Tiger mas

Tigernmas [ 'tʴiɣʴernvas ] ("the lordly") is a complex deity in Celtic mythology of Ireland . As a legendary king, he introduced mining (" chthonic deity ") to Ireland and is therefore among other things the god of death and wealth, comparable to the Greek Hades or the Roman Pluto .

mythology

Tigernmas is according to Lebor Gabála Érenn ("The Book of the Lands of Ireland") a descendant of King Éremón and thus the Milesians , according to another tradition a member of the Fomori . Like all Chthonic gods, as ruler in the underworld, he is both fertility and father deity. This variety of functions can be traced back to the belief in the migration of souls of the druids , who viewed death as the beginning of a new life.

As the founder of (gold) mining, according to the “Annals of the Four Masters”, he simultaneously introduced the technique of gilding and silvering of vessels, but also the color dyeing of clothing. He assigns the colors of the clothes according to the social position of the wearer. Birkhan calls this the time of saturneal prosperity.

The day of his death is Samuin , the eve of November 1st. He died in Mag Slécht (the "Field of Worship" near Ballymagorry, County Cavan ). In front of the cult statue of Cromm Cruach erected there , his followers smashed their skulls on stones in a kind of collective mass suicide. One possible explanation for this is that at Samuin, two thirds of all firstborns, all wheat and all milk had to be sacrificed to the underworld and fertility deities.

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• Celtic religion
• Celtic otherworld

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 561 f.
2. ^ H. d'Arbois de Jubainville: Cours de littérature celtique. Paris 1884-1902, Volume II, pp. 112, 303.
3. ^ J. O'Donovan: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. Dublin 1856, Volume I, p. 38 f.
4. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 561 f.