The Myths, Legends, and Lore of Ireland

by Blackwell, Amy Hackney

  One of the most famous is the druid Cathbad in the Táin Bó Cuailnge. In some versions of the story, he was the father of King Conchobar of Ulster (or Conor mac Nessa). Cathbad ran a school of druidry with eight students. After the hero Cuchulain accidentally killed his own son in battle, the soldiers of Ulster (on Cuchulain’s side) feared he might kill them in his frenzied grief; Cathbad saved the army by casting a spell on Cuchulain to make him think the waves in the ocean were warriors, so he would fight them and expend his anger there.

  14 { Celtic Art and Poetry

  The Celts produced some spectacularly beautiful art. Much of their best work was done in metal. They applied the same attention to intricate detail to their poetry. Poets, like great craftsmen, were honored members of society, welcome in any noble home.

  Celtic metalwork is intricately decorated. Celtic smiths worked in gold, iron, and bronze. The Celtic aristocrats liked to have nice things on hand to give as gifts to honored guests, which would bring great honor to the giver, and they especially liked finely wrought metal.

  Celtic men and women wore heavy necklaces of twisted gold, called torques. These became status symbols, and the gods were also represented as wearing them. Celtic burial sites are full of decorative pins called fibulae, which are similar in design to the modern safety pin. Archaeologists have also discovered mirrors, combs, and a beautiful little model boat with oars. Many of these artifacts are elaborately decorated with the distinctive spirals and interweaving designs that the Celts are famous for.

  Celtic smiths must have been very skilled to produce their works. They used the lost-wax casting technique — molding an object out of wax, surrounding it with clay, baking the whole thing so the clay hardened and the wax ran out, and then pouring in metal to form the object. They also formed objects out of sheets of metal, hammered thin and then cut and formed into the desired shape.

  Celts held their craftsmen in high regard. Craftsmen belonged to a special privileged class of learned men, and the ordinary rules of serfdom and allegiance to a lord did not apply to them. They traveled from patron to patron plying their trade, and their status protected them from assault.

  Poetry was extremely important to the ancient Irish. Poets, like craftsmen and judges, belonged to the privileged class of learned people. Poets preserved the history of the clan and of Ireland, including lore of the gods and the genealogy of the ruler. The ancient myths and legends were preserved by countless generations of poets, who memorized them and recited them to their listeners.

  Poets came in several grades; a poet of the highest status was equal to any chieftain. Training to become a poet took years and involved memorizing thousands of lines of verse. Poets also had a reputation for knowing something about magic and prophecy. A patron would expect a poet to sing his praises, but he had to be careful; poets demanded large rewards, and an unsatisfied poet could create burning satire that could ruin a chieftain’s reputation.

  15 { Celtic to the End: The Never Conquered Nation

  The Romans never saw a land they didn’t want to conquer, but they never conquered Ireland. Julius Caesar initiated contact with Britain in 55 B.C.E., and for over a century the Romans planned to conquer the whole island. Though some Britons became Romanized, many locals didn’t appreciate being colonized and fought their conquerors tooth and nail. The Romans couldn’t keep enough troops on the island to hold them at bay. They had other frontiers to guard, after all. By 122 C.E., Hadrian had decided it would be wise to wall off Scotland to keep the barbarians separate from Romanized territory. Over the next two centuries, Rome gradually lost control over Britain.

  The Romans knew Ireland existed; Ireland’s Latin name is Hibernia, which might mean “Land of Winter.” (Another theory holds that it comes from Iberia, or Spain.) Julius Caesar mentioned Ireland in his Commentaries, but just to note that it was less than half the size of Britain. The Greek geographer Strabo claimed that Ireland was on the edge of the habitable earth and that the inhabitants of the island were complete savages living a miserable existence due to the cold climate. The Roman Tacitus, writing around 100 C.E., thought Ireland was very much like Britain. In the late first century C.E., Agricola, a Roman governor of Britain, considered conquering Ireland and even did reconnaissance; he decided that the Romans could take the island with just one legion of soldiers, but it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort.

  But the Romans never tried to conquer Ireland. The distance from Rome was too great and the potential payoff too uncertain, and they already had their hands full with Britain. And so the Irish remained Celtic.

  16 { The Celtic Pantheon

  The Celts had many myths and legends. Celtic myths tell the stories of gods and goddesses and of ancient heroes — just like ancient Greek myths, but with a uniquely Celtic spin on things. These stories explain the origin of the Irish people, the relationship they had with their deities, and why certain people and places were more important than others.

  Most of what modern people know about Celtic mythology didn’t come straight from the Celts themselves, because they didn’t write down any of their stories. Scholars over the past two millennia have cobbled together a picture of Celtic beliefs by combining archaeological evidence, details from Irish legends, and the writings of contemporary observers. Julius Caesar and other classical authors recorded a great deal of information on Celtic mythology, which is still useful today.

  The Celts believed that there were many different gods and goddesses and that these deities had relationships with one another and with humans. There were gods of love, writing, light, death, and, of course, war.

  CELTIC GODS

  The Celts had a number of gods; here are a few of them:

  The Daghdha, or “Good God,” was the chief god of the Irish pantheon. He carried a club that could both kill and bring people back to life, and he had a giant magic cauldron that was always full of food.

  Donn was the god of the dead. The druids claimed that all people were descended from him.

  Oenghus was the son of the Daghdha. He was a handsome young man and functioned something like a god of love.

  Oghma invented the ogham alphabet, a system of writing used by druids.

  Lug was the sun god, god of genius and light. He was the hero Cuchulain’s father. Julius Caesar thought that Lug was the most important Celtic god.

  Nuadhu Airgedlámh is an ancestor god-king. He lost an arm in battle and replaced it with one made of silver.

  Dian Cécht was the “Divine Physician.” Mortally wounded people could be cast into a well, and he would sing over it, whereupon they would come out again healed.

  Boibhniu was the leader of three craftsman gods. He was also the host of the Otherworld Feast, where he served a drink that made people immortal.

  Manannán was a sea god. He oversaw the journey over the sea to the otherworld.

  These were not the only Celtic gods. Many others existed, though not all their names have been recorded. There are still strange statues in Ireland that depict fearful beings, many with two or three faces; who they were or what they did, no one knows.

  CELTIC GODDESSES

  The Celtic pantheon included a number of female deities. Many of them traveled in groups of three, such as the Macha-Mórrígan-Babd trio of war/fertility goddesses.

  Anu, or Danu, was the mother goddess and mother of the gods. She was connected with fertility and nurture.

  Brigid was the daughter of the Daghdha. She was goddess of fertility and patron of poets. She had two sisters, also named Brigid, who were associated with craftsmanship and healing; the three of them were often treated as one entity. Brigid’s symbol was fire, and there was a fire kept alight for her in County Kildare from pre-Christian times until 1151. She later transformed into the Christian St. Bride, or St. Brigid.

  A trio of sisters — Macha (MA-ha), Mórrígan, and Babd (bahv) — were known as the Mórrígna. They were war and fertility goddesses; they played an important part in the war between the Tuath
a Dé Danaan and the Fomorians.

  Mórrígan embodied war fury. There are a number of sites in Ireland that bear her name.

  Babd was both sinister and sexual; she sometimes appeared as a crow, sometimes as a hag, and sometimes as a beautiful young woman. She urged the hero Cuchulain to go fight his last battle that led to his death.

  Scáthach was the “Shadowy One.” She taught the young Cuchulain all his magic.

  Boann was a water goddess who embodied the spirit of the Boyne River. She and the Daghdha had a child together — Oenghus, who functioned something like the god of love.

  17 { The Otherworld

  The world of Celtic gods and spirits was known as the otherworld, Mag Mell (“Plain of Honey”), Tír Tairngire (“Land of Promise”), and Tír na nÓg (“Land of Perpetual Youth”). It was a place of simple and sensuous pleasures. Everyone living there could eat as much as they wanted, and many heroes found loving women there. The cauldron of the Daghdha was there, and it was always full of food.

  Heroes would occasionally make special trips to the otherworld; these voyages were called imrama (or immrama). A famous legend about an imram is the Imram Bran Maic Febail, the story of the Irish king Bran’s journey to the otherworld (in other versions, the journey is to the Land of Women).

  18 { Celtic Festivals

  The Celts divided the year into two halves, the bright, warm half known as samh, or summer, and the dark, cold half called gamh, or winter. They punctuated the year with four festivals marking the different seasons:

  Imbolc (IM-bulk) took place on February 1. It was the feast of the goddess Brigid, associated with the birth of lambs and the lactation of ewes.

  Beltane (bal-thu-na) was celebrated on May 1. People lit bonfires, danced around maypoles, and made merry. This feast marked the start of summer.

  Lughnasa (LOO-na-sa) was a harvest festival held in late summer in honor of the god Lug. Festivities included games, drinking, dancing, matchmaking, and racing horses naked.

  Samhain (SOW-in) corresponds to modern Halloween and marked the end of summer. This is the day that tombs opened and ghosts walked about with gods and goddesses.

  All four of these festivals correspond very closely to the solar equinoxes and solstices, all of which were easy to identify using the solar devices incorporated into various megalithic mounds. The Celts were masterful astronomers, given that they didn’t have telescopes. They knew about the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and their year lasted 365 days.

  19 { Creation Myths

  According to legend, the island of Ireland was invaded six different times in its prehistory. The story of these invasions is told in a body of myth called the Mythological Cycle (a title that came about in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), much of which was recorded in the twelfth century in the Book of Invasions. The ultimate consequence of all these invasions was a final battle between two groups of supernatural people, the Tuatha Dé Danaan and the Fomorians, and the establishment of civilization and social order.

  The first invasion was led by one of the granddaughters of Noah (the biblical Noah who built the Ark), but her timing was bad; all of her people drowned in the great flood. Three hundred years later, another descendant of Noah, Parthalón, settled Ireland, building houses and clearing fields for farming. Parthalón’s sworn enemies were the Fomorians, one-armed, one-legged monsters descended from Noah’s cursed son, Ham.

  Parthalón and his people all died of plague. Thirty years later, the third invasion arrived, led by a man named Nemhedh. They attacked the Fomorians, but most of them died in the effort. A few survivors fled to Greece, where they became slaves; they were called the Fir Bolg.

  The Fir Bolg came back to Ireland, which they divided into the five provinces of the Celts. They established a kingship and ruled the land for thirty-seven years. Their last king, Eochaidh mac Eirc, was a perfect, just ruler; during his reign no rain fell, only dew; there was no year without a harvest; and nobody told any falsehoods.

  20 { The Battles of Magh Tuiredh and the Invasions of Milesians

  The Fir Bolg had a nice arrangement, but it was too good to last. Yet another group of people decided to invade Ireland: the Tuatha Dé Danaan.

  The Tuatha Dé Danaan were the people of the mother goddess Anu. According to Irish legend, they arrived around 350 B.C.E. They came from four cities in ancient Greece, which is where they learned about prophecy and magic, the secrets of the druids. They brought with them four treasures:

  The cauldron of the Daghdha — this vessel was always full of food.

  The spear of Lug — this weapon ensured victory to its holder.

  The sword of Nuadhu Airgedlámh — no enemy could escape from it once it was drawn from its sheath.

  The Lia Fáil — known as the “Stone of Destiny,” it shrieked when the feet of a lawful king rested on it; this ended up on Tara Hill, seat of Irish kings.

  The Tuatha Dé Danaan were skilled in magic and fighting. Their leader, Nuadhu Airgedlámh, brought them into battle. But a Fir Bolg warrior named Sreng cut his arm off at the shoulder. Sreng made peace with the Tuatha Dé Danaan and agreed to leave them all of Ireland except for Connacht (or Connaught), where he led his own people.

  Poor Nuadhu Airgedlámh couldn’t be king anymore, because no one with a physical defect (such as a missing arm) could be king. A man named Bres got to be king instead. Bres was the son of the Fomorian king Delbáeth; he had been adopted and raised by the Tuatha Dé Danaan, and they obviously thought they could trust him. But there they were mistaken.

  Bres, the Fomorian, ruled the Tuatha Dé Danaan for seven years. This was a lousy time for the Tuatha Dé Danaan. The Fomorians demanded a tribute of cattle, and the gods were reduced to menial labor; even the Daghdha himself was forced to dig ditches and build a fortress for Bres.

  Meanwhile, the Tuatha Dé Danaan were planning their recovery. Dian Cécht, the “Divine Physician,” made a new arm for Nuadhu out of silver, which would allow him to be king again. After a poet named Cairbre mac Étain (son of Étain) sang a verse mocking Bres, he gave up the kingship and went off to gather an army of his Fomorians. Nuadhu was reinstated as king; he and the Daghdha and Lug got together to decide how to get back at the Fomorians. (Lug had recently appeared at the court, and he had impressed everyone so much with his skill in all arts, creative and warlike, that they let him be one of their leaders.)

  The Daghdha went to see Mórrígan at the festival of Samhain. She was standing astride the River Unius washing herself. They made love standing over the water, which gave that spot the name “Bed of the Couple.” She told the Daghdha that the Fomorians were coming to attack the Tuatha Dé Danaan and that he should bring his soldiers to her. She killed the son of the Fomorian king and gave two handfuls of the blood to the Tuatha Dé Danaan before they went into battle. She and her sisters Babd and Macha went to the Mound of the Hostages at Tara and made the sky rain blood down onto the battle.

  Lug led the Tuatha Dé Danaan in the second battle of Magh Tuiredh. The Mórrígan entered the fray, cheering on the Tuatha Dé Danaan and pursuing any Fomorians who tried to run away. Blood ran freely over the white-skinned warriors and the River Unius was clogged with corpses. Lug and his armies finally defeated the Fomorians and drove them to the sea.

  After the fighting was over, Lug spared Bres in return for some information about agricultural techniques. The Mórrígan finished off the story by declaring victory for the Tuatha Dé Danaan and predicting the end of the world.

  The conquests of Ireland didn’t stop with the Tuatha Dé Danaan. They were themselves invaded by the Milesians, the sons of Míl, also known as the Gaels.

  Míl came from Galicia in northwest Spain. His full name was Miles Hispaniae (Latin for “soldier of Spain”). His wife was named Scota (“Irishwoman”). A druid named Caichér had predicted that Míl’s descendants would rule Ireland, and they did.

  Míl himself didn’t go to Ireland, but his sons did. The Milesians arrived in Ire
land sometime after the Tuatha Dé Danaan had established themselves, perhaps between 350 and 250 B.C.E. They landed in southwest Ireland during the Feast of Beltane and fought a huge battle with the Tuatha Dé Danaan. They proceeded to Tara and clinched their hold on the country.

  After the battle, a poet named Amhairghin divided Ireland between the two parties. The Milesians got the part that was above ground, and the Tuatha Dé Danaan got the underground. The defeated Tuatha Dé Danaan retreated to the hills and mounds to become the fairy people.

  21 { The Táin

  The Táin Bó Cuailnge (toyn boe cooley), or the Cattle Raid of Cooley, is one of the most fabulous epic stories to come out of ancient Ireland. It is set around the first century B.C.E. The oldest manuscript that records it is the Book of Leinster, written in the twelfth century. The Táin is part of the body of stories known as the Ulster Cycle. The story concerns the conflict between Ulster and Connacht, and the question of whether men can accept a female ruler.

  One night, Ailill (ahl-il), the king of Connacht, and his wife, Queen Medb (mayv), lay in bed arguing over which one of them was richer. Ailill suggested that Medb had improved her lot by marrying him and that it was proper for a man to rule the kingdom instead of her, but Medb insisted that she was as rich and tough as any king. They couldn’t agree, so that very night they did an inventory. They laid out their garments and jewelry and lined up the livestock. And for every possession Ailill put up, Medb put up one just as good, except for one thing: a beautiful, white-horned bull.