A “Bruidhean” is a Gaelic term which denotes a sacred dwelling place. The term is said to denote a large banqueting hall, or a house, hostel, or mansion, which may or may not also imply the Otherworld. A bruidhean was always set at the junction of several roads, with a door facing every road. It had a light burning all night, and was always well stocked with food and drink. The Bruighean was by law, given the same protection as the king of the territory. Each Bruidhean of our myths had its own cooking vessel, a cauldron of plenty, which when required could feed a multitude and never ran empty. There were, in different narratives, half a dozen Bruidhean in early Ireland.  We get a great description of one such Bruidhean in the myth known as “The Story of Mac Da Thó’s Pig”.  It tells us…

“There were seven doors in each hall, seven roads through it, and seven fireplaces therein. There were seven cauldrons, with an ox and a salted pig in each. The person who came that way would thrust the flesh fork into the cauldron, and whatever he obtained with the first thrust he ate, and if he did not obtain anything with the first thrust, he ate nothing”.

The Cauldron of Plenty is a theme we see consistently in Irish Mythology. Such vessels had wonderous abilities, not only would they never run dry, they also could revive the dead and bring them back to the living world. They filled brim full of promise, of food and life and ale and whiskey as well. There is a Celtic Triad that says there were three cauldrons in every homestead; “Three caldrons that are in every fort: the caldron of running, the caldron goriath, the caldron of guests.” – suggesting that cauldrons had a practical and spiritual purposes.

Cauldrons were of course essential to maintaining life and thus were a symbol of well being and health. They played a central part around the hearth and the home and their use in ritual and everyday life stretches back to before the Bronze Age. Many huge cauldrons have been unearthed across the globe with a capacity of 60-70 litres, so from this we deduce that they must have had a ceremonial purpose. It makes sense, huge cauldrons were used in the great tribal gatherings whatever the occasion. There is much evidence also to suggest that cauldrons were used in funeral rites and as reliquaries that held the remains of the dead. Cauldrons symbolise the Goddess and also represent the womb.

There are many cauldrons in the so-called canon of Celtic myth. The Cauldron of Ceridwen was used by her to brew a potion that would imbue knowledge and wisdom on all who supped from it. The concoction had to be boiled and stirred for a year and a day. In order to achieve this, she had to employ one person to stoke the fire and another to stir the contents. Ceridwen’s intention was to keep this potion exclusively for her son, something any mother would aspire to surely.  Gwion Bach whilst stirring the pot scalded himself on his hand by accident, and automatically put his hand to his mouth to ease the pain. As happened with Fionn when he tasted the Salmon of Knowledge, he was immediately imbued with all of the wisdom intended for Ceridwen’s son.

The Cauldron of Dynwych, one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain was reputed to have been able to distinguish between a brave man and a coward. The meat cooked for a brave man would tenderise whereas the meat for a coward would never cook.

Archaeological discovers in Ireland show us other tantalising glimpses of cauldrons from the remote past. The Castlederg bronze cauldron dates from 700-600 BC, and was found in a bog in Co Tyrone. Crafted from offset bands of sheet bronze and held in place by rows of conical rivets. Similar to about fifteen other ones of this type found in Ireland, it is based on what is thought to be a Greek prototype. It is thought it had a ritual as well as a social purpose, this cauldron was owned by someone significant.

The most famous Irish legend, the Táin Bó Cualinge, centres on the struggle for control of a magical bull. Myth tells us of an elaborate ritual performed by the druids to determine which high king was chosen. In this ritual a bull was sacrificed, and his meat cooked in a cauldron. The druid ate the flesh and went into a trance wrapped in the bull hide and the identity of the proper king would be revealed to the druid in a dream. As the cauldron of plenty it joins all of the primal forces of power, fertility, proper kingship with the most basic fact of life: the need to eat. A ruler who can’t guarantee the one has no right to claim the other.

The Lisdrumturk Cauldron was discovered in Co Monaghan, again in a bog. Described as an exceptional example of Late Bronze Age metalworking and a high-status object. Its burial in a bog may be indicative of it serving a purpose in ritual activity. Fashioned from a series of bronze sheets riveted together to form a robust, water-tight vessel it stands 29.5cm high by 50cm in diameter. The Lisdrumturk Cauldron dates from around 800 BC and was carried by handles of cast bronze set in the rim.

The Gundestrup Cauldron dating from the Iron Age is considered the most spectacular cauldron from the Celtic pantheon discovered by archaeologists.  Covered in intricate Celtic iconography and forged in silver, it is exquisite for its time. Thought to have been commissioned by an unknown, high-ranking Celt, for ceremonial purposes, the icons depicted on it are thought to be characters from myth as well as deities and their symbols. It has detailed representations of the Irish deities Manannán, the Dagda and Medb, and shows an elaborate bull-slaying ritual as well as a giant god holding a human upside-down over a cauldron. Some think this is a representation of a person being reborn, a concept stolen by the Christian in baptism.

Scholars think in Celtic times people came together around a cauldron socially and whilst it is unlikely silver vessels were used in cooking this might have been used as a ceremonial serving vessel.  We know from the bardic traditions that story telling rated highly as a social activity. Whilst we may never know its actual purpose it does serve to illustrate how highly cauldrons were valued by the ancients.

In the Irish pantheon the great father God Dagda of the Tuatha Dé Danann owned such a pot, and nobody was ever found wanting at it. His was the penultimate vessel though, known as the Coire Ansic “The Cauldron of Restitution” literally the “un-dry cauldron” it was one of the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann. It is said that the world-renowned hospitality of the Irish stems from his cauldron, which was available to everyone of good character to sate themselves. The Coire Ansic could make a concoction that contained the whole carcass of several sheep, goats, and pigs all at the same time, whilst mixed with eighty measures of milk and fat.

It never ran out and the ladle of this vessel was so large that two men could fit into it.  The Dagda was first and foremost a Druid King and was renowned for his paternal generosity, nobody of his kingdom could be left wanting. Associated with fertility, agriculture, manliness, and valour, Druidry and wisdom, he held dominion over life and death, the weather, and crops, as well as time and the seasons. Dagda was a superhuman being with magical prowess, all of his strength derived from his knowledge of the hidden, the highest kind of wisdom, and his cauldron epitomised this.

Cauldrons were multi-functional, both as a life-giving nurturing vessel and as the means by which you were transported from this world to the Otherworld. This symbol of rebirth and continuous abundance is constant in Irish mythology. And because of this duality perhaps, many cauldrons were imbued with supernatural qualities. Much was cooked up within the magic of the cauldron, all kinds of alchemy happened.  This metaphor of life and afterlife was stamped indelibly into the psyche of our ancients and their inherent belief system. What goes into the cauldron comes out transformed, this makes it a powerful symbol of divine wisdom and rebirth. The four elements are an inherent part of every cauldron: the pot and food that goes inside, water and brews made inside, the fire that heats the cauldron, and the steam and smoke that comes out.

It is the Coire Ansic positioned in the Great Hall in the Rites of Tara and around which everybody must gather when a divisive problem has arisen.  All persons who participate in the gathering, contribute what they have to the cauldron, so that it holds every form of sustenance used by the Irish.  All those present, lords, ladies, poets, druids, the Sidhe, must speak to the cauldron, instilling it with the knowledge and the purposes that they bring.  Then each in turn is brought to the cauldron, and receives a fork thrust out of it; and, in this way, through the magical power of the cauldron, the proper portion comes out to each.

Essentially in Irish myth cauldrons serve as the font of all wisdom, the womb of source as well as having nurturing, replenishing, and immortalising qualities. Finally, Brigid, the noted and great triple Goddess Brigid associated with Imbolc is often depicted with a cauldron. A daughter of the Dagda, she is Goddess of the Smiths and Poets, the one who deigns inspiration, a poet and the patron of filidh in her own right. She reminds us that there is a cauldron within and a cauldron without. There is a lovely poem in the annals called “The Cauldron of Posey” which is attributed to Amergin, the Milesian Ollamh and Nede Mac Adne, Chief Ollamh for Conchobhar Mac Nessa. It is a fascinating poem which alludes to three cauldrons born in every person, the Cauldron of Incubation, the Cauldron of Motion, and the Cauldron of Wisdom. These cauldrons which exist in different parts of the body, and it is in the process churning these cauldrons and gleaning wisdom and energy from them that we lead a successful life. Holding the energies of our physical health, our emotional wellbeing, and our creative souls intact, the cauldrons epitomise an essential touchstone of all that really matters in the world.

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Further Reading

1. Joseph Falaky Nagy, ‘Shamanic Aspects of the “Bruidhean” Tale’, History of Religions, 20:4 (May 1981) 302–322.
2. https://celt.ucc.ie/published/G303021.html
3. https://celt.ucc.ie/published/G301017/
4. https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1100derga.asp
5. http://www.summerlands.com/crossroads/library/threecau.htm
6. Henry, P.L., “The Cauldron of Poesy,” Studia Celtica #14/15, 1979/1980, pp. 114-128