Aengus


In Irish mythology, Aengus or Óengus, also called Mac ind Óic, is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably originally a god associated with youth, love and poetic inspiration. The son of The Dagda and Boann, he is also known as Maccan Óc, and corresponds to the Welsh mythical figure Mabon and the Celtic god Maponos. He plays a central role in five myths reported by medieval Irish texts.

Name

In Old Irish his name is Óengus or Oíngus. The name is attested in Adomnán's Life of St Columba as Oinogusius. This is believed to come from a Proto-Celtic name meaning "true vigour". The Dindsenchas state that Boand named her son by the Dagda Oengus because union with the Dagda was her "one desire." In Middle Irish this became Áengus, and in Modern Irish Aonghus,.
He is also known as Óengus Óc/Aengus Óg, Mac ind Óc, Maccan/Macán, or Mac Óc/Mac Óg.

Description

Aengus is variously described in the following terms:
Aengus' parents were The Dagda and Boann, and his foster-father was variously Elcmar or Midir. He was said to have lived at Newgrange by the River Boyne, where he raised Manannán's blonde-haired daughter Curcog as his foster.
The Dagda had an affair with the river goddess Boann, wife of Nechtan. To hide her pregnancy, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months so that Aengus was conceived, gestated and born in one day. When he came of age Aengus dispossessed the Dagda of his home, Brú na Bóinne. He arrived after the Dagda had shared out his land among his children, and none was left for Aengus, so Aengus asked his father if he could live in Brú na Bóinne for "a day and a night", and the Dagda agreed. Irish has no indefinite article, so "a day and a night" is the same as "day and night", which covers all time, and so Aengus took possession of Brú na Bóinne forever. In another—and probably the original—version of this story, appearing in The Wooing of Etain, it is the Dagda who helps his son Aengus take Brú na Bóinne from Elcmar, with the same trick. In this version, Midir is Aengus's foster-father, while Elcmar is the husband of Boann cuckolded by the Dagda. This tale probably dramatizes the idea "that the blooming of youth denies the process of aging - at the youthful stage of life time passes slowly and vitality seems to be permanent". In "The Fosterage of the House of the Two Pails," a similar story is related in which Manannán mac Lir, called the High King over all the Tuatha Dé, convinces Aengus to cast a spell by reciting a poem before his foster-father Elcmar, to force him out of the Brú until ogham and pillar, heaven and earth, and the sun and the moon have been blended together. After the poem, called "Luck and Prosperity" is recited, Elcmar tells Aengus that he would have given him the Brú if he had but asked, but due to Manannán's incantation, he and his people would face woe and madness in their banishment from the Brú. In this version of the story, Aengus is genuinely remorseful for having banished Elcmar.
According to Death Tales of the Tuatha de Danann, Aengus killed his stepfather Elcmar for killing Midir.
Aengus also killed Lugh Lámhfhada's poet for lying about his brother Ogma an Cermait. The poet claimed that Ogma an Cermait was having an affair with one of Lugh's wives.
In The Wooing of Etain, Aengus was able to partially lift a spell against Étaín, the horse goddess he had won for his brother Midir. Midir's wife Fuamnach in a jealous rage had turned Etain into a beautiful fly. Turning her into a woman at night, Aengus made her his lover until Fuamnach found out about it and drove her away. Aengus killed his foster mother for her treachery.
Aengus fell in love with a girl he had seen in his dreams. His mother, Boann, goddess of the River Boyne, and a cow goddess whose milk formed the Milky Way, searched Ireland for a year, then his father, the Dagda, did the same. Finally, King Bodb Derg of Munster found her after a further year.
Aengus went to the lake of the Dragon's Mouth and found 150 girls chained in pairs, his girl, Caer Ibormeith, among them. On November 1, Caer and the other girls would turn into swans for a year, every second Samhain. Aengus was told he could marry Caer if he could identify her in her swan form. Aengus turned himself into a swan and they flew away, singing beautiful music that put all listeners asleep for three days and nights.
Aengus was the foster-father and protector of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne of the Fianna. He rescued Diarmuid and Gráinne during their pursuit by the Fianna.
Aengus owned a sword named Moralltach, the Great Fury, given to him by Manannan mac Lir. This he gave to his foster-son Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, along with a sword named Beagalltach, the Little Fury, and two spears of great power, Gáe Buide and Gáe Derg. When the young man died, Aengus took his body back to Brú na Bóinne where he breathed life into it when he wished to speak with Diarmuid.
In other legends Aengus was able to repair broken bodies and return life to them.
In the Dindsenchas, Aengus shaped his kisses into four birds that followed Cairbre wherever he went to mock him each day before sunrise. This mockery continued until Cairbre's druid enchanted a tree from Fid Frosmuine with song, which caused the tree to grow above all others and detain Aengus' birds.
Also in the Dindsenchas, a tale called "Tuag Inber" is relayed in which Aengus provides Eochu and Ablend a swift horse while they are encamped with their cattle. He tells them to unbridle the horse in a meadow before it sheds its water and causes their deaths; Eochu and Ablend forget to unharness the horse when it exhausts itself in a meadow, and it forms a well, around which Eochu builds confinement. The poem of Loch Ri is nearly identical to "Tuag Inber," except the character names differ and Aengus is replaced by Midir.
Similarities have been found between Aengus and the greek god Hermes.

Modern depictions