Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [138]
The son of the great goddess Dana, Daghda freely mated with many goddesses, but his coupling with the battle goddess Morrigan was most significant, because it was thought to provide security to the Irish people. Most likely a localized version of the Celtic agricultural god Sucellos, Daghda had other names as well—Aed (fire), Ollathir (all-father), and Ruad Rofessa (lord of the great knowledge).
Dana (Danu) Mother of Daghda, Dana is the mother goddess of the entire divine race known as the Tuatha. In Irish myth, when the Tuatha are supplanted by the Celts, they retreat to underground hills and are transformed into the fairies, or “little people” of later Irish folktales. Dana finds underground residences for all of them, and these are the “fairy mounds” (sídh) that provide many legendary place-names around Ireland. Two famous mounds in County Kerry are known as the “paps [breasts] of Anu,” another form of the great goddess’s name.
Lugh Associated with sunshine and light, Lugh (pronounced loo) is the “shining god” as well as a fierce warrior, magician, and craftsman, related by blood to both the Tuatha Dé Danaan and the rival Fomorians. Among the many marvelous weapons he forges are a sword that cuts through anything and a spear that guarantees victory. Once the Tuatha are supplanted in Ireland and transformed into the legendary “little people,” Lugh becomes the craftsman Lugh Chromain (“little stooping Lugh”), whose name was later Anglicized as the word “leprechaun.”
Another vestige of his name is found, somewhat ironically, in the capital city of Ireland’s colonial conqueror. The “fortress of Lugh” became Lugdunum, Latinized by the Romans into Londinium, which later became London.
Lugh’s festival, called Lughnasa, was celebrated on August 1 and was one of four pivotal Celtic Irish holidays, meant to mark the beginning of the harvest. It plays a central role in Irish playwright Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa.
Morrigan (Nemhain, Badbh, Macha) Known as the “phantom queen,” Morrigan (pronounced more-ree-an) is a shape-shifting goddess of horses and war, who can change from human being into animal forms. Whenever Morrigan appears as a raven, death is nearby, and she is often seen to be waiting at a river ford for warriors to pass so that she can determine which will die in battle that day. Standing in the river and washing the corpses of the dead, she is also called “the washer at the ford.”
One of Morrigan’s most important roles comes in the great Irish story the Táin, when she unsuccessfully attempts to seduce the hero Cuchulainn. (Pronounced koo-hool-n; see below.) Intent upon making war, not love, this warrior hero rejects her advances, and in doing so, seals his fate.
Nuadu (Nudd) Supreme king of the Irish Celtic pantheon, Nuadu is the legendary ruler of the Tuatha, but loses his arm in battle and must relinquish his kingship. Later given a magical arm of silver, he is able to reclaim the throne, but he loses his courage in later wars and has to retire, giving the throne over to Lugh.
MYTHIC VOICES
The first warp-spasm seized Cuchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins and knees switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front. The balled sinews of his calves switched to the front of his shins, each big knot the size