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Fomors lived on and around Ireland. They were giants mostly. They represent the powerful but dark forces of nature. Heavy dark storms, etc. They are often represented as being deformed and/or ugly. They fight virtually every wave of new settlers. Oddly, occasionally a VERY handsome man emerges. For instance, Bres, who is so unbelievably beautiful, he becomes the measuring standard for beauty, although he is still mean inside. At one point, a tower of glass is built on an island by the Fomors, from which they rule Ireland. The two Fomors who built the tower are Mork and Conan. The Fomors often use dark magic. Irish magic is usually druidic, primarily illusion. This is the origin of the phrase "casting a glamour," which means an illusion. In the Celtic language, phrasing usually places adjectives after nouns. In English, only a Celtic word illustrates this: galore, as in, "There were people galore." Another such word is slew, as in "a slew of things." This word is used in Celtic as in "army of faeries" = "slew of faeries."

Mythological Waves of Celts Coming to Ireland

The first settlers after the flood were the Partholons (named after Partholon, a leader who came from Greece with twenty-four males and twenty-four females on May 1st). Circa 2600 B.C., they met and battled the Fomors. They won. In 300 years, their numbers increased to 5,000. On May 1st, 300 years after their arrival, all of the Partholons were stricken by the same disease and died on the plain of their arrival. They brought: basic ideas of law and ritual, working of gold, the first domesticated cattle, cattle breeding/raising, the first cauldron (of course because they could make porridge [milk with pork, beef, two whole goats, lots of fat, and oatmeal -- salt to taste]). They washed down this porridge with beer, which was one of their developments.

Next came the Nemeds, lead by Nemed. They came from Scythia. They had to defeat the Fomors four times. A lot of Nemeds died (including Nemed) of the same epidemic as the Partholons because they were weak. The Fomors could do new things. Two Fomor kings (Mork and Conan) built a Glass Tower on Tory Island. They exacted a tribute annually from the Nemeds: two-thirds of their grain, two-thirds of their milk, and two thirds of their children. This tribute was collected on the first of November every year. Finally, only thirty Nemeds were left. They left the island, but not together. Fifteen went south to "Greece." Fifteen went to "the North of the World," i.e., Alba.

The next wave of settlers was more important. They were the Fir Bolgs and Fir Gailioin. They were like the people of Belgium and the people of Gaul. These are the southern group of Nemeds who left and are now returning. They take over. But later the northern group returns as well. They are the Tuatha De Danann. They had learned magic and poetry. They said they either came from the north of from the sky. When they arrived, it rained fire and blood for three days and a heavy fog covered everything so they could land. This was druidic work -- illusion. They understood the druidic glamour. They brought with them four treasures:

1. Nuada's Sword (Nuada was their king; none could escape his sword.),
2. Lugh's Spear (The spear would tear through the ranks of the enemy and wipe them out.),
3. The Dagda's Cauldron (from which none ever left hungry),
4. The Stone of Fal (a stone which would cry out when touched by the lawful king -- Excalibur stone and the Stone of Scone of the Scots which sat beneath the throne when the king was crowned).

The Tuatha's landed and met the Fir Bolgs on a huge plain called Magh Tuiredh /moi - tyu' - ruh/. Nuada, king of the Tuatha De Danann, and Eochaid, king of the Fir Bolgs, send out envoys to meet and discuss the details of the battle. The Fir Bolgs, carrying short heavy spears, are shorter, heavier, and darker. The Tuatha De Danann are concerned by these weapons. The Fir Bolgs are scared by the long slender spears of the Tuatha De Danann. They agree to a short 105 day truce while each side makes weapons to match those of the opponent. The battle is individual between heroes -- not melees. Eochaid is called. In this battle, Nuada loses his right hand at the wrist. The Tuatha De Danann are winning. When only 300 Fir Bolgs are left, a truce is called on the condition that the Fir Bolgs must move to one corner of the island. They move to what we call Connacht (also Connaught) in the northwestern corner of Ireland. This area takes up one fifth of the land. At this time, there were five parts to Ireland. The Modern Irish (Dark or Black Irish) are considered to be descended from the Fir Bolgs. The Northwest is Connacht. The Northeast is Ulster. The Center East is Meath. The Southeast is Munster. The Southwest is Leinster. Meath has since disappeared. Ireland is now in four quarters. The Fir Bolgs were confined to Connacht. The Tuatha De Danann becaome the gods of Ireland.

The Tuatha De Danann (TDD) manage to keep peace with the Fomors. Eventually, Nuada must step down because the king is required to be perfect, and he has lost his hand. This is a dilemma. The Fomors suggest Bres (the beautiful one), who is king of the Fomors and a sort of subjugate king of the TDD. Ultimately, Bres is removed from the throne. This leads to imminent war. The Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. The TDD win. Now the Milesians, led by Mil, appear on May 1st from the "Underworld" (possibly Spain). A magic battle ensues. The TDD are defeated. The Milesians are the ancestors of the rest of the Irish. In one version of the telling, several boatloads of the TDD sail west to Tir Nan Og ("Land of the Young"). Another version says they go to a large island named after one of their leaders, Breasail (Breasail's Land = "big island" = Brazil). The rest of them go underground, living in barrows (tumulus, burial mound) with an entrance stone as shown at right. They were called Sidhe /shee/. The Men of Sidhe: Fir Sidhe, and the Women of Sidhe: Bean Sidhe, which evolved into our word "banshee." Later, they shrank and became known as Leprechauns.

Domnu. The people known as the Children of Domnu are the Fomors. She was a great and powerful earth goddess. Balor is the epitome of the evil Fomor. His father was a druid but not good because Fomors were inherently evil beings. When Balor was a boy, his father had druids over to dabble in magic. Balor, curious, crept up to the window to spy on them. The window was open partly. Unhappily, some of the smoke blew into Balor's eye. He screamed in pain, but his eye had become affected and anyone he looked at with that eye died instantly (Archetype:"The Evil Eye"). He grew to be an enormous giant. He could hardly move around on his own. The Fomors knew he was the ultimate weapon. They would go into battle and face the seated Balor in front of the enemy. But they had to have a crane with a hook to open his eyelid because the eye was always kept shut. Archetypally, this is fairly widespread. Ra, in Egypt, had such an eye. Shiva, in India, has a third eye in the forehead, which is the ultimate weaspon of the universe. The Fomors represented the dark side of nature as well as storms (so the eye represents lightning). The TDD are called the Children of Danu becuase they are the children of the earth goddess Danu. Her husband is Bile /bee' lay/ or Beli, depending on whether his name is being spoken in Gaelic or Irish. Bile is a war god and the god of death. Danu is sometimes also known as Don or Anu. She is the goddess of earthly fruitfulness (hills are called the "breasts of Danu") and fertility -- prosperity, abundance, and fertility. But Danu and Domnu are somehow connected ultimately. In Gaul, Danu is called Donau. In Slavic languages, there is a river called Dunai. We call it Danube. Dann is a river of Russia. Much of Eastern Europe reflects Danu's following. Western cultures are almost always matriarchally religious. Bile is considered the father of the Milesians. This implies the same goddess is the goddess of the Fomors, the TDD, and the Milesians -- three different waves of civilization unknowingly worshipping the same deity.

Nuada (Nudd, Lludd -- British or Welsh). Nuada Argetlam. There is a gate in England called Lludd Gate. Lludd's Town became London. "Argetlam" originates as follows: "lam" = "limb", "Arget" = "silver", "argetlam" means "silver hand" or "silver limb." Nuada's missing hand is replaced by a silver one so finely wrought that it is actually usable as a real hand. It is all articulated, but it is silver and beautifully carved with arabesques. Nuada is a god of war, a very grim aspect. His followers often sacrificed to him -- occasionally humans -- sometimes for success in battle or fertility. In "The Wicker Man," a modern version of Celts sacrificing someone to gain fertility for their fields appears. This was commonplace. Nuada is killed in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh. But first, he has several wives.

1. Fea, "hateful one,"
2. Nemon, "venomous" or "frenzy" [She is a goddess who, with a terrifying cry, sends panic through armies. The Celts loved battle frenzy.],
3. Babh, "Fury" and "raven" [the Celts call a raven the hoddy crow -- a carrion eater after battle],
4. Macha, "battle" [difficult to distinguish from wife #5],
5. Morrigu, the most important of the wives. She is "the great or phantom queen." She carries spears in both hands and is a deadly fighter. She can be helpful in battle or a wicked and destructive force. She goes on the mainland to become Morgana of the Brits. She then becomes Morgan Lafee (the Fairy of Arthur).

The Dagda. "The Good God." God of fertility, abundance, earth. A kind of comic god. Pot-bellied, all grey, considered very ugly. He wears horsehide boots with the hairy side out (anti-cultural). He wears a brown, low-necked tunic (like a smock) baring his backside and genitals. He wears a cloak with a hood which comes just below his shoulders. He has an air of the Otherworld (often called Faerie /fay'-er-ee/.) The Dagda's Cauldron is called The Undry (never dry or empty). This magical abundance is an association with the Otherworld. The Dagda has a reputation for his ability to control weather and crops. He has a harp made of oak. He plays and calls new seasons into existence (this is very important to the Celts). He has a club, which is too heavy to carry. It would require eight men to carry it, so there's a wheel built into the end to drag it around. It leaves a track like a boundary mark. In Celtic society, one would be killed for moving a boundary stone -- this is very important to them. The heavy end of the club can kill anything. The light end can bring life back. (Mjollnir.) The Dagda is lord over life and death.

He has a wife Boanne -> Boann. Once there was a well in Ireland over which grew nine hazel trees. Hazelnuts were believed to impart wisdom. The nuts would fall into the water. Salmon would eat them and become magical (the Salmon of Knowledge and Wisdom). So eating salmon was taboo. Boann had to know whether there was any truth to the belief. She approached the well (even that was taboo) and the water reacted. It burst out of the well, forming a river called Boyne.

Brigit (pronounced like "breeched") is the daughter of the Dagda. She is the goddess of fire and the hearth, poetry, patroness of arts and crafts. This is part of the Triple Goddess Archetype. The phenomenon appears as 1) goddess of many things and people split her into three separate goddesses with similar names and the same characteristics, or 2) three separate goddesses are combined into one who gets the name of the most important goddess and the characteristics of all three. Brigit is number two, "the exalted one." She came from a goddess of healing, a goddess of poetry and learning, and a goddess of arts and crafts. When Christianity came to Ireland, she became Saint Brigid, who became Saint Bridget. She was supposedly born at sunrise and the house appeared to be on fire. When she took her vows, a veil of fire rose from her head. Fire was so sacred, for centuries they had a perpetual flame that burned for her.

Ogma is the son of the Dagda and Boann. Romans called him Hercules. He is immensely strong and carries a huge club like his father. He has two epithets:

1. "The Honeymouthed" because he is the god of eloquence and is clearly highly prized by the Irish who, like all those of the British Isles, treasure language. He is bald, old, grey-skinned and wrinkled from the sun. He is immensely strong but friendly, thus his second epithet
2. "The Sunnyfaced." He is shown as leading a band of five or six people, each of whom is attached to him by a thin gold chain which leads from his tongue to their ears.

He invented a form of writing called Ogham writing. It consists of a series of lines across a transverse line as shown to the right (graphic pending). It was easy to carve in stones. Ogma is a god of literature. His wife is Etain. Tuiren and Cairpre are their sons. Cairpre becomes the bard of the TDD.

Angus Mac Oc is the son of the Dagda and Boann. "Oc" is sometimes spelled "Og." His name means "Son of the Young One" or "Son of the Youthful One." He is a kind of Eros, god of love and beauty. He has a golden harp. He sings and whispers beautiful things to young lovers. His kisses and whispers are seen as birds hovering above. The Celts say, "Angus Mac Oc is passing." He is also a very willful trickster. The Dagda and Boann caused the sun to stand still for nine months so that Angus Mac Oc was conceived and born on the same day.

Mider is another son of the Dagda and Boann. He is an Underworld-ish god. The Isle of Mann is associated with the Underworld. Mider is victimized by other gods. He is often the butt of the joke.

Bobh the Red replaces Nuada and Bres. He becomes the last king of the TDD. He is identified with southern Ireland, Munster and Leinster.

Diancecht /jun-keCHt'/ is the Druid of the TDD. He is a magician primarily. He is sort of holy but priests are unnecessary. He can cure, cast glamours, give life sometimes. He is the main healer of the gods. He is very wise. Morrigu gives birth to a child, a son. It is unbelievably horrible-looking -- as ugly as they come. Diancecht said horrible things will come from this. Destruction, danger. The child must be destroyed. Morrigu protests but the gods agree with Diancecht. Diancecht kills it with a sword. He cuts open the child's heart, where he finds three poisonous snakes. He kills them. But the bodies could cause great havoc. So he burns the bodies then throws the ashes into the nearest river, killing everything in the river. The river begins to boil and becomes incredibly turbulent. It is named Barrow, which means "to boil." It is called the River Barrow (the word order is Celtic and necessary).

Lyr (Llyr) = "the sea" Lyr is god of the sea. He has twenty-seven sons and at least three wives. We know nothing of the first. Lyr is widowed. He then marries Aebh /eef/, the granddaughter of the Dagda. Aebh has four children (three sons and one daughter) with Lyr. She dies. Lyr marries Aeife /eef'-uh/. She appears to be a loving wife and mother. But she becomes jealous. So she casts a REAL spell. She turns the children into swans. They will be swans for "three sets of three hundred years." She repents somewhat but doesn't tell Lyr. Lyr searches for his children. He comes to the lake where the swans are swimming and they tell him what has happened. Lyr cannot break the spell. He goes to Bobh the Red, the father of Aebh. Bobh is furious. He can't help Lyr, but he can exact vengeance. He turns Aeife into the one thing she fears most: a shrieking demon. At the end of the three sets of three hundred years, the children are turned back into human beings, but because they are nine hundred years old, they fall dead immediately and disintegrate. This is the first of the Three Sorrows of Storytelling. It is called the Story of the Children of Lyr. This is the source, indirectly, of Shakespeare's "King Lear." CAER LLYR, the Romans called LLYR CASTRA ("Llyr Camp"), the English called it "Leicester."

Manannan Mac Lir, son of Lyr. Patron god of sailors. God of the headlands, of the headwaters, and god of merchants. He has a sword called "The Retaliator" which never fails to kill. He has a helmet with two magic jewels that (like the helmet) shine like the sun. He has a cloak of invisibility. He has a horse called "Shining Mane" which can go anywhere, and a boat "Wavesweeper" which can sail anywhere with or without water (like Frey, who was the son of Njord, a similar god). He keeps pigs. They magically renew themselves when eaten once a year because they bestow eternal youth at the Feast of Age. (the feast of the Einheriar at Valhalla.) Manhannan Mac Lir rides a chariot. The waves are his horses. But storms are referred to as the tresses of his wife. He is associated wit the Otherworld (Faerie) because when the TDD split, he led a party westward to the Island of the Abhilach /ah'-vee-laCH/ ["Island of Apples"] (Isle of Avalon = Catalina), or the Isle of Mann (named after Manannan Mac Lir).

Goibhniu /goyv'-nyu/ is the smith of the TDD. He makes tools and weapons. Any of his weapons will find its mark and anyone wounded by one will survive (under ordinary circumstances). He is also a healer. He is invoked to cure wounds. He can heal or cure any WOUND. He is also a builder. Goibhniu the Architect (an epithet) has the Feast of Goibhniu -- an Otherworld Feast. Anyone who eats it will be exempt from disease and old age. It makes the gods virtually immortal.

Lugh Lamfadha. Lugh means "light," like the Latin "lux." Lam means "limb," "arm," or "hand." Fadha means "far" or "farther." His name is translated Lugh of the Long Hand, "the Far Shooter," because of a sling he uses. He is usually dressed in green. He is a kind of sun god. He is young, handsome and athletic. His great grandfather is Diancecht the Druid. He is the maternal great grandson of Balor, the Fomor with the evil eye. He is a kind of solar deity. His sling is called Lugh's Chain. It is a reference to the Milky Way. The Celts were very fear-inspiring in battle. They took the dead and hung their heads on doors and the like as trophies. They also killed the enemy, took heads, removed the brains, and pushed a rock into the center of the brain and let it dry and harden (like a snowball with a rock inside). In warfare, when fighting the same enemy, they would sling the brains back at their enemies. This was a form of psychological warfare. Lugh also has a spear (one of the four treasures). The spear is analogous to Gungnir, but it is alive. It kills the enemy on its own. However, it was so bloodthirsty that the head had to be kept in a potion made from puppies at all times. Immediately upon taking it out, Lugh had to have a firm grip on it. When let go, it would burst into flame and tear through the ranks, killing everyone. (It is a lightning bolt.) Lugh had a hound. (The Irish love cattle, hounds, and fine horses.) It was a warrior hound -- also magic. When it went into a lake or pond or pool, the water would become mead. Lugh was master of ALL the arts. [Archetype: Young god who has combined powers of all the gods and is capable of killing some huge monster (like the Babylonian Marduk).]

The final confrontation between the TDD and the Fomors. It starts at a place where Nuada has his silver hand attached to his wrist. The TDD need a new king. The TDD asked Bres to be king. he had taken a TDD wife, Brigit. Bres must give a huge number of hostages and promise abdication to the TDD to insure everyone's well-being and just rule. Bres begins putting on pressure. He taxes them. He tricks them out of all the milk their cattle produce. He forces them into labor for him. The Dagda builds castles. Ogma carries lumbers and firewood daily. They begin losing strength because Bres is stingy with their food. Diancecht's two children (a son Miach and a daughter Airmid) have learned their father's art. They go to Nuada's castle. They find out where Nuada's hand is buried and dig it up. They take it into the castle. His silver hand had begun to fester around his wrist. He was going to die. They magically healed him and gave his hand back to him. Diancecht is furious because he is jealous of their power. So he calls them to him. Miach approached. Diancecht took a sword and struck him over the head, laying open the flesh. Miach healed himself. Diancecht struck him again. This time he was cut to the bone, but he healed himself yet again. Next he was cut to the brain, and again he healed himself. The fourth blow cut his brain in two. Miach died. Diancecht does not punish Airmid.

Cairpre, the bard, visited Bres. The Celts really honor singers and poets. Minstrels wandered from manor house to manor house to entertain. Cairpre is put in the smallest of Bres's rooms and sent table scraps to eat. He is insulted. He wrote a singing satire that caused boils to break out all over Bres's once-beautiful face. He is not perfect anymore. He must step down from the throne. Bres is furious. He goes back to the Fomors and demands war against the TDD.

The capital city of the TDD is Tara

Lugh comes to visit at Nuada's castle. Nuada will be king again. Lugh offers his assistance. [When Airmid and Miach come to Nuada's gate, the porter at first won't let them in unless they prove their powers. Miach grabs a cat, takes an eye and places it int the porter's empty socket and magically makes it his own. The porter allows them in. But the porter now suffers the following: 1) all day long the one eye tries to sleep, and 2) all night long it keeps popping open and looking for mice. There is a similar comic interlude in Shakespeare's "Macbeth."] Everyone is skeptical that Lugh can help. He shows he can do anything as well as or better than the other gods. At Nuada's insistence, Lugh teaches them much of what he knows in preparation for war against the Fomors. Seven years go by. The Fomors arrive ready to attack. But the TDD aren't quite ready. They send the Dagda over to the Fomors' camp to stall for time as a visitor. The Fomors offer a bowl of porridge to him. He accepts. They've dug a giant pit in the ground and filled it with porridge. It would be rude for the Dagda not to finish all of it. So the Dagda took a ladle-like spoon and began eating. He ended up scraping the dirt out of the bottom of the bowl and eating it too. But he took his time. This works out well for the TDD.

Diancecht -> his son Cian -> his son Lugh. Ogma -> Tuirenn -> Brian, Iochar, Iocharba.

Before the battle begins, the Second Sorrow of Storytelling occurs. Cian, father of Lugh, was carrying on a feud with the sons of Tuirenn for years. Cian is out gathering men to fight for the TDD. He sees Brian, Iochar, and Iocharba in the distance. He knows this means trouble. There is a blood feud between them. He sees several pigs in the field. He turns himself into a pig to avoid trouble. But the three brothers have already seen him. They know. Brian turns Iochar and Iocharba into dogs to root Cian out and corral him off to one side. Brian turns Iochar and Iocharba back into men and they spear Cian while he is still a pig. He asks for quarter and they refuse. So he begs them at least to allow him to become a man again. They agree. Then he demands they release him on pain of blood fine (family vendetta, his son is Lugh), but they figure if they kill him now, no one will know that they have killed him anyway. But he says their weapons will tell. They put them down. They pick up stones and stone him to death and bury him in his own depth. The earth throws him back up six times and only keeps him down the seventh time because of the horror of his murder. Lugh begins to worry and goes out looking. He passes that field and the stones cry out about the murder of his father and who did it. He realizes the cruel murder that has taken place. He returns to Tara and calls everyone together and demands the blood fine. They must pay him whatever he says or he will kill them. The three brothers are very frightened. He tells them he wants three apples, a pigskin, a spear, seven pigs, a cooking spit, three shouts on a hill, et cetera. They accept his demands. He then tells them the rest of his demands. The apples are to be the golden apples of Hesperides (Hercules once went after them as well). Each of these things is magical and virtually impossible to get. They finally get the apples. The pigskin will cure anyone. The spear turns water into wine. The pigs will return once eaten. Eventually they have gotten every item except the three shouts on a hill. Lugh refused to let them off. The hill is in Alba owned by a king who has made it a taboo for any noise to be made. The entire Scottish army comes after them. All three are mortally wounded. They return but they are dying. Lugh releases them of the blood fine. They ask if he will use the magic pig skin to cure them. He says, "My father asked for mercy and you gave him none. You shall get none." And they die. This is the Second Sorrow of Storytelling and explains the popularity of the name Brian.

Now the battle ensues, champion against champion. Every day the Fomors are confused because they see TDD who have been wounded or even killed reappear on the battlefield each day. They send Ruadan, son of Bres and Brigit, to sneak into the TDD camp. He finds Goibhniu repairing broken weapons magically overnight. Ruadan sneaks up behind Goibhniu, takes a spear, and runs him through. Goibhniu pulls out the spear, wheels around and mortally wounds Ruadan, who staggers back to his camp and dies. Bres and Brigit are so devastated that they begin mourning. They invent the high pitched screaming wail known as keening. Goibhniu goes to Diancecht. He and Airmid are dipping people into a magic spring which instantly heals. The Fomors sneak over and fill up the pool with rocks. The battle breaks down into a melee. Pitched open battle. Everyone except Lugh. He is so valuable that they keep him back behind the lines with bodyguards. Ogma has great strength. But the Fomors have Balor. Nuada is killed, as is his wife Macha. Lugh canOt stand it. He goes out to face Balor. The eye is closed but they begin cranking the lid up. But they forgot about LughOs sling. Lugh lets a stone fly that goes straight through the eye and out the back of BalorOs head, killing nine other Fomors. The Fomors are heavily defeated, driven back under the sea. Bres is spared because he must teach them the rules of planting and harvesting. So he and Brigit are brought back with the TDD. Then the Milesians appear and they are driven underground to become gods.