#fir bolg

[ad-ciu]

do we know what happens to the fir bolg after they are defeated and given connacht? are they related to the connachtmen we see in the ulster cycle and later, or have they just faded into obscurity?

Ah, an excellent easy answer! The Fir Bolg are absolutely related to the Connachta of the Ulster Cycle. If you remember the Gailióin from Táin Bó Cúailnge, that's just the name of one of the three population groups that make up the Fir Bolg.

While from a modern perspective, where as a result of Tolkein's influence on the modern fantasy genre and how that influences how people approach early traditions, we often have a reflex to get very 'Taxonomic' when discussing things like Elves, Dwarfs, Fauns, and the Fir Bolg, that is a very modern view. The Fir Bolg are just some of the ur-peoples of various bits of Ireland (peoples move around, occasionally in strange and confusing ways), but especially Connachta.

While I highly doubt anyone in modern Ireland bases their identity around being a descendant of the Fir Bolg, they're just part of the genealogical tradition. Just a deeply mundane fact of the genealogies.

So, the Fir Bolg never faded into obscurity. They've always just been there, and technically still do if you take medieval genealogies seriously (again, let me stress, I am not saying that any people in modern Ireland go around claiming Fir Bolg ancestry, it is just that the Fir Bolg were just 'some dudes' in the genealogical tradition, and some people are descended from them like how the genealogies have everyone going back to Adam because, you know, he's Adam). They're not like a 'Species' or anything, just an ancient, imagined political faction.

Of course, if @margridarnauds has anything to add to that, I'd absolutely welcome it. I'd normally direct all Fir Bolg stuff over there, but since this seems like a rather simple one, I thought I'd avoid just throwing this off onto someone else's lap.

[innervoiceartblog]

A moonrise viewed from the mound of Shee Lugh on the summit of the ridge of Moytura. In the sky, representing Balor's Eye, is an image of the huge stone basin found in the eastern chamber at Knowth. - Michael O'Flanagan

http://www.carrowkeel.com/sites/moytura/moytura1.html

[drift-hobo]

The fact that Ireland still has a very active bulletin-board style forum (probably one of the most active social media in the country) at boards.ie makes this VERY suspicious.

The Milesians were actually not the last people to settle Ireland according to medieval pseudohistories: much later after them there also came the Fir Blog, the origin of whose ethnonym is uncertain but some have reconstructed it as meaning "men of posts," anyway they first brought online forums to Ireland until St. Patrick banned them (for good reason)

[aoisi]

i'm thinking about her.

ran out of tags again omg but i was saying i love the idea of her looking less human and more like her natural self. greyed skin and long sharp fingernails, mouth of sharp teeth, wild-eyed and blood-soaked. i was also saying. before tumblr deleted them. that idk maybe in that time she's plaguing the town she has a mortal female lover she draws strength from. you know? yeah.

[altamhoes]

i have a lot of thoughts on g26 but the most immediate right now is that the impact of realizing delga is a fir bolg who watched her people die out and lose their land is INSTANTLY gone when you have to start moonlight island to finish the gen and it's basically animal crossing new horizons with a nice acoustic BGM to match

[starshucker]

maybe lightning does strike twice!

[natalieironside]

I wonder if the Fir Bolg had any annoying-ass conservatives who wouldn't shut up about how Hibernia was better back in the Partholon times

[whencyclopedia]

The Dagda

The Dagda (also Daghda, Daghdha, Dagdae, or Dagda Mór), usually written with the definite article, is one of the most important gods in Irish-Celtic mythology. He appears as a multi-talented warrior-leader of the Tuatha Dé Dannan, invaders of ancient Ireland who win a battle against the resident Fir Bolg. Another battle follows, this time against the seafaring Fomorians, and again the Tuatha Dé Dannan are victorious. It is the Fomorians who set the Dagda his famous challenge of eating a huge amount of porridge from his own magical cauldron. With his mighty club, inexhaustible cauldron, and great talent playing the harp, the Dagda was a universal god in Irish mythology considered to dwell in many places, including at Newgrange. As his warrior character, the Dagda is killed by Caitlín, queen of the Fomorians.

Names

Dagda means the 'good god' and the name often appears with a variety of spellings. The sense of 'good' in this context is 'many-skilled' as the Dagda was considered a master craftsman, warrior, magician and ruler. The god may also be referred to as Eochaid Ollathair, meaning 'father of all' or 'mighty father', Ruad Rofhessa, meaning 'lord of great knowledge', or Deirgderc, 'red eye' (referring to the sun). Although recognised by scholars as an important early Irish-Celtic deity, his precise significance is not known. Some have identified him as a sky god and ancestor deity similar to Cronus in Greek mythology. In any case, it is thought that these ancient Celtic gods were not specifically a focus of religious rituals in their particular honour. In contrast, his character as a divine warrior is better represented and seen in the mythological tales of early Irish history which were first written down from around the 8th century CE onwards.

We do know that in the religion of the ancient Celts the Dagda was a prominent figure in the festival of Samhain (aka Samain) which, on 1 November and including the evening of the 31st, celebrated the end of the old year and the beginning of the new. This was also a time when the spirits of the Otherworld could be best contacted. If the Dagda and the war goddess the Mórrigan, sometimes known as the 'queen of demons', came together at this time, then their sexual union would guarantee the fertility and prosperity of the tribe and its harvests and livestock in the coming year. The Dagda was also thought to have had intercourse with two other goddesses during Samhain, these are Boand (aka Boann, goddess of the Boyne River) and Indech (daughter of a renowned warrior of the same name). For this reason, in Gaelic oral traditions in Ireland and Scotland, Samhain was considered the most auspicious time to become pregnant.

Continue reading...

[littlestarprincess]

Grainne said "Work life balance" and Diarmuid said, "But honey I'm gonna be famous someday."

I do suspect the fork between the Irish version being Very Romantic and the Scottish version being Very Suspicious is also kind of a neat little fork in the cultures. Scottish version is probably also informed by the focus on nature being more dominant in Scottish myth.

I know that the idea of love potions / love spells / etc taking agency away from the characters in courtly romance style legends is a way of retaining their moral purity while allowing them to engage in adultery and betrayal and the like -- their love is outside of their control! They're still good people, they just can't help themselves!! -- but I legitimately can not fathom how little discussion I can find about that trope regarding Diarmuid and Grainne, because while Diarmuid's agency is completely revoked -- not only is he forced to be with Grainne, but he's punished for it by his liege and treated as an outlaw -- Grainne's is very pointedly not.

Some varieties even portray her "acceptance" of Finn's proposal as being because of his status (i.e. she's effectively treated as a gold-digger who, upon seeing Diarmuid, decides to throw her pursuit of status in the trash and force Diarmuid to run away with her by drugging his whole company and putting him under a geis. Not even like. . . a love spell or a potion or something to instill him with feeling, but literally just a magic command.) And there is probably more merit to this than there would be if the story were from the mainland -- there's a lot more Independent Women in irish mythic structures than in english or greek ones, for example.

The most charitable interpretation I've seen is that she was victim to his love spot, nursing feelings for him for a long time, betrothed against her will to someone too old for her who just so happened to bring her crush along, and her geis was only for Diarmuid to rescue her from Finn, but I still haven't actually seen reference to Diarmuid having feelings for her outside of her baiting him into bedding her many years into their life of crime.

[pronounsinyouryard]

wah. I haven't done any of this because I'm lazy. I've gone through the submissions and deleted the things that are not pronouns by any stretch of the imagination. With that being said, bid adieu to the following submissions:

The full text of articles 1-26 of the 1918 treaty of Versailles

The full text of articles 27-30 of the 1918 treaty of Versailles

"Moss"

"American"

"they"

"the"

"fae"

"I am manjaro but better."

"the set of all pronoun sets that do not contain themself" (not possible i think? Could possibly be simplified to "(no pronouns)?")

"THIS IS THE PRONOUN THIEF. ALL PRONOUNS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED ARE NOW MINE."

"S"

"you"

And, here are the actual competitors in seed order. I determined this by number of times submitted and, in cases where 2+ sets were submitted the same number of times, I went by the first time that set was submitted. I'm too lazy to standardize the formatting for these but whichever one wins will be formatted.

it/its

she/her

He/him

wa/sp

(any pronouns)

xe/xem

ski / bi / di

Thon/Thons

ey/em/eirs/eirself

she/they

fae/faer/faers/faerself

ae/aer/aers/aerself

I/Me/Myself/My

he/they

he/they/it

she/him

he/he/he

He/Her

we/us/our/ours/ourself

Gae/Bolg

They/Them (capitalized)

applied chaos dynamics control association/applied chaos dynamics control associations

They/he

bush/cheney

Chiyo/Chan

she/it

me/me

she/her/her/her/her/her/her/her/her/her (bear five)

buzz/hum

Moss

American

they

the

Cheese/burger

Xey/xem

xey/she

its/thats

lee/way

he/the

them/them

she/sher

wasp/yard

xe/xem/xers

beep/boop

fae

they/them I think

Attack/helicopter

cock/balls

I am manjaro but better.

zhe/zer

Xie/Xir

E/Em/Er

Cloud/Cloudself

ze/hir

yin/yang

nym/nyr

Da/shit

fae/faem/faeir

the set of all pronoun sets that do not contain themself

Xe/them/its

Pro/noun

beebo

Our/Ours/Ourself/Ourselves

shell/shellem

harris/walz

fi/fir

Its/shoe

ine/ines

you/your/yourself

e/o

Them/him/hers/itself eg “I asked him what they were doing they and they said they were trying to lick her elbow without straining itself.”

he/she

pro/nouns

wasp/wasp

xe/xir

shhe/herim

She/ffield

Y'all/Y'all's/Partner

Slay/Eat

Bzz/bzz

(no pronouns)

in/your

penis/cock

them/they, like they/them but switched

rat/ratself

it/it/they/shem

Boi/gurl

allium/alliums

They/It

Joe/Biden

Apocra/Vespa

Furry / Femboy

eat/eaten

mac/beth

heheeheee/hihiihiii

waspsinyouryard/waspsinmyyard?!?!??!?! HELP HELP HELP

sie/sire

05/12/2024

T h e y / T h e m (space required)

She/Her (1)

womp/womp

Rip/tear

bee/bim

Crow/crows

any/he

Void/Voidself

Pee/Per

they/wasp (as in, they/them + wasp/waspself)

tick/tock

red/reds

lu/la/ly/lys/laself

She/they/it/fae

xe/hir

pup/pups/pups/pupself

Tea/Tam/Teams

was/wasp/wasps

Mo/moth/mothself

hehe/haha

KILL/ME

bun/bunself

Sandwich/ baguette

hän: finnish, gender neutral

meow/nya

wasp/wasp/waspself

he/ himble

Ze/Zim/Zer

cas/ter

Fate/Apocrypha

deez/nuts

te/ter/ters

bing/bong

mol/L

Under/Tale

Delta/Rune

zey/zem

(mirror pronouns)

[margridarnauds]

Don't be cynical. If your fave is being trash tbe way Pen had been by all the tag lf anti Pen you would jumo to defend her. I wish i can stay in the thibgs i love but i can't knowing a character i thibk everyone should love and root for is being harrass . Any bridgerton chractdr have face the hate Pen had. You try to say it is not about body and but it is. The way you judge her actions won't be the same if she was skinny and pretty to your eyes ( she is for mines but i know anyone likes a fat woman)

Cath Maige Tuired is a ninth century text which has been long considered by scholars to be the pinnacle of the collection of medieval and Early Modern Irish texts popularly known as the "Mythological Cycle!" While it was a cornerstone of structuralist approaches to medieval Irish literature, particularly following the popularity of Georges Dumézil's theory that Indo-European society was divided into what he called "The Three Functions" -- War, Religion, and Agriculture, and that traces of that stratification were passed on to its daughter cultures, making particular use of Norse, Irish, Greek, and Hindu beliefs as a means of proving his point. This approach, while fundamentally flawed (and potentially ethically unsound, given the Dumézilian approach's association with fascist nationalistic movements of the 20th century) made its way into many analyses of the text. Thus, while the text was canonized, it was also often little understood in its medieval Irish context and even less understood as a sophisticated work of literature.

The text revolves around the so-called God Peoples of Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who correspond roughly if not completely (and extremely controversially) to the pre-Christian gods of Ireland, as they fight to maintain their hold over Ireland as another group, the Fomoire, seek to seize control of it. We open with the conception and birth of the character of Bres, who occupies a rare position of a villain protagonist in the text. He is born of a brief liaison between the woman of the Tuatha Dé, Ériu, and Elatha, the king of the Fomoire. His father leaves his mother pregnant, telling her that no name should be given to the baby but Eochu Bres, aka "Eochu the Beautiful" (though, to my knowledge, the usage of the term "Bres" to mean "beautiful" is exclusive to CMT and its related traditions, and the term is more likely to refer to a braggart, an tumult, or, on occasion, a hero), and that he shall become the standard that all beauty in the land shall be judged against, whether it should be a candle, a plain, woman, man, or horse. The young Bres grows at an unnatural rate, at twice the expected size of a young man his age, until he reaches the size of a fourteen year old at the age of seven years.

At some point, the King of the Tuatha Dé, Nuada, becomes wounded in the battle to take Ireland back from the Fir Bolg, and he loses his hand in combat with the champion of the Fir Bolg, Sreng mac Sengainn. Bres is elected by thewomen to take Nuada's place, but proves that he cannot fulfill the role of king via a series of disastrous decisions, including forcing the nobility to work and judging one of the chief nobles of the Tuatha Dé to be guilty of a murder. Finally, Míach, son of the Tuatha Dé's physician, Dían Cecht, successfully heals Nuada's hand, making him eligible for the kingship again (though Dían Cecht, displeased with his son's cure, proceeds to murder him.) Bres is forced to take refuge with his father's family.

In the meantime, though, the Fomorian raids against the Tuatha Dé continue, until, one day, twenty years after Nuada resuming the throne, a young man comes to Tara, having attained entry by possessing all of the skills that a member of the skilled elite of medieval Ireland could be expected to have, and, after defeating Nuada in a fidchell match (which roughly though imperfectly correponds to the modern game of chess, to the extent that "fidchell" is the word for chess in the modern language), Nuada steps down and allows the young man, Lugh, to take the kingship, in the hopes that he will be the one to free their people from the Fomoire.

Lugh leads the Tuatha Dé to a bittersweet victory over the Fomoire, with many combatants on both sides, including Nuada, killed. Bres is spared under the condition that he give the Tuatha Dé the secrets of agriculture, and Ireland is free for as long as Lugh reigns. Still, there is a hint of danger, even in their victory, as the Morrígan, a figure associated with war and death, prophecizes a dark age where incest and bloodshed will become common, the social order cast to the ground.

The current interpretation of the text by most professional Celticists, judging from the repeated references to the Fomoire as coming from "Lochlann", with onomastic features that correspond to modern Scotland under Scandinavian control, is that the text, rather than reflecting an ancient myth, might indeed be functioning as a reflection of medieval Irish anxieties over the Viking agencies, as well as an injunction for the Irish to band together to confront a common enemy, though certain features, such as Lugh fighting his grandfather in the battle, might indeed have an ancient provenance.

[voraciouskingdom]

Badb, known as the "Battle Crow," is a fearsome Celtic war goddess, part of the Morrígan trio alongside Macha and Anand. Her name means "crow" in Old Irish, symbolizing her ability to transform into this bird to fly over battlefields. Badb was notorious for sowing chaos and confusion among warriors, her piercing cries foretelling doom or victory. In one tale, she appears before the Battle of Mag Tuired, using her magic to create a mist and rain fire, disorienting the Fir Bolg army for three sleepless nights, leading to their defeat. Her presence was so dreaded that battlefields were referred to as "the garden of babd.”

🔥❤️‍🔥

[sailescaithuisce]

Some things The Morrigan told me/confirmed I think you guys would find interesting regarding Irish paganism and history;

- The Tuatha Dé Danann were not “exiled.” They went to Ireland to protect the land.

- The Fomorians were real, and some blood was passed down, but the blood of the Tuatha Dé Danann still runs in descendants today (celts were their “first” or more “direct” descendants)

- The first three events in the book of invasions were additions. It’s not just translated/interpreted to fit Christianity, they just never happened. Only Fir Bolg, Tuatha Dé Danann and Milesians are even kind of accurate.

- She is Macha, Babd, Nemain, etc, but only as a whole. She conforms/shape shifts to what is needed at the time, not separate entities encapsulated by a larger term. She comes to you in the form you need.

There’s a lot more but it’s mostly personal, or too.. controversial (??) for public consumption so I’ll leave it at that for now.

Take this with a grain of salt. Do your research. Educate yourself. Just thought it was cool to get info “from the source” if you will.

(Extra: she said the Loki = God thing is true which made me chuckle, but one can never be sure)

(….although I believe her.)

[taisestarr]

Lugh Ildánach’s qualities and devotional acts for this aspect

Summary of Lugh’s Ildánach characteristics. More details on my mapping of Lugh’s aspects to the myths are in this post.

Ildánach is a young Lugh that comes to Tara, telling and proving his skills in ‘The Second Battle of Moytura’. Although he is called Lonnannsclech and Samildánach in that part of myth, I deliberately called him Ildánach here. This will be helpful when I’ll explain which keys of self-improvement Lugh’s story provides to us. Distinguishing Lugh’s aspects is also useful for devotees to specify the area of work.

Lugh represents all parts of Ireland (see this post for details): he is an artisan, a musician, a wiseman and a warrior. He also represents all people of that time: Tuatha Dé Danann by his father, Fomorian by his mother, Fir Bolg by his foster mother and an outsider with the knowledge of reincarnation by his foster father Manannán (I separate Manannán from Tuatha Dé Danann and explain it later). He represents everything and knows everything, cross functional and many-sided.

Lugh Ildánach’s qualities from this post:  

He is an inventor of new games and rules, creative and ingenious. He can see into any situation from different points of view as a master of many skills. He is confident and persistent, he knows himself very well. Lugh Ildánach is also very handsome as several myths tell. I associate all fine arts and aesthetics with him.

Of course, Samildánach as a bigger aspect has all these qualities, but he has much more — and I’ll show it with the next aspects. I distinguish aspects by the parts of Ireland — that’s a new system that I’ve never seen before. Lugh always has skills in all the parts, but every aspect has one distinct direction. I associate Lugh Ildánach with the Music part: 

Music: waterfalls, fairs, nobles, reavers, knowledge, subtlety, musicianship, melody, minstrelsy, wisdom, honour, music, learning, teaching, warriorship, fidchell playing, vehemence, fierceness, poetical art, advocacy, modesty, code, retinue, fertility.

Although Lugh Ildánach is a warrior and a future ruler, I associate this aspect mostly with arts (especially music), self-improvement and self-knowledge. That provides:

Devotional acts for Lugh Ildánach

In my experience, the best devotional acts for Lugh are actions. He is a god of skills and self-development. These 4 directions cover all parts of Ireland that Lugh represents:  

Prosperity — any craft and creation, even if it’s a small improvement. Cooking too! 

Music — any art, especially music (harp music particularly). Listening to Irish music is also good.

Knowledge — any learning and studying, especially of Irish culture.

Battle — martial arts and any workout.

That’s a lot of “any” — and that’s Lugh’s nature! Master of many skills. What else does the myth tells:

exploring your nature to know yourself — any self-awareness methods that fit you. 

assert yourself and be assertive generally. 

be creative, train out-of-the-box thinking, try to look at any situation from different angles.

play board games — that’s what fidchell tells! Especially intellectual ones like chess. I prefer social games with associations or concealed roles — this way you may also be creative and assertive. Strategic games are great too. 

In next post I'll cover personal experience of devotees working with Lugh (including mine).

[aoisi]

roisin core at the first battle of magh tuireadh in which the heavens take ireland from fir bolg

[thevagabondexpress]

chapter sixteen of "fly over the north shore/i'm going home"

this episode: fir bolg-fomori feast be upon ye! pov: julian content warning: this chapter contains a mention of slavery

I looked up and saw Lio in the open doorway of my chambers, clinging to the doorframe as he often did.

"What is it?" I asked, cautious. So far Eryl had mostly left me alone to paint and wrestle with myself, insisting only that I attend meals with everyone else (that is to say, him and Lio, there wasn't anyone else) but I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

@chaosandtwo @4uru