Myths and Legends of the Celts (Penguin Reference)

by James MacKillop

  In their first appearance in the Lebor Gabála under their rapacious leader Cichol against the beneficent Partholonians, the Fomorians are seen as monstrous and fearsome, each having only one eye, one arm and one leg. To a modern, sceptical perception, the Fomorians may have seemed at some disadvantage because of missing parts, but their disfigurement must have thrown a fright into early readers and storytellers. Centuries later two figures from oral tradition, the Irish Fer Caille and the Scottish Gaelic Fachan, were described taking the same form. Later in the text the Fomorians are more anthropomorphic.

  Unlike the six invaders of Ireland, the Fomorians never appear to be settlers but instead make raids from their distant, almost unassailable fortress on Tory Island, off the northwest coast of Co. Donegal. Their fortress is known as Tor Conaind, named for the chief Conand. They have an easy time against the gentle Partholonians, who are exterminated by a plague before the Fomorians can dominate them. The Nemedians, as recounted above, enjoy initial success against the Fomorians until they themselves are humiliated in a battle at Cnámros, Co. Laois (coextensive with the present village of Camross). As they are two generations apart, the Nemedians never face the Fir Bolg, which prompted some commentators to suggest they were doubles for one another, an unlikely assertion since rejected.

  Individual warriors and champions of the Fomorians are surreally ugsome, as one might imagine, notably the leading military menace, Balor, often known as Balor of the Evil or Baleful Eye. Even his wife Caitlín or Céthlionn of the Crooked Tooth can send the timorous running. Balor does more than strike fear; he is lethal. He never opens the eye except on the battlefield, where four men are needed to lift the eyelid. Any army looking upon the eye is rendered powerless. The deadly capability of this eye comes from the child Balor’s observation of his father’s druids brewing potions and charms. Balor, however, need only extend his gaze to strike with dreadful effect. Earlier theories, now out of fashion, explained Balor as an anthropomorphic sun deity. In size and aggression, Balor is often seen as a counterpart of the Welsh juggernaut Ysbaddaden Bencawr, whose heavy eyelids require servants with forks to lift them.

  TUATHA DÉ DANANN

  Compilers of the Lebor Gabála are characteristically precise in dating the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann as thirty-seven years after the Fir Bolg, whom they displace, and 297 years before the Milesians, mortal equivalents of the Irish people. Other aspects of their arrival do not imply the earth-bound. Unlike the other invaders who arrive by ship, the Tuatha Dé Danann disembark from sombre clouds just before Beltaine, settling on an obscure mountain in the west, causing a three-day eclipse. An association with the west persists in their characterization. In an alternative text they do arrive by sailing over water, burning their ships on the shore, sending up a plume of dark smoke that causes an eclipse.

  The name Tuatha Dé Danann is an Irish plural that translates roughly as ‘people or tribe of the goddess D—’; earlier speculation asserted that the D—goddess was the familiar Danu, but linguistic analysis of early texts shows that the identity of D—is not so clear. It has no singular form. The Irish tuatha, commonly used in many contexts, does not translate explicitly into English, as it may mean ‘people’, ‘nation’, ‘folk’ or ‘tribe’. As a phrase, tuatha dé predates the composition of the Lebor Gabála, describing the Israelites in translations of the Bible (cf. L. Plebes Dei) as well as the old gods. Danu, as mentioned in Chapter 4, is known only from the genitive form of her name and is tantalizingly close to, but not identical with, Ana/Anu, the earth goddess. The full origin of Danann (also spelled Danaan, Donann, etc.) is still disputed, as John Carey (1981) has shown. In English the group may be known as Tuatha Dé for short.

  Although certain members of the Tuatha Dé Danann, such as the ‘good god’ Dagda and the great hero Lug Lámfhota [Ir. of the long arm], exist in Irish tradition before the composition of the Lebor Gabála, the compilers felt it necessary to invent a pre-invasion history for the group. Eleven generations removed from the Nemedians, the Tuatha Dé Danann were thought to have lived in ‘Greece’ but to have learned magic and druid lore in remote northern lands. They depart for Ireland from four magical cities: Fálias, Findias, Gorias and Murias. From these cities they take their principal treasures that appear again and again in later stories. From Fálias comes Fál or Lia Fáil, the stone of destiny, which cries out proclaiming the rightful king in coronation ceremonies. From Findias they take the sword of Nuadu, which allows no victim to escape. Gorias yields up Gáe Assail, the mighty spear of Lug Lámfhota, which guarantees victory. And from Murias they bring the cauldron of Dagda, which leaves satisfied all who take a draught from it.

  Rounded, more humanized, even colourful personalities emerge from the host of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Although it would be an exaggeration to say they are counterparts of the Olympians of Greek mythology – there is no pantheon in any Celtic tradition – the more prominent personages from the Tuatha Dé do serve some of the functions of the Olympians. They reappear in dozens of later stories from all three of the major cycles, Mythological, Ulster and Fenian, often bringing superhuman powers to interfere with the lives of characters found there, not unlike the way Aphrodite and Poseidon shape some of the action in the Iliad.

  Dagda, usually known with the definite article as the Dagda, is a warrior, artisan, magician and omniscient ruler. Among his possessions are the celebrated cauldron and two marvellous swine (one always cooking, the other still alive), and ever-laden fruit trees. His club is so great that it has to be dragged on wheels and leaves a track so deep that it marks the boundary between provinces. In size and potency it suggests parallels with the striker of the Gaulish god Sucellus or the hammer of the Norse god Thor. The Dagda is also known by other names in some stories: Eochaid Ollathair [father of all], Ruad Rofhessa [lord of great knowledge] and Deirgderc [red eye, i.e. the sun].

  Boand is the goddess of the River Boyne, an anglicization of her name. While the lover of the Dagda, she conceives and gives birth to Angus Óg, the god of poetry. Some sources bowdlerize the episode and call Boand the ‘wife’ of the Dagda, but Nechtan is her usual husband. To hide her adultery, she asks Elcmar to be the foster-father of the child. Nuadu is her usual consort, but he is neither a foster-father nor a ‘husband’ in the Christian sense. Her residence is thought to be Brug na Bóinne [hostel of Boand], the Irish-language name for the great passage-grave of Newgrange, and, by extension, the forty tombs in the area. Competing stories explain her origin, both having her violate taboos, after which a well pours forth to drown her as she flees toward the sea, following a route that is now the River Boyne. Always feminine, she is attributed a lapdog, Dabilla.

  Manannán mac Lir rules a mysterious land beyond the sea, as cited in the previous chapter, and is most associated with the powers of water. He is a giver of gifts with magical properties such as the concealing mist given to the Tuatha Dé Danann. Not always listed with the Tuatha Dé, his persona predates the composition of the Lebor Gabála and appears most widely in early Irish literature. The folk etymology that he gave his name to the Isle of Man is false, but the reverse may be true, that his name comes from an early name for the island. His patronymic, mac Lir, once thought to mean ‘of the sea’, remains puzzling. This Lir is not identical with Lir of Sídh Finnachad, the father of the swan children, a story composed at a later date.

  Angus Óg, literally ‘young Angus’, is a god of youth and beauty as well as poetry. He may also be the god of love, if one can be said to exist. His name is spelled variously, Óengus, Áengus, Aonghas, etc., or he may be known as mac Óc or mac-ind-Óg, ‘the son of youth’ or ‘young son’. Angus Óg drinks the ale of immortality and four swans circle over his head as he travels. He displaces his mother Boand at the residence of Brug na Bóinne or Newgrange. Although attributed many lovers, in his best known story he pines away for the inaccessible swan maiden Cáer. He protects himself with a cloak of invisibility but nonetheless defends many heroes, notably his foster-son, Diarm
ait Ua Duibne of the Fenian Cycle.

  Nuadu Airgetlám [of the silver hand/arm] is a king who leads his people into Ireland but is later disqualified because of the ‘blemish’ of his severed hand, replaced with a silver prosthetic. His sword is one of the Tuatha Dé’s treasures, a testimony to his prominence. Obliged to relinquish his throne temporarily, he was reappointed before the battle with the Fomorians, in which he fell to Balor. He appears to be the cognate of the early British god Nodons, who was worshipped at Lydney Park, an archaeological site on the west bank of the Severn; he also resembles the Welsh figure Nudd, who sometimes carries the epithet Llaw Erient [silver hand]. Nuadu is a consort of Boand.

  Dian Cécht, the healing god, fashioned Nuadu’s silver hand with moving fingers. In the battle with the Fomorians, Dian Cécht can restore every mortally wounded warrior except for the decapitated. For this he employs the tipra sláine [spring of life] to revive health and well-being. A cult of Dian Cécht predates the Lebor Gabála, and somewhat changed he also appears in later oral tradition; his porridge made of hazelnuts, dandelion, woodsorrel, chickweed and oatmeal can cure colds, sore throats and other ailments. His son Miach and daughter Airmid, of whom Dian Cécht is jealous, are also healing gods. The hero Lug Lámfhota is Dian Cécht’s grandson but appears to be his contemporary in many narratives.

  Ogma, the orator-warrior, is sometimes cited as one of the three principal champions of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with the Dagda and Lug Lámfhota. A patron of eloquence and poetry, he is the fabled inventor of ogham, the earliest form of writing in Irish, a twenty-character alphabet made up of straight lines and notches carved on the edge of stone or wood. The word ogham (Old Irish ogam) is a philological cognate of his name. This Irish god bears a tantalizing resemblance to Ogmios, the Gaulish god of eloquence. Leading scholars such as Rudolf Thurneysen dispute any link between the two. Ogma memorably challenges Lug Lámfhota upon that hero’s entrance into Tara (see below).

  Donn, the god of the dead and ruler of the otherworld, is often portrayed as aloof and retiring, living in isolation from the other gods at Tech Duinn [Donn’s house], a rocky islet at the extreme western end of the Beare Peninsula. He is, nonetheless, the first of the invaders to land in Ireland. Sometimes confused with the Dagda as an ancestor deity, Donn is often merged with another Donn, Donn mac Míled, from the Milesians, the next invaders. As the dead ‘live’ with him, he most resembles the Roman god Dis Pater, from whom he may derive through Gaulish intermediaries. In oral tradition he is thought to have caused shipwrecks, but in pious folklore his persona is adapted to portrayals of the devil.

  Goibniu, the smith god, is one of three patrons of the crafts, along with Credne, a worker in bronze and gold, and Luchta the carpenter. He is seen most vividly in the battle with the Fomorians where he works tirelessly in forging both weapons and armour. His keen tips are always lethal. On occasion he joins the combat himself. Along with his martial skill, Goibniu is often seen as a god of healing. He is also the host of an otherworldly feast, Fled Goibnenn, where guests may drink all the ale they wish without getting drunk; instead, those attending are protected from decay and old age. His counterparts in Welsh tradition are Gofannon and Glwyddyn Saer.

  Lug Lámfhota develops a vibrant dramatic personality when he enters into the battle with the Fomorians (see below). His principal epithet, ‘Of the Long Arm’, implies not the length of his limb but his power to hurl a weapon a great distance. One of the three great heroes of early Irish literature, along with Cúchulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill (both possibly his doubles), he is cognate with Lugos/Lugus, the native name for the god Caesar called Gaulish Mercury. Caesar’s description of Mercury as ‘inventor of all the arts’ translates Lug’s second Irish epithet, Samildánach. The Gaulish god and the Irish hero are both celebrated on 1 August. He also appears to be a counterpart of the Welsh Lieu Llaw Gyffes.

  Other important female figures among the Tuatha Dé Danann, Brigit the fire-goddess and the triad of war-goddesses, Badb, Macha and Mórrígan, are discussed in Chapter 4.

  Once they have a secure foothold in Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann prove to be masterful warriors. They drive the Fir Bolg before them to the northwest of the island to a place called, in English, the Plain of Pillars, or Mag Tuired. The Tuatha Dé demand to be made kings of the Fir Bolg and are refused. King Nuadu is injured in battle and later is fitted with his wonderful silver hand. He is replaced in kingship by the handsome but contemptible Bres, the son of a Tuatha Dé woman and the Fomorian king Elatha. The site of the Battle of Mag Tuired may be Conga near what is now Cong, Co. Mayo. Rival claimants for the site, all with tall megalithic stones, lie in Counties Galway and Sligo. Wherever it is, the plain is unlikely to be identical with the Mag Tuired, anglicized Moytirra, Moytura, etc., near Lough Arrow, Co. Sligo, where the better known second battle takes place, pitting the Tuatha Dé against the ever-despicable Fomorians. In the prelude to this epic struggle, the Tuatha Dé set the tone of what will be their era of fruitfulness by introducing pigs into Irish agriculture and having three lakes erupt.

  THE SECOND BATTLE OF MAG TUIRED AND LUG LÁMFHOTA

  The Lebor Gabála does not address how the Tuatha Dé Danann drove the Fomorians from Ireland. Instead, we read about that in a separate narrative with a higher literary gloss, Cath Maige Tuired [The (Second) Battle of Mag Tuired], whose language suggests composition in the ninth or tenth century. Cross-references to the battle appear from the twelfth century on, and most of the characters in it are introduced in other narratives, not just the Lebor Gabála.

  Three players dominate the action, the Fomorian Balor of the Evil Eye and his two handsome grandsons, the greedy and cowardly Bres (sometimes Eochaid Bres) and the stalwart and generous Lug Lámfhota. Balor has been told he will be slain by a grandson, and, not surprisingly, the conception of both boys involves surreptitious lovemaking. Bres’s mother Ériu (also Eithlinn), a woman of the Tuatha Dé, is visited by a splendid and mysterious stranger later revealed to be Elatha mac Delbaith of the Fomorians. The young Bres grows at twice the rate of a common boy and is known for his beauty. Lug is also the fruit of a Tuatha Dé-Fomorian union. His mother, Eithne, is the daughter of Balor, who tries to keep her from consorting with any men. Cian, son of the Tuatha Dé healing god Dian Cécht, seduces her with the help of the druidess Birog. The union produces triplets, two of whom are killed at birth, leaving Lug to fulfil the prophecy that Balor fears. Fostered by Manannán mac Lir, Lug grows to be fair of face, charming and athletic.

  When Nuadu is found disqualified for kingship because of his lost arm in the First Battle of Mag Tuired, the Tuatha Dé select Bres because his father Elatha ranks high among the nobles, even though he now lives with the rival Fomorians. Bres, though ‘beautiful’, is an odd choice for king, and he quickly proves unpopular. The odious Fomorians begin to hold sway over the Tuatha Dé, apparently an influence from Bres’s parents’ choice of residence. Under Bres’s rule, the noble Dagda is reduced to building a fort for the new king and Ogma to fetching firewood. More galling, Bres lacks the most esteemed mark of a good king: generosity. Chiefs complain that ‘their knives are not greased by him and however often they visit him their breath does not smell of ale’. Bres hosts no entertainment in the royal household. When the poet Cairpre comes to visit, Bres accommodates him in an outhouse. The poet’s response is a satire that causes Bres to break out in red blotches. Fed up with his misdeeds, the Tuatha Dé ask Bres to abdicate in favour of the newly restored Nuadu. Weak-willed, Bres agrees, but soon begins to plot for his restoration.

  The Fomorians require some suasion to take up Bres’s cause. After he confesses to his father Elatha that his own arrogance and greed have brought about his downfall the older man offers little comfort. Not only should the prosperity of his people have been Bres’s first concern, but Elatha sees dim prospects for his son’s restoration. What has been lost through injustice should not be regained through injustice. Quite a different response comes from grandfather Balor, who
quickly associates Bres’s grievance against the Tuatha Dé with Fomorian fortunes. The older man perceives that his tyranny could be broken and his extortion ended. Rallying to Bres’s side he assembles a fleet so large that it forms an unbroken bridge from Balor’s farthest island in the Hebrides across to Ireland. Additionally, he gathers a mighty army and starts to prepare for war.

  Nuadu, unaware of Bres’s conniving, is once again reigning justly and happily over Ireland, restoring music to the court and prosperity to the land. Tara resounds with the sound of feasting and spirited entertainment. The worry that Balor and his raiders will one day return lingers in the back of Nuadu’s mind but does not darken his immediate pleasure.

  One day a princely young warrior, as handsome as Bres but of nobler bearing, appears at Tara’s gate with a retinue of other warriors. When two doorkeepers, Gamel and Camel, ask his identity, he responds that his name is Lug but he adds the obscure epithet ‘Lonnan-sclech’. After reciting his lineage and the names of his fosterers, Lug asks that the king be told he has arrived and that he be allowed to join the household.

  ‘What skill do you have?’ asks Camel. ‘No one without an art enters Tara.’

  ‘Question me,’ Lug says, ‘I am a carpenter.’

  The doorkeeper answers, ‘We do not need one. We have a carpenter already, Luchta mac Luachada.’

  And so the dialogue continues. Lug proclaims himself a smith, a champion, a harpist, a warrior, a poet and historian, a sorcerer, a physician, a cupbearer and a brazier. In each instance a doorkeeper responds that the court already possesses an excellent practitioner and cites a name. The itemization gives an inventory of the Tuatha Dé’s useful arts and, curiously, there is no implied hierarchy, with poetry and war placed in the middle.