The Dagda

How to recognise The Dagda

1. The great club (lorg mór)Look for a huge, rough wooden club taller than a man; in the tales it kills with one end and revives with the other, and its track behind him marks a province boundary.
2. The inexhaustible cauldronA large round pot of bronze or iron, steaming with food, recalls the treasure from Murias that sends no company away unsatisfied.
3. The harp ÚaithneA triangular Irish frame harp of dark oak stands for music that brings sorrow, joy or sleep; its name is also given as the "Oak of Two Blossoms".
4. Dun tunic and short capeA plain grey-brown wool tunic ending high on the thigh and a short cape of the same cloth mark him as a god of ordinary working people, not a royal one.
5. Horse-hide shoesRough, hairy-sided brogues recall the shoes of horse-hide, hair outward, that the tales give him.
6. Broad, round-bellied buildA big, stocky body with a great belly speaks of a farm-working strength and of the vast porridge feast the Fomorians set before him.
7. Bearded, weathered faceA full, ruddy-brown beard and a warm, shrewd, mature face show "the wise old man" whose name Ruad Rofhessa means "lord of great knowledge".

Names and titles

• The Good GodIn Dagda, 'good' meaning able at every skill, not morally good; the title the gods gave him when he claimed all their powers
• Ollathair, the Great FatherEochaid Ollathair, 'horseman, great father', his name as father of the Tuatha Dé Danann
• Lord of Great KnowledgeRuad Rofhessa, his name for druidic wisdom and mastery
• Keeper of the Endless CauldronHis cauldron from Murias leaves no company unsatisfied
• Harper of Sorrow, Joy and SleepHis harp Úaithne brings the three strains of sorrow, joy and sleep

Feast days

• Samhain1 November, every year (date to be confirmed)

  Samhain is the Gaelic festival marking the start of the dark half of the year. In the tale Cath Maige Tuired, the Dagda meets the Mórrígan by a river before the battle with the Fomorians. Devotees see this meeting as bringing her protection.

  How it's celebrated. Many Gaelic polytheists and Celtic Reconstructionists honour the ancestors at Samhain with an altar for the dead and a shared feast. Some decorate the home with juniper, and some light the household fire from a local community fire. Practice varies by group, and the Dagda–Mórrígan meeting is a literary episode that modern devotees take up. No surviving evidence makes Samhain her own festival.

  Sources: HISTORY: Samhain · World History Encyclopedia: The Dagda · Moonfall Metaphysical: The Morrigan

• Winter Solstice Sunrise at Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange)21 December, every year

  The winter solstice sunrise at Newgrange, in the Brú na Bóinne complex, is when sunlight enters the passage tomb's inner chamber. Some link it to the tale of the Dagda, Boann and their son Aengus. That reading is a later interpretation.

  How it's celebrated. People gather outside the entrance on the mornings of 19–23 December. Access to the chamber at sunrise is decided by a free lottery, and the beam of light lasts about 17 minutes if skies are clear. Visitors have been described holding hands and drumming. My sources do not record specific Gaelic polytheist rites there.

  Sources: Newgrange.com: Winter Solstice · National Museum of Ireland: The Winter Solstice at Newgrange · Wikipedia: Aengus