Manannán mac Lir

Manannán mac Lir, Mananaan mac Lir, Mananaun mac Lir, Manandán mac Lir, Monanaun mac Lir. Principal sea-deity and also otherworldly ruler of Irish and Goidelic traditions. Never a creature of a single cycle of Irish literature, Manannán appears often in all four cycles, the Mythological, Ulster, Fenian, and Cycle of Kings, as well as in later oral tradition. He is sometimes, but not usually, numbered as a lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Clearly of divine origin, Manannán was never successfully humanized by Christian literary tradition, despite his portrayal in the 10th-century Sanas Cormaic [Cormac's Glossary] as a celebrated merchant and pilot of the Irish Sea. In the oldest Irish tradition Manannán rules the otherworldly Emain Ablach, but rides out at will in his chariot over the waves as if they were solid land; his other realms are Tír Tairngire and Mag Mell. In later tradition he appears to be more of a trickster and magician.

The name Manannán may derive from earlier names for the Isle of Man, not the other way around as commonly supposed. In Old Irish the island was Mana and Manand (gen.); cf. W Manaw. The Romans used the term Mona for Anglesey, the Isle of Man, the coast of Scotland, and another island, probably Arran. A gloss of Manannán might be ‘he of the Isle of Man’ or ‘he of the Irish Sea’. In Irish tradition, however, Manannán does not reside on the Isle of Man but rather on Emain Ablach, an imaginary island near the coast of Alba [Scotland] sometimes confused with the Isle of Man. The patronymic mac Lir means ‘son of the sea’, employing the genitive lir from the nominative ler [sea]. Manannán is not the son of Lir whose children are turned into swans in Oidheadh Chlainne Lir [The Tragic Story of the Children of Lir]. Additionally, Manannán's obscure epithet Oirbsiu or Oirbsiu Mór may have been an earlier name; it denotes inundation and survives in the place-name Lough Corrib [Loch nOirbsen].

Through many texts over several centuries, some aspects of Manannán's person remain constant. Although a shape-shifter, he is usually portrayed as a handsome and noble warrior, evocative of the classical gods Poseidon and Neptune, with whom he is often compared. He possesses a magical currach (‘the wave-sweeper’), but most often he travels over the waves with a horse, Énbarr or Aonbárr, usually in a chariot but sometimes on horseback. Nor can the armour of any enemy withstand his enchanted sword Frecraid [the answerer]. Among his supernatural powers is the ability to cast spells, féth fiada, which he teaches to the druids, and the ability to envelop himself in a mist that makes him invisible to his enemies, a facility shared by the Olympians in the Iliad. He often wears a great cloak that catches the light and can assume many colours, like the sea itself; with one sweep of it, Manannán can change destinies. An even more important possession is the crane bag that holds all his possessions, including language. He also owns birds, hounds, and magical pigs that can be eaten on one day but will be alive the next so that they can be slaughtered and eaten again.

Accounts of Manannán's family differ from text to text. Despite his patronymic mac Lir [son of the sea], his father is usually thought to be the shadowy Allod. Among his wives are Fand [tears], herself a deity of water, and Aífe (3), transformed into a crane by Iuchra (1), and from whose skin the crane bag was made. More complicated is Manannán's relationship with Áine (1), the sun-goddess become a fairy patroness of love. In the best-known story Áine's brother Aillén (1) is smitten with Manannán's then (unnamed) wife. Ostensibly to quieten Aillén, Manannán allows him the pleasures of his wife so that he, Manannán, may be with Áine, whom he has loved all along. Variant texts assert that Manannán is either the father or husband of Áine. Additionally, Manannán has numerous affairs, of which the best-known is with Caíntigern, producing the shapeshifting king Mongán. His best-known unrequited passion is for Tuag, who is guarded by a company of women. He asks Fer Fidail to disguise himself as a woman to retrieve her, but Tuag drowns at Inber Glas (the mouth of the Bann River) and Manannán kills Fer Fidail. Manannán's own son is Gaidiar; better known are his foster-sons: Eógabal, Fer Í, and (sometimes) Lug Lámfhota. His daughter was Curcóg. His chief druid was Gebann, father of Clídna.

Although Manannán is not the central figure in any single narrative, his appearances dominate the action of many stories. Among the oldest and most impressive episodes comes in the 8th-century Imram Brain [The Voyage of Bran], where the encounter with Manannán riding his chariot over the waves is one of Bran's first adventures. Manannán assists the Tuatha Dé Danann against the Milesians in the Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions] and is sometimes numbered among their ranks, although abundant evidence suggests he is of much older origin. In Cath Maige Tuired [The (Second) Battle of Mag Tuired] he teaches skills to Lug Lámfhota, his sometime foster-son, that lead to the defeat of the Fomorians. In Echtrae Chormaic [The Adventure of Cormac] he assumes two different disguises. When his wife Fand has an affair with Cúchulainn in Serglige Con Culainn [The Wasting Sickness of Cúchulainn], Manannán waves his magical cloak between them so that they completely forget one another. He has distinctly otherworldly power in Altrom Tige Dá Medar [The Nurture of the Houses of the Two Milk Vessels]. But in the comic 17th-century Fenian story Eachtra Bhodaigh an Chóta Lachtna [The Churl in the Grey Coat], his identity is revealed only after Manannán in the person of the bodach/churl leads the warriors on a merry chase.

No story tells of Manannán's death, but allusions are made to his decline when he refuses to accept the succession of Bodb Derg. He is thought to have again assisted the Tuatha Dé Danann after their defeat by the Milesians when they dwindled into the small creatures who live under the earth. Memory of Manannán lingered vividly on the Isle of Man, where the first record of native lore, in the 18th century, was a ballad titled Manannán Beg, Mac y Leirr, my slane coontey yeh Ellan Vannin [Little Manannán, Son of Leirr, or an account of the Isle of Man]. As late as the 19th century, Midsummer Eve's veneration of Manannán saw people bringing rushes or green meadow grass to the top of [Mount] Barrule as the payment for ‘rent’. Prayers directed to him were thought to bring fishermen a bountiful catch. Folk motifs: A132.7; A421.

Bibliography

Joseph Vendryes , ‘Manannán mac Lir’, Études Celtiques, 6 (1953–4), 239–54;
David B. Spaan , ‘The Place of Manannan Mac Lir in Irish Mythology’, Folklore, 76 (1965), 176–95;
Heinrich Wagner , ‘Origins of Pagan Irish Religion’, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie, 38 (1981), 1–28.