Mystical Mythology of the World

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IRISH RELIGION

In the Irish language there are several names for God in general, without reference to any particular god. The most general is dia, which, with some variations in spelling, is common to many of the Aryan languages. It was used in pagan as well as in Christian times, and is the Irish word in universal use at the present day for God.

In Irish literature, both lay and ecclesiastical, there are vague references to the pagan gods, without any hint as to their identity or functions. The 'gods' are often referred to in oaths and such expressions as "I swear by the gods that my" are constantly put into the mouths of the heroes of the Red Branch.

The pagan Irish worshipped the sidhe [shee], i.e. the earth-gods, or fairies, or elves. These sidhe are associated with the mythical race called Dedannans, to whom the great majority of the fairy gods belonged. According to bardic chroniclers, the Dedannans were the fourth of the prehistoric colonies that arrived in Ireland many centuries before the Christian era.

The Dedannans were great magicians, and highly skilled in science and metal-working. After inhabiting Ireland for about two hundred years, they were conquered by the people of the fifth and last colony - the Milesians.

The Dedannans then arranged that several chiefs, with their followers, were to take up their residence in the pleasant hills all over the country in the sidhe [shee] or elf-mounds. Here they could live free from observation or intervention.

Bodb Derg [Bove Derg] was chosen as their king. Deep under ground in these abodes they built themselves glorious palaces, all ablaze with light, and glittering with gems and gold. Sometimes their fairy palaces were situated under wells or lakes, or under the sea.

All the Words that I gather,
And all the words that I write,
 Must spread their wings untiring,
 And never rest in their flight,
 Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
 And sing to you in the night,
 Beyond shore the waters are moving,
 Storm darkened or starry bright.

W.B. Yeats, All the Words that I gather, 1892


 

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