Ирландия мифологиясындағы Өлім құдайы Донн

Figure in Irish mythology

In Irish mythology, Donn ("the dark one", from ) is an ancestor of the Gaels and is believed to have been a god of the dead. Donn is said to dwell in Tech Duinn (the "house of Donn" or "house of the dark one"), where the souls of the dead gather. He may have originally been an aspect of the Dagda. Folklore about Donn survived into the modern era in parts of Ireland, in which he is said to be a phantom horseman riding a white horse.

A 9th century poem says that Donn's dying wish was that all his descendants would gather at Donn's house or Tech Duinn (modern Irish Teach Duinn) after death: "To me, to my house, you shall all come after your deaths". In their translation of Acallam na Senórach, Ann Dooley and Harry Roe commented that "to go to the House of Donn in Irish tradition means to die". Tech Duinn may have been thought of as a place where the souls of the dead gathered before travelling to their final destination in the otherworld, or before being reincarnated. In the literature, Tech Duinn is said to lie at or beyond the western edge of Ireland. In Ireland there was a belief that the souls of the dead departed westwards over the sea with the setting sun.</blockquote>

In the tale Togail Bruidne Dá Derga ("The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel"), king Conaire Mór meets his death in Bruiden Dá Derga (the "great hall or hostel of the red god"). On his way to the hostel, Conaire meets three red men riding red horses from the otherworld. They foretell his doom and tell him "we ride the horses of Donn although we are alive, we are dead". Dáithí Ó hÓgáin notes similarities between the two and suggests that Donn was originally an epithet of the Dagda. Donn is the father of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, whom he gives to the god of youth, Aengus mac Óg, to raise.

Folklore about Donn survived into the early modern era. In County Limerick, a Donn Fírinne was said to dwell in the sacred hill of Cnoc Fírinne (Knockfeerina or Knockfierna), and folklore told of people being brought into the hill to be with Donn when they died. He was said to appear as a phantom horseman riding a white horse. He was also associated with the weather: thunder and lightning meant that Donn Fírinne was riding his horse through the sky, and if clouds were over the hill it meant that he was gathering them together to make rain. This imagery may have been influenced by the lore of Odin and his horse Sleipnir from the Norse settlers in Limerick. Donn Fírinne was also said to appear and warn anyone who interfered with his hill. On the west coast of County Clare there was a Donn na Duimhche or Donn Dumhach ("Donn of the dunes"), who "was also often encountered as a night horseman". In later folklore, the name 'Donn' came to mean an 'otherworld lord' in general. In modern Irish donn is the most common word for the colour brown, and by extension can also mean "sturdy (like) wood". This is one possible etymology of the English colour "dun" (greyish brown).