The Morrighana...
Jenny

Sun May 10 19:55:57 1998
Hello! *p*The connection between Niall's step-mother Mongfind and the Morrigan appears in the Book of Ballymote. I don't have a good cite for that directly, but Myles Dillon's _The Cycles of the Kings_ reprints part of Mongfind's story. For more on her connection to Morrigan, there's W.M. Hennessey's article "The Ancient Irish Goddess of War" which appears in Revue Celtique 1 (1870-72). *p*This article is a must-read for anyone devoted to the Great Queen! In 20 pages it manages to summarize most of the literary lore about Morrigan, Nemhain, Macha and the other Celtic war-goddesses. Henessey briefly mentions how certain great mortal queens, like Mongfind and Macha Mongruadh, were called "the Morrigan." I find it very interesting that both of these women were famous for their "mong"s, their long, unbound hair. *p*The first issue of Revue Celtique can be hard to come by -- if you don't have access to a good university library, drop me a private note with your address and I'll send a copy to you via snail mail! *p*Danu and Morrigan get equated frequently in medieval poetry. The "equation" is never very long -- it's usually something to the effect that "Morrigan" is another name of Danann or vice versa. You'll see it a lot in different accounts of which goddess bore the "Three Sons of Danu", or in debates over which goddess the "Two Paps of Ana" were dedicated to. *p*A good example comes from the Book of Conquests, which says: "The Morrigan, daughter of Delbaeth, was mother of the other sons of Delbaeth: Brian, Iucharba, and Iuchair. [These are the gods who are normally called "the Three Gods of Danu", named after their mother.] And it is from her additional name "Danann" that the Paps of Ana in Luachair are called, as well as the Tuatha De Danann." *p*That quote's from RAS MacAlister's translation of the Book of Conquests. A couple pages later it contradicts itself and says that Brian, Iucharba, and Iuchair are Danann's sons, not Morrigan's. *p*Hope that helps! *p*Jenny