Gods and beings
There are several different names for god in the Irish language, without any reference to any particular god. The most common name is Dia, which is spelling as in the Aryan languages. Dia was used in pagan and Christian times as well today, as the universal word for god. It is hard to find the word in ancient literature but sometimes people can find vague references to gods without any hint about their identity or function. The gods are usually referred to in oaths, asseverations and in expressions as "I swear by the gods that my people swear by" This oath was constantly used by the Knights of the Red Branch.
There are a number of individual gods with very different personalities who are found in the romantic literature - some good and some evil. The names of some of those gods have been found to be the same or partly identical to the names of the ancient Gaulish gods. This is because the Celts of both Ireland and Scotland are a mix of the Celts, or Gauls, of the Continent, and they brought with them, at the separation, the language and the mythology to their new homes.
The Irish worshipped the side [shee] i.e. the earth-gods - fairies and elves - which are closely related to the Dedannans. According to some bardic chronicles the Dedannas were the fourth prehistoric colony that arrived in Ireland many centuries before the Christian era. They were great magicians and highly skilled in science and metal-working. They lived happy in Ireland for about two hundred years until they were conquered by the people of the fifth and last colony, called the Milesians. They then decided that the chiefs and their followers should move to the hills, or the side [shee], or elf-mounds, and try to live there instead. They chose a king whose name was Bodb Derg [Bove Derg] and shortly thereafter they built glorious palaces, deep underground, glittering with gold and gems and ablazed with light. Sometimes they were even built under wells or lakes or under the sea. It is said that when you see a little whirl of dust moving on the road a calm day that you have been an eyewitness to an shee-geeha, or wind-fairy, moving from one elf-mound to another.
The Irish sea-god Manannan mac lir, "son of the sea", was usually presented in the old tales as riding on the sea in a chariot in head of his followers. He had three legs, on which he enrolled on along on land, wheel-like and always surronded by a mystical mist. This is the origin of the three legged figure on the Manx halfpenny.
The Dadga was a powerful and beneficient god, who ruled as a king over Ireland for eighty years.
Bodb Derg [Bove Derg] was the fairy king, he was the son of the Dagda. He lived in a place called Side Buidb [shee boov] located on the shore of Lough Derg close to Portumna.
Aengus Mac-in-Og [Oge] was another son of Dagda, he was a mighty magician and he lived in a mighty palace at "Brugh of the Boyne".
There was also Brigit the goddess of poets and poetry and of wisdom. She had two sisters also called Brigit, one was the goddess of medicine and medical doctors while the other sister was the goddess of smiths and smithwork. Ana was the mother of the three Dedannan gods, whom she suckled and nursed so well that her name Ana came to signify "plenty" and it was from her the Dedannans got their names "Tautha [Tuatha] De Danann", which means "the tribes of the goddess".
There were 2 war-goddesses or battle-furies who were usually called Morrigan [morereean] and Badb [baub or bauv] both magnificant beings who were delighted in battle and slaugther. Badb often showed herself in battle in the form of a fennog i.e a scallcrow, royston crow, or a carrion crow, fluttering over the heads of the combatants. Morrigan sometimes appeared in the form of a bird or as a loathsome-looking old hag. She was usually seen busily fluttering around in the battle-clouds. This is recorded as early as from the Battle of Clontarf (A.D. 1014). She sometimes appeared before battles in anticipation of slaughter. Just before the battle of Moyrath (A.D.) she was seen hovering and hopping about on the points of the spears and shields of the royal army, who later won the battle. And before the destruction of Bruden Da Choca the Badb was seen in the shape of a "big mouthed, swarthy, swift, sooty woman", lame and squinting with one eye.
Neit was the god of battle with the pagans of the Gael and Nemon was his wife. They were malignant beings and a bad, venomous couple.
There were class phantoms that sometimes appeared before battles, before the battle of Moylena (second century), three repulsive looking witch-hags with blue beards appeared before the armies, screaming and cursing loudly - "Victory for Conn the Hundred fighter, and defeat and death for the rival king Eoghan". And before the banquet of Dun-nan-ged, two horrible black spectral beings, a man and a woman, came to the seating and after having devoured an enormous quantity of food they cursed the banquet and rushed out and vanished.
There is also the Leprechan who is a small fellow that makes shoes for the fairies, and on moonlight nights, if you walk alone, you might be able to hear him tap-taping with his little hammer, working in some lonely nook amongst the bushes. If you can catch him and keep your eyes fixed on him, he might tell you, after some threatening, where a piece of gold is hidden, but if you take your eyes of him just a tiny second, he is gone. The Leprechan is an ancient race in Ireland and is found in some of the most ancient tales. If they wished they could hurt mortals but that only happens if they feel threatened.
