Eog Gwybodaeth - The Salmon of Knowledge

By Dave Rimmer

Coracles were used to catch salmon. So a salmon could be an apt symbol.

But this is a Celtic Knot Salmon. A continuous chain of interconnected links. Like the twists and turns of a good conversation ending up where you started. And there are a lot of knots in a coracle.

More importantly this is the Salmon of Knowledge, which in Celtic Mythology lived in the River Boyne in Ireland - the inspiration for our very own coracle.

In ancient times there were nine hazel trees growing on the banks of the Boyne.

Hazel are important trees in Irish folklore. They are associated with wisdom and poetic inspiration. The hazel tree is also an ideal material for building coracles.

Each tree dropped a nut into the river. Each nut was in turn eaten by the salmon which acquired the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of the trees.

Anyone eating the salmon would gain this knowledge. An old druid made it his mission to catch the salmon and thereby gain the knowledge. He eventually did find it and gave it to his servant to cook - warning him not to eat the flesh. The obedient servant did this but in doing so burnt his thumb on the hot fat and immediately sucked his thumb to sooth the pain. All the knowledge in the world was transferred to him and he went on to become great and wise chieftain.

There is a similar story in Welsh mythology. Here the recipient of the knowledge was Taliesin, who, it is said, was found in a coracle. So, the twists and turns of thesalmon of knowledge brings us to Oracl Cwrwgl; the Oracle in a Coracle!

The Celtic Coracle Knot

I have been thinking about a decoration for that and came up with the Celtic Coracle Knot - inspired by the black and white images of the Conwy Coracle that have followed us from the “shop” to the square.  

It’s based on the “Dara Knot” - a classic Celtic design.  The Dara is a completely round knot and said to represent the roots of an oak tree (D for Duir in Irish or Derw in Welsh).  I’ve stretched it to a coracle shape and perhaps we could invent a myth about it representing the tributaries of the Conwy to create one continuous river ????

I now know (thanks to Urtha) that Duir is the seventh letter of the tree alphabet (Beth, Luis, Nion) and Coll (Hazel) is the ninth ….. so that’s why there where nine trees and nine nuts in the Salmon of Knowledge story!  I’ve also learnt that Finn MacCool - the recipient of the salmon's wisdom - should be Finn Mac Coll - son of the hazel!