Lugh: The Many-Skilled God of Irish Mythology
Lugh and Balor, artwork by Howard David Johnson (2019). A modern artistic interpretation of Lugh, the many-skilled god of Irish mythology, confronting Balor of the Fomorians. © 2019 Howard David Johnson. All rights reserved
Lugh is one of the most important figures in the Tuatha Dé Danann, a supernatural group whose stories have been central to medieval Irish literature. Because of his skill in a wide range of arts, Lugh plays a key role in the battle between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, ending it by killing their leader, Balor. Other stories also connect him with the famous warrior Cú Chulainn, the institution of Irish kingship, and Lughnasadh, the seasonal festival that marks the start of the harvest. Although Lugh is usually considered a deity of pre-Christian Ireland, most information about him comes from accounts written by medieval Christian authors. These sources give a thorough description of his actions but provide little information about how he was worshipped historically.
Lugh and the Tuatha Dé Danann
Lugh’s ancestry positions him between two groups whose conflict is the main feature of Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Mag Tuired); his father, Cian, is from the Tuatha Dé Danann, and his mother, Ethniu, is the daughter of Balor, one of the most powerful of the Fomorians. The fact that Lugh will one day fight his own grandfather in battle makes this relationship important.
When he arrives at Tara, Nuada has taken up the position of king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Fomorians exert significant control over the Tuatha Dé Danann, demanding tribute and imposing heavy obligations. This ongoing conflict is the backdrop against which Lugh appears at the royal court, though the available sources do not make clear why he went there.
The doorkeeper will not let Lugh enter until he can show the court a special ability. Lugh first suggests carpentry, but it is already arranged that Luchtar holds that post. He then offers himself as a smith, only to find that Goibniu already holds that role. This process continues with several other fields, such as combat, music, poetry, history, sorcery, and medicine, and each time the doorkeeper names a specialist. Finally, Lugh asks whether any member of the court can carry out all these arts together. The doorkeeper cannot say and refers the question to Nuada.
Lugh is allowed in and shows off his skills, such as the remarkable thing he does when he throws a big stone that Ogma provides, and his harp playing, which can make listeners cry, laugh, or fall asleep. Finally, Nuada gives Lugh a place in the court so he can oversee the arrangements for the coming battle. The fact that Lugh is skilled in a number of arts, a quality which at first the court regarded as unnecessary, turns out to be a valuable asset (Gray, 1982).
Two of Lugh’s titles are directly connected with these achievements. Samildánach shows his skill in a variety of arts, and Lámfhada, which is usually rendered as ‘Long Arm’ or ‘Long Hand’, is often linked with his skill in warfare.
The Second Battle of Mag Tuired
Before the fighting starts, Lugh asks the prominent members of the Tuatha Dé Danann what role they can play. Goibniu promises to provide weapons, the healers explain how they will care for the wounded, and the other specialists outline their plans. The various activities include smithcraft, medicine, poetry and sorcery, each person contributing specific skills to the conflict. Goibniu can make and replace weapons at an amazing rate, and Dian Cécht, together with his children, oversees a healing well that can restore injured warriors. Because of these preparations, the Tuatha Dé are able to get their wounded back into battle and thus gain a significant advantage (Gray, 1982).
At the beginning,, Lugh is kept out of the fighting because his companions fear losing someone with such valuable knowledge. He finally escapes his guards and joins the battle, where he faces Balor, his maternal grandfather. Balor has a dreadful eye, whose power can destroy anyone who comes into its line of sight. Before the attendants can turn this power against an enemy, they must lift the eye’s heavy eyelid. When the eye opens, Lugh hits it with a sling-stone, driving it through Balor’s head so its destructive gaze can then be directed at the Fomorians behind him.
Balor’s death contributes to the Tuatha Dé Danann’s victory, but their success comes from the joint efforts of the specialists who took part in the struggle. The battle demonstrates the skills Lugh showed at Tara, where his knowledge of a variety of arts earned him a place at Nuada’s court.
It is worth mentioning the weapon that was used against Balor. Although modern artwork often shows Lugh with a spear, Irish tradition connects him with a supernatural spear. In Cath Maige Tuired, however, he kills Balor with a sling-stone. Lugh’s spear is part of the tradition of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, treasures said to have been brought from four cities in the northern islands of the world. The Stone of Fál came from Falias, the sword of Nuadu from Findias, and the cauldron of the Dagda from Murias. Lugh’s spear came from Gorias and was described as a weapon against which no battle could be sustained (Gray, 1982).
The battle’s effects go beyond the defeat of the Fomorians; after they are captured, Bres gives instructions on when the fields should be ploughed, sown, and reaped. The settlement after the conflict includes the introduction of agriculture, even though this change does not directly establish Lugh as a harvest deity.
Lugh in Other Irish Traditions
Lugh also appears in the Ulster Cycle, since his association with Cú Chulainn links him to one of Ireland’s great legendary warriors. In the various versions of Compert Con Culainn (The Conception of Cú Chulainn), Lugh plays a role in the remarkable circumstances surrounding the hero’s birth; although the surviving accounts vary in detail, they establish a connection between Lugh and Deichtine, Cú Chulainn’s mother.
While Cú Chulainn defends Ulster against the advancing army from Connacht during the incident known as Táin Bó Cúailnge, a supernatural illness renders most of his province’s warriors incapable, so he must meet the enemy in a series of tiring battles. Although wounded and only just able to go on, he is visited by Lugh, who tells him that he is his father; Lugh looks after him and takes over the defence during Cú Chulainn’s sleep, enabling the young warrior to recover enough to be able to return to fighting (O’Rahilly, 1967).
Another version associates Lugh with the traditions of Irish kingship. In Baile in Scáil (The Phantom’s Frenzy), the famous king Conn Cétchathach comes across a strange figure at Tara. After stepping on the Stone of Fál, which cries out under him, Conn is surrounded by mist and taken to a house, where he meets a crowned man who claims to be Lugh. A woman wearing a golden crown serves drinks while Lugh announces the kings who will follow Conn. The woman’s presence and the act of serving the drinks have been linked to Irish sovereignty, thus giving this encounter special importance in the context of the traditions of royal legitimacy (Meyer, 1901).
Lughnasadh and Tailtiu
Lugh’s name is retained in the Irish seasonal festival known as Lughnasadh, which is traditionally linked with the start of August; the name is generally taken to refer to an assembly or gathering of Lugh, and the medieval traditions associate the festival with the death of his foster-mother, Tailtiu.
Tailtiu is known as a queen connected with the Fir Bolg and the town named after her is usually taken to be Teltown in County Meath; according to the medieval traditions concerning place-names, she died after having cleared the land for cultivation, and Lugh set up a funeral celebration in her memory, combining fosterage, agricultural work and commemoration at the start of the harvest season.
The Óenach Tailten, held at Tailtiu, included games, contests, and public gatherings. Apart from their ceremonial functions, these events also had political and social importance. Although Lughnasadh is generally regarded as a festival in honour of Lugh, the harvest god, medieval sources stress that it is connected with Tailtiu’s death and the commemorative assembly founded in her memory.
The later seasonal customs described in Máire MacNeill’s The Festival of Lughnasa (1962) include meetings on the hills, trips to the wells and joint celebrations. While these traditions existed in various forms across Ireland, it is not always possible to determine their exact connection to pre-Christian observances. The festival’s history therefore incorporates medieval mythology, later folklore, and current religious practice, each offering a different view of its development.
Lugh and the Wider Celtic World
Lugh is often described as a Celtic sun god, even though the main medieval Irish stories do not regard him as the sun or say he controls the sun’s movement across the sky. This connection partly stems from efforts to link his name to words meaning light or brightness, but the nameis origin remains disputed. The common interpretation of Lugh as the ‘shining one’ is not a definite translation (MacKillop, 1998; Koch, 20). In Cath Maige Tuired, Lugh defeats Balor with a sling-stone, and the story does not clearly link this weapon to the sun. Neither does his supernatural spear support the idea that he is a solar deity. Medieval accounts mainly emphasise Lugh’s skills, leadership, relationships, and knowledge rather than assigning him any explicit solar role. Although solar interpretations are common in modern scholarship, they should not be seen as definite features of his original worship.
Outside Ireland,, linguistic equivalents of Lugh’s name appear in Celtic-speaking areas. The name Lugus, as found in the continental world, and references to Lugoves have led to comparisons with the Irish god. It has also been suggested that ancient place names such as Lugdunum, the Roman name for Lyon, contain the name Lugus. Inscriptions from the Iberian Peninsula are especially interesting because Lugoves appears in the plural, raising questions about how these deities were conceived (Koch, 2006).
The Welsh figure Lleu Llaw Gyffes, as portrayed in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, also offers a further example of linguistic similarity. While many believe his name is connected to Lugh’s, the stories that have survived for both are quite different. The fact that such connections exist points to a common earlier origin for related divine names, but it does not prove that the various communities in Celtic-speaking Europe assigned the same stories or religious roles to the gods who had these names.
Worship and Contemporary Paganism
Even though Lugh was important in Irish mythology, very little direct evidence has survived of how he was worshipped in pre-Christian Ireland. The medieval tales talk about his actions and supernatural abilities, but they do not contain records of the ceremonies that were carried out in his honour. No Irish temple, altar, or votive inscription can be clearly identified as dedicated to Lugh, as the evidence is not as clear as that for some continental deities.
The link between Lughnasadh and his name is the most direct example of such a connection, even though the existing descriptions of the festival come from various historical periods. While the continental inscriptions linked with Lugus and the Lugoves give more direct evidence of religious dedication to similar divine names, they do not show how Lugh was worshipped in Ireland.
Some modern Pagans pay homage to Lugh, in particular those whose practices are based on Irish mythology and the celebration of Lughnasadh. Because of his skill in a variety of arts, devotional interpretations have arisen that stress craftsmanship, the pursuit of knowledge, and the ethical use of knowledge. The preparations for Mag Tuired also exemplify cooperation, since Lugh brings together the work of specialists whose input is essential to success.
Modern observances of Lughnasadh can include offerings, communal meals, craft activities, games, and a recognition of the first harvest. A number of practitioners also pay tribute to Tailtiu, in acknowledgement of her role in the medieval story concerning the origin of the festival. However, the various practices differ from one tradition or individual to another and it cannot be assumed that they recreate the ancient Irish rituals. Because no surviving pre-Christian ritual texts prescribe the veneration of Lugh, current devotion depends on mythology, historical research, and personal religious experience.
At Tara, the doorkeeper initially had no room for Lugh because every skill he showed was already present at court; only when the criteria changed did the court see his special value. This event illustrates a key feature of Lugh as he appears in Irish literature, that his reputation is based on his extraordinary variety of abilities, while the stories at the same time stress the results which he attains by using them.
Before facing Balor, Lugh brings together the Tuatha Dé Danann’s specialists at Mag Tuired. In the story of the Táin, he helps his injured son to recover. At Tailtiu, he pays respect to his foster-mother and, at Baile in Scáil, he appears before Conn as the herald of Ireland’s future kings. Although evidence for Lugh’s earlier widespread worship is limited, medieval literature presents a distinct figure whose knowledge and abilities prove valuable when put into practice.
References
Gray, E.A. (ed. and trans.) (1982) Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. Irish Texts Society, Vol. 52. Naas: Irish Texts Society. Available at: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T300010.html.
Koch, J.T. (ed.) (2006) Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. 5 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Available at: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ti%3ACeltic+Culture+A+Historical+Encyclopedia+au%3AKoch.
MacKillop, J. (1998) Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://books.google.com/books?q=James+MacKillop+Dictionary+of+Celtic+Mythology+1998.
MacNeill, M. (1962) The Festival of Lughnasa: A Study of the Survival of the Celtic Festival of the Beginning of Harvest. London: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=The+Festival+of+Lughnasa+MacNeill.
Meyer, K. (ed.) (1901) ‘Baile in Scáil’, Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, 3, pp. 457–466. Available at: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/G105001.html.
O’Rahilly, C. (ed. and trans.) (1967) Táin Bó Cúalnge from the Book of Leinster. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Available at: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T301035.html.
Williams, M. (2016) Ireland’s Immortals: A History of the Gods of Irish Myth. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Available at: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691157313/irelands-immortals.