User:PSA/sandbox/Irish mythology overhaul

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Context and definitions

There are no documented sources about Irish mythology that were created before the Christianisation of Ireland;^[1] the event marked the end of the region's prehistoric era and the emergence of its earliest written records. Christianisation began sometime between the 2nd century and the 5th century CE.^[2] By the year 600 CE, the conversion process in the island was complete.^[3] blablabla we don't know a lot about pre-christian ireland in terms of folklore/myths, and it is hard to trace a definitive "original" irish mythology. While there may have been remnants of pre-Christian irish mythology in some of the medieval stories, a lot of these are medieval inventions. and that's okay <3

Concept of a pantheon

A map showing the various political entities of Ireland post-Christianisation, c. 8th century CE

Before and after Christianisation, there was no single political entity that encompassed all of Ireland; instead, it was split into several localised tribes called túatha, the region's basic sociopolitical unit at the time.^[4] People in túatha lived in rural environments, had a limited ability to travel long distances, and were thinly spread. Mark Andrew Williams, a professor who specialises in medieval Irish literature, argues that—while possible—pre-Christian Ireland was unlikely to have formed a shared pantheon on its own because of these circumstances.^[5]

If the concept of a unified Irish pantheon existed before conversion to Christianity, one hypothesis states that it was created and believed exclusively by upper-class, learned professionals who were capable of travelling freely.^[6] There are two other explanations for the idea's origins, and both involve emulation of Roman society. One possibility is that after Christianisation, members of Ireland's educated class invented the concept by copying elements from Classical Latin literature, which featured the notion that all Roman gods could be classified within a singular group, and applying it to Irish supernatural figures.^[7] Alternatively, Irish peoples could have taken the idea from Roman Britain, which provided them significant amounts of cultural and religious influence, before their conversion.^[7]

Semantics

time for some very interesting semantics - is irish mythology really a mythology? What if we just called them literature </3 are heroes really heroes? are the "deities" really the gods of ireland? more at 8!

Sources

Folio 53 of the Book of Leinster. Medieval manuscripts are the main source for Irish mythology and early literature.

most sources come from christian monks??? religious historical texts

lots of legal texts here for some reason

medieval literature!

Cycles

Medieval Irish writers classified their stories into various genres according to the plot... Examples of genres include the Táin Bó, which involves a cattle raid; Tochmarc, which involves a wooing or romance; and the Aided, which involves a violent death.

Today, modern scholars group the stories into "cycles". Cycles are based on the chronology of events in the pseudohistory created by the medieval Irish people... It originated in the X century and was invented by Y scholar.... There are four cycles...

Evolution blablabla Mythological/Ulster Cycles were upper-class centric but the Finn Cycle stories arrive and we get more folk tales stuff

Mythological Cycle

Lugh's Magic Spear; illustration by H.R. Millar

The Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. It is about the principal people who invaded and inhabited the island. The people include Cessair and her followers, the Formorians, the Partholinians, the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Milesians.^[8] The most important sources are the Metrical Dindshenchas or Lore of Places and the Lebor Gabála Érenn or Book of Invasions. Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as The Dream of Aengus, the Wooing Of Étain and Cath Maige Tuireadh, the (second) Battle of Magh Tuireadh. One of the best known of all Irish stories, Oidheadh Clainne Lir, or The Tragedy of the Children of Lir, is also part of this cycle.

Lebor Gabála Érenn is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before Noah. It tells of a series of invasions or "takings" of Ireland by a succession of peoples, the fifth of whom was the people known as the Tuatha Dé Danann ("Peoples of the Goddess Danu"), who were believed to have inhabited the island before the arrival of the Gaels, or Milesians. They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor was eventually slain by Lugh Lámfada (Lugh of the Long Arm) at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the fairy people of later myth and legend.

The Metrical Dindshenchas is the great onomastics work of early Ireland, giving the naming legends of significant places in a sequence of poems. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians.

It is important to note that by the Middle Ages the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier Golden Age Ireland. Texts such as Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuireadh present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, complete with death-tales. However, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered deities.

Even after they are displaced as the rulers of Ireland, characters such as Lugh, the Mórrígan, Aengus and Manannán Mac Lir appear in stories set centuries later, betraying their immortality. A poem in the Book of Leinster lists many of the Tuatha Dé, but ends "Although [the author] enumerates them, he does not worship them". Goibniu, Creidhne and Luchta are referred to as Trí Dé Dána ("three gods of craftsmanship"), and the Dagda's name is interpreted in medieval texts as "the good god". Nuada is cognate with the British god Nodens; Lugh is a reflex of the pan-Celtic deity Lugus, the name of whom may indicate "Light"; Tuireann may be related to the Gaulish Taranis; Ogma to Ogmios; the Badb to Catubodua.

Ulster Cycle

"Cuchulain in Battle", illustration by J. C. Leyendecker in T. W. Rolleston's Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race, 1911

The Ulster Cycle is traditionally set around the first century AD, and most of the action takes place in the provinces of Ulster and Connacht. It consists of a group of heroic tales dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cú Chulainn, who was the son of Lug (Lugh), and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha (known in English as Navan Fort), close to the modern town of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with the Irish colony in Scotland, and part of Cú Chulainn's training takes place in that colony.

The cycle consists of stories of the births, early lives and training, wooings, battles, feastings, and deaths of the heroes and reflects a warrior society in which warfare consists mainly of single combats and wealth is measured mainly in cattle. These stories are written mainly in prose. The centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle is the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Other important Ulster Cycle tales include The Tragic Death of Aife's only Son, Bricriu's Feast, and The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel. The Exile of the Sons of Usnach, better known as the tragedy of Deirdre and the source of plays by John Millington Synge, William Butler Yeats, and Vincent Woods, is also part of this cycle.

This cycle is, in some respects, close to the mythological cycle. Some of the characters from the latter reappear, and the same sort of shape-shifting magic is much in evidence, side by side with a grim, almost callous realism. While we may suspect a few characters, such as Medb or Cú Roí, of once being deities, and Cú Chulainn in particular displays superhuman prowess, the characters are mortal and associated with a specific time and place. If the Mythological Cycle represents a Golden Age, the Ulster Cycle is Ireland's Heroic Age.

Fianna Cycle

Fionn fighting Aillen, illustration by Beatrice Elvery in Violet Russell's Heroes of the Dawn (1914)

Like the Ulster Cycle, the Fianna Cycle or Fenian Cycle, also referred to as the Ossianic Cycle, is concerned with the deeds of Irish heroes. The stories of the Cycle appear to be set around the 3rd century and mainly in the provinces of Leinster and Munster.^[8] They differ from the other cycles in the strength of their links with the Gaelic-speaking community in Scotland and there are many extant texts from that country. They also differ from the Ulster Cycle in that the stories are told mainly in verse and that in tone they are nearer to the tradition of romance than the tradition of epic. The stories concern the doings of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of soldiers, the Fianna.

The single most important source for the Fianna Cycle is the Acallam na Senórach (Colloquy of the Old Men), which is found in two 15th century manuscripts, the Book of Lismore and Laud 610, as well as a 17th century manuscript from Killiney, County Dublin. The text is dated from linguistic evidence to the 12th century. The text records conversations between Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, the last surviving members of the Fianna, and Saint Patrick, and consists of about 8,000 lines. The late dates of the manuscripts may reflect a longer oral tradition for the Fenian stories.

The Fianna of the story are divided into the Clann Baiscne, led by Fionn mac Cumhaill (often rendered as "Finn MacCool", Finn Son of Cumhall), and the Clann Morna, led by his enemy, Goll mac Morna. Goll killed Fionn's father, Cumhal, in battle and the boy Fionn was brought up in secrecy. As a youth, while being trained in the art of poetry, he accidentally burned his thumb while cooking the Salmon of Knowledge, which allowed him to suck or bite his thumb to receive bursts of stupendous wisdom. He took his place as the leader of his band and numerous tales are told of their adventures. Two of the greatest of the Irish tales, Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne (The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne) and Oisín in Tír na nÓg form part of the cycle. The Diarmuid and Grainne story, which is one of the cycle's few prose tales, is a probable source of Tristan and Iseult.

The world of the Fianna Cycle is one in which professional warriors spend their time hunting, fighting, and engaging in adventures in the spirit world. New entrants into the band are expected to be knowledgeable in poetry as well as undergo a number of physical tests or ordeals. Most of the poems are attributed to being composed by Oisín. This cycle creates a bridge between pre-Christian and Christian times.^[8]

Kings' Cycle

It was part of the duty of the medieval Irish bards, or court poets, to record the history of the family and the genealogy of the king they served. This they did in poems that blended the mythological and the historical to a greater or lesser degree. The resulting stories from what has come to be known as the Cycles of the Kings, or more correctly Cycles, as there are a number of independent groupings. This term is a more recent addition to the cycles, with it being coined in 1946 by Irish literary critic Myles Dillon.

The kings that are included range from the almost entirely mythological Labraid Loingsech, who allegedly became High King of Ireland around 431 BC, to the entirely historical Brian Boru. However, the greatest glory of the Kings' Cycle is the Buile Shuibhne (The Frenzy of Sweeney), a 12th century tale told in verse and prose. Suibhne, king of Dál nAraidi, was cursed by St. Ronan and became a kind of half-man, half bird, condemned to live out his life in the woods, fleeing from his human companions. The story has captured the imaginations of contemporary Irish poets and has been translated by Trevor Joyce and Seamus Heaney.

Characters

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Badb, a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is often depicted as a crow in battle. Illustration by J. C. Leyendecker in T. W. Rolleston's Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race (1911).

The Tuatha Dé Danann were (groups of various) supernatural beings who appeared primarily in the "Mythological Cycle" of early Irish literature. In the society of which they were a part, they held a high degree of status and defined the upper class: a reflection of medieval Ireland's elite.^[9] Receiving formalised education, members of the Tuatha Dé Danann possessed exceptional proficiency in a variety of skills or jobs,^[10] such as smithing, medicine, law, or poetry. Their expertise lended them their supernatural powers and distinguished them from the lower classes.

The characterisation of the Tuatha Dé Danaan in medieval Irish literature is persistently ambiguous and contradictory.^[11] In some stories, they pose deadly threats to the main characters, such as when Aillen puts the people of Tara to sleep and sets the place on fire in The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn. At other times, they appear as helpful, benevolent beings; in The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne, Aengus Óg assists his foster son's escape from the wrath of Fionn mac Cumhail. Christian monks wrote about the Tuatha Dé Danaan in various ways, portraying them as euhemerised people, "unfallen humans" who were free from sin, descendants of Noah who possess magical powers, half-fallen angels, or demons.^[12]

One popular interpretation of the Tuatha Dé Danaan is that they served as the gods of the Irish peoples before their conversion to Christianity.^[10] Sanas Cormaic, a glossary that was first compiled around the 900s and underwent several changes over time, lists several supernatural figures purported to be ancient Irish gods. Some entries could pertain to native deities worshipped in pre-Christian Ireland, while others might have been medieval-era inventions.^[13] John Carey, a Celtic Studies professor, writes that while the Tuatha Dé Danaan's origins as pre-Christian deities is possible, to call them gods would fail to aptly describe their heavily ambiguous roles in the medieval literature.^[14]

Fomorians

First paragraph would, apart from the whole "they appear in the Mythological Cycle" opening, contain:

- How they are often portrayed in the medieval literature
- Which narratives in the medieval literature they appear in specifically
- Their physical attributes
- Genealogy
- Etymology

Then the second paragraph would contain, in order:

- The initial theory that the CMT reflected an older, Indo-European myth of the "theomachy"
- Why that's all wrong
- Historical context about the Norse invasions (Arguments from Celticists such as John Carey, Kim McCone, and Michael Chesnutt)
- Link all that context back to the Fomoiri somehow
- And, to close it off, "the TDD and Fomoiri miiight have been the same people before CMT by the way"

Another group of figures who feature in the Mythological Cycle are the Fomorians. They often appear in early Irish literary texts as antagonists

Fir Bolg and other settlers

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Warriors

"Setanta Slays the Hound of Culain", illustration by Stephen Reid from Eleanor Hull's The Boys' Cuchulain (1904)

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Kings and queens

Queen Medb as illustrated by J.C. Leyendecker in Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race

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== Magical creatures and items ==Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text. Placeholder text.

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Locations

The Mound of the Hostages, located in County Meath. Places beneath mounds and hills were attested locations of the Irish Otherworld.^[15]

Otherworld

There were multiple otherworlds in Irish mythology, and many were located within hills.(Carey, 116; Williams, 30) Such hills were called síde (anglicised as shee, singular síd) and were bigger on the inside than the outside. Celticist Jacqueline Borsje described a síd as "a hill, a megalithic tumulus, or pre-Celtic grave-hill". Residing within these were the supernatural, humanlike in appearance but superior to humans in several aspects: they were more beautiful, possessed exceptional powers, and lived longer or never died.(Williams, 30)

"Somewhere after the 9th century the Otherworld shifts towards 'Isles West of Ireland' due to conceptual issues with the Irish monks wanting to avoid any confusion between the Otherworld and Hell. This connection appears in other Celtic regions and can be established with archeological evidence."

Festivals

Folk creatures

Banshee

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Leprechaun

An illustration of a leprechaun by John D. Batten from Celtic Fairy Tales, 1891

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Dullahan

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Changelings

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Legacy / in popular media (?)

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References

Citations

^ Williams 2016, p. 3.
^ O'Loughlin 2006, p. 409; Williams 2016, p. 4.
^ Williams 2016, p. 4.
^ Williams 2016, pp. 11, 13–14; Charles-Edwards 1993.
^ Williams 2016, pp. 11–12.
^ Williams 2016, pp. 11.
^ ^a ^b Williams 2016, pp. 12.
^ ^a ^b ^c Cite error: The named reference Frehan-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Williams, 2016 & 99.
^ ^a ^b Gray 2021, p. 50.
^ Williams 2016, p. 78; Carey 2018; Gray 2021, p. 50.
^ Williams 2016, p. 79; Gray 2021, p. 50.
^ Williams 2016, pp. 80–81.
^ Carey 2018.
^ Carey 2000, pp. 113, 116.

Sources

Books and book chapters

Bhreathnach, Edel (2014). Ireland in the Medieval World, AD400-1000: Landscape, Kingship and Religion. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 1846823412. OCLC 875517988.

Carey, John (2000). "The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition" (PDF). In Wooding, Jonathan M. (ed.). The Otherworld Voyage in Early Irish Literature: An Anthology of Criticism. Dublin: Four Courts Press. pp. 113–119. ISBN 9781851822461. OCLC 1302630617.

Carey, John (2018). Murray, Kevin (ed.). The Mythological Cycle of Medieval Irish Literature. Cork: Cork Studies in Celtic Literatures. ISBN 0995546924. OCLC 1054115919.

Carey, John (2021). "The nature of the Fomoiri: the dark Other in the Medieval Irish imagination". In Lyle, Emily (ed.). Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions. The Early Medieval North Atlantic. Vol. 12. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 25–48. doi:10.1515/9789048554065-toc. ISBN 9789463729055 – via De Gruyter.

Charles-Edwards, T. M. (1993). Early Irish and Welsh Kinship. Oxford: Clarendon Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201038.001.0001. ISBN 9780198201038. OCLC 775575104.

Gray, Elizabeth A. (2021). "Tuatha Dé and Fomoiri in Cath Maige Tuired". In Lyle, Emily (ed.). Myth and History in Celtic and Scandinavian Traditions. The Early Medieval North Atlantic. Vol. 12. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 49–70. doi:10.1515/9789048554065-toc. ISBN 9789463729055 – via De Gruyter.

Kelly, Fergus (2016). A Guide to Early Irish Law. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. ISBN 1855002140. OCLC 1023541067.

McCone, Kim R. (1990). Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature. Maynooth: An Sagart. ISBN 1870684109. OCLC 1067754283.

Murray, Kevin (2017). The Early Finn Cycle. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 1846826306. OCLC 1004318451.

O'Loughlin, Thomas (2006). "Christianity in the Celtic countries, Ireland". In Koch, John T. (ed.). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 408–413. ISBN 1851094458 – via Internet Archive.

O'Loughlin, Thomas (2012). "Christianity, Ireland". In Koch, John T.; Minard, Antone (eds.). The Celts: History, Life, and Culture. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 193–196. ISBN 1598849646. OCLC 811397441.

Raftery, Barry (1994). Pagan Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500279837. OCLC 750621647 – via Internet Archive.

Williams, Mark Andrew (2016). Ireland's Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvc775gk. ISBN 9780691157313. OCLC 966607852 – via De Gruyter.

Williams, Mark Andrew (2021). The Celtic Myths that Shape the Way We Think. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500772553.

Journal articles

Carey, John (1981). "The name Tuatha Dé Danann". Éigse. 18 (2): 291–294.

Carey, John (1989). "Myth and mythography in Cath Maige Tuired". Studia Celtica. 24: 53–69 – via ProQuest.

McCone, Kim R. (1986). "Werewolves, cyclopes, díberga, and Fíanna: juvenile delinquency in early Ireland". Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies. 12: 1–22.

McCone, Kim R. (1996). "The Cyclops in Celtic, Germanic and Indo-European myth". Studia Celtica. 30: 89–111.

McManus, Damian (2009). "Good-looking and irresistible: the hero from early Irish saga to classical poetry". Ériu. 59: 57–109.

Murray, Kevin (2019). "Sources of Irish mythology: the significance of the dinnṡenchas". North American Journal of Celtic Studies. 3 (2): 155–170. doi:10.26818/nortamerceltstud.3.2.0155.

Rodway, Simon (2010). "Mermaids, leprechauns and Fomorians: a Middle Irish account of the descendants of Cain". Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies. 59: 1–17.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams20163-1] Williams 2016, p. 3.

[FOOTNOTEO'Loughlin2006409Williams20164-2] O'Loughlin 2006, p. 409; Williams 2016, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams20164-3] Williams 2016, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201611,_13–14Charles-Edwards1993-4] Williams 2016, pp. 11, 13–14; Charles-Edwards 1993.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201611–12-5] Williams 2016, pp. 11–12.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201611-6] Williams 2016, pp. 11.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201612-7] Williams 2016, pp. 12.

[Frehan-2012-8] Cite error: The named reference Frehan-2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201699-9] Williams, 2016 & 99.

[FOOTNOTEGray202150-10] Gray 2021, p. 50.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201678Carey2018Gray202150-11] Williams 2016, p. 78; Carey 2018; Gray 2021, p. 50.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201679Gray202150-12] Williams 2016, p. 79; Gray 2021, p. 50.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams201680–81-13] Williams 2016, pp. 80–81.

[FOOTNOTECarey2018-14] Carey 2018.

[FOOTNOTECarey2000113,_116-15] Carey 2000, pp. 113, 116.

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