This is the first in a new series I'm going to be doing sharing information on various deities from Irish mythology, focused on what the mythology itself tells us. This won't include modern beliefs or folklore, but hopefully will help people understand the foundational material we are working with.
Things we know about the Irish goddess Brighid from mythology:
- her father is the Dagda (LGE & SC)
- she had a son named Ruadán via the half-Fomorian king Bres (CMT)
- she *may* have had three other sons, Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba, with Tuireann (Grey references this as marginalia on a text; see Gray's CMT notes)
- alternately she may have had three [other] sons with Bres: Brian, Luchar, and Uar (IidT)
- she possessed a variety of animals described as 'kings' of their respective species including a ram, boar, and oxen; these animals would cry out when violations occured in Ireland (LGE)
- she invented a whistle to alert at night (CMT)
- she was the first person to caoin/keen in Ireland after her son Ruadán was killed (CMT)
- she was strongly associated with poetry and poets (CMT notes, SC, LGE, IidT)
- she may have been understood as a group of three sisters: a poet, smith, and healer (SC)
Sources:
CMT - Cath Maige Tuired
LGE - Lebor Gabala Erenn
SC - Sanas Cormaic (folk etymologies, so take with a grain of salt. Throw out his claim that her name was 'fiery arrow' completely)
IidT - Imcallam in da Thurad
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