Irish mythology
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 03/01/2019

Irish mythology, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=15175 / CC BY SA 3.0

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity. However, much of it was preserved in medieval Irish literature, though it was shorn of its religious meanings. This literature represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. Although many of the manuscripts have not survived and much more material was probably never committed to writing, there is enough remaining to enable the identification of distinct, if overlapping, cycles: the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the Historical Cycle. There are also a number of extant mythological texts that do not fit into any of the cycles. Additionally, there are a large number of recorded folk tales that, while not strictly mythological, feature personages from one or more of these four cycles.

Today some of the best known tales are of Tír na nÓg, Fionn MacCumhaill, Na Fianna, The Aos Sí / Aes Sídhe, Sétanta (CúChulainn), The Tuatha Dé Danann (Gods), the Children of Lir, Táin Bó Cúailnge & the Salmon of Knowledge.

Depending on the sources, the importance of gods and goddesses in Irish mythology varies. The geographical tales, Dindshenchas, emphasize the importance of female divinities while the historical tradition focuses on the colonizers, inventors, or male warriors with the female characters only intervening in episodes.

Goddesses are linked to a place and they seem to draw their power from that place. They are maternal deities caring for the earth itself as well as children. They are often connected to poetry, smith craft, and healing. Many appear to be prophetic especially when foretelling death as well as transformational. Zoomorphism is an important feature for many Irish deities.Badb Catha, the Raven of Battle, introduces zoomorphism to celtic deities of both sexes. Male deities are less zoomorphic th...