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.
