Editing Banba

{{Short description|Irish goddess}}
{{for|the Clannad album|Banba (album)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
In [[Irish mythology]], '''Banba''' (modern spelling: '''Banbha''' {{IPAc-ga|'|b|a|n|@|v|@}}), daughter of [[Delbáeth]] and [[Ernmas]] of the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], is a matron [[goddess]] of [[Ireland]]. She was married to [[Mac Cuill]], a grandson of the [[Dagda]].<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Idy7AQAAQBAJ&q=Banba&pg=PA134 | title = Celtic Myths and Legends | author = T. W. Rolleston | author-link = T. W. Rolleston | date = 24 July 2012 | page = 132 | publisher = Dover Publications | place = New York | isbn = 9780486265070}}</ref>

She was part of an important triumvirate of matron goddesses, with her sisters, [[Ériu]] and [[Fódla]]. According to [[Seathrún Céitinn]] she worshipped [[Macha (Irish mythology)|Macha]], who is also sometimes named as a daughter of Ernmas. The two goddesses may therefore be seen as equivalent. Céitinn also refers to a tradition that Banbha was the first person to set foot in Ireland before the [[Deluge (mythology)|flood]], in a variation of the legend of [[Cessair]].

In the ''Tochomlad mac Miledh a hEspain i nErind: no Cath Tailten'',<ref>[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/tochomlad-e.html The Progress of the Sons of Mil from Spain to Ireland TCD H.4.22] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023005644/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/tochomlad-e.html |date=2007-10-23 }}, Celtic Literature Collective</ref> it is related that as the [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]] were journeying through Ireland, "they met victorious Banba among her troop of [[faery]] magic hosts" on Senna Mountain, the stony mountain of Mes. A footnote identifies this site as [[Slieve Mish Mountains|Slieve Mish]] in [[Corcu Duibne|Chorca Dhuibne]], [[County Kerry]]. The soil of this region is a non-[[leptic]] [[podzol]] [http://www.ucd.ie/sssi/Soils%20of%20Ireland_files/Soils_colour.png]. If the character of Banba originated in an earth-goddess, non-leptic podzol may have been the particular earth-type of which she was the deification.

The [[LÉ Banba (CM11)]], a ship in the [[Irish Naval Service]], was named after her.

Initially, she could have been a goddess of war as well as a fertility goddess.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}
{{National personifications}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banba}}
[[Category:Irish goddesses]]
[[Category:Tuatha Dé Danann]]
[[Category:War goddesses]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Tutelary deities]]
[[Category:Irish royal consorts]]
[[Category:Personifications of Ireland]]
[[Category:National personifications]]
[[Category:Names for Ireland]]


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