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In Irish mythology, the Badb (Old Irish, ), or in Irish language Badhbh (, )—also meaning 'crow'—is a war goddess who takes the form of a crow, and is thus sometimes known as Badb Catha ('battle crow').http://www.dil.ie/5114 badb, Author: Royal Irish Academy She is known to cause fear and confusion among soldiers to move the tide of battle to her favoured side. Badb may also appear prior to a battle to foreshadow the extent of the carnage to come, or to predict the death of a notable person. She would sometimes do this through wailing cries, leading to comparisons with the Banshee (banshee).
With her sisters, Macha and the Morrigan or Anand, Badb is part of a Triple deity of war goddesses known as the three Morrígna. Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Text 166, Author: UnknownElizabeth A. Gray (ed. & trans.), Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, section 167, 1982
She was also regularly depicted as an active participant in warfare; indeed, the battlefield was sometimes referred to as "the garden of the Badb". (reissue of Gods and Heroes of the Celts. London: Methuen, 1949) During the First Battle of Mag Tuired, Badb—along with her sisters, Macha and Morrígan—fights on the side of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Using their magic, the three sisters incite fear and confusion among the Fir Bolg army, conjuring "compact clouds of mist and a furious rain of fire" and allowing their enemies "neither rest nor stay for three days and nights".Fraser, J. (ed. & trans.), "The First Battle of Moytura" , Ériu 8, pp. 1–63, 1915 Badb plays a similar role in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, terrorising and disorienting the forces of Medb and causing many to fall on their own weapons. She would often take the form of a screaming raven or crow, striking fear into those who heard her, and could also be heard as a voice among the corpses on a battlefield.
Following the defeat of the Fomorians by the Tuatha Dé Danann in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, Badb (or the Morrígan daughter of Ernmas) instead of predicting doom, now sings a prophecy celebrating the victory and a time of peace,
Then she delivers a prophecy of the eventual end of the world, "foretelling every evil that would be therein, and every disease and every vengeance. Wherefore then she sang this lay below.":
+ ! Middle Irish 831-832,833,837-840 !! Modern English Ni accus bith nombeo baid:
sam cin blatha,
beti bai cin blichda,
mna can feli
fir gan gail.
Gabala can righ...
feda cin mes.
Muir can toradh.
sen saobretha.
Brecfásach mbrithiom-
braithiomh
cech fer.
Foglaid cech mac.
Ragaid mac i lligie a athar.
Ragaid
athair a lligi a meic.
Cliamain cach a brathar.
Ni sia nech mnai assa
tigh...
olc aimser
immera mac a athair,
imera ingen...I shall not see a world which will be dear to me:
Summer without blossoms,
Cattle will be without milk,
Women without modesty,
Men without valour.
Conquests without a king...
Woods without mast. (n2) "fallen nuts or acorns serving as food for animals" on etymonline.com
Sea without produce...
False judgements of old men.
False precedents of lawyers,
Every man
a betrayer.
Every son a reaver.
The son will go to the bed of his father,
The father
will go to the bed of his son.
Each his brother's brother-in-law.
He will not seek any woman outside his
house...
An evil time,
Son will deceive his father,
Daughter will deceive...
Lebor Gabála Érenn also states that Badb is one of the two wives of the war god Neit. Less commonly, she has been described as the wife of the Fomorian king Tethra.
Badb also appears to be closely related to the Gaulish goddess Catubodua, or Bodua.
W. M. Hennessy argues that the word bodb or badb originally meant rage, fury, or violence, and came to mean a witch, fairy, or goddess, represented in folklore by the scald-crow, or royston-crow.Hennessy, W. M., "The Ancient Irish Goddess of War", Revue Celtique 1, 1870–72, pp. 32–37 Peter O'Connell's 1819 Irish Dictionary defines the Badb as a " banshee, a female fairy, phantom, or spectre, supposed to be attached to certain families, and to appear sometimes in the form of squall-crows, or royston-crows" and badb-catha as " Fionog, a royston-crow, a squall crow". Other entries relate to her triple nature: " Macha, i. e. a royston-crow; Morrighain, i. e. the great fairy; Neamhan, i. e. Badb catha nó feannóg; a badb catha, or royston-crow."Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries, 1911, pp. 304–305
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