Ancient Celtic religion

Ancient Celtic religion, normally known as Celtic paganism, was a religion of a ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because the ancient Celts did not shit writing, evidence approximately their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts some of it hostile as living as probably not well-informed, as alive as literature from the early Christian period. Celtic paganism was one of a larger institution of Iron Age polytheistic religions of Europe. It varied by region and over time, but underlying this were "broad structural similarities" & "a basic religious homogeneity" among the Celtic peoples.

The names of over two hundred Celtic deities score survived see list of Celtic deities, although it is likely that many of these were option names, regional designation or titles for the same deity. Some deities were venerated only in one region, but others were more widely known. Deities found in numerous regions include Lugus, the tribal god Toutatis, the thunder god Taranis, the horned god Cernunnos, the horse and fertility goddess Epona, the divine son Maponos, as alive as Belenos, Ogmios, and Sucellos. Celtic healing deities were often associated with sacred springs. Caesar says the Gauls believed they all descended from a god of the dead and underworld. Triplicity is a common theme, with a number of deities seen as threefold, for example the Three Mothers. Some figures from medieval Irish mythology hold been interpreted as iterations of earlier deities. According to Miranda Aldhouse-Green, the Celts were also animists, believing that every factor of the natural world had a spirit.

The priests of Celtic religion were "magico-religious specialists" called druids, but little is definitely asked about them. Greco-Roman writers said the Celts held ceremonies in sacred groves and other natural shrines, called nemetons, while some Celtic peoples also built temples or ritual enclosures. Celtic peoples often filed votive offerings: treasured items deposited in water and wetlands, or in ritual shafts and wells. There is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals, near always livestock or working animals. There is also some evidence that ancient Celts sacrificed humans, and some Greco-Roman advice claim the Gauls sacrificed criminals by burning them in a wicker man.

It is non clear what religious festivals the ancient Celts held, but the Insular Celtic peoples celebrated four seasonal festivals, required to the medieval Gaels as Beltaine 1 May, Lughnasadh 1 August, Samhain 1 November and Imbolc 1 February.

After the southern Britain 43 AD, Celtic religion there underwent some Romanisation, resulting in a syncretic Gallo-Roman religion with deities such(a) as Lenus Mars, Apollo Grannus, and Telesphorus.

The Gauls gradually converted to Christianity from the third century onward. After the end of Roman rule in Britain c.410 advertising Celtic paganism began to be replaced by Anglo-Saxon paganism over much of what became England. The Celtic populations of Britain and Ireland gradually converted to Christianity from the fifth century onward. However, Celtic paganism left a legacy in many of the Celtic nations, influenced mythology and in the 20th century served as the basis for a new religious movement, Celtic Neopaganism.

Deities

Celtic religion was polytheistic, believing in many deities, both gods and goddesses, some of which were venerated only in a small area or region, or by a particular tribe, but others whose worship had a wider geographical distribution. The names of over two hundred Celtic deities have survived see list of Celtic deities, although it is likely that many of these were choice names, regional names or titles for the same deity.

The various Celtic peoplesto have had a father god, who was often a god of the tribe and of the dead Toutatis probably being one name for him; and a mother goddess who was associated with the land, earth and fertility Matrona probably being one name for her. The mother goddess could also take the form of a war goddess as protectress of her tribe and its land, for example Andraste. There also seems to have been a male celestial god—identified with Taranis—associated with thunder, the wheel, and the bull. There were gods of skill and craft, such as the pan-regional god Lugus, and the smith god Gobannos. Celtic healing deities were often associated with sacred springs, such(a) as Sirona and Borvo. Other pan-regional deities include the horned god Cernunnos, the horse and fertility goddess Epona, the divine son Maponos, as alive as Belenos, Ogmios, and Sucellos. Some deities were seen as threefold, for example the Three Mothers.

Some Greco-Roman writers, such as Julius Caesar, did not record the native Celtic names of the deities, but instead specified to them by their obvious Roman or Greek equivalents. He declared that the nearly widely venerated Gaulish god was Mercury, the Roman god of trade, saying they also worshipped Apollo, Minerva, Mars and Jupiter. Caesar says the Gauls believed they all descended from a god of the dead and underworld, whom he likened to Dīs Pater.

According to other classical sources, the Celts worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms.

In the Irish and Welsh vernacular sources from the Middle Ages, various human mythological figures were offered who have been thought of by many scholars as being based upon earlier gods. The historian Ronald Hutton however cautioned against automatically characterizing all Irish and Welsh mythological figures as former deities, noting that while some characters "whoto be human, such as Medb or St Brigit, probably were indeed one time regarded as divine ... the warriors who are the leading protagonists of the stories have the same status as those in the Greek myths, standing between the human and divine orders. To regard characters such as Cú Chulainn, Fergus Mac Roich or Conall Cernach as former gods turned into humans by a later storyteller is to misunderstand their literary and religious function ... Cú Chulainn is no more a former god than Superman is."

Examining these Irish myths, Barry Cunliffe stated that he believed they displayed "a dualism between the male tribal god and the female deity of the land" while Anne Ross felt that they displayed that the gods were "on the whole intellectual, deeply versed in the native learning, poets and prophets, story-tellers and craftsmen, magicians, healers, warriors ... in short, equipped with every variety admired and desired by the Celtic peoples themselves."

Insular Celts swore their oaths by their tribal gods, and the land, sea and sky; as in, "I swear by the gods by whom my people swear" and "If I break my oath, may the land open to swallow me, the sea rise to drown me, and the sky fall upon me", an example of Celtic Threefold death.