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[W] King of Boars. Sometimes given as the Orc-Triath. This is the Irish equivalent of the Welsh Twrch Trwyth, hunted in the story of Culhwch and Olwen. The Torc Triath is listed as being among the possessions of the fertility goddess Brigid, daughter of the Dagda.
[I] Chief island of the Fomorii. The name derives from torach (tower-like), which is an apt description of the island. However, it is here that Conann built his tower, which the Nemedians attacked, and that Balor of the Evil Eye had his daughter imprisoned in a tower of crystal.
[W] One of Arthur’s two herdsmen. The other was Eli.
A basic pre-Christian belief among the ancient Celts. See Otherworld. Souls migrated from the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead and vice versa. They also migrated through various births. Not only could people be reborn as other people, they could go through various changes. Fintan survived the Deluge by changing into a salmon. Gwion Bach also achieved several changes.
[I] It contained numerous articles with magical properties, such as the knife and shirt of Manannán Mac Lir. It was made form the skin of Aoife, who was killed while in the form of a crane. Also known as the “Crane Bag.”
The concept of the trinity seems more or less universal among Indo-European cultures, although nowhere is it more prominent than in Celtic culture. Diogenes Laertius (third century b.c.) mentions that the druids taught in the form of triads. In both Irish and Welsh myths and featured on surviving Gaulish head carvings, the triune deities are noticeable. Three and three-times-three permeate Celtic philosophy and art. Hilary, who became bishop of Poitiers in a.d. 350, is regarded as the first native Celt to become an outstanding force in the Christian movement. His greatest work was De Trinitate, defining the concept of a Holy Trinity, which is now so integral to Christian belief. As a Celt, Hilary was imbued with the mystical traditions of the triune god, and, therefore, the trinity in Christian tradition owes its origin more to Celtic concepts than to Judaic-Greco philosophies.
A medieval cycle of tales featuring Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and Iseult, daughter of an Irish
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