What is your favorite Irish myth or legend?

Ireland is for sure a mystical place!

From giants to leprechauns, we have a story for everyone. ☘️

What is your favorite one?

A must see for anyone interested in myth and legends is the fantastic Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh www.navan.com   Our audio visual show tells beautiful some of the myths and legends of the Ulster Cycle of Tales (how CuChullain got his name, the story of Deirdre of the Sorrows and much more)
Also a visit to the Iron Age Dwelling will also reveal some of the myths and customs associated with the Celts told first hand by our Celtic characters.
A great visit for people interested in the history and archaeology of Ireland

I love the story of Finn McCool, the Giant of the Causeway, famed for his clever trickery in defeating a much larger Scottish Giant. Every time I have the good fortune to visit the North Coast I remember this myth and the first time I heard it. 

La mia preferita?🤔

Sicuramente una delle grandi storie d'amore, difficile scegliere! 💚 
Probabilmente, la rocambolesca fuga d'amore di Diarmuid e Gráinne è la più avvincente per me! 💘
 
 "Figlia del Re supremo d'Irlanda, Gráinne venne data in sposa a Finn, capo dei Fianna d'Irlanda, una cerchia di combattenti, ma anche poeti e cantori al servizio del Re.La notte prima delle nozze, durante il banchetto, essa vide fra gli invitati il bellissimo Diarmuid, uno fra i congiunti del vecchio Finn, ed innamoratasene, lo costrinse a fuggire con lei, con una sorta di incantesimo/maledizione che Diarmuid non avrebbe potuto ignorare. 
Furono a lungo braccati da Finn e dai suoi, il quale come risarcimento per il disonore subito chiedeva la morte dei due amanti. Ma questi si riugiarono nella foresta, aiutati da Aengus Og, il Dio dell'Amore e difesi dalla maestria guerriera di Diarmuid. In fine, grazie all'intercessione di altri Fianna, venne stabilito un accordo fra Fin, Diarmaid e Gráinne, di modo che questi ultimi potessero vivere il pace nelle loro terre, in un forte che venne chiamato Rath Gráinne "Forte del Sole". 
Un giorno però, anni dopo, Diarmuid venne ucciso da un cinghiale durante una caccia indetta da Finn, e così egli ebbe la sua vendetta.
Più tardi, nel folklore, essa divenne una delle Regine delle Fate, ed i dolmen vennero indicati come "i giacigli di Diarmuid e Gráinne", poichè si credeva che durante il loro errare come fuggitivi avessero spesso riposato alla loro ombra.Secondo alcuni la figura di Gráinne sarebbe anche un prototipo della madre di Artù, Igraine e la sua storia sarebbe il modello del triangolo amoroso fra Uther Pendragon, Igraine e Gorlois, ripetuto fra Tristan, Iseul e March, od anche tra Lancillotto, Ginevra ed Artù."

Difficile sceglierne una! 😊
Laura 

The Navan centre seems like a place I have to visit!

By the way, I just realised that I haven't shared my favourite one! 

I am a big fan of Queen Medb, Queen Warrior!
Had the chance to visit a burial site in Sligo though apparently she might be buried in her home county Roscommon. 
I might need to investigate further on that one! 

Like Jenny, my favourite would be the story of Finn McCool.  I remember growing up and being told this incredible story and have very fond memories of the beautiful Giant's Causeway.  It truly is picture perfect.

Well, there's not doubting our favourite legend involves everyone's favourite Irish Superhero - Cú Chulainn - but it is an usual story about him and a sea witch called Mal, who was allegedly his stalker back in the day.
Mal was only crazy about the boy.  Unfortunately for her, he, being a superhero an all, had no time for her. She gets an A for effort though, because apparently she followed him all over Ireland - he only got rid of her by bounding (effortlessly, no doubt) across the sea stacks at the Cliffs of Moher to leave her behind.  
She did try to follow him, but poor ol Mal wasn't quite as nimble on her feet, and, legend has it, fell to her death in the sea near the cliffs - at Miltown MALbay, actually.  If you look at the rock formation at the southern tip of the Cliffs of Moher, it is said to resemble a woman looking out to sea. So she did get a town and a rock named for her, which is something.
You can read more about it here in our blog about the Legends of the Cliffs of Moher.  



There you have it, and we thought celebrity stalking was a new thing...

Like Colin and Jenny, Finn McCool is a big favourite of mine and the story of the stone of Cloghmore is another great legend.

Another favourite is that of Niamh, the daughter of Manannán mac Lir. She is one of the Queens of Tir na nÓg, and might also be the daughter of Fand. Niamh crossed the Western Sea on a magical horse, Embarr, and asked Fionn mac Cumhaill if his son Oisín would come with her to Tír na nÓg (the Land of Youth). Oisín agreed and went with her, promising his father he would return to visit soon.

Oisín was a member of the Fianna and, though he fell in love with Niamh during their time together in Tír na nÓg, he became homesick after what he thought was three years. Niamh let him borrow Embarr, who could run above ground, and made him promise not to get off the horse or touch Irish soil. The three years he spent in Tír na nÓg turned out to be 300 Irish years. When Oisín returned to Ireland, he asked where he could find Fionn mac Cumhail and the Fianna, only to find that they had been dead for hundreds of years and were now only remembered as legends. Whilst travelling through Ireland, Oisín was asked by some men to help them move a standing stone. He reached down to help them, but fell off his horse. Upon touching the ground he instantly became an old man. He is then said to have dictated his story to Saint Patrick, who cared for and nursed him until he died.

Meanwhile, Niamh had given birth to his daughter, Plor na mBan. Niamh returned to Ireland to search for him, but he had unfortunately died.

One of my favourites has got to be about the 7 rivers of knowledge in Ireland. I've always loved Geography since school days so it's fascinating to see how these rivers flow in comparison to Connla's Well which is near the River Boyne somewhere-a huge mystery as well!  I know of 5 of the rivers of knowledge so far - the Boyne, the Shannon, the Nore, the Barrow, and the Slaney! Connla's well has of course the Salmon of Knowledge which ate from the magical holy hazelnut tree beside the well, or rather hazelnuts fell into the well and were gobbled up by the salmon who became all wise! Finn McCool ate of the salmon and became the wisest man or should I say giant in the world! So did the Irish goddess Sionann (grand-daughter of famous Lir) who gives her name to the river Shannon by the way! So here ends some nuggets of my favourite bits of Irish myths!