Cromm Cruaich - The Bloody Crescent

Permission is given to distribute this by any means given that the above copyright notice is kept intact with the artcle.

Here once dwelt
A high idol of many fights,
The Cromm Cruaich by name,
And deprived every tribe of peace.

Without glory in his honour,
they would sacrifice their wretched children
With much lamentation and danger,
Pouring their blood around Cromm Cruaich.

Milk and corn
they would urgently desire of him,
In barter for one third of their healthy offspring-
Their horror of him was great.

To him the noble Goidels (Gaels)
Would prostrate themselves;
From the bloody sacrifices offered him
The plain is called the 'Plain of Adoration'. (Mag Slecht)

They did evilly,
Beat on their palms, thumping their bodies,
Wailing to the monster who enslaved them,
Their tears falling in showers.

In a rank stand
Twelve idols of stone;
bitterly to enchant the people
The figure of Cromm was of gold.

From the reign of Heremon,
the Noble and Graceful,
Such worshipping of stones there was
Until the coming of Good Patrick of Macha.

The poem above is known as a dindshenchas, a type poem used to tell a story about the origins of the names of places within Ireland. This particular one has been found in the Book of Leinster, of Ballymote and of Lecan. It speaks of an idol, of a god named Cromm (Cromm Cruaich), who was struck down with the coming of Patrick to Ireland. It has gone by various names, Cromm Cruaich, Cenn Cróich, and as Crom Dubh (within modern Irish folklore). The Cromm name (The etymology of which is agreed means bent or crooked one) appears to be a name given to him after the coming of Patrick. Prior to Patrick's arrival the name Cenn was used (which means in Old Irish head or lord). The name 'The Bloody Crescent' has also been associated with him by at least Rolleston ¹ , although no references to the origin of this name were given.

His idol which stood on Mag Slecht ('The Plain of Adoration', which is in the North West of Co. Cavan, Ireland) is reported to have been the center of regular sacrifices, performed on the eve of Samhainn (which marked the end of summer). Where the sun's power waned and the gods of the winter and the underworld grew stronger. This idol was reported as once being either made from gold or a stone covered in gold and was surrounded by twelve other stones (Which MacManus ² notes may have been made from brass or bronze, although no other author backs this up, and once again, is given without due references to the origins of the idea). It is here that the mythic king of Ireland, Tiernmas (who is credited with introducing the worship of Cenn to his people) along with three quarters of his followers died suddenly, on Samhainn eve, while worshipping Cromm. As an asside, Tiernmas is credited with being the first to smelt gold and silver within Ireland, and his people were the first humans (Decendents of the Sons of Mil) to discover the process of dying clothes (Previously, it seems only the Gods, the Tuatha de Dannan, knew how to dye clothes). It could be speculated that it was some inspiration granted by Cenn that Tiernmas discovered these skills which were otherwise reserved for the Gods. This in itself might be an echo of the Ancient Greek mythology about Prometheus, and his sharing of fire with mortals.

Squire ³ refers to Professor Rhys's Celtic Heathendom ⁴ which suggest that Cenn Cróich may have been a gaelic Heaven god, simliar to Zeus, and his worship may have been based around 'high places', whether they are natural or unnatural. His idol on Mag Slecht may have been a chief-god surrounded by a pantheon of twelve other gods. Dixon-Kennedy ⁵ links Cenn with being a solar-type deity and a protector of the sidhe, however, he gives no references from which this associations are drawn.

There is a variation dindshenchas of Mag Slecht, that is found in a document called the Renne's MS. The Renne ⁶ version has a difference which appears to give some indication to the age of the Cromm figure (The highlights are my own):

T' is there was the king idol of Erin,
namely the Crom Cróich and around him
were twelve idols made of stone but he was of gold

Until Patricks advent he was the god of
every folk that colonized Ireland.
To him they used to offer the firstlings of every issue
and the chief scion of every clan.

This strongly suggests he is a god-figure that predates the coming of the Gaels to Ireland, and mythologically would give cause to suspect he predates the Tuatha de Dannan. Rolleston ⁷ , although preoccupied with alliterating the sacrifices, makes an interesting observation. He conjects that the supposed figure of Cromm, does not match with any of the Tuatha de Dannan, which can be use to continue the supposition that Cromm predates the Dannan. In one version of the tale of Patrick's destruction of the stone, involved a black demon-imp leaping from the stone and wrestling Patrick to the ground. I believe Cromm may be a god of the same era as Lir (The father of Manannan), an ancient sea god that is spoken of very little.

Both Ross ⁸ and Squire ⁹ point out that the destruction of the idol (and others like it, many reportedly having their La Téne style engravings covered with Christian iconography) was more of a symbolic act of forced dominance of the new faith, rather than a physical act. Anne Ross's wording especially conveys this "...plied upon Cromm from top to toe..", which suggests to me Patrick was carving or marking rather than smashing the stone. But along side that, a quote by Squire ¹⁰ is very inspiring "It is far easier, however, to overthrow the more public manifestations of a creed than to destroy its inner vital force.". On his first visit to the stones, apparently the worshipping thousands around Cromm were struck down by Heaven, and from there Patrick destroyed the idol. This once again suggests the dominant stance of the new faith, and may be an allusion to the worshippers of Cenn hiding and, on the surface at least, honouring the new god of Christ.

We are thus left with very little evidence of what seems to have been a very powerful god. What we do know is recorded by Christian monks during an era of medieval Ireland, which only seems to cover the destruction of the idol and its apparent blood-thirstiness. Was Cenn, some chthonic deity from the dawn of time whose strength was so great that he influenced race after race of people that came to his land? Did the destruction of one of his idols spell the end of his strength? Or was it merely a strategy where by his worshippers could escape persecution.

Footnotes

¹Rolleston, Thomas Myths and Legends of the Celts (1998?), pg 85

²MacManus, Seumas The Story of the Irish Race (1921), pg 97

³Squire, Charles Celtic Myth and Legend (1912), pg 41

⁴Celtic Heathendom was from Professor Rhys's Hibbert Lectures, 1886.

⁵Dixon-Kennedy, Mike Celtic Myth and Legend (1997), pg 71

⁶Squire, Charles Celtic Myth and Legend (1912), pg 41

⁷Rolleston, Thomas Myths and Legends of the Celts (1998?), pg 148

⁸Ross, Anne Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts (London 1972), pg 250-252

⁹Squire, Charles Celtic Myth and Legend (1912), pg 402

¹⁰Squire, Charles Celtic Myth and Legend (1912), pg 402

Tiernmas (historical account)
Cromm (historial account)
Cromm (theorizes)

Cromm Cruaich - The Bloody Crescent

Footnotes

Related Articles