BADB

One of the triad of Irish goddesses collectively called the Morrigna, Badb along with her sisters Nemain and Morrigan, is responsible for cleansing the battlefield of carrion. She incites armies to battle-frenzy. Badb may appear as a woman but she is most commonly seen in the form of a crow. Badb’s Gaulish counterpart is the goddess Bodua or Catubodua. In later Irish folk tradition, the phantom figure who keens over the battlefield before conflict presaging death upon the field was called badhbh chaointe (‘keening crow’).