Tuatha Dé Danann

The Milesians invaded Ireland and fought the Tuatha Dé Danann, who refused to surrender the island. The Tuatha Dé used magic against the invaders. They called on the powers of the land and prepared druidical spells to prevent the Milesians from coming nearer. In some accounts, the gods joined their powers to raise a strong wind against the Milesian ships. Manannan, son of the Sea, is also said to have waved his magic mantle and sent an offshore wind into their path.

The two sides came to a parley near the capital. Amergin, the Milesian druid, judged that the Milesians were at fault because they had not declared war before invading Ireland. They agreed to withdraw to their ships and make a new landing. The Milesians sailed nine wave lengths from the shore. When they tried to return, their oars made no progress against the wind. They first thought that a natural storm was holding them back. A man climbed the highest mast, saw no storm on the horizon, and reported that magic had caused the wind.

Amergin then chanted a poem calling on the powers of Ireland itself. The land answered his spell, and the wind died down. The Milesians reached the shore and defeated the Tuatha Dé Danann. Amergin’s judgment was accepted as fair by both sides. Eriu had asked Amergin that the island should be named after her, and he promised this to the three women who made the request. Her name, in the form Erinn, survived as the name of Ireland.

After their defeat, the Tuatha Dé Danann made themselves invisible to human eyes and withdrew beneath the hills and mounds of Ireland. Another account describes the settlement as a division of the land. The Milesians took the surface world, while the Tuatha Dé Danann took the misty world below it.

Midir returned to Fuamnach, his estranged wife, with Lug, Ogma, and the Dagda as guarantors of her safety. He was angry, but Fuamnach said she did not regret what she had done to Étaín. She brought spells from Bresal the druid and summoned a hostile wind. It drove Étaín away from Midir for seven years. She could not land on a tree or on any other place, and was carried through the air until she fell into the lap of Óengus at the Bruig na Bóinne.

Óengus recognised her and took her in. He later brought her to her father Ailill. Étaín was placed in the centre of Ailill’s hall and weighed, and Óengus gave her father an equal weight in gold and silver. He then took her back to the Bruig. There he gave Midir a fine chariot and cloak, together with Étaín. Midir slept with her that night and stayed with Óengus for a year. Before Midir left with Étaín, Óengus warned him that Fuamnach was powerful, shrewd, and would not accept another woman in her house.

Fuamnach first appeared to welcome Étaín. She showed her their holdings and led her to the sleeping hut. When they were alone, Fuamnach struck her and cast a spell that changed her into a fly. She raised another great wind, which carried Étaín far away. Étaín eventually fell into a cup of wine held by Etar’s wife during a feast. The woman drank the wine and swallowed her. Étaín survived as a seed within her body, and nine months later was born again as a girl. Her parents gave the child the name Étaín.

Midir searched for her and found her grown into a princess at Etar’s palace. She had forgotten their former relationship. In another account, she married Eochaid Airem, who sought a queen before his inauguration at Tara. Midir remembered her, however. He won a wager against Eochaid, then won again when Étaín was offered as the stake. When Midir kissed her, her memory returned. They changed into swans and flew through the skylight at Tara. Eochaid pursued them to Cruachan and then to Midir’s home at the fairy mound of Brí Léith.

A warrior’s blow severed Nuada’s right hand or arm during the battle on the plain of Mag Tuired. The Tuatha Dé Danann won the battle, but Nuada could no longer rule. Among the Irish, a blemished king could not hold the throne. Bres, a half-Fomorian, took Nuada’s place and became ruler of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Dian Cécht, the physician god, made Nuada a hand of silver. It moved like a real hand and worked as a living hand would. This repair did not remove the taboo against a blemished king, so Nuada remained unable to rule. While Bres governed, he brought trouble to the land. In one account, the Tuatha Dé Danann later expelled him after he sought soldiers from his father, Elatha, to fight them. Nuada was then made king again, though his silver hand still marked him as maimed.

Dian Cécht’s son Miach was a greater healer than his father. Nuada visited him, and Miach caused living flesh to grow over the silver hand. In this way, he restored Nuada’s hand so that the king was no longer physically blemished. The people of Ireland rejoiced and asked Nuada to reclaim his rightful position. Nuada returned to the throne.

Dian Cécht could not endure his son’s success. Envious of Miach’s healing, he killed him. Miach’s powers continued after death. The most powerful herbs in the world grew on his grave, and his sister Airmid tended them and arranged them according to the good each herb could bring.

Crunniuc mac Agnomain, a wealthy landlord in Ulster, lived with his sons after his wife had died. One day, a woman came to his house and settled there. She worked as though she knew the place well, put everything in order, and slept with Crunniuc. She remained with him, bringing food, clothes, and prosperity. Her name was Macha. She was a woman of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and she became pregnant with twins.

When Ulster held an Assembly, Crunniuc went there with the rest of the people. He saw the king’s horses and boasted that Macha could outrun them. The boast reached King Concobar, who ordered Macha to prove it. She was brought to the Assembly while heavily pregnant. She begged the king to release her, warning that her labour was near. She also appealed to the crowd, reminding them that every person there had been born from a mother. No one helped her.

Concobar believed that her pregnancy would slow her, so he ordered the race to begin. Macha ran beside the king’s chariot and quickly passed the horses. She crossed the finish line just ahead of them, but her labour pains began at once. The pain and loss of blood killed her as she gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy. Before she died, she named herself Macha, daughter of Sainrith mac Imbaith, the wondrous son of the ocean, and declared that her name would remain on that place. The Assembly site was thereafter called Emain Macha, explained as meaning the twins of Macha.

Macha then cursed the men of Ulster who had caused her death. Whenever enemies invaded the land, the Ulstermen would fall to the ground and suffer pains like those of childbirth. One account says the suffering lasted four days and five nights and continued for nine times nine generations. The curse later affected the Ulster army during the invasion described in the Táin Bó Cuailnge. Cú Chulainn, who was not born in Ulster, did not suffer from it and had to face the invading army while the other Ulstermen lay helpless.

The Formorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann advanced across the plain of Mag Tuired to meet in battle. Lugh gathered the Tuatha warriors and asked how they would defeat their enemies. Goibniu the smith promised to replace every broken weapon, even if the battle lasted seven years. Dian Cécht said he would heal every wounded man whose head had not been cut off. Ogma pledged to kill a third of the Formorians himself. Coirpre, the poet, would shame and satirise them. Bé Chuille and Dianann would enchant the trees and rocks against them. The Dagda promised to fight with destructive force.

The Tuatha Dé prepared their weapons and gathered their healing supplies. Goibniu made replacements for weapons damaged in the fighting. Dian Cécht treated the wounded who had survived with their heads intact. Ogma fought the Formorians, while Coirpre used poetry against them. Bé Chuille and Dianann turned the landscape against the enemy with their enchantments.

The battle took place on the plain of Mag Tuired. The Tuatha Dé faced the Formorians under their leaders and used the abilities they had promised. The Dagda fought for the men of Ireland with his club and his strength. The fighting continued as both peoples used weapons, healing, poetry, and magic. The account records the preparations and the roles assigned to the Tuatha Dé before the battle.

The Fomorians and the Tuatha Dé advanced towards the great plain of Mag Tuired, where they would meet in battle. Lug gathered the Tuatha Dé around him and asked what each of them would do against their enemy. Goibniu the smith promised to make a new weapon whenever one broke. Dian Cécht promised to heal the wounded, unless a man’s head had been cut off. Ogma promised to kill a third of the Fomorians himself. Coirpre, the poet, promised to shame and satirise them. Bé Chuille and Dianann promised to enchant the trees and rocks against them.

Lug then asked the Dagda what part he would play. The Dagda answered that he would fight for the men of Ireland with power and destruction. He said that he would crush the Fomorians’ bones with his club like hail beneath horses’ feet on the plain. The Tuatha Dé prepared for the coming battle, gathering their skills and pledging themselves against the Fomorians.

During the war, the Fomorians stole the Dagda’s magical harp. They carried it into their stronghold, taking the instrument away from him while the fighting continued. The Dagda did not abandon it. He went into the Fomorians’ stronghold to recover what they had taken.

Inside the stronghold, the Dagda summoned his harp. The magical instrument answered his call and came back to him from the Fomorians. The Dagda recovered the harp during the war and took it away from the enemy stronghold.

Tailtiu cleared Ireland’s central pasturelands. She worked until the task was complete, then died from exhaustion. Tailtiu was the foster mother of Lugh, and her death became the reason for the assembly and games that he established in her honour.

Lugh created the festival called Lughnasa. It was held in August, on the day associated with Tailtiu’s death. The gathering took place at Teltown, on the River Blackwater in County Meath. It was also called the Óenach Tailten, or the Tailtian Games. Tribes assembled there for trading, matchmaking, celebration, and athletic contests. Horse racing may have formed part of the festivities. Legends also tell of teams swimming across the nearby river at dawn.

The games continued through medieval times, and a smaller festival remained at the same site into the nineteenth century. The assembly was held near Tara, the seat of political power, and the kings of Tara sponsored it. Teltown also became known for trial marriages made at a mound called the Crockans. Couples held hands through a hole in a wooden door while making their vows. If the match failed within a year and a day, they could return and undo the union. The festival was mainly connected with the harvest, fairs, and gatherings, but the athletic contest remained dedicated to Tailtiu, whose labour and death gave the place its name and its rites.

Óengus repeatedly dreamed of a woman he had never met. He fell in love with her and became so lovesick that he wandered through the world in search of her. He did not know her name or where she lived. His search continued until he reached the Lake of Dragon’s Mouths.

There he found Cáer swimming in the shape of a swan. She wore golden chains, with one account giving the number as 130. Óengus recognised her as the woman from his dreams. The account does not describe him meeting her first in human form. Instead, he immediately changed into a swan himself.

Óengus and Cáer then flew away together, joined by a golden chain. As they travelled, they sang with such sweetness that anyone who heard their song fell into a deep sleep for three days and three nights. The lovers continued their flight as swans, linked together in the air.

The account gives no further meeting in human form before their flight. It also does not state how Óengus learned Cáer’s name or where she lived before finding her at the lake. The swan form remained central to their departure, and the golden chain kept the pair together as they flew from the Lake of Dragon’s Mouths.