The Religion of the Ancient Celts Part 6

From the annalistic point of view the Fomorians are sea demons or pirates, their name being derived from _muir_, "sea," while they are descended along with other monstrous beings from them. Professor Rh[^y]s, while connecting the name with Welsh _foawr_, "giant" (Gaelic _famhair_), derives the name from _fo_, "under," and _muir_, and regards them as submarine beings.[175] Dr. MacBain connected them with the fierce powers of the western sea personified, like the _Muireartach_, a kind of sea hag, of a Fionn ballad.[176] But this a.s.sociation of the Fomorians with the ocean may be the result of a late folk-etymology, which wrongly derived their name from _muir_. The Celtic experience of the Lochlanners or Nors.e.m.e.n, with whom the Fomorians are a.s.sociated,[177] would aid the conception of them as sea-pirates of a more or less demoniacal character. Dr. Stokes connects the second syllable _mor_ with _mare_ in "nightmare," from _moro_, and regards them as subterranean as well as submarine.[178] But the more probable derivation is that of Zimmer and D'Arbois, from _fo_ and _morio_ (_mor_, "great"),[179] which would thus agree with the tradition which regarded them as giants. They were probably beneficent G.o.ds of the aborigines, whom the Celtic conquerors regarded as generally evil, perhaps equating them with the dark powers already known to them. They were still remembered as G.o.ds, and are called "champions of the _sid_," like the Tuatha De Danann.[180] Thus King Bres sought to save his life by promising that the kine of Ireland would always be in milk, then that the men of Ireland would reap every quarter, and finally by revealing the lucky days for ploughing, sowing, and reaping.[181] Only an autochthonous G.o.d could know this, and the story is suggestive of the true nature of the Fomorians. The hostile character attributed to them is seen from the fact that they destroyed corn, milk, and fruit. But in Ireland, as elsewhere, this destructive power was deprecated by begging them not to destroy "corn nor milk in Erin beyond their fair tribute."[182] Tribute was also paid to them on Samhain, the time when the powers of blight feared by men are in the ascendant. Again, the kingdom of Balor, their chief, is still described as the kingdom of cold.[183] But when we remember that a similar "tribute" was paid to Cromm Cruaich, a G.o.d of fertility, and that after the conquest of the Tuatha De Danann they also were regarded as hostile to agriculture,[184]

we realise that the Fomorians must have been aboriginal G.o.ds of fertility whom the conquering Celts regarded as hostile to them and their G.o.ds. Similarly, in folk-belief the beneficent corn-spirit has sometimes a sinister and destructive aspect.[185] Thus the stories of "tribute" would be distorted reminiscences of the ritual of G.o.ds of the soil, differing little in character from that of the similar Celtic divinities. What makes it certain that the Fomorians were aboriginal G.o.ds is that they are found in Ireland before the coming of the early colonist Partholan. They were the G.o.ds of the pre-Celtic folk--Firbolgs, Fir Domnann, and Galioin[186]--all of them in Ireland before the Tuatha De Danaan arrived, and all of them regarded as slaves, spoken of with the utmost contempt. Another possibility, however, ought to be considered. As the Celtic G.o.ds were local in character, and as groups of tribes would frequently be hostile to other groups, the Fomorians may have been local G.o.ds of a group at enmity with another group, worshipping the Tuatha De Danaan.

The strife of Fomorians and Tuatha De Danann suggests the dualism of all nature religions. Demons or giants or monsters strive with G.o.ds in Hindu, Greek, and Teutonic mythology, and in Persia the primitive dualism of beneficent and hurtful powers of nature became an ethical dualism--the eternal opposition of good and evil. The sun is vanquished by cloud and storm, but shines forth again in vigour. Vegetation dies, but undergoes a yearly renewal. So in myth the immortal G.o.ds are wounded and slain in strife. But we must not push too far the a.n.a.logy of the apparent strife of the elements and the wars of the G.o.ds. The one suggested the other, especially where the G.o.ds were elemental powers.

But myth-making man easily developed the suggestion; G.o.ds were like men and "could never get eneuch o' fechtin'." The Celts knew of divine combats before their arrival in Ireland, and their own hostile powers were easily a.s.similated to the hostile G.o.ds of the aborigines.

The princ.i.p.al Fomorians are described as kings. Elatha was son of Net, described by Cormac as "a battle G.o.d of the heathen Gael," i.e. he is one of the Tuatha De Danann, and has as wives two war-G.o.ddesses, 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-G.o.d.[189] In the genealogies, Fomorians and Tuatha De Danann are inextricably mingled. Bres's temporary position as king of the Tuatha Dea may reflect some myth of the occasional supremacy of the powers of blight. Want and n.i.g.g.ardliness 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 De Danann, was slain. His mother's wailing for him was the first mourning wail ever heard in Erin.[190] Another G.o.d, Indech, was son of Dea Domnu, a Fomorian G.o.ddess 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 De 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, destroys Balor's maleficence.

Tethra, with Balor and Elatha, ruled over Erin at the coming of the Tuatha De Danann. From a phrase used in the story of Connla's visit to Elysium, "Thou art a hero of the men of Tethra," M. D'Arbois a.s.sumes that Tethra was ruler of Elysium, which he makes one with the land of the dead. The pa.s.sage, however, bears a different interpretation, and though a Fomorian, Tethra, a G.o.d of war, might be regarded as lord of all warriors.[192] Elysium was not the land of the dead, and when M.

D'Arbois equates Tethra with Kronos, who after his defeat became ruler of a land of dead heroes, the a.n.a.logy, like other a.n.a.logies with Greek mythology, is misleading. He also equates Bres, as temporary king of the Tuatha De Danann, with Kronos, king of heaven in the age of gold.

Kronos, again, slain by Zeus, is parallel to Balor slain by his grandson Lug. Tethra, Bres, and Balor are thus separate fragments of one G.o.d equivalent to Kronos.[193] Yet their personalities are quite distinct.

Each race works out its mythology for itself, and, while parallels are inevitable, we should not allow these to override the actual myths as they have come down to us.

Professor Rh[^y]s makes Bile, ancestor of the Milesians who came from Spain, a Goidelic counterpart of the Gaulish Dispater, lord of the dead, from whom the Gauls claimed descent. But Bile, neither a Fomorian nor of the Tuatha De Danann, is an imaginary and shadowy creation. Bile is next equated with a Brythonic Beli, a.s.sumed to be consort of Don, whose family are equivalent to the Tuatha De Danann.[194] Beli was a mythic king whose reign was a kind of golden age, and if he was father of Don's children, which is doubtful, Bile would then be father of the Tuatha De Danann. But he is ancestor of the Milesians, their opponents according to the annalists. Beli is also equated with Elatha, and since Don, reputed consort of Beli, was grandmother of Llew, equated with Irish Lug, grandson of Balor, Balor is equivalent to Beli, whose name is regarded by Professor Rh[^y]s as related etymologically to Balor's.[195]

Bile, Balor, and Elatha are thus Goidelic equivalents of the shadowy Beli. But they also are quite distinct personalities, nor are they ever hinted at as ancestral G.o.ds of the Celts, or G.o.ds of a gloomy underworld. In Celtic belief the underworld was probably a fertile region and a place of light, nor were its G.o.ds harmful and evil, as Balor was.

On the whole, the Fomorians came to be regarded as the powers of nature in its hostile aspect. They personified blight, winter, darkness, and death, before which men trembled, yet were not wholly cast down, since the immortal G.o.ds of growth and light, rulers of the bright other-world, were on their side and fought against their enemies. Year by year the G.o.ds suffered deadly harm, but returned as conquerors to renew the struggle once more. Myth spoke of this as having happened once for all, but it went on continuously.[196] G.o.ds were immortal and only seemed to die. The strife was represented in ritual, since men believe that they can aid the G.o.ds by magic, rite, or prayer. Why, then, do hostile Fomorians and Tuatha De Danann intermarry? This happens in all mythologies, and it probably reflects, in the divine sphere, what takes place among men. Hostile peoples carry off each the other's women, or they have periods of friendliness and consequent intermarriage. Man makes his G.o.ds in his own image, and the problem is best explained by facts like these, exaggerated no doubt by the Irish annalists.

The Tuatha De Danann, in spite of their euhemerisation, are more than human. In the north where they learned magic, they dwelt in four cities, from each of which they brought a magical treasure--the stone of Fal, which "roared under every king," Lug's unconquerable spear, Nuada's irresistible sword, the Dagda's inexhaustible cauldron. But they are more than wizards or Druids. They are re-born as mortals; they have a divine world of their own, they interfere in and influence human affairs. The euhemerists did not go far enough, and more than once their divinity is practically acknowledged. When the Fian Caoilte and a woman of the Tuatha De Danann appear before S. Patrick, he asks, "Why is she youthful and beautiful, while you are old and wrinkled?" And Caoilte replies, "She is of the Tuatha De Danann, who are unfading and whose duration is perennial. I am of the sons of Milesius, that are perishable and fade away."[197]

After their conversion, the Celts, sons of Milesius, thought that the G.o.ds still existed in the hollow hills, their former dwellings and sanctuaries, or in far-off islands, still caring for their former worshippers. This tradition had its place with that which made them a race of men conquered by the Milesians--the victory of Christianity over paganism and its G.o.ds having been trans.m.u.ted into a strife of races by the euhemerists. The new faith, not the people, conquered the old G.o.ds.

The Tuatha De Danann became the _Daoine-sidhe_, a fairy folk, still occasionally called by their old name, just as individual fairy kings or queens bear the names of the ancient G.o.ds. The euhemerists gave the Fomorians a monstrous and demoniac character, which they did not always give to the Tuatha De Danann; in this continuing the old tradition that Fomorians were hostile and the Tuatha De Danann beneficent and mild.

The mythological cycle is not a complete "body of divinity"; its apparent completeness results from the chronological order of the annalists. Fragments of other myths are found in the _Dindsenchas_; others exist as romantic tales, and we have no reason to believe that all the old myths have been preserved. But enough remains to show the true nature of the Tuatha De Danann--their supernatural character, their powers, their divine and unfailing food and drink, their mysterious and beautiful abode. In their contents, their personages, in the actions that are described in them, the materials of the "mythological cycle,"

show how widely it differs from the Cuchulainn and Fionn cycles.[198]

"The white radiance of eternity" suffuses it; the heroic cycles, magical and romantic as they are, belong far more to earth and time.

FOOTNOTES:

[153] For some Highland references to the G.o.ds in saga and _Marchen_, see _Book of the Dean of Lismore_, 10; Campbell, _WHT_ ii. 77. The sea-G.o.d Lir is probably the Liur of Ossianic ballads (Campbell, _LF_ 100, 125), and his son Manannan is perhaps "the Son of the Sea" in a Gaelic song (Carmichael, _CG_ ii. 122). Manannan and his daughters are also known (Campbell, _witchcraft_, 83).

[154] The euhemerising process is first seen in tenth century poems by Eochaid hua Flainn, but was largely the work of Flainn Manistrech, _ob._ 1056. It is found fully fledged in the _Book of Invasions_.

[155] Keating, 105-106.

[156] Keating, 107; _LL_ 4_b_. Cf. _RC_ xvi. 155.

[157] _LL_ 5.

[158] Keating, 111. Giraldus Cambrensis, _Hist. Irel._ c. 2, makes Roa.n.u.s survive and tell the tale of Partholan to S. Patrick. He is the Caoilte mac Ronan of other tales, a survivor of the Fians, who held many racy dialogues with the Saint. Keating abuses Giraldus for equating Roa.n.u.s with Finntain in his "lying history," and for calling him Roa.n.u.s instead of Rona.n.u.s, a mistake in which he, "the guide bull of the herd,"

is followed by others.

[159] Keating, 164.

[160] _LL_ 5_a_.

[161] Keating, 121; _LL_ 6_a_; _RC_ xvi. 161.

[162] Nennius, _Hist. Brit._ 13.

[163] _LL_ 6, 8_b_.

[164] _LL_ 6_b_, 127_a_; _IT_ iii. 381; _RC_ xvi. 81.

[165] _LL_ 9_b_, 11_a_.

[166] See Cormac, _s.v._ "Nescoit," _LU_ 51.

[167] _Harl. MSS._ 2, 17, pp. 90-99. Cf. fragment from _Book of Invasions_ in _LL_ 8.

[168] _Harl. MS._ 5280, translated in _RC_ xii. 59 f.

[169] _RC_ xii. 60; D'Arbois, v. 405 f.

[170] For Celtic brother-sister unions see p. 224.

[171] O'Donovan, _Annals_, i. 16.

[172] _RC_ xv. 439.

[173] _RC_ xii. 71.

[174] Professor Rh[^y]s thinks the Partholan story is the aboriginal, the median the Celtic version of the same event. Partholan, with initial _p_ cannot be Goidelic (_Scottish Review_, 1890, "Myth. Treatment of Celtic Ethnology").

[175] _HL_ 591.

[176] _CM_ ix. 130; Campbell _LF_ 68.

[177] _RC_ xii. 75.

[178] _US_ 211.

[179] D'Arbois, ii. 52; _RC_ xii. 476.

[180] _RC_ xii. 73.

[181] _RC_ xii. 105.

[182] _RC_ xxii. 195.

[183] Larmime, "Kian, son of Kontje."

[184] See p. 78; _LL_ 245_b_.

[185] Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ 310 f.

[186] "Fir Domnann," "men of Domna," a G.o.ddess (Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 597), or a G.o.d (D'Arbois, ii. 130). "Domna" is connected with Irish-words meaning "deep" (Windisch, _IT_ i. 498; Stokes, _US_ 153). Domna, or Domnu, may therefore have been a G.o.ddess of the deep, not the sea so much as the underworld, and so perhaps an Earth-mother from whom the Fir Domnann traced their descent.