Of all the deities of the Celtic world, none is more widely attested, more clearly defined, or more beloved of the medieval literary tradition than Lugh, the many-skilled god who appears in Ireland as Lugh Lámhfhada, in Wales as Lleu Llaw Gyffes, and on the continent as Lugus. To ask who was the Irish god Lugh is to enter the world of the Celtic gods and goddesses at the point where they are most vividly preserved, and to follow the career of a divine figure who combined the qualities of a warrior, a craftsman, a poet, a harper, a physician, a metalworker, and a king into a single, multifaceted character. As one of the great pan-Celtic deities, Lugh is central to the larger world of Celtic religion, mythology, and spirituality, and his story is told across the whole range of the Celtic-speaking world.
The Many Names of Lugh
The name Lugh, in its older Irish form, has been studied as much scholarly debate. The most commonly accepted etymology connects it with the Celtic root *leug-, meaning “to swear” or “to vow,” and interprets the name as meaning “the sworn one” or “the one who is vowed to.” Other scholars have connected the name with the Celtic word for “light” (compare Latin lux, “light”), and have interpreted Lugh as a solar deity. The Irish epithet Lámhfhada, often translated as “of the Long Arm” but possibly meaning “of the Long Hand” or “of the Masterful Hand,” is a reference to his spear-throwing skill, while the Welsh cognate Lleu Llaw Gyffes, “the Bright One of the Steady Hand” or “the Fair-Haired One of the Sure Hand,” preserves the older association with brilliance and skill.
The continental Lugus, the form of the name attested in inscriptions and place names from Gaul, Spain, and the Rhineland, is the ancestor of a number of important European place names. The Roman city of Lugdunum, the modern Lyon, took its name from a major sanctuary of the god at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, and the cities of Leiden in the Netherlands, Loudoun in Scotland, and Lugdunum (modern León) in Spain all preserve the older name. The Lugoves, the plural form of the name attested in a number of inscriptions, suggests that the continental god could be worshipped in a triple form, like the matres and matronae of the Gallic inscriptions.
Lugh in the Irish Mythological Cycle
In the medieval Irish tradition, Lugh is one of the great figures of the Mythological cycle, the body of tales that describe the origins and early history of the Irish people. According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions), Lugh was the son of Cian, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Ethniu, the daughter of the Fomorian king Balor of the Evil Eye. His birth was marked by portents: Balor, who had been told that he would be killed by his own grandson, ordered that the child be drowned, but Lugh was saved by his father and hidden among the craftspeople of the Tuatha Dé Danann, where he was raised in secret.
The most famous episode in the story of Lugh is his arrival at Tara, the seat of the high king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and his demand to be admitted to the company of the gods. The Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Moytura) describes how Lugh came to the gates of Tara and was challenged by the doorkeeper, who refused to admit him because the god already had a craftsman for every art. Lugh’s reply, that he himself was a master of every art, is one of the most quoted passages in all of Irish literature: “I am a smith,” he said, “and I shall work at the forge for you. I am a warrior, and I shall fight for you. I am a harper, and I shall play for you. I am a poet, and I shall compose verses for you. I am a physician, and I shall heal for you. I am a cupbearer, and I shall serve for you. I am a metalworker, and I shall make weapons for you.” The doorkeeper, struck by the breadth of his skills, admitted him, and Lugh was recognized as the champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
The Second Battle of Moytura
Lugh’s most famous feat, in the Cath Maige Tuired, is the leadership of the Tuatha Dé Danann to victory over the Fomorians, the monstrous race that had oppressed them. The battle, fought on the plain of Moytura in County Sligo, is described in vivid detail in the medieval sources, and Lugh is shown as the strategic and magical leader of his people. He confronts his grandfather Balor in single combat, and he kills him by hurling a sling-stone through his evil eye, the eye that could destroy whatever it looked upon. The blow is one of the great moments of Irish mythology, and it has been compared to the killing of the serpent by Apollo in Greek myth and to the killing of the dragon by Sigurd in Norse myth.
Lugh’s magical weapons are central to the story. His spear, called Areadbhair, never missed its target and never needed to be sharpened, and his sling, his hound, and his horse were all of supernatural power. The hound, called Failinis or Sámhradh, was the offspring of the hound of the king of the Fomorians, and it could hunt by day and return to its master by night. The horse, called Mannanán’s Enbarr or simply Lugh’s Horse, was a magical steed that could travel over land and sea. The possession of such magical equipment is a feature of Lugh’s character that he shares with other great heroes of Irish mythology, and it marks him out as a figure of heroic as well as divine status.
Lleu Llaw Gyffes in the Welsh Tradition
The Welsh cognate of Lugh, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, is the central figure of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the great cycle of Welsh tales preserved in the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch. The story of Lleu is one of the great tragic narratives of medieval Celtic literature, and it follows a similar pattern to the Irish story of Lugh in several important respects. Lleu is the son of Arianrhod, the daughter of Belenos or Beli, and he is raised in secret after his mother attempts to destroy him at birth. He is a figure of remarkable beauty and skill, and he is destined to be king, but he is also destined never to receive a name from his mother, and the curse that his mother lays on him sets the pattern for the tragic events that follow.
The most famous episode in the story of Lleu is his transformation into an eagle. Blighed, the wife he has taken through trickery, conspires with her lover to kill him, and Lleu, wounded and betrayed, transforms himself into an eagle and perches on a tree. His uncle Gwydion, searching for him, finds the eagle and sings the great englyn, the series of verses that bring him back to human form. The story of the transformation and the rescue, like the story of Lugh’s confrontation with Balor, is a tale of the heroic figure who is wounded, who descends to the underworld in animal form, and who is rescued and restored to his rightful place. The resonances with other Celtic traditions, particularly the Irish traditions of the hero in exile, are striking.
Lugus on the Continent
On the continent, Lugus is known from a number of inscriptions, coins, and place names, and the surviving evidence suggests that he was a major deity of the continental Celtic world, particularly in the regions of Gaul, Spain, and the Rhineland. The interpretatio Romana identified Lugus with Mercury, the Roman god of commerce, communication, and craft, and the identification, although it obscures the distinctive character of the original Celtic deity, suggests that the continental Lugus was a god of many functions, including some that were similar to those of Mercury. The dedications to Mercury that are actually dedications to Lugus are among the most common of all Gallo-Roman inscriptions, and the great sanctuary of the Tres Galliae at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône at Lyon was the center of the imperial cult of Gaul as well as a major center of the cult of Lugus.
The place names derived from Lugus, including Lugdunum (Lyon), Leiden (from Lugdunum Batavorum), and Lugo in Spain, attest to the wide geographical spread of his cult. The Lugoves inscriptions, which attest the god in plural form, suggest that the continental tradition, like the Irish and Welsh traditions, recognized multiple aspects of the deity, and the iconography of the continental Lugus, which often shows him as a young, beardless figure accompanied by a hound and a snake, is consistent with the image of Lugh as the youthful, many-skilled champion of the Irish tradition.
Lughnasa: The Festival of Lugh
The festival of Lughnasa, celebrated at the beginning of August, was the great festival of Lugh in the Celtic world, and it is the most lasting legacy of his cult today. The name Lughnasa means “the assembly of Lugh” or “the wedding of Lugh,” and the festival, which marked the beginning of the harvest, was one of the four great quarter-day festivals of the Celtic year. In Ireland, the festival was marked by great gatherings at the ancient assembly sites, including the famous Óenach Tailten (the Tailtin Fair) at Teltown in County Meath, the Óenach Cruachain at Rathcroghan in County Roscommon, and the Óenach Uisnigh at the Hill of Uisnech in County Westmeath. The gatherings, which lasted for days, included athletic contests, feasting, the meeting of clans, the resolution of disputes, and the performance of religious rites.
The pattern or pilgrimage to a particular well, mountain, or other holy place was an important feature of the Lughnasa festival in the medieval and early modern periods. The Cnoc Patrick or Croagh Patrick pilgrimage in County Mayo, the Glastonbury Tor gathering in England, the Bile or sacred tree of the Irish tradition, and the many domhnach or church sites named after Lugh all preserve the older tradition of the gathering at a particular holy place at Lughnasa. The survival of the Lughnasa customs in the rural communities of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man well into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is a striking example of the persistence of the older festival. The Bilberry Sunday of the Isle of Man, the Garland Sunday of the Isle of Man, and the Reek Sunday of Ireland are all modern descendants of the older Lughnasa, and the foods traditionally associated with the festival, including bilberries, blackberries, apples, and the first potatoes of the harvest, are eaten at gatherings that closely resemble the older festival.
Lugh and the Celtic Imagination
Lugh, by virtue of his many skills, his many names, and his many regional manifestations, important figures in the entire Celtic religious tradition, and his continuing presence in the literary and folk traditions of the Celtic-speaking regions is one of the clearest examples of the lasting hold of the older mythology. The figure of Lugh, the youthful, many-skilled, victorious champion, has been a model for heroes in Irish, Welsh, and continental Celtic literature for more than a thousand years, and his image has been a powerful source of inspiration for modern writers, artists, and musicians who have sought to draw on the older Celtic tradition.
The Lugh of the modern imagination, like the Lugh of the medieval tradition, is a figure of remarkable versatility. He is the master of many arts, the champion of his people, the leader in war, the inventor of useful crafts, the guardian of the harvest, and the protector of the community against the forces of chaos and disorder. The various aspects of his character, taken together, make him one of the most fully realized of all the Celtic deities, and his continuing presence in the literary and folk traditions of the Celtic-speaking regions is a fitting tribute to one of the most important and most beloved figures of the older Celtic world.