Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Ancient Celtic religion
Summary
Ancient Celtic religion, commonly known as Celtic paganism, was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because there are no extant native records of their beliefs, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts (some of them hostile and probably not well-informed), and literature from the early Christian period. Celtic paganism was one of a larger group of Iron Age polytheistic religions of Europe. It varied by region and over time, but underlying this were broad similarities and "a basic religious homogeneity" among the Celtic peoples.
The names of over two hundred Celtic deities have survived (see list of Celtic deities), although some of these were alternative names, regional names or titles for the same deity. Some deities were worshipped only in one region, but others were more widely known. Deities found in many 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 well 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 are believed to be versions of earlier deities. According to Miranda Aldhouse-Green, the Celts were also animists, believing that every part of the natural world had a spirit.
The druids were the priests of Celtic religion, but little is definitively known 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 made votive offerings: treasured items deposited in water and wetlands, or in ritual shafts and wells. There is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals, almost always livestock or working animals.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.