Danaan, Tuatha Dé : Literally, “the people of the goddess Dana / Danu.” The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Irish who inhabited the land before the coming of the Milesian Gaels. Their history is chronicled in the Leabhar Gabhala Erenn (’Book of Invasions’) and other ancient texts, as well as in oral folktales passed from generation to generation. When Christian monks started to write down the sagas, these gods and goddesses were demoted into heroes and heroines, although much remains to demonstrate their god-like abilities. Under their leader, Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Dé Danaan came to Ireland from an unknown northern country where they had four fabulous cities - Falias, Gorias, Finias, and Murias. In these great places they studied with learned sages. They became masters of the arts and sciences, both magical and mundane until they advanced to the point where they embodied the supernatural. They could go back and forth between the worlds at will, conjure weather, shape-shift, and they attained the utmost skills in poetry, magic, music, art, and weaponry. From each of the four cities the Tuatha Dé Danaan brought with them magical treasures : the Dagda’s Cauldron (’Undry’), the magical Spear of Lugh, the Stone of Fal (Lia Fáil, Stone of Destiny - the Lia Fáil would roar its approval when a rightful leader was elected to take leadership), and the Sword of Nuada (Cliamh Solais, for it was the Sword of Light). They defeated the FirBolg (”bag men”) and then overcame the Fomorii.
This is not to say that they were without vice. All human passion was experienced by them. Eventually, they were overcome by the Milesian Gaels, with whom in some texts they are also related and are regarded as the Ancestors of the Gaels. The Milesians drove them underground. The gods and goddesses of the Dé Danaan were common to all Celtic peoples : their names are cognate with many deities who appear in the Welsh myths. As they were pushed underground, they were demoted in the eyes of the people and became Faeries.
Dagda, the Good God, was their greatest and wisest ruler when the Milesian Gaels arrived. His daughter Brigit was the patroness of craftsmen and poets and came to be loved by the people of Ireland. Lugh was worshipped as a Sun God, and Badb, Macha, and Morrigan as triple War Goddesses. The triple goddesses would shape-shift and appear as old crones at times, and often as young maidens, as well. They (and some of the other goddesses) would take the form of crows or ravens, and fly over battle fields, goading the warriors into a frenzy. Many other of the Dé Danaans became well known in various Celtic legends, and were known as gods and goddesses and Ancestors. Whether they were or were not in fact deities, what the old texts tell us is that they were god-like beings (something between deities and humans), and were the basis for the Irish Faerie race. Many of them intermarried with humans. In fact, it is believed that almost all of the main clanns in Ireland were descended from the Tuatha Dé Danaan somewhere along their family lines, and many of the great genealogies of these clanns show direct lineage from the Danaans. Known as the Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, Little People, fae, elves, and a whole host of other names, there are numerous faeries of all types and descriptions all over the world today. (Continued)
