Series on Celtic mythology |
Celtic polytheism |
Gaelic mythology |
Irish mythology |
Brythonic mythology |
British Iron Age religion |
Religious vocations |
Festivals |
Samhain, Calan Gaeaf |
The Celtic pantheon is known from a variety of sources such as written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names.
Celtic deities can fall under two categories; general deities and local deities. "General deities" were known by Celts throughout large regions, and are the gods and goddesses invoked for protection, healing, luck, and honour. The "local deities" 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 euhemerise or even demonise the pre-Christian deities. For example, the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish mythological sources have commonly been interpreted to be a divine pantheon, despite certain redactors' interjecting that the Tuatha Dé Danann were merely mortals, or else that they were demons.
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The Gaulish Celts inhabited the region corresponding to modern-day France and Belgium. The Brythonic Celts, or Britons, inhabited most of the island of Great Britain and later migrated to Brittany.
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The Welsh were the Britons that inhabited modern-day Wales (Welsh: Cymru). After the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain, much of the Brythonic territories came under Anglo-Saxon influence, but in Wales, however, Brythonic Celtic religion was largely retained. Many Welsh myths were later Christianized so it is sometimes difficult to determine if their characters were originally gods, mortals, or historical figures.
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Note: Modern spellings are shown in brackets.
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