of the steeds, the slope of the cooking; The slope of the embroidering women; To no man of the friendly hosts Will they give adulation, will they give reproach.
36. There comes of not celebrating it, Baldness, failure, and early grayness, Kings without wisdom, without elegance, Without hospitality, without truthfulness.
37. Hitherto warlike and brave have been The numerous hosts of Labrad's house; All assailing hosts, are compelled to be shy; They are challenged, and they challenge not.
38. A welcome with the saintly Host of Heaven, May I receive, with the beautiful, all-perfect God; The King of graceful hosts may I reach, A king who to every prayer will listen! Listen.
Eugene O'Curry, On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish (London: Williams and Norgate, 1873), 523-547.
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