Goayr Heddagh
A vast goat that haunts the lonely roads of the Isle of Man and waits for travellers caught out after dark.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Manx folklore
- Region
- Isle of Man (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Night-Comers
- Symbols
- Goat
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Goat is image-domain The goat denotes untamed lust and fertility, sacred to Pan and Dionysus, nurturing as milk-giver and driven out as bearer of a people's sins.
why
A vast goat that haunts the lonely roads of the Isle of Man and waits for travellers caught out after dark.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Emerges at night to attack
why
The Goayr Heddagh is Manx, and the descriptions of it are brief and remarkably consistent across the sources: a large and terrifying-looking goat, met on lonely roads at night, which preys upon or at minimum terrifies travellers who are still out after dark.
- Confuses travelers into losing their way
why
The Goayr Heddagh is Manx, and the descriptions of it are brief and remarkably consistent across the sources: a large and terrifying-looking goat, met on lonely roads at night, which preys upon or at minimum terrifies travellers who are still out after dark.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Hero meets
3 citations
- Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, s.v. "Goayr Heddagh."
- Patricia Monaghan, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, p. 218.
- Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, s.v. "Goayr Heddagh."