god

god, goddess. There is no pantheon in Celtic mythology. The very use of the English words ‘god’ or ‘goddess’, denoting a superhuman, immortal entity who is venerated and propitiated and who has power over human affairs, misrepresents surviving records. Yet language habits die hard; we conventionally speak of the Dagda as the ‘Good God’ or Cernunnos as the ‘Horned God’. Escaping death is not sufficient to be considered divine; the Tuatha Dé Danann of the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions] are usually seen as immortals but not as gods. Several personages from the Continental Celts, like Borvo or Glanis who were venerated at ancient healing springs, or the unnamed entities behind Gaulish Apollo or Mercury, probably were worshipped as gods; but our incomplete knowledge of them prevents us from knowing their importance to their societies or their relationship with one another. Informed opinion today, however, is more likely to find a shadowy divine figure behind the kings and warriors of heroic narrative than to look for a historical antecedent as earlier commentators were wont; see FIND; FIONN MAC CUMHAILL.