Celtic Mythology Flashcards
Aife
Mother of Connla; sister of Scathach (Cu Chulainn’s trainer)
Angus mac Og
Son of Dagda and Boanda; tricks Elcmar out of hish kingdom and rescues Etain the butterfly
Animism
All things (pants, inanimate objects, natural phenomena) have a life force; supernatural power organizes the material universe
Arawn
King of the underworld (kind of the same person as Pwyll); he and Pwyll trade places and Pwyll kills his enemy Hatgan for him (but it takes a year) and then they switch back
Balor
The best-know Fomoire
Bachlach
peasant giant that Cu Chulainn fights in beheading competitions
Badb
War goddess; crow that sits on the shoulder of someone who is going to die; one of the triplets of Macha and one of the triplets of Morrigan; also a Cailleach (ugly old hag) that has sex with the young men to confer kingship; be find
Banshee
Washer at the Ford; Morrigan; tells anyone who has sex with her who is going to die in the war
be find
The beautiful young bride that the Cailleach turns into, that confers kingship through giving of ale; Badb
Beltaine
Planting of the crops (spring); when missing things come back from the Underworld, purification of land/livestock before planting, summer fires are lit and the Wicker Man is burned
cailleach
The ugly old hag that confers kingship (Badb, be find)
Cath Mag Tuired (Second Battle of Mag Tuired)
battle between Lugh and Balor where Balor is defeated and the Fomoire have to teach the Tuatha how to farm (Fomoire are in charge of agriculture so they can’t be killed off)
Cauldron
Have magical properties–can be never-emptying, regenerative, bring things back to life; the Celtic are buried in cauldrons
Champion’s portion
The largest piece of meat–can be won in the triangle/beheading contest
Conchobar
Cu Chulainn’s father
Connla
Cu Chulainn’s son; he can’t refuse a fight or say his name (his geissa), so he ends up being killed by Cu Chulainn at the border of Ulaid
Cu Chulainn
Celtic hero; goes through riastrad, beheading contests with bachlach, ends up being killed by Lugaid mac Con Roi/Medb’s trained children because he has to eat dog meat
Cu Roi
Killed by Cu Chulainn in a fight for his wife (Blathlaith) as a salmon hiding in the river; father to Lugaid mac Cu Ron
Dagda
giant, producer god; always has a club and has the cauldron that never ends; hieros gamos on new year with Morrigan; gets advice in 2nd battle of Mag Tuired after he has sex with the Fomoire’s daugter
Del Chliss
Cu Chulainn’s weapon that he throws from between his toes and never misses its target
Dian Cecht
Makes the silver arm for Nuadu after he loses his arm; associated with WARRIOR and regeneration, magic, and technology (father to Mioch who he kills and then gets 365 plants out of)
Druid
The judges of the Celtic society–they maintained law, myths, spiritual traditions, and were in charge of the education system
Emain Macha
A land in Ireland?
Epona
The horse rider goddess of warfare; continental goddess
Eriu
Goddess of Ireland; had the country named after her after helping the Milesians take over the Tuatha de Dannan; triplet
Etain
The most beautiful women in Ireland and the object of affection throughout the Wooing of Etain; ultimately has a daughter and granddaughter (triplets like Matronae)
Ferdiad
Cu Chulainn’s foster brother who has impenetrable skin (the perfect match for Cu Chulainn’s spear that can penetrate anything); they fight and he is killed by Cu Chulainn
fili
Poet in Celtic society
Fir Bholg
The 4th wave in the Invasion of Ireland; came on Lughnasad with king Eochaid mac Eierc–a great king who brought peace and prosperity; ultimately defeated by the Tuatha de Danann
Flyting
Shaming done by Celtic society to get warriors ready for a fight; similar to the glam dicenn
Fomhoire
Celtic enemy; one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged monsters who can curse you with their evil eye; Balor was the most famous; control agriculture and fertility so they couldn’t be destroyed (could cause famine and plague)
Gae Assail
spear of Tuatha made to be lethal if you ibir and return to your hands after throwing if you say athibar; Lugh Iam Tadha’s
Geis (Gessa)
The Celtic hero’s Achille’s heel/weakness; some order that they have to follow or they die
Giant of Cerne Abbas
male deity of sexuality; carries a club, naked, sexually aroused; Dagda?
Giobniu
Repairs weapons in the 2nd Battle of Mag Tuired and Tuatha are resurrected; kingship god with red ale and has incantations that cure wounds (medicine)
Gwawl
The man that Rhiannon was supposed to marry; he was first invited to have her (oops) by Pwyll, but then Pwyll came back and made him the victim of the Badger in the Bag exactly one year later
Lebor Gabala Erenn
(Invasions of Ireland); migration myths of how the Celtic people came to Ireland, each migration had a divine purpose
Lia Fail
The phallic statue that shouted the name of the next king if he stood near it
Lugaid mac Con Roi
Son of Cu Roi; got into a beheading competition with Cu Chulainn which he won by convincing Cu Chulainn that it is not chivalrous to keep his weapon; he killed Cu Chulainn with his own weapon as vengence for his father’s death, but was later killed by Conall Cernach
Lugh Lamfhada
King of Tuatha de Dannon that defeats Balor in the second battle of mag tuired; warrior with Gae Assail; competes with the other gods to provie his skill in martial arts and because he wins he’s given charge of Tuatha de Dannan; hits Balor with a sling that pushes his eye through his head
Lugnasadh
August holiday harvest-festival; rituals of confinement and release of Lugh, trial marriages begin (can test a marriage out for one year), bulls sacrificed
Lugnasadh
August holiday harvest-festival; rituals of confinement and release of Lugh, trial marriages begin (can test a marriage out for one year), bulls sacrificed
Lugos
light, male god (continental)
Mabinogion
Son of youth; Welsh myth of Pwyll, Arawn, Gwawl, Rhiannon, and all those crazies full of beheading triangle and otherworld encounters and movement between the worlds
Macha
Ireland goddess equivalent to the continental goddess Epona; war; split into Macha, Badb, and Morrigan; was married to Cimbaith, Nemed, Chunich; gave birth after winning a horse raced and then cursed all of the men with the noinden
Maponos
Continental god of youth
Matronae
Continental goddess; triplets–mother, pregnant daughter, young; helps the Milesians defeat Tuatha de Dannon
Medb
Medb of the friendly thighs–need 36 sexual encounters in a row in order to be satisfied; has many husbands; leads the attack on Cu Chulainn in order to get the bull from Ulster, and takes Cailitins kids and trains them to kill Cu Chulainn with the dog meat
Mider
Starts the Wooing of Etain after demanding the prettiest women in Ireland because he as injured at Oengus’s house; steals Etain from Echu Airem by tricking him into thinking he is Aillil, and then gets Echu Arem to agree to a kiss and embrace with Etain, which allows him to take Etain away, but then he brings 50 Etains back and akes Echu Airem pick the right one (but he picks the daughter ew)
Morrigan
mates with Dagda, washer at the Ford, gives advice about war; one of the 3 figures of Morrigan, who is one of the 3 figures of Macha; split into Badb, Morrigan and Nemad
Newgrange
Pre-Celtic construction that oriented to the sun on Equinox; Celtic used it as a sacred space
Noinden
Curse put on the men of Ulsed by Macha that they would experience labor pains for 9 days at the time when their city needed them the most
Nuada Airgetlam
God of the silver arm; led the Tuatha de Dannan in the first battle of Mag Tuired to defeat the Fir Bohlg, but then lost his arm; got a silver arm from Dian Cecht and a real arm from Miach
Partholonians
The 2nd wave of Celtic invaders; battled the Fomhoire and were killed by the plague; brought agriculture, law, cauldrons, ale, fosterage, terraforming to Ireland (the equivalent of the Celtic me)
Pryderi
The son of Rhiannon and Pwyll; he disappears after the third day of his birth, but is found by a farmer when a monster tries to take his colt away; he is renamed and grows extremely quickly until they realize whose he is and return him
Pwyll
King of the Underworld (kind of the same as Arawn); he switches places with Arawn to become the king for a year and defeat Hafgan and then returns to the upperworld on Beltaine; saves Rhiannon from having to marry Gwawl by playing badger in the bag with him; father to Pryderi
reverse Euhemerism
Taking gods and making them into regular people (the monks did this so Celtic mythology wouldn’t conflict with Christian beliefs)
Rhiannon
Riding by on a horse that no one can catch up to; Pwyll eventually does and he saves her from her marriage to Gwawl; they get married and have a son (Pryderi); people think she killed her son so she has to be a horse for the village until they find him again (association with Epona)
riastrad
Cu Chulainn becoming a hound that can fight
riastrad
Cu Chulainn becoming a hound that can fight
Rosmerta
Fertility goddess that is often pared with Mercury
Samhain
November holiday; turn of fall to winter; day where people disappear to the Sidh, not to be seen until Beltaine
Scathach
The trainer of Cu Chulainn that gives him the del chliss, spear, and teaches him how to do the thunder leap; also part of the trianing seems to include sexuality; has sisters Aile
Sheila-na-gig
goddess of female sexuality/fertility; spreads legs over doorways or entries (continental goddess)
sidh
Celtic hobbit holes; where the Underworld is located (where gods live); can be under water or underground, and contains perpetual partying and cauldrons
sovereignty goddess
A goddess that confers kingship (like Bedb, Etain); remain ageless, rejuvenate as men age around them
Sucellus
God of fertility, sexuality; aroused when naked and always has a club (Dagda?)
Tain Bo Cuailnge (Cattleraid of Cooley)
Morrigan decides she wants the White Bull of Ulster so she attacks Ulster; Cu Chulainn has to defend the city single-handedly because all of the other men were going through the noinden
Taranis
Thunderer; sacrifice to him by burning
Teyrnon Twrf Liant
Raises horses; finds baby Pryderi after he tries to stop his colt from being take by a giant claw; raises him as his own until he recognizes him as the king’s son
Teutates
God of folk; sacrifice to him by drowning
Theriomorphism
gods as animals; common feature in Irish mythology that illustrates their connection with nature
Tir na Nog
Where the gods live (island or underground sidh)
Transmigration
when a person dies, they move into another organism
triplism
everything comes in triplets
Tuatha de Danann
the 5th of Celtic invasion, come on Beltaine; defeat Fir Bohlg at the first battle of mag tuired and Fomoire at the second Battle of Mag Tuired (thanks Lugh); defeated by Milesians and become the gods that live underground
Ulaid (Ulster)
The town that Cu Chulainn lives in and protects; cursed with the noinden by Macha
Washer at the Ford
Morrigan/banshee/bean sidh; women in a river who (if you have sex with her) will tell you the fate of the upcoming battle, give battle advice; washing the skulls in the river; has sex with the Dagda as hieros gamos to start each year
