I need to know the legend of the Fomorian/Celtic Warrior goddess
Luaths Lugann how she became Ireland's fastest runner. What did she do
in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh?
BACKGROUND:
Luaths Lurgann was a warrior goddess whose name means "the
speedy-footed one," and she was known to be the fastest runner of all
Ireland. She
She was Fomorian goddess. These were a savage group who became sea
demons. They were another of the original groups that invaded Ireland.
Ultimately, they were defeated by Tuatha de Denann ,and they were
driven into the sea.
Fomoiri (fo ‘under’ + mor ‘spectre’). They ‘appear variously in Irish
tradition as deformed and demonic monsters, descendants of Ham who had
sinned by mocking his father Noah; as raiders travelling by sea, no
doubt influenced by the Irish experience of the Vikings; and as
giants, their usual character in folk tradition’.
She is the daughter of Lumm Lonn and married to the god Da Choca This
is what the Book of Druimm Snechta says: that Cet beheaded Cormac, and
that Anlón son of Doiche mac Mágach took the head to Áth Luan. Others
say that Amergin forbade the beheading, and chased Cet away from
Cormac's body, wounding him three times. However, it is the other
version that is in the books.
Da Choca himself was killed in the hostel. His wife Luath, daughter of
Lumm Lonn, went to Loch Luatha, where her heart broke from her chest
in a burst of blood. The lake is named after her.
She is a fast runner, and aunt of Finn,.
She was called to Balor’s court to fight against the Túatha Dé Danann
6.
Túatha Dé Danann ‘The tribes of the Goddess Danu’ – the invisiable or
Fairie people - Sidhe. Also Túath (Túatha) Dé. gods in the Second
Battle of Magh Tuiredh. (71, 102)
The recorded or manuscript Fairy-Faith of the Gaels corresponds in all
essentials with the living Gaelic Fairy-Faith: the Tuatha De Danann or
Sidhe, the 'Gentry', the 'Good People', and the 'People of Peace' are
described as a race of invisible divine beings eternally young and
unfading. They inhabit fairy palaces, enjoy rare feasts and
love-making, and have their own music and minstrelsy. They are
essentially majestic in their nature; they wage war in their own
invisible realm against other of its inhabitants like the ancient
Fomorians; (1) Hennessy, in Rev. Celt ., i. 52
‘The Battle of Mag Tuired’ is Ireland's richest mythological text. Its
hero is Lug, the Irish reflex of a Celtic god whose cult is reflected
in continental placenames and in Caesar's description of the Gaulish
‘Mercurius’ .Lug’s achievements in ‘The Battle of Mag Tuired’ with
regard to kingship, to fighting, and to agriculture can be interpreted
in terms of the tripartite ideology which G. Dumezil has attributed to
the Indo-Europeans. The battle was treated as historical by the
monastic scholars and they included it in their synthesis of Irish and
world history.
The Battle is included in the schema of legendary prehistory which
came to be known as Leabhar Gabhála Eirean n ‘The Book of the Taking
of Ireland,’ often referred to as ‘The Book of Invasions.’ This tells
of six prehistoric invasions of Ireland (see Rees and Rees, Chap. IV,
and esp. p. 104). It is also concerned with the origin of physical
features, boundaries, and names, and with the genesis of Irish customs
and institutions. The last three ‘invasions’ were those of the Fir
Bolg, Tuatha De Danann, and the Children of Míl or Gaels. The ‘first’
battle of Mag Tuired was fought between the Tuatha De Danann and the
Fir Bolg (CMT #10). The body of our text is concerned with the
‘second’ battle, in which the Tuatha De Danann vanquished the Fomoiri.
Other luthas I’ve been able to document – “
the two Luaths from Magh Lifé; Derg and Drecan out of the hill of
Beinn Edair in the east”
“two Luaths; Luath and Lath Goible, sons of Tethra;” |
