In Irish mythology, Macha is a goddess linked with war, horses and kingship. She is said to have fed on the heads of the slain. Both Armagh (Ard Macha, Macha's height) and Emain Macha (Macha's twins?) are named after her. The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology. ... A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. A great many cultures have goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic (or gender neutral) deities. ... Armagh is a city in Northern Ireland, the capital of County Armagh. ... Categories: Ireland-place stubs | Ulster cycle ...

She is often seen as one aspect of a triple goddess. Some interpretations see this goddess as the Mórrígan (Great Queen), with her three aspects being Macha, the Badb and either Anann or Nemain. Alternatively, the three aspects may be the Mórrígan, Macha and the Badb. She may be related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona and the Welsh Rhiannon, who is associated with horses and whose name derives from Celtic *Rigantona, Great Queen. Followers of the Wiccan, Dianic, and Neopagan religions, as well as some archeologists and mythographers, believe that long before the coming of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Triple Goddess embodied the three-fold aspect of Gaia, the Earth Mother (Roman Magna Mater). ... Template:Cleaunup The Mórrígan (pronounced more rig-en) (great queen, meaning great as in big or large), is an Irish Earth-Goddess, as all Celtic Goddesses were. ... In Irish mythology, Badb (crow) or in modern spelling Badhbh was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, thus known as Badb Catha (battle crow). ... In Irish mythology, Anann (Anu, Ana) was a mother goddess. ... In Irish mythology Nemain (alternative spelling Nemhain) was a goddess of war, possibly another aspect of Morrigan. ... Gaulish is name given to the now-extinct Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul before the Romans, the Franks and the British Celts invaded. ... This article is about the Celtic goddess; for the video game character, see The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time characters. ... Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin. ... In Welsh mythology, Rhiannon was a daughter of Hefeydd the Old. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. ...

According to Seathrún Céitinn she was worshipped by Banba, with whom she may be seen as equivalent. Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish clergyman, poet and historian. ... In Irish mythology, Banba, sometimes spelled Banbha, was the patron spirit of Ireland, wife of King MacCuill, and a goddess of war and fertility. ...

There are several characters called Macha in Irish mythology, probably reflexes of the same goddess.

• Macha, the wife of Nemed. She died only twelve days after arriving in Ireland, and was buried at Ard Macha (Armagh). She was a prophetess.

• Macha of the Tuatha Dé Danann, daughter of Ernmas, and sister of the Mórrígan and the Badb. All three took part in the second battle of Magh Tuiredh against the Fomorians.

• Macha Mong Ruad ("red mane"), daughter of Áed Ruad. She married Cimbáeth, the High King, and after he died became the only queen in her own right in the List of High Kings of Ireland. She founded Emain Macha, marking out its boundaries with her brooch, explaining the name "Emain Macha" as "Macha's Neck-Brooch".

In Irish mythology, Nemed (holy or priveleged) son of Agnoman of Scythia was the leader of the third group of inhabitants of Ireland. ... This article is about a mythical people of Ireland. ... Ernmas is an Irish mother goddess. ... Template:Cleaunup The Mórrígan (pronounced more rig-en) (great queen, meaning great as in big or large), is an Irish Earth-Goddess, as all Celtic Goddesses were. ... In Irish mythology, Badb (crow) or in modern spelling Badhbh was a goddess of war who took the form of a crow, thus known as Badb Catha (battle crow). ... In Irish mythology, Magh Tuiredh (Mag Tuired, Magh Tuireadh, anglicised as Moytura) is the name of the locations of two battles said to have been waged by the Tuatha Dé Danann. ... In Irish mythology, the Fomorians, Fomors, or Fomori (Irish Fomóiri, Fomóraig) were a semi-divine race who inhabited Ireland in ancient times. ... In Irish Mythology Áed Ruad or Áedh Ruadh, the red, was a High King of Ireland. ... In Irish Mythology Cimbáeth or Cimbaoth was a High King of Ireland. ... The office of High King of Ireland (Irish: Ard Rí Érenn) was in origin a pseudohistorical construct of the eighth century that placed a king of all Ireland atop the fragmented pyramid of kingship that actually existed at that time. ... The High Kingship of Ireland was a pseudohistorical construct of the eighth century AD, a projection into the distant past of a political entity that did not become reality until the ninth century. ...

In Irish Mythology Cimbáeth or Cimbaoth was a High King of Ireland. ... The High Kingship of Ireland was a pseudohistorical construct of the eighth century AD, a projection into the distant past of a political entity that did not become reality until the ninth century. ... In Irish Mythology Cimbáeth or Cimbaoth was a High King of Ireland. ...

In Irish Mythology Cimbáeth or Cimbaoth was a High King of Ireland. ... The High Kingship of Ireland was a pseudohistorical construct of the eighth century AD, a projection into the distant past of a political entity that did not become reality until the ninth century. ... Rechtaid Rígderg (red king), son of Lugaid Laigde, was a legendary High King of Ireland of the 7th century BC. Categories: Ireland-related stubs | High Kings of Ireland ...

• Macha, wife of Cruinniuc. When her husband arrogantly boasted that his wife could beat the king of Ulster's chariot, she was forced to race against it while heavily pregnant. She won, and gave birth to twins at the finish line, explaining the name "Emain Macha" as "Macha's twins". She cursed the men of Ulster to suffer her labour pains in the hour of their greatest need, which is why none of the Ulstermen but Cúchulainn was able to fight in the Táin Bó Cuailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley).

The LÉ Macha (01), a ship in the Irish Naval Service (now decommissioned), was named after her. Cruinniuc (Crunniuc, Cruinn, Crundchu) is a farmer of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. ... The Ulaid, also known as the Ulaidh and the Ulad, are a people of Early Ireland who gave their name to the Irish Province of Ulster. ... Young Cúchulainn, 1912 illustration by Stephen Reid. ... The Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, is the central tale in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great cycles that make up the surviving corpus of Irish mythology. ... LÉ Macha (01) was a ship in the Irish Naval Service. ... Irish Naval Jack The Irish Naval Service is the navy of the Republic of Ireland and is one of the three standing branches of the Irish Defence Forces. ...

See also

• List of Celtic mythological beings