Pirates and Magicians - another view into ancient Irish culture. Cutler Memorial LIbrary, Plainfield. 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20th. (3rd Saturday workshop led by Michael Cerulli Billingsley, 11 years of field research in Ireland.)
Episode 4 - Long before the Celts arrived in Ireland, the island was invaded and the Irish were enslaved by Fomori (Mauri) pirates from northwest Africa. This real event and the linked Irish flight to the Baltic and elsewhere became yet another distorted myth... badly recounted by the conquering Celts, and then gloriously embellished by Christian scriptorium monks.
Béotach's extended tribal family fled north to seek help from magicians in the Baltic, and were not disappointed. But 4 generations of apprenticeship and intermarriage went by before they could return home - transformed into the Tuath Dé Danann.