Celtic fairy traditions
Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as the People of the Goddess Dana. Evans-Wentz follows their transition from the gods of manuscript narratives to the Sidhe of later belief, while his informants describe their own communities and courts. After conquest by the Sons of Mil, their power continues beneath the land. A treaty with Dagda restores human access to wheat and milk, making occupation of Ireland a relationship with its unseen former rulers.
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedThe Tuatha Dé Danann are described as the People of the Goddess Dana. Evans-Wentz follows their transition from the gods of manuscript narratives to the Sidhe of later belief, while his informants describe their own communities and courts.
Further detail
ReportedAfter conquest by the Sons of Mil, their power continues beneath the land. A treaty with Dagda restores human access to wheat and milk, making occupation of Ireland a relationship with its unseen former rulers.
Context & interpretation
Evans-Wentz combines named informants, manuscript narratives, and his own psychical theory in a 1911 survey. This entry preserves those distinctions: collected belief and literary tradition do not establish the physical existence of an Otherworld.
Original passages
Source 1
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
Tuatha De Danann of the ancient mythology of IrelandOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 315
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0315
- Original scan leaf
- 316
- Recorded leaf number
- 316
- Current Reader position
- 311
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
Sons of Mil were constrained to make a treaty with > their supreme king, Dagda, who, in Cdir Anmann (§ 150), , isOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 322
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0322
- Original scan leaf
- 323
- Recorded leaf number
- 323
- Current Reader position
- 318
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Dagda
Divine king who assigns the Sidhe palaces and negotiates with conquerors.
Shared source pageDana
The goddess whose name defines the Tuatha Dé Danann in Evans-Wentz’s survey.
Shared source pageSaint Brigit
Christian saint interpreted as an inheritor of older Irish devotion.
Same subject and traditionAengus Óg
The youthful god associated with the enchanted palace of the Boyne.