L, luis, the mountain ash in the Ogham. Confers ... - Rodney Mackay

L, luis, the mountain ash in the Ogham. Confers with lachu,
the duck; liath, grey; the dates January 21 to February 17.
LA, Day personified, the day-god Aod or Lugh. The space of
time from morning until evening, daylight, on a certain day,
“Once upon a day...” “Once upon a time...” Lab, a day’s labour.
LABRAID LOINSEACH. Labra the Mariner. See also Móen ,
sometimes given as Maon or Maen. “Dumb. He was later
termed Labraid Loinseach, literally “The Mariner Who
Speaks” after he regained his ability to talk.
Móen was the grandson of Ugani Mor, himself the
foster-son of Macha. Ugani Mor was an extremely
successful Gaelic warrior-king and managed to subjugate
the greater part of Britain and a portion of the continent as
far south as Muir Torrian, the Mediterranean Sea. Ugani
was the common ancestor of the royalty of all the provinces
excepting Munster. Labraid’s father was killed in by his
uncle Cobthachach and the throne usurped. Cobthachach
forced the young boy to eat a portion of his father’s heart,
and this fearful act struck him dumb. Because the lad was
“blighted” he was regarded as no threat to the throne, but
his father’s friends arranged for his transportation to
Britain in case the uncle should change his mind. Labraid
was reared in secret under the joint fosterage of Craftine, a
celebrated harpist and Feirceirtine, a poet-philosopher. In
Britain he received a blow to his head when playing caman
(hurly) and suddenly regained his speech. When Cobthahach
heard rumours that his nephew now had the credentials to

eclaim the crown of Ireland he sent men to assassinate
him but the young man moved on to Gaul (or perhaps the land
of Gioll, a western Atlantic “island”). There he spent time
in the kingdom known as Fir Morc, the land belonging to the
“Fisher-folk.”
The ruler here was Sgurriath, the “giant of the sharp
hill.” whose daughter was Muiriath. the “Sea-giantess.”
Muiriath’s mother was the guardian of her daughter’s
virginity, and it was said that she slept “with one eye
always open.” The girl fell in love with Móen and persuaded
Craftine to teach her boyfriend the sleep-tunes. Móen tried
this magic on the household and the mother fell asleep so
that the pair could make love.
On waking the mother was immediately aware of a
change in her daughter’s status, but she and her husband
accepted Móen’s new position as son-in-law with good
grace. Further, the king of the “Gauls” promised Moen an
army so that he could make an attempt to overthrow his evil
uncle. From this invasion by the Gauls, the name of the
province became Leinster, because these men were armed
with broad blue-headed iron spears which were called
laighne (pronounced lyna). As they were later allotted
lands, and settled there, the province became Laighin and
the Norse called it Lein-star, “the Place of the Spearmen.”
The spearmen attacked while Craftine played his slumber
tunes, and thus the Gauls were able to take Dun Righ, the
“Keep of the King.” It is said that Cobhthach retreated with
thirty warriors into a hall,, where they were shut in and
burned to death.
Labra the Mariner now came to the throne, but after
his succession it was noted that he invariably wore a golden
helmet for all civic functions, and it was rumoured that he
only had his hair cut once a year, and that immediately
afterwards the barber was put to death. Once the hair
cutting chore happened to fall upon the only son of a poor
widow. The women pleaded that her son be spared, and the
not uncaring king willed that it would be so if the individual

swore himself to strict secrecy. The young man, aware of
his king’s dreadful secret fell into an lingering illness that
was scarcely better than death. He consulted a druid who
advised him to travel to the nearest cross road and tell all
he knew to the nearest tree, making the tree promise it
would tell no one. He did this, and his mind eased, returned
to his trade. It was a willow tree that thus gained
knowledge of the kings strange secret, and when this tree
was cut and made into a harp for Craftine.
At its first playing the harp sang out: “Labraid has
the ears of a horse!” Over and over it repeated this
espionage before the dumb-founded court. Knowing this to
be the curse of his Fomorian heritage, Labraid removed his
helmet and revealed his “dreadful” debility. Because this
“blight” had not measurably affected the justice and
harmony of his kingship Labraid was not required to step
down, and thus a mark for racial tolerance and an
understanding of those with physical defects was made.
This tale is reminiscent of that of King Mark of Cornwall,
the husband of the ill-fated Iseult , who had the ears of a
horse, and thus was nicknamed M’arch, the “Son of the
Horse.”
LABRAID LUATHLAM AT CLEDEB, Labra” with the Swift Hand
on the Sword.” The one-time ruler of Magh Mell and husband
to Li Ban. Li Ban was sent to Cúchulainn with a promise that
the sea-people would mate him with the goddess Fand if he
agreed to fight against three troublesome Fomorian
warriors. Cúchullain agreed and the promise was kept but
her husband Manann mac Ler later separated the lovers.
LABDHDAIDH, LOUDIE, the latter being the better phonetic
representation. Scot. Lothian, Scotland. The Lowlands in
general, but more particularly Fife and the farming areas
around Glasgow and Edinburgh (sometimes called Easter
Ross). In days past, Highland men and women went there for
seasonal employment on the farms at harvest time. Often
they walked all the distance there and back, sometimes
travelling part way by steamer. Each reaper carried a sickle.

It is said that passengers on MacBrayne’s steamers could
travel at a cut rate, so sickles were commonly seen on
those ferries.
LABHRUINN, ultimately from the Latin laurus, a laurel.
Lawrence O’Toole (1128) the last saint canonized in Ireland.
The son of a chieftain he was taken hostage at the age of
ten by his life-long nemesis, Diarmuid ard-righ. When
Lawrence became bishop of Dublin he banished this old
reprobate to England, and restored “order and piety” to
Dublin. Diarmuid convinced the English king to support his
cause and enlisted the Earl of Pembroke in an invasion of
Ireland. The Irish rallied under King Rory O’Connor but were
defeated by King Henry II, thus introducing the English
“presence” in Ireland. Lawrence attempted to work for
peace and the freedom of the Irish but died in France.
LACHLANN, Lachlan, dial. Lachlainn, Lachunn, MG. Lochlinn,
Ir. Lochlainn. ON in origin, possibly commencing as “a Lochlander,”
a Norwegian, a Scotlander. Mac-Lochlainne, Maclaughlin.
LADRA. The pilot to Lady Cassair’s expedition which fled
the Mediterranean based World Flood. When the division of
lands and women was made on landing in Ireland, Ladra got
only sixteen of the ladies, while his compatriots received
seventeen each. Distraught, he nevertheless accepted his
lot, and went off to form a kingdom. In the end he died “of
an excess of women.”
LAEG, “Ragged,” the “king of charioteers.” He became a
driver to Cúchullain who instructed him to go to the
Otherworld to report on the nature of Fand’s kingdom.
Convinced there were things worth seeing in the western
world,Cuchullain afterwards journeyed there. During the
final battle against their enemies Laeg threw himself in
front of a spear meant for Cúchullain.
LAG, a curvature, a hollow, small bowls, Scot. laggie. Used
in Samhain divination: Three of these small lugged or

handled bowls were placed in line; one filled with fresh
water, one empty; one with soot-blackened or foul water.
The blindfolded participant in the rites was expected to
marry a virgin if he chanced to dip his left hand into the
clear water; he or she would become attached to a widow or
a “busy” woman; if in the foul. Dipping in an empty dish
prognosticated bachelorhood or widowhood. Sometimes the
choice was made using a wooden wand. This ceremony could
only be repeated three times, the bowls being shuffled
about between trials.
LAIGHEAN, laigh, lazy, lay-about. The quarter-province now
called Leinster. Locally it is said that the name comes from
Laigne Lethan-glas , the weak-chinned grey one, a Nemedian
settler. A second explanation has it that it was named
after the laighean, “law-maker,” a broad-tipped sword
carried by the Gaullish mercenaries who came to Ireland in
aid of King Labraid Loinseach. The province was anciently
called Galian, the place of foreigners. The modern form
Lein-ster has a Norse termination. Although the word has
connotations in lag, hollow, pliant or weak, it is better seen
in lagh, lawful, and laghach, pretty.
LAIGLINNI. A son of Partholan.
LAIR GLAS. The male counterpart of the Cailleach is the sidh
creature known as the fachan, who seems to be physically
related to the ancient Fomors, or undersea giants of Irish
lore. Katherine Scherman says that the Fomors were first
seen by the Partholons (the ancestors of Clan Macfarland),
who identified them as having, "one foot, one hand and one
eye." Like, Morrigan-Badb-Macha, the Winter Hag was a
shape-changer, which may explain why Skadi (her Norse
equivalent) appeared before the Norse gods as a very
beautiful woman, dressed in a short white hunting dress
with white fur-leggings. She is represented in northern
mythology as a skilful bow-hunter, and goddess of the
chase, which is exactly the position of the Cailleach. Both
were invoked by hunters and winter travellers when they
were endangered and each was considered the warder of

wild animals. Like Macha, the Hag often appeared as a giant
mare, being known in this form as the Lair Glas, or Grey
Mare.
It was rumoured that this winter game-keeper had
complete charge of weather-magic from Samhainn through
Beltainn, and carried a staff that spread snow upon the
ground wherever she travelled. The staff generated both
thunder and lightning and was coveted by men, but those
who attempted to steal it were reduced to a pile of ash.
This characteristic ties her to the Irish god Eochaid, "The
Horseman of Heaven", who is himself a male manifestation
of the Belgic goddess Bolg, or Bolt. She gave rise to the
Firbolgs, or People of the Bolg. This winter-hag, who is
surely related to the Germanic god Donar and his
Scandinavian counterpart Thor, was periodically
reincarnated in Conor Mor (of whom we have spoken) and
Erc, King of Dal Riada (Northern Antrim, Ireland). His people
moved to Alba in the fifth century and created the Kingdom
of Scots, his descendants being largely the clans of the
highlands. The relationship of the Cailleach to Thor is
explicitly suggested in myths that substitute a hammer for
the magic-staff. In many places, including the Maritime
Provinces, it used to be said that winter was at an end when
the Cailleach Bheur "threw her hammer beneath the
mistletoe."
LAIR DEARG, the “Dark Mare,” the “Red Mare,” a horsewoman,
a shape-changer. Note also Etain Echraide, the
“Horse-riding One,” and the mate of Midir a god of the
Underworld. These Gaelic goddesses are connected with the
Gaullish Epona and the Welsh Rhiannon.
LA-TRAISG, LA-TROSGAIDH (in Lewis), any fast-day. “At
the rising of the sun.”
LABHRAN-SIDH, "a noisy little man," a fay-individual, the
wireless radio; labhair, to speak; labhran, a speaker.

LAMHRAG, a slut, an awkward person, dowdy, a silly female,
lamhragan, awkward to handle, from lamh, “underhanded,”
LÀNAIN, a married couple, from the root log or leg, to lie
together. The word has been divided as lán-shamain,
“summer bed-fellows,” those that conjugate at the Samhain
(Oct. 31- Nov.1) thus becoming a couple. See draoi, druidh,
druidheachd.
LAOIDH, a lay, a sacred song, exciting, animating; confers
with druis, druidos, the druids, Latin druidae. OIr. loid, a
poem or song, the perpetuators of such.
LÀR NATHAIR, lar, the centre, the ground, the earth, the
Earth-Father. A cairn also known as the Nether Largie, at
the north edge of the Great Moss in Argyllshire, Scotland.
The location of several cairns, the South Cairn being the
largest in Britain. This structure is 134 feet in diameter. It
contains a chamber 19 feet long, roofed over with great
stone slabs and reached by a tunnel at one side. The floor is
clean gravel. This chamber and two smaller cists were
discovered by local people who carried away stones to build
walls. This structure is dated at 3000-2000 B.C. and once
contained burial items and burnt corpses. Not far from here
is Templewood cromleag, dating from the Bronze Age, 1600
B.C. This circle of standing stones has a central monolith
ringed by eight standing-stones. Many of the stones are
marked with concentric circles, known as “cup-and-ring “
marks, whose utility and meaning are not exactly known.
LATHA BOICIONN, Eng. Buck-skin Day. Boggle Day. March 17
Old Style. Celebrated in the Orkneys and Shetlands where
the folk worked small gardens and sowed the ground with
grain. This patch was carefully watched for its fate was
thought reflect on the success or failure of crops in general.
Ripe grain shorn from this rigg was preserved and ground
into winter meal and on Buggle Day was made into bugglecakes,
symbolizing the fruitful sun. see boc.
LATHA CAILLEACH-TEINNIDH, obs., day of the combustible

woman, to day an impetuous or fiery-tempered woman. This
was a moveable feast originally called Fastern's (fasting)
Tuesday, but now Shrove Tuesday. In Scotland this was the
day of the Fastyn, Feisty or Fitless Cock. This holiday,
following Ash Wednesday by one week, usually came in
March. In the eighteenth century, cock-fights were held in
the parish schools and the day was sometimes called Fastyn
Cock, the Feisty Cock, or Fitless Cock Day.
An antique dish, bearing the same name, used to be
put together using onions, suet, oatmeal, and seasoning,
bound with egg and moulded in the form of a fowl, and was
eaten during this day. In its earliest form, the Feisty Cock,
which was called the Dry Goose in the south, was composed
of a handful of meal, close pressed, dipped in water and
roasted in the ashes at the edge of the sacrificial fire. We
suspect that the use of the day as the commencement for
Lent was an attempt to suppress pagan rites, notably that
having to do with carrying off winter or sacrificing death.
In Scotland, the daft days were said to belong to the Winter
Hag and it was her spirit which was burned, either
figuratively or in a human representative, at the Night of
the Bane. Elsewhere in Europe, this "carnival" occupied the
Lenten season, the fourth Sunday in Lent having once been
called the Dead Sunday. The British activities, which
centred on Fastern, probably came with the Anglo-Saxons
from southern Germany. In one province, two men
impersonating summer and winter used to travel from
house-to-house on this day. Summer was clad in white and
carried a sickle, while his companion had a fur cap on his
head, arms and legs swathed in straw, and carried a flail.
At every house, these visitors sang alternate verses of an
old ballad. Elsewhere this was called Ruprecht's Day, which
terminated with the burning of a straw man dressed after
the fashion of Father Winter or Father Christmas. In this
ceremony, called "the burying of Death", villagers snatched
blazing fragments of the straw-man which they fastened to
the highest tree in their garden believing this would make
the crops grow more effectively. At Coben, this effigy was
put on trial for all thefts committed during the year.

Invariably found guilty and sentenced to be burned, he was
danced about by the maidens of the village. The last bride
married during the year was forced to leap over the embers
of the bone-fire. In Tyrol, a figure called the Old Woman
was at the centre of ceremonies, which concluded with the
"burning of the Old Hag", a designation suggestive of the
Cailleach Bheur.
LATHA CAIRTEAL, Quarter-Day. The latter word cairteal is
said to derive from the Late Latin quartellus, resembling
the ON kvartill as well as the Latin quartus, a fourth.
LATHA CEATHAR, The Day of the Corn or “Harvest Home.”
The gathering and bringing home of the harvest usually took
place in October in Scotland. The name is given to a process
and a feast held at the end of the harvest, as well as to
certain rites practised by those who cut the grain-crops.
The celebration was never restricted to Scotland and
Ireland, but was common practice in all the agricultural
districts of Europe, the rites being regarded as religious
and magical rather than propitiatory. Characteristics of
these rural happenings include the preparation of a dollimage,
decorated with grains and flowers, or one made
entirely from the last sheaf cut in the district. This image
was variously called the Harvest Queen, the Harvest Doll,
the Cernu (which is very pointed in meaning), the Kern Baby,
the Kern Maiden, the Witch, the Hag, the Winter Witch, or
the Cailleach, or Cailleach Bheur. Regardless of the name
used, this image was known to contain the corn-spirit.
Often one of the harvesters was decked out as a living
scare-crow bedecked with ribbons, a walking
personification of the god-spirit. Dancing, feasting, and
drinking was another feature of the feast which, in cattleraising
parts of Scotland, used to be called the Hockey. In
crop growing parts of the nation the day of the corn might
simply be labelled Kern or Mell. The harvest home was
preliminary to the oldest and most formidable fire-festival
of the Celtic year, the Samhainn eve.

The term corn is used universally to indicate the
dominant grain grown in a region and in most of Scotland
that is now oats. In England "corn" meant wheat, while
North Americans use the word to describe maize, and apply
"grain" to all other cereal crops.
In speaking of the New Year or Hogamanay, we have
mentioned the customs relating to the creation of the Auld
Hag, Cailleach Doll or Wrack, the name given the last sheaf
if it were, unhappily, cut after Samhainn Eve. In parts of
Scotland, the last sheaf was termed the "Maidhdean buain
(the shorn virgin) if it could be taken before midnight,
October 31st. While people made every effort to avoid
having to board the winter hag, they vied for the honour of
taking the Maiden, since the single person who obtained it
was certain to be married before the next harvest. To
secure it, the reapers were often subtle, leaving a sheath
uncut and covering it with earth to fool the others. This
was a dangerous procedure since the last cutting had to be
complete before the opening hours of November 1st. Once
removed from the field, the Maiden of the Kern was made
into a be-ribboned doll and fixed to the farmhouse wall. In
the north, she was preserved until Yule morning and then
divided among the cattle to make them thrive. Elsewhere,
the sheaf was reserved to be cut down by the youngest
female reaper, and then made into a rude female doll clad in
a paper dress. This figure was kept over the winter in the
chimney corner until a new Maiden took her place in the next
year. The harvest supper at the end of the cutting was
itself called the Maiden in Balquidder.
Details of the rite were extremely varied. In
Dumbartonshire, the girl who cut the Maiden was thought to
be lucky and certain to be wed within the year. Here, the
Maiden was hung in the kitchen, where she might be kept for
several years with a date tag affixed. In some households
numerous Maidens from various years were left hanging
from kitchen hooks. In these regions, the supper which
followed the cutting was called the Kern. At Garlock, the
last corn was graphically referred to as the Head or the

Maidenhead, pointing out fertility rites which
unquestionably preceded the customs. In Aberdeenshire, the
Maiden was presented to the Mistress of the house, who
cared for it until the first foal was born in the new year. It
was then fed to this animal with its first solid food, and
neglect of this duty was considered to presage a calamity
for the farm.
A more advanced age attaches to the corn-spirit
entitled the Bride or the Oat-bride, who is obviously a form
of the old corn-goddess called Bridd, or Brigit. Near Roslin
and Stonehaven in Scotland, the last handful of oats was the
Bride, and she was placed over the bress, or chimney place,
with a ribbon tied beneath her numerous "ears", and another
tied at the waist.
Although most districts cut either a Winter Hag or a
Maiden, sometimes both were cut at the harvest. In this
case, the rule seems to have been that the Maiden was
fashioned from the last sheath left standing, and had to be
kept by the farmer on whose land it was cut; while the OLd
Crone, or Old Wife, was cut from the first sheath of the
harvest and passed from hand to hand, ending for the winter
with the farmer who was most delinquent at harvesting his
crops. This individual was generally held to be doomed to
poverty and any mishap within the community was his fault.
THe Maiden was usually received with extravagant joy as
representing the promise of the return of the Samh at the
beginning of a fruitful season; the hag, on the other hand,
was hastily passed on as an agent of pestilence and bad
weather.
Without question, these rites were those of a
primitive religion since no special priests supervised them
and they took place in the out-of-doors. These rituals
recognized but did not propitiate god-spirits, treating them
in a decidedly off-hand manner.
There are suggestions that the earliest traditions
relating to the corn-spirits made him a scapegoat of the

usual sort. The person unfortunate enough to cut a Cailleach
was sometimes called by this name and treated very roughly
by his or her fellow reapers. Some were actually bound
within the last sheaf and dragged about, beaten, drenched
with water, thrown upon the dung heap (hence the
expression: horse play) or thrown into a brook. In less
humane times he was burned, and in a better season he was
merely the subject of ridicule, a person thought destined
for misfortune.
The corn-spirit was, of course, considered to have
been cut down with the reaping so that he might be reincarnated,
and in the past the reapers literally cut down
his representative. In a pinch the victim might be an actual
member of the community but it was considered bettermannered
to embody the corn-spirit in some passing
stranger who was not familiar with the custom. Where
human victims were scarce, a substitute might be found in a
fox, dog, wolf, cock, hare, or some farm animal. This
explains such expressions as "cutting the gander's neck" or
"cutting the tail of the fox" as they once applied to Harvest
Home.
LATHA CHOINNLE, The Day of Candles, Candlemas Day
(February 2), marking the end of the Old Norse month of
Yule, and the rule of the Cailleach Bheurr or Winter Hag.
This day was often referred to as Latha Mairi to distinguish
it from the pagan Latha Bridd or Bride’s Day (February 1).
Nevertheless, the rites are disconcertingly similar. On the
eve, candles were lighted in parish churches, and these
tapers were blessed and taken home as relics to be
relighted against the dangers of lightning and witchcraft.
They clearly symbolize Lugh, the reborn sun, who was seen
as ascendant at this time.
On Candlemas Day the selection of a king and queen
and the presentation of gifts to the druids fell into the
hands of children and the local school-masters. In the
oldest form of the rites male children brought their gamecocks
to school and the animals were pitted against one

another to the death. The boy who owned the winning cock
was named the Coileach buadha, or Victor Cock and was
allowed to select a queen or Hen. All defeated animals
went to the larder of the schoolmaster, who in the latter
days took the guise of the high druid. After a time this
rudimentary selection process was abandoned for outright
patronage.
On this day every male student appeared at the roll
call with an offering in hand. As his name was called he
came forward and placed this sum on the school-master’s
desk. If the sum was less than expected the oblation was
recognized with a nod, but if it was a real addition to his
usual pittance, the teacher responded with “Vivat!; “Floreat
bis!”; “Floreat ter!” or “Gloriat!” according to the amount
offered. In the end, the largest donor was declared
Candlemas King. It was the right of this “lucky” individual
to be carried on the shoulders of his peers, but it was
always noted “the kilt gave tempting opportunities for
pinching.”
This “preference by munificence,” could be hazardous,
and in 1598, the town council at Edinburgh forbade the
practise, limiting the quarterly payment to no more than
“four penneis at ane tyme.” In a forerunner of Palm Sunday,
the boys were afterwards given a half-holiday to collect
rushes which were strewn upon the earth floors of the
school as a prelude to a clean-up. In the less common
“mixed schools” of the time, a king and a queen were
appointed. They were sometimes enthroned upon a dias and
paperboard crowns placed on their heads; “whereafter
various (public or private) presentations were made.”
The health of the pair was toasted in non-alcoholic
beverage, and the scholars were dismissed on half-day, at
which they marched through the streets, carrying their
royalty on crossed hands. In a few places a golden orb was
carried on a pole before the procession, making it clear that
the royalty were no less than the sun-god and his bride. In
some parishes the “king” was given a football by the Rector

and masters of the school. With this prize in hand, the
afternoon was frequently given over to the ball games
descendant from shinty.
The Men’s Ba’ is the older form of the Callant’s (lads)
Ba’ which is still played in a few places on Candlemas. The
king ruled for six weeks during which he had the right to
demand an afternoon’s release from school each week, and
“also enjoyed privileges in the remission of punishments.”
In the universities, a holiday fell at this time, allowing
poorer students to tramp back to their native glens to
replenish their oatmeal.
Although oatmeal no longer has great status Mealie
Monday, the first Monday of the Candlemas term, is still
observed as a holiday within the faculty of Arts. For adults,
the day known as Candle Day ended with a communal supper
and ball. For children it concluded with the Candle Blaze,
the lighting of tapers after dark in the schoolhouse. In
some places the practise was closer pagan models, the fire
of whin and brushwood being set in the yard. “Round the
burning bush the children danced and made merry first in
honour of Bride, the spirit of Spring, then in honour of the
saint who bore her name, and latterly just for the fun of it.”
See Bridd, Samh, Lugh.
LATHA RUADH, the Red Day, the third day of the eight days
of Beltane (May 3); the eve being termed Reed or Red E’en.
Known as the Avoiding Day in the highlands of Scotland, an
unlucky time for starting a journey or beginning an
enterprise. It is probable that the name, and connotations,
originally had to do with the selection of a Beltane karl. In
Christian times it was renamed Rood Day or Reed Day, or
even Roodmas, supposedly after the finding of a “rod” from
the true cross by the Empress Helena, the mother of King
Constantine. After the reformation any correspondence
between the Roodmas and Beltane was expunged.
In folk custom, it was thought necessary for a
member of each household to arise before sun-up on this

morning, coming back to the home with a pailful of water
and an armful of grass. The water was poured into a
“brownie bole” at the right of the hearthstone, and the
grass placed in a corresponding bowl on the left. Here they
remained undisturbed until the first Sunday after Beltane to
insure that the household would have ample water and food
in the coming year. See Bil, Beltene, Bealltuinn.
LATHA SITHECH. day of the wolf, or the sidh. O f t h e
"complaining days", February fourteenth. fifteenth and
sixteenth were considered the worst, and in Scotland were
termed the "Shark-Toothed Days". The second of these was
the "Day of the Sidh", which once ended the ancient "Month
of the Wolf" and which the Romans called Lupercal. T h e
Roman festival of Lupercalia was never celebrated under
that name in Britain, but February fifteenth was
remembered, until recently as a special day. Luperus, the
Lycean Pan, takes his name from the latin "lupus", or wolf,
because his presence was thought to repel them. Adherents
of the god Faunus, worshipped both Lupercus and his wife
Luperca, a deified form of the Roman she-wolf, who
supposedly suckled the founders of Rome. At the festival,
representatives of the god, clad only in goat skin made a
circuit of the Palatine Hill, striking with goat-skin thongs
all the women he encountered, a rite supposed to promise
them fertility and easy childbirth.
As this was a fertility cult,in which men and women
were partnered by lot, the Christian church attempted, with
some success, to direct the less objectionable features of
this celebration to Saint Valentine after he was martyred in
two seventy A.D. Henry de Valbourg, visiting England in
seventeen hundred commented: "On the eve of 14th
February, St. Valentine's Day, a time when all living nature
inclines to couple, the young folk in England and Scotland
too, by a very ancient custom, celebrate a little Festival
that tends to the same end. An equal number of Maids and
Bachelors get together, each writes then true, or some
feigned name upon separate billets, which they roll up, and
draw by way of lots, the Maids taking the Men's billets, and

the Men the Maid's so that each of the young Men lights upon
a girl, and each of the Girls upon a young man... each having
two Valentines; but the man strikes faster to the Valentine
to whom he has fallen"These traditions came to America,
although the conservative Puritans of New England objected,
saying: "No lad shall attend a mark on the fourteenth of
February." After a three year sea-voyage, Captain James
Kemble kissed his wife in a public place (February 14,
1764) and was sentenced to two hours in the stocks for
setting a bad example.
LATHEAN ARAIDH, the special days; araidh, traditional, old,
superannuated, old-fashioned, antique, ancient. Related to
ard, high, lofty. The quarter-days of Liughnasad, Samhain,
Imbolc and Beltane.
While most Europeans celebrated Midsummer Eve or
Midsummer Day with a great fire, the Celtic people took
little notice of the sun when it was highest in the sky,
saving their energies until the night of October 31. They
recognized two seasons: summer and winter, demarcated by
May Eve and Samhainn Eve. These dates are unrelated to
astronomical events. There are a few places in central
Europe where the year is bisected as was is in ancient
northern Scotland. In this cattle-herding places, May Day
was celebrated along with Samhainn.
Beltane, or May Eve was much like Samhainn its
essentials. Both holidays saw mummers making the rounds,
extorting cash, or kind, for a day-long feast to take place
during the daylight hours There was "first-footing" and a
dampening of hearth fires so that they might be rekindled
from "new-fire".
Of the two feasts, that held on Samhainn Eve was the
more important since the Celts dated their year from it
rather than from Beltane. On the Isle of Man, where Celtic
lore had a long battle against Saxon tales and myths, the
first day of November was regarded as New Year's Day
through the last century and the first quarter of the current

one. The Manx mummers, dressed in animal skins, used to
make the "rounds" on that evening (calculated from the Old
Style calendar) shouting, "Tonight is New Year's Eve,
Hogunnaa!" The style of divination practised at this time
also suggests that they sought new beginnings. Finally, the
Celts wherever they were found throughout Europe agreed
that the following day marked the end of summer and the
beginning of winter. "When autumn to pale winter resigns
the year", it was thought natural that the "nach maireann",
those no longer alive, might wish to assemble at the
bonfires of men to seek a little comfort and the good cheer
provided by former neighbours.
In the parish of Callender the fires blazed down
through time until the late eighteenth century, leaving us
with some notion of the rites which accompanied them.
When the fire was almost extinguished, the ashes used to be
raked into a circle and stones were placed near the
circumference by the families who had established the
flame. Next morning, the stones were carefully examined
to see if any had been heat crazed or displaced over-night.
If this was the case it was presumed that an individual
represented by the stone must be considered fay and
incapable of survival for more than twelve months. In
certain villages children begged peat from each householder
with the exhortation, "G'e us peat t' burn the witches!"
When they had collected enough, they added straw, furze and
whatever other burnable matter they could find and played
the game of jumping the smoke and flames. When the mass
was reduced to ashes they scattered them as widely as
possible becoming completely unrecognizable in the
process.
In most places it was considered ill mannered to leave
the fire until the last ash was extinguished of its own
accord. As the last ember flickered out the master of the
fire would shout out, "May the cropped black sow take the
hindmost" or more recently "The De'il take the hindmost". It
can be suspected that some of these survivals point out
former ways of selecting victims for the bone-fire, which

once protected the community from the baneful influence of
the sidh and the baobh.
LEABA DHIARMUDA, Diarmuid’s Book. The megalithic tombs
number over 1000 examples in Ireland alone, and at that
many have been destroyed and others lay unlocated. Most
archaeologists relate these burial chambers, on the basis of
structure, to others found on the continent, and consider
them the product of a cult “which arose in the
Mediterranean and came to this country by way of the
Iberian peninsula and Brittany.” In the different districts
of Ireland they are referred to as “the giant’s grave, Leaba
Dhiarmuda-Gráinne,” or the “cloghogle.” As with the
standing stones, there is a suggestion that the Celtic folk
did not identify themselves as builders of these structures.
There was always stories that Fomors had erected these
and other antiquities, but the circles of stones were more
often identified as unfortunate giants who had shapechanged
by the Tuathan magicians. In some of the graves
there are bits of pottery which have been identified as
“beaker-type,” suggesting that the Tuatha daoine might
have been present when these passage graves were built. On
the other hand there are gallery gaves both in Ireland and
Scotland which have been found to contain pottery “of a
heavy type” with crude decorations and these are thought to
be of the Neolithic period.
LEABHAR, a book, OIr. lebar, from Lat. liber. The oldest
surviving books in Gaelic are the Leabhar na hUidre , the
Book of the Dun Cow and Leabhar Laignech, the Book of
Leinster, and a third book known only as the “Rawlinson
Manuscript B502. The first of these was transcribed in
1106 A.D. at Clonmacnoise and the second at Terryglass in
Tipperary. The third work also originated at Clonmacnoise.
Aside from these there are about five hundred and fifty
tales in manuscript form and perhaps one hundred and fifty
tales yet to be discovered. Surprisingly the bulk of this
Gaelic material has not even been reformatted in modern
Gaelic let alone translated into English. Apparently earlier

volumes survived at the time of John Knox for he railed
against the “pented bard,” or “painted board,” evidently
some portion of an old druidic block-book.
LEABHAR GABHÅLA. The Book of Invasions. The prime source
of information about prehistoric Ireland. The book survives
in various ancient versions, one being the Leabhar Laignech
from the twelfth century. The historian Michael O’ Cleirigh,
the compiler of the first Irish dictionary (1643) assembled
a version from several sources now lost, and this is the
text usually referred to.
No oral accounts survive of the earliest incursions
into Britain but the Leabhar Gabhala, or Book of Invasions,
purportedly takes up the story at the point where flood
waters overrode the continental shelf forming the British
Isles from former European peninsular lands. This book was
an academic production with the mission of legitamizing
the dynastic peoples of Ireland while linking Irish with
world history. Nevertheless, it is believed to contain "some
genuinely traditional items".
According to this account the first arrivals in the far
west were an unnamed people lead by "Bith's venturesome
daughter", the Lady Cassir, sometimes given as Caesar. She
was accompanied by fifty woen and three men: her father
Bith, Ladhra and a third nicknamed Tul-tunna, the Floodbarrel,
whose true name seems to have been Finntann.
Ladhra had sixteen wives so it is understandable that he
died of "an excess of women", the first to succumb in this
manner within the boundaries of Ireland. He was interred at
the top of a mountain on the eastern coast. The remainder
of that race were caught in the water-wall of the "World
Flood" with the exception of the forsighted Finntann, the
grandson of Bith. He anchored a water-tight barrel to the
summit of the mountain still known as Tul-tunna and slept
away the forty days and nights that intervenes before the
flood waters receded. He afterwards took up residence at
Dun Tulcha in southwestern Kerry.

It is a tenant of magical practise that those who
escape their fate are afterwards ignored by the pagan gods,
who don't like being reminded of their oversights. Finntann
thus became an immortal by ommision. He reappeared some
thousands of years later during the reign of Diarmuid
MacCarroll to give testimonyconcerning the boundaries of
the Royal Demesne. He came to Tara heralded by nine
companies of descendants, and was followed by another nine
families.
LEAMHAN-SITH, LEANAN-SITH, leamhan, The Elm, belonging
to trees, one of the folk, “fairy sweetheart,” a female sith,
the protectress of individual elm trees. MIr. lem, the
English elm. A bainsith. See Cathair aoine, Aoine, Mhorrigan.
From this the family name Leaman. “The power of bringing
the spirit of a dead person into one’s presence, or
witchcraft.”
LEAR, the sea (poetical), after Ler, god of the
sea. Li, flow; lighe. flood. Lear longa, an oceangoing
craft resembling the Norse longship.
Leirist, a foolish senseless person, a slut. Leirg,
a plain, as “the Great Plain of the Sea,” the
Ocean. The Gaelic House of Don had two branches,
the oldest derived from Lear, the god of the sea,
who is sometimes represented as immortal and
the equivalent of the Allfather. His people are
remembered as the Learys, O’Learys and
Macclures and his name is retained in the Gaelic
lear, a poetic name for the sea. The root here
may be li, to flow, as in lighe, flood. He was
said to have pursued and impregnated Aoibh, the
“Pleasant-Faced,” a metaphor for the sun. By
Aoibh he had three sons and a daughter, all
changed into swans and banished by her sister
who became Ler’s second wife. By this woman,
who was named Aoife (literally, “One Deemed to
Die”), Ler begat Mannan mac Ler a mortal seadeity.
Notwithstanding his mortality, Mannan

was the most prominent god of the past, ruling the seaworld
on the arm of Fand, the Pearl of the Ocean. His home
was in the western Atlantic, a place known as Tir Tairnigri,
the Land of the Daughter of Thunder. The continental Celtic
god of thunder was Tar, who is the equivalent of Thor, thus
we see that Norse and Celtic myth are not mutually
exclusive. Manann’s keep in the west was Emain Albach, The
Rocky Bound Residence, and from here he drove the waves in
a chariot behind the sea “horse” named Anobarr (his shapechanged
wife Fand) or took sea-serpent or fish form to
travel to the shores of men. While most of his followers in
the undersea kingdom were bestial, Manan had the looks of a
handsome land-hero, which explains how he was able to sire
many illegitimate children among the “gods” of Britain.
Mannan mac Ler’s chief land-holdings in the eastern
realm were found upon the Isle of Man, although he also
possessed Castle Manan in northeastern Ireland. In Welsh
myth Llyr is said to have mated with Penardun, the
daughter of Doon, the Gaelic Domnu. Her father was Beli,
the Gaelic Bil, the god of death, whose holiday is still
Beultuinn, or “Beltane,” the first day of May.
In the Cymric tales their son Manawyddan is said to
have allied himself with Rhiannon, who is Mhorrigan in the
Irish tales. This makes sense when one considers that Fand
is a version of the Gaelic word feannag, a pileated or hooded
crow. There is a further association with the word feann, to
flay. Mhorrigan, sometimes Mhorrigu, has a name which
translates as, “born of the sea,” but she ultimately mated
with the Dagda and defected to the land where she became,
a triune deity known as the Bas-finnd, or Befind, the deathmaidens,
who also appear in Norse myth as the nornr or
valkyra. Elsewhere these three ladies are referred to as the
Fates.
LEICE, an oval charm crystal, leigh, a physician, leigheas, a
cure, leac, side-hill; hence the Clan Lathagan and MacLagan.
As illustrated. A healing stone.

LEIGH (llay), medicine, a physician, OIr. legib, cf. leech.
From their habit of using leeches to bleed patients, thereby
eliminating "evil spirits" from the blood.
LEN. The goldsmith to Bobd Dearg. His name persists in Loch
Lena, the G. Lough Leane, Kilkenny.
LEIR (hleer), clear-sighted. Leirg, a plain, leir, altogether,
torment, pain, Lat. lacero, leirist, a slut, a foolish
senseless person, a Quarter-Day fool. Named after Ler and
his son Manann, the Fomorian sea-gods, whose people were
noted for this ability. The third of three supernatural
senses, the others being fore-sightedness and hindsightedness.
It was thought that some men could project
their primary soul into their invisible secondary soul or
bafinn. This instantaneous traveller could journey into the
future, the past, or the present, as required. In the present,
a "gifted" individual could peer through the eyes of his
hidden double and "overlook" events of personal interest.
Sometimes referred to as "telescopic sight," and often
combined with other sensory abilities. “Long-sight” was
one of the principal abilities of the god Aod, or Kay. See
Lear.
LEUG, a precious stonehaving healing virtues, a beautiful
woman, meteor, beloved person; Ir. liag, a stone, MIr. leg,
OIr. lia, see next entry, gen. liace, Germ. lei, rock. The god
Lugh in resting-form. A cromlech. Stones which differed
markedly from their kind were considered possessed and
were thus given magical properties and used as talismen.
LIA, Stone. The Lord of Luachtar, treasurer to Clan Morna,
father of Conan Maol. He became treasurer to the Féinn when
Goll mac Morna became its leader after deposing Cumhail,
the father of Fionn. The treasure bag of this group was made
from the skin of the goddess Aoife, who had been killed
while shape-changed into a crane. In it were jewels and
magical weapons. Lia was slain by Fionn mac Cumhail, thus
his further troubles with Clan Morna.

LIA FAIL, lia, great stone; vali, cover, encircling. The
coronation stone of the people of Ireland. A stone which
"roared with joy under the feet of a rightful king." It also
sobbed when a legitimate king was in danger. Common folk
were judged by changes in their appearance when they stood
upon this "centre stone": the innocent blanched white, but
those guilty of a crime turned beet red. A woman
approaching the stone knew she was destined not to give
birth if the Lia Fail oozed blood. If it exuded milk the
supplicant was known to be pregnant.
Supposedly brought out of the "dark isles of the north"
by the warrior-wizards known as the Tuatha daoine, it may
have been removed to Scotland or even to England. It was
said that the stone was first noticed during the reign of
Conn of the Hundred Battles. It was claimed that this highking
feared a return of the sidhe and consequently visited
the Rath of the Kings near Tara each morning at sunrise. On
one particular day he chanced to stand upon a stone that
was “in the rath” and it screamed under his feet. He asked
the three druids who were with him what this meant, but
the chief druid announced that he would not be able to
answer this question for fifty-three days.
At the end of that time he told the king that his
arcane research revelled that the stone was the “Stone of
Destiny”an antique that came out of Falias with the Daoine
sidh. “In Teamhair (Tara) it was first set up and as long as
it remains there will be a king in this place, and a gathering
place for games. If there is no high-king at a time for such a
gathering then there will be hardness in that year. You
should have listened well for the number of screams it
made, for these are the foretelling of the number of kings of
your race that will come after.”
While they were in this place a mist and darkness
encircled them and they were confronted by an unseen rider
from the Otherworld. Lost in that far country they emerged
in his company on a vast plain where they saw a king’s rath,
with a golden tree at its portal. Inside the house was seen

to have a bronze roof. Within they found the rider to be the
king of that place, “and there was never seen a man like him
in Teamhair for comeliness or for beauty, or for the wonder
of his face.” This king identified himself as Lugh of the
Long Arm, and foretold that Conn would live through a
hundred battles and named the kings of his lineage. The
party afterwards toasted Art mac Conn, who was not yet
born, and when Conn was returned to his own plane he found
himself still in possession of the outland drinking vessel.
LIAGÁN, “born of stone,” the standing stone, the simplest
type of monument known to archaeology.The word is also
represented as gallán or dallán. Elsewhere in Europe the
standing-stone is known as a monolith or menhir. Some of
these are grave markers, others boundary stones and some
“stones invested with a sacred character.” These latter are
the fear bréagach, the “powerful men.” See cromleac, i.e.
“Crom’s standing-stone.”
LIAGÁN TRIONAD, any grouping of three monoliths, often
found supporting a cap-stone; the so-called tripod or table
dolmens. Examples may be seen at Legananny, County Down
and at Haroldstown, County, Carlow, Ireland. In North
America these liagánean are referred to as pedestal rocks.
At least two examples of these peculiar structures
have been unearthed in Nova Scotia according to a short
article published in magazine called “The Forest Times.”
They were said to consist of covering stones each
“weighing about 25 tons and mounted on three legs.” The
“Times” wanted Provincial Foresters to report finding any
other specimens of this type. If the “legs” are mere
boulders then the North American structures may be counted
as accidental glacial debris, but if they are true pillars, as
the name suggests, they are likely man-made. We have seen
it suggested that the stones were put in place “before the
English and the French began to contest N.S.,” and noted
that they could have been primitive stamping mills to
separate gold from rock debris. That is a somewhat remote

possibility although the two groupings already found are
located on granite foundation stones in regions which were
historically gold-fields.
LIATH. liath, gray. The son of Laigne Lertham-glas, a
Nemedian. He cut down the tangled copse at Tara so that
corn was able to grow. The site was once named Druimm
Leith but was renamed Temuir (Tara) in later times. Some
say that Leinster is named for him.
LIATH-CHEARC, liath, gray; cearc, hen, from Indo-European
root qerqo, to sound off, a “noise maker.” The “heath-hen’ a
bird of ill-omen. It is still said Am facta to an liath-chearc
an raoir? of one who seems pale and worried.
LIATH MACHA, the Grey of Macha; one of the two steed of
Cuchullain, the other being Dub Sanglainn. The hero of
Ulster tamed these sithe-creatures while a lad by riding
them bareback for a full day "round the limits of Ireland."
The Bafinn seems to have been allied with the south against
Ulster, but the fates demanded a balance of their favours.
Thus, these valuable war animals were "given to Cúchullain
by Mhorrigan", while her two sisters opposed him as Mebd
and Macha.
LI BAN, the “coloured woman,” a wife to Labraid Luathlam,
ruler of Magh Mell. Her sister was Fand. She served as
messenger to Cúchullain inviting him to visit her in her
western home of Tir Tairnigri. In some versions of the tale
she and Fand, the goddess of the deep sea, approached
Ireland as a pair of birds chained to one another. This
condition was Otherworldly and Cúchullain was tabooed
from injuring such birds. Nevertheless, he had promised he
would capture a pair for her so that she could follow the
fashion of bearing a live bird on each shoulder. With a
javelin he injured the wing of Li Ban and this caused the
birds to plunge into the water. He was unable to retrieve
them but later they reappeared before the hero and put aside
their bird forms. This name was also given to the mermaid
resident in Lough Neagh. According to the Annals of the Four

Masters she was captured and removed from the waters in
558 A.D.
LIGHE, a flood, the overflow of liquids (as blood).Eir. lia, Cy.
lli, a flood, a stream; root li, to flow. Linn, a pool. an age,
offspring, numerous (referring to the paths taken by water).
In times past the Gaels saw significance in the rivulets
feeding a pool. A child dipped in water where there were
nine feeders was thought destined to grow up strong and
beautifu;, as beautiful as the nine rays of the sun or the
“ninth wave of healing.” Seven partings indicated the child
would be a wanderer and an adventurer capable of seeing
through the seven elements of weather on any of the seven
seas. Three tricklets? This was the mystic symbol of
godhood, the triunes, the three kingdoms. Earth, Sky and Sea.
These numbers were, however, related to the seasons and
events in the heavens and most children were seen as
destined to the common-place.
LIGHICHE, a leech, a physician. One who creates lighean,
floods (of blood).
LIOS NAM BAN RUADH, "Bower of the Red-headed woman; a
place of iniquity, transgression and/or evil. Red was the
colour of blood and it was thought that the emotions were
centred in the heart. The dominance of emotion over the
spirit of reason, thought to reside in the head, was seen as
the cause of diverse human problems. By extension any
person with red-hair was thought governed by emotions and
a danger to society. Most of the sun-gods were red-haired
and were thought extremely quixotic. See Mhorrigan.
LIONN, LEANN, OIr. lind; ale, melancholy. The effects of
alcohol were considered god-given. See luisdair, Oolathair.
LIR. The ocean god. See Ler and Manann mac Ler.
LITRICH, to spell, from Latin litera. The ability to embed
sounds on paper or wood for later retrieval was regarded as
highly magical, especially in an illiterate world.

LIUSDAIR. a chemist. "Lius is the ways and means by which
the people of old knew the properties in matter and
compounds of matter. "Dalbh", that is anything that can be
seen and handled, "suudag", any mixture compound or alloy."
Lius + dara, herb + mire. Unlike the "liusdair", or herbalist,
the chemist was required to have a broad knowledge of all
things in our universe, "the soft and the hard, the human
world and the sidh land, as nothing comes from nothing."
The chemists were especially acquainted with the means of
producing alcoholic drinks for ceremonial and other
occasions. They also compounded herbal remedies and
"discovered how to make dyes." "Indeed, our people of old
were competent to produce everything necessary for
survival - if they had not been, they would have been in sore
straits." (The Hebridean Connection, p. 69).
LIUNISAD. LUNASAD, Lammas, the month of August, liun, obs.
slothful, lazy, rest-inducing.
LOBAIRCIN (loo-barkin), LOBARCAN, a human covered with
mire, dwarf, diminutive person, lob, to wither, to waste;
airc, distress; in, a diminishment; the mythic Leprachaun.
The Ulster name is locarman, loch, a lake, a pit; lochran, a
torch or light. The English variant on this is logheryman. In
Cork this is the claurican (which, see); the Kerry luricaun;
the Tipperary laurigadaun. All remind one of the Gaelic god
Lugh (pronounced loo-kah), thought related to the English
spirit Lob-Lie-By-Fire who is their Lubbercin. He may be
traced from there to the Germanic Luchreman and Lojemand,
“Lokki playman,” the eddaic name for the god of underground
fire. Although associated with the Daoine sidh, or “little
people,” the Leprachaun has more obvious connections in Old
Norse mythology. Lobhach, rotten, putrid.
LOCH BòRLUM, Scotland, a “fortress on a strip of arable
land,” mensal land, especially royal holdings in the
Highlands. Fishermen have spotted a water-horse in this
vicinity and one group vanished leaving no trace excepting
their fishing rods, the fish they had caught and horse-prints

on the river bank.
LOCH CAILLEACH BHEURR, Scotland, now called Loch Awe. In
ancient times this was a populated glen, but the Cailleach
bheurr , or Winter Hag, stubbed her foot on a rock and when
it moved the valley flooded with water. In another version,
the Cailleach confers with Beara, a character from Ossianic
folklore, who was said to have been bequeathed all this
former farmland by her father. It was a condition of the
bequest that the woman had to ascend the summit of a
neighbouring mountain named Ben Cruachan, each evening at
sundown, to set the magic stone that controlled the rate of
water-flow from a stream feeding the valley. One afternoon
Beara fell asleep and missed her appointment and did not
awaken for three days. By that time Loch Awe was
completely in place. The famed red berries of eternal life
were once located on an island within this lake.
LOCH CEND, the “Loch of Heads,” Ireland. Here a battle was
waged and after Cairbre gained the victory he had a
thousand heads thrown in the water. Afterwards the water
turned blood red and never reverted to its natural state.
LOCH CIMME, supposedly named for the four-headed son of
Umor. This character may hark back to an earlier god-hero,
and he was reputedly overcome by Conal Cernach. Conal’s
father slew the three-headed beast known as Ellen.
LOCH NA CLEIRE, Loch of the Poets. A company of poets
camped upon a farmer in Lochbroom, Ross-shire and after
living at expense for some time demanded their pay in
mucagan (wild rose hips). This would have been an easy
request to fill except that the season was Christmas-tide.
Fortunately the farmer knew that this was a frequent
request from bards and had covered a rose bush back in
autumn with a heavy coat/ Thus, he was able to meet their
demand and they were forced to leave. Stumbling outr into a
snow storm they became lost and fell into the loch, where
they were drowned.

LOCH DEARG, the Red Lake, Ireland; home to a famous
monster slain by Conan.
LOCH DAIAE. “The loch of the black goddess.” This is the
goddess Uisge De. In Latin she is mentioned as Nigra Dea.
Note that where the name is used it is understood that “the
river is the goddess.” Identified with Loch Lochaidh, from
which flows the Riiver Lochaidh, near Fort William,
Scotland. There is, of course, a remarkable number of
“Black Goddess” streams. Variats include Dubag, the “little
black one.”
LOCH DUAICH, Gloomy Lake, Scotland. The seal-folk are
residents, and they share the loch with a sea-serpent seen
by Dr. Farquahar Matheson and his wife in 1893: “ It was of
the saurian type I should think. It was brown in colour,
shining and with a sort of ruffle at the neck...”
LOCH GRÁINNE, Ireland. home to a water-monster that
surfaced once in seven years.
LOCH GURR, Lump Lake, Ireland. Home of an underwaterbeast
left stranded by drought one summer in seven.
LOCHLANN, the “Land of Lakes.” Properly loch, the
“darkened” lands, lakes enclosed by land on all but the
ocean-side; “never visited by the sun.” Cognate lonn, strong
and with the Cy. llychlyn. Lochlannach, lochlander, a seafaring
man. “Anciently included Germany and all northern
lands known to the Kelts; but this name was restricted tro
Norway and Denmark subsequent to the invasions of
Scotland and Ireland by the Scandinavians.” The country of
the Old Norse sometimes considered a synonym for the
Otherworld and occasionally used to identify ancient Alba,
now called Scotland. In distinction to Sorcha thir, oirthir
and erin.
While Macha is a part of Irish myth, her counterpart,
the Cailleach Bheur, has some Norse blood. Thomas M.
Murchison says she was "a supernatural hag of Gaelic

popular belief, supposed to have come from Lochlann
(Norway) carrying a creel full of earth and rocks to make
Alba (Scotland). Some of the contents of her creel,
accidentally falling out, formed the Western Isles. She had
only one eye, set in the middle of her forehead, and she
herded her deer, sheep, and goats between Ben Cruachan in
Lorn and Ben Nevis in Lochaber, and also out in the Western
Sea."
We suspect this character may have attachment with
Skadi, the daughter of the giant named Thiassi, who was
inadvertently killed when the gods rescued Idun from
Jottunheim. She came to Asgard looking for the traditional
fine for her loss. As part of the compensation package she
was married to Niord, a god of the sea, but they were
incompatible. She returned to the north, but left her realm
briefly to mate with Odin-Uller, to whom she bore a son
named Saeming (note the confluence with Samh). He was
the first king of Norway, and the founder of a dynasty whose
people were the first to go viking against Scotland, England
and Ireland.
LOCH NAN DUBHRACHAN, “Loch of the Black, Stretched-out
One,” a sea-serpent? A lake in Skye located between Knock
and Isle Oronsay, in the region known as the Sleat of Skye. A
“beast” residing here was accused of waylaying strangers
and in 1870 the Loch was sealed off and dragged with nets
but the creature evaded capture. During dragging operations
one net became snagged on the bottom and exhibited signs
of being tangled with a living creature. This so terrified
teams of workers on either side of the lake they fled,
convinced they had proved the existence of a watermonster.
This dragging recalls a similar attempt to rid
waters in Tomintoul, Banff of a similar beast believed
responsible for the loss of innumerable men and women
during the hours of darkness.
LOCH NESS, Scotland. Home to the world’s most famous
sea-serpent. This beast was first mentioned by Adamnan,

Abbot of Iona in his Life of Saint Columba, (ca. 700 A.D.) The
loch, which fills a submerged valley 24 miles long is
traditionally the site of a land-based magic well. A mother
taking water at this place was distracted by her crying
infant and left the cover ajar. That night the well
overflowed and drowned the valley.
LOCH REE, Moon Lake, Ireland. Home to a water-monster and
the site of an underwater city.
LOCH SIAN, Lake of the Scream, Loch Shin. A golden waterhorse
is said to live in these waters. In the early days of
Christianity this beast agreed to help a local priest build
his church, by fetching stones from a nearby side-hill where
the wee-folk lived. The “fairies” were displeased at this
plunder of their ancient dun and afterwards the kelpie was
out of favour with them.
LODAN MAC LER. A son of the sea-god by the goddess Sinend.
LOG-ENECH, logh, pardon, to ask amends, Eir. locaim, bearing
on the god Lugh. Enech, pertaining to the face. The “price of
face.” To the ancient Gaels the head was the seat of an
important soul, that governing feelings of honour and shame.
The face was observed to pale or redden under insults and a
settlement in kind, or cash, might be demanded for insults.
LOINNEAS (llohyn-as), art, skill, lionn, in good condition.
Any ability beyond the normal was considered as evidence
of an unusual degree of god-spirit.
LOIREAG, water-nymph, also a beautiful hairy cow, a pancake,
a plump girl, cf. lurach, lovely and lur, delightful, Ler,
the god of the ocean, cf. lur + eag, lovely + cleft, notched,
wanton. A river mermaid, similar to the ocean-going ceasg.
See Daoine mara, Mhorrigan.
LOIRIDH, supernatural power, physical and mental vigour.
The effects of the settlement of god-spirit on mortals.
Thus men said, "There may be a power source, perhaps

within your bone-marrow?"
LOISNEACH, cunning, “foxy,” Ir. loise, a fox, OHG. luhs, AS,
lox, Eng. lynx.
LON, a demon, a blackbird, .lon-chraois, gluttony (of a
demon). Lonach, greedy, The root is leuq, light, and has
reference to the Gaelic sun-god Lugh and to the Norse Lokki.
Note also lon, prattle, forwardness, the Ir. lonaigh, a jest.
One of this species came to Fionn and Caoilte: He was
obviously a famhair since he was described as “a young
man, very big and very ugly, having but one eye and one hand,
and wearing a cloak of black skins over his shoulder. In his
hand was a blunt ploughshare and it was red (like Thor’s
hammer). And he told them he was one of the three smiths
of the King of Lochlann (the Otherworld). And whether he
hoped to lead these men, or run from them, he started away,
and they followed across all Ireland to Slieve-na-Righ and
to Luimneach and to Ath Luain and on past Cruachan to Ess
Ruadh and Beinn Edair and so to the sea. And there
(presumably within the ocean) they found a smithy, and
went into it, and found four giants at work, and each of
them had seven heads. Fionn and Caoilte had them fashion
swords, and made good use of them afterwards. And here
two was fashioned Mac an Luin and Fionn’s shield which he
called Sgiath Gailbhinn, the Storm Shield, and when it
called out for his danger it could be heard all over Ireland.”
LON-CHRAOIS, gluttony, MIr, lon-crais, sometimes given as
lon, water + craos, the wide opened mouth, a water-demon.
Note also crosean,m a buffoon or quarter-day fool, the Lat.
crapula, the source of the Eng. Crap and Crapper.
Additionally lon may be interpreted as prattle or
foolishness and relates to luach, ashes. Note lon-aighear,
boisterous mirth.
LONG, an ocean-going ship, Cym. llong, ON. lung; cf. Lat.
lagena, a long-stemmed flagon. Sometimes supposed
borrowed from Lat. longa, the name given their war-ship,

Eng. fly.
The festival known as the “Building of the Ship” was
once traditional in parts of Ireland and still continuing in
Lerwick, Scotland. “It was believed to be some form of
fertility ceremonial and was eventually suppressed on
account of its unduly frank character.” Festival ships were
unusual creations, fitted with wheels or skids so that they
could pass over land or water following the model of the
death-ship owned by Manann mac Ler. At the end of frolics
of the Quarter-Days, this embodiment of royal godhood was
either sunk in a swamp or burned. These happenings also
took place in Scandinavia where the close connection
between the “dragon-ships” and fertility rights is shown in
their ancient rock-carvings. Here the crowds show
surrounding the long-boats are seen prostrating themselves,
dancing and performing acrobatics.
The maritime history of the Celts is almost unknown
but we know that the Desi, residents in the south of
Ireland, made extensive seaborne sallies against Cornwall
and Wales in the year 232 A.D. In this same decade the
Picts of Scotland were so successful at their trade they
were able to challenge Roman war ships that wandered into
the British main. They visited Iceland from very early
times and were still going there when the climate turned
down in the fourth century A.D.
During the following century, when the ice-packs
began to recede, the Britons, the Picts and the Gaels began a
routine trade with northern Europe and even made
occasional contact with Mediterranean ports. There is a
tendency to think of skin-covered coracles when speaking of
the early residents of Britain. These two-man lake-vessels
should not be confused with the heftier curraghs favoured
by the Gaelic-speakers of Scotland and Ireland. Created of
ox-hides, they have been shown to be as seaworthy as any
planked craft, and were big, sturdy, broad-beamed vessels
capable of carrying a crew of twenty in addition to a
massive cargo.

Following the Roman example the Picts and the
Britons came to favour carvel-constructed wooden ships, an
example of which was recently recovered from the Thames
River. A planked craft, she was 60 feet long, had a 16 foot
beam, and a mast 10 inches in diameter at the seat. Her
lines were that of an easy sea-going craft, not much
inferior to the schooners of Atlantic Canada which sailed to
the Grand Banks in this century. Both types of vessel were
square-masted, powered by oars in calm weather or where
it was necessary to get through a narrow passage.
By the sixth and seventh centuries Celtic and Pictish
mariners became even more common in the trade with
Norway and France, and it is during this time that the
voyages of St, Brendan were written down. That story
seems a collation of numerous individual voyages coloured
by folk-memory, nevertheless it is clear that there are
some underlying Atlantic trips remembered in it. By this
time the Picts were getting into the Baltic, and were firmly
established as residents on the islands north of Scotland.
In the last quarter of the sixth century the Picts of
the Orkneys became Christianized following their Irish and
Scottish cousins. All these peoples had semi-permanent
fishing stations and monasteries in Iceland, and all the
while the climate situation was improving. The fishing in
western waters was phenomenal but the Celts were never
lacking in natural resources at home, and they were not
subject to populations pressures great enough to cause
them to think of wide-spread resettlement. In all this time
the Scandinavian peoples were content to trade across their
inland seas and had no true ocean-going ships.
By the seventh century the still warming climate
encouraged agriculture, created a baby-boom and allowed
people the time to lust after luxuries. The sight of British
trade ships helped to increase the appetite for things, so
the northern men built craft based on Celtic models, and
made their first “expeditions” to Scotland, Ireland and the

Outer Isles, eventually they followed Manann mac Ler’s
route all the way to southern Ireland and the Dun Sciath.
Meanwhile internal bickering weakened the Celtic realms
and their fleets all but vanished from the high seas. While
the Celtic lands had become nominally Christian, the Norse
were unconverted and, in fact, contemptuous of the
Christian religion. Unfortunately the Christians had a
tendency to lavish their resources on gold and silver
decorations, and thus created unhealthy havens for
individuals seeking the quiet life.
LONGES, an involuntary trip on the Atlantic Ocean, usually
following banishment or exile. Voluntary trips were termed
imrama. See above note.
LORG, a staff, wand, club, the wand of the goddess Bridd.
Also tracks or footsteps. Her footprints were sought in the
hearth embers on Samhain morning as a favourable omen.
LOT, “Wound.” The Fomorian wife of Goll. She had bloated
lips in her breast and four eyes in her back. She fought
against Partholan and it was said that her strength was
greater than that of all the warriors she led.
LUACH, wages, worth or value, OIr. lóg, root lou, gain.
Macbain traces this word to the Roman Laverna, the goddess
of thieves, but Lugh and Lokki are more likely. The latter
had a notorious interest in accumulating wealth. The Eng.
lucky, ON. lykk, as in Lykk-Anders, “the lucky brother who
sailed to fairyland at Sandflesa, off Trænen in Hegeland.”
“The epithet of Lucky is only known in Norway in connection
with fairyland.” In Norway it is the nisse god-dreng that
was thought to bring luck to men he favoured. In Sweden
this creature was known as Lykke-nisse, or “Lucky Niss.”
The one who had luck was Lycko-Pär. This mythological
creature corresponds with the Gaelic bodach or bruineadh,
the latter being the Eng, “brownie.” All of these terms are
sometimes applied to friendly little children. Adjacent to
this is abhaich or “happiness,” a somewhat different
concept, again a gift from the deities.

Eric Maple says that the external power of the
universe is summed up in the word “luck.” “Luck is the
unknown goddess, perhaps the first deity ever to have been
conceieved by primitive man, and possibly, when the last
pantheon of the gods has crumbled to dust, she will remain
the single survivor of the ages of faith.” Possibly so, but
“she” is nothing more than the hermaphroditic aspect of
Loki. Loki is recordered as a shape-changer who often
appeared in female form, in fact, he/she was once
impregnatedby Oidin’s stallion while in the body of a mare.
LUACHAIR, rushes, EIr. luchair, “light-maker,” as they were
used as torches, from louk, light, the Lat. lux. Ultimately
traceable to Lugh, the sun-god.
LUACH-TUATHA, LUCHRAIGE, luch, a mouse. But see Lugh.
These folk were called the Lugi by the Romans, and are
believed to have occupied Sutherland proper or at least the
south-eastern part of that shire. Notice the G. luach, having
worth or value. Possibly related to the Gaull. Lougos, a
raven, a black complexioned folk who were once their
neighbours. Interestingly, the people of Lochcarron in Rossshire
were formerly called Fithich dubha Loch Carrann, the
“Black Ravens of Loch Carron,” a supposed reference to
their swarthy complexions. See next.
LUAIN, LUAN, DI-,(je looin), Monday, moon-day. Lat. lux, luna.
The Gaelic may be borrowed from Latin. Note the Ir. phrase
go la an Luain, “until Doomsday” which suggests that the
word once personified the moon-goddess Samh. Obs.
champion, hero, a lamb. Notice that the Samh was
associated with death at the Samhain. Possibly derived
from the Latin luna. The day-name is similar to the Old
Irish luan, the moon” and the French word lundi, or Monday.
"Monday is a good day for changing one's residence, provided
it be from north to south." (Celtic Monthly, p. 162). The
moon goddess was sometimes personified as an lair bahn,
the “white mare of the heavens”. In druidic tradition the
sun was often represented as a bull and moon as a cow.

LUAIREAGAN, a grovelling person, one fond of the fire from
Lugh, the sun god.
LUANT UILE CHUDTHROM, stage-effects. The Gaels realized
that some of the effects of magic were illusion; but it was
generally held that men who could manage illusions were
"gifted" with extra god-spirit. Otherwise, it was reasoned,
they could not be convincing. This was a necessary adjunct
to the repertoire of priests and kings, whose real magic
was probably limited by their interest and energy levels.
LUASD, the force of reason, a spirit located in the head
which kept the emotions of the heart under constraint.
Confers with lugh, a small thing and the god Lugh.
LUATH, ashes, swift, nimble, transient. Allied to Germ.
lodern, flamed and thus to the god Lokki and Lugh. Until the
last century it was suspected that the “germs” of plants
and animals resided in their ashes from which they might be
reincarnated after an effort of will or through black magic.
LUATH DUBH, AN, "the black fast," one of the legal
"distresses” of ancient Ireland and Scotland. Under a
former law of Gaeldom men who felt they were wronged had
the right to encampment on the door-stoop of the wrongdoer
until they managed some form of redress or
encountered death by ritual starvation.
The luath dubh was considered potent magic and was
only abolished after one last unrequited petitioner did
himself in the year 1538. "If he who was fasted against,
felt that he had not been unjust, that he was wrongly
accused, he would adopt a fast against his accuser.
Naturally, he who could longest hold out in suffering...won
out.” In the ancient tale of the sons of O'Corra there is an
account of how Conal Dearg O'Connor and his wife fasted
against the devil, that he might bless them with children -
and succeeded. In the Book of Lismore three young clerics
pledged themselves to say a certain number of prayers. One

of them died, leaving a heavier task on the other two; then a
second died, and the survivor began fasting against God for
His injustice in taking away the other two, and leaving their
burdens to him. Also, one of the Irish legends tells of how
Adam, in the Jordon, after he had been expelled from
Paradise, and Eve, in the Tigris, fasted against God to
compel forgiveness."
Notice that this extreme measure was only attempted
where the social rank of the offender was greater than the
person claiming damages. In short, this was an ancient
"hunger-strike" intended to compel the attention of, if not
justice from, a powerful individual.
LUB, bend, curvature, loop, noose, meandering, a maze, a
snare, deceit, guile, a young man or woamn, plait, fold,
cunning craft, bow, thong; MIr. lubaim, EIr. lupaim, , rooted
in the Gaelic god Lub or Lugh. Eng. loop, MEng. loupe, a noose,
related to lag, weak, the Eng. lag, laggard, slack and languid.
Also interpreted as “a hollow place, the Ir. log. a pit, lug, to
bend, luige, to take an oath, Germ. lucke, a gap or blank.
LUBAIR. LUBHAIR, One who bends to every purpose which is
suggested, a crafty individual. Cunning, a “Bender.” One with
a cringing personality. Also a leper. Possibly having
reference to the discredited pagan creator-god named Lugh.
LUB-CHLEASACHD, sleight-of-hand, legedemain.
LUBH, a Christian archangel.
LUBHA, LUBHAN, obs, fame, praise, a lamb, a body, a corpse.
LUDB, , a spirit, a ghost, ludasach, obs. Strong,
powerful.ludar, a hind, a lobworm.
LUCH, a mouse, the “grey one,” the “Old Grey Spectre.”
Confers with Luchtigern, the “Lord of Mice.” (the cat-god).
This bocan is the guardian of remote mountainous regions
and corresponds exactly with Lugh. Confers with the English

hearth-spirit known as the hob or hobgoblin.
LUCHAIR NA LUBHAIR, Loughter of the Lepers. Lag, weak.
This disease was well known in antiquity and is mentioned
in several tales as clam, samthrusc or trosc. When Ron Cerr
wished to enter an enemy camp unchallenged he disguised
himself as a leper. Lùgan, a deformed person, referring to
adherents of the old god Lugh.
LUCHARAN, LUCH ARMUNN, luchar, light, lucharan, a pigmy,
dwarf, leprachaun. Luch-shith, fairy-mouse, the shrew.
LUCHD, people, OIr. lucht, Cy. llwyth, a tribe, the Eng. folk,
Germ. volk, possibly based on the name of the god Lugh, see
next. This is the use preferrerd to fir, when the company
consists of both men and women.
LUCHD-CREAIRDE, a craftsman, luchd, people; ceard,
craftsman, artisan; plural fear-ceairde. This guild included
the ceard-mor, or chief smith who instructed the ceardairgid
(silversmith); ceard-umha (silversmith) and the
ceard-or (goldsmith). Note also the ealain-ceirdre (the
mechanic) and the iarunn-ceairdre (iron-worker or
blacksmith). These men were considered inferior, in rank
and craftsmanship, to the musicians, the bards and the
nobility, but were counted as more important than ordinary
freemen. Notice that Lugh was declared “the master of all
crafts.”
LUCHDI, luchd, literally folk, people collectively. People of
the god Lugh. The pagan folk-plays associated with
mummering of the medieval period. The only ludus surviving
into this century is the Galoshan which was performed by
guisers at the Hogmanay.
These plays had as their theme the interplay of
summer and winter spirits but incorporated pseudo-
Christian personalities. The Nathair or calluin-man of rural
areas was finally replaced by the urban Abbot of Narent (no
rent), the Lord of Indolence, the Abbot of Bon Accord, the

Abbott of Unrest, or the Abbott of Unreason. The position
was no sinecure, but required the appointee to organize
“dancis, playis, and farcis,” for both the summer and the
winter festival. The principal Christian feasts of
Candlemas, Corpus Christi, St. John’s and St. Nicholas were
supposed to have supplanted pagan holidays but the in each
festival there was a mock king representing the sun god
Lugh, and a contending figure representing “powers of
darkness and ill.”
At some point, the representative of Lugh was killed
and then made reincarnate guaranteeing the return of a new
growing season. In 1555, the “Abbott” and the disguisers
were made illegal by an act of the Scottish parliament, but
the hostility of the Church hardly diminished until very
severe measures were taken against participants in the
1580s. The word luchd is used as a plural substitute for
fear in compounds, e.g. luchd-ceairde, craftsmen; luchdmara,
mariners; and luchd-siubhail, tourists. See Cromm,
Lugh and luis an crais riut.
LUCHOR PAN, LUCHRUPAN, the leprachaun, a little man. Same

as lobarcain and luch, a mouse, Cy. llygoden, Br. logodenn,
cf. lukot, "the grey one." The Gaelic root loch, blotchy, dark,
from which perhaps the Norse dochalfar, the "dark elfs."
Keightley notes that the "correct designation is "svartalfar"
for the Scandinavian species. Note also the earlier G. luko,
dark, whence the EIr. lóch, perhaps related to the Indo-
European leug, to shine, the Latin lux, etc. Cy llwg, livid,
blotched. From the obsolete lóch we have the names of
numerous British rivers such as Lòchaidh and Loch dae
teined. May confer with the Gaelic god Lugh who is the old
Norse elemental Lokki. See lobaircin (above) and Lugh
(below). Pan, one of this species, is derived from pannal, a
band. In the Imraam Brenaind mention is made of Saint
Brendan’s run-in with luchrupáne who filled a beach of one
island they visited and took a particular interest in a
crospan, a physically deformed individual in their crew.
Nansen has interpreted luchrupán as “monkeys” but that is
not the most direct translation, more accurately it is
luch+rá+bann, the “bullying crowd of mice (i.e. “little
men).”
LUCHTAR MAC LUCHAD, god of carpentry to the Tuatha
daoine. His brothers were Goibhniu, god of the smiths and
Creidne, their best goldsmith and mechanic.
LUDAG, the little finger, hinge, joint, Ir. lughadog, OIr. luta,
the root lud, from the god Lugh. AS. lytel, Eng. little, Eng.
loss. All resembling the Gaelic. ludan or ludnan, a hinge and
ludair, a slovenly person, lugh, a joint and lugha, less. Note
also lugach, a person with bowed legs, a deformed
individual and luigean, a pliant or weak-willed person.
LUGAID MAC AILILL. At the bequest of his father Ailill mac
Mata, this hero impaled Ferghas mac Roth while he was
swimming in a lake with Ailill’s wife, the notorious Queen
Mebd.
LUGAID MAC CU ROI. the son of the Munster king who fought
against Art who was killed by Cuchullain, Before he was
dispatched he fatally wounded Cuchullian’s chariot-driver

Laeg.
LUGH, (Look-ah, Loo), the sun-god, patron of poetry and song,
one of the sons of the Dagda and his wife Danu. The survivor
of triplets all bearing this name. Note the corruption of his
name since Christian times, viz. lugach, having crooked legs.
bow-legged; and lugh, to swear or blaspheme (presumably
using the names of pagan gods). Originally the word was Ir.
luige, a binding oath; luighe, a vent or chimney, similar to
the Gothic luigin, wed. Perhaps similar to the spirit known
as the lubracain, or "leprachaun" (Old Lugh), and to the
English lobby, and the German god Lubbermann, whose shrine
was at Mansfield. He in turn confers with Lucremann, who
is Lokki, the Norse god of underground fire. It may be
remembered that Lokki was originally an elemental sun-god,
banished to the hearth and then to Nifhelheim by Odin's
Aesir. Fourteen British towns are named for Lugh including
Lughdunum, better known as London. In Gaul he was Lugos
corresponding with the Lat. lux, light. His diminished form
is found in the English hob and hobgoblin.

He was nicknamed Lugh Lamfada, “Lugh of the Long-
Arm,” because of his ever-present sharp-edged weapons. He
was also, Lonnbemnach, the man "of the mighty blows"
because of his prowess on the battlefield. Lugh was the
supposed father of Cúchullain by the human maiden named
Dechtra and his place of refuge was a side-hill known as
Rodruban. When Cúchullain faltered in his battle against
Connaught, Lugh appeared to relieve him. When Lugh died he
was replaced on the throne by his father Dagda, who reigned
for eighty years, but hopefully did not survive to see the
degradation of the “gods.” His three grandsons ruled, in
turn, after him, and it was in the term of the last of these
that the Milesians came.
Lugh survived best in Gaelic lands where he was
identified as the son of a Tauathan and a Fomorian, fosterfathered
to Manann mac Ler, a Fomorian god of the sea.
trained as an athlete by this sea-giant and his wife Taillte.
Summoned by the king of the Tuathans to aid them against
the Fomorians he was loaned the "horse of the sea" (the
shape-changed goddess Fand) and a invincible sword. Lugh
emerged as the hero of the war between the warrior-gods
and the giants. In that fray, he killed his own grandfather,
Balor of the Evil Eye, and became a king of the Tuatha
daoine.
He died and was succeeded by the Dagda, who was on
the throne when the Milesian Celts invaded Ireland. He was
reborn in later times and became the protector of those who
became known as the Daoine sidh, or "little people." During
his life-time Lugh set up the Tailltean Games at the place
now known as Telltown, in northern Ireland. Those were the
Olympic Games for Celtic nations, as well as a point of
assembly for government and judicial functions and a
noteworthy marriage market. The first day of August was
originally named the Lugnasad, and this is still frequently
the date for mid-summer Celtic "Games".
The Christian priests were able to disguise the true
nature of this summer Quarter-Day of the Daoine sidh by

enaming it Lammas Day, the day of the "Bread Mass." This
time was traditionally celebrated as the enjoyment of the
first fruits of harvest. The ritual events of the surrounding
week were somewhat like Samhain and Beltane and the midwinter
fire-feast called Imolc. Lugh served, for a time, as
high king at Tara, but at his death it sometimes was said
that he "went to earth" with others of the defeated Daoine
sidh.
Although it was claimed that he was killed in battle
against the Milesian invaders of Hibernia, he was
afterwards equated with Aonghas Og, who had charge of the
Brugh na Boyne, from which emerged the yearly crop of
virgins, ritually given to the king at Tara to signify his
continuing overlordship of the land. Lugh corresponds with
the Welsh deity Llwch, sometimes identified as Llew, one of
the knights of King Arthur's round-table. He is referred to
as Llew Llaw Gyffes, “The Lion of the Sure Hand.” Gyffes
originally meant “long” making it certain that this is Lugh
Lamh Fada. In later Irish mythology, Lugh and his "castle"
was summoned by Conn ard-righ through druidic magic.
Lugh obligingly foretold the names of the future Kings of
Ireland and gave a synopsis of each reign. Afterwards, he
and his brugh were swallowed up by a mystic fog. His name
confers with Ugh and Aod, which, see. See also Lia Fail.
Dudair, Uile loc Uiseach.
LUGHA, less, least, more or most diagreeable, used as a
positive degree in a few places. OIr. lugu, based on the root
lu, little, after the discredited god Lugh, the Eng. light (in
weight).
LUGH-CROMAIN. LUGH-CHROMAIN, “Lugh of the Crooked
Hand.” Ellis says that Lugh was remembered as “Lughchromain,”
which identifies him with his alter-ego Cromm,
or “Crum” the “Crooked.” He is alternately described by
Ellis as “little stooping Lugh.” He notes that this word is
anglicized as leprachaun, “all that survives of the once
potent patron of arts and crafts whose name is remembered
in many place names - Lyons, Léon, Loudon and Laon, in

France; Leiden in Holland; Liegnitz in Silisia and Luguvalum
(Carlisle) in Roman England as well as the capital itself,
which like Lyons was once the “fortress of Lugh,” -
Lugdunum, hence the Latin Londinium and London.” In the
guise of Cromm the Crooked, Beul (or Lugh) is often spoken
of as “The Day God,” and it is clear that many of the Beltane
altars were once seen as sun-altars.
On Mount Callan, near Ellis, Ireland, the Beltane was
celebrated on midsummer’s day down to the year 1895.
Near Macroom there is a standing stone very clearly
designated as “the stone of the sun.” The antiquarian
Sethrun Ceitinn (c. 157--1650) said that almost all the
cromlechs could be associated with the goddess Grainne,
whose name may be taken as grain, and translated as the
“sun.”
Elsewhere it is said that Éire (Ireland) was first
married to mac Greine (the son of the sun) and one of her
daughters was Giolla Greine, “whose mother was a
sunbeam.” The relationship of daylight and darkness, life
and death, summer and winter, may not be easy to see, but
remember that many of the Irish watched the sun-god sink
each evening into his domain with
in the western sea, and he invariably rose by morning
from the eastern sea. To subjugate Lugh, the Church
circulated the rumour that his fiery sword had been passed
for “safe-keeping” to Saint Michael. All over Europe in
improbably remote corners, the phallic symbols of power,
the “belly-buttons of the world,” were incorporated into
innumerable Christian parishes: In Spain at Cangas de Onis
a small church was built directly over standing-stones on a
pagan mound in the eleventh century, the complex becoming
a burial crypt.
Another instance is found at Arrichinaga at the
Hermitage of Saint Michael, where a huge standing-stone is
seen immediately left of the main altar. Some of the
churches built to honour this saint are on uncomfortably

high ground. At St Michel-en-Grêve, in Brittany, the church
is a half hour walk from civilization, standing next to a
lichen-encrusted menhir. Mont St. Michel, a huge monolith
in the Atlantic is almost matched by the precipitous St,.
Michael’s Mount, at Land’s End in the west of England. The
Priory of St. Michael is built on a pagan circle of stones.
These are only a few of the places that Lugh
surrendered to the new God. In order to explain the siting of
churches in places that were ultimately strange and
inconvenient, medieval parsons suggested that the stones
had been placed by angels, or some other approved power. In
earlier Christian mythology, Saint Michael was second to
God in power, a warrior-prince who carried a flaming sunsword.
Lugh’s clash with the Fomors is nicely paralleled in
Biblical lore. In the book of Revelations, Michael is pictured
as the head of a host of angels warring with the forces of
darkness: “And the great dragon was cast down, the
deceiver of the whole world, he that is called the great
serpent, Devil and Satan.” Notice that Saint George, patron
of England, is also pictured as the dragon-killer.
LUGHAID MAC DAIRE. When it was foretold that one of his
sons named Lughaid would be high king of Ireland, he gave
the name to all five of his offspring. While the sons were
hunting an old crone begged a kiss from each in turn but only
the youngest was sympathetic. At the kiss the Winter Hag
was converted into Summer, the sovereign bride, and he was
proclaimed the chosen one. A similar story is told of Niall
of the Nine Hostages.
LUGH LAMFADA, Lugh of the Long-arm. The parentage of
King Nuada, now sometimes sometimes entitled Nuada of
the Silver Hand, is not mentioned but it is probable that he
was the "befind" or home-shadow of Lugh of the Long Arm.
These sometimes disembodied spirits were provided to all
creatures of human kind as help-mates, assisting at the
birth of great personalities and latter serving as protectors
of these individuals. If Lugh is conceived as a sun god
Nuada, his doppelganger, or double, is a god of the moon.

Lugh's creative spear is not described, but it was probably
of the usual Tuathan construction: "flesh seeking spears
with ribs of gold and silver and red bronze in their sides
(symbolizing the sun); and with collars (or rings) of silver
upon their necks." This spear was considered more than
equipment being regarded as an extension of Lugh's arm
which could be used to direct a "gisreag" or blast of
physical energy as the god directed. Nuada's silver hand
attachs him psychically to the moon, and his loss and
recovery of a hand reminds us of the phases of the moon. It
is noteworthy that Nuada's recovery of his hand and kingship
was arranged through the good offices of Kian, who is cited
as the human parent of Lugh.
LUGHNAS, LUGHNASAD, festival of Lugh, nas, obs.
anniversary, assembly, band, a tie of relationship, Death, ad,
ob. thou, thine; ada, obs. victory; see above and Lunnad. “The
feast of 1 August especially sacred to the god Lugh and
known as the Lugnasad was reputedly founded by the god in
honour of the goddess Tailtu, his foster-mother. She was
traditionally the wife of Eochaid Garb, and in her honour her
husband caused the wood of Cuan to be cut down... In the
month they cut down the wood, and the plain is now known
as Oenach Tailten.” The (triad) Machas were likewise
associated with this feast.”
LUGI, LOUGOI, a primitive tribe located in south-eastern
Sutherlandshire, Scotland. Said connected with luach, Oir.
log, worth, value, thus with the above. Luachd, people.
Watson considers the name to be associated with the
Gaullish lougos, a raven but we think they were, moe
obviously, the folk of the god Lugh, whose totem was the
raven. “The Lougoi may have been a dark pre-Celtic people,
like the Silures. The people of Lochcarron, in Ross-shire,
are still called Fithich dhubha Loch Carrann, “the Black
Ravens of Lochcarron.”
LUIBH, herb, OIr. luib, lubgort, an herb-garden, Cy. lluarth,
garden, Bry. liorz, ON. lyf, an herb, Goth. lubja-leisei,

witchcraft or “herb-lore.” OHG. luppi, poison, magic, AS lyb,
same meaning, based on the Gaelic god Lugh, the ON. Lokki.
LÚIN. “Anger,” the enchanted spear of Celtchair which was
a treasure of the Tuatha daoine but was discarded in the
second battle at Magh Tuireadh. It became the property of
this Red Branch hero, who found that it thirsted for blood
and once unsheathed had to taste this liquid or be thrust
into a vessel containing venom. If this was not done it
would turn upon its holder, and could kill a man without
actually scratching him.
LUNNAD, lu, little, after Lugh, the sun-god + n’ adag,
harvest, the “first harvest.” Lammas, the first day of
August, also the month of August, Ir. Lunasa, the Quarter- or
Scottish Rent-paying Day for the peasant class and the
"little people" of the "hollow hills." It was also their
traditional "moving-day." After their defeat by the
Milesians they were proscribed from appearing above ground
at any but the Quarter-Days (the others being Nov. 1, Feb. 2
and May 1). The original form was Lugnasad, "the festival
of the god Lugh." Stokes agrees that this name connects
with the Ger. locken, allure, the Norse looka, locked, and
Lokki, who was bound or "locked" in Nifhelheim (Hell's
home). The EIr. nassad, translates as "festival" and has the
same source as the Latin nexus. See Lughnasad, Lunasdail.
LUNASDAL, LUNASD, Lu, small, referring to the sun-god;
nasadh, fair, assembly; possibly conferring with asdail,
binding, dail, a dell; “Lugh’s fair in the dale.” In An
Etymological Dictionary Of The Gaelic Language Alexander
Macbain notes that the word lunasd is the equivalent of the
English holiday named Lammas, which still takes place on
the first day of August. He says the Gaelic word is derived
from the early Irish lugnasad, "the festival of Lug... the sun
god of the Gael, whose name Stokes connects with the
German "locken", allure, the Norse "lokka", to do and also
Loki (?)..."

H.A. Guerber says that, "In the beginning Loki was
merely the personification of the hearth fire and of the
spirit of life." He was also an abstraction of "wildfire",
field or forest fires, and of lightning, his name being
related to the Old Norse verb "lokker", to twist or bend.
Long ago he was given charge of the desultory southern
winds of summer. In the most distant times he may have
been considered the god of the sun, but with the arrival of
the mortal gods in the northlands, this honour was given to
Odin's son, Baldur.
Loki was entitled "Lokki loojemand", or Loki playfellow.
in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. His red hair, beautiful
appearance, and convivial character were attractive to Odin
and his Aesir, who welcomed him to their fellowship in
spite of the fact that he belonged to the old order of deities.
In the confusion of making early records some authorities
said that Loki was the brother of Odin, but others were sure
that he was merely a blood-brother, one who had undergone
a ceremony of affiliation common in the northlands.
In the new situation, the lightning god took up with
Thor, the god of thunder, who became a nearly inseparable
companion. Guerber thinks that Thor was the god of
industry and hard work while Loki represented indolence and
the playboy attitude: "Thor was ever busy and ever in
earnest, but Loki makes fun of everything, until at last his
love of mischief leads him entirely astray, and he loses all
love for goodness and becomes utterly selfish and
malevolent."1
While Loki provided men with the blood of their being
it contained the fire of passion and mischief which had the
capacity to ignite and detroy them, as it did Loki. In the
latter days, Loki puirloined Thor's hammer to Ymir's people,
stole Freya's necklace, chemically removed Sif's hair and
betrayed Idun into the power of Thiassi, one of race of
giants. He mated first with the goddess called Glut, but
later bedded the giantess named Angurboda who bore him
Hel, goddess of death, the fearsome Mid-Earth snake

Ioormungandr and the Fenris wolf. These three god-giants
gave the Aesir great trouble until Odin banished Hel to
Nifhelheim, threw the water snake into the deepest waters
of the ocean and chained the wolf in the netherworld. All
this was overlooked by the patient gods, but his unceasing
hatred for Baldur caused him to plot his death. Baldur had
been made invincible by the fact that all of earth's plants
and animals were pledged not to harm him from birth.
Knowing of this "geis", the gods used to amuse
themselves by throwing spears and knives made of various
materials at Baldur watching as they turned away at the
last minutye. Loki discovered that the mistletoe had been
overlooked in the promising and fashioned a dart of this
wood. He then guided the hand of ther blind god Hodur, the
brother of Odin, in throwing this missile. The mistletoe
proved fatal to Baldur, who was lost to the land of Hel since
he was not a victim of death in battle. The gods later
arranged for the sun gods half yearly repatriation to earth
during the summer season, but before that they pursued and
bound Loki within the deepest caverns of Nifhelheim. Being
an immortal god he remains there awaiting liberation at the
end of time, when it has been promised that his fires will
detroy the physical creations of Odin's mortal gods. It is
hear noted that the day now called Saturday was formerly
called Laugardag, or Loki's day, his promised day of return,
that "lokk" corresponds with the English word "lock", and
that Loki was laterally thought of as the the god of locked.
bound, or underground fire.
"As Loki was the embodiment of evil in the minds if
the Northern races, they entertained nothing but fear of
him, built no temples to his honour, offered no sacrifices to
him, and designated the most noxious weeds by his name.
The quivewring, overheated atmosphere od summer was
supposed to betoken his presence, for the people were often
wont to remark that Loki was sowing his wild oats, and
when the sun appeared to be drawing water they said Loki
was drinking."2

This former god of the sun was not restricted to
Scandinavia. In Germany he was Luchre, Laugar, Lothar or
Lubber, "to whom the bones of animals used to be offered in
Mansefield." Thomas Keightley thought the lubber-fiend
might have some connexion with the French fay-creature
known as the Lubin or Lutin, a mischievous little man who
braided the manes of men's horses while they slept. The
Anglo-Saxons brought memory of Loki to Britain in their
lug, lob, loby, lubbard, lubber, or lubberkin, a similar
invisible creature with tendancies toward sloth on one hand
and practical jokes on the other. The English lob of the
spirits was recalled in the writing of Shakespeare and
Milton and the phrase "being in, or getting in Lob's pound" is
still understood in some places as being "between a rock
and a hard place."
The travels of Loki have been extensive. Keightley
notes, almost sadly that the Leprachaun, "peculiar to
Ireland, seems indebted to England for his name. In Irish...he
is called Lobaircin, and it would not be easy to write the
English Lubberkin more accurately with Irish letters and
sounds. Leprachaun is evidently a corruption of that word."3
Keightley further notes that the Ulster name for the
southern Irish lubarkin is, in Gaelic, lugharman, sometimes
represented as logheryman. He says "we should be tempted
to derive it from the Anglo-Saxon "lacan, loecan, to play."
(Remember that) Loki Loojemand, Loki Playman, is a name of
the Eddaic deity Loki."
In the Norse myth of the creation of life, the firegiant
named Svrtr (The Dark One) approached the abysss and
sheds sparks from his firey sword upon the ice thus
creating the first humanoid. Svrtr is a guise for Loki, for
like him, he is promised the leading role in bringing an end
to the worlds of men and the gods. Lugh is a similar
swordsman at the dawn of time, his entitlements being Lugh
Sab Ildanach, Lugh The Supreme Craftsman, and Lugh
Lamfada, Lugh of the Long Arm. The latter does not imply
that the god was overbalanced, but refers to the fact that

he carried the spear called Fragarach, the Answerer. This
weapon was invincible in battle and had the ability to cut
through protective leathern armour. Lugh has his Cymric
counterpart in Llew Law Gyffes, Lew of the Long Hand. His
"arm" of power had an important role in Celtic cosmology.
LUNASTAIN, LUNASDAINN, Lugh’s garland, n’ astain, a wreath
of greenery or flowers, the first day of August, renamed the
Lammas-day during the Christian era. Ir. lughnas (see
above entry), EIr. Lughnasad, "the festival of Lugh" after
Lugh, the sun-god.
LUSADAIR, a herbalist, one with a knowledge of the
chemistry of plants. Contrast with "luisdair," a chemist.
The root is lugh, a little, or insignificant, thing, after the
creator-god Lugh.
LUS AN CRAIS RIUT, "the hunger herb." "the piercing pain, the
sharp pain as they term it in Ireland." Lus from lùb, to bend,
able to be bent, Enng. loop and ME. loupe, a noose. English is
regarded as the borrower. OIr. luib, an herb-garden, ON. lyf,
herb, Germ. lubja-leiser, herb-craft or witchcraft, “herblore,”
OHGerm. luppi, poison, AS. lyb, same meaning. A
condition thought produced by the “Old Grey Spectre"(see
luch), a spirit of the mountains, one who does not like
trespassers on his bailiwick. "I never go to the hills without
eating plenty before going, and I carry a bit in my bag to
cope with the hunger herb. Many a strong man has been
seized by the hunger herb, but the Old Grey Spectre (see
Dudair), that is another question." (The Hebridean
Connection, p. 432). This phenomena may correspond with
that of the “hungry grass.”
LUS ANN TALADH, the enticing, hushing or caressing herb,
from the Norse tal, allurement, bait, trap; the AS tal,
calumny. Similar to the Latin dolus, hurt, guile. “The
purple orchis that grows in soft spots among the heather.
“Adam and Eve,” is a popular name. It has two roots, the
larger considered to be the male element and the smaller
the female. “The plant is to be pulled before sunrise with

the face of the flower facing south. Whichever root is to be
used is to be immediately placed in spring water, care being
taken that this is done at night. If it sinks, the person
whose love is sought will become husband or wife. If the
charm is made for no one in particular then its powder put
just below the pillow will cause dreams of the person to be
married.” It was also held that feeding the appropriate part
to one of the opposite sex had aphrodisiac effect. It was
warned, however, that loved gained in this manner faded
immediately after marriage.
LUS CHOLUMCILLE, Also Achlasan Challum, St. Columba's
plant, St. John's Wort. "Unsearched for and unsought; For
luck of sheep I pluck thee." Very efficacious against spells
of the Daoine side and baobhean. The flower of this plant is
daisy-like but yellow in colour and thus a significant sunsymbol,
representing the spirit of the god Lugh. Note also
the similar dithein buide Bealltainn which typically
bloomed at the Beltane.
LUSPARDAN, a pygmy, sprite, a castrated animal, bisexual, a
homosexual, impotent. More exactly, a leprachaun, from
lugha + spiorad, little spirit, or spirit of Lugh: in modern
theology a devil of the Devil, a demon. All from the sun-god
Lugh. Apparently, a post-Christian descriptive for this
elder-day god and his kin.
LUSTAIR, physicist. Particularly an individual interested in
ealain-ceairdre, or mechanics. Much of the druidic trickery
was enabled by an understanding of the effects of levers,
pulleys, wheels and axles and forces as they acted upon
inclined planes. Physics itself was suspect as late as the
year 1598 when a discredited priest in Limousin, France
was executed as "a caster of spells and practitioner of
magic" after it was revealed that a notorious sorcerer had
taught him "the secret of using levers and of staunching and
stopping the flow of blood."
LUTHAIL, physics, natural physics, luth, physical strength;
OIr. velocity, motion. See above notation.

1.Guerber, H.A. The Norsemen (London) 1985, pp. 116-117.
2.Guerber, H.A., The Norsemen (London) 1985, p. 218.
3.Guerber, H.A., The Norsemen (London) 1985, p. 372.