Night of the fairy goddesses, Ainé and her
sister Finnen, Ireland
“Here,” observed Mr Alfred Nutt, “we have the antique ritual carried out on a spot hallowed to one of the antique powers, watched over and shared in by those powers themselves. Nowhere save in Gaeldom could be found such a pregnant illustration of the identity of the fairy class with the venerable powers to ensure whose goodwill rites and sacrifices, originally fierce and bloody, now a mere simulacrum of their pristine form, have been performed for countless ages.” Myths
and Legends of the Celtic Race
(1911), Ch. 3
And as to Aine, that some said was a daughter of Manannan, but some said was the Morrigu herself, there was a stone belonging to her that was called Cathair Aine. And if any one would sit on that stone he would be in danger of losing his wits, and any one that would sit on it three times would lose them for ever. And people whose wits were astray would make their way to it, and mad dogs would come from all parts of the country, and would flock around it, and then they would go into the sea to Aine's place there. But those that did cures by herbs said she had power over the whole body; and she used to give gifts of poetry and of music, and she often gave her love to men, and they called her the Leanan Sidhe, the Sweetheart of the Sidhe.
And it was no safe thing to offend Aine, for she was very revengeful. Oilioll Oluim, a king of Ireland, killed her brother one time, and it is what she did, she made a great yew-tree by enchantment beside the river Maigh in Luimnech, and she put a little man in it, playing sweet music on a harp. And Oilioli's son was passing the river with his step-brother, and they saw the tree and heard the sweet music from it. And first they quarrelled as to which of them would have the little harper, and then they quarrelled about the tree, and they asked a judgment from Ollioll, and he gave it for his own son. And it was the bad feeling about that judgment that led to the battle of Magh Mucruimhe, and Oilioll and his seven sons were killed there, and so Aine got her revenge. Lady Augusta Gregory, Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha De Danaan and of the Fianna of
Ireland, Part I Book IV: 'Aine', 1904
Aine: Some said she was the daughter of Manannan, but some said she was the Morrigu, she owned the Cathair Aine. But she often gave her love to men, and she was called Leanan Sidhe, the Sweetheart of the Sidhe. Wisps of straw are burned in her honor on St. John's Eve. She is associated with meadow-sweet, and invoked against sickness. According to legend, she was raped by the king of Munster. Mike Nichols, An Irish Myth
Concordance, MicroMuse Press, 1985
[Aine] was daughter of Eogabal, king of the síd of Knockainy, the grass on which was annually destroyed at Samhain by his people, because it had been taken from them, its rightful owners. Oilill Olomm and Ferchus resolved to watch the síd on
Samhain-eve. They saw Eogabal and Aine emerge from it. Ferchus killed Eogabal, and Oilill tried to outrage Aine, who bit the flesh from his ear. Hence his name of "Bare Ear." JA MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient
Celts, Ch. V, 'The Tuatha Dé Danann', 1911
The Celtic peoples have many references to
fairies in their myths and legends. Fairies are also known as ‘the
little folk’, but this can also refer to leprechauns, goblins, menehune,
and other mythical creatures.Irish
mythology has many examples of these mystical folk.
On
Midsummer Eve, sacred rites were held on two hills near Lough Gur
('the Enchanted Lake') in County
Limerick (near Grange stone
circle). One is called Knock Ainé (Knockany, from Cnoc
Ainé – ‘Ainé’s hill’), Ainé or Ane being the name of the
ancient Irish goddess who dwells there. She is also called Ainé Cli, Ainé Cliach, Ainé of the light, Aine N'Chliar, and Ainé Cliar, the Bright.
Aine’s name
comes from the word an, meaning ‘bright’. She is one of
the sídhe (pronounced shee), or the ‘Good People’, patroness of Munster and Queen of
the South Munster fairies, and seems to have been a moon goddess,
like Diana. The peasantry knew her as
‘the besthearted woman that ever lived’.
Aine’s
sister was Finnen or Fenne or Fennel, named the same as the sacred herb which
wards off evil spirits, bestows strength, courage, and prolongs
life. (At least as far back as the Middle Ages in Europe, fennel was hung on
doorways, and stuffed into keyholes, on Midsummer Eve to guard
against evil spirits.)
On St
John’s Eve the local peasants would gather to view the moon, and
then light cliars (torches) and process from the hill,
afterwards running through their fields and among the cattle, to
exorcise the land of evil spirits and thus ensure good harvests and
prosperous herds and flocks. This being the night where the sun’s
influence starts to dim (following Litha, the Summer Solstice),
tonight was sometimes called Aine’s funeral, and she could appear
as an old woman
tonight.
“At the
bidding of her son, Earl Gerald, she [ie, Aine] planted all
Knockainey with pease in a single night. She was, and perhaps still
is, worshipped on Midsummer Eve by the peasantry, who carried
torches of hay and straw, tied on poles and lighted, round her hill
at night. Afterwards they dispersed themselves among their
cultivated fields and pastures, waving the torches over the crops
and the cattle to bring luck and increase for the following year. On
one night, as told by Mr. D. Fitzgerald, [‘Popular Tales of
Ireland.’ by D. Fitzgerald, in Revue Celtique, vol iv.] who
has collected the local traditions about her, the ceremony was
omitted owing to the death of one of the neighbours. Yet the
peasantry at night saw the torches in greater number than ever
circling the hill, and Ainé herself in front, directing and
ordering the procession.”
When girls
looked into a mirror, the hill became crowded with the supernatural
folk of the goddess who before had been invisible. Or, so it is
said:
“On another St John’s Night [probably
Eve – PW] a number of girls had stayed late on the Hill
watching the cliars (torches) and joining in the games.
Suddenly Ainé appeared among them, thanked them for the honour they
had done he; but said she now wished them to go home, as they
wanted the hill to themselves. She let them understand whom shemeant by they, for calling some of
the girls she made them look through a ring, when behold, the hill
appeared crowded with people before invisible.” (Rolleston, ibid)
Ainé and her son
Ainé was the wife of Manannan, a
sea-god, and also of Echdae, the sky horse. She is said to
have mated with several humans, creating a magical race of
human/fairies. When seen in
Lough Gur, she had similarities to a mermaid. Once, as she sat half
immersed in the lake and combing her hair, the Earl of Desmond saw
her beauty and fell in love with her. They married and had a son, Geroid
Larla, Gerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond who is said to have
disappeared in 1398 – ‘Gerald the Poet’, from his witty
Gaelic verses – who lives in a world beneath the lough to
this day, awaiting the time of his return to the world of men.
However, once in every seven years, on clear moonlight nights, he
does come out, and the local people see him, phantom-like, riding a
phantom white horse, and leading a fairy cavalcade.
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