Fand
Overview
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
sea goddess, later described as a "Queen of the Fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
". Her name is variously translated as "Pearl of Beauty" or "A Tear". She is seen as the most beautiful of goddesses, associated with the Other World
Other World
The Otherworld is a concept in Celtic mythology, referring to a realm of the dead, the home of the deities or spirits....
islands of pleasure, youth and women.
Fand appears in the Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle , formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, one of the four great cycles of Irish mythology, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly counties Armagh, Down and...
tale, Serglige Con Culainn
Serglige Con Culainn
Serglige Con Culainn , also known as Oenét Emire is a narrative from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. It originated in the 10th and 11th centuries, and survives in the Book of the Dun Cow, which combines two earlier versions. It tells of a curse of illness inflicted upon the hero Cú Chulainn...
(The Sickbed of Cúchulainn) first as an otherworldly
Other World
The Otherworld is a concept in Celtic mythology, referring to a realm of the dead, the home of the deities or spirits....
sea bird, and later as an avenging goddess (or "Woman of the Otherworld).
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