Page:Origin and Growth of Religion (Rhys).djvu/425

Rh has long since become obsolete, or at any rate of very rare occurrence. The point of chief importance to us is the fact that lleu meant light, and that there is no reason to suppose the name Lleu to be of a different origin from the appellative; we are at liberty also to suppose that the Irish Lug meant light, and thus we arrive at a signification of the name, which exactly describes the Sun-god, whom we have identified under these appellations.

We now pass on from the names of the Sun-god to the widely spread cult of which he was the object in all Celtic lands. In Ireland there were great meetings, which constituted fairs and feasts, associated with Lug, and called Lugnassad after him. The chief day for these was Lammas-day, or the first of August, and the most celebrated of them used to be held at Tailltin (p. 148), in Meath. The story of the institution of the fair is thus told by the Irish historian Keating: "Lugh Lámhfhada son of Cian . . . . took the kingship of Erinn for forty years. It is this Lugh that first instituted the fair of Tailltin, as an annual commemoration of Tailltiu, daughter of Maghmór, that is to say, the king of Spain; and she was wife to Eochaidh mac Eirc, last king of the Fir Bolg; she was afterwards wife to Eochaidh Gharbh, son of Duach Dall and chief of the Tuatha Dé Danann. It is by this woman that Lugh Lámhfhada was fostered and educated, until he was fit to bear arms. It is as a commemoration of honour to her that Lugh instituted the games of the