NAME Cessair
EPITHET First Goddess of Ireland
ALTERNATIVE Ceasair / Cesair {kes'er}
SEX F
FESTIVAL Beltainn (Brilliant Fires)
CATEGORY deity / warrior / chieftain / filidh
TYPE earth goddess / sorcerer
CULTURE Amazon
COUNTRY Egypt (Meroë) / Ireland
REGION Kilkenny
TERRITORY Munster / Connacht
LANDMARKS Corco Duibne / Nore / Barrow / Suir
SITES Dun na mBarc / The Meeting of the Three Waters /
Cul Cessrach
AGE Bronze
DATES BC 21st c
RELATIVES Bith (father); Saball (foster-father); Ladra and
Bath (brothers); Fintan (consort); Iafeth
(uncle)
SEE ALSO Bairrfind / Banba / Fintan mac Bochra / Iafeth /
Ladra
REMARKS Cessair, daughter of Bith, had been 10 (7) years
in (Egypt ?) when she was warned by her foster-father
Saball, son of Nenual (Nionall), of a coming flood that
would envelop the land. Saball, a priest of the Tower of
Baal, advised her to gather her followers into boats of
clear hide (no hair) and journey westward and maybe she
would escape the flood. On the 15th day of the Moon she
left the temple on the so-called island of Meroë (Egypt) at
the confluence of the Blue Nile and the Atbara rivers.
Cessair had in her charge 3 shiploads (3x50 women & 3
men) of followers. She spent 20 (18) days upon the Caspian
Sea and 12 (20) days travelling from the Caspian Sea to the
Cimmerian (Sea of Azov). She then spent 1 day in Asia
Minor, then 20 days voyaging from Asia Minor to the Alps.
They voyaged for 9 (18) days from the Alps to Spain and 9
days from Spain to Ireland where they landed on the 5th
(15th) day of the moon in May at Dun na mBarc (Fortress of
Ships) at the southern promontory Corco Duibne, Munster.
They arrived 40 days before the flood.
By the time they reached Ireland there was only one
ship with 50 women and 3 men left. Here at Dun na mBarc
Bath son of Bith drowned in the spring. It is believed
that Cessair was responsible for bringing the first goats
with them to Ireland.
Cessair then led her people to Miledach (Bun Suainme)
at the Meeting of the Three Waters (Nore/Barrow/Suir) in
county Kilkenny. Here she divided them them into 3 groups.
Cessair, Lot, Luam, Mail, Marr, Froechar, Femair, Failbi,
Forall, Cipir, Torrian, Tamall, Tam, Abba (Eba), Ella,
Raichne and Sille kept Fintan as their man, although he
was but a seven year old boy. The champion Bairrfind and
her followers took Bith to the north with them. The leader
Banba led another group and they shared the pilot Ladra.
The pilot Ladra soon died and the followers then
divided themeselves into two groups. When a great flood
struck 40 days after their arrival, Fintan and Banba were
the only survivors of the followers of Cessair. Cessair
herself died at Cul Cessrach in Connacht and the great
leech Abba was drowned when the rising water swept over her
while she slept on the beach. The area became known as
Traig Eba.
Because Banba and Fintan mac Bochra both escaped the
flood it is interesting to theorize that they were the
progenitors of the Fomorii, a predominantly female people
who claimed that they came from Mount Hermon where there
was a temple to Baal. Cessair's foster-father Saball son
of Nionall (Nenual) was associated with a tower of Baal.
NAME Cliodna
EPITHET The Wave of Cliodhna (Tonn Cliodhna)
ALTERNATIVE Clinda / Cliodhna / Cleena
SEX F
SYMBOL bird / triskele
CATEGORY deity
TYPE goddess of the underworld and beauty
CULTURE Danann
COUNTRY Ireland / Isle of Man
REGION Cork
TERRITORY The Otherworld - Land of Promise (Tir
Tairnigire) / Munster
LANDMARKS Glandore Bay
SITES Strand of Cleena's Wave (Carraig Cleena)
AGE Bronze
DATES BC 16th-15th c
ACCESSORIES 3 birds of brilliant plumage
RELATIVES Gebann (father); Ciabhan (consort)
SEE ALSO Manannan / Rudraige / Tuag / Tadhg
REMARKS Cliodna, daughter of Gebann, lived in the Land
of Promise and fell in love with a mortal named Ciabhan of
the Curling Locks. They left The Otherworld and landed at
Glandore Bay in county Cork. Ciabhan went hunting and
Cliodna was lulled to sleep by the music of Manannan
(waves).
Manannan sent a gigantic wave to carry Cliodna back to
his Land of Promise. The wave was called Tonn Cliodhna
and was one of the 3 great waves of Ireland and one of the
3 waves of the Triskele of the Isle of Man. The other two
waves were Tonn Rudraige and Tonn Tuag.
Cliodna had 3 birds of brilliant plumage that were fed
on supernatural apples. Their singing was so sweet it
would lull the sick to sleep. She once appeared to Tadhg,
son of Cian.
A sacred place of veneration for her was Carrig
Cleena, a large rock at Glandore Bay in county Cork which
overlooks the beach where she was swept away, now called
the Strand of Cleena's Wave.
NAME Domnu
EPITHET Vortex of the Sea
SEX F
SYMBOL whirlpool
CATEGORY deity
TYPE Great Mother (fertility/abundance/prosperity)
CULTURE Fir Domnann tribe
COUNTRY Ireland
TERRITORY Connacht
AGE Bronze
DATES BC 16th-15th c
RELATIVES Indech (son)
SEE ALSO Indech
REMARKS Domnu was the mother goddess of the Fir Domnann
tribe of Ireland. Her name meant "hole in the ocean".
NAME Helen
EPITHET Fairest Woman in the World
SEX F
CATEGORY rigbean (noble woman)
CULTURE Goidel - Turdetani tribe
COUNTRY Spain
TERRITORY Lacedaemon
LANDMARKS Esparteros Mountain / Guadalquivir river
CENTERS Sparta
AGE Bronze
DATES BC 13th c / BC 1240 (defeat of Troy)
RELATIVES Zeus (father); Leda (mother); Tyndareus (step-
father); Menelaus (husband);
Hermione
(daughter); Paris, Deiphobus and Abartach
(consorts); Sabrann (daughter); Polydeuces
(brother); Castor (half-brother); Clytemnestra
(half-sister); Agamemnon (brother-in-law)
SEE ALSO Abartach / Agamemnon / Menelaus / Paris / Zeus
REMARKS Helen was the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus
(Tyndarus), chieftain of Lacedaemon.
It is most likely
that they were of the Turdetani tribe of the Goidel culture
that settled there sometime in the early Bronze Age.
One night the beautiful Leda was visited by Zeus in
the form of a swan, and from that union were produced two
eggs, one which contained Helen and Polydeuces (Pollux),
the other containing the twins Castor and Clytemnestra.
When Helen became of age she chose Menelaus as her
husband, and her father then turned the leadership of the
territory of Lacedaemon over to them.
The territory was
(and still is) rich in the highly-sought-after resources of
copper, tin and silver, and was strategically positioned to
control the gateway between the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean.
Because Helen was considered to be the most beautiful
woman in the world, she was the one promised to Paris by
the goddess Aphrodite as a bribe.
When Paris, son of the
chieftain of Troy, went to visit Menelaus, chieftain of
Sparta, Aphrodite caused Helen to fall in love with the
Trojan. When Menelaus was away
in Crete, Paris abducted
Helen. Helen and Paris went on a
voyage, then spent 9
years at Troy before the outbreak of hostilities, which
lasted another 10 years. When
Paris was killed Helen was
married to his brother Deiphobus.
Helen was also the
consort of Abartach son of Lugh, and bore him a daughter
called Sabrann. Sabrann then
married Cail (The 100-
wounder), son of Lugaid, son of Leda.
After the death of Deiphobus by Neoptolemus and the
end of the Trojan war, Helen returned to Sparta with her
husband Menelaus. Menelaus and
Helen interrupted their
return home with 8 years of travel.
NAME Rhiannon
ALTERNATIVE Rhian (woman of high place) / Rhiannon
{ree'-an-un, ree-ah-non, ree'-an-non}
SEX
F
SYMBOL white mare / 3 birds
CATEGORY deity
TYPE fertility goddess / mare goddess / Sovereign
CULTURE Danann
COUNTRY Isle of Man / Wales
REGION Dyfed
TERRITORY The Otherworld - The Underworld (Annwn) / Dyfed
LANDMARKS Mynydd Preseli (Preseli Hills)
CENTERS Gorsedd Arberth (mound of Arberth), Narberth
AGE Iron
DATES BC 2nd-1st c
BATTLES Ath Cliath
ACCESSORIES pale white horse / bag of plenty / 3 birds /
vessels
RELATIVES Heveydd (father); Pwyll (1st husband); Arawn
(consort) Pryderi (son); Manawyddan (2nd
husband)
ENEMIES Gwawl / Llwyd
SEE ALSO Arawn / Bran ap Llyr / Cassubellaunos / Gwawl
fab Clud / Heveydd / Llwyd fab Cil Coed /
Manawyddan mab Llyr / Pryderi / Pwyll / Teyrnon
REMARKS Rhiannon, the daughter of Heveydd Hen (Heveydd
The Ancient), was being forced to marry someone she did not
like. She had heard of the deeds
of Pwyll of Dyfed and
decided that she should get his attention. Wearing her
golden cape and sitting upon her white mare, Rhiannon rode
past the mound of Arberth where Pwyll and his nobles were
lounging. It took 3 rides by
before Pwyll himself
approached her, and when she told him of her love for him
and that she was being forced to marry someone else he fell
madly in love with her. Rhiannon
then invited Pwyll to a
festival in 1 year's time.
When Pwyll arrived for the festival, he was seated
between Rhiannon and her father in the position of the
suitor. While they were enjoying
themselves and in a
festive mood, a young red-haired warrior appeared. The
handsome youth said that he had come to ask a favor of
Pwyll, who unwittingly replied that he would grant him
anything in his power. Rhiannon,
angry at his stupid
remark, informed Pwyll him that he had just granted a wish
to Gwawl, the suitor from the north that she did not want
to marry. Gwawl said that he
would like to have the bride
Rhiannon and the feast for himself.
Rhiannon, being quick
of thought, told Gwawl that this was not the bridal feast
and he would have to come back in 1 year's time.
When the time for the next festival arrived, Rhiannon
was prepared. Gwawl was sitting in the seat of the suitor
when a beggar carrying a small bag entered the feasting
room. Gwawl told him to fill his
bag and leave, but the
bag never seemed to fill and Gwawl, becoming impatient,
told the beggar to finish filling the bag. The beggar
informed him that the bag would never fill unless it was
stomped down by a champion.
Gwawl, being the champion of
the day, stepped into the bag only to have it pulled over
his head by Pwyll, who was the one dressed in the disguise
of the beggar.
Pwyll then hung the bag on a hook by the door of the
banquet hall and called for his warriors to enter. As they
went by the bag, each warrior would ask what was inside
that was making such a fuss. Pwyll
would yell that it was
a badger and the warriors would give it a whack with the
flat of their swords. Gwawl
finally promised to leave and
demand no retribution for his loss or for the trick played
on him.
Rhiannon and Pwyll were then married and returned to
Dyfed where they lived at the caer of Gorsedd Arberth.
After 3 years when Rhiannon still was not pregnant, the
people of Dyfed became anxious because the prosperity of
the tribe was directly linked to the successful uniting of
the head chieftain and sovereignty.
Finally after a succeful year Rhiannon gave birth to a
boy but he disappeared that night while she slept. The 6
matrons guarding the boy feared for their lives because
they had fallen asleep and when they awoke the boy was
gone. The matrons killed a
chicken and smeared the blood
over Rhiannon who was then accused of killing and eating
the boy.
As punishment, she spent 7 years wearing the collar of
a horse and ferrying guests between the gate of the caer to
the hall and then back again, telling the story of how she
had killed her son. Then one day
Teyrnon, the chieftain of
Gwent ys Coed, arrived with a boy whom he believed was the
son of Rhiannon and Pwyll. The
council all agreed the boy
was the missing child and he was named Pryderi for the
trouble and anxiety his disappearance had caused his
parents.
During the invasion of Ireland against Matholwch,
Pwyll remained in Dyfed as one of the 7 Horseman (Seith
Marchawg) to guard Wales. He was
killed in a battle when
Dyfed was attacked by the Belgae chieftain Cassubellaunos.
Rhiannon had 3 brightly-colored birds that were fed on
apples of The Otherworld and sang so sweetly they would
soothe the sick to sleep and wake the dead. The 7 warriors
and Bran's head who escaped the destruction at Ath Cliath
in Ireland spent 7 years with her and her enchanting birds
at Harlech, feasting. The warriors
were Manawyddan,
Glinyeu, Talyessin, Ynawag, Gruddyeu, Heilyn and her own
son Pryderi.
After Bran died and his head was taken to Kaerlud to
be buried, Rhiannon married Manawyddan and they were given
Dyfed to rule. Her son also
married and one day the four
nobles were sitting on Gorsedd Arberth when everything
disappeared from sight except their caer (fortress).
For a while they lived on their supplies but soon
these were gone and they had to survive by hunting and
fishing. Soon the four tired of
this primitive existence
and went to England looking for work as artisans and having
many adventures until they grew weary and went back to
their caer in Dyfed.
One day Manawyddan came home after hunting and told
Rhiannon that he and Pryderi had watched as their dogs
chased a white boar into a strange white fortress. Against
Manawyddan's advice, Pryderi had decided to enter the fort
but he never returned nor did the dogs nor was there a
sound from either.
Rhiannon scolded Manawyddan for letting
his best
friend enter alone and she herself went into the fort after
her son. Inside she saw an empty
courtyard with a white
fountain and marble base around it.
Coming out of the sky
were four chains suspending a golden cauldron above the
marble base. Her son was
standing on the base holding the
cauldron but no sound would come from his mouth. As
Rhiannon steped onto the marble base to help Pryderi, her
feet also stuck to the base.
Rhiannon and her son realized that they had been taken
prisoners by a wizard named Llwyd who was extracting
revenge for his friend Gwawl who had been the loser in the
courting of Rhiannon. While
Rhiannon was in servitude she
had to wear the collar of an ass.
She and her son were
lucky that Manawyddan was able to trick the wizard into
returning them, their people and their possessions to
Dyfed.
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