Nechtan: Keeper of the Well of Knowledge
Nechtan the God of Water
In a previous post, we talked about the goddess Boann. This time, we’re going to talk about her husband, the Celtic god Nechtan. Nechtan is actually perceived as many different gods in Celtic mythology, but we’re going to refer specifically to the stories where he is referenced under the name Nechtan. He is considered to be a minor major god, not quite in the upper echalon of the Tuatha de Danann but also not a minor deity. Learn about the Tuatha de Danann origins here.
Bearer of Knowledge
Nechtan is referred to as the Bearer of Knowledge, not be confused with the god of knowledge. In classical Gaelic tales, he is bestowed with the guardianship of the Tobar Segais, also known as the Well of Knowledge.
Around this well were nine hazelnut trees whose nuts fell into the well and were consumed by pure red salmon. These salmon were the salmon of knowledge. It was said that if anybody were to eat the nuts from these trees or these salmon of the river, they would gain infinite knowledge. So you can see why Nechtan is not considered to be the god of knowledge. He is the god bearing knowledge; he protects it. Only Nechtan and his cupbearers were allowed to approach the well.
The guardianship of this well was bestowed up on him by the Dagda. There are lots of parallels between the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden in Christian lore. The difference is that the reason why the Dagda had Nechtan guard this well was because knowledge was considered to be dangerous. If someone that was too good or too evil were to possess that knowledge, it could cause utter chaos amongst man, and part of the goal of the Tuatha de Danann was to bring balance to mankind and the energy of the world. That’s just one version of the mythology. There are dozens of them, but that happens to be my favorite.
Nechtan & Boann
In the post about Boann, we talked about how she fell in love with the Dagda and laid with him. After that, she went to the well to try to wash away her transgressions. In the version of the tale I’ll tell here, she actually climbs into the Well of Knowledge, and because only Necthan and his cupbearers are allowed to approach it, naturally the end result doesn’t fare well for Boann.
There are a couple of variations of this version. In one, the well itself consumes her and drowns her, and in another, Nechtan actually commands the well to drown her. In both versions, she becomes a salmon after being drowned. In another variance, the well bursts and overflows, and Boann becomes the River Boyne. In yet another, Nechtan boils her alive and she becomes the river, but that’s kind of a weird one that I don’t care for.
In one of my favorite versions of this story, Nechtan removes one of the hazelnuts from a tree and begins nibbling on it in frustration. In doing so, he grants himself knowledge and becomes a much more forlorn figure in Celtic mythology. He even gets call the Sad King in some versions. The reason for this is because the wisdom he inherits gives him an understanding of why he’s the guardian of knowledge and keeping it protected from others.
There’s a saying amongst some old folk that goes, “Go nuts like Nechtan” which essentially means “sad nut”. When referring to someone as a “sad nut” it’s akin to the people of the South in America saying, “That there’s a character.” It’s not a common phrase, but if you ever hear it, now you know where it came from.
He ends up being such a tragic character because he was so in love with his wife throughout all of the mythology we know of them, and while her transgression against him isn’t entirely her fault, his rage over it causes him to kill her. However, there is a version of the mythology where he is her father, so maybe it’s better that the Dagda sired her child and not Nechtan.
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