The Religion of the Ancient Celts

olk 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, B

rech (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 exi

gs 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,

ter. 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 b

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 wit

ds, but there still hung around them an air of mystery, and the be

nu 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 gi

"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, w

e 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 sug

o 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 th

enos, 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

nnected 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 pro

ttle 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 mortal

ted 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,

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 e

tion 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 Curi

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 Sp

ree 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 h

m succeeded in ousting his father from his síd, over which he now himself reigned270-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

," 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 pla

s thei

Cromm with

witho

their piteous wr

wailing

blood around

and

ask from

third of their

e horror and

ls would prostra

urvivals, 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 judgmen

e 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

yth 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 Tamm

erfume 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

he light of th

his light

tic 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 ta

der, Bodb, and Morrigan, he expels the Fomorians when they destroy the corn, fruit, and

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 magica

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 A?vins 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 W

ell 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

rn 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

bed 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 o

ctantly 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. B

his cup which broke when a lie was spoken; his tablecloth, which, when waved, produced food. Many of these are found everywhere in M?rchen, and there is nothing peculiarly Celtic in them. We need not, therefore, with the mythologists, see in

ssible 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 s

-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 C?sar 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

nd. 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 Thi

ons 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 worship

e 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 clear

sed 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 su

. 129. D'Arbois, ii. 125, explains it as "F

he usual Irish word for "god" is di

) See Joyce, SII. i.

02:(return

203:(retu

. The mounds were the sepulc

rn) Book of Fermoy

206:(retu

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.

) Joyce, SH i. 252;

"Vision of Oengus," RC

ch, Ir. Gram. 118; O'Curry,

disch, Ir. Gram. 118, § 6

(return) Shor

HL 203 f. Pennocrucium occurs

4:(return)

(return) Joyc

. These became the seat of ancestral cults. The word "elf" also means any divine spirit, later a fairy. "Elf" and síde may t

n 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

218:(retu

Stokes (US 12) derives Anu from (

ore, 4. The Cóir Anmann says that Anu was wor

Inter. Cong. Hist. of Rel. ii. 213. See Gr

ii. 213. He finds her name in the p

3:(return)

C?sar, vi. 17; Holder,

f. Vengeance followed upon rash intrusion. For the bre

(return) Joyc

7:(return)

) Martin, 119; Campb

return) Frazer

i. 195; O'Grady, ii. 198; Wood-M

0. Aine has no connection with Anu, nor is

2:(return)

) Keating, 318; IT i

(return) O'Gr

xii. 109, xxii. 295; Corm

Holder, i. 341; CIL vi

mac, s.v. Neit; RC iv. 36; Arch.

return) Stokes

n) Rh[^y]s, HL 43;

:(return) RC

1:(return)

tokes, US 175; Meyer, Cath Finntrága, Oxfo

urn) CIL vii. 507

(return) RC i

h") appears to Oscar and prophesies his death in a Fionn ballad (Campbell, The Fians, 33). In B

. 261; Miss Hull, 186; Meyer, Cat

247:(retu

(return) LL 1

return) RC xxv

sonification of the three strains

(return) See

(return) D'Ar

:(return) RC

LL 11; Atlantis, Lon

) O'Donovan, Grammar

6:(return)

(return) Luci

The name is found in Gaulish Gob

IT i. 56; Zimmer, Glos

eturn) Atlantis

1:(return)

262:(retu

3:(return)

nmann (IT iii. 357) divide the name as día-n

milar stories of plants springing from g

:(return) RC

eturn) RC vi. 3

rn) Cormac, 47, 14

urn) IT iii. 355;

70:(return

usband'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 bec

72:(return

3:(return)

novan, Battle of Mag-Rath,

return) D'Arbo

er is that of D'Arbois (ii. 106), deriving Cruaich from cru, "blood." The idea of the image being bent or crooked may ha

allancey, in Coll. de R

," 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,

:(return) RC

eturn) Fitzgera

1:(return)

) Annals of the Four

n) RC xii. 83, 85;

284:(retu

sewhere three supreme "ignorances" a

6:(return)

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.

288:(retu

t alone among Western M?rchen and saga variants of the "True Bride" describes the malicious woman as

(return) O'Gr

91:(return

(return) O'Cu

turn) LL 117a. S

Arbois, RC xxvii. 127, notes the difficulty o

295:(retu

Crooke, Folk-Lore, viii.

7:(return)

298:(retu

n, Douglas, 1845, ii. 118; Grimm, Teut.

Roman Antiquities at Lydney Pa

ee Rh[^y]s, HL 122; Coo

tokes, US 194-195; Rh[^

) Loth, ii. 235, 296

4:(return)

se four Manannans see Cormac

6:(return)

s, No. 10, RC xii. 105; Joyce, SH i. 25

308:(retu

09:(return

tains 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 (Stoke

1:(return)

Folk-Lore Journal, v

rn) Larminie, "Kia

:(return) Jo

. 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

lder, s.v.; D'Arbois, Le

return) Holder

tification of the Lugoves and of Lug with Mercury, and to him t

319:(retu

(return) See

(return) See

322:(retu

return) See Lo

n) Leahy, i. 138, i

turn) LL 215a; s

turn) See, furth

1. Professor Rh[^y]s admits that the theo