Westropp — The ^^ Mound of the Fiana " at Cromwell Hill. 75 



Crom Diibh " stand in striking connexion with the great harvest festival of 

 the Liignasacl, covering a fortnight to either side of August 1st, its chief holy 

 day. This, in one story, commemorated the marriage of Lug, the sun god,' 

 with 'Eriu (the soil of Ireland) ; and at one of his fourteen towns of 

 " Lugdunum," in France, Belgium, and Germany (Lyons, a few say 

 St. Bertrand) the festival was held at the beginning of August, and was 

 attended " by all Gaul " ; it was eventually transferred to the Emperor 

 Augustus as Apollo. His altar was dedicated on August 1st at Lugdunum.^ 



Nothing (it is true) can differ more from the glorious Lug (" master of all 

 knowledge," " like the sun was the splendour of his face ") than the name or 

 epithet " black crooked one " ; but it does not differ more than that in the 

 Achill legends, where Lug, son of Cian, is entitled " Duldauna," "black surly 

 one,'" instead of Edanacli, " yi\&s,tev of all knowledge,"* or than " the Devil 

 Huccain " (who replaces Lug in the " all science " story of Mag Tura in its 

 travesty) in the Life of St. Herve in Brittany. = 



"Vae victis." The servants of the victorious Galilean branded their 

 defeated opponents with insulting names in more places than in Ireland. 



The Lugnasad was kept in Gaul, Britain, and the Isle of Man on the 

 same day,' and under the same name, " Laa Lhuanys " (Manx) and 

 "Lunasdal" (Scottish), as in Ireland. In Wales, I presume, Eoman rule 



' Folk Lore, " Marriages of the Gods at the sanctuary of Tailltiu," xxxi, pp. 109-141. 

 Lug figures as " Erin's lover " down at least to ODalaigh's poem, 1387, Maurice, Earl 

 of Desmond, being compared to him ; as, indeed, was Prince Charles Edward, three and 

 a half centuries later, by Seaghan O'Tuama. So the evident solar god BlacGrian also 

 marr-ies 'Eriu. 



^ See, for example, Sir J. Rhys, British Acad., 1910, p. 225 ; and for Tailltiu, 

 pp. 215-217. The 'Oenach games at Cruachan (O'Curry, "Manners and Customs," ii, 

 pp. 342-5) and Tailltiu were in honour of Lug. For Augustus as Apollo see A. E. Cook, 

 " The European Sky-god" (Folk Lore, 1905). 



2 W. Larminie, "West Irish Folk Tales," pp. 1-9; J. Curtin, "Hero Tales of 

 Ireland," pp. 1-34, p. 283, p. 296 sqq. 



* Lug's title, Ildanach, Samildanach, "master of all arts together," is Caesar's 

 " inventor of all the arts " (De Bello Gallico, vi, 17), applied to his Gaulish form, 

 "Lugus Mercurius." See "Irish Nennius," p. 64; "Sons of Tuireann " (Atlantis, iv, 

 p. 155); "Coir Anmann " (Irische Texte, 111), p. 315; Revue Celt., xxvi, p. 129; 

 XXXV, p. 289 ; and a special study, xii, p. 52. Also, mpra, sxxiv, p. 141 ; and M. Loth's 

 admirable paper on Lug, Revue Archeol., xxiv (II), pp. 205-230. 



5 "Les Saints de la Bretagne " (A. Le Grand), p. 49. Revue Celt., vii, p. 231 ; 

 "Religion of the Ancient Celts" (MacCulloch, 1911), p. 92. 



^British Academy, "The Coligny Calendar," 1910, p. 215. I totally disagree with 

 the statement (p. 237) that games in honour of a pagan god would have " attracted the 

 whole artillery of the early Christian missionaries " in Ireland against them ; they 

 modified gradually, and the god soon became a " founder" and a mortal. The breaking 

 even of the pillar of Mag Slecht is contradicted by early writers, who saw it leaning but 

 extant. 



