#Áillen of the Tuatha

[rrcraft-and-lore]

The Celtic Goddess Danu - the Mother Goddess, the goddess of and manifest divine waters. The waters that fell from heaven to create the sacred river, Danuvis or the Danube.

The Tuatha De Danaan are translated as "The Children of Danu."

There are similarities here between this Ganga and the forming of the Ganges. But more notably, Danu from Hindiusm - the primordial mother goddess of ancient/first old waters - liquid. There is also a river named Danu in Nepal.

She is the mother of the Danavas, a larger category of the Asuras - celestial/supernatural beings of god like powers, but calling them gods exactly is incorrect. Asuras and Devas are larger in some ways than that - celestial/cosmic beings of princely domains/abilities is slightly more accurate, but for all intents an purposes. There are more similarities between Celtic and Vedic/Hindu culture/myths.

Why?

Well, recent research has shown Celtic genetics shows paternal and maternal ancestry from ancient India (R-M269 deriving via R1b, and H & U haplogroups) - is it really that weird then we see echoes of the ancient Indian epics echoed throughout other parts of the world, especially with the history of Eurasian/South Asian trade, migration, and more?

There is a story well known in the South Asian stories, but let's talk about the similar Celtic one. A tale of how a hero has to build a causeway across the waters to reach his foe, and how his wife must outsmart her captor/villain.

Some Indians are already nodding their heads. We begin with the Celtic hero: Fionn mac Cumhaill, a hero who is born just after his father dies. 

Does this sound somewhat familiar?

Well, here we have Rama, born to Dasaratha, who is cursed to die soon as his son leaves him. His father dies as soon as Rama is exiled from Ayodhya. 

Finn goes on to study with poets, warriors, and hunters in the forest of Sliabdh Bladma.

Rama goes to the forest hermitage where he learns similar arts under Vasitha. 

Finn later in his youth goes on to destroy the fire breathing demon Áillen of the Tuatha (Children of Danu analogous of Aditi here btw) who destroys the capital of Tara every year on Samhain (a celebration very similar to the Indian Pitru Paksha btw) 

Rama as a teen kills the Asuras attacking the hermitage - the enemies of the Devas (children of Aditi), interestingly enough just like I've talked about in the Norse (how you have two bodies of celestial/god beings - Aesir and Vanir), the Greeks have it, there is also a flipping that happens in a lot of these ancient cultures.

Aesir and Asura come from the proto indo European asr - but in one group one is good, the other bad. However in the Iranian - Zoroastrian, there is a reverse. The Ahura (Asura) are GOOD and the Devas are bad (down to including Indra from South Asian mythology), and in the Celtic we see something similar - a flipping of roles.

Rama, Sita, and her protector Lakshmana were all in exile together in the forest. The demon king Ravana sends a golden deer to tempt/seduce and lure away Sita from Rama but it is really the demon Maricha in disguise. Sita is tricked and ends up sending her protector to Rama, leaving herself vulnerable, and thus abducted by Ravana who wishes to marry her and this leads to a war in where Rama eventually gets her back also, kidnapping of a women sparking a war? OH HI, HELEN OF TROY. HI.

Fionn meets his wife Sabadh while hunting, and guess what? She is turned into a deer by a druid she refuses to marry. She returns to her true form once in Fionn's home and they marry...only she's turned into a deer again by the druid Fear Doirich when Fionn was off at war, and Fionn must spend years searching for her. Wow. Coinky dinky dinky. 

Now to the original part of my talk here, the causeway in Ireland was built by Fionn to travel to battle a giant. Rama Setu, his causeway, was built by Rama's army so he could enter Lanka to do battle there - (Sri Lanka).

The Celts also have four major cycles of time just like the Vedic Indians did. The tricky thing here is that linguistically, PIE (proto Indo European) has been shown to be behind a lot of story/cultural influences as it spread through Europe/Asia, but...the thing that's hard to account for here is how geo-located Ramayama is in/to India, so why do specific echoes of it show up in Celtic mythology so much so?

Yay comparative mythology and echoed storytelling/beats tropes across the world.

[taisestarr]

Structural parallels between Lugh and Fionn mac Cumhaill

Lugh has the knowledge of incarnating, as shown in the previous post. So I assume that Fionn mac Cumhaill might be Lugh’s incarnation. The idea is not new, here are some references on research from Mark Williams’ ‘Ireland’s Immortals’ on this topic (and he also mentions this idea in the book):

- J. Carey, ’Nodons, Lugus, Windos’,  - T. O Cathasaigh, ‘Cath Maige Tuires as Exemplary Myth’,  - P. Mac Cana, ‘Fianaigecht in the pre-Norman period’.

I haven’t read them yet, but I’ve read stories about Lugh’s and Fionn’s youth. Here are some parallels that I’ve found (for Fionn I rely on James Stephens’ retelling):

1. Childhood far away from other people, where the hero gained all necessary knowledge. For Lugh it’s Emain Ablach with Manannán as his foster father. Fionn grew up in an isolated forest of Sliabh Bladma.

2. The importance of foster mothers: Tailtiu for Lugh and druidess Bodhmall with a female warrior Liath Luachra for Fionn mac Cumhaill. Both Lugh’s and Fionn’s birth mothers are alive, living their separate lives.

3. Once the hero gained all knowledge, he went to Tara, self-assertive and audacious.

4. Fionn gained the magical weapon and instruction from a foster father-like figure Fiacha mac Congh before the battle. Lugh possessed a number of magical items from his foster father Manannán, who also gave him the necessary knowledge.

5. The hero defeated the fire-related otherworld deity persona, who burned everything with his music (Áillen) or evil eye (Balor). Both of them are related to that otherworld persona from maternal lineage. Fionn is Nuada’s descendant, Lugh is Balor’s grandson. 

6. This victory is crucial, being an initiation. Both Lugh and Fionn became rulers after that.

7. Same magical items. Fionn obtained a special spear, which seems similar to one of Lugh’s spears. He also has other artifacts from Manannán, like crane-bag (more details here).

On the top of that, Fionn’s name meaning also matches Lugh:

Finn/find means "white, bright, lustrous; fair, light-hued (of complexion, hair, etc.); fair, handsome, bright, blessed; in moral sense, fair, just, true" (from here)

The main difference here is that the people and their otherworld changed. In the Mythological Cycle Tuatha Dé Danann were the people with Fomori as otherworld. In the Fianna Cycle humans are the people, while Tuatha Dé Danann became the otherworld creatures. Time changed, while the essence is the same.

These parallels are enough for me to state that Fionn is an incarnation of Lugh, representing his Macnia aspect. All Lugh's aspects are in this post.

[teatitty]

For the three Witches, we could go the giant that made the causeway with Fionn (Benandonner), the member of the Tuatha Dé Danann that would burn Tara to the ground every year (Áillen), and the dark druid that cursed Sadhbh (Fear Doirich). Don't know who would be the MAIN villain though but this could be a good start.

Awww you even remembered all their names :') Yeah this works and honestly I think if we're talking about who would be Lamia I want so badly to make it Conchobar just for the satisfaction of him getting his shit rocked and disintegrating

[margridarnauds]

Members of the Tuatha Dé Most Likely To Have Been Theatre Kids

Bres (”I’m not here to make friends”, thinks that he’s going to make it to Broadway even though he only gets cast because Nuada slipped on a banana peel at the last minute, dad never shows up to any of his shows.)

Lugh (Come on, he makes an appearance wrapped in mist in Baile in Scáil, how much more dramatic can you be? Everything this man does is Extra. He’s that kid who treats their random high school production of Grease like it’s a Broadway revival and damn it, the other kids are going to take it SERIOUSLY.)

Óengus (Tbh? He just has The Vibe.) 

Bres 

Áillen (He plays the harp AND lights things on fire - How much more Theatre Kid™ can you get?) 

Cairpre (Literally invents an entire genre just to leave a bad Yelp review.) 

Bres