This race of divine beings, mythical inhabitants of Ireland before the Celts, claimed descent from the ancestral goddess Danu. They brought with them to Ireland four powerful talismans:the Stone of Fâl, which cried out when the one who was to be king touched it, the spear of Lug, which guaranteed victory, the sword of Nûada, from which no one escaped, and the cauldron of Dagda, which no company left without being satiated. The Tûatha Dé were versed in magic and druidic practices. Many of the gods exercised a particular function:Ogme was specialized in the art of war, Lug in arts and techniques, Goibniu was the god of the forge, Diancecht the god of medicine.
A whole body of myths and tales related to the most important gods of the Tûatha Dé Dânann and to their function. The Dagda (Good God), the tribal father god, dispensed abundance and regeneration. He possessed two major attributes:a large club, one end of which killed and the other gave life, and a huge and inexhaustible cauldron. The image of Dagda does not fail to be ambivalent:he is described as a coarse and crude, ridiculous and grotesque character, dressed in an indecently short tunic and showing an insatiable appetite, and at the same time as the powerful father of his tribe. But all these elements belong to the symbolism of fertility. Several legends relate her union with various goddesses, including Boann, goddess of the Boyne. Her association with the fearsome fury of battle, the Morrigan, guarantees safety to her people.