Fand

Fand is an early Irish sea goddess, later described as a "Queen of the Fairies". Her name is variously translated as "Pearl of Beauty" or "A Tear". She is seen as the most beautiful of goddesses, associated with the Other World islands of pleasure, youth and women.

Fand appears in the Ulster Cycle tale, Serglige Con Culainn (The Sickbed of Cúchulainn) first as an otherworldly sea bird, and later as an avenging goddess (or "Woman of the Otherworld). In her sea bird form, she flies with a flock of enchanted birds, with each pair joined together by a silver chain. Fand, flying with her sister Lí Ban, stands out from the rest as they are connected by a gold chain.

The hero Cúchulainn hurls stones at the seabirds, one of which passes through Fand's wing feathers. Later, Fand and Lí Ban return in the form of "Otherworldly women" and confront him on the shore of the lake. They beat Cúchulainn with horsewhips until he falls ill and lies abed for a year, unable to rise.

Cúchulainn eventually regains his health by the favor of Fand when, via negotiators (Lí Ban, and Cúchulainn's charioteer, Láeg), Cúchulainn reluctantly agrees to travel to the Fand's otherworld island and help her in a battle against her foes. Cúchulainn and Fand then become lovers.

The relationship does not last, as Cúchulainn's wife, Emer is very jealous and comes to attack the couple with a troop of women armed with knives. Fand sees that Emer is worthy of Cúchulainn, and obviously upset by their affair, so Fand chooses to leave him. She chants a poem, and then returns to her husband Manannán, who shakes his magical cloak of mists between Fand and Cúchulainn, that they may never meet again. Cúchulainn and Emer then drink a drink of forgetfulness, provided by the druids.

The goddess or otherworldly woman, Niamh of the Golden Hair, is said to be a daughter of Manannán. As Niamh and Fand share some of the same characteristics, it is possible Niamh is also the daughter of Fand. Some sources mention another possible daughter of Manannán, Cliodna, but as Manannán is known to have partnered with a number of goddesses and mortal women, her connection with Fand is unclear.

A mons on Venus, Fand Mons, has been named in her honour.

In 1916 the English composer Sir Arnold Bax completed an orchestral tone poem, The Garden of Fand, based on the story of Fand and Cúchulainn.

Also the British progressive rock band The Enid included an 18 minute piece entitled Fand on their 1977 album Aerie Faerie Nonsense.

Sources

• Serglige Con Culainn, original text
• The Sick-Bed of Cuchulain , an English translation of the above
• The Only Jealousy of Emer