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“Fia” Rocket’s Red Branch Fian AKA “Purple Pistol”
Story behind Fia’s Registered Name
Description: The
historical institution of the fian is known from references in early
medieval Irish law tracts. A fian was made up of landless young men,
often young aristocrats who had not yet come into their inheritance
of land. A member of a fian was called a fénnid; the leader of a
fian was a rígfénnid (literally "king-fénnid).Geoffrey Keating, in
his 17th century History of Ireland, says that during the winter the
fianna were quartered and fed by the nobility, during which time
they would keep order on their behalf, but during the summer, from
Beltaine to Samhain, they were obliged to live by hunting for food
and for pelts to sell. Keating’s History is more a compilation of
traditions than a reliable history, but in this case scholars point
to references in early Irish poetry and the existence of a closed
hunting season for deer and wild boar between Samhain and Beltaine
in medieval Scotland as corroboration. Some legendary depictions of
fianna seem to conform to this historical reality: for example, in
the Ulster Cycle the druid Cathbad leads a fian of twenty-seven men
which fights against other fianna and kills the twelve
foster-fathers of the Ulster princess Ness. Ness, in response, leads
her own fian of twenty-seven in pursuit of Cathbad. However, the
stories of the Fiannaíocht, set around the time of Cormac mac Airt,
depict the fianna as a single standing army in the service of the
High King, although it contains two rival factions, the Clann
Baíscne of Leinster, led by Fionn mac Cumhaill, and the Clann Morna
of Connacht, led by Goll mac Morna, and lives apart from society,
surviving by hunting. The so-called Fenian Cycle is a collection of
legends regarding the live and heroic deeds of Fionn MacCumhail,
sometime also known as Finn Mac Coul, and his elite corps the Fianna
Éireann. According to these legends the Fianna Éireann, also known
as Champions of the Red Branch, were the most daring, courageous and
skilled warriors ever. They only obeyed the Ard Rí, or High King,
and their own extremely high moral standards. Scholars assume that
the Arthurian saga originates from the Fenian Cycle. The concept of
courtly love for example, which is usually ascribed to King Arthur
and the Knights of the Round Table, was already practiced by the
Fianna Éireann.
The Champions of the Red
Branch had three mottoes: • Glaine ár g-croí (Purity of our hearts)
• Neart ár n-géag (Strength of our limbs) • Beart de réir ár m-briathar
(Action to match our speech) Training Membership was subject to
rigorous tests. In one such test the applicant would stand in a
waist-deep hole armed with a shield while nine warriors threw spears
at him; if he was wounded, he failed. In another his hair would be
braided, and he would be pursued through the forest; he would fail
if he was caught, if a branch cracked under his feet, or if the
braids in his hair were disturbed. He would have to be able to leap
over a branch the height of his forehead, pass under one as low as
his knee, and pull a thorn from his foot without slowing down. He
also needed to be a skilled poet.
Later use of the term In the
second half of the nineteenth century the name Fianna or Fenian was
used as umbrella term for nationalistic movements, such as the
Fenian Brotherhood. In more recent history, the name Fianna Éireann
has been used by a number of Irish Republican scouting
organizations. Fianna Fáil ("the Fianna of Ireland"; sometimes
rendered "the soldiers of destiny") has been used as a sobriquet for
the Irish Volunteers; on the cap badge of the Irish Army; in the
opening line of the Irish-language version of the Irish national
anthem; and as the name of the Fianna Fáil political party, the
largest in the Republic of Ireland.
References: http://www.clandonald-heritage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66:fionn-agus-fenians&catid=38:families-or-branches-&Itemid=57
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fian
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