Irish Gods and Goddesses

[~*Blackbird*~]

Hello,

I'm trying to make up an A-Z list of Irish gods and goddesses for a friend who's in the process of writing an long poem on Deirdre of the Sorrows. He wants to be able to make references to the old Irish gods instead of Christianizing the poem.

I'm having more difficulty than I thought I would with accuracy, duplicity and basic confusion!

Can you guys help me? I'm looking for Name, Function (god/goddess of..) and brief description.

Any help will be much appreciated!

[Beith]

Hi Blackbird!

I wish your friend much success in his poetry-writing.

Re: A-z....not to curb your enthusiasm! but just to say that's a huge job Blackbird - because of the sheer number of characters in Irish mythology. It's absolutely vast.

Maybe I can direct you to reference sources instead>

Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin (Daithi O Hogan) "Myth, Legend & Romance" - this is a "bible" of info on various characters and events and places.
Lady Augusta Gregory's "Complete Irish Mythology"
Charles Squire or P Joyce's books on Irish Myth (google them)
Seathrún Céitinn (Geoffrey Keating) "Foras Feasa ar Eireann" (It's translated to English - it's a mythological history of Ireland written about 1634)
Lebor Gabála Erenn "The book of the takings of Ireland" (Aka "The book of invasions") - Irish Texts Society series, by RAS MacAlister. This is a book of translation of verses and prose from the LGE, it comes in about 5 volumes but vol 4 &5 are the most relevant to the Tuatha Dé Danann, Fir Bolg, etc as far as I recall.
and any number of books on mythology of Ireland as there are thousands.

All of these books referenced are available in good bookstores/libraries. Prof O Hogan's book would be under "Irish Folklore or Myth" along with Lady G, Squire, Joyce. Books like Foras Feasa, LGE would be under "Celtic studies".

You could also check out websites like :

Shee Eire (I don't know how much info on, but I think some of it quite good from what I recall)

http://www.shee-eire.com/Magic&Mytholog ... s/main.htm

Sacred Texts
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/index.htm

and have a look at some of the on-line links I posted in this forum, and in the general CS forum, because they contain links to websites and e-books that have such info, or the full tales themselves in good scholarly translation.

Basically he'd have to select a few because there's so much info.

best wishes
Beith

[~*Blackbird*~]

Haha yeah maybe it is a bit huge lol. I didn't explain very well!

I'm basically looking for major gods and goddesses. Like of war, love things like that. The most well known. And like you said, just a few for him to be able to make reference in his poem.

In places it says the Morrigan forms a triple aspect with Badb and Macha but others say Nemain in place of Macha. Which is correct?

I'll take a look at the links you gave!

Thanks very much for your help

[Abhaill]

Hi Blackbird,

I agree with Beith, that's quite a task you've laid out for yourself!  There might be a few ways you could pare that down a little.  Since your friend is writing a poem about Derdriu of the Sorrows, perhaps you might want to list the gods who have a hand in that tale, or the tales associated with her, or with Ulster or Scotland, as part of the story takes place in each location.

You might want to look up:

Macha - sovereignty goddess of Ulster, and eponymous benefactress of Ulster's capital, Emain Macha; sometimes (mistakenly, in my opinion) described as an aspect of the Morrigan

Medb - sovereignty goddess of Connacht, who leads the Men of Ireland into Ulster to take the Donn Cuailgne (Brown Bull of Cooley); painted as the villain of the Tain, the main event to which the story of Derdriu is attached

Morrigan - (I would say sovereignty) goddess of war, battle, carnage, prophecy, testing, transformation, and a host of other things; catalyst of the Tain, a key player in the story; often described as a triple goddess with three names, although there is much confusion over these (Morrigan, Badb, Nemain, Macha, Anu, etc.)

Lugh - a god for all seasons, weathers, and occupations it seems!; father of Cu Chulainn, who abducted his mother Dechtire from Emain Macha on her wedding day

Cailleach - although not part of the Tain matrix, she is a goddess with a strong presence in both Ireland and Scotland where Derdriu's story takes place; strongly associated with the land, wisdom, testing, creation, transformation, initiation, and scads more!

There are many to choose from, that's for sure.  I hope these are of some help.  Good luck in your searching!

~ Abhaill

[~*Blackbird*~]

Ah! Thankyou! Yeah that's what I needed. Now with a little research should find something for him

Thanks both, you've been a great help

Just one more question-I'm reading manda Scott's 'Boudica' series at the moment and she makes repeated references to the goddess Nemain(how do you promounce that by the way?). She writes that she is the face of the moon and so is the only goddess to show her face twice-in the skies and in the waters which are sacred to her. Also the hare that is seen on the surface of the moon is sacred to her. Now historical sources say Boudicca thanked the goddess Andraste, the goddess of war and victory whose sign was also the hare. Is this the British version of the Irish Nemain or am I strolling down the wrong path? I can't find much on Andraste.

Thanks again!

[Beith]

HI!

Nemain is a war goddess, one of the battle furies. She is wife of the battle god Néit (ancestor of Balor of the Strong blows/Balor of the 'evil eye'). The word nemain is associated with malice, war-fury, frenzy, trouble...those sort of things. In some translations it's given as "nemain the venomous" but I think this is mixing the word with "neim" (poison, venom)

The furies are mentioned in the Lebor Gabála Erenn (Book of Invasions)  in Book 4 I think, in the description of the coming of the Túatha Dé Danann to Ireland, as well as in other battle tales.They include Nemain, Badhbh (Badb), Macha, and in another translation I think I've also seen mention of one called "Fea the hateful" probably from "Fé" meaning ill-omen/lamentation/disaster/hated thing". The war furies take the form of scald crows or "hoodie crows" (the carrion crow) and flutter shrieking over the heads of  warriors in battle, inciting war and frenzy.
Also just to say - the word Badb is used both as the name of a particular fury but also as the generic name for what they are - furies, frenzied female battle spirits .

I think there's an item about Nemain on that shee Eire website if memory serves.
The name would probably have been pronounced in old Irish as "Nevan" as a consonant between two vowels in a word usually gets lenited (mutated with a sound change) and for m in Old irish - it goes to a v-sound.

Sometimes it has a fada - a length-mark accent on the e Némain - which would make it sound like "nayvan"

and it's also spelled as Nemaind (where nd is the same as nn in sound by the time of late Old Irish/early middle Irish)


I think maybe Manda Scott borrowed across the associations of Andraste but assumed an Irish war goddess name - Nemain.

best wishes
Beith

[~*Blackbird*~]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Beith