Celtic Religion: Gods, Druids, Sacred Places and Sources

Celtic religion is the name historians give to the pre-Christian religions of the Celtic-speaking peoples of ancient Europe, from Gaul (France) and the Alps to Britain and Ireland, roughly from the Iron Age to the coming of Christianity. These peoples worshipped many gods, often local and tied to rivers, springs and hills, under the guidance of priests called druids, and they made offerings in sacred groves and waters. Because the Celts themselves left almost no religious texts, their religion must be pieced together from Greek and Roman reports, inscriptions, archaeology and much later Irish and Welsh literature.

Who Were the Celts?§

The term Keltoi was used by Greek writers from the sixth and fifth centuries BCE for peoples north of the Mediterranean. Modern scholars apply "Celtic" mainly to a family of languages, including Gaulish, Celtiberian, Irish, Welsh, Breton and others, and to archaeological cultures such as Hallstatt and La Tène. Since the 1990s some historians, notably Simon James, have questioned whether the ancient inhabitants of Britain and Ireland ever thought of themselves as Celts. A cautious approach speaks of the religions of particular peoples, such as the Gauls, the Britons or the early Irish, rather than of one Celtic faith.

Gods of Gaul and Britain§

What Roman writers recorded§

In his Gallic War (Book VI, written in the 50s BCE) Julius Caesar wrote that the Gauls worshipped above all a god he called Mercury, inventor of all arts, followed by Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva, and that they claimed descent from Dis Pater, god of the underworld. This interpretatio romana translated native gods into Roman terms. The poet Lucan, writing in the 60s CE, named three gods worshipped with bloody rites: Teutates, Esus and Taranis, the last associated with thunder.

Inscriptions and images§

Under Roman rule Gauls and Britons put up thousands of altars and dedications that combine Roman and native names. They reveal deities such as Lugus, whose name survives in place-names like Lugdunum (Lyon) and who is often linked with the Irish Lugh; Epona, a horse goddess honoured even by Roman cavalrymen; Cernunnos, the antlered god named on the Pillar of the Boatmen from Paris (early first century CE); Sucellus, a god with a mallet; Sulis, goddess of the hot springs at Bath, identified with Minerva; and the Matres, triads of mother goddesses. Most deities, however, appear only once or in a single region, a sign of the local character of worship. The silver Gundestrup cauldron, found in a Danish bog in 1891 and usually dated between about 150 BCE and the first century CE, shows an antlered figure and other deities, though its place of manufacture and meaning are debated.

Druids, Seers and Sacrifice§

Classical writers described three learned orders among the Gauls: druids, who were priests, judges and teachers; vates, seers who performed divination; and bards, poets of praise. Caesar says the druids memorised long verses, refused to write their teachings down and taught that souls did not perish but passed from one body to another. Pliny the Elder described druids in white robes cutting mistletoe from an oak with a golden sickle on the sixth day of the moon, an account often repeated but known only from him.

Roman authors also accused the druids of human sacrifice, and Rome suppressed them, partly on that ground and partly for political reasons; Tacitus describes the Roman assault on the druid stronghold of Anglesey in 60 CE. Archaeology offers some evidence of ritual killing, including the bog body known as Lindow Man, found in Cheshire in 1984, though how such deaths should be interpreted remains uncertain. The history of the ancient druids and the modern revival that took their name is told in Druidry.

Sacred Places: Groves, Waters and Sanctuaries§

Greek and Roman writers spoke of the Celts worshipping in groves (Gaulish nemeton, a word found in many place-names). Archaeology has added rectangular enclosures with ditches and timber buildings, such as the sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde in northern France, where animals were sacrificed and weapons ritually broken and displayed, and the sanctuary of Roquepertuse near Marseille, with its portico of stone pillars containing niches for human skulls.

Water was especially sacred. Rich deposits of weapons, cauldrons and ornaments were placed in rivers, lakes and bogs, as at the type-site of La Tène in Switzerland and Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey; the Battersea Shield was recovered from the Thames. Springs were the homes of goddesses, and many rivers still bear divine names, among them the Seine (Sequana) and probably the Boyne (Boand). The prominence of the severed head in Celtic art and classical reports has led to talk of a "cult of the head", though scholars now treat that label cautiously.

Festivals and the Celtic Calendar§

The bronze Coligny calendar, found in eastern France in 1897 and usually dated to the late second century CE, is the longest surviving Gaulish text. It sets out a lunisolar calendar of five years, divides months into light and dark halves and marks some days as auspicious. One month is named Samon[ios], which may relate to the Irish festival of Samhain.

Medieval Irish literature names four great seasonal festivals: Samhain (1 November), Imbolc (1 February), Beltaine (1 May) and Lughnasa (1 August). Samhain was the time of assemblies and of contact with the otherworld; Beltaine was linked with fire and cattle; Lughnasa honoured Lugh with harvest gatherings, many of which, as Máire MacNeill showed in a classic study, survived as hilltop "garland" festivals into the twentieth century. Modern Pagans have woven these festivals into the eight-fold Wheel of the Year, a twentieth-century creation.

Irish and Welsh Myth as Evidence§

Ireland, never conquered by Rome, preserved the richest vernacular literature, though it was written by Christian monks from about the seventh century onwards. The Lebor Gabála Érenn ("Book of the Taking of Ireland") presents the Tuatha Dé Danann, the people of the goddess Danu, as one of several races who invaded Ireland before humans, later retiring into the hills and mounds (síde). Figures such as the Dagda, the "good god" with his cauldron and club; Lugh, master of all arts; Brigit, patron of poetry, smithcraft and healing; the war goddess Morrígan; and the sea god Manannán mac Lir look like former deities, though the texts treat them as ancient heroes or magical beings. The Cath Maige Tuired tells of their battle with the Fomorians.

In Wales the tales of the Mabinogi, preserved in manuscripts of the fourteenth century but older in substance, feature Rhiannon, Brân the Blessed, Llŷr and Lleu Llaw Gyffes, whose names recall gods known elsewhere. Scholars debate how much genuine pre-Christian religion these stories retain, and most warn against reading them as straightforward pagan scripture. Comparable problems arise for the Norse sources, discussed in Norse and Germanic Religion, and for modern devotion to these deities, described in Gods and Goddesses.

Frequently asked questions§

What were the main Celtic gods?§

No single list applies everywhere. Widely attested deities include Lugus (Irish Lugh), Epona, Cernunnos, Taranis, Teutates, Sulis, Brigit and the Matres. Many other gods were worshipped only in one area or by one tribe.

Did the Celts practise human sacrifice?§

Roman and Greek writers said so, and some archaeological finds suggest ritual killing. However, the classical accounts served Roman propaganda, and the extent and meaning of the practice remain debated among historians.

Is Celtic mythology the same as Celtic religion?§

No. Most "Celtic mythology" comes from Irish and Welsh texts written by Christians centuries after conversion. These stories preserve echoes of older gods but are literary works of the medieval period, not records of pagan worship.

Sources and further reading§

• The Gallic War — Julius Caesar, c. 50 BCE
• The Mabinogion — Sioned Davies (trans.), 2007
• The Gods of the Celts — Miranda Green, 1986
• Pagan Celtic Britain — Anne Ross, 1967
• The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles — Ronald Hutton, 1991
• Celtic Mythology — Proinsias Mac Cana, 1970
• The Festival of Lughnasa — Máire MacNeill, 1962
• The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? — Simon James, 1999