THE TUATHA DÉ DANANN
The meaning formerly given to _Tuatha Dé Danann_ was "the men of science
who were gods," _danann_ being here connected with _dán_, "knowledge."
But the true meaning is "the tribes _or_ folk of the goddess Danu,"[199]
which agrees with the cognates _Tuatha_ or _Fir Dea_, "tribes _or_ men
of the goddess." The name was given to the group, though Danu had only
three sons, Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharbar. Hence the group is also called
_fir tri ndea_, "men of the three gods."[200] The equivalents in Welsh
story of Danu and her folk are Dôn and her children. We have seen that
though they are described as kings and warriors by the annalists, traces
of their divinity appear. In the Cúchulainn cycle they are supernatural
beings and sometimes demons, helping or harming men, and in the Fionn
cycle all these characteristics are ascribed to them. But the theory
which prevailed most is that which connected them with the hills or
mounds, the last resting-places of the mighty dead. Some of these bore
their names, while other beings were also associated with the mounds
(_síd_)--Fomorians and Milesian chiefs, heroes of the sagas, or those
who had actually been buried in them.[201] Legend told how, after the
defeat of the gods, the mounds were divided among them, the method of
division varying in different versions. In an early version the Tuatha
Dé Danann are immortal and the Dagda divides the _síd_.[202] But in a
poem of Flann Manistrech (_ob._ 1056) they are mortals and die.[203] Now
follows a regular chronology giving the dates of their reigns and their
deaths, as in the poem of Gilla Coemain (eleventh century).[204] Hence
another legend told how, Dagda being dead, Bodb Dearg divided the _síd_,
yet even here Manannan is said to have conferred immortality upon the
Tuatha Dé Danann.[205] The old pagan myths had shown that gods might
die, while in ritual their representatives were slain, and this may have
been the starting-point of the euhemerising process. But the divinity of
the Tuatha Dé Danann is still recalled. Eochaid O'Flynn (tenth century),
doubtful whether they are men or demons, concludes, "though I have
treated of these deities in order, yet have I not adored them."[206]
Even in later times they were still thought of as gods in exile, a view
which appears in the romantic tales and sagas existing side by side with
the notices of the annalists. They were also regarded as fairy kings and
queens, and yet fairies of a different order from those of ordinary
tradition. They are "fairies or sprites with corporeal forms, endowed
with immortality," and yet also _dei terreni_ or _síde_ worshipped by
the folk before the coming of S. Patrick. Even the saint and several
bishops were called by the fair pagan daughters of King Loegaire, _fir
síde_, "men of the _síd_," that is, gods.[207] The _síd_ were named
after the names of the Tuatha Dé Danann who reigned in them, but the
tradition being localised in different places, several mounds were
sometimes connected with one god. The _síd_ were marvellous underground
palaces, full of strange things, and thither favoured mortals might go
for a time or for ever. In this they correspond exactly to the oversea
Elysium, the divine land.
But why were the Tuatha Dé Danann associated with the mounds? If fairies
or an analogous race of beings were already in pagan times connected
with hills or mounds, gods now regarded as fairies would be connected
with them. Dr. Joyce and O'Curry think that an older race of aboriginal
gods or _síd-folk_ preceded the Tuatha Déa in the mounds.[208] These may
have been the Fomorians, the "champions of the _síd_," while in _Mesca
Ulad_ the Tuatha Déa go to the underground dwellings and speak with the
_síde_ already there. We do not know that the fairy creed as such
existed in pagan times, but if the _síde_ and the Tuatha Dé Danann were
once distinct, they were gradually assimilated. Thus the Dagda is called
"king of the _síde_"; Aed Abrat and his daughters, Fand and Liban, and
Labraid, Liban's husband, are called _síde_, and Manannan is Fand's
consort.[209] Labraid's island, like the _síd_ of Mider and the land to
which women of the _síde_ invite Connla, differs but little from the
usual divine Elysium, while Mider, one of the _síde_, is associated with
the Tuatha Dé Danann.[210] The _síde_ are once said to be female, and
are frequently supernatural women who run away or marry mortals.[211]
Thus they may be a reminiscence of old Earth goddesses. But they are not
exclusively female, since there are kings of the _síde_, and as the name
_Fir síde_, "men of the _síde_," shows, while S. Patrick and his friends
were taken for _síd_-folk.
The formation of the legend was also aided by the old cult of the gods
on heights, some of them sepulchral mounds, and now occasionally sites
of Christian churches.[212] The Irish god Cenn Cruaich and his Welsh
equivalent Penn Cruc, whose name survives in _Pennocrucium_, have names
meaning "chief _or_ head of the mound."[213] Other mounds or hills had
also a sacred character. Hence gods worshipped at mounds, dwelling or
revealing themselves there, still lingered in the haunted spots; they
became fairies, or were associated with the dead buried in the mounds,
as fairies also have been, or were themselves thought to have died and
been buried there. The haunting of the mounds by the old gods is seen in
a prayer of S. Columba's, who begs God to dispel "this host (i.e. the
old gods) around the cairns that reigneth."[214] An early MS also tells
how the Milesians allotted the underground part of Erin to the Tuatha
Déa who now retired within the hills; in other words, they were gods of
the hills worshipped by the Milesians on hills.[215] But, as we shall
see, the gods dwelt elsewhere than in hills.[216]
Tumuli may already in pagan times have been pointed out as tombs of gods
who died in myth or ritual, like the tombs of Zeus in Crete and of
Osiris in Egypt. Again, fairies, in some aspects, are ghosts of the
dead, and haunt tumuli; hence, when gods became fairies they would do
the same. And once they were thought of as dead kings, any notable
tumuli would be pointed out as theirs, since it is a law in folk-belief
to associate tumuli or other structures not with the dead or with their
builders, but with supernatural or mythical or even historical
personages. If _síde_ ever meant "ghosts," it would be easy to call the
dead gods by this name, and to connect them with the places of the
dead.[217]
Many strands went to the weaving of the later conception of the gods,
but there still hung around them an air of mystery, and the belief that
they were a race of men was never consistent with itself.
Danu gave her name to the whole group of gods, and is called their
mother, like the Egyptian Neith or the Semitic Ishtar.[218] In the
annalists she is daughter of Dagda, and has three sons. She may be akin
to the goddess Anu, whom Cormac describes as "_mater deorum
hibernensium_. It was well she nursed the gods." From her name he
derives _ana_, "plenty," and two hills in Kerry are called "the Paps of
Anu."[219] Thus as a goddess of plenty Danu or Anu may have been an
early Earth-mother, and what may be a dim memory of Anu in
Leicestershire confirms this view. A cave on the Dane Hills is called
"Black Annis' Bower," and she is said to have been a savage woman who
devoured human victims.[220] Earth-goddesses usually have human victims,
and Anu would be no exception. In the cult of Earth divinities Earth and
under-Earth are practically identical, while Earth-goddesses like
Demeter and Persephone were associated with the underworld, the dead
being Demeter's folk. The fruits of the earth with their roots below the
surface are then gifts of the earth- or under-earth goddess. This may
have been the case with Danu, for in Celtic belief the gifts of
civilisation came from the underworld or from the gods. Professor
Rh[^y]s finds the name Anu in the dat. _Anoniredi_, "chariot of Anu," in
an inscription from Vaucluse, and the identification is perhaps
established by the fact that goddesses of fertility were drawn through
the fields in a vehicle.[221] Cormac also mentions Buanann as mother and
nurse of heroes, perhaps a goddess worshipped by heroes.[222]
Danu is also identified with Brigit, goddess of knowledge (_dán_),
perhaps through a folk-etymology. She was worshipped by poets, and had
two sisters of the same name connected with leechcraft and
smithwork.[223] They are duplicates or local forms of Brigit, a goddess
of culture and of poetry, so much loved by the Celts. She is thus the
equivalent of the Gaulish goddess equated with Minerva by Cæsar, and
found on inscriptions as Minerva Belisama and Brigindo. She is the Dea
Brigantia of British inscriptions.[224] One of the seats of her worship
was the land of the Brigantes, of whom she was the eponymous goddess,
and her name (cf. Ir. _brig_, "power" or "craft"; Welsh _bri_, "honour,"
"renown") suggests her high functions. But her popularity is seen in the
continuation of her personality and cult in those of S. Brigit, at whose
shrine in Kildare a sacred fire, which must not be breathed on, or
approached by a male, was watched daily by nineteen nuns in turn, and on
the twentieth day by the saint herself.[225] Similar sacred fires were
kept up in other monasteries,[226] and they point to the old cult of a
goddess of fire, the nuns being successors of a virgin priesthood like
the vestals, priestesses of Vesta. As has been seen, the goddesses
Belisama and Sul, probably goddesses of fire, resembled Brigit in
this.[227] But Brigit, like Vesta, was at once a goddess of fire and of
fertility, as her connection with Candlemas and certain ritual survivals
also suggest. In the Hebrides on S. Bride's day (Candlemas-eve) women
dressed a sheaf of oats in female clothes and set it with a club in a
basket called "Briid's bed." Then they called, "Briid is come, Briid is
welcome." Or a bed was made of corn and hay with candles burning beside
it, and Bride was invited to come as her bed was ready. If the mark of
the club was seen in the ashes, this was an omen of a good harvest and a
prosperous year.[228] It is also noteworthy that if cattle cropped the
grass near S. Brigit's shrine, next day it was as luxuriant as ever.
Brigit, or goddesses with similar functions, was regarded by the Celts
as an early teacher of civilisation, inspirer of the artistic, poetic,
and mechanical faculties, as well as a goddess of fire and fertility. As
such she far excelled her sons, gods of knowledge. She must have
originated in the period when the Celts worshipped goddesses rather than
gods, and when knowledge--leechcraft, agriculture, inspiration--were
women's rather than men's. She had a female priesthood, and men were
perhaps excluded from her cult, as the tabued shrine at Kildare
suggests. Perhaps her fire was fed from sacred oak wood, for many
shrines of S. Brigit were built under oaks, doubtless displacing pagan
shrines of the goddess.[229] As a goddess, Brigit is more prominent than
Danu, also a goddess of fertility, even though Danu is mother of the
gods.
Other goddesses remembered in tradition are Cleena and Vera, celebrated
in fairy and witch lore, the former perhaps akin to a river-goddess
Clota, the Clutoida (a fountain-nymph) of the continental Celts; the
latter, under her alternative name Dirra, perhaps a form of a goddess of
Gaul, Dirona.[230] Aine, one of the great fairy-queens of Ireland, has
her seat at Knockainy in Limerick, where rites connected with her former
cult are still performed for fertility on Midsummer eve. If they were
neglected she and her troops performed them, according to local
legend.[231] She is thus an old goddess of fertility, whose cult, even
at a festival in which gods were latterly more prominent, is still
remembered. She is also associated with the waters as a water-nymph
captured for a time as a fairy-bride by the Earl of Desmond.[232] But
older legends connect her with the _síd_. She was daughter of Eogabal,
king of the _síd_ of Knockainy, the grass on which was annually
destroyed at Samhain by his people, because it had been taken from them,
its rightful owners. Oilill Olomm and Ferchus resolved to watch the
_síd_ on Samhain-eve. They saw Eogabal and Aine emerge from it. Ferchus
killed Eogabal, and Oilill tried to outrage Aine, who bit the flesh from
his ear. Hence his name of "Bare Ear."[233] In this legend we see how
earlier gods of fertility come to be regarded as hostile to growth.
Another story tells of the love of Aillén, Eogabal's son, for Manannan's
wife and that of Aine for Manannan. Aine offered her favours to the god
if he would give his wife to her brother, and "the complicated bit of
romance," as S. Patrick calls it, was thus arranged.[234]
Although the Irish gods are warriors, and there are special war-gods,
yet war-goddesses are more prominent, usually as a group of
three--Morrigan, Neman, and Macha. A fourth, Badb, sometimes takes the
place of one of these, or is identical with Morrigan, or her name, like
that of Morrigan, may be generic.[235] _Badb_ means "a scald-crow,"
under which form the war-goddesses appeared, probably because these
birds were seen near the slain. She is also called Badbcatha,
"battle-Badb," and is thus the equivalent of _-athubodua,_ or, more
probably, _Cathubodua_, mentioned in an inscription from Haute-Savoie,
while this, as well as personal names like _Boduogenos_, shows that a
goddess Bodua was known to the Gauls.[236] The _badb_ or battle-crow is
associated with the Fomorian Tethra, but Badb herself is consort of a
war-god Nét, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who may be the equivalent of
Neton, mentioned in Spanish inscriptions and equated with Mars.
Elsewhere Neman is Nét's consort, and she may be the Nemetona of
inscriptions, e.g. at Bath, the consort of Mars. Cormac calls Nét and
Neman "a venomous couple," which we may well believe them to have
been.[237] To Macha were devoted the heads of slain enemies, "Macha's
mast," but she, according to the annalists, was slain at Mag-tured,
though she reappears in the Cúchulainn saga as the Macha whose
ill-treatment led to the "debility" of the Ulstermen.[238] The name
Morrigan may mean "great queen," though Dr. Stokes, connecting _mor_
with the same syllable in "Fomorian," explains it as
"nightmare-queen."[239] She works great harm to the Fomorians at
Mag-tured, and afterwards proclaims the victory to the hills, rivers,
and fairy-hosts, uttering also a prophecy of the evils to come at the
end of time.[240] She reappears prominently in the Cúchulainn saga,
hostile to the hero because he rejects her love, yet aiding the hosts of
Ulster and the Brown Bull, and in the end trying to prevent the hero's
death.[241]
The prominent position of these goddesses must be connected with the
fact that women went out to war--a custom said to have been stopped by
Adamnan at his mother's request, and that many prominent heroines of the
heroic cycles are warriors, like the British Boudicca, whose name may be
connected with _boudi_, "victory." Specific titles were given to such
classes of female warriors--_bangaisgedaig_, _banfeinnidi_, etc.[242]
But it is possible that these goddesses were at first connected with
fertility, their functions changing with the growing warlike tendencies
of the Celts. Their number recalls that of the threefold _Matres_, and
possibly the change in their character is hinted in the Romano-British
inscription at Benwell to the _Lamiis Tribus_, since Morrigan's name is
glossed _lamia_.[243] She is also identified with Anu, and is mistress
of Dagda, an Earth-god, and with Badb and others expels the Fomorians
when they destroyed the agricultural produce of Ireland.[244] Probably
the scald-crow was at once the symbol and the incarnation of the
war-goddesses, who resemble the Norse Valkyries, appearing sometimes as
crows, and the Greek Keres, bird-like beings which drank the blood of
the slain. It is also interesting to note that Badb, who has the
character of a prophetess of evil, is often identified with the "Washer
at the Ford," whose presence indicates death to him whose armour or
garments she seems to cleanse.[245]
The _Matres_, goddesses of fertility, do not appear by name in Ireland,
but the triplication of such goddesses as Morrigan and Brigit, the
threefold name of Dagda's wife, or the fact that Arm, Danu, and Buanan
are called "mothers," while Buanan's name is sometimes rendered "good
mother," may suggest that such grouped goddesses were not unknown. Later
legend knows of white women who assist in spinning, or three hags with
power over nature, or, as in the _Battle of Ventry_, of three
supernatural women who fall in love with Conncrithir, aid him in fight,
and heal his wounds. In this document and elsewhere is mentioned the
"_síd_ of the White Women."[246] Goddesses of fertility are usually
goddesses of love, and the prominence given to females among the _síde_,
the fact that they are often called _Be find_, "White Women," like
fairies who represent the _Matres_ elsewhere, and that they freely offer
their love to mortals, may connect them with this group of goddesses.
Again, when the Milesians arrived in Ireland, three kings of the Tuatha
Déa had wives called Eriu, Banba, and Fotla, who begged that Ireland
should be called after them. This was granted, but only Eriu (Erin)
remained in general use.[247] The story is an ætiological myth
explaining the names of Ireland, but the three wives may be a group like
the _Matres_, guardians of the land which took its name from them.
Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba, who give a title to the whole group, are
called _tri dee Donand_, "the three gods (sons of) Danu," or, again,
"gods of _dán_" (knowledge), perhaps as the result of a folk-etymology,
associating _dân_ with their mother's name Danu.[248] Various attributes
are personified as their descendants, Wisdom being son of all
three.[249] Though some of these attributes may have been actual gods,
especially Ecne or Wisdom, yet it is more probable that the
personification is the result of the subtleties of bardic science, of
which similar examples occur.[250] On the other hand, the fact that Ecne
is the son of three brothers, may recall some early practice of
polyandry of which instances are met with in the sagas.[251] M. D'Arbois
has suggested that Iuchar and Iucharba are mere duplicates of Brian, who
usually takes the leading place, and he identifies them with three kings
of the Tuatha Déa reigning at the time of the Milesian invasion--
MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrainne, so called, according to Keating,
because the hazel (_coll_), the plough (_cecht_), and the sun (_grian_)
were "gods of worship" to them. Both groups are grandsons of Dagda, and
M. D'Arbois regards this second group as also triplicates of one god,
because their wives Fotla, Banba, and Eriu all bear names of Ireland
itself, are personifications of the land, and thus may be "reduced to
unity."[252] While this reasoning is ingenious, it should be remembered
that we must not lay too much stress upon Irish divine genealogies,
while each group of three may have been similar local gods associated at
a later time as brothers. Their separate personality is suggested by the
fact that the Tuatha Dé Danann are called after them "the Men of the
Three Gods," and their supremacy appears in the incident of Dagda, Lug,
and Ogma consulting them before the fight at Mag-tured--a natural
proceeding if they were gods of knowledge or destiny.[253] The brothers
are said to have slain the god Cian, and to have been themselves slain
by Lug, and on this seems to have been based the story of _The Children
of Tuirenn_, in which they perish through their exertions in obtaining
the _eric_ demanded by Lug.[254] Here they are sons of Tuirenn, but more
usually their mother Danu or Brigit is mentioned.
Another son of Brigit's was Ogma, master of poetry and inventor of
_ogham_ writing, the word being derived from his name.[255] It is more
probable that Ogma's name is a derivative from some word signifying
"speech" or "writing," and that the connection with "ogham" may be a
mere folk-etymology. Ogma appears as the champion of the gods,[256] a
position given him perhaps from the primitive custom of rousing the
warriors' emotions by eloquent speeches before a battle. Similarly the
Babylonian Marduk, "seer of the gods," was also their champion in fight.
Ogma fought and died at Mag-tured; but in other accounts he survives,
captures Tethra's sword, goes on the quest for Dagda's harp, and is
given a _síd_ after the Milesian victory. Ogma's counterpart in Gaul is
Ogmíos, a Herakles and a god of eloquence, thus bearing the dual
character of Ogma, while Ogma's epithet _grianainech_, "of the smiling
countenance," recalls Lucian's account of the "smiling face" of
Ogmíos.[257] Ogma's high position is the result of the admiration of
bardic eloquence among the Celts, whose loquacity was proverbial, and to
him its origin was doubtless ascribed, as well as that of poetry. The
genealogists explain his relationship to the other divinities in
different ways, but these confusions may result from the fact that gods
had more than one name, of which the annalists made separate
personalities. Most usually Ogma is called Brigit's son. Her functions
were like his own, but in spite of the increasing supremacy of gods over
goddesses, he never really eclipsed her.
Among other culture gods were those associated with the arts and
crafts--the development of Celtic art in metal-work necessitating the
existence of gods of this art. Such a god is Goibniu, eponymous god of
smiths (Old Ir. _goba_, "smith"), and the divine craftsman at the battle
of Mag-tured, making spears which never failed to kill.[258] Smiths have
everywhere been regarded as uncanny--a tradition surviving from the
first introduction of metal among those hitherto accustomed to stone
weapons and tools. S. Patrick prayed against the "spells of women,
smiths, and Druids," and it is thus not surprising to find that Goibniu
had a reputation for magic, even among Christians. A spell for making
butter, in an eighth century MS. preserved at S. Gall, appeals to his
"science."[259] Curiously enough, Goibniu is also connected with the
culinary art in myth, and, like Hephaistos, prepares the feast of the
gods, while his ale preserves their immortality.[260] The elation
produced by heady liquors caused them to be regarded as draughts of
immortality, like Soma, Haoma, or nectar. Goibniu survives in tradition
as the _Gobhan Saer_, to whom the building of round towers is ascribed.
Another god of crafts was Creidne the brazier (Ir. _cerd_, "artificer";
cf. Scots _caird_, "tinker"), who assisted in making a silver hand for
Nuada, and supplied with magical rapidity parts of the weapons used at
Mag-tured.[261] According to the annalists, he was drowned while
bringing golden ore from Spain.[262] Luchtine, god of carpenters,
provided spear-handles for the battle, and with marvellous skill flung
them into the sockets of the spear-heads.[263]
Diancecht, whose name may mean "swift in power," was god of medicine,
and, with Creidne's help, fashioned a silver hand for Nuada.[264] His
son Miach replaced this by a magic restoration of the real hand, and in
jealousy his father slew him--a version of the _Märchen_ formula of the
jealous master. Three hundred and sixty-five herbs grew from his grave,
and were arranged according to their properties by his sister Airmed,
but Diancecht again confused them, "so that no one knows their proper
cures."[265] At the second battle of Mag-tured, Diancecht presided over
a healing-well containing magic herbs. These and the power of spells
caused the mortally wounded who were placed in it to recover. Hence it
was called "the spring of health."[266] Diancecht, associated with a
healing-well, may be cognate with Grannos. He is also referred to in the
S. Gall MS., where his healing powers are extolled.
An early chief of the gods is Dagda, who, in the story of the battle of
Mag-tured, is said to be so called because he promised to do more than
all the other gods together. Hence they said, "It is thou art the _good
hand_" (_dag-dae_). The _Cóir Anmann_ explains _Dagda_ as "fire of god"
(_daig_ and _déa_). The true derivation is from _dagos_, "good," and
_deivos_, "god," though Dr. Stokes considers _Dagda_ as connected with
_dagh_, whence _daghda_, "cunning."[267] Dagda is also called Cera, a
word perhaps derived from _kar_ and connected with Lat. _cerus_,
"creator" and other names of his are _Ruad-rofhessa_, "lord of great
knowledge," and _Eochaid Ollathair_, "great father," "for a great father
to the Tuatha Dé Danann was he."[268] He is also called "a beautiful
god," and "the principal god of the pagans."[269] After the battle he
divides the _brugs_ or _síd_ among the gods, but his son Oengus, having
been omitted, by a stratagem succeeded in ousting his father from
his _síd_, over which he now himself reigned[270]--possibly the survival
of an old myth telling of a superseding of Dagda's cult by that of
Oengus, a common enough occurrence in all religions. In another version,
Dagda being dead, Bodb Dearg divides the _síd_, and Manannan makes the
Tuatha Déa invisible and immortal. He also helps Oengus to drive out his
foster-father Elemar from his _brug_, where Oengus now lives as a
god.[271] The underground _brugs_ are the gods' land, in all respects
resembling the oversea Elysium, and at once burial-places of the
euhemerised gods and local forms of the divine land. Professor Rh[^y]s
regards Dagda as an atmospheric god; Dr. MacBain sees in him a sky-god.
More probably he is an early Earth-god and a god of agriculture. He has
power over corn and milk, and agrees to prevent the other gods from
destroying these after their defeat by the Milesians--former beneficent
gods being regarded as hurtful, a not uncommon result of the triumph of
a new faith.[272] Dagda is called "the god of the earth" "because of the
greatness of his power."[273] Mythical objects associated with him
suggest plenty and fertility--his cauldron which satisfied all comers,
his unfailing swine, one always living, the other ready for cooking, a
vessel of ale, and three trees always laden with fruit. These were in
his _síd_, where none ever tasted death;[274] hence his _síd_ was a
local Elysium, not a gloomy land of death, but the underworld in its
primitive aspect as the place of gods of fertility. In some myths he
appears with a huge club or fork, and M. D'Arbois suggests that he may
thus be an equivalent of the Gaulish god with the mallet.[275] This is
probable, since the Gaulish god may have been a form of Dispater, an
Earth or under-Earth god of fertility.
If Dagda was a god of fertility, he may have been an equivalent of a god
whose image was called _Cenn_ or _Cromm Cruaich_, "Head _or_ Crooked One
of the Mound," or "Bloody Head _or_ Crescent."[276] Vallancey, citing a
text now lost, says that _Crom-eocha_ was a name of Dagda, and that a
motto at the sacrificial place at Tara read, "Let the altar ever blaze
to Dagda."[277] These statements may support this identification. The
cult of Cromm is preserved in some verses:
"He was their god,
The withered Cromm with many mists...
To him without glory
They would kill their piteous wretched offspring,
With much wailing and peril,
To pour their blood around Cromm Cruaich.
Milk and corn
They would ask from him speedily
In return for a third of their healthy issue,
Great was the horror and fear of him.
To him noble Gaels would prostrate themselves."[278]
Elsewhere we learn that this sacrifice in return for the gifts of corn
and milk from the god took place at Samhain, and that on one occasion
the violent prostrations of the worshippers caused three-fourths of them
to die. Again, "they beat their palms, they pounded their bodies ...
they shed falling showers of tears."[279] These are reminiscences of
orgiastic rites in which pain and pleasure melt into one. The god must
have been a god of fertility; the blood of the victims was poured on the
image, the flesh, as in analogous savage rites and folk-survivals, may
have been buried in the fields to promote fertility. If so, the victims'
flesh was instinct with the power of the divinity, and, though their
number is obviously exaggerated, several victims may have taken the
place of an earlier slain representative of the god. A mythic _Crom
Dubh_, "Black Crom," whose festival occurs on the first Sunday in
August, may be another form of Cromm Cruaich. In one story the name is
transferred to S. Patrick's servant, who is asked by the fairies when
they will go to Paradise. "Not till the day of judgment," is the answer,
and for this they cease to help men in the processes of agriculture. But
in a variant Manannan bids Crom ask this question, and the same result
follows.[280] These tales thus enshrine the idea that Crom and the
fairies were ancient gods of growth who ceased to help men when they
deserted them for the Christian faith. If the sacrifice was offered at
the August festival, or, as the texts suggest, at Samhain, after
harvest, it must have been on account of the next year's crop, and the
flesh may have been mingled with the seed corn.
Dagda may thus have been a god of growth and fertility. His wife or
mistress was the river-goddess, Boand (the Boyne),[281] and the children
ascribed to him were Oengus, Bodb Dearg, Danu, Brigit, and perhaps Ogma.
The euhemerists made him die of Cethlenn's venom, long after the battle
of Mag-tured in which he encountered her.[282] Irish mythology is
remarkably free from obscene and grotesque myths, but some of these
cluster round Dagda. We hear of the Gargantuan meal provided for him in
sport by the Fomorians, and of which he ate so much that "not easy was
it for him to move and unseemly was his apparel," as well as his conduct
with a Fomorian beauty. Another amour of his was with Morrigan, the
place where it occurred being still known as "The Couple's Bed."[283] In
another tale Dagda acts as cook to Conaire the great.[284]
The beautiful and fascinating Oengus is sometimes called _Mac Ind Oc_,
"Son of the Young Ones," i.e. Dagda and Boand, or _In Mac Oc_, "The
Young Son." This name, like the myth of his disinheriting his father,
may point to his cult superseding that of Dagda. If so, he may then have
been affiliated to the older god, as was frequently done in parallel
cases, e.g. in Babylon. Oengus may thus have been the high god of some
tribe who assumed supremacy, ousting the high god of another tribe,
unless we suppose that Dagda was a pre-Celtic god with functions similar
to those of Oengus, and that the Celts adopted his cult but gave that of
Oengus a higher place. In one myth the supremacy of Oengus is seen.
After the first battle of Mag-tured, Dagda is forced to become the slave
of Bres, and is much annoyed by a lampooner who extorts the best pieces
of his rations. Following the advice of Oengus, he not only causes the
lampooner's death, but triumphs over the Fomorians.[285] On insufficient
grounds, mainly because he was patron of Diarmaid, beloved of women, and
because his kisses became birds which whispered love thoughts to youths
and maidens, Oengus has been called the Eros of the Gaels. More probably
he was primarily a supreme god of growth, who occasionally suffered
eclipse during the time of death in nature, like Tammuz and Adonis, and
this may explain his absence from Mag-tured. The beautiful story of his
vision of a maiden with whom he fell violently in love contains too many
_Märchen_ formulæ to be of any mythological or religious value. His
mother Boand caused search to be made for her, but without avail. At
last she was discovered to be the daughter of a semi-divine lord of a
_síd_, but only through the help of mortals was the secret of how she
could be taken wrung from him. She was a swan-maiden, and on a certain
day only would Oengus obtain her. Ultimately she became his wife. The
story is interesting because it shows how the gods occasionally required
mortal aid.[286]
Equally influenced by _Märchen_ formulæ is the story of Oengus and
Etain. Etain and Fuamnach were wives of Mider, but Fuamnach was jealous
of Etain, and transformed her into an insect. In this shape Oengus found
her, and placed her in a glass _grianan_ or bower filled with flowers,
the perfume of which sustained her. He carried the _grianan_ with him
wherever he went, but Fuamnach raised a magic wind which blew Etain away
to the roof of Etair, a noble of Ulster. She fell through a smoke-hole
into a golden cup of wine, and was swallowed by Etair's wife, of whom
she was reborn.[287] Professor Rh[^y]s resolves all this into a sun and
dawn myth. Oengus is the sun, Etain the dawn, the _grianan_ the expanse
of the sky.[288] But the dawn does not grow stronger with the sun's
influence, as Etain did under that of Oengus. At the sun's appearance
the dawn begins
"to faint in the light of the sun she loves,
To faint in his light and to die."
The whole story is built up on the well-known _Mãrchen_ formulæ of the
"True Bride" and the "Two Brothers," but accommodated to well-known
mythic personages, and the _grianan_ is the Celtic equivalent of various
objects in stories of the "Cinderella" type, in which the heroine
conceals herself, the object being bought by the hero and kept in his
room.[289] Thus the tale reveals nothing of Etain's divine functions,
but it illustrates the method of the "mythological" school in
discovering sun-heroes and dawn-maidens in any incident, mythical or
not.
Oengus appears in the Fionn cycle as the fosterer and protector of
Diarmaid.[290] With Mider, Bodb, and Morrigan, he expels the Fomorians
when they destroy the corn, fruit, and milk of the Tuatha Dé
Danann.[291] This may point to his functions as a god of fertility.
Although Mider appears mainly as a king of the _síde_ and ruler of the
_brug_ of Bri Léith, he is also connected with the Tuatha Déa.[292]
Learning that Etain had been reborn and was now married to King Eochaid,
he recovered her from him, but lost her again when Eochaid attacked his
_brug_. He was ultimately avenged in the series of tragic events which
led to the death of Eochaid's descendant Conaire. Though his _síd_ is
located in Ireland, it has so much resemblance to Elysium that Mider
must be regarded as one of its lords. Hence he appears as ruler of the
Isle of Falga, i.e. the Isle of Man regarded as Elysium. Thence his
daughter Bláthnat, his magical cows and cauldron, were stolen by
Cúchulainn and Curoi, and his three cranes from Bri Léith by
Aitherne[293]--perhaps distorted versions of the myths which told how
various animals and gifts came from the god's land. Mider may be the
Irish equivalent of a local Gaulish god, Medros, depicted on bas-reliefs
with a cow or bull.[294]
The victory of the Tuatha Déa at the first battle of Mag-tured, in June,
their victory followed, however, by the deaths of many of them at the
second battle in November, may point to old myths dramatising the
phenomena of nature, and connected with the ritual of summer and winter
festivals. The powers of light and growth are in the ascendant in
summer; they seem to die in winter. Christian euhemerists made use of
these myths, but regarded the gods as warriors who were slain, not as
those who die and revive again. At the second battle, Nuada loses his
life; at the first, though his forces are victorious, his hand was cut
off by the Fomorian Sreng, for even when victorious the gods must
suffer. A silver hand was made for him by Diancecht, and hence he was
called Nuada _Argetlám_, "of the silver hand." Professor Rh[^y]s regards
him as a Celtic Zeus, partly because he is king of the Tuatha Dé Danann,
partly because he, like Zeus or Tyr, who lost tendons or a hand through
the wiles of evil gods, is also maimed.[295] Similarly in the _Rig-Veda_
the Açvins substitute a leg of iron for the leg of Vispala, cut off in
battle, and the sun is called "golden-handed" because Savitri cut off
his hand and the priests replaced it by one of gold. The myth of Nuada's
hand may have arisen from primitive attempts at replacing lopped-off
limbs, as well as from the fact that no Irish king must have any bodily
defect, or possibly because an image of Nuada may have lacked a hand or
possessed one of silver. Images were often maimed or given artificial
limbs, and myths then arose to explain the custom.[296] Nuada appears to
be a god of life and growth, but he is not a sun-god. His Welsh
equivalent is Llûd Llawereint, or "silver-handed," who delivers his
people from various scourges. His daughter Creidylad is to be wedded to
Gwythur, but is kidnapped by Gwyn. Arthur decides that they must fight
for her yearly on 1st May until the day of judgment, when the victor
would gain her hand.[297] Professor Rh[^y]s regards Creidylad as a
Persephone, wedded alternately to light and dark divinities.[298] But
the story may rather be explanatory of such ritual acts as are found in
folk-survivals in the form of fights between summer and winter, in which
a Queen of May figures, and intended to assist the conflict of the gods
of growth with those of blight.[299] Creidylad is daughter of a probable
god of growth, nor is it impossible that the story of the battle of
Mag-tured is based on mythic explanations of such ritual combats.
The Brythons worshipped Nuada as Nodons in Romano-British times. The
remains of his temple exist near the mouth of the Severn, and the god
may have been equated with Mars, though certain symbols seem to connect
him with the waters as a kind of Neptune.[300] An Irish mythic poet
Nuada Necht may be the Nechtan who owned a magic well whence issued the
Boyne, and was perhaps a water-god. If such a water-god was associated
with Nuada, he and Nodons might be a Celtic Neptune.[301] But the
relationship and functions of these various personages are obscure, nor
is it certain that Nodons was equated with Neptune or that Nuada was a
water-god. His name may be cognate with words meaning "growth,"
"possession," "harvest," and this supports the view taken here of his
functions.[302] The Welsh Nudd Hael, or "the Generous," who possessed a
herd of 21,000 milch kine, may be a memory of this god, and it is
possible that, as a god of growth, Nuada had human incarnations called
by his name.[303]
Ler, whose name means "sea," and who was a god of the sea, is father of
Manannan as well as of the personages of the beautiful story called _The
Children of Lir_, from which we learn practically all that is known of
him. He resented not being made ruler of the Tuatha Déa, but was later
reconciled when the daughter of Bodb Dearg was given to him as his wife.
On her death, he married her sister, who transformed her step-children
into swans.[304] Ler is the equivalent of the Brythonic Llyr, later
immortalised by Shakespeare as King Lear.
The greatness of Manannan mac Lir, "son of the sea," is proved by the
fact that he appears in many of the heroic tales, and is still
remembered in tradition and folk-tale. He is a sea-god who has become
more prominent than the older god of the sea, and though not a supreme
god, he must have had a far-spreading cult. With Bodb Dearg he was
elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He made the gods invisible and
immortal, gave them magical food, and assisted Oengus in driving out
Elemar from his _síd_. Later tradition spoke of four Manannans, probably
local forms of the god, as is suggested by the fact that the true name
of one of them is said to be Orbsen, son of Allot. Another, the son of
Ler, is described as a renowned trader who dwelt in the Isle of Man, the
best of pilots, weather-wise, and able to transform himself as he
pleased. The _Cóir Anmann_ adds that the Britons and the men of Erin
deemed him god of the sea.[305] That position is plainly seen in many
tales, e.g. in the magnificent passage of _The Voyage of Bran_, where he
suddenly sweeps into sight, riding in a chariot across the waves from
the Land of Promise; or in the tale of _Cúchulainn's Sickness_, where
his wife Fand sees him, "the horseman of the crested sea," coming across
the waves. In the _Agallamh na Senorach_ he appears as a cavalier
breasting the waves. "For the space of nine waves he would be submerged
in the sea, but would rise on the crest of the tenth without wetting
chest or breast."[306] In one archaic tale he is identified with a great
sea wave which swept away Tuag, while the waves are sometimes called
"the son of Lir's horses"--a name still current in Ireland, or, again,
"the locks of Manannan's wife."[307] His position as god of the sea may
have given rise to the belief that he was ruler of the oversea Elysium,
and, later, of the other-world as a magical domain coterminous with this
earth. He is still remembered in the Isle of Man, which may owe its name
to him, and which, like many another island, was regarded by the Goidels
as the island Elysium under its name of Isle of Falga. He is also the
Manawyddan of Welsh story.
Manannan appears in the Cúchulainn and Fionn cycles, usually as a ruler
of the Other-world. His wife Fand was Cúchulainn's mistress, Diarmaid
was his pupil in fairyland, and Cormac was his guest there. Even in
Christian times surviving pagan beliefs caused legend to be busy with
his name. King Fiachna was fighting the Scots and in great danger, when
a stranger appeared to his wife and announced that he would save her
husband's life if she would consent to abandon herself to him. She
reluctantly agreed, and the child of the _amour_ was the seventh-century
King Mongan, of whom the annalist says, "every one knows that his real
father was Manannan."[308] Mongan was also believed to be a rebirth of
Fionn. Manannan is still remembered in folk-tradition, and in the Isle
of Man, where his grave is to be seen, some of his ritual survived until
lately, bundles of rushes being placed for him on midsummer eve on two
hills.[309] Barintus, who steers Arthur to the fortunate isles, and S.
Barri, who crossed the sea on horseback, may have been legendary forms
of a local sea-god akin to Manannan, or of Manannan himself.[310] His
steed was Enbarr, "water foam _or_ hair," and Manannan was "the horseman
of the manéd sea." "Barintus," perhaps connected with _barr find_,
"white-topped," would thus be a surname of the god who rode on Enbarr,
the foaming wave, or who was himself the wave, while his mythic
sea-riding was transferred to the legend of S. Barri, if such a person
ever existed.
Various magical possessions were ascribed to Manannan--his armour and
sword, the one making the wearer invulnerable, the other terrifying all
who beheld it; his horse and canoe; his swine, which came to life again
when killed; his magic cloak; his cup which broke when a lie was spoken;
his tablecloth, which, when waved, produced food. Many of these are
found everywhere in _Märchen_, and there is nothing peculiarly Celtic in
them. We need not, therefore, with the mythologists, see in his armour
the vapoury clouds or in his sword lightning or the sun's rays. But
their magical nature as well as the fact that so much wizardry is
attributed to Manannan, points to a copious mythology clustering round
the god, now for ever lost.
The parentage of Lug is differently stated, but that account which makes
him son of Cian and of Ethne, daughter of Balor, is best attested.[311]
Folk-tradition still recalls the relation of Lug and Balor. Balor, a
robber living in Tory Island, had a daughter whose son was to kill her
father. He therefore shut her up in an inaccessible place, but in
revenge for Balor's stealing MacIneely's cow, the latter gained access
to her, with the result that Ethne bore three sons, whom Balor cast into
the sea. One of them, Lug, was recovered by MacIneely and fostered by
his brother Gavida. Balor now slew MacIneely, but was himself slain by
Lug, who pierced his single eye with a red-hot iron.[312] In another
version, Kian takes MacIneely's place and is aided by Manannan, in
accordance with older legends.[313] But Lug's birth-story has been
influenced in these tales by the _Märchen_ formula of the girl hidden
away because it has been foretold that she will have a son who will slay
her father.
Lug is associated with Manannan, from whose land he comes to assist the
Tuatha Déa against the Fomorians. His appearance was that of the sun,
and by this brilliant warrior's prowess the hosts were utterly
defeated.[314] This version, found in _The Children of Tuirenn_, differs
from the account in the story of Mag-tured. Here Lug arrives at the
gates of Tara and offers his services as a craftsman. Each offer is
refused, until he proclaims himself "the man of each and every art," or
_samildánach_, "possessing many arts." Nuada resigns his throne to him
for thirteen days, and Lug passes in review the various craftsmen (i.e.
the gods), and though they try to prevent such a marvellous person
risking himself in fight, he escapes, heads the warriors, and sings his
war-song. Balor, the evil-eyed, he slays with a sling-stone, and his
death decided the day against the Fomorians. In this account Lug
_samildánach_ is a patron of the divine patrons of crafts; in other
words, he is superior to a whole group of gods. He was also inventor of
draughts, ball-play, and horsemanship. But, as M. D'Arbois shows,
_samildánach_ is the equivalent of "inventor of all arts," applied by
Cæsar to the Gallo-Roman Mercury, who is thus an equivalent of Lug.[315]
This is attested on other grounds. As Lug's name appears in Irish Louth
(_Lug-magh_) and in British Lugu-vallum, near Hadrian's Wall, so in Gaul
the names Lugudunum (Lyons), Lugudiacus, and Lugselva ("devoted to
Lugus") show that a god Lugus was worshipped there. A Gaulish feast of
Lugus in August--the month of Lug's festival in Ireland--was perhaps
superseded by one in honour of Augustus. No dedication to Lugus has yet
been found, but images of and inscriptions to Mercury abound at
Lugudunum Convenarum.[316] As there were three Brigits, so there may
have been several forms of Lugus, and two dedications to the _Lugoves_
have been found in Spain and Switzerland, one of them inscribed by the
shoemakers of Uxama.[317] Thus the Lugoves may have been multiplied
forms of Lugus or _Lugovos_, "a hero," the meaning given to "Lug" by
O'Davoren.[318] Shoe-making was not one of the arts professed by Lug,
but Professor Rh[^y]s recalls the fact that the Welsh Lleu, whom he
equates with Lug, disguised himself as a shoemaker.[319] Lugus, besides
being a mighty hero, was a great Celtic culture-god, superior to all
other culture divinities.
The euhemerists assigned a definite date to Lug's death, but side by
side with this the memory of his divinity prevailed, and he appears as
the father and helper of Cúchulainn, who was possibly a rebirth of the
god.[320] His high position appears in the fact that the Gaulish
assembly at Lugudunum was held in his honour, like the festival of
Lugnasad in Ireland. Craftsmen brought their wares to sell at this
festival of the god of crafts, while it may also have been a harvest
festival.[321] Whether it was a strictly solar feast is doubtful, though
Professor Rh[^y]s and others insist that Lug is a sun-god. The name of
the Welsh Lleu, "light," is equated with Lug, and the same meaning
assigned to the latter.[322] This equation has been contested and is
doubtful, Lugus probably meaning "hero."[323] Still the sun-like traits
ascribed to Lug before Mag-tured suggest that he was a sun-god, and
solar gods elsewhere, e.g. the Polynesian Maui, are culture-gods as
well. But it should be remembered that Lug is not associated with the
true solar festivals of Beltane and Midsummer.
While our knowledge of the Tuatha Dé Danann is based upon a series of
mythic tales and other records, that of the gods of the continental
Celts, apart from a few notices in classical authors and elsewhere,
comes from inscriptions. But as far as can be judged, though the names
of the two groups seldom coincide, their functions must have been much
alike, and their origins certainly the same. The Tuatha Dé Danann were
nature divinities of growth, light, agriculture--their symbols and
possessions suggesting fertility, e.g. the cauldron. They were
divinities of culture and crafts, and of war. There must have been many
other gods in Ireland than those described here, while some of those may
not have been worshipped all over Ireland. Generally speaking, there
were many local gods in Gaul with similar functions but different names,
and this may have been true of Ireland. Perhaps the different names
given to Dagda, Manannan, and others were simply names of similar local
gods, one of whom became prominent, and attracted to himself the names
of the others. So, too, the identity of Danu and Brigit might be
explained, or the fact that there were three Brigits. We read also in
the texts of the god of Connaught, or of Ulster, and these were
apparently regional divinities, or of "the god of Druidism"--perhaps a
god worshipped specially by Druids.[324] The remote origin of some of
these divinities may be sought in the primitive cult of the Earth
personified as a fertile being, and in that of vegetation and
corn-spirits, and the vague spirits of nature in all its aspects. Some
of these still continued to be worshipped when the greater gods had been
evolved. Though animal worship was not lacking in Ireland, divinities
who are anthropomorphic forms of earlier animal-gods are less in
evidence than on the Continent. The divinities of culture, crafts, and
war, and of departments of nature, must have slowly assumed the definite
personality assigned them in Irish religion. But, doubtless, they
already possessed that before the Goidels reached Ireland. Strictly
speaking, the underground domain assigned later to the Tuatha Dé Danann
belongs only to such of them as were associated with fertility. But in
course of time most of the group, as underground dwellers, were
connected with growth and increase. These could be blighted by their
enemies, or they themselves could withhold them when their worshippers
offended them.[325]
Irish mythology points to the early pre-eminence of goddesses. As
agriculture and many of the arts were first in the hands of women,
goddesses of fertility and culture preceded gods, and still held their
place when gods were evolved. Even war-goddesses are prominent in
Ireland. Celtic gods and heroes are often called after their mothers,
not their fathers, and women loom largely in the tales of Irish
colonisation, while in many legends they play a most important part.
Goddesses give their name to divine groups, and, even where gods are
prominent, their actions are free, their personalities still clearly
defined. The supremacy of the divine women of Irish tradition is once
more seen in the fact that they themselves woo and win heroes; while
their capacity for love, their passion, their eternal youthfulness and
beauty are suggestive of their early character as goddesses of
ever-springing fertility.[326]
This supremacy of goddesses is explained by Professor Rh[^y]s as
non-Celtic, as borrowed by the Celts from the aborigines.[327] But it is
too deeply impressed on the fabric of Celtic tradition to be other than
native, and we have no reason to suppose that the Celts had not passed
through a stage in which such a state of things was normal. Their innate
conservatism caused them to preserve it more than other races who had
long outgrown such a state of things.
FOOTNOTES:
[199] _HL_ 89; Stokes, _RC_ xii. 129. D'Arbois, ii. 125, explains it as
"Folk of the god whose mother is called Danu."
[200] _RC_ xii. 77. The usual Irish word for "god" is _dia_; other names
are _Fiadu_, _Art_, _Dess_.
[201] See Joyce, _SII_. i. 252, 262; _PN_ i. 183.
[202] _LL_ 245_b_.
[203] _LL_ 11.
[204] _LL_ 127. The mounds were the sepulchres of the euhemerised gods.
[205] _Book of Fermoy_, fifteenth century.
[206] _LL_ 11_b_.
[207] _IT_ i. 14, 774; Stokes, _TL_ i. 99, 314, 319. _Síd_ is a fairy
hill, the hill itself or the dwelling within it. Hence those who dwell
in it are _Aes_ or _Fir síde_, "men of the mound," or _síde_, fairy
folk. The primitive form is probably _sêdos_, from _sêd_, "abode" or
"seat"; cf. Greek [Greek: edos] "a temple." Thurneysen suggests a
connection with a word equivalent to Lat. _sidus_, "constellation," or
"dwelling of the gods."
[208] Joyce, _SH_ i. 252; O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 505.
[209] "Vision of Oengus," _RC_ iii. 344; _IT_ i. 197 f.
[210] Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 118; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 71; see p. 363,
_infra_.
[211] Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 118, § 6; _IT_ iii. 407; _RC_ xvi. 139.
[212] Shore, _JAI_ xx. 9.
[213] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 203 f. _Pennocrucium_ occurs in the _Itinerary_ of
Antoninus.
[214] Keating, 434.
[215] Joyce, _SH_ i. 252.
[216] See p. 228. In Scandinavia the dead were called elves, and lived
feasting in their barrows or in hills. These became the seat of
ancestral cults. The word "elf" also means any divine spirit, later a
fairy. "Elf" and _síde_ may thus, like the "elf-howe" and the _síd_ or
mound, have a parallel history. See Vigfusson-Powell, _Corpus Poet.
Boreale_, i. 413 f.
[217] Tuan MacCairill (_LU_ 166) calls the Tuatha Déa, "dée ocus andée,"
and gives the meaning as "poets and husbandmen." This phrase, with the
same meaning, is used in "Cóir Anmann" (_IT_ iii. 355), but there we
find that it occurred in a pagan formula of blessing--"The blessing of
gods and not-gods be on thee." But the writer goes on to say--"These
were their gods, the magicians, and their non-gods, the husbandmen."
This may refer to the position of priest-kings and magicians as gods.
Rh[^y]s compares Sanskrit _deva_ and _adeva_ (_HL_ 581). Cf. the phrase
in a Welsh poem (Skene, i. 313), "Teulu Oeth et Anoeth," translated by
Rh[^y]s as "Household of Power and Not-Power" (_CFL_ ii. 620), but the
meaning is obscure. See Loth, i. 197.
[218] _LL_ 10_b_.
[219] Cormac, 4. Stokes (_US_ 12) derives Anu from _(p)an_, "to
nourish"; cf. Lat. _panis_.
[220] _Leicester County Folk-lore_, 4. The _Cóir Anmann_ says that Anu
was worshipped as a goddess of plenty (_IT_ iii. 289).
[221] Rh[^y]s, _Trans. 3rd Inter. Cong. Hist. of Rel._ ii. 213. See
Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 251 ff., and p. 275, _infra_.
[222] Rh[^y]s, _ibid._ ii. 213. He finds her name in the place-name
_Bononia_ and its derivatives.
[223] Cormac, 23.
[224] Cæsar, vi. 17; Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _TIG_ 33.
[225] Girald. Cambr. _Top. Hib._ ii. 34 f. Vengeance followed upon rash
intrusion. For the breath tabu see Frazer, _Early Hist. of the
Kingship_, 224.
[226] Joyce, _SH_ i. 335.
[227] P. 41, _supra_.
[228] Martin, 119; Campbell, _Witchcraft_, 248.
[229] Frazer, _op. cit._ 225.
[230] Joyce, _PN_ i. 195; O'Grady, ii. 198; Wood-Martin, i. 366; see p.
42, _supra_.
[231] Fitzgerald, _RC_ iv. 190. Aine has no connection with Anu, nor is
she a moon-goddess, as is sometimes supposed.
[232] _RC_ iv. 189.
[233] Keating, 318; _IT_ iii. 305; _RC_ xiii. 435.
[234] O'Grady, ii. 197.
[235] _RC_ xii. 109, xxii. 295; Cormac, 87; Stokes, _TIG_ xxxiii.
[236] Holder, i. 341; _CIL_ vii. 1292; Cæsar, ii. 23.
[237] _LL_ 11_b_; Cormac, s.v. _Neit_; _RC_ iv. 36; _Arch. Rev._ i. 231;
Holder, ii. 714, 738.
[238] Stokes, _TIG, LL_ 11_a_.
[239] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 43; Stokes, _RC_ xii. 128.
[240] _RC_ xii. 91, 110.
[241] See p. 131.
[242] Petrie, _Tara_, 147; Stokes, _US_ 175; Meyer, _Cath Finntrága_,
Oxford, 1885, 76 f.; _RC_ xvi. 56, 163, xxi. 396.
[243] _CIL_ vii. 507; Stokes, _US_ 211.
[244] _RC_ i. 41, xii. 84.
[245] _RC_ xxi. 157, 315; Miss Hull, 247. A _baobh_ (a common Gaelic
name for "witch") appears to Oscar and prophesies his death in a Fionn
ballad (Campbell, _The Fians_, 33). In Brittany the "night-washers,"
once water-fairies, are now regarded as _revenants_ (Le Braz, i. 52).
[246] Joyce, _SH_ i. 261; Miss Hull, 186; Meyer, _Cath Finntraga_, 6,
13; _IT_ i. 131, 871.
[247] _LL_ 10_a_.
[248] _LL_ 10_a_, 30_b_, 187_c_.
[249] _RC_ xxvi. 13; _LL_ 187_c_.
[250] Cf. the personification of the three strains of Dagda's harp
(Leahy, ii. 205).
[251] See p. 223, _infra_.
[252] D'Arbois, ii. 372.
[253] _RC_ xii. 77, 83.
[254] _LL_ 11; _Atlantis_, London, 1858-70, iv. 159.
[255] O'Donovan, _Grammar_, Dublin, 1845, xlvii.
[256] _RC_ xii. 77.
[257] Lucian, _Herakles_.
[258] _RC_ xii. 89. The name is found in Gaulish Gobannicnos, and in
Welsh Abergavenny.
[259] _IT_ i. 56; Zimmer, _Glossæ Hibernicæ_, 1881, 270.
[260] _Atlantis_, 1860, iii. 389.
[261] _RC_ xii. 89.
[262] _LL_ ll_a_.
[263] _RC_ xii. 93.
[264] Connac, 56, and _Cóir Anmann_ (_IT_ iii. 357) divide the name as
_día-na-cecht_ and explain it as "god of the powers."
[265] _RC_ xii. 67. For similar stories of plants springing from graves,
see my _Childhood of Fiction_, 115.
[266] _RC_ xii, 89, 95.
[267] _RC_ vi. 369; Cormac, 23.
[268] Cormac, 47, 144; _IT_ iii. 355, 357.
[269] _IT_ iii. 355; D'Arbois, i. 202.
[270] _LL_ 246_a_.
[271] _Irish MSS. Series_, i. 46; D'Arbois, ii. 276. In a MS. edited by
Dr. Stirn, Oengus was Dagda's son by Elemar's wife, the amour taking
place in her husband's absence. This incident is a parallel to the
birth-stories of Mongan and Arthur, and has also the Fatherless Child
theme, since Oengus goes in tears to Mider because he has been taunted
with having no father or mother. In the same MS. it is the Dagda who
instructs Oengus how to obtain Elemar's _síd_. See _RC_ xxvii. 332,
xxviii. 330.
[272] _LL_ 245_b_.
[273] _IT_ iii. 355.
[274] O'Donovan, _Battle of Mag-Rath_, Dublin, 1842, 50; _LL_ 246_a_.
[275] D'Arbois, v. 427, 448.
[276] The former is Rh[^y]s's interpretation (_HL_ 201) connecting
_Cruaich_ with _crúach_, "a heap"; the latter is that of D'Arbois (ii.
106), deriving _Cruaich_ from _cru_, "blood." The idea of the image
being bent or crooked may have been due to the fact that it long stood
ready to topple over, as a result of S. Patrick's miracle. See p. 286,
_infra_.
[277] Vallancey, in _Coll. de Rebus Hib._ 1786, iv. 495.
[278] _LL_ 213_b_. D'Arbois thinks Cromm was a Fomorian, the equivalent
of Taranis (ii. 62). But he is worshipped by Gaels. _Crin_, "withered,"
probably refers to the idol's position after S. Patrick's miracle, no
longer upright but bent like an old man. Dr. Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of
Ireland_, 87, with exaggerated patriotism, thinks the sacrificial
details are copied by a Christian scribe from the Old Testament, and are
no part of the old ritual.
[279] _RC_ xvi. 35, 163.
[280] Fitzgerald, _RL_ iv. 175.
[281] _RC_ xxvi. 19.
[282] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.M. 3450.
[283] _RC_ xii. 83, 85; Hyde, _op. cit._ 288.
[284] _LU_ 94.
[285] _RC_ xii. 65. Elsewhere three supreme "ignorances" are ascribed to
Oengus (_RL_ xxvi. 31).
[286] _RC_ iii. 342.
[287] _LL_ 11_c_; _LU_ 129; _IT_ i. 130. Cf. the glass house, placed
between sky and moon, to which Tristan conducts the queen. Bedier,
_Tristan et Iseut_, 252. In a fragmentary version of the story Oengus is
Etain's wooer, but Mider is preferred by her father, and marries her. In
the latter half of the story, Oengus does not appear (see p. 363,
_infra_). Mr. Nutt (_RC_ xxvii. 339) suggests that Oengus, not Mider,
was the real hero of the story, but that its Christian redactors gave
Mider his place in the second part. The fragments are edited by Stirn
(_ZCP_ vol. v.).
[288] _HL_ 146.
[289] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, 114, 153. The tale has some unique
features, as it alone among Western _Märchen_ and saga variants of the
"True Bride" describes the malicious woman as the wife of Mider. In
other words, the story implies polygamy, rarely found in European
folk-tales.
[290] O'Grady, _TOS_ iii.
[291] _RC_ i. 41.
[292] O'Curry, _MC_ i. 71.
[293] _LL_ 117_a_. See p. 381, _infra_.
[294] Cumont, _RC_ xxvi. 47; D'Arbois, _RC_ xxvii. 127, notes the
difficulty of explaining the change of _e_ to _i_ in the names.
[295] _HL_ 121.
[296] See Crooke, _Folk-Lore_, viii. 341. Cf. Herod, ii. 131.
[297] Loth, i. 269.
[298] _HL_ 563.
[299] Train, _Isle of Man_, Douglas, 1845, ii. 118; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._
ii. ch. 24; Frazer, _GB_{2} ii. 99 f.
[300] Bathurst, _Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park_, 1879; Holder, _s.v._
"Nodons."
[301] See Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 122; Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 30.
[302] Stokes, _US_ 194-195; Rh[^y]s, _HL_, 128, _IT_ i. 712.
[303] Loth, ii. 235, 296. See p. 160, _infra_.
[304] Joyce, _OCR_.
[305] For these four Manannans see Cormac 114, _RC_ xxiv. 270, _IT_ iii.
357.
[306] O'Grady, ii.
[307] _Bodley Dindsenchas_, No. 10, _RC_ xii. 105; Joyce, _SH_ i. 259;
_Otia Merseiana_, ii. "Song of the Sea."
[308] _LU_ 133.
[309] Moore, 6.
[310] Geoffrey, _Vita Merlini_, 37; Rees, 435. Other saintly legends are
derived from myths, e.g. that of S. Barri in his boat meeting S.
Scuithne walking on the sea. Scuithne maintains he is walking on a
field, and plucks a flower to prove it, while Barri confutes him by
pulling a salmon out of the sea. This resembles an episode in the
meeting of Bran and Manannan (Stokes, _Félire_, xxxix.; Nutt-Meyer, i.
39). Saints are often said to assist men just as the gods did.
Columcille and Brigit appeared over the hosts of Erin assisting and
encouraging them _(RC_ xxiv. 40).
[311] _RC_ xii. 59.
[312] _Folk-Lore Journal_, v. 66; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 314.
[313] Larminie, "Kian, son of Kontje."
[314] Joyce, _OCR_ 37.
[315] D'Arbois, vi. 116, _Les Celtes_, 39, _RC_ xii. 75, 101, 127, xvi.
77. Is the defaced inscription at Geitershof, _Deo M ... Sam ..._
(Holder, ii. 1335), a dedication to Mercury Samildánach? An echo of
Lug's story is found in the Life of S. Herve, who found a devil in his
monastery in the form of a man who said he was a good carpenter, mason,
locksmith, etc., but who could not make the sign of the cross. Albert le
Grand, _Saints de la Bretagne_, 49, _RC_ vii. 231.
[316] Holder, _s.v._; D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 44, _RC_ vii. 400.
[317] Holder, _s.v._ "Lugus."
[318] Stokes, _TIG_ 103. Gaidoz contests the identification of the
Lugoves and of Lug with Mercury, and to him the Lugoves are grouped
divinities like the _Matres_ (_RC_ vi. 489).
[319] _HL_ 425.
[320] See p. 349, _infra_.
[321] See p. 272, _infra_.
[322] _HL_ 409.
[323] See Loth, _RC_ x. 490.
[324] Leahy, i. 138, ii. 50, 52, _LU_ 124_b_.
[325] _LL_ 215_a_; see p. 78, _supra_.
[326] See, further, p. 385, _infra_.
[327] _The Welsh People_, 61. Professor Rh[^y]s admits that the theory
of borrowing "cannot easily be proved."