Fionn Cycle Folklore Project

The Fenian (Fionn) Cycle concerns the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, who is said to have defended Ireland and Scotland from foreign and supernatural threat during a legendary third-century Golden Age. It is the most prolific body of narrative in the Gaelic tradition, spanning 1, 400 years of continuous literary and oral transmission. The corpus of modern Fenian folklore is one of the most important reservoirs of intangible cultural heritage in the Gaelic languages, exceeding 3, 400 orally-collected stories and songs in four languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and English. The Fionn Folklore Database provides unprecedented global access to these much- loved stories and songs.