Boann

Bóann (older Bóand [ 'boand ], New Irish Bóinn , also spellings like Buann or Boind appear) is a figure in Celtic mythology of Ireland and there the river goddess of the Boyne . The mythology tells that she had her husband the secret source Nechtan in Síd by walking about against the sun's path ( tuaithbel desecrated), which she had drowned in it and the Boyne was born. The name Bóand probably means "white cow". According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, she is the daughter of Delbaeth or Tuirenn and the wife of Nechtan or Elcmar .

In a story from the Mythological Cycle , she is seduced by Dagda after he has sent her husband Nechtan on a mission to Nuada with the silver hand, and with him he begets Angus and Étaín .

In the Táin Bó Froích ("Driving away the Cattle of Froech") she is the sister of Bé Find and the aunt of the hero Froech .

The area around the pre-Celtic burial mounds near Newgrange in the Boyne Valley is named after her Brug na Boinne .

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Myths and legends from Ireland
• Celtic women
• Sionan (mythology)

literature

• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .