orlathewitch:
bywandandsword:
The Morrigan being Brighid’s mother
Thoughts?
I wouldn’t tell someone not to have a personal gnosis but if you’re looking to investigate the texts and Dinnseanachas then I’d probably say no.
The Morrigu are generally seen as the granddaugthers of Nuada. The Morrigan does have that affair with Dagda before the first battle of Mag Tuiread and he is generally seen as Brighid’s father but there is little other connection between them other then connections to poetry and that’s like 50% of Irish mythological figures since poets were doing the telling. Since Dagda replaces Nuada as king in somewhat of a coup and it is not implied that they are related to each other through any kin. A shared child/grandchild relationship would have been important in cementing Dagda’s right to be king.
Also Brighid’s son was killed in the same battle, not that the concept of time really matters in these myths, but it implies that she was born before the affair.
That said, there’s something interesting in a goddess of smithworking being the daughter of a battle goddess.
Sorry for the late response, school’s left me tuckered lately
The thing about when an Morrigan and an Dagda bang before the battle is that it’s not just a one time thing, it’s annual. It’s just that that specific time happened to be right before that battle
“Boi tegdus den Dagdae a nGlionn Etin antuaith. Bai dno bandal forsin Dagdae dia bliadnae imon samain an catha oc Glind Edind.”
“The Dagda had a house at Glenn Etin in the north. The Dagda was to meet a woman on a day, yearly, about Samain of the battle at Glen Etin.”
-Cath Maige Tuired (translated by Morgan Daimler)
so like, that means that the Morrigan has a fairly steady relationship with the Dagda, unlike the Dagda’s other lover, Boand. A lot of people seem to like the idea that Boand is Brighid’s mom, but like, the Dagda literally had to stop the sun for nine months just so Aengus could be born without Nechtan finding out. That’s a lot of hoopla just to have one kid (imagine having to do all that a second time!) and it just seems like a one time thing and mostly to give Aengus the distinction of having been conceived and born in one day.
Back to the Morrigan, it’s also hinted in the Metrical Dindshenchas in the Odras poem that the Morrigan might be the Dagda’s wife. It’s a bit long to put here so here’s a link to a great translation by one of the hosts of Story Archaeology. In the poem, an Morrigan steals a bull from Odras (a woman-hospitaller who’s husband is a cow lord). The relevant verses are verse five (in which she is called “ben in Dagda” which Carmody translates to “the Dagda’s woman” and Daimler translates to “
the wife of the Dagda”) and she’s later identified by name in verse nine.
To me, it just makes sense that of the the lovers the Dagda has, the Morrigan is makes the most sense as a candidate for the mother of Brighid. It’s just speculation and UPG though, I can’t prove it one way or the other, but I agree that there’s something interesting in a smithing goddess as the daughter of a battle goddess, but also another layer of angst interesting when you remember that Brighid invented keening to mourn her son who was slain because of that war and is by extension connected to mourning the battle-slain.
Ocean's Meadow 