[I] The Bull Feast. A ceremony associated with the choosing of the High Kings of Ireland. A druid would eat the flesh of a bull and drink its blood. He was then put to sleep by four other druids. The person that he dreamed of was the one chosen to become High King. If he lied about his vision, the gods would destroy him.
Celtic society, and therefore mythology, abounds in prohibitions, taboos, or bonds that, when placed on a person or persons, compel them to obey instructions. From the sagas, as well as the Celtic law systems, the taboos come down primarily as a modus operandi put at the disposal of the druids to ensure their authority and the efficacy of their edicts. In Ireland they had two particular powers: the geis and the glam dicín. The geis tended to be more complex. It was primarily a prohibition imposed on a particular person and, since it influenced the whole fate of that person, it could not be cast or imposed lightly. Anyone transgressing a geis was exposed to the rejection of his society and placed outside the social order. Transgression, in addition to bringing shame and outlawry, usually meant a painful death. The power of the geis was above human and divine jurisdiction and brushed aside all previous rulings, establishing a new order through the wishes of the person controlling it.
The glam dicín was a satirical incantation directed against a particular person and having the strength of obligation—in other words it is a curse that can be pronounced for such valid reasons as an infringement of divine or human laws, treason, breaking a contract, or murder.
In Welsh myth, the same taboos (ysgymunbeth) exist. Several characters have “a destiny laid upon them,” such as Lleu Llaw Gyffes, who has a series of taboos placed on him by his mother,
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