Tír na nÓg

Tír na nÓg
Irish mythology location
Type	Otherworld
Notable characters	Oisín, Niamh

In Irish mythology and folklore, Tír na nÓg ([tʲiːɾˠ n̪ˠə ˈn̪ˠoːɡ]; "Land of the Young") or Tír na hÓige ("Land of Youth") is one of the names for the Otherworld, or perhaps for a part of it. It is depicted as a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy. Its inhabitants are the Tuatha Dé Danann, the gods of pre-Christian Ireland. In the echtrae (adventure) and immram (voyage) tales, various Irish mythical heroes visit Tír na nÓg after a voyage or an invitation from one of its residents. They reach it by entering ancient burial mounds or caves, or by going under water or across the sea.

Other Old Irish names for the Otherworld include Tír Tairngire ("Land of Promise/Promised Land"), Tír fo Thuinn ("Land under the Wave"),Mag Mell ("Plain of Delight/Delightful Plain"), Ildathach ("Multicoloured place"), and Emain Ablach (the Isle of Apple Trees).

Tír na nÓg is best known from the tale of Oisín and Niamh. In the tale, Oisín (a human hero) and Niamh (a woman of the Otherworld) fall in love. She brings him to Tír na nÓg on a magical horse that can travel over water. After spending what seems to be three years there, Oisín becomes homesick and wants to return to Ireland. Niamh reluctantly lets him return on the magical horse, but warns him never to touch the ground. When he returns, he finds that 300 years have passed in Ireland. Oisín falls from the horse. He instantly becomes elderly, as the years catch up with him, and he quickly dies of old age.

"A leannan sidhe," a beautiful fairy sweetheart, "can lure you against your will into Tir-na-nOg," wrote Patrick Harpur.

In the 1997 movie Titanic, towards the end, as the water fills the ship, an Irish mother (played by Jeanette Goldstein) can be seen telling the tale to her two children as they fall asleep in their bed.

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