Irish history is rich with myths and legends. The adventures of the famous
seer-warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill are still known to many Irish people. These
include how he gained his wisdom as a boy by tasting the 'salmon of knowledge',
how he triumphed over miscellaneous giants and magicians, and how he had the
truths of life explained to him in a strange allegorical house. The champion
Lugh, originally a god of the Continental Celts, is also remembered -
especially how he slew his tyrant grandfather who had a horrific eye which
destroyed all on which it gazed.
The adventures of the super warrior C� Chulainn are spoken of and tales are
also told of more true to life characters, such as the quasihistorical
High-King Cormac Mac Airt and the historical though much romanticised Conall
Gulban, son of the great king Niall and contemporary of St Patrick.
Many of the myths and lore centres on the patron-saints of the various
localities. The saints, historical personages from the early centuries of Irish
Christianity, are portrayed in legend as miracle workers who used their sacred
power to banish monsters, cure illnesses, and provide food for the people in
time of need. Holy wells, dedicated to individual saints, are still frequented
on their feast days in many areas, and people pray at these wells for relief
from different kinds of physical and mental distress. The most celebrated
saints in Ireland were the patron saint of Ireland, Patrick, the great founder
of monasteries, Colm Cille and, second only to Patrick, Brighid who, as
protectress of farming and livestock, preserves many of the attributes of the
ancient earth goddess.
Ireland is famous for its fairy lore , which also contains vestiges of
prechristian tradition. The fairies are known in Irish as the people of the s�
(pronounced she), a word which originally designated a mound or tumulus, and
the Irish fairies can be connected with early Celtic beliefs of how the dead
live on as a dazzling community in their burial chambers. Through their
identification in the medieval literature with the Tuatha D� Danann ('People of
the Goddess Danu') they may also be connected directly to the early pantheon of
Celtic deities. In folk belief thousands of 'raths', which are ancient
earthenwork structures which dot the landscape, are claimed to be inhabited
still be the s�-people, and many stories are told of humans being brought into
these hidden palaces at night as guests at wondrous banquets.