Monaghan Patricia. The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore

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Ialonus Continental Celtic god. This obscure

divinity who ruled cultivated fields was identified

by the Romans with MARS, now conventionally

described as a war god but originally a divinity of

fertility.

Iarbanel Irish hero. In the legendary history

of Ireland, the BOOK OF INVASIONS, the hero

NEMED was the father of Iarbanel, who was in

turn ancestor of the gods known as the TUATHA

DÉ DANANN, or tribe of the goddess DANU; from

Iarbanel’s brother Starn descended the Tuatha

Dé’s enemies, the FIR BOLG. It is not clear if

Iarbanel was the consort of Danu, as this geneal-

ogy implies, for she is not linked with any god.

Ibath, Ibcan Minor Irish heroes. Descendants

of the hero IARBANEL, they were called NEMEDIANS

after Iarbanel’s father, their grandfather NEMED.

Iberia Celtic location. The peninsula today

called Spain and Portugal was, in ancient times,

a Celtic stronghold. Myth connects Iberia with

Ireland, for one group of mythological migrants

described in the BOOK OF INVASIONS were the

MILESIANS, or the Sons of Míl; its alternative

name, Hibernia, derives from this word. The

name of Míl Despaine, mythological forebear of

these migrants, translates into “Spanish soldier.”

I Breasil See HY-BRÂZIL.

Icauna Continental Celtic goddess. To the

Celts, both continental and insular, RIVERS

were invariably goddesses who ruled both the

waters and the lands of the watershed. Icauna

was the tutelary goddess of the Yonne River in

northern France.

Icovellauna Continental Celtic goddess.

Inscriptions to Icovellauna have been found at

Metz and Trier in Germany, but little is known

about her meaning or cult. As the first syllable

(Ico-) of her name means “water,” she is presum-

ably a WATER divinity, probably the HEALING

goddess whose octagonal shrine was excavated at

the SPRING of Sablon.

Source: Green, Miranda. Symbol and Image in Celtic

Religious Art. London: Routledge, 1989, p. 40.

Igerna See IGRAINE.

Igraine (Egraine, Yguerne, Igrayne, Ygerna,

Igerna, dgerne, Eigr, Ingraine) Welsh and

Arthurian heroine. When the beautiful Igraine

caught the eye of heroic UTHER PENDRAGON, he

was overcome with desire to have her as his con-

sort although, already partnered with GORLOIS,

254

Duke of Cornwall, Igraine had no desire for

Uther. Conspiring with the magician MERLIN,

Uther changed his appearance so that Igraine

believed herself to be sleeping with her husband

although her companion was in fact the

bewitched Uther. From their mating the future

king ARTHUR was conceived; after news of

Gorlois’s death reached Igraine, she married

Uther, who had resumed his original appearance.

Igraine had several other children by

Gorlois. Two have similar names and may derive

from the same original: MORGAUSE and MORGAN

are frequently confused in legend. The other

was ELAINE of Garlot.

Source: Ellis, Peter Berresford. Celtic Women:

Women in Celtic Society and Literature. Grand

Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing,

1995, pp. 61–62.

Ilberg Irish god. When the god of fertility,

the DAGDA, decided to relinquish his leadership

of his people, the ancient Irish gods called the

TUATHA DÉ DANANN, Ilberg was a contender for

the post. Son of the sea god MANANNÁN MAC LIR,

Ilberg did not get the nod and thereafter retired

to his palace at the magical waterfall of ASSAROE.

Ildathach Irish mythological site. When the

OTHERWORLD was envisioned as a floating

ISLAND, it sometimes bore this name, which

means “many-colored land,” in reference to its

gorgeous and unearthly hues.

Ile (Eila, Yula) Scottish goddess. One of the

largest of the Hebrides, a string of islands off

Scotland’s west coast, the isle of Islay was named

for this goddess. Sometimes she is described as a

queen or princess named Yula of Denmark.

Although Ile, even in diminished form, is an

obscure figure, the island that bears her name is

less so, for it was the inaugural site for the Lords

of the Isles, who in a typical Celtic INAUGURATION

rite stepped on a stone impressed with footprints

to receive their office. See INAUGURATION STONES.

Source: Straffon, Cheryl. The Earth Goddess: Celtic

and Pagan Legacy of the Landscape. London:

Blandford, 1997, p. 147.

images Cosmological concept. Celtic artists

traditionally employed a decorative and ornate

abstraction for ritual objects whose spiritual or

religious meaning can only be guessed at. Most

engravings, sculptures, or other images of conti-

nental Celtic gods and goddesses date to the

Roman era, with the exception of severed

HEADS

that date to as early as the eighth century B.C.E.

and occasional rough-hewn wooden planks with

graven heads and flat bodies.

After the Roman invasion, Celtic artists on

the Continent and in Britain began to produce

(sometimes mass-produce) human-formed

divinities that show skill in modeling and follow

classical patterns; clearly it was not lack of abil-

ity that discouraged representation of gods in

human form. The fact that the most popular

divinities sculpted were those that would appeal

to wealthy members of society suggests that

these Romanized Celtic divinities were made

either for Roman residents of the provinces or

for well-off Celts wishing to emulate their new

masters. The connection of such images to

Roman influence is made clear not only in the

classical draperies that shroud them but in the

fact that they are not found in Ireland, where

the Roman legions never invaded.

Why the Celts originally declined to show

their divinities as men and women is not well

understood, for in myth the gods and goddesses

move about, fall in love, engage in battle, and

do other things that seem to require bodies.

Celtic art, rather than being representational,

tended to be decorative and abstract, even art

that had spiritual meaning. In some cultures,

such as Islam, it is forbidden to depict the

divine as human, but we have no documented

evidence for such a philosophy among the

Celts, who in any case turned to such depic-

tions with great ease after Roman contact. See

INTERPRETATIO ROMANA.

images 255

Sources: Piggot, Stuart. The Druids. London:

Thames and Hudson, 1968, pp. 79–86;

Straffon, Cheryl. The Earth Goddess: Celtic and

Pagan Legacy of the Landscape. London:

Blandford, 1997, p. 29.

imbas forosnai (imbus forosna, himbas forosnai)

Divination system. Among the Irish DRUIDS,

this form of DIVINATION was used to discover

the location of hidden or stolen objects or to

learn secrets kept from public knowledge. The

term, “illumination between the hands,” refers

to the second stage of the ritual. First the BARD

or seer chewed on raw meat, which was then

offered to the powers of the OTHERWORLD. The

answer to the query was supposed to come into

the seer’s mind by the next day, but if that did

not happen, the second stage began: After

speaking incantations into his or her hands, the

seer slept with palms on cheeks and dreamed

the answer to the queries.

Imbolc (Imbolg, Óilmelc, Oímelg, Olmec,

Candlemas) Celtic holiday. The Celtic year

was broken into four parts, and the points

between the equinoxes and solstices were cele-

brated as major festivals. Imbolc, on February 1,

was the day on which winter ended and spring

began. Its name means “in the belly,” presum-

ably because cattle and sheep were pregnant

with spring’s young at this time; it has also been

connected with a word meaning “to wash,” pre-

sumably referring to ritual purification. The

alternative name of Óilmelc refers to the lacta-

tion of ewes that also occurs around this time.

Yet although it was described as spring’s awak-

ening, the weather at this time was generally

more wintry than not. Thus weather MAGIC and

DIVINATION were common to the day. The Manx

said the “Old Woman of the Spells,” a form of the

CAILLEACH, tried to find dry sticks on Imbolc in

order to build a fire, thus making herself com-

fortable enough to prolong winter; such tradi-

tions may form the basis of the American

Groundhog Day. In Ireland the day was dedicated

to St. BRIGIT, the Christianized version of the

Celtic goddess of the same name, whose feast day

this became; many folkways celebrate her, includ-

ing plaiting swastika-like crosses fashioned of

reed and rush to invite Brigit into the home.

On the Isle of Man, the day is called Laa’l

Breeshey, the day of Brigit. Manx customs

included leaving the front door open so that

Brigit (or in some cases, the

FAIRIES) might feel

welcomed and enter, or sweeping out the barn

and leaving a lit candle to burn there beside a

table on which ale and bread (the “Brigit sup-

per”) was offered to the visiting spirits, whether

saintly or fey. As in other Celtic lands, the Isle of

Man saw weather divination practiced on this

day. One tradition said that as far as the sunbeam

reaches on Imbolc, that far will the snow come

before BELTANE on May 1; thus, as in other

places, a bright Imbolc was thought to promise a

lengthened winter. A similar belief had it that

when Imbolc was sunny, a wet or snowy spring

was in the offing. A rainy or snowy Imbolc, by

contrast, would force the Cailleach, the weather-

controlling HAG, to stay indoors rather than

gathering more wood for her fire. Without lay-

ing in an additional stock of fuel, she would be

forced to end winter early.

In Britain seasonal symbolism outweighed

weather divination. As in other Celtic lands,

Imbolc was associated in the Cotswold hill-

country with candles that represented the

increasing strength of the sun being lit through-

out the house to celebrate the day. Tea was tra-

ditionally to be served without any artificial

light, for on Imbolc the sun’s light was supposed

to be strong enough to illuminate the table

spread with the feast.

In Scotland rush or reed figures of Brigit

were constructed and dressed in bits of cloth,

with a shell called “the guiding star” placed on

the chest. This poppet was carried from house to

house, usually by young women, or put to bed

with lullabies. Ashes strewn on the doorstep

would be checked in the morning to see if Brigit

had honored the household with a visitation,

which was thought to bring good luck for the

256 imbas forosnai

year. Sometimes a piece of peat was put inside a

sock, then hit upon a step while a verse was

recited asking that SERPENTS not come forth.

Ireland’s various regions had different tradi-

tions for this day. The day was generally a holi-

day when rural work stopped, although farmers

might plow a ceremonial furrow in the spring

fields or put a spade into the earth as a ritual

invocation for good harvest. Strips of cloth or

ribbons were placed outdoors, to catch the first

light of the sun on Imbolc or the dew of the

dawn; called a Brat Bríde or Brigit’s cloak, the

cloths were used for healing throughout the

year. The faithful visited (and still visit) holy

WELLS dedicated in Brigit’s name. In KILDARE a

rush swastika cross was plaited; hung over the

door, it protected against fire until the next

Imbolc, when the dried cross would be stored in

the rafters while another green one took its

place. In western Connemara a straw rope

plaited from rye straw cut by hand was formed

into a circle (the crios bridghe or Brigit cross) and

carried from door to door so that people could

leap through it while praying for health and

good fortune. In southwestern Co. Kerry mum-

mers dressed in white imitated Brigit begging

from door to door. Both of these latter customs

have been revived in recent years, most signifi-

cantly at Kildare, a town traditionally associated

with the figure of Brigit transmogrified into the

Christian saint; there the celebration of Imbolc

has become an important local festival.

Sources: Berger, Pamela. The Goddess Obscured:

Transformation of the Grain Protectress from

Goddess to Saint. Boston: Beacon Press, 1985, p.

70; Briggs, Katharine M. The Folklore of the

Cotswolds. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1974, p.

19; Callan, Barbara. “In Search of the Crios

Bhride.” In Patricia Monaghan, ed. Irish Spirit:

Pagan, Celtic, Christian, Global. Dublin:

olfhound Press, 2001; Carmichael, Alexander.

Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations.

Hudson, N.Y

.: Lindisfarne Press, 1992, pp.

583–584; Paton, C. I. Manx Calendar Customs.

Publications of the Folk-lore Society, reprinted.

Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint Limited,

1968, p. 35; Ross, Anne. Folklore of the Scottish

Highlands. London: B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1976,

p. 126.

immortality Cosmological concept. Although

some writers describe the Celtic gods as immor-

tal, tales such as that of battles of MAG TUIRED

describe the deaths of many of them. Gods and

goddesses are occasionally victims of treacherous

murder, as when MEDB was struck down while

bathing. Thus it is not clear that the idea of

immortality—in the sense of never suffering

death—was part of the Celtic vision of divinity.

Some Irish legends speak of a food that, when

eaten by the gods, kept them young and hale: the

PIGS of the sea god MANANNÁN MAC LIR, the con-

tents of the ever-full CAULDRON of the smith

GOIBNIU, and APPLES from the OTHERWORLD.

The myths suggest that, without such magical

food, divinities might age and die just like mor-

tals, but existing texts and oral tales do not

describe any deaths from old age among the gods.

Some ancient sources refer to a Celtic belief

in the immortality of the human soul, which

passed through various bodies; this is more

properly termed REINCARNATION or metempsy-

chosis. Some argue that rebirth in different bod-

ies was not a Celtic vision of the afterlife but a

classical misinterpretation, and that the Celts

instead believed in the soul’s reawakening in an

Otherworld that resembled this one point for

point, except for being timeless. Death, in either

case, was a change in form instead of an ending;

such a belief may explain the fearlessness that

ancient writers ascribed to Celtic warriors.

Sources: Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in

Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe

Humanities Press, 1911, p. 503; MacCulloch,

J. A. The Religion of the Ancient Celts. London:

Constable, 1911, pp. 158, 376.

immovability (automatic return) Folkloric

motif. The great stone monuments of the

immovability 257

pre-Celtic people must have impressed the new

settlers, for many superstitions accrued to the

sites, which preserved them against desecration

even millennia after the builders had passed

away. One of these beliefs—recorded as far back

as the early British historian Nennius—was that

such stones would, if moved from their sacred

location, return the next day of their own power.

Sometimes the thief would be hurt or killed in

the stone’s return.

Source: Grinsell, Leslie V. Folklore of Prehistoric

Sites in Britain. London: David & Charles,

1976.

imp British folkloric figure. An old word for a

cutting from a tree is imp or ymp, and the term

came to be applied during Puritan times to FAIRY

people as offshoots of the DEVIL. The concept is

entirely a Christian one; pre-Christian residents

of Celtic lands did not believe in a specific force

of evil, much less that the people of the OTHER-

WORLD were the evil one’s children.

imram See VOYAGES.

inauguration Celtic ritual. Although little is

known of inauguration rituals among the conti-

nental Celts or those in Britain, there is signifi-

cant evidence of the ritual’s form in Celtic

Ireland. The king was not an all-powerful person

whose word was law, but rather a man chosen—

often by inspired poets using complex DIVINA-

TION methods, although possibly through feats

of arms—to be married to the goddess of the

land. The banais ríghe, the feast of inauguration,

celebrated the marriage of the goddess of SOVER-

EIGNTY with her chosen king. The site of the rit-

ual was a sacred hill such as TARA or a holy WELL;

as there were hundreds of kings in ancient

Ireland, their inauguration presumably was held

at the most sacred place in their territory.

What exactly happened at this ritual is

unclear. Giraldus Cambrensis relates a complex

ritual involving the king’s mating with a mare;

the mare was then killed and cooked, and the

king was given its broth to drink (see HORSE SAC-

RIFICE). Although that ritual finds echoes in

other Indo-European lands, there is no further

evidence that it occurred in Ireland.

More commonly, it is believed that the ritual

included two main elements: the offering of a

drink (possibly water from the sacred well,

although red

ALE is also mentioned) and inter-

course with the goddess, or a woman represent-

ing the goddess. Again, it is not known how

widespread such practices were or whether the

coition was symbolic or actual.

After inauguration it was the king’s duty to

follow many ritual requirements (see BUADA). If

he did so, the goddess offered the reward of

abundant food and fine weather, while a king’s

failure to please the goddess would result in

famine and disease and eventual removal from

office. To assure that the king did his utmost to

provide for his people, his life was bounded by

sacred taboos and promises called geasa (see

GEIS). See also MEDB, KINGSHIP.

Sources: Brenneman, Walter, and Mary

Brenneman. Crossing the Circle at the Holy Wells

of Ireland. Charlottesville: University of

Virginia Press, 1995; Green, Miranda. Symbol

and Image in Celtic Religious Art. London:

Routledge, 1989.

inauguration stones Celtic sacred object.

Both literary and historical evidence support the

idea that Celtic kings were invested with their

office while standing upon a sacred stone. The

most famous such stone was the LIA FÁIL,

reputed to have been brought from the OTHER-

WORLD to stand upon the Irish hill of TARA.

(Some legends say that the stone visible there in

ancient times was not the real Lia Fáil; the real

stone remained forever in the Otherworld while

a replica was sent to this world.) The stone, that

stands today at the same site, often described as

resembling a phallus, is not the original.

258 imp

According to one legend, the original Lia Fáil,

also called the Stone of Destiny, was moved to

Scotland in ancient times and used as an inaugu-

ral stone for 34 kings of Scotland. In 1296 this

stone (now called the Stone of Scone) was

removed from Scotland by order of Edward I

and installed beneath the English coronation

chair in Westminster Abbey in London; there it

witnessed the inauguration of every British

monarch, including today’s Elizabeth II, with

the single exception of Mary I. The Stone of

Scone was, however, returned to Scotland in

1996, leaving open the question of whether the

next British monarch will travel there to be

crowned upon the sacred stone.

Evidence that the Stone of Scone is not the

original Lia Fáil can be sought in traditions that

the Lia Fáil screamed when the true king

touched it. There is no historical evidence for

the Stone of Destiny screaming upon the coro-

nation of either Scottish or English monarchs.

The Stone of Scone is not the only inaugural

stone known in Celtic lands. The stone upon

which seven 10th century Saxon kings were

crowned can still be seen beside the Guildhall in

Kingston-upon-Thames. The Black Stone of

Iona stood in the cathedral at Strathclyde until

1830, when it was lost; prior to that, it was used

by highland chiefs as a witness in contracts and

oaths. Finally, the Stone of the Footmarks on the

Scottish island of Islay was recorded as the site

for inauguration of the chiefs of the Clan

Donald; the incoming ruler stood barefoot, feet

in the footprints graven in the stone, to take his

oath of office. That inaugural stone, however,

was deliberately destroyed in the 17th century.

Ireland, too, had inaugural stones other than

the mythological Lia Fáil. Near Belfast, the

O’Neills were inaugurated while sitting in a

stone chair that was last heard of in 1750, when

purchased for use as a garden ornament; it has

since disappeared. Another stone chair, called

the Hag’s Chair, can be seen on the heights of

the

CAIRN-studded hill of LOUGHCREW, but its

legendary connection with inauguration is

slight.

Sources: Bord, Janet, and Colin Bord. The Secret

Country: An interpretation of the folklore of ancient

sites in the British Isles. New York: Walker and

Co., 1976, pp. 66 ff; Salvin, Michael. The Book of

Tara. Dublin: Wolfhound Pr

ess, 1996, pp. 17 ff.

incantations See DIVINATION, IMBAS FOROSNAI.

incest Mythic theme. Tales that involve

incest, especially that between brother and sister,

have been interpreted as representing creation

myths, because at the beginning of time the only

way to populate the world would have been

through incest. Implications of sexual congress

between brother and sister appear in several

Celtic myths, most prominently that of ARI-

ANHROD, who bore two sons when asked to mag-

ically prove her virginity; sources imply that the

father of these children was her brother

Gwidion. King ARTHUR, too, had a child with his

sister, the magical MORGAUSE. Such incestuous

unions are often used to argue the original divin-

ity of figures that have been diminished or euhe-

merized into human form.

Inchiquin Irish mythological site. Near the

small town of Corofin on the Burren, a wild

rocky area of west Co. Clare, the tiny gray LAKE

of Inchiquin is said to have a magical past. Three

beautiful women lived there in underground

caves, coming forth each night near a sweetwa-

ter SPRING. The lord of the area heard of them

and, spying upon them, found one to his liking.

He stole her from her sisters and took her to his

fortress. She did not object, becoming his wife

and bearing him several children. But she for-

bade him to ever invite company home—FAIRY

women who agree to marry humans typically

exact some such promise—and he pledged to her

that he would not. Intoxicated while out with

friends one night, he broke his promise, but

when he arrived home with the company, he

found his wife and children departing for the

spring from which she had come. The errant

lord could never recapture her, for the spring’s

Inchiquin 259

waters rose until it became today’s lake, forever

hiding the entry to the fairy realm.

Sources: Kennedy, Patrick. Legendary Fictions of the

Irish Celts. New York: Benjamin Blom, 1969, p.

282; Westropp, T

. J. Folklore of Clare: A Folklore

Survey of County Clare and County Clar

e Folk-

Tales and Myths. Ennis, Co. Clare: Clasp Press,

2000, pp. 4–5.

Indech Irish god. In the great Irish tale of the

second battle of MAG TUIRED, this FOMORIAN

hero wounded the god OGMA of the opposing

army, the tribe of the goddess DANU called the

TUATHA DÉ DANANN. Indech was the son of

Domnu, a goddess of fertility who has been

described as a version of Danu herself. The

ancestry of Irish mythological figures is often

quite tangled in this way. Some scholars argue

that the various “tribes” of divinities represent

the many waves of immigrants to the island;

intermarriage among these immigrants led to

interconnections among their divinities.

Inghean Bhuidhe Irish goddess. One of

THREE related goddesses known in the southwest-

ern province of MUNSTER, “the yellow-haired

girl” was the SISTER of LATIARAN, apparently an

ancient fire goddess, and the mysterious CROBH

DEARG or “red claw,” perhaps another fire deity;

the third sister is sometimes said to be LASAIR.

Christianized into a SAINT, Inghean Bhuidhe was

honored on May 6 with rituals around a sacred

WELL. She is an obscure figure, known and hon-

ored within a small geographical region but with

little legend to describe her powers.

Inis Glora Irish mythological site. The last

of three places to which the enchanted CHIL-

DREN OF LIR were condemned, Inis Glora (now

Inish Glora) is a small island off the west coast

of Co. Mayo.

Intarabus Continental Celtic god. An

obscure god, the meaning of whose name cannot

be determined, Intarabus is known from several

inscriptions from Germany and Belgium. The

Romans identified him with their own warrior

god MARS, suggesting a connection with war or

defense of land.

Interpretatio Romana (“Roman interpreta-

tion”) Cosmological concept. When the

invading Roman legions arrived in Celtic lands,

they confronted a complex group of divinities

that only faintly resembled those they had left

behind in Italy. Most disturbingly, there was no

tightly organized pantheon with a hierarchical

organization (see

CELTIC PANTHEON). Nor did

the Celts assign divine duties—ruler of the birth

chamber, for instance, or god of the field bound-

aries—to specific gods as did the Romans.

Instead, there was a clutter of gods and god-

desses, some of whom seemed to be honored in

only the smallest of regions, for Celtic divinities

tended to be linked to specific places rather than

to abstract meaning.

So the Romans set to work making order out

of perceived chaos. Where there was a healing

goddess, she was renamed MINERVA, or a healing

god, APOLLO; where there was a powerful god,

he became MARS. Gods of commerce or prosper-

ity became MERCURY. Sometimes the old Celtic

names were joined to the new name, so that SUL

becomes Sulis Minerva (Minerva of the sun) in

the town of healing springs now called BATH, and

Mars Lucetius (Mars of light) in the same place.

In other places, however, the old name was

stripped away, so that we have dozens of inscrip-

tions and sculptures to the Roman god JUPITER,

shown dressed in Celtic garb and sometimes

even wearing a neck ring called a TORC. What

such gods’ original names were is lost to history.

The Celts did not traditionally depict their

divinities in human form, nor did they worship

indoors. Thus the building of TEMPLES, for

instance, to the HORSE goddess EPONA and the

creation of temple sculptures of her riding a mare

were an innovation in Celtic lands, brought by

the Roman soldiers but ultimately embraced by

260 Indech

the conquered Celts. Both temples and sculptures

were inspired by classical originals, although

retaining some native features. Continental Celtic

peoples provide most of the inscriptions, temple

ruins, and sculptures, while the island of Britain

also offers a significant number; Ireland, however,

because it was never invaded by the Romans, has

no tradition whatsoever of interpreting native

divinities as Roman ones.

The reinterpretation of indigenous divinities

continued under the Rome-based Christian

church, which learned from the legions that

people resist having their ancestral divinities

stripped from them. Instead of interpreting

Celtic gods and goddesses as aspects of the trini-

tarian god, Christian evangelists took Pope

Clement’s advice to leave undisturbed the

ancient holy places and to adopt old gods into

the new religion as saints. Thus many Celtic

saints, notably BRIGIT, have pagan origins.

intoxication Mythic theme. Ancient Greek

and Roman writers refer frequently—and dis-

paragingly—to the Celtic love of intoxication.

Although some of these accounts were simply

derision of another culture, there is also evidence

that the Celts, both continental and insular, took

to drinking with the same gusto they showed in

other aspects of life. Celtic leaders often offered

their warriors liquor before battle, in order to

free them from fear of injury and death. The

sight of blue-painted warriors, wild with drink,

charging across a battlefield is described as terri-

fying by more than one ancient writer. Drink also

figured in Irish INAUGURATION rituals, which

involved the new king’s drinking the ALE of the

goddess of the land. Whether the king drank

enough to become tipsy is not known, nor is it

established what the drink symbolized, whether

the potential intoxication of power or the absorb-

ing of some spiritual essence.

Irish literary sources invariably describe

drunken behavior as occurring around the fall

feast of

SAMHAIN; the doors to the OTHERWORLD

were said to open that night, and strong drink

may have either protected against or enhanced

the likelihood of seeing into it. Archaeologists

have found huge Celtic brewing vats but few stor-

age vessels, suggesting that extra grain was used

for brewing, which supplied binge drinking; once

the cauldrons were empty, such excessive drinking

would come to a halt until the next Samhain.

Intoxication of the Ulstermen (Mesca Ulad)

Irish literary text. In the tale of this title from the

great

ULSTER CYCLE, king CONCOBAR MAC NESSA

convinced his foster sons, the heroes CÚCHU-

LAINN and FINTAN, to let him rule their lands for

a year. At the end of that time, the king went off

to celebrate restoration of their lands to their

original rulers, intending to spend the first part

of the evening with Fintan in the west, the

second part in the eastern part of the territory

with Cúchulainn. Halfway through the night the

warriors were so intoxicated that they could not

find Cúchulainn’s fortress, winding up instead at

that of their enemy, CÚ ROÍ, who attempted to

trap them in an iron house that he set on fire.

Cúchulainn, realizing that his expected guests

were missing in transit, found and freed them,

after which the Ulstermen destroyed Cú Roí’s

palace. Like other texts involving drunkenness,

the Intoxication of the Ulstermen is described as

occurring at SAMHAIN, the winter feast on

November 1.

Sources: Cross, Tom Peete, and Clark Harris

Slover, eds. Ancient Irish Tales. New York:

Henry Holt and Co., 1936, pp. 215 ff; Gantz,

Jeffrey, ed. and trans. Early Irish Myths and

Sagas. New York: Penguin Books, 1984, pp.

188–218.

invasions See BOOK OF INVASIONS.

Iona Scottish mythological site. Best known

now as the center of Celtic Christianity founded

by St. Columcille, this tiny island in Scotland’s

Inner Hebrides is thought to have been the site

Iona 261

of a Celtic shrine to a goddess, IOUA, whose

name the island originally bore and who has

been interpreted as a divinity of the MOON.

Others connect the island’s name to a word for

YEW, a tree associated with sacred places and

with death. The island’s holy WELL was said to

have risen directly from the magic CAULDRON of

the TUATHA DÉ DANANN, the mythological tribe

of the goddess DANU; its name, Tobar na h’oige

or “fountain of youth,” suggests that it conveyed

the cauldron’s powers of IMMORTALITY to the

surface world. Those looking into the well at

dusk or dawn, or on the night of the full moon,

would see visions and receive healing. Although

as a Celtic site it was open to both men and

women, under Christianity women (except for

nuns) were barred from residing on Iona;

nonetheless one of the island’s churches is home

to a pregnant, self-exposing female figure called

a SHEELA NA GIG.

Sources: Ross, Anne, and Michael Cyprien. A

Traveller’s Guide to Celtic Britain. Harrisburg,

Pa.: Historical Times, 1985, p. 68; Straffon,

Cheryl. The Earth Goddess: Celtic and Pagan

Legacy of the Landscape. London: Blandford,

1997, p. 176.

iorasglach (iorsglach-úrlair) Scottish folkloric

character. A beggarly woman in threadbare

clothing appears as a seer in some Highland

folktales, typically striking the ground where

she sits before uttering her prophecies to the

lord and the court. This strange figure may be

a faint folk memory of a Celtic or pre-Celtic rit-

ual of DIVINATION.

Source: McKay, John G. More West Highland Tales.

Vol. 2. Scottish Anthropological and Folklore

Society. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd,

1969,

p. 496.

Ioua Scottish goddess. Ancient Scottish MOON

goddess who gave her name to the famous sacred

island of IONA.

Iovantucarus Continental Celtic god. The

name of this god has been translated as “the one

who loves the young,” suggesting a god of chil-

dren or adolescents. The Romans interpreted

him as both the warrior god MARS and the god of

commerce and eloquence, MERCURY.

Irnan Irish heroine. The goddess CONARAN of

the TUATHA DÉ DANANN had THREE daughters,

all skilled in the magical arts. Sent to capture

some members of the heroic band of warriors

called the FIANNA, they spun a magical web that

held the men fast until the hero GOLL MAC

MORNA appeared to do battle with them. He

killed Irnan’s two sisters, but the web held until

he threatened Irnan too with death. She agreed

to break the spell but instead turned into a mon-

ster and demanded that the three Fianna warriors

fight her, in the traditional Celtic fashion of sin-

gle combat. Fearful of her power, the heroes—

OISÍN, OSCAR, and Celta—all refused, leaving

their leader FIONN MAC CUMHAILL himself to do

battle. Goll stepped in instead, killing Irnan. The

story is a curious one, not tied to any of the major

myth cycles, but it reflects a common theme of

heroes killing HAG-monsters that may hide an

ancient creation tale in which a goddess is killed

in order to make the earth. See GARRAVOGUE.

iron Folkloric motif. FAIRY folk dreaded iron

more than any other substance, so it was consid-

ered wise to carry nails in one’s pocket if one was

passing a fairy rath, to put nails in the bottom of

MILK pails to keep fairies from stealing milk, and

to hide a nail in the bed where a mother was giv-

ing birth to assure the child would not become a

CHANGELING. Iron crosses were believed effec-

tive as fairy repellents, and iron scissors could

serve the purpose if held open to form a cross.

The source of these traditions, found across

the Celtic lands, is unclear. The Celts were

among the earliest Europeans to successfully

work iron; their metalwork was justly renowned

and provided wealth through trade with their

neighbors. Indeed, the very word iron comes

262 iorasglach

from a Celtic word, iarn, which was adopted into

Latin and thereby spread through Europe. If, as

some contend, the fairy people were originally

the gods of pre-Celtic peoples, their reputed fear

of iron might reflect a historical conflict.

Sources: Dorson, Richard M., ed. Peasant Customs

and Savage Myths: Selections from the British

Folklorists. Vol II. Chicago: University of

Chicago Press, 1968, p. 25; O hEochaidh, Séan.

Fairy Legends of Donegal. Trans. Máire

MacNeill. Dublin: Comhairle Bhéaloideas

Éireann, 1977, p. 167.

Is See YS.

Iseult (Isolt, Isolde, Essyllt, Essellt) Cornish

or Breton heroine. The great romance that pairs

Iseult with her lover TRISTAN, in opposition to

her husband King MARK, parallels the even more

famous British love triangle of GUINEVERE,

LANCELOT, and ARTHUR. Mark, king of

Cornwall (occasionally, Cornuaille in Brittany),

found a single strand of golden HAIR so gorgeous

that he immediately fell in love with the woman

from whose head it came, and he dispatched his

handsome young nephew Tristan to Ireland to

find Iseult. On the return voyage, becalmed at

sea and thirsty, Iseult offered Tristan a drink that

her mother had brewed for the wedding night.

Fearful that her daughter would live in a loveless

if politically expedient marriage, the mother had

used arcane herbal knowledge to make a potion

that caused intense and boundless love. Meaning

to assure her daughter’s happiness, she instead

destroyed it, for Iseult was hopelessly bound to

Tristan from the moment they shared the magi-

cal drink.

Despite her feelings, Iseult did not yield her-

self physically and continued her journey,

becoming the bride of Tristan’s uncle and king.

Her maid BRANGIEN, taking pity upon Iseult and

feeling guilty for having served the magic

potion, took her mistress’s place in bed with

Mark on their honeymoon, but eventually Iseult

had to do her wifely duties. She tried to remain

faithful to her wedding vows but began to meet

Tristan in secret. Her suspicious husband sub-

jected Iseult to a magical test of her purity; she

was to cross a stream that, were she impure in

any way, would drown her. Just as the test was to

begin, Tristan arrived disguised as a beggar and

helped Iseult cross the stream. The queen was

thus able to honestly say that no man had

touched her save her husband and the helpful

beggar. Ultimately, however, the pain of their

deceit caused the lovers to separate, although

they lived miserably without each other’s loved

and loving presence. Tristan married a woman

with Iseult’s name (see ISEULT OF THE WHITE

HANDS), but he died of a broken heart upon

hearing a false report that the first Iseult was

dead or would not come to him, and Iseult lived

in sorrow until she too died.

Many commentators detect in this tale of

doomed love a typically Celtic motif: the selec-

tion of the king by the goddess of SOVEREIGNTY,

without whose approval no man can hope to

rule. In addition to the tale’s Arthurian echo, its

love triangle is found in Ireland in the story of

FIONN MAC CUMHAILL and his bride GRÁINNE,

who eloped at their wedding with the handsome

DIARMAIT; but in the Irish tale the heroine is far

less a victim of circumstance and male lust, and

much more an active party to the romance.

Sources: Bedier, Joseph. The Romance of Tristan and

Iseult. Trans. Hilaire Belloc. New York: Vintage

Books, 1965; Markale, Jean. Cour

tly Love: The

Path of Sexual Initiation. Rochester, Vt.: Inner

Traditions, 2000, p. 77.

Iseult of the White Hands Cornish or

Breton heroine. After TRISTAN had finally been

separated from his fated lover ISEULT, he mar-

ried another woman of the same name, called

Iseult of the White Hands. Her happiness was

short-lived, however, as Tristan, hearing of the

original Iseult’s death, pined away and died. The

duplication of Iseult’s name in the story suggests

Iseult of the White Hands 263