In the early Irish mythic corpus Brigid is presented as a daughter of the Dagda and thus a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann; sources (as summarized in modern accounts) place some narratives of her ownership of named herd animals and of deeds (e.g., inventing a night‑whistle, initiating keening) in texts such as the Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuired, while Cormac's Glossary (Sanas Cormaic) presents her in a tripartite form—a poetess and two sisters 'Brigit the woman of leechcraft, and Brigit the woman of smithcraft'—leading scholars to treat her both as a singular goddess and as a triadic or titular figure. Medieval law glosses (the Bretha Bríg as recorded in Senchas Már glosses) attribute juridical adjustments and female‑focused legal prescriptions to a figure called Bríg Brethach, further embedding her as a model authority in social regulation.
The provided sources do not offer a consistent anthropomorphic portrait. Instead, Brigid is characterized by named mythic animals (the oxen Fea and Femen; the 'king of boars' Torc Triath; the 'king of wethers' Cirb) and by mythic acts recorded in medieval narratives (for example, inventing a whistle for night travel and initiating keening for her son Ruadán, as summarized from Lebor Gabála Érenn and Cath Maige Tuired in the secondary material). No standardized bodily description (clothing, height, coloration) is given in the cited summaries.
Sources attribute to Brigid poetic and prophetic inspiration (Cormac's Glossary calls her 'the goddess whom poets adored'), healing and leechcraft (one Brigit is called 'the woman of leechcraft'), smithing and metalcraft ('the woman of smithcraft'), protection and guardianship of livestock (ownership of Fea, Femen, Torc Triath, Cirb, and the animals' legendary cries when plundered), and social/judicial authority (the Bretha Bríg legal glosses). Medieval hagiographic and scholarly accounts note overlapping miracle motifs for Saint Brigid—multiplying food, bestowing cattle, controlling weather, association with fire and thermal springs—indicating continuity of these functional domains across pagan and Christianized traditions.
Stree
A vengeful female spirit from Chanderi who abducts men during festival nights. Warded off by the inscription 'O Stree, kal aana' — her legend, still practised on walls across Madhya Pradesh, inspired the 2018 Bollywood horror-comedy.
Apsara
Celestial dancers and water nymphs of Hindu cosmology — beautiful semi-divine beings who dance at the court of Indra and, by his command, descend to earth to distract sages from excessive asceticism.
Mohini
South Indian spirit of a beautiful woman who died of a broken heart or by betrayal — she appears on roadsides at night, enchants men into following her, and leads them to ruin or death.
Abaddon
In Hebrew scripture Abaddon is primarily a noun meaning 'destruction' or a section/condition of the underworld paired with Sheol; in the New Testament Book of Revelation Abaddon is personified as an angelic figure (Greek Apollyon) described as the king of an army of locusts released from the abyss during the apocalypse.
Abadir
Abadir is a polysemous name attested in distinct cultural contexts: a legendary founding saint and clan ancestor in eastern Ethiopia (Sheikh Abadir Umar Al‑Rida / Aw Abadir), a term applied to cone‑shaped cult stones in Phoenician religious description, and a personal name of a martyr (Abadir/Apater) in the Coptic Synaxarium. The attestations are independent usages of the same name rather than a single supernatural being.
Abadiu of Antinoe
Abadiu of Antinoe was a fourth‑century bishop of Antinoe (Antinoopolis, in Roman Egypt) commemorated as a martyr and saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, with a feast day on 26 December. Sources record that he was killed during a theological dispute with Arian opponents and reference him in collections of Egyptian martyrs.
Abagtha
Abagtha (Hebrew: אבגתא, ’Ǎḇaḡṯā) is a named human court official in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Esther, listed among seven chamberlains who ministered before King Ahasuerus and were commanded to bring Queen Vashti before the king. He is attested only in Esther 1:10 and is presented as an institutional palace attendant rather than a supernatural being.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abanoub
Abanoub is a 4th‑century Egyptian Christian child martyr venerated in the Coptic tradition. Remembered for his public confession of Christ, miraculous healings associated with his passion, and the translation and veneration of his relics, his feast is observed on July 31 (Epip 24) and his cult centers include Nehisa and Samanoud.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abaskhiron the Soldier
A Coptic Orthodox martyr venerated for refusing imperial idolatry during the Diocletian persecution; reputedly healed by the Archangel Michael, preserved in monastery relics, and commemorated on 14 June (7 Paoni).
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abdel Messih El-Makari
Abdel Messih El-Makari (1892–1963) was a Coptic Orthodox monk and priest venerated as a 20th‑century Coptic saint. Associated with the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor and the Monastery of Saint Macarius (Scetes/Wadi El‑Natrun), he is remembered for humility, asceticism, charity, and reported spiritual gifts such as prescience, discerning of spirits, and healing.
Abel
Abel is the second son of Adam and Eve in the Genesis narrative, a shepherd whose accepted offering and subsequent murder by his brother Cain form the biblical account of the first death. Later interpretive traditions expand his role, treating him as an archetypal righteous victim, a postmortem avenging or adjudicating figure, and in some systems (notably Mandaean) identifying him with an angelic lightbeing.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Community Record
- [1]Brigid - Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Brigid', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [2]Brigid - Wikidata. Wikidata entry Q26235189other
- [3]St Brigid Celtic Anabaptist Community archived sermons (PDF). Archived collection (listed in research notes)other