The Island of Ireland is moderate and calm on land, but the northern seas around it are treacherous. Giant waves pound cliffs, rocks and boats. The seamen are cocksure and beaten simultaneously. They curse and love the sea, both provider and adversary. Yet they will never leave the emerald set in the silver sea and their stories reside in the hearts of Irish everywhere.
Ireland’s past is not long in the story of Earth. Covered in thick ice, humans began to appear around 10,500 BC, during a period of warming. Its older brother, Britain, brags humans around 900,000 BC. The Irish will not let anyone else write their history, documenting it from the earliest settlers in the “Lebor Gabála Érenn” or the Book of the Invasions of Ireland, recounting their kin back to Noah. The story combines the vivid Irish mythic world with real Christian history.
In the last invasion of Ireland, the earth mother-goddess Ériu, from the mythic race of the Tuatha Dé Danann, welcomed the Sons of Mil. She demanded they name the Isle after her. Through politicking and time, Ériu changed to Erin and then to Ireland. The Erin in “Gates of Erin” is the archaic name of the emerald island. Many historians believe that the Sons of Mil were the seafarers from the Iberian Peninsula in Spain and Portugal.The Tuatha Dé Danann were the Celts that migrated up from central France and Germany. The Romans and Greeks named the island Hibernia, another derivative of Ériu, or Erin.
Emerse yourself in Irish Mythology with my new book, "Gates of Erin." https://www.elizabethgabel.com/
Check back next Thursday and learn the secrets of Erin’s gates.