The Children Of Lyre
Manannan was the most well known moreso than his father
Llyr. Manannan was considered a god of fertility and craftsmanship. He
had a fortress full of human bones, which alludes to the possibility that
he was a receiver of human sacrifices. His brother was Bran the Blessed
(Bendegeit Bran). Bran was enormous in size and possesses great strength.
He also had a cauldron, like the Dagda, which could restore life to the
dead, but the dead resurrected would not be able to speak. He was said
to be able to wade across the sea, his body like a mountain and his eyes
like lakes on both sides of a ridge, which was his nose. He would lay
himself across a river and entire armies could cross over him. He was
also a harpist and poet. In battle, he was wounded by a poison arrow so
he ordered that his head be cut off and posted facing the continent where
enemies would come from as protection of his people. He was depicted as
a protector of his people, sacrificing himself for them. Some believe
that the Children Of Llyr were from the underworld and the Children of
Don were sky deities.
Other
Deities Who Were Not Children Of Either Clan:
Morrigan: She was a goddess who could shape shift in battle and change
into horrible creatures.
Mabinogi: He was lord of the underworld. He changed places for a year
with Arawn, prince of Annwn, the British Hades.
Rhiannon: She was a fertility goddess who bore the son, Pryderi, who later
became the new lord of the Underworld.
Arthur: There is much derision between historians as to who Arthur really
was. The Legend of King Arthur and his Knights seems to be an echo of
various long forgotten and displaced deities, along with their battles
with each other. It is believed by some historians that people who were
trying to put together a coherent and readable story of their gods created
the Legend Of Arthur in order to make it palatable as a story. The Holy
Grail seems to be a thinly disguised version of the cauldron of plenty
that the Dagda of the Irish and Bran of the Welsh traditions possessed.
Arthur has sometimes been called Ator in ancient literature. Ator was
a bear god, a ploughman. He is also called Culhwch and Olwen in other
texts. It is not certain if he was considered a legendary real person
or a mythological aspect of a chieftain god with his consort Gwenhwyf
ar, who was most likely a fertility goddess.