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Los Celtas creían en una variedad de dioses y diosas, although not every Celtic nation believed in the same group. Irlanda tenía diferentes deidades que Gales, who had further different gods than Gaul. Another point to consider is not only were gods known by different names, but many of the names were deemed too holy to pronounce aloud. (thus the common oath: “I swear by the god my tribe swears by”.)

It is important to remember that in the pre-christian times, the people believed in complex and imperfect gods who, like human beings, had personalities, interests, and feelings. A religious professional would be required to know these things in order to avoid angering them, thereby risking the welfare of the tribe. Because the Gods are similar to humans in disposition and tempermant, they are so much more accessible and comprehensible to humans. The idea that the gods might be makers of mor ality and judges of humanity is a foregn idea to most ancient european peoples.

Los Tuatha de Danann (Tribu de la Diosa Danu) era el nombre en el panteón irlandés, para los dioses que descendian de ella. Ironically, Danu herself never makes a personal appearance in the myths, but perhaps she is already everywhere, like the land. Certainly, some European rivers are named after her like the Danube and Dneiper, and the Don river.

Stories of the Gods are found primarily in the story of the battles of Mag Tuireadh (or Moytura), where they won the soverenty of Ireland from the race of Fomorians. With the introduction of Christianity, the old Gods lost status and power and became the Sidhe, or faeries, and many Druidic ideas evolved into the Faerie Faith.

This is a brief list, offering only a brief description of the Gods.

Lugh Lamh-fada (Long Handed), Son of the Sun, father of Cuсhullain. He is known by many names, such as Lleu in Wales, and Lugos in Gaul, and appears to be one of the few pan-Celtic deities. He bears the epit het “Samildanach”. He is more commonly known as “Lamhfada”, or “God with the Large Hand”, and as such has numerous counterparts in other Indo-European cultures, including the Hindu culture.

Dagda the Good (good not because of his moral disposition but because of the diversity of his skills) He is King of the Tuatha de Dannans, most of the time, and is father to many of the Gods. He possesses a magical club that can heal the dead or slay the living, and also posesses a cauldron that can feed unlimited numbers of people.

Nuada Argat-lamh (Silver Hand) twice king of the Dannans. Nuada lost his hand in the Battle of Moytura, and had it replaced with a mechanical hand by Dian Cecht. He has a counterpart in the Norse God Tyr, who is also missing a hand, though for a different reason.

Morrigan, Babd, and Nemhain (a triple goddess of War, and also connected to sovereignty) A powerful Goddess. Morrigan is responsible for choosing who will die in battle. To the Iron-Age Celts, this means she chooses who will pass into the Otherworld. One of her more grisly omens is the Washer at the Ford, where she appears as a maiden wringing blood from the clothes of the hero who is destined to die that day. Her sisters are named Babd, “Frenzy”, and Nemain, “Eater of the dead”.

Brigid (a triple Goddess of Fire, Poetry, and the Forge). She is christianized as Saint Bridget. Perpetual fires were kept blazing for Her and never allowed to go out. She is also a fertility deity, as she assists in childbirth of animals and of people. The festival of Imbolc is sacred t o her, and the folk would often leave bits of cloth outside their back door for her to touch and bless as she travelled abroad through the night.

Diancecht, god of healing. His name translates roughly as Dia- “God”, and Cecht- “of the plough”. He crafted a magical well which would ressurect to life anyone thrown into it, although the Fomorians filled it with stones. His children were great healers in their own right; Miach, his son was a better surgeon (a slight for which Diancecht killed him) and his daughter Airmud was a master herbalist.

Manannan mac Lir, God of the sea and master of magic. His name survives in the Isle of Man. Manannan is also a pan-Celtic deity, at least among the British Isles. In His realm, the Sea, are found the many magical islands that populate the Celtic Otherworld. The Sea is the Sky to him. In this way his concern is not merely the sea but also of the passages to the Otherworld, of which he is the guardian. His many titles include “Lord of Mists”, “Lord of the Land of Women”, “Lord of the Land Beneath the Waves”. In the Christian period, worship of Manannan was probably transferred to Saint Micheal.

Gaulish deities are the focus of Caesar’s records. He drew analogies between six of his own Roman gods and those he “discovered” in Gaul.

Lugh (Roman= Mercury)

Belinus (Roman= Apollo)

Taranis (Roman= Mars)

a thunder god Teutatis (Roman= Jupiter)

Brigid (Roman= Minerva)

Cernunnos (Roman= Dispater)

the Animal Lord or Green Man

Esus, Hu’Hesu, the perpetually Dying God

Epona, the Horse Goddess, with attributes of fertility for mares and women.

Also of note is the deity Herne the Hunter, a Saxon god popularly revered in the Mediaeval times and likely evolved from the worship of Cernunnos. Like Cernunnos, Herne is a male hunter-god, making his home in deep forests, having stag antlers on his head, and also associated with animals and with fertility. Cernunnos (and Herne) have a Hindu counterpart in Shiva, who is depicted surrounded by animals and named Pasupati, “Lord of Animals”.

There was a series of fire-festivals, occurring at approximately 12-week intervals, and spaced between the seasonal festivals of solstices and equinox (thus, a festival roughly every six weeks.) These fire-festivals would last three days, beginning at sunset on the first day, and would be the best time for sacrifices and divinations. They are:

Samhain (1st November: pronounced SOW-win) The word literally means “end of summer”. Traditionally, it is the Feast of the Dead, and beginning of the new year. Death came before Birth in the Druidic cycle of life, because before new growth can occur, there must be room for it. On this day it was thought that the boundary between this world and the Otherworld is weakest, and so passage between the worlds is smoother, and as they might be listening a little closer it is a time to remember and respect all those who died during the year. Games, feasts, and bonfires were held in honour of the dead, and often the Faeries would hold revels of their own, and invite mortals to join them. At Samhain, every fire in Ireland was extinguished and re-kindled from the “need fires” that were lit at the ritual centers of Uisneach and Tara, distributed by runners with torches.

Imbolc (1st February: pronounced IM-volk) The Return of Light. Imbolc celebrates the coming springtime and preparations for the planting season are begun. In Anglo-Saxon and Wiccan culture, Imbolc is sometimes called Candlemas. Imbolc was sacred to the Goddess Brigid, and the rituals on this day tended to center upon the home and hearth.

Beltaine (1st May: pronounced BEL-tain-yuh) The Fires of Bel. Spring has arrived, and the people give thanks. This was a day of fertility and life, often the choice day for marriages. This is the beginning of the summer half of the year, and the mid point of the seasonal cycle.

Lughnasad (1st August: pronounced LOO-na-shav) The Feast of Lugh. The essential harvest festival, to give thanks to the Earth for Her bounty. In Anglo -Saxon and Wiccan culture, this festival is called Lammas, or “loaf-mass”, as it celebrates the end of last year’s harvest and the beginning of the current harvest.

Durante estos antiguos festivales, grandes fogatas eran armadas en lo alto de las colinas and kept burning throughout the whole of the fire festivals. By day, there would be carnival-like celebrations, and by night, serious rituals. Cattle were driven between bonfires to purify them, and couples would run and leap over the flames, often completely naked, also for purification .