Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Irish Gods. ^
i i
stars, is distinguished by the crescent form, under whicli
she usually presents herself to our notice. The god of
night is distinguished from other gods by a crescent placed
upon his forehead, and this crescent is transformed into
the horns of the calf, the bull, or the goat. Hence, in the
Prometheus of /Eschylus, h\ the horned virgin, becomes,
later on, a heifer ; hence, in the x\thenian fable, the conception
of the Minotaur with the head of a bull ;
hence, in
the Irish fable, the conception of the Fomore with the
goat's head ;—and, upon the continent of Gaul, the numerous
horned gods which now ornament the Salle of St. Germain
Museum. For to render to these gods of the dead the
worship they exact, it was necessary to immolate to them
human lives."
We are told that Greeks poets and painters gave distinct
characteristics to gods, as Phaeton, Apollo, and Hercules,
originally the same. The ancient literature of Ireland
lacks these well-defined contours.
The dual idea of good and bad gods, with good and bad
tribes, corresponds with the Dasyu of India, who were both
demons and the hostile tribes preceding the Aryans in
that peninsula. The Irish triad is produced by the habit
of using three synonyms to express the same mythological
thought.
Lug, one of the Tuatha gods, nursed by the Queen of the
Fir-Bolgs, is supposed to have introduced games, races,
&c. His festival was August i. It has been suggested
that the festival on the same day, in honour of Augustus,
was only a new form of a more ancient custom. Lug's
mother was Ethniu, daughter of Balar, but his f.ither was
the god Dagda.
Balar Balebeimnech, " Balar of the strong blows," was
said to have been killed by his grandson. He earned olt
the cow of the three brothers, smiths of the Tuatha.
Balar