The Hag of Beara is a mythic Irish Goddess: a Cailleach, or divine hag, crone, or creator deity; literally a "hooded one". She is associated with the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland, and was thought to bring winter. She is best known as the narrator of the medieval Irish poem "The Lament of the Hag of Beara", in which she bitterly laments the passing of her youth and her decrepit old age. The Great Book of Lecan contains a collection of stories concerning her.
The "Wailing Woman", looking towards Little Skellig
The Cailleach Beara, or Hag of Beara. According to legend, this rock represents the fossilized remains of the face of the Cailleach Beara, staring out at the ocean and awaiting her husband ManannĂ¡n, God of the Sea, to return to her
Hag's Head, County Clare
In Gaelic myth, the Cailleach is a divine hag and ancestor, associated with the creation of the landscape and with the weather, especially storms and winter. The word literally means 'old woman, hag', and is found with this meaning in modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and has been applied to numerous mythological and folkloric figures in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In modern Irish folklore studies, she is sometimes known as The Hag of Beara, while in Scotland she is known as Beira, Queen of Winter.
Illustration by John Duncan in Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend (1917)
Ben Cruachan, highest point in Argyll and Bute, home of the Cailleach nan Cruachan
The Corryvreckan whirlpool (Scottish Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'whirlpool/cauldron of the plaid') washtub of the Cailleach
The 'Wailing Woman' rock on Skellig Michael, County Kerry, is associated with The Hag of Beara