Canola, Goddess of the Harp
SYMBOLS: Irish Harp.
USUAL IMAGE: Of Canola, none that I could find, though images of harps have been found carved in stone that are thousands of years old.
HOLY BOOKS: None other then memory and the harp.
HOLY DAYS: Unknown.
RELATIVES: Unknown. Perhaps a husband or lover named Cuil.
SYNODEITIES: Ushas (Hindu), Apollo, (Greek), Orpheus (Greek Hero), Ihy (Egyptian), Muraja (Buddhist), Jim Morrison (Pop Culture).
DETAILS: Finding information about Canola is no easy task. In fact what little I have been able to find comes down to the same thing repeated over and over again giving me the impression that they are all taking it from the same source, the origin of which I have not been able to find.
The story is that one night after having a disagreement with a lover she left their bed and went wandering. Travailing far in this agitated state she stops when she hears music the likes of which she has never heard before.
The music lulls her to sleep, waking at dawn she finds that the music she heard had been made by the wind, blowing through the rotted sinews cling to the skeleton of a whale. Inspired by the sight and remembering it's music she built the first harp.
However, I have also found another story. In this one it is a man by the name of Cuil, son of Midhuel who one night dashes into the night running from his ceaselessly nagging wife Canoclach Mhor, and then puts them both to sleep.
Waking the next day Cuil makes the same discovering as above and goes to a tree where he carves out the first harp or cruit. (Good thing he ran with tools ah?)
Which is the "true" story? Did the nagging wife Canoclach come from the Goddess Canola? Did the Goddess Canola come from someone tired of stories about nagging wives?
I would not hazard a guess but will leave it to you. And yet here is Canola (no relation to the oil) as the Goddess of the Month. What say we take the middle road and say that the real goddess here is the harp itself.
This ancient instrument is of unknown origin, but can be found in stone carvings in Celtic lands, hieroglyphics in Egypt, and in Viking images.
There are many myths that have a harp as one of it's main components, and let us not forget the bards of old who had to be able to produce three types of music Goltrai, the crying music.
Gentrai, the laughing music and Suantri, the sleeping or healing music.
I think the harp will do just fine.
Terry Keith McCombs
magentashadow@webtv.net
