hist-games: Romano-Celtic Game reference?

[Chas]

I was doing a little reading on Celtic mythology and stumbled 
across this under a description of Samhain, and was wondering if 
anyone knows more about this one?

     "In a curious early Irish text we hear of a strange boardgame 
which the boys of Rome play. At one end of the board is a cailleach 
with a dragon which she sends against a maiden with the lamb. The game 
was instituted by the sibyl, says the story, and explains why Samhain 
is so called. This contest is a clear remembrance of combat between 
winter and spring which in Celtic terms were governed by the Cailleach 
(the old hag of winter) and Brigit (the maid with the lamb)." -British 
and Irish Mythology, An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend, by Caitlin & 
John Matthews, Diamond Bks., 1995.

Chas
MacGregor Historic Games

P.S. I recently added a graphic of the original Ballinderry 
"Fitchneal" board to my web site at: 
www.historicgames.com/Fitchneal.html

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