The Fomorians who turned their backs on the sea of Eire - Book Report/Review Example

The Fomorians Who Turned Their Backs on the Sea of Eire December 7, 2006 After the great flood, the land of Eire was in terrible discord. The descendants of the sons and daughters of Noah had struggled against the land and braved the cruel spirits of the earth for their seaside homes, and thus built the race known as the Fomorians. The Fomorians were not a people of people of peace, the land they lived in was harsh and cold, infested with the mischievous and often cruel fairy kind. From this, the Fomorians became a people of cruelty and violence, who sough only to further their enslavement of the Partholon and Nemod. After three hundred years of war, a great epidemic overtook the Partholons, and only a handful of the Nemod remained. The Fomorian Kings, Mord who was son of Dela, who was descendent from Cham, Noah's youngest son, and Conann who was son of Febar, oppressed the Nemod into slavery. The taxes imposed by the Fomorian Kings were harsh. Each year at the winter solstice known as Samhain, the Nemod would bring the Fomorian a tax of two-thirds. Two-thirds of their children born that year, and of their crops, and of their tools, were placed at the foot of the great stone circles. The Nemod stood against the Fomorians, only once. The battle was ferocious, and the persecuted Nemods fought with stone weapons and wooden staffs, but could not overcome their oppressors. Seeing that they would surely die beneath the giant and powerful Fomorians, the Nemods ran with their wives and children into the violent sea, giving their lives to the ocean. They clung to their children and threw themselves from the high cliffs into the ice cold waters. Their light on this earth was extinguished. The tribes of the Fomorians settled all the lands of Eire, and divided the island into five province centred at Balor's Hill. These were: Ulaid (Ulster) in the north, Ciced Ol nEchmacht (Connacht) in the west, Mumha or Mhumhain (Munster) in the south, and Laighin (Leinster) in the east. And between them all lay the kingdom of Mde, where the High King of Ireland ruled over them from Tara in Mde. Enchanted by their own prowess at battle, and believing they were the only true inheritance of Eire, the Formians turned their backs on the sea from whence they came. The Fomorians turned away from the old magics of sea and hearth, and instead worshipped their battle prowess and conquests, building towers in honour of their mastery. No longer did the Fomorians leave gifts for the sea, and in their own greed worshipped only themselves. Beneath the sea, the spirits of the Nemod called upon the ancient gods: Morrign, Badb, and Macha. They begged for a champion, for retribution to set their souls at peace. The ancient gods heard the cry, and when the time came that the Sun lay between equinox and summer solstice, the ancients used the power of the lunar and solar cycle to birth the Tuath De Dannan. If the Fomians had been looking towards the sea, instead of towards their central High King in Mide, they would have seen the ocean green turned to red, and from that bubbling red water the rise of the Tuath De Dannan, who had heard the dead cries of the Nemod. Hidden by the great magics of the ancient gods Morrign, Badb and Macha, the Tuath De Dannan rose up from the boiling sea and landed upon the sandy shores, greeted only by the white bones of the Nemod. The Tuatha De Danann were met by the fierce armies of the Fomorians at the Plain of the Sea by Leinster. They Tuath King Nuada met King Eochaid, who was descendent from the Fir Bolg. Nuada asked for penance and peace, but King Eochaid, refused. The great armies of Eochaid and Nuada met on the fields of battle, standing above the ocean on massive cliffs. Beneath them, the sea itself rose up with crests of white foam, kissing the tops of the cliffs. The battle lasted through the three days of Summer Solstice, and at the last, King Nuada feared for his people. In a fierce battle with Sreng, King Eochaid's chosen champion, Nuada's hand was severed. It was then, seeing the Tuath De Dannan were falling to the fierce Formorians and Fir Bolgs, that Nuada raised his voice to the sea. He called upon the ancient gods once more, and they answered him. The sea itself rose above the hundred foot cliffs, reaching to the battle fields with force and fury that comes from the dark depths of the ice-cold ocean. In one fell wave, the Formorians and Fir Bolgs were carried into the ocean, but the Tuath De Dannan were not touched by the violent waves. This was not the last battle between the Tuath and the Fomorians. The Fomorians were still many more than the Tuath, though the Fir Bolgs had been reduced to three hundred and those lands divided amongst the Tuath. The Fomorians were not kind or welcoming to the Tuath, and the violence against the Tuath increased tenfold. While the Fomorian's forged weapons of stone blades, the Tuath turned to the goddess Morrign, who gave the Tuath King Nuada one gift that could overcome the Formorians, but he must lay down his weapons and kingdom to Luchtaine for thirteen years. The Tuathan King agreed, and Marrign chose among them Goidniu, and had him forge a pair of silver gloves. Marrign blessed each glove with her breath and waters from the ocean. The armies met again on the first eve of Samhain. They battled in single combat from dawn to dusk. Each dawn the Tuathan had no wounds, and there weapons held no mark of battle. The Formorians became suspicious, and sent the son of the goddess Brigit, Ruadan, to spy on the Tuathan camp. He saw that Goidniu wore gloves of fine silver, and each thing he laid his hands upon, be it man or metal became new again. Jealous of this power, the Fomorians devised a great spear from the trunk of the eldest tree on the hill of Balor, with their sights on rendering it through the heart of Goidniu. Ruadan, son of the gods and strongest of all Fomorian warriors, feared even by his own men, was to throw the spear. The Fomorian priests blessed his hand with their own blood, so that it would have the strength of a hundred men and fly straight to the heart of Goidniu. Ruadan lifted the spear into the air, and cursed the sea that had brought the Tuathan into their midst. Just then, a massive fog rose from the ocean, weaving its way through the forests and mountains and over the cliffs and valleys. It covered the Tuathan and the Fomorians. Ruadan threw his spear, but was confused by the thick fog. The spear ripped through Fomorian and Tuathan alike, and turned itself about in the fog, unable to find its mark. Finally, the great spear landed in the eye of the High King of the Five Lands of Eire, and the Tuathan were finally victorious against the evil Fomorians. The sea itself rose again from the fog, and brought every Fomorian, down to the last child, back into her icy and unforgiving depths, where they lived forever-more in the afterlife as slaves to the Nemod. Bibliography1 Clifton Unitarian Church (2000) Celtic Mythology: The Story of Finding Our Place. Retrieved December 7, 2006 from http://www.cliftonunitarian.com/toddstalks/celticmythology.htm Lindemans, Michael (2003) Tuatha D Danann. Retrieved December 7, 2006 from http://www.pantheon.org/articles/f/firbolg.html Shee-Eire (N.D). Magic and Myth: The Formorians. Retrieved December 7, 2006 from http://www.shee-eire.com/Magic&Mythology/Races/Formorians/Page1.htm Walsh, Dennis (2003) Early Irish History and Saga. Retrieved December 7, 2006 from http://www.rootsweb.com/irlkik/ihm/province.htm Read More