the game

The game is based on the celtic cosmological
template of the four directions meeting at
the sacred centre (celtic cross) as reflected
in the sacred land of Ireland itself ...

Ulster in the north (home of the Warrior),
Leinster in the east (home of the Prophet),
Munster in the south (home of the Poet),
Connaught in the west (home of the Priestess)
and Midhe at the centre (home of the
High-Kings and High-Queens)

BranBán

Each province has a queen or king and four moghauns (serfs) at their
disposal. The four provinces are trying to occupy the central domain,
thus becoming new high-queen (mor-rigan) or new high-king (ard-ri).

The winner (branánn) is entitled to hear her or his white oracle
(branbán), based on the last positions of the playing pieces on the
board. As each one of the 25 sticks contains a hidden tree-rune
(ogham) there are naturally many variations to the actual reading.
The oracle will be read as a rhyming riddling quatrain of tree lore.
Further expanding the board game as a cosmological template
each positional line on the board also corresponds to animal-guides,
to magical weapons (i.e.spear of lugh), to several gems, to goddesses
(i.e.macha) and to the four mystical cities so reflecting the
celtic idea of the interconnectivity of all life
- animals, plants, minerals and otherworld influences ...

Finally just a bit of folklore about the origin
of the word branánn... it crops up in an old
book of poetry about the O’Hara family. <Book of O’Hara>
"Am branann coimhge ar clár magh-mór".
(I am the chess king guardian of the great plain.)

These poets referred to themselves as "branánns" because they
were the ones who really understood that this game was but
a microcosm of the real game of kings and queens
being played out on the great plains of Ireland!!

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