The Angry Redhead

"When setting out to sea, avoid people with red hairmaking of Ireland herself. Emain Macha was
for they bring bad luck to a ship"."Conchobar's capital - the seat of power in Ulaid
In ancient Ireland if a traveler were to happen upon a(Ulster). The dun was founded by Queen Macha the
woman with red hair he must turn around and startRed-Haired, the first reliably documented ruler in Irish
his journey all over again. Red heads bring bad luck toHistory.
a ship, don't sail with one on board. Redheads seemHer father, Aod Ruad (Red Hugh) was one of a
to be relatively recent in evolutionary terms, onlytriumvirate with his brothers Dithorba and Cimbaoth.
being with us for about 20,000 years but in thatThey had an arrangement that each would reign for
short time a a whole body of superstition has built upseven years in turn. Stories tell of three times seven
around them.guarantees to ensure that each king handed over
There must have been some advantage to havingsovereignty at the end of his seven years -
red hair and pale skin. One reason for this is that theguarentees to ensure the righteousness of each
fairer your skin, the more vitamin D it can produce -king's reign so that there would be an abundance of
a bonus in areas with hardly any sunlight - or thefruit every year, that every colour of dye would be
gene underpinning this characteristic, the melanocortinfast and that no women would die in childbirth. These
1 receptor (MC1R), is just due to chance. Was Natureguarantees were - seven druids, to scorch them with
indifferent to hair colour in places without highspells - seven poets, to shame them with satires -
sunshine ? Whatever the reason, the result is theand seven champions, to wound and burn them if
beautiful shades of sun- kissed hair that we call red.they didn't fulfil their obligations. Each took three
Natural redheads are a rare breed, perhaps 5% ofturns as king, sixty-three years in all.
the global population, and historically have alwaysÁed Ruad drowned before he finished his
been treated with prejudice and suspicion, or withterm of office and although Macha should have ruled
amazement and awe. Fiery tresses are widelyher father's incompleted term, her two uncles
supposed to be a 'Celtic gene' as all red heads areopposed her. Macha led an army to war, where she
MC1R variants that derive from European populationskilled Dithorba in battle. (Dithorba's five sons had fled
and the prevalence of these alleles is highest in Celticto Connacht, where they plotted to overthrown
countries .But none of this tells us anything of theMacha but she captured them in a fascinating
superstitions, or why we believe that redheads aremanner.) Then with equal skill and mastery she
fiery and hot-tempered. One answer lies in Ireland.turned her attention towards her uncle Cimbaoth,
Macha, the red war-goddess makes a vengefulfirst defeating and then compelling him to formally
appearance in the second story of Ulster, in a terriblemarry her. Macha founded the city of Emain Macha,
story of humilation. This Macha placed the curse uponand legend tells that she marked the boundary of her
the men of Ulaid, for their mistreatment of her duringhill-fortress with her brooch and forced Dithorba's
her pregnancy. The curse was that during Ulster'ssons into building the dun as slaves.
hours of greatest need, the men of Ulster wouldCimbaeth became the high king of Ireland, and ruled
suffer violent pangs like those of a woman givingin Tara for 27 years with Macha until his death,
birth. But Macha Mong Ruad, who also railled againstleaving Macha in sole power. Emania Macha, her
the men of Ireland, was a great Queen in ancientlegacy, later became renowned as the fortress of
times.....the Red Branch.
Today, the silent grasses cover the mound of EmainWas it this Macha, understandably angered with her
Macha, a little north-west of Armagh, but this ancientmale relatives, who inspired the myth of the fiery-
hill fortress played a vital and vibrant role in thetempered redhead?
fortunes and history of Ulster and indeed in the