Irish Mythology and Folklore

The Old Gods, and the War Against the Fomorians

In the beginning, before man or beast or gods, in the times even before time itself, there was the world. And world was made up of the earth, and the sea, and the sky. And one day, where the earth met the ocean, a magnificent black mare sprang forth from the sea foam, and her name was Eiocha (Ee-ock).

Not far from where the earths shore, a gigantic oak tree grew had grown from the ground, and its branches reached so high they caressed the clouds. But the fruits of this tree, watered by the spray of the sea, hung low to the ground. And that is what Eiocha ate to sustain herself on the land. And the seeds of this fruit, transformed inside her, and soon Eiocha became pregnant with a child, Cernunnos (Sir-nun-os). During the immense pain of childbirth, Eiocha writhed, and bit into the tree, and ripped some of the bark from the great oak tree and threw it into the ocean, where it sank, and morphed, and grew, until eventually it became the race of giants known as the Fomhòraigh, or Fomorians (Fom-or-ee-ans).

Over time, Cernunnos grew into a young god, and watching from the land as the Fomorians grew in numbers, Cernunnos grew lonely. Eventually, he coupled with Eiocha, and from these beings, there came the first gods. Maponos (Map-on-os), Taranis (Ta-ra-his), and Toutatis (Tow-ta-tis), and the first goddess, Epona. After many more years, after her children had all grown up, Eiocha longed for the sea from which she came, and threw herself back into the frothing oceans, where she died. And from her essence grew the goddess Tethra, watcher of the oceans.

Many more years passed, and after e death of their mother, the gods and goddesses grew lonely, for they had no one to worship them. Together they broke branches from the great oak tree, and used them to fashion the first man and woman. Afterwards, Cernunnos took more wood from the tree, and used it to carve the first animals. From it he created the deer, the hound, the boar, the raven, the hare, and the snake. Growing to love these creatures, Cernunnos became the god of nature, and commanded the great oak tree to spread out across the land, creating a vast forest to house his children.

Soon, his children followed suit. Epona took more wood from the tree, and carved from it the stallion and the mare, as a way to honour their mother Eiocha, who had left them for the sea. She became known as the goddess of horses, ponies, donkeys and mules.

Toutatis snapped limbs from the mighty oak, and spent his time fashioning them into a bow, a set of arrows, and a club. He was regarded as protector of the tribes, and defender of men, and the god of battle.

Taranis used the tree branches to create flaming lighting bolts. He would leap to the highest branches of the mighty oak, and hurl them down at the ground. Animals would run in fear as the earth shook, and the grass burst into flames, and soon Taranis became known the god of storms and thunder.

Finally, Maponos also took branches from the tree. But instead of fashioning them into weapons or animals, he fashioned the branches into a harp. He plucked strings from the wind itself, and stretched them across the harps limbs. Maponos would sit in the centre Cernunnos' forest playing his harp, whilst accompanied by a chorus of the wind and birds. He came to be the god of youth, wind, and music.

For centuries, the Fomorians watched the gods from below the surface of the ocean, and they saw that the gods and humans were happy up on the land. Fomorians were ugly creatures, disfigured from their time in the depth of the sea, and their skin was as gnarled and twisted as the bark they were born from. They were at least three times the size and strength of regular men, and in the depths of the ocean they plotted to overthrow the gods, taking the earth and all that lived upon it for themselves.

But unbeknownst to the giants, the goddess Tethra listened in on their schemes. After learning of their plans, in an attempt to save her fellow gods, Tethra raced to the surface to warn her kin of the oncoming attack.

The gods were prepared on the day the giants rose from the sea, and they took refuge in the branches of the grand oak tree. Taranis cast lightning bolts down upon them, spitting the land, and letting the ocean rush into the ravines he formed. In doing to, he separated Ireland from the rest of Britain. Maponos stood on the tallest branches of the tree, tore apart the sky, hurling the chunks of it at the Fomorians, whilst Toutatis sent volleys of arrows into the Fomorian ranks.

However, the Fomorians were not defenceless, as they had power over the waves from which they were born. As much as Tethra tried to the hold the ocean back, the Fomorian's sent tidal waves crashing against the shore, destroying landscapes and forests, killing the mortal creatures in its path. After months of battle, the gods eventually overpowered the giants, and banished them back into the deep, where Tethra imprisoned them below the waves. But some of them escaped her clutches, and spread to the far corners of the earth. Those Formorians vowed revenge, and swore that one day they would return to Ireland to reclaim the land from the gods.

It took a long time for the world to settle after the battle. But eventually, the sea calmed, and Maponos repaired the sky, and the gods began looking for the one among them that had been absent from the great battle, their sister Epona. In the midst of the battle against the giants, Epona had gathered one man, and one woman, and sheltered them deep inside Cernunnos' great forest. In this single act, the goddess had saved all of humanity.

Miraculously, where Maponos had ripped apart the sky, divine flames cascaded to earth, before being quenched by the waters of the ocean, and from this sprang forth new gods! The god Belenus, and his sister, the goddess Danu, and the god Lir emerged from the mixture of heavenly flames and earthly waters. The remaining humans were sent out to populate the world, and eventually, left Ireland uninhabited by man. Together, the gods set off to the mysterious lands in the north, and were not heard from again...