Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology

A BOG OAK SCULPTURE REPRESENTING THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE

I do not know if the mural and the bog oak sculpture are in any way connected but I decided to include both in this series of images.

The Salmon of Knowledge (Irish: An Bradán Feasa) is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as “The Wise” and was once transformed into a salmon.

For about twenty years I spent every second year in Trim (Ireland) and every other year in Brussels (Belgium) … this year 2023 I will be on my own in Dublin. Last December I had a new camera, Sony FX30, with me when I visited Trim and was not aware that Lightroom and Capture One could not process RAW files produced by the FX30 and I was unable to do anything with most of the photographs from the 25 and 26th of December. However I did also, as a backup, use an Apple 12 Pro.

The National Tidy Towns Competition has resulted in a number of striking murals within the town of Trim . One of the most colourful is a depiction of Gulliver at the old mart, which has become quite a tourist attraction. The painting of Gulliver and other murals at Spicer’s wall on Watergate Street and underneath the bridge at the Maudlins roundabout are the work of professional artist Meaghan Quinn. The mural at Spicers is a recreation of a 1910 photograph taken in the area.

In the summer of 2007 Joey Burns used a large two thousand year old piece of bog oak on location to produce the Hunger for Knowledge sculpture. The inscriptions relate to the work of William Rowan Hamilton on quaternions. The bog oak came from Gallon Bog, Co. Cavan, close to Carnaross Co. Meath.

The Salmon story figures prominently in The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, which recounts the early adventures of Fionn mac Cumhaill. In the story, an ordinary salmon ate nine hazelnuts that fell into the Well of Wisdom (an Tobar Segais) from nine hazel trees that surrounded the well. By this act, the salmon gained all the world’s knowledge. The first person to eat of its flesh would in turn gain this knowledge.

The poet Finn Eces (or Finegas) spent seven years fishing for this salmon. Finally Finn caught the salmon and gave the fish to Fionn, his servant and son of Cumhaill, with instructions to cook it but on no account eat any of it. Fionn cooked the salmon, turning it over and over, but when he touched the fish with his thumb to see if it was cooked, he burnt his finger on a drop of hot cooking fish fat. Fionn sucked on his burned finger to ease the pain. Little did Fionn know that all the salmon’s wisdom had been concentrated into that one drop of fat. When he brought the cooked meal to Finn Eces, his master saw that the boy’s eyes shone with a previously unseen wisdom. Finn Eces asked Fionn if he had eaten any of the salmon. Answering no, the boy explained what had happened. Finn Eces realized that Fionn had received the wisdom of the salmon, so gave him the rest of the fish to eat. Fionn ate the salmon and in so doing gained all the knowledge of the world. For the rest of his life, Fionn could draw upon this knowledge merely by biting his thumb. The deep knowledge and wisdom gained from the Salmon of Knowledge allowed Fionn to become the leader of the Fianna, the famed heroes of Irish myth.

Joey Burns grew up along the Cavan-Meath border and spent his early years touring as a performing musician and studying the art of wood carving. He facilitated two large-scale sculpture projects to coincide with Cavan town hosting the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. In 2011 Burns was commissioned by Cavan County Council to produce a series of sculptures in Dún a Rí Forest Park, Kingscourt. Burns has been commissioned to produce work for visiting dignitaries and Irish Taoisigh.