Short description: List of deities of the Celtic peoples
Template:Celtic mythology
The Celtic deities are known from a variety of sources such as written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, religious objects, as well as place and personal names.
Celtic deities can belong to two categories: general and local. General deities were known by the Celts throughout large regions, and are the gods and goddesses called upon for protection, healing, luck, and honour. The local deities from Celtic nature worship were the spirits of a particular feature of the landscape, such as mountains, trees, or rivers, and thus were generally only known by the locals in the surrounding areas.
After Celtic lands became Christianised, there were attempts by Christian writers to euhemerize most of the pre-Christian deities. Some scholars have suggested that a few others, such as Brigit, may have become Saints in the Church. The Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythology, who were commonly interpreted as divinities or deified ancestors, were downgraded in Christian writing to fallen or ‘half-fallen’ angels, historical men, or demons; the latter has been the most common Christian view on most pagan deities. In many cases, traditions or practices, such as the reverence of holy wells, which often became baptismals, and most of which predate the coming of Christianity, that were considered redeemable were co-opted or reinterpreted as Christian.[1][2]
The Gauls inhabited the region corresponding to modern-day France, Belgium, Switzerland, southern and western Germany, Luxembourg and northern Italy. They spoke Gallic. The Celtic Britons inhabited most of the island of Great Britain and spoke Common Brittonic or British.
Female
Abnoba - Gaulish goddess worshipped in the Black Forest
Maximia - fountain goddess in Amélie-les-Bains[16]
Nemetona - Celtic goddess with roots in north-eastern Gaul.
Nehalennia - sea goddess in Zeeland
Nantosuelta - Gallic goddess, companion of Sucellos
Pritona - see Ritona below
Rhiannon - late Celtic goddess associated with horses, fertility, rebirth, the moon, mercy, and justice; also known as the goddess of forgiveness and understanding; a major figure in Welsh mythology
Ricagambeda - Brittonic goddess
Ritona (Pritona) - Gallic goddess of the Treveri
Rosmerta - Gallic goddess of fertility and abundance
Sabrina - see Hafren above
Seixomniai Leuciticai - a Celtic goddess, equated with Diana[17]
Senuna - Brittonic goddess
Sequana - Gallic goddess of the River Seine
Setlocenia - North Brittonic goddess of long life
Silgina - goddess of springs
Sirona - Gallic goddess of healing
Suleviae - triune mother goddess
Sulis - Brittonic goddess of the healing spring at Aquae Sulis (Bath)
Tamesis - Brittonic goddess of the River Thames
Veica Noriceia - a goddess attested in Noricum[17]
Anu - probable goddess of the earth and fertility,[45] called "mother of the Irish gods" in Cormac's Glossary[46]
Bec
Bébinn (Béfind)
Bé Chuille
Bodhmall
Boann - goddess of the River Boyne, called Bouvinda by Ptolemy[47]
Brigit (Bríd or Bridget) - called a ‘goddess of poets’ in Cormac's Glossary,[46] with her sisters Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith[48] Some scholars believe that Brigit of Kildare was a Christian re-making of Brigit, but this is disputed.
Caillech (Beira, Biróg) - an ancestral creator and weather goddess
The Brythonic peoples, descendants of the Celtic Britons, inhabit western Britain (mainly Strathclyde, Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall) and Brittany. They speak the Brythonic languages.
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