Fionn mac Cumhaill was here

A throwback photo to last fall when I visited Giant’s Causeway and was absolutely obsessed. At the time, we got a little pamphlet thing detailing the history of the Causeway and a recording to listen to that mentioned some sort of giant dude in relation to these weird rocks, but I didn’t pay attention to either one. Turns out, I’m doing one of my six research papers on that very same giant dude. His name is Fionn mac Cumhaill, at least in Irish. The anglicised version is “Finn McCool” (and that’s how you pronounce it) which means he was a pretty great hero of Ireland.

Like most mythological heroes and outlaws, he probably was a real, live, guy at some point, except not a giant (probably). He was kind of like Robin Hood in this regard, except the details on his real life made things slightly more probable.

Fionn had a ton of adventures and eventually ended up getting the credit for a number of amazing things. First of all, young Fionn started out life training under a druid who wanted to help him catch a magic salmon so that he could get all the wisdom in the world. They went fishing, Fionn caught it and when he was cooking it, he accidentally burned his thumb on it and put the thumb in his mouth, therefore getting all the wisdom. And from then on when he had important decisions to make, he would just suck on his thumb. I guess you could say this guy was 30 (or any other age) going on 3.

I have a few questions about that, namely:

• Why did they catch one salmon and not a ton if no one knew what the magic salmon looked like
• Why were they all surprised when Fionn sucked his thumb and got the wisdom if he was going to eat it anyways?
• Why did he suck his thumb because obviously he got the wisdom by eating/drinking the juice and it didn’t reside in his thumb?

The world may never know. The library database certainly didn’t.

He is rocking the Legolas hair because “Fionn” means “fair one” in Irish

Anyways, back to Giant’s Causeway. That salmon thing was a little diversion and I told myself I’d only discuss one myth at a time… sooooo… two for one deal today!

The Giant’s Causeway is this mysterious weird completely unexplained geological formation. All the stones are in perfect hexagons. Why?! How?! When?! WHO?! Well, the who is attributed to Fionn. There’s several different versions, but in one version he’s a literal giant and gets mad at a giant in Scotland or here in Ireland (depending on which side you want to put him on) and they start throwing these rocks at each other. “HEY! THESE HEXAGONS ARE PERFECT GIANT KILLING WEAPONS!”

Another version says that Fionn found these handy hexagons (again this bugs me because it fails to explain the neat hexagon shape) and used them to create a stepping stone path to Scotland so he could pass back and forth at his leisure.

While they do make good stepping stones, I don’t yet possess the strength to swim the rest of the way to Scotland.

There’s probably lots more to say on that, but we’ll stop there and you can think of a reason why these things are hexagon shaped. Maybe just because he was a true artist and fancied the shape in particular. You go, Fionn mac Cumhaill! 40,000 basalt stepping stones for you!

Over Hill

I could have breathed in this view for hours, not just the mere minutes I stood there taking a photo. Giant’s Causeway, each time I visit, never fails to take my breath away in some new way. There are just so many different perspectives of it to capture and see. Before this visit, I’d been down along the winding road that leads along the sea and to the hexagon rocks, but a few weeks later my friends and I couldn’t pass up another trip back there since we had no idea when the weather would be worsening. It certainly didn’t happen this day–it really felt as nice as it looks in this photo, a balmy 65 degrees fahrenheit.

Everything–all the light falling on things–was golden all day. It was the most tranquil yet exciting six mile walk I’ve ever taken. You would be ambling along in the trampled grass looking over the cliffs and down to the rocks and sea, and all of a sudden, reach these stone steps and the grass and blue sky and landscape and serenity would just be there in infinity before you. The stairs, paths, and stiles were fascinating because they didn’t have to be this modern, 21st century thing. They were simple and untouched just like the cliffs and the rocks, whose only job was to guide thousands of gaping tourists before me from the visitor’s centre to Dunluce castle. Walking along here was freedom–nothing holding me in, the paths just gently guiding me to the best spots and showing me the most stunning scenery. My friend and I both agreed that this is what we dreamed of when we wanted to come to Ireland. Indeed, it’s what I’d been imagining my whole life. That freedom, that landscape, that sea air, that soft grass and warm meadows and the perfect still, harmonious silence only broken by the sounds of animals and our feet on the grass. Yes, if you ever go to Giant’s Causeway, every part of it will cast a spell over you.