The Aes Dana

One interesting parallel with the Greeks is the existence of the aes dana in Irish culture. In ancient Ireland, only two classes of people were allowed to travel freely outside their own tuath, or kingdom—the nobility and a class of people called the aes dana. The aes dana were skilled freeman in a variety of arts, including poetry, teaching, law, storytelling, healing, and practical crafts (Scherman 33). In most cases, these traveling scholars were either druids (the faithi) or bards (the filid). It is important to note that the terms ‘druid’ and ‘bard’ were often used interchangeably in Irish legends, unlike today (Rutherford 32). Indeed, the distinction between druidic clerics and bardic poets was blurred in ancient Ireland, only becoming distinctive with the introduction of Christian priests, who served as clerics but not as bards. In ancient Ireland, druids and bards used many of the same kinds of language-based practices to teach, heal, judge, and entertain. Today, the strong Irish tradition of storytellers and poets descends directly from this custom of traveling druids and bards. In ancient Ireland, however, the aes dana were more than storytellers and poets as we might define these occupations today. Historians commonly translate the term aes dana as “people of poetry” but the etymology of this title suggests more. The word dana, likely refers back to the Danaans, the magical fairy people who were believed to co-occupy Ireland with the Celts. So, the proper translation for the term probably should be “people who practice the arts of the Danaans.” If so, this designation would have made these traveling scholars powerful people indeed. The aes dana were not the Danaans themselves, but they had gained the knowledge and arts of these magical people. As masters of language, song, and poetry, druids and bards were at the center of ancient Irish culture.