#credne

[vikobelo]

hungry? eat face

[chantylay]

Smith Gods Get No Love

I just saw another image of Brigid doing metalwork and I am fucking livid. Alright Anglos - nowhere in Irish mythology is Brigid a smith god. Nowhere. She is mentioned precisely twice that I know of in actual mythology: once in Lebor Gabála Érenn where she is described as An Dagda’s daughter and that she has several notable animals, and once in Cath Maige Tuired wherein she invents keening. That is it. Goibniu and Credne are the smiths of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They made Nuada’s arm. You know, Nuada Silverhand, king of the Danann, with the silver arm? Goibniu is the blacksmith and Credne is the goldsmith. Goibniu also appears repeatedly in actual mythology, including for things like making the weapons for the war against the Formorians. Now, cue in people telling me that Saint Brigid and Brigid from the mythological cycles are the same person and everything the Saintess did is attributable to the mythological goddess, and watch me LOSE MY MIND. Saint Brigid Chill Dara is based on an actual living person and her works. How fucking disrespectful. The associations with fire (and thus protection from the forge), protection of children, brewing, dairy, fisherman, making wells spring out the ground, healing, and so on are all associated with the Saintess and not the mythological figure. We in fact know very little about Brigid the mythological figure.

Which makes my goddamn blood boil when Anglos who don’t know better ascribe everything and the sun to Brigid uncritically. You are replicating a Saintess as an Irish goddess, which is highly disrespectful to both. I would think that good Irish Catholics would be terribly offended at the claim that Ireland’s favourite Saintess is ‘achtually’ a pagan goddess. This even boils over in to generalising Welsh or Breton practices as being devoted to ‘Brigid’, because she’s the only ‘Celtic goddess’ anyone can think of, at which point I’d like to throw someone down a well for their foolish ignorance.

This is especially irritating because smith gods never get any love. You ever see anyone *talk* about Goibniu (or Gofannon, in the Mabinogi), let alone make artwork of them? Hephaistos was rather conspiciously missing from the excellent, very good game Hades released this year despite being a Dodekatheos.

It’s also annoying because the aspects we know are associated with mythological Brigid - motherhood and protection of animals, are also incredibly devalued in mythological discussion. See Hades again for a conspicuous absence of Hera, you know, THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT GOD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY WHOSE SYMBOL IS A GODDAMN POMEGRANATE, goddess of motherhood and family and associated with livestock. These things were incredibly important to historical societies, but modern ‘enthusiasts’ seem to not find them sexy enough to merit even a mention.

People really need to get their stupid goddamn mythology hangups fucking wringed out of them. Smith gods are great. Motherhood is a fine and wonderful association to have. And Brigid is neither a smith god nor the all-seeing-all-dancing goddess of ‘Celtic’ mythology.

[atmaflare]

-Ruadan, the fomorian spy- In Irish mythology, Ruadan is one of the fomorians, a mysterious race of monstrous sea-raiders who terrorized Ireland during ancient times. They had a complicated relationship with the Tuatha de Danaan, the pantheon of Irish gods, with sometimes the two races being in friendly terms, some even in romantic relationships, and others with both acting as fierce enemies. When the Tuatha Dé arrived in Ireland the fomorians were already in there for a long time, and so were a group of people called the Fir Bolg, who did battle with the gods. The Tuatha Dé emerged victorious, but at the cost of their king, Nuada, losing his arm, and alongside it, his right to rule his people. One of their warriors, Bres is chosen as their new king, but he ends up oppressing the Tuatha Dé, putting them under the rule of the fomorian tribe, humiliating them and asking huge amounts of tributes in their honor. Bres is eventually deposed and alongside with the help of Balor, the great fomorian king, he declares war on the Tuatha de Danaan, starting a long conflict between the two tribes. Ruadan was actually the son of Bres with Brigid, the goddess and queen of the Tuatha de Danaan, making him only 1/4 fomorian. Nevertheless, he joined his father's army and chose to fight on the fomorian side against the gods. During the war, the fomorians realized that after every battle, the Tuatha always seemed to return the following day with their warriors completely healed and equipment restored, while the fomorian were suffering multiple losses. Puzzled by this, they sent Ruadan, who looked human enough to mingle with the gods unnoticed, to spy on their campsite. There he saw three smith gods, Goibniu, Credne and Luchta, fixing all of their broken weapons in seconds with just a swing of their hammers. On the backside, there was also a magical healing spring managed by the gods of medicine, Dian Cecht and his daughter Airmed, capable of returning any wounded warrior back to full health. Ruadan informed his companions of what he saw and they returned the following day planning an attack. Ruadan once again disguised himself and asked for a new spear from one of the smiths, impaling him with it as he got his hands on one.  Meanwhile, a group of fomorians led by Octriallach, son of the fomorian general Indech, attacked the healing fountain by throwing huge stones at it, but not before the Tuatha managed to heal the impaled smith. Ruadan tries to escape, but is captured by the soldiers and then executed in front of his mom, the goddess Brigid. Lamenting for her son's death, she invents the Keening, a sort of vocal lamentation for the dead.