The Religion of the Ancient CeltsMacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Religion
The Religion of the Ancient Celts
MacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Celts -- Religion; Mythology, Celtic
The principal Fomorians are described as kings. Elatha was son of Nét,
described by Cormac as "a battle god of the heathen Gael," i.e. he is
one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and has as wives two war-goddesses, Badb
and Nemaind.[187] Thus he resembles the Fomorian Tethra whose wife is a
_badb_ or "battle-crow," preying on the slain.[188] Elatha's name,
connected with words meaning "knowledge," suggests that he was an
aboriginal culture-god.[189] In the genealogies, Fomorians and Tuatha Dé
Danann are inextricably mingled. Bres's temporary position as king of
the Tuatha Déa may reflect some myth of the occasional supremacy of the
powers of blight. Want and niggardliness characterise his reign, and
after his defeat a better state of things prevails. Bres's consort was
Brigit, and their son Ruadan, sent to spy on the Tuatha Dé Danann, was
slain. His mother's wailing for him was the first mourning wail ever
heard in Erin.[190] Another god, Indech, was son of Déa Domnu, a
Fomorian goddess of the deep, i.e. of the underworld and probably also
of fertility, who may hold a position among the Fomorians similar to
that of Danu among the Tuatha Dé Danann. Indech was slain by Ogma, who
himself died of wounds received from his adversary.
Balor had a consort Cethlenn, whose venom killed Dagda. His one eye had
become evil by contact with the poisonous fumes of a concoction which
his father's Druids were preparing. The eyelid required four men to
raise it, when his evil eye destroyed all on whom its glance fell. In
this way Balor would have slain Lug at Mag-tured, but the god at once
struck the eye with a sling-stone and slew him.[191] Balor, like the
Greek Medusa, is perhaps a personification of the evil eye, so much
feared by the Celts. Healthful influences and magical charms avert it;
hence Lug, a beneficent god, destroys Balor's maleficence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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