Before the mortal Gaelic ancestors of the modern Irish people ever set foot on the emerald shores of Ireland, medieval Irish mythological chronicles recorded that the island was ruled by a radiant, supernatural race of god-kings, warrior-queens, druids, and master artisans: the Tuatha Dé Danann (pronounced roughly “TOO-ah day DAH-nan”), meaning literally “The Peoples (or Tribe) of the Goddess Danu.” Arriving from mystical northern islands in dark clouds or burning their own ships on the beach so they could never retreat, the Tuatha Dé Danann brought the Four Treasures of Ireland, defeated the monstrous Fomorians in cosmic battles, and—when finally displaced by mortal humans—retreated underground into the ancient hollow hills and megalithic burial mounds of Ireland, transforming into the immortal Aes Sídhe (“People of the Fairy Mounds”).
Arriving on May Day and the Four Treasures of Ireland
Preserved in the eleventh-century manuscript compilation Lebor Gabála Érenn (“The Book of the Taking of Ireland”) and the tales of the Mythological Cycle Written down by Christian Irish monks who wanted to preserve their ancestors’ pre-Christian lore, the Tuatha Dé Danann were the fifth group of inhabitants to settle Ireland. Prior to landing in Ireland on the sacred spring festival of Beltane (May first), the tribe had studied magic, science, druidry, and poetry inside four mythical northern cities—Finias, Gorias, Murias, and Falias—carrying one invincible talisman out of each city known as the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann:
- The Lia Fáil (“The Stone of Destiny,” from Falias): Installed atop the royal Hill of Tara, this magical coronation stone roared aloud with joy whenever the rightful High King of Ireland stepped his foot upon it.
- The Spear of Lugh (Sleg Lugha, from Gorias): A blazing, lightning-like battle spear wielded by the god Lugh; no army could ever stand against it once drawn.
- The Sword of Light of Nuada (Claiomh Solais, from Finias): Once unsheathed from its scabbard, no enemy could ever escape its stroke or survive a wound from its blade.
- The Cauldron of the Dagda (Coire ansic, from Murias): An inexhaustible bronze feasting cauldron from which no company of warriors ever walked away hungry or unsatisfied.
The Two Battles of Moytura: Nuada’s Silver Hand and Lugh vs. Balor
To claim the sovereignty of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann had to fight two monumental wars at Mag Tuired (Moytura) against two very different enemies:
- The First Battle of Moytura (Against the Fir Bolg): Landing in Connacht, the Tuatha Dé Danann defeated the previous rulers of Ireland, the Fir Bolg, in a chivalrous four-day battle. During the fighting, however, the King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Nuada, had his right arm sliced off at the shoulder by the Fir Bolg champion Sreng. Because strict Celtic sacred law decreed that no king with a physical blemish could sit on the throne, Nuada had to step down for seven years until the divine physician Dian Cécht and the smith Creidhne crafted him a fully articulated, working mechanical prosthetic arm forged from pure silver—earning him the immortal title Nuada Airgetlám (“Nuada of the Silver Hand”), before Dian Cécht’s son Miach grew flesh and sinew back over his real arm!
- The Second Battle of Moytura (Against the Monstrous Fomorians): While Nuada was recovering, the throne had been given to a half-Fomorian prince named Bres the Beautiful, who turned out to be a greedy tyrant who forced the gods to pay crushing tribute to the Fomorians—dark, chaotic sea-giants representing blight, winter, and storm, led by the terrifying Balor of the Evil Eye (whose single giant central eye required four men using iron hooks and ropes just to lift its heavy eyelid, incinerating whole armies on contact whenever it opened!).
To overthrow the Fomorians at the Second Battle of Moytura, the restored King Nuada welcomed a brilliant young newcomer to the gates of Tara: Lugh Lámhfhada (“Lugh of the Long Arm”), who gained admission to the palace because he was a master of every single art and craft at once (Samildánach—smith, harper, poet, historian, physician, and warrior). When Balor opened his lethal eye on the battlefield and killed King Nuada, young Lugh stepped forward with a braided sling and hurled a magic sling-stone with such ferocious velocity that it struck Balor’s evil eye dead center—driving the eyeball clean out the back of Balor’s skull so its lethal gaze turned backward and incinerated the Fomorian army behind him!
Key Deities of the Pantheon and Retreat Into the “Sídhe” Mounds
Alongside Nuada and Lugh (whose memory survives in the August harvest festival of Lughnasadh and in the names of European cities like Lyon and Leiden, originally Lugdunum), the Tuatha Dé Danann included some of the richest characters in world mythology:
- The Dagda (“The Good God,” Eochaid Ollathair): The jovial, barrel-chested father-figure of the tribe, who wore a short peasant tunic and carried a colossal wheeled iron club so heavy it left tracks like a boundary ditch: hitting enemies with the rough end killed nine men at a blow, while touching them with the smooth handle end brought the dead right back to life! He also played a magical oak harp (Uaithne) that commanded the seasons and forced listeners to weep, laugh, and fall asleep in turn.
- The Morrígan (“Phantom Queen”): The shapeshifting triple goddess of war, fate, and sovereignty (paired with Badb and Macha), who flew over battlefields in the form of a hooded carrion crow to shriek prophecies and wash the bloodstained armor of warriors destined to die the next day.
- Brigid (Bríd): Daughter of the Dagda and thrice-blessed patron goddess of poets, healers, and blacksmiths, whose sacred perpetual fire at Kildare was seamlessly absorbed into early Irish Christianity as Saint Brigid of Kildare.
- Manannán mac Lir and Aengus Óg: Manannán, the cloak-of-mist-wearing lord of the sea who ruled the Isle of Man and the island paradise of Tír na nÓg (“Land of Eternal Youth”); and Aengus Óg, the god of youth and love who lived inside the ancient Neolithic passage tomb of Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) with four birds flying around his head that were his transformed kisses.
According to the Book of Invasions, the Golden Age of the Tuatha Dé Danann on the surface of Ireland ended when the ships of the Milesians (theSons of Míl Espáine, the first mortal Gaelic humans) arrived from Iberia and defeated the gods at Tailtiu. In a brilliant division of the island negotiated by the poet Amergin, the Ireland of the universe was split horizontally into two halves: the mortal Milesians took the upper surface of the soil, the forests, and the sunlit pastures, while the immortal Tuatha Dé Danann took the subterranean half—descending with their harps, cauldrons, and eternal youth underneath the green earthen hills and prehistoric stone barrows (the Sídhe), where Irish folklore maintains they still dwell just beneath our feet on Halloween (Samhain) and May Eve.
