St. Brendan/Bréanainn is Midir, the Moon-Immortality God, the God of the Grail. He represents the regeneration of lives, souls, and nature, and the immortality of the divine and those who make union with it.

This God is complex and messy - there's no room for a "Patterns" section in this issue. There's barely room for Bréanainn himself! You will be left with questions and loose ends. Ask away on the Fediverse, if you like - I have lots to add. No further ado: on to "Bréanainn", god of the Moon and Immortality.

Background: The God of Immortality

Fans of Greek Mythology may wonder where the Celtic Dionysus is. Dionysus is mysterious, charismatic - a cryptically horned deity of intoxication, death, rebirth, and mysterious salvation. He was born late, but he seems to be the very sacred drink of the gods? What's going on with his mysterious link with Hades, his standoffish links to Apollo? How could he esoterically also be Zeus? Pick a lane!

His clear parallel in Hinduism, Soma (AKA Chandra), proves that this God of the Sacred Drink wasn't only a Mediterranean concern. And why would it be? The Gods of Proto-Indo-European mythologies maintain their immortality with a sacred feast of food and drink, and it's natural that there be a god of this repast. The Celts must have had such a god: the Hindu and Mediterranean religions do, and their respective gods are Big Deals.

That someone is Midir in the Gaelic material, and seemingly Arawn in the Welsh, and (at least partially) Njorðr in the Norse, as already demonstrated by J.Dolan of Taliesin's Map on his detailed explorations on his blog, in his book (see bibl.), and in various videos.

In order to focus on the Saintly and Ulster-Cycle parallels, I'm going to avoid repeating Dolan's work - check his shorter video on Midir and Arawn for a primer. Otherwise, take these key points as given: this god has strong lunar associations, Soma has an unofficial incarnation "Chyavana" who demonstrates that the god is associated with traumatic birth, and his domain makes him a rival to the most powerful gods, in the context of the sacred space of ritual and sacrifice.

If you really want to get a good idea of Dionysus and Soma, their respective Wikipedia pages are well-resourced. You can find deeper info on Dionysus on Theoi, and a Thesis on Soma by Anjana Chakraborty on Wisdomlib.org has an excellent chapter on the characteristics of Soma.

The Wanderer, The Bright Faced, The Horned

The Moon is a symbol of regeneration: it goes through a monthly cycle of growth, fullness, decline, and death. More curiously, it spends its time equally in the day and the night throughout this cycle - it is "born" with the Sun, and "dies" with the Sun, but it's master of the night sky at its midpoint. But it always wanes from this peak - many myths attribute this to a punishment for pride or insolence to other celestial entities, or to a wasting sickness needing a periodic cure.

The Moon is a voyager par excellance, crossing the constellations rapidly, like a year in miniature. The Moon god can seem to "know everyone" and to travel widely between realms, including perhaps the underworld or afterlife. It may be a psychopomp, bearing souls along the way, or it may even be the very lord of the dead themself - Dionysus' esoteric identity with Hades, for example, or Soma's identity with Dharma (AKA Yama, god of the dead).

Sailing through the cosmic ocean of the night sky, the Moon is often associated also with moisture and "The Waters". The tides follow the life-cycle of the Moon, being at their most extreme at the peak and trough of the Moon's travels. Perhaps given this seeming power over waters, the Moon may be associated with sea travel and fishing. But, as plants seem to gain their vigour from water, the Moon is also associated with vegetative growth and auspicious times for planting or harvesting: especially of fruit or medicinal/sacred herbs or fungi (of which the sacred drink may be made).

The Moon also appears, when closest to death/birth, to have horns like those of a Bull, Antelope, or (some breeds of) Goat; and indeed, the Gods of the Moon are associated with Bulls, Antelope, and Goats - note for example how Dionysus is described in several myths as being born with crescent horns, or how Zeus hides him in the form of a goat as a child, and how in one incarnation he is slain in the form of a Bull. Soma's chariot, meanwhile, is sometimes drawn by Antelope.

The moon dies and is born in immediate succession. So, the birth-myths of the moon may exhibit this immanence of death - which was really never far from anyone's birth, prior to the advent of modern midwifery and obstetric medicine. Chyavana and Dionysus are both born premature, and Dionysus-Zagreus dies as a child and is reborn. For the same reason, the Moon gods may represent reincarnation, famously part of the Hindu religion but also periodically in the Greek.

Paradoxically, because the Moon is an elder when it approaches the Day, and a youth as it leaves, it may appear as both an elder and a youth among the other gods - Dionysus to the Orphics was seen as being a form of Protogonos, the Demiurge, yet also the son of Zeus and his designated successor.

As we'll see, it seems that in the Celtic (or at least, Irish) material, the god of Immortality seems to have been clearly identified with both roles: Moon and Life-Death. Like the Moon, he traverses the endless energy of the Day, and the vacuous unknown of the Night. He is indeed horned in some forms, and his birth is frequently touched by death and "resurrection". And somehow he is an Ancestor as well as a Youth.

Callback Time: Brighid, Sister to the Moon

In my issue on the thematic and narrative links between Brighid and Artemis, I explored how the birth-myth of Brigit (the main saintly form of Brighid) was shared with Artemis - that at her birth, she acts as limneal birth-guardian to her own brother (both Artemis and Brigit being goddesses of Midwifery). But, I also said that, unlike Artemis, Brigit's unnamed brother was not the Gaelic Apollo.

Instead, it appears that it was Midir/Bréanainn that was born alongside her, and who she had to resuscitate immediately upon her own birth. No surprise that the two remain close; Brigit having a few interactions with Bréanainn (and his possible double, Mél), and Bréanainn retaining a close relationship with his sister Brígh in his own Vita and interacting positively with Brigit of Kildare.

Birth Myth of Bréanainn, as Combined with Brighid

If this is so, then we could combine the birth-myths of Brighid and Bréanainn of Clonfert to get a fuller picture.

From several forms of Brigit's birth, we have this part: At the eve of their births, prophesy is given that two will be born, the younger born first (e.g.: premature), one at nightfall, and one at daybreak - and the former will be in some way forever subordinate to the latter. A prince is born that night, but he is stillborn. Brigit is born at daybreak, and she is brought to the prince, reviving him with her breath. The boy is not named or referred to afterwards.

From Bréanainn's life, we only have that he is prophesied to be born to a wealthy couple, he is born at night, and people come on the morrow to pay him homage and give him gifts, including 30 calves born that very night and their cows (NB: Birth link to horned bovines). His sister is not mentioned until later, but, well, here:

Then dwelt Brig with him ; she was an own sister of his, and exceeding was the greatness of his love for her, for manifest to him was the service of the angels over her, and her foster-father used to see her countenance as it were the radiance of a summer sun.

Their foster-father is Erc, a Dagda saint. Another apparent Dagda pseudonym is "Dubhthach", father of Brigit by a slave-consort. Whereas her princely half-brother is born to Dubhthach's wife. Who is Father to Brighid and Midir? An Dagda. And who is An Dagda's Wife? The Mórrígan.

Now, I believe there are variants of Brigit's myth where she's daughter of Dubhthach's wife, rather than a slave-consort. So, whether Bréanainn and Brighid might have actually been literal twins, born night-and-day, vs. siblings by different mothers, is open to interpretation.

Reunited, at the End

Just to skip ahead a minute; we have the putative Moon-God being born with the Sun-Goddess, just as the new-moon is 'born' in the daytime sky. But, what about his Death? Yep - Bréanainn dies in the company of Bríg, his sister. Indeed, at the fort of "Áed, son of Eochaid" - possibly the male fire-and-sun-god Áed (1).

Moon, meet Mum

Whatever doubt there might be about Brighid's parentage, there's none about Midir/Bréanainn - Erc (Dagda) brings him right to Íta (the Mórrígan), who's his mother-figure, and loves him dearly, and misses him terribly when he's away.

Bréanainn remains close to Íta and visits - he's a good kid.

Dagdad

Midir is usually given to be a son of the Dagda. While Bréanainn has an official father, named "Fin[nd]lugh", it's Erc who baptises him, takes him directly to Íta, fosters him personally with his sister Bríg, and later ordains him. Erc is there his whole young life.

If circumstances alone weren't enough, other scholars have already determined that "Erc" is probably an ancient epithet of the Dagda (Lajoyea & Oudaerb, 2014). We'll be seeing more of him and his saints when we get to Declan of Ardmore in July.

When he's baptised by Erc, three purple wethers (castrated rams or male sheep) leap out of the water of the well. Recall that Rams, being animals that may have crescent horns, may also be an association of this god - they are for Dionysus, if not Soma. Perhaps coincidentally, purple is the colour most strongly associated with Dionysus, and is also found as one of Midir's distinctive colours. Dionysus spends some childhood time as a goat - perhaps Bréanainn does too.

Fosterer of His Brother, Aengus

When The Dagda and Boann bear a love-child of their illicit affair, Aengus, they quickly squirrel him to his older brother Midir for fosterage. Aengus then follows an arc of discovering his true parentage and seeking his inheritance.

I won't spoil it here before Moling/Aengus's issue in June, but suffice to say: the arc of Moling's illicit birth and (proxied) fosterage by Bréanainn is essentially the same as for Aengus.

Bréanainn, Mobhí, Buadán, Baoithín..

When Bréanainn is first named, his name is "Mo-Bí", which is a pet-form of a few names - we'll get to that. But there are signs-and-portents, a magical glowing mist, and he's immediately renamed "Bréanainn". The Hagiography explains that it's "Braon-fhinn" (in modern orthography) - meaning white-drop or fair-drop, because of the mist.

Can I just.. stop for a moment, and point out that "Indu" meaning "bright drop" is literally an epithet of Soma/Chandra? Honestly, I don't even think that could be anything but chance, but it's pretty amazing.

Bréanainn is actually a borrow from Welsh, originally meaning something like "Prince". This actually complicates things a bit for me, because finding parallels for this name is basically impossible. There are two significant "Bréanainns", and only one has a Vita of his own. The other Bréanainn is either there to break up the mythos into smaller chunks, or to account for a possibly earlier "generation" of the same deity, possibly born from a more primordial layer than Mórrígan/The Dagda.

However, that original pet-name, Mo-bí / Mobhí? That does get us somewhere. It can be either a pet-name form of Bréanainn itself, or of Berchán, or of Baoíthín, or Buadán, or Beoán.. But before we get into that, let's look at Mobhí itself; there is another saint who's best-known as "Mo-Bhí": "Mobhí Cláireanach".

The Man With No Face

Mobhí first appears in an early life of Colmcille, where he's punished for sneaking a peek at Colmcille through a keyhole by having most of his face disappear. In later versions, he's born that way because he's born of a dead mother, and the earth smushes his face, or something. Note: a traumatic birth surrounded by death, again.

Mobhí is referred to as "table-faced" because of the smoothness of his face. There are some cameos of "Table Faced Man" without reference to his actual name, and if you add up these cameos you get a picture, where his face is either restored by himself at St.David of Wales' place (who I believe parallels Colmcille - the Summer/Daytime King), or it's cured by Máedóc or Brigit (the sun gods).

Mobhí's full name is officially "Berchán", which would seem to fly against my theory that the "Ber/Bar" names tend to refer to Fionn-group gods. For one thing, the Moon-god sometimes kinda is a form of the Fionn-god, so Berach/Berchán might be a name that can apply to either, similarly to how Baodán/Baoithín might be his preferred name when he's associated with the Sun/Summer.

It's also possible that it was erroneous - and that Mobhí's actual name was either Bréanainn (also rendered Mobhí) or Baodán/Baoithín/Beóán, which become "Mobhaoi" - a name nearly identical in sound to Mobhí.

The Guileless One

Baodán/Baoithín may mean "Guileless one", according to (Ó Riain, 2025). There are plenty of people with this name, and curiously you'll find a Summer-King (e.g. Colmán/Colmcille/Cainneach) archetype very close to most of them. Indeed, if you just take the saints Baodán/Baoithín and the Colms, you'll find a lot of overlap of feast-days, too - it's like the Baoithíns live in the shadows of the Colmáns.

The most famous of these is Baoithín, son of Bréanainn son of Fergus (Dagda!), protegé and heir-apparent to Colmcille, who succeeds him at Iona for one year and then dies the same day.

Despite being mostly a foil for Colmcille, some folklore of Baoithín gives him a nautical vibe that resembles Bréanainn, including a tame whale and a stone boat. (NFCS 1123:106) He also has a Bell that holy water is drunk from, suggesting a cup of sacred liquid.

Other Baodáns/Baedan/Baoithíns have suggestive links: For example, Bréanainn of Clonfert was given by Bishop Phelan as patron of Tobarboe, but the local tradition venerated "Baoi". A feast day to the less-documented Bréanainn of Edarcloon of 13th December is shared by Colum of Terryglass and also a Baodán of Cloney. And a cluster of feast-days in mid-May exists between Bréanainns, Colums, and a Baoithín.

Others..

These coincidences and overlaps suggest a few other epithets, that I won't go into: Beoán and Beag maybe, Éidchéan/Earnán (or "Mearnóg") probably.

With Beoán & Baedan, I note that Beothach is a Nemedian ancestor to the Tuatha Dé, who gained their power in the land of Boetia.

The Horned Man

In the Ulster Cycle, we find "Furbaide Fer-Bend". His parents are Conchobhar and Clothru. Clothru's murdered by a Lugaid, and Furbaide is cut from her womb - like Mo-bhí then, he is born of a dead mother (3).

Furbaide's epithet "Fer-Bend" literally means "Horned Man", because he has horns growing from his head.

Furbaide is the one who ultimately slays Medb (name meaning "Intoxication") with a piece of hard cheese thrown from a sling. The association of Dionysus and Chyavana with power over intoxication offer an interesting interpretation, that it may be Furbaide's role to slay "intoxication".

Examining the many names of the Dagda from the BMT-2, we find that some seem to be his offspring's names. And one of them is "Fer Benn": the same meaning as Fer-Bend. I think "Fer-Ben[nd]" may have originally been an epithet of Midir.

Faces of the Moon: Water & Vegetation

Dionysus, while not overtly the god of the Moon, shares the association with vegetation and "the waters" - moisture is associated with his power and patronage, as is the growth of plants. Soma is more explicitly associated with these things, being more openly understood as the Moon God. And indeed, Bréanainn shares at least the association with the fruitfulness of waters. He's a patron of fishermen and travellers. Certain versions of his Vitae are replete with miracles of fish and aquatic animals such as whales and otters. Indeed, one myth might even represent the first otter, an unfortunate man transformed by Bréanainn! He also controls ocean-Kaiju, pitting whales and giant fish, pokémon-style, against other sea-monsters.

He blesses or curses shores and waterways to be barren or fruitful of fish, in his own lives and in his cameo in the Life of Moling. I mentioned in the case of Bishop Mél how one of his own miracles of ploughing up a fish from a field looks like a characteristic of this god-type; this is why.

As to herbiage and vegetation - many times in his voyage, he instructs his monks to collect fish, roots, and herbs from islands, sometimes telling them where to find them, or promising them a bounty of both. This isn't just because Monks prefer fish, because there is one occasion where he directs them to take sheep from an island, too.

Faces of the Moon: Death

In the tale "Preiddiu Annwfn" (En: "Preh-thee Ann-ou-ven"), Arthur & Co raid Arawn's domain, making off with wondrous pigs and a wondrous cauldron. Likewise, in some versions of the Death of Cú Roí, it is Midir whose cauldron and wondrous cows and possibly daughter are stolen by Conchobhar's (~Arthur) forces.

Arawn, for his part, seems to be a "Wild Hunt" god (like Gwynn), and his domain in the otherworld, Annwn, could potentially be read as the primary afterlife. The Gaelic cases seem a little more distinct between Moon/Immortality and Death-god, but not by much.

For example, Furbaide Fer-bend has another name: Diarmait - seemingly one of the Gaelic Death God's names (besides Donn). Indeed, the island where he kills Medb, has for its saint "Saint Diarmait the Just" (2). Another Diarmait (of Castledermot) even has a mother named Cloithbeó, and is named for his grandfather Conchobhar - names recalling Furbaide's parentage.

Midir's son in the Fenian cycle is named "Donn". A Fian named Donn later has a famous son, Diarmait, join the Fianna - officially these Donns are distinct.

When Midir is wooing the reincarnated Étaín away from her husband Eochaid Airem, the poem he sings of his land sounds very like the description of a pleasant afterlife. In 'The Courting of Treblainne', Midir returns the deceased Treblann to her lover Fraech, from his own Sidhe.

And, of course, Bréanainn's famous voyage is, fairly blatantly, a journey to the pleasant-afterlife. Just as Dionysus does, Bréanainn seems to forge a path to the afterlife, and back again.

Faces of the Moon: The Creator and the Summer King

Cíaráns & Bréanainns are curiously close. One or both Bréanainns seem to accompany the Cíaráns on excursions to find or retrieve things. They're curiously passive - they tend to just tag along. But, in some Vitae of Cíarán of Saighir, the two Cíaráns and the two Bréanainns declare a bond, which could imply a sort of shared identity.

Possibly even deeper are the connections to the Colmáns, especially the Ur-Colmán, Colmcille (neé Crimthann). For starters, both Bréanainns cameo in the Life by Adomnán, most consequentially when Bréanainn of Birr intervenes to save Colmcille from excommunication.

But, if Baoithín/Baodán/Baithin is indeed another alter-ego of the Moon-God, then he's everywhere in Colmcille's life. Baoithíns are found near Colms, often sharing feast-days..sometimes across the supposed boundaries between the duplicated saints! These feasts are often close to, or overlapping, those of the few Bréanainns we know of, as mentioned above.

Faces of the Moon: The Wise Destroyer

The last connection is to the Fionn-cluster of gods - the wintery, lunar, fierce, destructive, yet wise and poetic gods. In the Vedic/Hindu material, a connection between Rudra/Shiva and Soma is fairly explicit in the use of paired names, even at times seeming to suggest a full identity of the two - as if Soma simply is Rudra in a different mood or mode. But then, that's essentially true of Soma's relationship to the other deities he's identified with, too - there's a little bit of everyone in him.

This Fionn-type connection is also visible in the European traditions, such as the curious way that Dionysus and Apollo share the Delphic Oracle.

It's also clear in the Celtic traditions, coming in somewhere in-between the clarity of the Hindu tradition and the happenstance of the Mediterranean. Arawn has some narratives that tie him to Midir, yet his overall "vibe" is strongly skewed towards (the Fionn-type) Gwynn, a fellow lord of Annwn. Fionn comes to the aid of the Sons of Midir, and the one who informs Bréanainn of the Blessed Island is "Barinthus" or "Bairrfhionn" - a Fionn name. Bréanainn's own name is explained in his hagiography as "Braon fhinn" - white/fair drop, hinting at his nature as a god of moisture, and also his possible relation to the Fionn type.

Wrap-Up

Officially, Bréanainn is a borrow-word, now anglicised as "Brendan". But looking at the other names I think belong to this God, which begin with a "Bae/Bao" sound (English would spell the sound like "bee" or "bwee") I have a feeling that "Braonfhinn" ("white/fair/bright drop", perhaps in English orth. "Breen'in"), as suggested by Brendan's Vita, might actually be an authentic older form. As to the other epithets, I don't think any are in widespread use as modern names, though regional use of variants of Baoithín may continue near some sites holy to this character.

If we include the Baoithíns, Beoáns, Earnáns, etc., then there are too many places to mention. But for Bréanainn, the most famous sites are Birr and Clonfert.. and the happy afterlife, of course. For Midir, of course, it's Brí Leith - Ardagh Hill.

Goats, possibly sheep, and maybe Otters, Dolphins, and Whales may be associated sacred animals.

It's hard to guess at sacred plants - we don't even know for sure about those of Soma and Dionysus! Probably any sacramental entheogenic plant or fungus may have been sacred to Bréanainn or Fionn.

Mead and Beer are likely to have been seen as contextually sacred drinks. Mention is often made, in particular, of hazelnut mead.

There may be an association with Phrygian-mode music, which was associated with Dionysus. If you want to hear Phrygian-mode music, you'll find plenty of Metal examples.

Footnotes

1. This place is in Eanach Dhúin: usually translated "Marsh of [the] Fort". Given that Bréanainn's death is the main cause for its earliest mentions, and that Bréanainn is closely associated (esp at death) with Diarmuid/Donn, I wonder could it alternately have been "Marsh of Donn"? Probably that would have been "Dhoinn"..a question for a Gaelic Linguist, perhaps.
2. "Justice" & Right-Action being associations of the Death-God - Hindu God of Death Yama is also known as Dharma, a complex concept of right-action. In Irish tradition, one of Donn's key epithets is "Donn Fírinne"; "Donn of Truth".
3. Lugaid matches Zeus, who "kills" Dionysus' mortal mother Semele but rescues her premature son, Dionysus.

Bibliography

• Dolan, J. (2022) "Taliesin's Map". ISBN-13: 979-8766418764. Available only on Amazon
• Plummer, Charles (1922) Bethada Náem nÉrenn. In the UCC Celt version, Brendan's missing! Read here on Archive.org
• Lajoyea, Patrice; Oudaerb, Guillaume (2014) "Percos/Ercos: An Unknown Celtic Theonym", The Journal of Indo-European Studies, Volume 42, No. 1&2, Spring/Summer 2014, p.50
• Ó Riain, Pádraig (2025) A Dictionary of Irish Saints. Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN: 978-1-80151-162-9

Coming Up

• 22nd May: Conall Caol, another epithet of the Fionn-type
• 9th June: Colmcille, Irish Brahma, "Oak/Summer King" of Cosmic Summer
• 17th June: Double Issue: Moling Luachra - Saint-form of Aengus mac Óg; and Nectan of Hartland - Boann's husband Nechtan, God of the Well of Wisdom