IRISH CREATION MYTHS

The Irish developed a mythology essentially separate from that of the continental Celts and even their neighbors the Welsh Celts. Little or nothing exists of an Irish creation myth per se . What does exist is a history of invasions that eventually led to the establishment of what we now think of as Ireland and the Irish people. There are conflicting versions of certain details in the story but the essential elements are consistent.

The invasions begin, according to the Christian redactors of Irish stories, with the arrival of Noah's granddaughter Cesair (or of Banba, one of the eponymous queens, or symbols of Irish sovereignty) before the flood. According to the Cesair myth, the flood destroyed all of these first invaders except for Cesair's husband Fintan (the "Ancient White One") who, according to some, saved himself by changing into a salmon. The myth claims that Fintan survived into the Christian period as a source of knowledge about the past. Partholon and his people were the second invaders. It was Partholon who developed social customs and traditions and who began clearing land. But after fighting the simultaneously arriving Fomorians (Fomorii or Fomhoire), onearmed, one-legged, violent demons from under or beyond the sea, the Patholonians died of a plague.  Next came Nemed (Nemhedh) and his four women, the originators of the Nemedians, who also developed customs and crafts and cleared land. When Nemed was killed in battle with the Fomorians, his people were so mistreated by their conquerors that they revolted and emigrated to other lands. According to one version of the story, a group descending from the Nemedians returned to Ireland as the Firbolg (Fir Bholg) or "bag men"·so-named, say some, because, as slaves in distant Thrace, they had been made to carry bags of earth.

The Firbolg, who could be representatives of an actual pre-Celtic people in Ireland, are credited with the important division of the island into five provinces or coiceds ("fifths") and with the establishment of a sacred kingship based on the relationship between the king's essential integrity and the land's fertility. The five provinces, which are basic to Irish myth and history, are Ulster in the north, Connaught in the west, Munster in the south, Leinster in the east, all held together by Mide (Meath) with Tara, the seat of the sacred king, at its center. The age of the Firbolg was a golden age of prosperity and peace.

The next invaders, the Tuatha De Danann ("People of Danu"), are the closest beings in Irish mythology to the deities of the great pantheons of the Indo European tradition. Perhaps also descendants of the Nemedians, who in their time of exile·some say in the Northern Greek islands·learned the mysteries of creativity, the Tuatha had, in one way or another, become deities by the time they arrived in Ireland. They brought with them great powers of magic and druidry, symbolized by four talismans: the Fal Stone, which cried out to announce the true king when he stood on it, Lugh's Spear of Victory, Nuada's (Nuadha or Nuadhu) Undefeatable Sword, and Dagda's never-empty Cauldron.

The Tuatha De Danann, as their name indicates, were descendants of the mother goddess, Danu, of whom little is known. Their functions reflect a version of the Indo European tripartite arrangement: sovereign/priest, warrior, and artisan.

When the Tuatha arrived in Ireland and established their court at Tara, they fought and defeated the Firbolg in the First Battle of Mag Tuired in which King Nuada lost his arm. Although the arm was replaced with a silver one by Dian Cecht and later with a real one by Dian CechtÊs son Miach, Nuada abdicated his position as king because of his weakened condition when the Tuatha were faced with a new battle, this time against the Fomorians, who had returned to Ireland. Bres (the "Beautiful One"), the son of a Fomorian father and a Tuatha mother, was elected king, but when he proved so unsuitable as to elicit the satire of the poet Coibre·the voice of poets always carried great weight in Ireland·he was asked to resign. Instead, he turned to his enemy relatives for support, and the Second Battle of Mag Tuired resulted.

Before the battle, Nuada was restored to the throne, but he soon ceded his power to Lugh, who came to Tara and proved his ability to call successfully upon magical powers. Lugh led the battle, finally facing the horrid Balor, who killed both Nuada and Queen Macha and whose horrid single eye could destroy whole armies. With his sling stone, Lugh hit Balor's eye and the stone forced the eye back through the demonÊs skull and turned its evil powers against the Fomorians, who were themselves destroyed and removed from Ireland forever. Bres was captured but allowed to live in return for revealing Fomorian secrets of agriculture, the Fomorians being, like the Norse Vanir as well as the Greek and Vedic giants against whom the gods must wage war, representatives of the powers of both fertility and destruction that exist together in nature.

The next mytho-historical invasion of Ireland was that of the Gaels or Irish Celts, represented by the Milesians or Sons of Mil Espaine ("Soldier of Spain"). There are many stories of how the Milesians eventually came to Ireland, and the Christian monks who wrote the Book of Invasions gave this story of Irish origins a resemblance to the biblical Book of Exodus . The Milesians, they said, journeyed from Scythia to Egypt, Spain, and eventually Ireland, where they landed, led by the poet Amairgen (Amhairghin), who used his Moses-like prophetic power and wisdom to push aside the defending cloud of mist arranged by Tuatha De Danann on the Feast of Beltene (May Day). The poet, in a sense, sings the new Ireland of the Celts into existence, containing within himself, like Krishna-Vishnu in the Bhagavadgita or the persona of the poems of Walt Whitman, all the elements of creation: "The sea's wind am I," he sings,

The ocean's wave,

The seaÊs roar,

The Bull of the Seven Fights,

The vulture on the cliff,

The drop of dew,

The fairest flower,

The boldest boar,

The salmon in the pool,

The lake on the plain,

The skillful word,

The weapon's point,

The god who makes fire I am,

. . .
On their way to Tara, the Milesians met the triune goddess, represented by the eponymous queens Eire, Banba (Banbha), Fotla (Fodla), who represented Irish sovereignty (sometimes together or individually they are given the name "Sovranty"). The queens tried to convince the invaders, led by Donn, to preserve their names forever as the names of the conquered island. Donn refused, and his early death was foretold by Eire. At Tara the Milesians met with the husbands of the queens, the three kings, Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht, and Mac Greine, who asked for a temporary truce. It was decided by Amairgen that the Milesians should put out to sea and invade again. The second invasion was prevented by the magic wind of the Tuatha until the stronger magic of the poetÊs words caused the Tuatha wind to fail. The Milesians then landed and, although Donn was killed, were able to defeat the old gods. The peace settlement left the Celts in control of the world above ground and the Tuatha in control of the land below. It was Amairgen who declared that Ireland should be named for the triune goddess. The Tuatha were said from then on to live in sidhe , underground mounds, and were themselves referred to ever after as the sidh , the "fairies" or "little people" of legend in Ireland.

Insofar as this is a creation myth, it involves the gradual development of an Irish identity out of the chaos of numerous invasions, culminating in the singing of Ireland into existence by the great Celtic poet priest, Amairgen. Out of the chaotic sea come the Celts and out of the chaotic potential of words, comes the cosmic order of the poet's song.


By David A. Leeming in "Creation Myths of the World-An Encyclopedia" ABC CLIO, LLC USA, 2010, excerpts volume 1 p.150-153. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.