The Tuatha Dé Danann: Deities of Ireland Quiz

Answer: Cu Chulainn

Cú Chulainn, aka Sétanta, was the son of Lugh and a mortal woman, Deichtine. In one version of the myth, she was King Conchobar's charioteer, and she and a group of Ulstermen sought shelter in a house while hunting. Lugh appeared to her and revealed that he was the owner of the house, and that she was pregnant with his child. Unfortunately, she was also in a relationship with Súaltam Mac Róich at the time, and she aborted the child. She then conceived a baby and called him Sétanta.

In another version, Deichtine was Lugh's pregnant wife and lived in the house where the Ulstermen stayed, but he abandoned her and the baby, and she married Súaltam and gave birth to Sétanta. Cú Chulainn means 'hound of Culann', and Sétanta was given the name after he killed the smith Culann's dog and offered to replace it as a watchdog. Like Lugh, he grew up to be skilled with a spear. (Incidentally, fans of both Irish mythology and the mobile phone game 'Fate/Grand Order' may have noticed that all the answers are characters in the game.)

Answer: Spring

Brigid was a fertility goddess, hence the association with spring, and also represented poetry, cattle, smithcraft and medicine/healing. Some traditions portray her as a triple goddess with two sisters, Brigid the Healer and Brigid the Smith. She was associated with high areas, such as mountains and hill forts.

As a goddess associated with livestock, she owned a boar called Triath (which bore some resemblance to Twrch Trwyth, the monstrous boar of Welsh myth) and a sheep called Cirb. The pagan festival of Imbolc, which marks the beginning of spring and is held on 1st and 2nd February, is associated with both Brigid and St Brigid, an Irish saint, who is believed to have been syncretised with the Irish goddess by early Christians.

Answer: The Dagda

The Dagda was a powerful figure who had dominion over the weather and the seasons. As well as his magic club, he also possessed a cauldron, Coire Ansic, which never ran dry and which was one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann; and Uaithne, a magic harp made of oak which controlled the seasons, and could also control the emotions of men. Like Zeus in Greek mythology, he was quite the player. One of the Dagda's mating partners was the river goddess Boann; during their affair, the Dagda made the Sun stand still for nine months, and their son Aengus was conceived and born within a day. (Midir was one of the Dagda's sons, and Oghma was either the Dagda's son or brother.)

Answer: Scathach

The Morrígan, probably the most well-known of the Celtic war goddess trio, had the ability to foretell death or victory in battle, and had the power to incite warriors to fight. She was also associated with the land and livestock. In the Ulster Cycle, she warns Cú Chulainn of his impending death in battle, and changes into various animals, each of which he injures. She then turns into an old woman milking a cow and gives Cú Chulainn three drinks of milk, and each time he blesses her and heals her wounds. A pair of hills in County Meath, the Dá Chich na Morrígna, are named after her breasts.

The Badb also turned into a crow and had the power to cause discord and confusion amongst soldiers and turn the tide of battle against them, as she did with Queen Medb's soldiers in the Ulster Cycle. Like the banshee, her screams were an omen of death.

Macha was associated with Ulster, and there are several women in Irish mythology who share her name and are thought to be derived form her. One of them, the wife of Cruinniuc, was forced to participate in a race against the King of Ulster's horses while pregnant, thanks to her husband boasting about her running skills. When she finished the race, she gave birth to twins and cursed the men of Ulster to be as weak as a woman in childbirth.

Scáthach was a Scottish warrior queen and Cú Chulainn's teacher in the Ulster Cycle. She lived on the Isle of Skye in Dún Scáith, the Fortress of Shadows.

Answer: Ferrying the souls of the dead to the afterlife

There is a sculpture of Manannán standing in his boat at Magilligan in County Derry. Like Charon, the ferryman of Greek myth, his job was to carry the souls of the dead to the Otherworld, of which he was guardian. He had both a boat, Scuabtuinne, and a sea chariot, which was pulled by his horse, Enbarr.

He used an invisibility cloak made of mist to disguise himself, known as Féth Fíada. He was another wielder of Fragarach, the sword which later came into Lugh's possession; it could cut through any shield, inflict wounds which could not heal, and no man could move or lie while it was pointed at his throat. (Coinchenn was an actual sea monster; the Gáe Bolg, a mythical spear, was made from one of its bones.)

Answer: Boyne

Boann was the goddess of the River Boyne in the province of Leinster. She created the Boyne when she walked anticlockwise around the Well of Segais, despite being forbidden to do so by her husband Nechtan. The well overflowed, and the waters ran down to the sea and formed the Boyne. Unfortunately, Boann was caught up in the flood and lost an arm, a leg and eye, and ended up drowning. Dabilla, her dog, was also swept out to sea and torn apart by the force of the water; the pieces of its body became rocks, known as 'Cnoc Dabilla'.

Of note, hazelnut trees grew near the Well of segais, and their nuts fell into the water and were eaten by salmon who lived there. Both salmon and hazelnuts are associated with wisdom in Irish legend; Fionn Mac Cumhaill, the hero of the Fenian Cycle, gained all the knowledge of the world by eating a magical salmon, the Salmon of Knowledge, which he had caught for the druid Finnegas.

Answer: The Three Gods of Art

Credne, Goibniu and Luchtaine were craftsmen who made weapons for the Tuatha Dé Danann. Credne was a goldsmith and silversmith. Goibniu was a metalworker who made a silver arm, the Airgetlám, for the gods' king Nuada when he had his arm chopped off in battle. Luchtaine was a carpenter.

Tuireann had three other sons, Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, who murdered Lugh's father Cían. He turned into a pig to escape them, but they turned into hounds and hunted him down. As punishment, Lugh forced them to travel the world and collect a variety of magical weapons, including a pigskin that could heal wounds, for him to use at the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. All three were injured and begged Lugh to let them heal themselves, but he refused and they died, and Tuireann mourned over their graves.

Answer: Healing herbs

The healing herbs were said to be 365 in number, the same number as the days in the year or the joints and veins in the body of Miach, Airmed's brother. Airmed was a healer, and she, Miach and their father, Dian Cécht, the god of healing, healed the wounded in the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. Dian Cécht also helped Credne and Goibniu replace the king Nuada's lost arm with a silver one known as the Airgetlám. Miach went one better and replaced the Airgetlám with a flesh-and-blood arm, and Dian Cécht murdered him in a jealous rage. Airmed cried over Miach's grave, and all the healing herbs of the world grew over his body. Airmed collected them all, but Dian Cécht scattered them across the world in his anger.

This legend is used to explain why nobody, save Airmed herself, knows all the secrets of herbalism.

Answer: She turned into a swan for a year, every second Samhain.

Quite a romantic story, this. Aengus was the son of the Dagda and the goddess Boann. He was associated with love and poetry, and was often depicted with birds flying around his head. He dreamed about a beautiful girl who played the drum for him, and fell in love with her - to the extent that it made him ill. Both his parents and King Bodb Derg of Munster searched everywhere for this girl, and found out that she did in fact exist, and that her name was Caer Ibormeith. Bodb and Aengus went to a river and found 150 girls chained up there in pairs, and Aengus recognised Caer by her silver necklace, and the fact that her chain was gold instead of silver.

As Caer was in the territory of King Ailill and Queen Medb of Connacht, Aengus asked them for her help, and Ailill made her father, Prince Ethal Anbuail, reveal that she turned into a swan every second Samhain, and stayed like that for a year.

A flock of 150 swans came to the lake, Caer among them, and Aengus turned into a swan himself and flew away with her.

When they reached the home of Aengus' parents, they sang until everyone inside fell asleep for three days and three nights.

Answer: Edain

The story of Édaín is a rather sad one, though it does have a happy ending. Midir, one of the many sons of the Dagda, was smitten with Édaín while still married to his wife, Fúamnach. Fúamnach got jealous of Édaín and turned her into a pool of water, then a worm, and then a butterfly.

While in this form, she followed Midir around, although he did not know it was her. Still jealous, Fúamnach summoned a wind that blew Édaín away and prevented her from landing anywhere except the rocks of the sea. This went on for seven years. Eventually she found Aengus, Midir's foster son, and landed on his cloak.

Unfortunately, he was at war with Midir at this point and could not give her back to him, so he made a little chamber for her and carried it around with him. Fúamnach found out and sent more winds to keep Édaín at bay for seven years.

She landed in a glass of wine and was accidentally swallowed by Étar, the wife of an Ulster chieftain, who subsequently became pregnant. The baby was Édaín, and she was reborn.

She was later reunited with Midir after he beat her husband Eochaid in a game, with her as the prize.