CELTA mythology: summary and characteristics [with VIDEO!]

One of the most interesting, different, close and, at the same time, unknown beliefs is the celtic mythology. It is a set of myths and legends that cover many European areas, from Ireland to Spain through the United Kingdom or the European interior. Therefore, it is a very important religion for everything that it covered in such a special time. To get to know all these myths and beliefs in depth, in this lesson from a Teacher we are going to offer a summary of celtic mythology and characteristics.

Index

1. What is Celtic mythology?
2. Characteristics of Celtic mythology
3. History of Celtic mythology - summary
4. gods of celtic mythology

Celtic mythology is the set of myths and beliefs that the Celts maintained during the iron age and that remained in numerous towns until many centuries later. We must take into account that they were very different beliefs depending on the town, sinceor had a unification, being numerous peoples that often did not have much to do with each other, except for certain beliefs or habits that were repeated among all of them.

It is considered that The Celts are all the European peoples who had a Celtic language. and that, at the same time, have other similar characteristics such as:

• Its tribal structure
• The manufacture of similar elements
• A religion with very similar characteristics

Among the Celtic beliefs we can find the continental Celts who inhabited Gaul, the German area and northern Italy, the Celtiberians of Iberia, the Galatians of Anatolia, and the Celts of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

When talking about Celtic mythology we are going to keep in mind that there are not many sources that speak on the subject, since being such an old town and without a fixed seat, it is difficult to find specific sources that speak about its mythology.

To understand Celtic mythology we must talk about its main characteristics, which will help us to see the common point of all these beliefs and, at the same time, will make us better understand a religion so important and interesting.

The Main Characteristics of Celtic Beliefs are the following:

• The Celtic cult was centered on the Druids, who were the priests of these beliefs, having a very important role because they were the ones who carried the religion and who performed the main rites. For all these reasons, the druids had a valuable role in Celtic beliefs, without occupying government roles, but being highly respected figures by the Celtic population.
• The Celtic people lived in communion with nature, reason why their gods were very focused on the naturalistic aspect, being common that many of they were related to rivers or mountains, being at the same time gods and phenomena natural.
• All branches of Celtic mythology are polytheistic, that is to say, that all of them have a large pantheon full of deities, some being older than others, but all of them having many more gods than current religions.
• It was a very broad mythology, occupying almost all of Europe with greater or lesser influence. All Celtic peoples had their particularities, but since they all had common characteristics, we can say that in general Celtic mythology was one of the most extensive of the time.
• Could keep up for years supporting the Phoenician and Greek influence, but the Roman conquests against the Celtic peoples led to the almost disappearance of all Celtic mythologies.
• The gods were classified by levels, so not all of them were equally important, bringing social division even to the deities.
• They were beliefs transmitted orally, There are not many writings on the subject, and this makes it difficult to find information on the subject.
• The creation of the world was based on the cultivation of trees, since men were born from these, being, therefore, all the creation of the world based on agricultural work.
• Divide your history into so-called cycles, each one being a historical stage of the Celts.

These are the main characteristics of Celtic mythology, but we must bear in mind that its influence was very broad and extensive, so it could vary depending on the territory.

To understand the evolution of Celtic mythology we must briefly summarize the history of these beliefs, understanding where they were born and when they were totally exterminated by the Romans. With this, we will be able to understand its staying power and how important it was for so many years.

• Celtic mythology has its birth in the Iron Age of Europe, that we can mark between 1200 a. c. and 400 a. c. being when we know the first sources about these beliefs.
• The birth of the Celtic myths have their origin orally, since they hardly had writing, considering that the oral route was a better way to keep alive the stories, the idea being that the parents would tell them to their children and so on throughout the eternity. The problem of oral life appeared over the years, when the number of Celts decreased and it was less and less common for Celts to tell their stories orally.
• Over the decades the Celtic population grew, taking power in almost all of Europe, starting in Ireland and the United Kingdom, but increasing its influence and power throughout almost the entire European area. All people with a Celtic language can be considered as a Celtic population. This increase in the Celtic population does not achieve the homogenization of the myths, but quite the opposite, since in each point of Europe new Celtic ideas appear and the mythology varies in each region, with different gods and new traditions and rites depending on the place.
• In this point the druids appear, a kind of priests from Celtic myths who inherited their position from generation to generation. They were the ones who performed the rituals and communicated with the gods; at the same time they were responsible for transmitting beliefs orally, so they were key to the entire system of Celtic mythology.
• With the arrival of the Romans and its imposition of beliefs, lCeltic mythology was disappearing, although it maintained some small foci that have managed to be transmitted to the present day. It should be taken into account that it could influence later beliefs, such as the Roman and the Christian.

To conclude this summary on Celtic mythology and characteristics, we must talk about the main gods of these beliefs, being very important to know them for being something key for the celtic ideas.

Main celtic gods are the following:

• Dagda: The most important Irish god of all the beliefs of the Irish Celtic area, known for being the main god of the Druids and of nature, key elements of Celtic beliefs.
• Bleat: Villain of the Irish Celts, having an important role within the Celtic giants, and whose power was to have an eye that when opened could destroy the world.
• Morrigan: Irish goddess of destruction and death, being she the one in charge of making men go into combat and die for it, being her role in Celtic beliefs.
• Bridget: Irish goddess of fire and poetry, among all the Celtic goddesses she is considered to be the most closely related to Christian beliefs, greatly influencing them.
• epona: Irish goddess of horses, and in certain beliefs of nature, she is considered one of the main goddesses, and she is closely related to the goddess Cybele.
• Lug: God of almost all Celtic cultures, occupying the role of deity of skills and arts.
• Cernunnos: God of Celtic Welsh origin who is represented as a huge creature with deer horns, being in charge of dominating the dangerous wild creatures.
• Bethlehem: Celtic Gaelic God of the Sun, of course occupying the central figure in many of the main rituals performed by the Celts.
• Teutates: Celtic Gaelic god known for being the protector of the Celtic villages, thus being one of the favorite gods of the druids.
• Taranis: Celtic Gaelic god of thunder and storm, being he who provokes and protects from these. He is usually quite related to Thor, being like a kind of precursor to him.
• esus: Celtic Gaelic god known for his violence and desire for blood, it being common for rites of slaughter and blood to be performed to appease his anger.
• Borvo: Gallic and Gaelic god known for his healing waters, since it was thought that certain water sources, if blessed by it, were capable of healing.
• Dusos: Gallic god of colossal size who is said to have fertilized animals and had characteristics similar to the god Pan, although in physical appearance they had nothing to do with it.
• Sucellos: Gallic god of agriculture, alcohol and beer, being the ones who performed rites to create these alcoholic beverages. It is usually represented with a beer mug because of its relationship with it.
• Ataecin: Celtiberian goddess of fertility, spring and nature. She is known for her influence on peoples close to the Celtiberians such as the Carthaginians, Phoenicians or Greeks.
• cost: God of war for the Celtiberians, being the deity that most influenced Ares and other gods of war.
• endovelic: Most important god of the Celtiberians, being the one in charge of fire and the one who controlled the universe in general. It is tended to think that he was the chief of the rest of the gods in this belief.
• review: Celtiberian god of the rivers, being the one who controlled the thermal waters, which were considered curative. At this time the Celtiberians already used these water sources, being very important for certain peoples.

If you want to read more articles similar to Celtic mythology: summary and characteristics, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• Kruta, V. (1981). Celts (Vol. 195). Edaf.
• Green, M. (1995). celtic myths (Vol. 5). Akal editions.
• Sainero, R., & Sánchez, R. s. (1998). celtic legends (Vol. 149). Akal Editions.