Dagda, The. [I] Father of all the gods. His name signifies "the good god." He is also known as Eochaidh Ollathair (All-Father), as Aedh (Fire), and as Ruad Rofessa (Lord of Great Knowledge). He is also the patron god of druidism. He is the equivalent of the Dis-Pater, also identified in British tradition as Ceraunnos. He is visualised as a man clothed in rustic garb carrying a gigantic magic club, which, in Irish tradition, he drags on wheels. With one end of the club he can slay his enemies and with the other he can heal them. He has a black horse, Acein (Ocean), and his cauldron, from the city of Murias, was one of the major treasures of the De Danaan. No man went away from it hungry. He also possessed a magic harp, once stolen by the Fomorii. With Ogma ad Lugh he set off in pursuit and recovered it. After the defeat of the Tuatha De Danaan, it was the Dagda who allotted spiritual Ireland to his children, giving a sidhe to each of them. Only the love god was not allotted a sidhe, because the Dagda wanted Bruigh na Boinne, Aonghus Og's palace, for himself. But Aonghus Og tricked the Dagda by subtle wording into obtaining possession of the palace for eternity. As the De Danaan departed to their underground sidhe (eventually to change, in the people's imagination, from gods to fairies), the Dagda resigned as their leader. A council was held at which his son the Bodb Dearg was chosen as leader. All accepted the decision except Manannan Mac Lir, who simply left the proceedings, and Midir the Proud, who started a war against the Bodb Dearg. In this war betWeen the gods, the Fianna were enlisted on Midir's side. The Dagda no longer took any significant part in the affairs of Ireland.

Daireann. [I] Daughter of the Bodb Dearg and sister of Sadb. She falls in love with Fionn Mac Cumhail, but when he rejects her she gives him a cup of poison that drives him insane. The Fianna desert him but Cailte persuades them to return when the madness passes. Daireann's sister, Sadb, becomes Fionn's lover and bears his son Oisin.

Damnonia. See Dumnonia.

Damona. Gaulish goddess. "The Divine Cow."

Dana.[I] Sometimes given as Danu and cognate with Anu. She is found in Welsh as Don. A mother goddess from whom the Tuatha De Danaan take their name. If her counterpart in the Welsh tradition is anything to go by, her husband was Bile, god of death. The Dagda is her son. However, her husband is never mentioned in Irish tradition, although in some texts it is she, not Brigid, who is the mother of the children of Tuireann.

Dan Direch.An ancient Irish poetical system equivalent to the Welsh Cynghanedd, a metrical system of multiple alliteration and rhyme within every line of the strict metre.

Dea Arduinna. Gaulish. She is shown seated on a wild boar and may be cognate with the Irish Flidhais, who ruled over the beasts of the forest and herded wild deer.

Dea Artio. Gaulish. Perhaps connected with Art, the Irish "bear."

Dechtire. [I] Daughter of Cathbad the druid and Maga, daughter of the love god Aonghus Og. She was mother of the hero Cuchulainri. At her wedding feast, celebrating her marriage to an Ulster chieftain, Sualtaim Mac Roth, a fly flew into her cup and she drank it. She fell into a deep sleep and was taken to the Otherworld, where the god Lugh Laimhfada became her lover and she bore him a son called Setanta. She returns to Ulster, and Sualtaim accepts the child as his own. Setanta eventually is given the name Cuchulainn.

De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae. Attributed to Gildas (ca. A.D. 500-570). "On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain," a contemporary account of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain that mentions the annihilation of the Celtic populations in those areas that became England. The work also speaks of the mass migration of British Celts to other lands. Arthur Wade'-Evans makes an assertion, echoed by some other scholars, that De Excidio was not written by Gildas but by an anonymous monk born in the year of the battle of Badon (ca. A.D. 518) and designated "Auctor Badonicus."

Deirdre. [I] Deirdre of the Sorrows. Daughter of Felim Mac Dall, a chieftain of Ulster. Cathbad cast her horoscope at birth and foretold she would become the fairest of all women in Ireland. On hearing this the Ulster king Conchobhar Mac Nessa insists that she will marry him when she comes of age. However, the horoscope adds that because of her only death and ruin would come on the land. When she grows to marrying age, she finds she is not in love with the elderly Conchobhar but with Naoise, son of Usna, a hero of the Red Branch. They elope, with Naoise's two brothers as companions, and flee to Alba. The years go by and Conchobhar sends Fergus Mac Roth to them, saying that he has forgiven them. Deirdre foresees their doom but Naoise believes that he can trust Fergus Mac Roth. They return to Emain Macha, the capital of Ulster. Conchobhar gives the order to attack the hostel of the Red Branch where they are staying, and Naoise and his brothers are killed. Deirdre is now forced to wed Conchobhar and remains his unwilling wife, never smiling, for a year. Angered, Conchobhar gives her to Eoghan Mac Durthacht, who was the warrior who killed Naoise. With her hands bound to prevent her escaping, Deirdre contrives to throw herself from Eoghan's chariot and dash her head against a rock, which kills her. From her grave a pine grows and from Nabise's grave grows another pine. They intertwine over the graves and nothing can part them. Deirdre's story is one of the great love stories from the myths.

Delbchaem. [I] Fair shape. Daughter of Morgan, king of the Land of Wonder, and his wife, Coinchend, a terrible warrior woman. Imprisoned by her parents in a tower, she is rescued by Art, son of Conn, who slays her parents and takes her back to Ireland to wed.

Deluge. The story of the Great Flood occurs in the legends of many lands. We find the world destroyed and a human being who has survived through the good will of a god. The story of Noah, the most famous of these tales, is predated by the Babylonian tale of Utnapishtim, told in the epic of Gilgamesh. In Hindu mythology , Vishnu appears to Manu, the first man, and warns him of the coming flood. In Greek myth, the story of Deucalion, son of Prometheus, parallels that of Noah, with Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, being saved to repopulate the world. In Irish myth we also find a story of a deluge. It has been argued that Christian missionaries were responsible for introducing the story into Irish tradition. Certainly they embellished the story, but it is arguable whether we have simply another parallel flood tale. The Irish story does have some unique qualities in that it lists four survivors outside of the Hebrew Ark who escape the flood. Most notable is Fintan, who turns himself into a salmon to escape destruction. ,