more secular celebration of his memory, and his rath or
cairn would assume in their eyes a new character.

To an ardent imaginative people the complete extinction by death of a
much-loved hero would even at first be hardly possible. That the tomb
which held his ashes should be looked upon as the house of the hero must
have been, even shortly after his interment, a prevailing sentiment,
whether expressed or not. Also, the feeling must have been present,
that the hero in whose honour they performed the annual games, and
periodically chanted the remembrance of whose achievements, saw and
heard those things that were done in his honour. But as the celebration
became greater and more solemn, this feeling would become more strong,
and as the tomb, from a small heap of stones or low mound, grew into an
enormous and imposing rath, the belief that this was the hero's house,
in which he invisibly dwelt, could not be avoided, even before they
ceased to regard him as a disembodied hero; and after the hero had
mingled with the divine clans, and was numbered amongst the gods, the
idea that the rath was a tomb could not logically be entertained. As
a god, was he not one of those who had eaten of the food provided by
Mananan, and therefore never died. The rath would then become his house
or temple. As matter of fact, the bardic writings teem with this idea.
From reason and probability, we would with some certainty conclude that
the great tumulus of New Grange was the temple of some Irish god; but
that it was so, we know as a fact. The father and king of the gods
is alluded to as dwelling there, going out from thence, and returning
again, and there holding his invisible court.

"Behold the _Sid_ before your eyes,
It is manifest to you that it is a king's mansion."
[Note: O'Curry's Manuscript Materials of Irish History, page 505.]

"Bove Derg went to visit the Dagda at the Brugh of Mac-An-Og."
[Note: "Dream of Angus," Revue Celtique, Vol. III., page 349.]

Here also dwelt Angus Og, the son of the Dagda. In this, his spiritual
court or temple, he is represented as having entertained Oscar and
the Ossianic heroes, and thither he conducted [Note: Publications of
Ossianic Society, Vol. III., page 201.] the spirit of Diarmid, that he
might have him for ever there.

In the etymology also we see the origin of the Irish gods. A grave in
Irish is Sid, the disembodied spirit is Sidhe, and this latter word
glosses Tuatha De