collapse

* Recent Posts

Re: "Christ Is King" by SunflowerP
[Yesterday at 11:06:51 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by SunflowerP
[Yesterday at 10:30:17 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Darkhawk
[Yesterday at 08:31:19 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Darkhawk
[Yesterday at 07:54:40 pm]


Re: "Christ Is King" by Sefiru
[Yesterday at 07:44:49 pm]

Author Topic: Tir Na Nog  (Read 2583 times)

Littlewolf

  • Apprentice
  • ***
  • Join Date: Dec 2015
  • Posts: 27
  • Total likes: 0
    • View Profile
Tir Na Nog
« on: December 16, 2015, 06:32:20 pm »
Greetings,
Can anyone explain the concept of Tir Na Nog? What I've found so far that it is the good afterlife and that all the souls go there, and there is no hell. If there is no hell then i am very curious how the good can coexist with the bad, ethics is in the eye of the beholder, but i imagine there would be conflicts between those who had wronged each other during their lives.
Thank you for your wisdom.

Gilbride

  • Sr. Master Member
  • *******
  • Join Date: Sep 2012
  • Posts: 597
  • Total likes: 0
    • View Profile
Re: Tir Na Nog
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2015, 08:16:19 am »
Quote from: Littlewolf;183554
Greetings,
Can anyone explain the concept of Tir Na Nog? What I've found so far that it is the good afterlife and that all the souls go there, and there is no hell. If there is no hell then i am very curious how the good can coexist with the bad, ethics is in the eye of the beholder, but i imagine there would be conflicts between those who had wronged each other during their lives. Thank you for your wisdom.


Tir na nOg or "the land of the young" is one of several Irish words for the otherworld inhabited by the gods and the people of the Sidh, or one of several such otherworlds. In some stories it's a specific place, an island in the ocean. In some folklore, the word is also used to refer to the otherworld inside the Sidh hills, so it's a bit vague.

Either way, it's basically a fairy realm rather than an afterlife. There is some vague but persistent connection between the fairies and the dead in Irish folklore. When folklorists collect stories about the Sidh realm, some people tell them that the fairies are the same as the dead. Others say they are not, or that only some of the dead end up in the Sidh realm - specifically, those who die young or "unnaturally."

In Irish lore, the Milesian dead - that is, those descended from the Irish Gaelic families that claimed descent from the Milesians - go to Tech Duinn after death. This is an island called the House of Donn. Donn is a kind of a death god, but unlike the other gods he isn't Tuatha De Danann. Instead, he's the first Milesian to die in Ireland. (And thus a deified ancestor.) He's also described sometimes as a fairy king.

However, most accounts state that the dead only stay in Tech Duinn temporarily before going on to the afterlife. Because Irish myth wasn't written down until after the Christian conversion, nobody knows what the pagan afterlife was supposed to have been.

Could the dead end up in Tir na nOg? It's not implausible, but nothing in the lore actually says that this happens. Could the dead reincarnate? Some of the myths hint that this could be the case, but again it's not clear that it happens to everyone.

When it comes to Irish myth, there are no clear and simple answers. Anyone who presents a clear and simple answer is distorting the lore, which is highly complex and self-contradictory.

Tags:
 

Special Interest Group

Warning: You are currently in a Special Interest Group on the message board with special rules and focused discussions.

* Who's Online

  • Dot Guests: 240
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 0

There aren't any users online.

* Please Donate!

The Cauldron's server is expensive and requires monthly payments. Please become a Bronze, Silver or Gold Donor if you can. Donations are needed every month. Without member support, we can't afford the server.

* Shop & Support TC

The links below are affiliate links. When you click on one of these links you will go to the listed shopping site with The Cauldron's affiliate code. Any purchases you make during your visit will earn TC a tiny percentage of your purchase price at no extra cost to you.

* In Memoriam

Chavi (2006)
Elspeth (2010)
Marilyn (2013)

* Cauldron Staff

Host:
Sunflower

Message Board Staff
Board Coordinator:
Darkhawk

Assistant Board Coordinator:
Aster Breo

Senior Staff:
Aisling, Allaya, Jenett, Sefiru

Staff:
Ashmire, EclecticWheel, HarpingHawke, Kylara, PerditaPickle, rocquelaire

Discord Chat Staff
Chat Coordinator:
Morag

'Up All Night' Coordinator:
Altair

Cauldron Council:
Bob, Catja, Chatelaine, Emma-Eldritch, Fausta, Jubes, Kelly, LyricFox, Phouka, Sperran, Star, Steve, Tana

Site Administrator:
Randall

SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal