The Goddess Ainé
Another
topical goddess was Ainé, the patroness of Munster, who is still
venerated by the people of that county. She was the daughter of the
Danaan Owel, a foster-son of Mananan and a Druid. She is in some sort
a love-goddess, continually inspiring mortals with passion. She was
ravished, it was said, by Ailill Olum, King of Munster, who was slain
in consequence by her magic arts, and the story is repeated in far
later times about another mortal lover, who was not, however, slain,
a Fitzgerald, to whom she bore the famous wizard Earl. Many of the
aristocratic families of Munster claimed descent from this union.
Her name still clings to the “Hill of Ainé” (Knockainey), near
Loch Gur, in Munster. All the Danaan deities in the popular
imagination were earth-gods, dei
terreni, associated with ideas of
fertility and increase. Ainé is not heard much of in the bardic
literature, but she is very prominent in the folk-lore of the
neighbourhood. At the bidding of her son, Earl Gerald, she planted
all Knockainey with pease in a single night. She was, and perhaps
still is, worshipped on Midsummer Eve by the peasantry, who carried
torches of hay and straw, tied on poles and lighted, round her hill
at night. Afterwards they dispersed themselves among their cultivated
fields and pastures, waving the torches over the crops and the cattle
to bring luck and increase for the following year. On one night, as
told by Mr. D. Fitzgerald, who has collected the local traditions
about her, the ceremony was omitted owing to the death of one of the
neighbours. Yet the peasantry at night saw the torches in greater
number than ever circling the hill, and Ainé herself in front,
directing and ordering the procession.
“On another St. John's Night a number of girls had stayed late on the Hill watching the cliars (torches) and joining in the games. Suddenly Ainé appeared among them, thanked them for the honour they had done her, but said she now wished them to go home, as they wanted the hill to themselves. She let them understand whom she meant by they, for calling some of the girls she made them look through a ring, when behold, the hill appeared crowded with people before invisible.”
“Here,”
observed Mr. Alfred Nutt, “we have the antique ritual carried out
on a spot hallowed to one of the antique powers, watched over and
shared in by those powers themselves. Nowhere save in Gaeldom could
be found such a pregnant illustration of the identity of the fairy
class with the venerable powers to ensure whose goodwill rites and
sacrifices, originally fierce and bloody, now a mere simulacrum of
their pristine form, have been performed for countless ages.
Druid, Goddess
Ainé, love goddess,
The
Goddess Ainé was sort a love-goddess, continually inspiring
mortals with passion.
