Today, let's meet one of the fiercer deities of Ireland, and the god of (among more positive traits!) plague and mass-misfortune: Fiacha.

Every religion based on gods has to deal with the relationship of mankind to the gods. That includes the covenant of the Gods to bless mankind in some way, but also their tendency to punish the behaviours that displease them. If there are a lot of people to be punished, then it'll be a mass punishment. Sometimes, the head-god will do the mass-punishments themselves. Other times, it's delegated to a particularly fierce and dangerous god.

If you know anyone who'd like to learn a little about Ireland's meanest god, forward them this email!

The Raven, the Harbinger

If you needed to pick a god to do a punishment, you'd pick the god Féichín represents. A god who aligns overall with civilisation, but who is ambiguous enough on the value of life and wellbeing that he'll get the job done without complaint. The names associated with this god are variations on the word for "Raven": Fiacha, Fiachna, Fiachra, etc., though he also goes by Fachtna, possibly meaning "Hostile" or "Malice".

Particularly under "Fachtna", this Saint or God is often attributed great wisdom in addition to great hostility and caprice, and is not entirely bad: this is a God of Civilisation, the controlled violence, part of the arrayed forces of the Protagonist gods against the Antagonists of civilisation.

Now, this type of god exists along a continuum within Celtic myth that puts him among the Saturnine (moody, hostile, destructive) deities - the ones that were maybe very ambivalent about Creation and Life in the first place, and show little regret in extinguishing it. You can arrange these gods on a chart and arrange them as more or less Saturnine, but Fiachas usually end up being squarely in the "moody muscle" zone. They're willing to work with this "Life, the Universe, and Everything" business, as long as they get to kick some ass now and then.

And sometimes, that means getting to kill two thirds of Ireland's population with a horrific plague or drowning some kids for being too noisy.

Little Raven, No Problem

Féichín of Fore exhibits the most obvious "Divine Punishment" arc in the Saintly canon. Frankly it's kind of amazing that he wound up being repackaged as a Saint at all, only for his Saturnine mass-destructive nature to come out in his epilogue and in perhaps "Rival" Saints' lives later on.

In Féichín's own life, he's described as a bit of a temperamental character, prone to outbursts of extreme, immediate, and spectacular violence. But because he's a Saint, it's repackaged - when a King crosses him, the King's tower gets smitten by lightning (1), but it's not directly Féichín who does the smiting; he just cursed the tower. It was the Christian God Yahweh who did the smiting.

But Féichín really starts to get spicy in an "Epilogue" that was apparently added enthusiastically to his Life from another scribe's collection of folklore, after it was originally completed. The Life has an injected bit after the death of Féichín (which mentions no plague, by the way) that reads: "These are the words of Eruran the sage in his own compendium of the Life of Féchín. For Eruran said".. and what follows are some of the juicier bits. And even these don't mention the Plague. We'll return to some of this material later though. First though, Mass Punishments.

The Yellow Plague

The biggest omission from Féichín's own life is the bit contained instead in the life of "Gerald of Mayo", where it pretty clearly lays out the events: One of the Kings of Tara, Diarmaid, calls all the saints together. There has been a Drought, and famine looms, so he asks the saints to ask god for a plague to kill most of the poors.

Gerald, being the protagonist of his own story, is just wondering "Why don't we just ask god for more food?" when Féichín instead enthusiastically volunteers and inflicts the Yellow Plague on Ireland.

Now, this plague is not restricted to the Life of Gerald of Mayo - it appears in a bunch of Saints' Lives, and may have been a mythos re-attached after the fact to an actual break-out of Plague in Europe around the time the Hagiographies are framing. The Hagiographies are all dated to centuries afterwards, and it's likely common for mythologies of disaster to be re-anchored on more recent and memorable misfortunes. Gerald goes on to give succour to a bunch of plague-stricken people, while Féichín dies of the plague he inflicted, along with around two-thirds of Ireland's population (according to the myth).

Pettier Punishments

Féichín has a bunch of other smaller-scale smitings, but the one that stands out to me is remarkable for its pettiness, and for its uncanny resemblance to the Mesopotamian Deluge myth:

At another time Féchín was in his cell praying, when he heard the noise of the children hurling on the green beside the cell, and they disturbed Féchín at his devotions. Says Féchín: ‘I permit you to go and be drowned in the lake, and your souls will be free (to ascend) to heaven.’ Then the children went into the lake, and they were drowned [...]

OK, so Féichín is being a petty and awful person here, right? But, the Mesopotamian flood myth told in the Epic of Gilgamesh is brought about by the god Enlil, and his reasons for inflicting that Flood was because mankind had become too noisy!

Enlil is the Mesopotamian god who matches the god-group Féichín represents here (though it is Enlil's son Ninurta who is the Plague god). These are the gods whose violence helps shape the world for inhabitation, but whose Saturnine tendencies make them dangerous to the inhabitants.

There's not enough to go on here, but I'm tempted to read this as a memory of when Ireland may have had a mass-casualty Deluge myth, once. There are other floods in Irish myth, and it's interesting to see that the responsible people can often be read as Fionn-associates like Féichín: Poets, Prophets, and the like.

Is Fiacha Just a Baddy

No more so than his parallel Apollo was to the Greeks, or Rudra is to Hindus. That is, no.

However, it might seem that way, because Féichín is a thematically-fierce aspect of a broader god - a god who isn't divided in this way in many other mythologies. In Greco-Roman myth, Saturn/Cronus is the more Saturnine part of the deity, and Apollo carries the more Civilised bits. But, Apollo is still the one who inflicts plague in the Iliad. The same is true of Rudra/Shiva in Hinduism - a beloved deity who's still responsible for sending deadly Fever. It's unclear whether Óðinn still had the same plague associations, but he was probably a healer (Kershaw, 1997: p.352) - and in a polytheism, the solution is often the source of the problem, as with Apollo.

The Irish equivalent of Apollo, Rudra, and Óðinn seems to be divided across more theonyms than in other branches - Fiacha bearing many of the fiercer aspects, seemingly including Plague. Does this mean Fiacha was seen as fully distinct from the "Core" Fionn-type god? I doubt it; it seems to me that the Core deity was often incarnate, whether as Fionn, Mongán, or (I argue) Conall Cernach. And, that the circumstances of his birth indicated a coming-together of a milieu of Fionn-group gods all into one (a pattern repeated in many Fionn-type saints).

For Fionn mac Cumhaill, he has a foster-father with a similar name to Fiacha: Fiacail (meaning "Tooth"). This Fiacail equips him with a magic spear, and shortly thereafter in his life a "Fiachra" equips him with a magic spear right before his fateful defeat of Aillen. One could imagine these being duplications of the same original character.

For Mongán (Fionn mac Cumhaill's reincarnation), his Father is called Fiachna, and his Father's Rival whose war creates the circumstances for his conception, is also named Fiachna.

They join other frequently-appearing Fionn-group gods (2) in attending to the conception, birth, childhood, and coming-of-age of the Fionn god in various incarnations, and are often found as close associates thereafter. Fiacha's recurrent appearance in this pattern suggests he was understood to be part of the whole.

This recursive self-incarnation is, however, not the only sort of birth-myth of the Fionn-types, and the other type says a lot about his theological role.

What Does Féichín Represent?

In brief: The mind's power to create, but also its fierce recrimination and self-doubt. The destructive second-thoughts. The necessary destruction, or 'pruning'.

J.Dolan, of Taliesin's Map, proposes a primordial "birth myth" for the Fionn-types. This forms part of a model for a common creation-myth event which aligns well with Norse, Mediterranean, and Indian creation-myths. In this model, the Primordial Fionn-type god is a near-descendent of the Demiurge-god - that is, the Creator-Within-Their-Created-World - as a sort of reaction to the Demiurge's own pro-creative action. This Primordial Fionn then immediately attacks either the Demiurge themselves, or usually a lower emanation thereof, and this attack metaphorically or literally represents the division of Earth and Sky to create the liveable world.

That's a brief summary, and I won't re-hash it - credit is due to Dolan for his work in finding a common myth that's well-conserved in other European mythologies and the Hindu mythology. The Celts having a myth that didn't correspond at least roughly to this form would require explanation, because we A) don't have a better model and B) it's the myth everyone's seemingly agreed upon in the Mesopotamian, North African, European, and Indo-Iranian mythologies. Dolan goes further and shows that the names and roles of characters in the Coming of the Milesians indicate that this is a Euhemerised version of the Irish account (3), while the Welsh case is to be found in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi.

What this model helps to explain is why there is an enduring antagonism between the Fionn-type gods (Dolan calls them "Rudra Types" after the Hindu case) and the progenitive groups of gods across all Proto-Indo-European religions. And, why this type of god, who has some fundamental reservations about Creation and everything within it, can appear to be fierce, destructive, or murderous. It may even have a Seasonal significance, with Dolan also linking the Fionn-type to an internationally conserved rivalry-story with a progenitive deity who might represent the advent of Summertime - probably the god known to Gauls as Cernunnos. (4)

So this primordial second-guessing deity sometimes directly attacks an aspect of the Demiurge themselves, and performs a recurrent hostile attack upon an even lower emanation of the Demiurge who may represent summertime, fruitfulness, sexuality, and life.

Coming back to Fiacha, it's interesting to observe:

• First, that the Demiurge the Fionn-types symbolically attack are their immediate ancestors, and male-coded
• Then, that in the Cycle of Kings (which provides a great recurrent resource for name-myths), characters named Fiacha, Fiachna, Fiachra, or Fachtna seem to frequently depose their own father or uncle.

Féichín, as a seeming god of Plague, Drought, and perhaps Flood, is practically as Saturnine as Fionn-types come. In this anti-progenitive nature, he shares something with both the most benign and the most hostile manifestations of the Fionn-type. Fintan, literally meaning "Old Fionn", flees a group of sexually aggressive women with such urgency that he becomes a fish and abandons his wife. Balor - the Demonic form of the deity, attempts to prevent his daughter from having a child, and is often interpreted as a god of Drought or Wildfire. And, in the more recursive mode of Fionn-births where they prefigure themselves in groups, there seems to be a recurring pattern where the Father and Mother need help conceiving - infertility as a trait of the type.

Seasoned Fionn readers will observe that Fionn is anything but Infertile, but note that Greek Cronus, for example, is also a Father-Deity and has many children. That brings us to the paradoxical sexuality of this frequently anti-progenitive deity..

A Little Nookie, Maybe

Even in his Saturnine mode, this deity is paradoxically not entirely against procreation. Indeed, this deity can sometimes be a strangely enthusiastic inciter of sexual union. This ambivalence gets engaging treatment from Stella Kramrish, whose work you'll find in the bibliography. This two-faced deity is sometimes very keen to enable the act of Creation, only to immediately regret it.

Many of the Fionn-type gods, internationally, are associated with the Mind and Intellect: perhaps their tendency to second-guess and reconsider is part of that archetype. True to this, Saint Féichín displays an uncommon (for a saint) pro-sexuality side too.

In one event in the Life, Féichín apparently takes a Leper to bed without argument: "a leper came to Féchín, and sought of him [..] to be in his company [..] in his bed. Féchín granted that for God's sake, and when they rose [..] leper was whole".

(Content Warning: Implied Sexual Imagery, 2 paragraphs)

On another event, another Leper demands a noble-born woman to sleep with, and Féichín straight-up abducts the wife of the High King to sleep with him. What follows seems to be a disgusting Christianisation of what was originally just sex, where the abducted woman sucks the leper's nose and then spits on a linen, and the result becomes gold.

The Vedic material displays examples where the Fire god Agni (at this stage closely identified with Rudra), seems to handle the semen of the progenitive god during the act of procreation, and the semen becomes in some sense the first sacrifice that 'powers' Creation. See also, how the genital fluids of Ouranos in Greek myth, when spilled by Cronus in the sea and on the earth, engender various things, most famously Aphrodite, the main goddess of love and sex.

(Concent Warning Finishes)

Before you go away thinking that Fiacha is always bad news, note that Fachtnas are seemingly the same deity. And the Fachtnas show more clearly the association with Intellect and Learning. There is a broad thematic contact-surface between Fachtnas and the teacher-preacher god represented by Cathbad, which might explain the way they are both presented as consorts of Ness in the Ulster Cycle (and recall from the previous issue how a Fachtna appears in that Ness' story, too). The Fiach/Fachtna types can also be poets, though it's less common than the other Fionn names. Even Féichín, whose myths contain no suggestion of poetic inclination, has an unexplained alternative name, "Mo-ecce" - "My poet".

So, these deities are not always Saturnine or Destructive or anti-progenitive, but when one is named Fiacha, he usually is. Unless he isn't. He's not sure. Stay tuned for other saints in this group, particularly anyone named Fachtna or Fiacha.

The name "Fiacha" and variants are still in widespread in Ireland. The name "Ó Fegan" may derive from "Ó Fiachan". The Ó Cibhleacháins (Keevlin, Coolihan, Killihan, etc.) were associated with being 'Coarbs' (sort of hereditary caretakers) of Féichín's monastary. As to places, Fore Abbey is to the North of Lough Lene in Westmeath, near Fore village. There is also a French Féichín, as J.Dolan laid out in his ~recent Gaulish Mercury video.

Footnotes

1. You might wonder if this is the famous Proto-Indo-European "Lightning Weapon", commonly characteristic to the "Thunderer" deity. However, Féichín bears none of the Thunderer mythos, and the Smiting in this case is positioned at a remove to Féichín's own curse. Instead, let me suggest that the Fionn-group deities often have a smiting weapon of their own, visible in the Eye of Balor and the Third Eye of Shiva. Shiva's Eye in particular shows the pattern of inflicting "harm" that only Shiva can cure - reminding of how Apollo's Arrows inflicts plague, which only he can heal. All very like Féichín's smiting in this confrontation. However, Saints often inflict curses only they may resolve - what's remarkable here is the spectacular, immediate, and destructive nature of the event. All that said, Féichín's Vedic parallel, Rudra, does bear the Lightning-weapon in RV.2.33.3 - the Lightning Weapon is not unique to the Thunderer, just usually his domain.
2. This group includes Fiacha, Boann or Fidelm, Nechtan or Nuada, Manannán or Aed (next issue!), Amergins, and more than half of the all characters with the word "Finn" or "Fionn" in their names (but not all). Of these, some are quite distinct from Fionn but are clearly part of the same group (Manannán, Boann, Nuada/Nechtan), while others are much closer to being aspects of the greater Fionn themselves, such as Fiacha, Amergin, and Aed.
3. I happen to disagree with Dolan that the coming of the Milesians literally is the Creation-moment, but I do think that it's a blunt re-rendering of the original story - much more than an echo, but less than the original. What is particularly exciting about his interpretation of the Milesians is how it provides us with the names or epithets of deities all the way up to the "Absolute": Breoghan. Dolan has then been show to find a very clear Etymology linking Breoghan to the Vedic name for the same abstract idea of a pre-creation Absolute, "Brahman", an exciting development.
4. Specifically to Ireland, Dolan links this to the story of Fionn and the Man in the Tree: I would go further and say that the story Fionn and the Severed Head (AKA Lomna's Head) matches the same pattern. The rivalry of Fionn and Coirpre in this story, then, may be writ-large in his later rivalry with the High King Cairbre Lifechair. Indeed, Coirpre or Cairbre often appears to be the name of a recurring Rival of Fionn-type characters in Irish myth, with a bunch of recurring details such having as a mother named Eithne. We'll meet Cairbre again among the Saints, don't worry.

Bibliography

• Stokes, Whitley (1891) (Translation) The Life of St Féichín of Fore, Revue Celtique vol.12 pp. 318–353. available at Celt.
• Plummer, Charles (1910), Vita sancti Geraldi abbatis de Magh Eo, In: Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae Vol.II, pp.107-115. available on Archive. Bad machine translation here.
• Meyer, Kuno (1901), The Boyish Exploits of Finn, Ériu 1, pp.180-190. Available at Celt.
• Kramrisch, Stella (1981), The Presence of Shiva, Princeston, USA: Cambridge University Press.
• Kershaw, Priscilla K. (1997), The One-Eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde. Cornell, USA: Journal of Indo-European Studies, Monograph Series, No.36.

Coming Up

31st Jan: Máedóc/Aedan of Ferns, one representative of the Fire Deity.

1st Feb: Imbolc, and a treatment of one of Brighid's parallels, Artemis.

6th Feb: Mél of Ardagh, bearing a small part of Midir's mythology.

11th Feb: Gobnait of Baile Mhuirne, Cork - an Irish Hearth-and Fire Goddess.

Patterns in Celtic Comparativism, #3

Conceptions! They happen, and Gods are responsible sometimes.

A common assumption, sometimes held quite strongly, is that a Conception of a god is always the God themselves incarnating. This is held by some to say that Cúchulainn is Lugh's incarnation, for example. But the same people would not accept Mongán as Manannán's incarnation, because the texts say Mongán is Fionn mac Cumhaill.

There are cases when a God's offspring are aspects of themselves. One common case is when a God is an agglomeration of other gods - many pantheons have at least one. The Norse pantheon has Óðinn, Greek has Zeus, and in Irish myth we have The Dagda. All have a seeming core identity but with a number of (usually related) gods absorbed in.

When these agglomeration-deities need to tell a story of one of their parts, which would be incompatible or incongruous, they incarnate. So, Zeus' life-arc does not fully match that of his likely Irish cognate, Lugh - rather than being forgotten, this life-arc is spun out into an incarnation, Perseus.

Another reason why a God might need an incarnation is if a story needs to be told about the god that is beneath the perceived dignity of the god, or if the god through syncretism of related traditions now has two or more birth, marriage, or death myths, etcetera - having an incarnation lets the stories get kept close to where they belong without causing confusion.

Outside of these cases, a Divine Conception does not necessarily have to be an incarnation at all. And the two most obvious Irish conceptions are not Incarnations, either:

The most popular is the conception of Cúchulainn by Lugh and Deichtine. Cúchulainn is not Lugh, for starters: he is Mars, Gawain, Ossetian Shoshlan, and part of Vishnu. Lugh instead matches Tyr, Zeus, Arthur Pendragon, Ossetian Batraz, Vedic Mitra. (Credit to Dolan for these identifications)

The next most famous explict-godly-conception would be Mongán. Mongán is not his sire Manannán, he's reincarnated Fionn. In this case, it's clearly stated in the text.

But why are Lugh and Manannán siring a different god in incarnate human form? Simply because that child could have been his at the divine level, too. It's reasonable enough that if a God might sire another god in fully divine form, then they can sire them in mortal form too.

In the case of Cúchulainn, he is the Young Warrior God, seeming to me a perfect match for the more martial of the Divine Twins/Horse Twins. And these gods as part of their myth seem to have a mytheme of multiple paternity, as if they're trying to say "I could be anyone's son, anyone's brother". Though their father is usually the Father Sky god, there's little reason Lugh couldn't also stand in - and asymmetric parentage is normal for them anyway.

For Mongán, it's simply the case that the Fionn-type and associated deities frequently incarnate one another, and a team-effort conception seems to be a theme. Manannán, the Fire God (Yes!), can be incarnated as Áed Sláine with "help" from a Fionn or an Áed (credit variously given to Saints Finnian of Moville or Áed mac Bricc). Conall Cernach, who I argue is a Fionn/Nuada incarnation, is born of a Peaceable Fionn-type and Fionn-Water-Mother, with help from an anonymous "Druid". And Mongán is conceived to a childless marriage with "help" from Manannán. The Fionn-types and Fire-types (who are closely related) often seem to need this outside fertility from a related god to get things going.