In
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...
, Carman or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from
Athens who tried to invade
Ireland in the days of the
Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("black"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She used her magical powers to destroy all the fruit of Ireland.
Four of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Crichinbel,
Lug,
Bé Chuille and
Aoi, challenged Carman and her sons. The sons were forced to leave Ireland, and Carman was imprisoned. She died of longing and was buried in
Wexford among oak trees. Her grave was dug by
Bres. The place she was buried was called Carman after her, and the Tuatha Dé Danann are said to have instituted an
Óenach Carmán, or
Festival of Carmán. Celtic historian
Peter Berresford Ellis
Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943) is a British historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 98 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 100 ...
describes her as "a goddess who came to Ireland from Athens with her three ferocious sons—Calma (Valiant), Dubh (Black) and Olc (Evil). They laid Ireland to waste but were eventually overcome by the Tuatha Dé Danann. Carmán died of grief and it is recorded that death ‘came upon her in an ungentle shape’. She was subsequently remembered in
Leinster by a Festival of Carmán held at
Lughnasad, 1 August."
Her story is told in a poem of the
Metrical Dindshenchas, which states that she died in
600 BCE.
Given name
*
Carman Barnes
Carman Dee Barnes (November 20, 1912 – August 19, 1980)
was an American novelist.
Early life
Barnes was born on November 20, 1912 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was the daughter of James Hunter Neal and poet and folklorist Lois Diantha M ...
(1912-1980), American novelist
*
Carman George Blough (1895-1981), American accountant
*
Carman Lapointe (born 1951), Canadian diplomat
*
Carman Lee (born 1966), Hong Kong actress
*
Carman Maxwell (1902-1987), American animator
*
Carman McClelland (born 1951), Canadian politician
*
Carman Miller Carman Irwin Miller (born 1940) is a military historian and former Dean of Arts at McGill University in Montreal.
Born in Moser River, Nova Scotia, Miller received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 and a Bachelor of Education degree in 1961 from ...
(born 1940), Canadian military historian
*
Carman A. Newcomb
Carman Adam Newcomb (July 1, 1830 – April 6, 1902) was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, judge and marshal from Iowa and Missouri.
Life and career
Born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, Newcomb completed preparatory studies and moved to Kent ...
(1830-1902), American politician
*
Carman Newsome (1912-1974), American actor
References
External links
*''The Metrical Dindshenchas'', edited and translated by Edward J. Gwynn, a
CELT** Volume 3, poem 1 Carmun
an
Characters in Irish mythology
Women in mythology
{{Celt-myth-stub