Gaelic Folklore (30): Ancient Celtic Goddesses

 Ancient Celtic Goddesses 

The extant remains of the Celtic forms of religion afford abundant testimony to the great variety of divine names which were associated therewith. No student of Celtic religion can fail to be impressed with the number of Celtic deities, who appear to have been local or tribal in character.

Even where a certain deity appears to have become non-local, it will generally be found on investigation that the sphere of the extended worship has fairly well-defined areas and centers. Some of the names of Celtic deities fortunately bear in their very forms unmistakable evidence as to their original character, so that we have an insight not only into the religious conceptions of the later and more developed stages of civilization, but also into the earlier ideas from which they sprang. It is possible, also, to see in this way how variation in the degree of civilization both locally and temporally is reflected in the forms of religion.

In dealing with the religion of the Celtic world, it is of prime importance to bear in mind at the outset that Celtic civilization was very far from being homogeneous in character, and that we must expect to see this absence of homogeneity reflected also in the religious evolution.

The inscriptional evidence that has come down to us is associated almost entirely with districts that were highly Romanized. We are thus enabled to see what districts during the Empire were those in which the conceptions of certain deities had been so developed as to make it possible to identify them with the gods of Rome. These, too, were the chief districts of trade and commerce among the Celts, and, though the earlier and the later trade-routes through Gaul, for example, were not the same, yet the routes which were important in Roman times had already risen into some prominence in the earlier period. Archaeology cannot render greater service to the study of Celtic religion than by mapping out the distribution of Celtic civilization.

The religion of the rich is never quite the same as that of the poor: that of the farmer is never absolutely identical with that of the sailor: that of the townsman always differs in some degree from that of the countryman: the merchant and the craftsman do not usually worship quite the same gods as the soldier. The gods of fashionable health-resorts vary no less than their worshippers, and the study of the forms and degrees which civilization assumed in Celtic lands may help to bring these variations more and more home to us.

Attention will be directed to the Celtic goddesses in the various districts from which evidence concerning them has come down to us. It may here be stated at the outset that there are great gaps in the available evidence concerning the goddesses in question; for example, our information from the western part of Gaul is extremely slight, while from the district of the Pyrenees, though the names of gods abound, practically no names of individual goddesses have survived. These facts will become clearer, when we take the various inscriptional zones in order, as follows:

(1) The Pyrenees,

(2) Gaul south of Lyons,

(3) Gaul between Lyons and the lower Rhine,

(4) Other districts of Transalpine Gaul,

(5) Cisalpine Gaul,

(6) Britain,

(7) Noricum and the Celtic zone of the Danube.

1.The Pyrenees district.

The only goddesses with a distinctive name known from inscriptions in this district are the Niskai of the Amelie-les-Bains tablets in the Pyrenees Orientales in the ancient territory of the Sordones. These tablets are eight in number. Some of the words, such as kantamus, rogamus, sanate, omnes, non, amiki, illius, quidquid, si, are clearly Latin, but there are other words which are apparently in some form of Celtic speech. One of these words, peisqi, raises problems similar to those raised by the Coligny Calendar and the Rom tablets. The identification of Niskas with the root contained in the English 'nixies'= water-sprites, following as it does the word kantamus, is not at all improbable. The river-name

Vernodubrum from this district is undoubtedly Celtic, but the names Iliberris and Caucoliberris seem to be of a non-Celtic form. In the territory of the Sordones, where grouped goddesses are frequent, the nearest to the Sordones being the Menmandutae or Menmandutiae of the neighbourhood of Narbo. From the Pyrenaean district west of the Sordones no distinctive names of grouped goddesses have come down to us.The Menmandutae are commemorated on an inscription at Beziers, Herault, where their name occurs in the dative on a votive tablet. A somewhat similar but unexplained name, 'Minmantiis’, has been found on an inscription at Perigueux.

2. Gaul, south of Lugdunum (Lyons).

In this district the names of goddesses are frequent. They fall naturally into two main types, those of grouped goddesses and those of individuals. The former are often termed Matres or Matrae. With this name may be compared one of the Welsh names for the fairies, ' Y Mamau ' (the mothers), a name which survives in the expression ' Bendith y Mamau,' the blessing of the mothers, used of fairy benefactions, and in that of ' Y Foel Famau,' the hill of the mothers, the highest point of the Clwydian range in Denbighshire.

We find the Eburnicae matrae at Yvours, on the Bhone, near Lyons, on the inscription restored as Matr[i]s, au[g(ustis)] Eburnici[s], etc. These appear to have been the local tutelary deities of Yvours. Recorded on inscriptions are the Mairae of the neighbourhood of Dijon (Dibio).

To the south of the Eburnicae Matrae are the Obelenses Matres at Crossillac, and the Nemetiales at Grenoble, Isere. The ' Obelenses Matrae ' appear to derive their name from a place, 'Obelum' or 'Obela,' and seem to have been local tutelary goddesses; they are called on the inscription in the dative Matris Aug(ustis) Obelesibus. The Nemetiales are also called Matres, and were doubtless the protecting goddesses of the 'nemeta ' or sacred enclosures. Their name occurs on an inscription in the dative as Matris Nemetiali[b(us).

The inscription Icotiis may represent 'Icotiae' or 'Icotii.' It occurs at Cruviers, dep. Gard. The Tangonas [Matres] are mentioned on an inscription at Venasque, dep. Vaucluse,  in the dative [Matribus] Tangonis. The name 'olatonse' occurs on an imperfect inscription at Nimes in the dative olatonis. On an inscription of Le Plan d' Au(l)ps, arrond. de Brignolles,  which reads Matribu[s] Almahabu[s], etc., we have an adjective applied to Matres which contains an intervocalic 'h' such as is characteristic of the inscriptions found in the neighborhood of German territory. In Nimes itself, a great center of the Matres worship, we have the Matres Namausicse of the Marpefio Na/xavcri/ca/So inscription. There is a specifically designated group of Matres in Southern Gaul: Matres Gerudatiae, found in the dative 'Matribus Gerudatiabus’ on a votive tablet at Saint-Esteve, dep. Var. The inscriptions the Matres in this district have no local designation. For example, at Aix one inscription has the words Matrib[us] conservatricibus, while another has Matrib[us] simply:

(1) Saint-Henry de Ventabren: Ma[t]ris,

(2) Aries: 'Mat]ribus' are associated on an inscription with Fortuna Arelatensis,

(3) Apt and at Montbrun: Matribus,

(4) Vaison: Matrabus on three inscriptions, Matribus on three, and Matris on one,

(5) Sahune and at Dieule-fit,  dp. Drome: Matris,

(6) Vienne, Lyons, and Grenoble: Matris augustis,

(7) llon-daz: Matris Mithres,

(8) Saint-Innocent: Matris au[gustis],

(9) Geneva: Matr(ibus) aug(ustis),

(10) Brienne: Mat(ribus),

(11) Nimes: Matris,

(12) Narbonne: [M]a[t]ribus,

(13) Lyons: M. a. t. r on and Matris and Matribus, 

(14) Moirans, Saint- Vit and Besancon: Matrabus,

Along with these examples may be given that of Le Bourget, where we have a dedication 'Mercurio et Matr[is],' and that of Allmendigen, near Thun, where we have Iovi, Matribus, Matronis, Mercurio, Minervse, Neptuni, and once more Matribus and Minervse. It is clear from this that Lyons and the districts around it were prominent centres of the Matres worship.

The three inscriptions of Spain at Porcuna, where M alone represents Matribus, which is qualified by Veteribus, that of Duraton (Matribus) and that of Muro de Agreda, prov. Soria, where we have Matrubos, are isolated and stand on a somewhat different footing from the others.

The grouped goddesses of the south of Gaul are not, however, Matres only. We have here also in great prominence, especially in Nimes, the Proxumse or Proximse,

(1) Saliers, Bouches-du-Rhône, at Vaison,  Nimes and Clansayes: Proxsumis suls,

(2) Avignon: Proxsumis,

(3) Lourmarin: P(roxumis),

(4) Orange: Proxs(umis),

(5) Vaison: Proxsumis and Proxumis,

(6) Beaucaire: Nimes: Proxum(is),

(7) Barron: Proximis Ledaa,

(8) Nimes: [Pr]oxxumis, Proxsumis, in various degrees of completeness, and Proxumis, more or less completely.

With the Matres, as with the Matronoe of Cisalpine Gaul, may be associated the grouped goddesses called Junones, who are mentioned on a votive inscription at Nimes, as Junonib(us) Montan(is), and at Aigues-Mortes, Gard, as Junonibus Aug(ustis). These Junones appear to have been also worshipped in the zone of the central health resorts; for example, an inscription at Neris-les-bains, dep. Allier, of the Antonine period, reads 'Numinibus Augustorum et Iunonibus Neriomagienses.' On an inscription also between Langres and Toul we have Deabus Iunonibus, at Bordeaux  there is an inscription Iunonibus Iulise et Sextiliae.

In Southern Gaul, as in Spain, we also find the worship of the nymphs prominent under their Latin name:

(1) Saint Saturnin-d'Apt, Lez, Castel: two inscriptions each,

(2) Vaison: two, one being dedicated Nymphis Augustis and also an inscription with the same words at Bourguin,

(3) Goul, Apt, Carpentras, Rasteau, Vercoiran, Castera-Veveril, Castillon, Alzey and Mombach: one each,

(4) Les Fumades, near Allegre, dep. Gard: six inscriptions, one of which has the words Nymphis Augustis,

(5) Uzes: there is a record of the dedication of a temple to the nymphs in the first century a.d,

(6) Nimes: five votive tablets to nymphs occur,

(7) Puech, in Provence, there are three votive tablets to nymphs.

In the zone of the south of France, too, we find another name of a group of goddesses like those already described, in the case of the Baginae, the companions of Baginus, the local deities of Mt. Vanige and the village of Besignan: the names 'Bagino et Baginahabus' occur on an inscription at Bellecombe, canton du Buis.

Dep.Gard: There is a goddess Perta commemorated: the name occurs in the dative Pertse.

Aix-en-Diois, Drome: Bormana, the companion of the god Bormanus occurs on an inscription 'Bormano et Bormana',

Saint Vulbaz (earlier Saint Bourbaz), canton Lagnieu: Bormana on an inscription of the phrase Bormanae Augustas.

Saint Saturnin d'Apt: an inscription to another goddess, Albiorica, whose name is given in the dative Albiorice. She was doubtless regarded as the companion of Albiorix.

Viens, dep. Vaucluse,  there is an inscription to Bergonia, a name doubtless cognate with Brigindu and Brigantia.

Pertuis, dep. Vaucluse, arrond. Apt (Dexsivse), and at Cadenet in the same district, on the hill of Castelar, three times: The goddess Dexsiva, she may either be the eponymous goddess of the Dexivates, or a goddess of fortune.

Trets: Trittia, the local goddess of an old town in the arr.of Aix,

Carnoules, dep. Var: Trittiae,

Pierrefeu, dep. Var Trittae.

Montaren near Alais, dep. Gard, Saint Honore-les-bains, dep. Nievre: [R]iton[a]e, the name Ritona is the name of a river-goddess, that of the modern river Rieu.

Beziers: an inscription in honour of a goddess, who may be either Bicoria or Tricoria;

Bagnol-sur-Ceze, dep. Gard: an inscription to a goddess Diiona (cf. Dibona, Divona) This was probably the eponymous nymph of the brook la Vionne or l'Andiole, which flows into the Ceze. The name occurs in the nominative, Diiona. The form of the name suggests that in this dialect of Celtic there was a tendency to drop intervocalic ' v.'

Le Prugnon near Antibes: The remaining name of an individual goddess from this district is Thucolis. She appears to have had a priestess or priestesses.

It will be readily seen from the evidence of these inscriptions that, in the south of Gaul, group-goddesses were far more widely worshipped than individual goddesses. The latter appear to be in this district highly localized in character, and perhaps were often regarded only as members of groups. On the other hand, individual gods are numerous, while grouped gods are rare. Here, too, we do not find traces of the worship of one deity at the expense of others, but the ancient type of worship of groups seems to hold its own.

3. The district between Lugdunum and the Lower Rhine.

 This is a large district, which may be roughly regarded as extending from Lugdunum to Treves (Augusta Treverorum) and thence to Cologne and to the mouth of the Rhine. From this large and important district many inscriptions containing names of Celtic deities have come down to us, and in this respect it stands in very marked contrast to the districts in the west of Gaul. Except in the neighborhood of Cologne, grouped goddesses are here conspicuous by their absence. In their stead we find several individual goddesses, often associated with some god, and some of these goddesses appear to have attained to more than a strictly local worship.

In accordance with the plan already adopted of dealing with the group-goddesses first, the worship of Matres may be first considered.

(1) Langres: Matra[b(us), Matra, Majtris, and Ma]trab[us. These, together with the Mairse of Dijon, may be regarded as forming the northerly representatives of the group-goddesses of the Rhone valley and its neighborhood, If we now cross into the Rhine valley, we reach another zone of Matres or Matra. In this zone the Matres are generally qualified by some local or descriptive adjective.

(2) Bonn: 'Matiribus domes ticis',

(3) Andernach: 'Matribus suis',

(4) On the road from Zahlbach to Mainz: 'Iovi optimo maximo et Matribus',

(5) Frankfort on the Main: Matribus,

(6) Heddernheim: Matribus,

(7) Ell, in Alsace: Matrabus,

(8) Berkum: Matribus suis.

The Matres that are qualified by local or other adjectives are distributed as follows:

(1)Colonia Trajana (Xanthen): Brittae Matres, Maxacae matres, and Arsacse matres,

(2) Beeck, near Xanthen: Matribus Brittis,

(3) Cologne: the Malvisae, a group of goddesses commemorated in the terms 'iabus Malvisis et Silvano', (The name as ' Malvisis ' occurs also at Nieukerk Netherlands.) the Matres Mediotautehae, the Axsinginehae Matronae,

(4) Castel, near Mainz: The Ollogabiae, the name Ollogabiae apparently means ' All-seizing,' from Olios = Welsh Oil, and gab- = Welsh gaf- (in gaf-ael), and Old Irish gabim.

Another important name of group-goddesses in the Rhine district is that of Matronae, a name widely used among certain German tribes, who are thought to have adopted the religion of the Gauls. This name was also a favourite one in Cisalpine Gaul.

(1) Tetz, near Jülich: the Matronae Cantrusteihiae, (also found at Hoeylaert, near Brussels, Belgium),

(2) Altenberg, near Cologne, Rodingen, near Jülich; the Gesahenae Matronae,

(3) Rodingen and Bettenhofen: Gesahenae Matronae, the Etrahenae,

(4) Odenhausen, near Berkum: The Ascricinehae Matronae,

(5) Odendorf, near Euskirchen: The Ascricinehae,

(6) Bürgel, near Sollingen: the Matronae Rumanehae et Maviaitinehae,

(7) Sinzenich: Matronis Tummaestis.

The prominence of the worship of group-goddesses in this district is very remarkable. Of the other types of group- goddesses the Mairae of the neighbourhood of Dijon are of interest:

(1) Dijon: Dis Mairis,

(2) Til-Chatel, dep. Cote d'Or, Deae Eponae et dis Mairabus, genio loci and deabus Mairis.

In this zone there is no reference to the Proximae, but between Langres and Toul there is an inscription 'Deabus Iunonibus'.

Coming now to the Rhine valley,

(1) Cologne: Iunonibus [G]abiabus,

(2) Bonn: [Matribus or Iunonibus do]mesticis [Lugo]vibus comfedonibus,

(3) Zulpich: Iunonibus domesticis,

(4) Piitzdorf: Iunonibus,

(5) Altenhoven in the neighbourhood of Aachen: Iunonibus.

 It is not improbable that the Iunones were the Matres or Matronae of the district. On the other hand, inscriptions to nymphs are conspicuous by their absence from the Rhine valley though they are frequent elsewhere.

When we come to the individual goddesses of the zone now under consideration, we find several names which are attested by inscriptions. For example, there is Damona, the companion of Borvo, ' the Boiler,' the god of certain hot springs. The form of the name Damona suggests that it is a parallel to Epona, the former being a goddess of cattle, the latter of horses. It is possible that originally both were deities of corresponding animal form. Damona appears to be associated with the root dam-, which we find in the Irish dam (an ox), and in the Welsh dafad (a sheep), for an older damat-. The inscriptions on which Damona's name occurs are  chiefly from Bourbonne-les-Bains, dep. Haute-Marne:

‘Borvoni et Damonae,'

'Deo Apollini Borvoni et Damonae,'

'Borvoni et Damonse,'

'Deo Borvoni et Damone,'

'Borvoni et Damonae,'

‘Damonae Augustae,'

'Deo Borvoni et Damonae,’

'Borvoni et Damonae.'

The other district in which inscriptions to her are found is Bourbon-Lancy, dep. Saone-et-Loire,

'Borvoni et Damonaa,’

'Bormoni et Damonae.'

The form Bormoni shows the influence of Bormanus. Aquae Bormonis appears to have been the old name of Bourbon-Lancy. In Damona we not improbably have an old tribal animal goddess, who came to be associated with Borvo, a god of hot springs, as his name implies.

Another individual goddess, whose name appears to be associated with the zone now under consideration, is Litavis. This name occurs in conjunction with that of the god Cicolluis, identified with Mars. Some of the inscriptions on which the name is thought to occur are very imperfect:

(1) Matain, dioc. Langres: 'Marti Cicollui et Litavi, Marti Cicollui et Bellonae (Litavis was regarded as a goddess of war. 'Litavis' would appear to be identical with that of the Welsh Llydaw, e.g. a lake called Llyn Llydaw in the Snowdon district. It appears, too, to be the basis of the name of the Aeduan Litavicus or Litaviccus (Caes. B. G. vn. xxxvii.  and also of Convictolitavis, who is mentioned in the same passage. The name Litaviccus occurs also in the genitive Litavicc(i) on an inscription in the first century from Monthureux-sur-Saone, dep. Vosges. It occurs also in the dative on an inscription at Langres, as well as on silver coins of the Aeduans. A place-name of the same basis, too, Litavicrarus, occurs on an inscription at Langres in the will of a member of the tribe of the Lingones of the first century a.d. The inscription reads 'Ante ce[l]lam memoria que est Litavicrari.' The name Litavis is also probably contained in that of Cobledulitavus, found on an altar in the museum of Perigueux, Dordogne, set up by a priest of the altar of Lyons. The inscription reads [Tutelae Vesonnse] et deo Apollini Cobledulitavo . . . v. s. 1. m. The name of Litavis may be safely regarded as that of one of the most prominent deities of the Lingones, and, as derivatives of this name are found among the Aeduans, her worship probably extended to the latter tribe as well),

(2) Aignay-le-Duc, dep. Cote-d'Or: 'Deo Marti Cicollui et Litavi’.

In the zone now under consideration there are two other names of goddesses that are found mainly along with the Latin names Mercurius and Apollo. There are Rosmerta, named along with Mercury, and Sirona, named along with Apollo:

(1) Aix: Vssiae Ros[mertae?] Mercuri[o] v.s.l.m.,

(2) Gissey-le-Vieil, dep. Cote-d'Or: Aug(usto) sa[c(rum)] Deae Rosm[er]tae,

(3) Alise-Sainte-Reine: it is doubtful whether the inscription should read [Ro]sme[rtae] or Sme[rtullo],

(4) Langres: Deo Mercurio et Rosmerte,

(5) Grand: Mercurio et [Ros]mertae,

(6) Worms: Deo Mercuri(o) et Rosmerte,

(7) lzey: [Deo Merc]urio et R[osmerte],

(8) Spechbach, near Lobenfeld: [Mercu]rio [et Ros]mert(a)e,

(9) Cologne: Mercu[rio et Rosjmerte,

(10) Andernach: Merc[urio et] Rosmertae, and Me[rcurio et R]o[smertae],

(11) Huttigweiler: [Mercujrio [et Ro]sm[e]r[tae],

(12) Nider-Emmel, Zumeth, Bernkastel: D[eo] Me[rc]urio [et] Ro[s]me[rtae],  Mer[curio e]t Rosm[ertae], and Deo Mercurio et d(e)?e [R]osmertae,

(13) Reinsport on the Moselle:  Deo Mer[c]urio et Rosme[r]te,

(14 )Soulosse: D(eo) M(ercurio) et Rosmerte, and also Mercurio (et) Rosmert(ae) sacr.vicani Solimariac(enses),

(15) Mt. Sion, dep. Meurthe- et-Moselle: 'Deo Mercurio et Rosmertae',

(16) Metz: 'Deo Mercurio et Rosmertae’,

(17) Wasserbillig, Luxembourg: Deo Mercurio et deae Rosmertae,

(18) Chatenoy, dep. Vosges: ' Mercurio et Rosmertae sacrum'.

From this we may gather that Rosmerta was worshipped largely in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, and in the neighbourhood of Langres. The origin of the name is doubtful. The root may be smer(t)-, brilliant, so that Ro-smerta would mean the exceedingly brilliant one. The same root appears to occur in other proper names, such as Smertus, Smertullos, Smertomara, Smertorix, Smertuccus, Smertulitanos, and the old British tribe of the Smertae, as well as Atesmerius. We have also Smerius, Smertalus, Smertu, and Cantesmerta. From this it will be seen that the root in question was extensively distributed in personal names.

The next goddess, Sirona, is widely associated in the area in question with Apollo, her name being also written as Dirona or Dirona. The distribution of her inscriptions is as follows:

(1) Baumburg, Apollini Granno [et Si]ronae,

(2) Rome, Apollini Granno et sanctae Sironae sacrum,

(3) Bordeaux, Sironae,

(4) Luxeuil, Apollini et Sironae,

(5) Bitburg, Apollin[i Granno] et Siro[nae],

(6) Nierstein, Deo Apollini et Sironae,

(7) Mainz [Deae] Sirona ...,

(8) Grossbottwar am Marbach, a.d. 201, Apo[lli]ni et Sironae ,

(9) Maximiliansau, Deae Sironae,

(10) Wiesbaden, Sironae,

(11) Andernach DirfonaeJ,

(12) Graux, dep. Vosges, Apollini et Sironae,

(13) Sept-Fontaines, near Saint- Avoid, in Lorraine, Deae Dironae,

(14) Corseul, dep. Cotes-du-Nord, arrond. Dinan, cant. Plancoet, Sirona.

From these inscriptions Sirona may be regarded as the companion of Grannus, whose name we have in Aquae Granni (Aix-la-Chapelle) and in Granheim. The name Sirona was not improbably that of the Earth, regarded as a goddess, and it probably meant the 'long-lived one.' Another name for Apollo besides Grannos in this district is Mogounos, (whence Moguntiacum).

Of the other names of goddesses in the zone now under consideration Icovellauna  occurs near Divodurum (Metz).  Icovellauna occurs like Mogontia at Le Sablon, near Metz, and may have meant the 'protectress of health.'

Epona  is one of the most widely distributed of the names of Celtic goddesses. The goddess Epona is commemorated on numerous inscriptions :

(1) At Guidizzolo between Mantua and Verona,

(2) At Siguenza,

(3) At Also-Ilosva in Dacia,

(4) At Waitzen in Pannonia,

(5) In Carinthia,

(6) In Zollfeld,

(7) At Mariasaal, Herculi et Eponae aug(ustae),

(8) At Cilli, Eponae aug(ustae) sacrum : Iovi o(ptimo) m(aximo) Eponae et Celeise sanctee,

(9) At Windenau near Marburg in Steier-mark, Eponae aug(ustae) sacrum,

(10) At Pforing near Ingolstadt in Rhaetia, Campestribus et Eponae,

(11) At Mount Eudrik in Moesia, Epone,

(12) At Karlsburg in Dacia, Epone regin(ae) sanc(tae),

(13) At Varhely in Dacia, not long after a.d. 107, Eponabus et Campestribus,

(14) At Salona, [Iovi optim]o maxsi[mo . . . Epo]ne [. . . Marti] Cam[ulo],

(15) At Rome, associated on various inscriptions with the Matres Sulevae,

(16) At Carvoran,

(17) At Auch- indavy, near Kirkintulloch in Scotland,

(18) At Lyons,

(19) At Naix in the department of Meuse,

(20) At Metz,

(21) At Solothurn,

(22) At Til-Chatel in the diocese of Langres, Deae Eponae et dis Mairabus,

(23) At Andernach, Eponae sacr(um),

(24) At Heinzerath, Kreis Bernkastel, on two inscriptions.

There is a place called Epona, now Ep6ne, in the department of Seine-et-Oise, arrond. Mantes, and there are also two places called Eponiacum:

(1) Eppenich, near Aachen,

(2) The modern Appoigny, dep. Yonne.

Eponicus occurs as a man's name on an inscription at Rome. The zone of distribution of the Epona inscriptions will give a fair conception of the districts where her worship was most prominent. As her name shows, she was pre-eminently a goddess of horses.

Among the other names of goddesses which occur in this zone or its neighboring districts, may be instanced that of Clutoissa or Clutoidda, which occurs on an inscription not far from Noviodunum in Gaul. Her name occurs on two inscriptions, one from the village of Mesves-sur-Loire in the depart-ment of Nievre, near a spring with a reputation for healing fevers. The inscription reads, Aug(usto) sacrum, deae Cluto[i]dae, etc. It occurs, too, on a patera from Etang-sur-Arroux, dep. Saone-et-Loire. There is no evidence that Clutoida was more than a purely local goddess of a healing spring.

At Bourges there is an inscription to Solimara, a word which probably means 'the large-eyed', Solimarae sacrum. Solimaros occurs over a wide area, for example at Cilli, Sziszek, Scherschell, Martigues, Orange, Brignon, dep. Gard, near Ledignan, Nimes, Bordeaux, Paris, Breitenbach, Gustavsburg (Mainz), Heddernheim, and on the gold coins of the Bituriges Cubi (before B.C. 58), which were found at Amboise, Vendeuil Caply, dep. Oise, as well as in Yivonne (dep. Vienne), and in Vernon. A Gallo-Roman name Solimarius occurs at Apt, Bordeaux, and at Niersbach in the Prussian Rhine-province. A name of the form Solimario occurs on an inscription at Nimes. There was a place called Solimariaca on the Roman road from Metz to Langres between Neufchateau (Vosges), and Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle).This word, too, appears to underlie the names Sommere, dep. Saone-et-Loire, Saumeray, dep. Eure-et-Loire; Saumery (Solimariaca), dep. Loiret; Le Saulmery, dep. Loiret; Saumery, dep. Loir-et-Cher; as well as the Italian Sumirago in the province of Milan in the district of Gallarate.

On the Celtic inscriptions of Volnay we have the name of a goddess Brigindu in the dative Brigindoni. It is her name that probably underlies that of Brigendonis, now Brognon, in Cote d'Or, arrond. Dijon, as well as the Ager Briendonensis in the Macon country. It is possible, too, that Gregory of Tours meant this goddess, when he said that the Gauls worshipped Berecynthia. He says that there was an image of this goddess which was carried on a vehicle to ensure the success of the fields and vineyards (pro salvatione agrorum et vinearum). Before this image the people danced and sang.

Other names of isolated goddesses are Abnoba or Deana Abnoba, the presiding deity of the Black Forest on the German side of the Rhine;

Brixia, of Brixia (Breuchin), near Luxeuil,

Aventia in the territory of the Helvetii from whom Aventicum derives its name,

Naria Nousantia mentioned on an inscription at Grissach, near Landeron, canton Neuenburg. The inscription is on a votive tablet set up by a certain T. Frontinus Hibernus,

Saint-Marcel-lez- Chalon, dep. Saone-et-Loire: a local goddess called Temusio,

Lorraine:  Nantosvelta, who is named along with a god Sucellus.

4.The Remainder of Transalpine Gaul.

In dealing with the west and north-west of Gaul we cannot but be struck by the great scarcity of names of goddesses from these districts. This is due, we may be sure, not to any absence of goddesses but to the slight extent to which the Gallo-Roman fashion of setting up votive tablets had penetrated to these regions. It is to be noted that in the neighborhood of Cherbourg the goddesses of cross-roads (Quadrivise) were objects of worship, but we have no evidence of the worship of Matres or Matronse in these districts. There is a solitary inscription to a spring-goddess Acionna at Fleuri, near Orleans, where we have the words Aug(ustae) Acionnae sacrum.

At Perigueux a goddess Stanna, perhaps a spring- goddess of the Petrucorii, is mentioned on three inscriptions in conjunction with a god Telo, the spring-god of Tolon, now Le Toulon, near Perigueux, dep. Dordogne. The root of Stanna is not improbably sta-, to stand, and may have been originally given to the earth-goddess as 'the abiding one.' The name Telo may possibly underlie the name of Toulon-sur-Mer (Telo Martius), and the place-name Telonnum, a town of the Aeduans, Toulon-sur-Arroux, near Autun, dep. Saone-et- Loire, and also the present commune called Lipostey, dep. Landes.

Another goddess of the southern area of Gaul, whose distinctive name was generally omitted, was Divona or Devona, a name which means simply ' the goddess.' The name occurs as that of the spring 'Fontaine des Chartreux ' in Cahors, dep. Lot, and then as that of Cahors itself. Divona is also given by Ausonius as the name of the spring of Bordeaux, and is probably to be read on an inscription at that town: Divionae. This form, too, seems to underlie that of the modern Divonne, dep. Ain, as well as that of Dewangen in Germania magna, given by Ptolemy n, xi, as Arjovova.

There is also a local goddess Dunisia, whose name occurs on an inscription at Bussy-Albieu, dep. Loire, The name probably means,'the goddess of fortresses.'

The name ' athubodvae ' occurs on an inscription of Fins-de- Ley, dep. Haute- Savoie. It has been thought to stand for Cathu-bodvae, and so to be the equivalent of the Irish Bodb-Catha, a goddess of war, but this identification is very far from being certain.

5. Cisalpine Gaul.

In this district inscriptions to the grouped goddesses called Matronse are numerous, for example:

(1) Verona, Iunonib(us), Matronis,

(2) Marzana, Matrona[b(us); Isorella, Matronis ; Calvisano, Matronabu[s]; Manerbio, Matronab(us),

(3) Nuvolento, in the province of Brescia, and on about forty-seven other inscriptions.

As already mentioned, the Matronae appear to have been worshipped, too, on German territory. In this district, also, the Iunones were widely worshipped, and we find inscriptions naming them about twenty-seven times.

Another group of goddesses is called Dervones or Dervonnse, ‘the spirits of the oak': these are called on the inscription of Cavalzesio, near Brescia, Fatis Dervonibus, and, on another we read Matronis Dervonnis.

With these may be compared the Silvanae, who are mentioned once on an inscription of Verona in the dative, Silvana- bus. In Cisalpine Gaul inscriptions to the god Silvanus are frequent.

Of individual goddesses Epona seems to have been worshipped in Cisalpine Gaul, as we see from an inscription at Guidizzolo between Mantua and Verona, as well as from an inscription at Siguenza. The goddess Epona is mentioned by Iuvenal, viii. 154-157, and, according to the scholiast on the passage, she was a patron of muleteers as well as of horsemen. Plutarch, Parallel, c. xxix., p. 312 E, states that she was born of a mare. Reverting to the grouped goddesses, it may be here stated that inscriptions to nymphs occur only about four or five times in Cisalpine Gaul.

6. Britain.

In Britain the grouped goddesses most widely worshipped were the Matres:

(1) Winchester: Matrib(us) Ital[i]s, Germanis, Gal[lis], Brit(annis),

(2) London: Matr[ibus],

(3) Chester, the singular Deae Matri,

(4) Doncaster, Matribus,

(5) Ribchester: Deis Matribus,

(6) Micklegate: Mat(ribus) Af(ricanis), Ita(licis), Ga(llicis),

(7) Carrawburgh: Matribus com[munibus],

(8) Aldborough: I(ovi) o(ptimo) m(aximo) Matribus M . . .,

(9)Lowther: Deabus Matribus tramarin(is), those who set it up being a vex(illatio) Germa[norum],

(10) Lough, near Plumpton Wall in Cumberland: same as 9, Deabus Matribus tramarinis,

(11) Old Carlisle: [Dea]bus Ma[tribus],

(12) Skinburness, near Silloth: Matribus Par(cis),

(13)Binchester: Mat(ribus) sac(rum),

(14)Newcastle-on-Tyne: Dea[bus] Matribus tramarinis patri(i)s,

(15) Matfen Hall: we have Deabus Matribu[s],

(16)Chesters: Deabus Matribus communibus,

(17) Housesteads:Ma[tribus] on two inscriptions, the second of which was set up by a cohort of Tungri, (18) Carvoran: two inscriptions, one reading Matri . . . , the other Matrib(us),

(19) Cambeckfort in Cumberland: we find the formula M[at]ribus omnium gentium,

(20) Walton-House-Station: Matribus t[ra]ma[rinis],

(21) Stanwix and Dykesfield: Matribu[s djomesticis, that is the guardians of the foreign soldier's home,

(22) Carlisle: Matrib(us) Parc(is),

(23) Bowness and York: Matribus suis,

(24) Bisingham: Matribus tramarinis,

(25) Burnfoot Hall and Castlecary: Matribus,

(26) Newcastle, Backworth, Matr(ibus) and Matrum.

In Britain, too, there are inscriptions to nymphs:

(1) Great Boughton: Nymphis et Fontibus,

(2) Blenkinsop Castle: Deabus Nymphis,

(3) Risingham: Nymphis venerandis,

(4) Nether Croyfarm, near Croyhill: Nymphis,

(5)Greta Bridge: the singular Deae Nympha[e],

(6) Newtown of Irthington: Deae Nymphae Brig(antia).

Whatever doubt there may be as to the local connections of some of the other deities we have here undoubtedly a goddess of Britain. It may be noted also that an inscription at Benwell, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, is set up to the three Lamias (Lamiis tribus).

Coming now to the individual goddesses, we have the following mentioned on inscriptions in Britain. Ancasta is mentioned in the formula Deae Ancastae on an inscription at Bittern, near Southampton.

The name Belisama does not occur in Britain as the name of a goddess, but only as that of an estuary, probably the Mersey or the Kibble, called by Ptolemy II. iii. 2. In the south of Gaul, however, the name occurs as that of a goddess, as, for example, on the Celtic inscription in Greek characters of Vaison, Vaucluse, ‘Segomarus, son of Villonus, a citizen of Nemausus, made for Belisama this temple. At Pont de Saint-Liziers in Les Couserans there is an inscription with the formula Minervae Belisamae sacrum. It is from her name that the place-name Belismius has probably arisen, a name surviving in Blismes (Nievre), Blesmes (Marne), and Blesmes (Aisne). The name Belisama is probably a superlative from the root bel-, which is found in the Welsh rhy-fel, war. The name Belismius occurs as a man's name on an inscription at Caerleon-on-Usk.

Of British goddesses, Brigantia is one of the most important:

(1) Greetland: D(eae) Vict(oriae) Brig(antiae) et num(inibus) A(u)g(ustorum),

(2) Adel near Leeds: Deae Brigan[tiae],

(3) Cumberland: she is called a nymph in the words Deae Nymphae Brig(antiae),

(4) Birrens near Middleby: Brigantiae s(acrum).

It is not improbable that Brigantia was the tribal deity of the powerful tribe of the Brigantes of the north of England.

Another goddess whose name occurs on inscriptions in Britain is Epona. She is mentioned on an inscription at Carvoran in the formula Deae Eponae, and at Auchindavy, near Kirkintilloch, in Scotland,

in the middle of the second century, along with Mars, Minerva, the goddesses of the fields (Campestres), Hercules, Epona, and Victory. With this inscription may be compared the inscriptions of Rome, on which Epona is mentioned along with several other deities.

A goddess Lata, or Latis, is mentioned on inscriptions at Kirkbampton: Deae Lati and Birdoswald: Dae Lati.

On two inscriptions, one at Chesters: Dea(e) Rat . . . and the other at Birdoswald: Dae Rat, a goddess is mentioned, whose name is given in an abbreviated form as Rat. There is not enough evidence to associate her with Ratae, the old name of Leicester.

It may be here noted that, in the case of the names of gods found in Britain, the chief links with the continent are for the most part with the district around Cologne, Treves, and Mayence, but there are sometimes unexpected links with other districts. Grannus ( = Apollo), who was largely worshipped in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, is mentioned on an inscription found at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, but we find Ialonus, whose name occurs on an inscription at Nlmes, mentioned also on an inscription at Lancaster.

Leucetios, the Mars of the neighborhood of Mainz, is mentioned on an inscription at Bath.

Maponos ( = Welsh Mabon) is mentioned three times as a god in Britain, as well as in a place-name Maponi, but on the continent there are no traces of him as a god.

British references:

(1) Ribchester, county Durham: to Deo sancto Apollini Mapon(o),

(2) Ainstable, near Armthwaite, Cumberland: Deo Mapono,

(3) Hexham, in Northumberland: Apollini Mapono.

Mogons ( = Apollo) was worshipped in Britain by Vangiones in the Roman army, as may be seen from the formula Deo Mogonti, which occurs on inscriptions at Plumpton Wall (Old Penrith), Netherby, and Risingham.

The god Silvanus, too, who was widely worshipped in Spain, in Cisalpine Gaul, in the neighborhood of the Rhine, in the south of Gaul, and in central Europe, is also mentioned in Britain on about sixteen inscriptions. On one at Housesteads he is identified with Cocidius by a certain prefect of a cohort of Tungrians. This wide worship of Silvanus in the Celtic world is very suggestive of the form into which the early tree-worship of the Celts had developed.

The name Maponos, identical as it is with the Welsh Mabon, suggests that Modron, who is represented in Welsh legend as his mother, was an ancient British goddess, whose name in Roman times would be Matrona, a derivative of the root matr- (mother). This very name, it may be noted, is the original of that of the river Marne. Some of the river-names of Wales appear to be formations of this type, and the suggestion naturally arises that they also were names of goddesses.

For example, the name Aeron, in Cardiganshire, may stand for Agrona, the goddess of war.

Tarannon may have meant the goddess of thunder.

The river Dee, Deva (Welsh Dyfr-dwy), means simply the goddess.

The two streams, Dwyfor and Dwyfach, near Criccieth in Carnarvonshire, probably mean 'the great goddess' and 'the little goddess' respectively.

The name Ieithon, a stream in Radnorshire, may mean ' the goddess of speech.

'Crawnon,' in Breconshire, may mean ' the goddess of storage.'

7. The Transrhenane and Danubian districts.

In these wide zones the task of separating Celtic and Germanic deities is well-nigh impossible, but its very difficulty suggests that to both peoples the popular substratum of religion had far more in common than is usually supposed. For example, we have among the Germans as among some sections of the Celts a most remarkable development of the worship of Matres and Matronae, a form of worship of a very primitive character. This similarity of underlying religious belief is also confirmed by the study of folk-lore, as any reader of Dr. Frazer's Golden Bough can readily ascertain. At Varhely in Dacia, on an inscription made not long after 107 A.D., there is mentioned even a group of Eponae in the formula Eponab(us) et Campestrib(us) sacrum.

In Noricum again there is a group called Alaunas, who were worshipped along with Bedaios.

It may be safely conjectured that in the countries east of the Rhine grouped goddesses abounded.

Of the names of individual Celtic goddesses worshipped in these territories, especially in Pannonia and Dacia, that of Epona is by far the most prevalent.

In Noricum we find the worship of Adsalluta closely associated with that of Savus, the river Save. At Saudorfel her name occurs on five inscriptions, on two of which it is associated with that of Savus. At Hrastnigg, too, her name occurs on an inscription which reads Adsal(l)ute Aug(uste).

Another goddess who deserves mention here is Noreia:

(1) Mount Avala, near Belgrade: an inscription of the year 287 a.d., D(ea)e Nor[e]ia[e] sacrum,

(2) Hohenstein, near Pulst: Noreiae Aug(ustae) sacr(um),

(3) At Hohenstein and at Ulrichsberg: she is identified with Isis “Isidi Norei(ae)”,

(4) Trojana: Noreie August(ae),

(5) Cilli: one inscription, along with Jupiter and with Celeia, as 'Noreia sancta.' On another inscription she is mentioned along with Mars, Hercules, Victoria, and Noreia,

(6) Kerschbach: [Marti A]ug(usto) e[t NJoreiae Re[g(ina)e et] Britania[e pr]o vic(toria) L. Sep[timii Severi p]ert(inacis) inv(icti),

(7) Weihmorting, in the district of Griesbach in Lower Bavaria: Noreiae Aug(ustae) sacrum, while at

(8) Khamisa: she is mentioned along with the Di Manes on an inscription set up by a certain Artorius, whose name is the original of the Welsh Arthur.

In Istria it may be noted that there is also a goddess Noriceia, who was also called Veica, as we see from the dedication Veicae Noriceiae.

The name Celeia, which is mentioned along with Noreia, is that of the town Cilli in Noricum, a town which was also wor shipped as a goddess, as is shown by inscriptions from the beginning of the third century a.d. On these she is called Celeia Augusta and Celeia sancta. As a goddess she is named on inscriptions along with Noreia in one case and Epona in another.

That Noricum was largely Celtic in its religion may be gathered from the prominence there of the worship of the god Belinos, a name which forms the second element in the British Cuno-belinos, the Welsh Cyn-felyn.

In the course of this investigation it has become very evident how large a part was played in Celtic as well as in at least some forms of Germanic religion by the worship of grouped goddesses. It is from these that the individual goddesses appear in some cases to have been detached, or else developed by a kind of process of unification and generalization. In some cases, topographical connections operated towards individualization, in others the growing conception of the earth as 'the Mother' par excellence, while in other cases the individual goddesses seem to have been the human representatives of previous goddesses of animal form. Of the latter type were doubtless Epona and Damona. In spite of the existence of certain individual goddesses, however, it is most remarkable that the grouped goddesses held their own, especially in certain districts. How far we may base ethno-logical conclusions upon this is very uncertain, since under similar conditions of civilization similar religious ideas are apt to prevail. It is noticeable, however, that the worship of the Matres and the Proximae held their ground even in districts which came under the full influence of Roman civilization.

The Celtic Review III, 1906-1907, Professor E. Anwyl

 

Gaelic Folklore (13): River and Well Worship

13.

River and Well Worship

The Celts held their deities that lived in the waters in high esteem, a practice (in a changed form) adopted by the later christian church. Even today people bring offerings to wells in the hope to be cured from a disease. Several waters are named after the old deities. Some wells have been worshipped through the times by different peoples with different religions.

What follows are descriptions and tales from an old source: 

mong the Celts the testimony of contemporary witnesses, inscriptions, votive offerings, and survivals, shows the importance of the cult of waters and of water divinities. Mr. Gomme argues that Celtic water-worship was derived from the pre-Celtic aborigines, but if so, the Celts must have had a peculiar aptitude for it, since they were so enthusiastic in its observance. What probably happened was that the Celts, already worshippers of the waters, freely adopted local cults of water wherever they came. Some rivers or river-goddesses in Celtic regions seem to posses pre-Celtic names.

Treasures were flung into a sacred lake near Toulouse to cause a pestilence to cease. Caepion, who afterwards fished up this treasure, fell soon after in battle--a punishment for cupidity, and aurum Tolosanum now became an expression for goods dishonestly acquired. A yearly festival, lasting three days, took place at Lake Gévaudan. Garments, food, and wax were thrown into the waters, and animals were sacrificed. On the fourth day, it is said, there never failed to spring up a tempest of rain, thunder, and lightning--a strange reward for this worship of the lake. (Perhaps the feast and offerings were intended to cause rain in time of drought.)  S. Columba routed the spirits of a Scottish fountain which was worshipped as a god, and the well now became sacred, perhaps to the saint himself, who washed in it and blessed it so that it cured diseases.

On inscriptions a river name is prefixed by some divine epithet--dea, augusta, and the worshipper records his gratitude for benefits received from the divinity or the river itself. Bormanus, Bormo or Borvo, Danuvius (the Danube), and Luxovius are found on inscriptions as names of river or fountain gods, but goddesses are more numerous--Acionna, Aventia, Bormana, Brixia, Carpundia, Clutoida, Divona, Sirona, Ura--well-nymphs; and Icauna (the Yonne), Matrona, and Sequana (the Seine)--river-goddesses. No inscription to the goddess of a lake has yet been found. Some personal names like Dubrogenos (son of the Dubron), Enigenus (son of the Aenus), and the belief of Virdumarus that one of his ancestors was the Rhine, point to the idea that river-divinities might have amours with mortals and beget progeny called by their names. In Ireland, Conchobar was so named from the river whence his mother Nessa drew water, perhaps because he was a child of the river-god.

he name of the water-divinity was sometimes given to the place of his or her cult, or to the towns which sprang up on the banks of rivers-the divinity thus becoming a tutelary god. Many towns (e.g. Divonne or Dyonne, etc.) have names derived from a common Celtic river name Deuona, "divine." This name in various forms is found all over the Celtic area. (The Scots and English Dee; the Divy in Wales; Dêve, Dive, and Divette in France; Devon in England; Deva in Spain. The Shannon is surnamed even in the seventh century "the goddess".) And there is little doubt that the Celts, in their onward progress, named river after river by the name of the same divinity, believing that each new river was a part of his or her kingdom. The name was probably first an appellative, then a personal name, the divine river becoming a divinity. Deus Nemausus occurs on votive tablets at Nimes, the name Nemausus being that of the clear and abundant spring there whence flowed the river of the same name. A similar name occurs in other regions--Nemesa, a tributary of the Moselle; Nemh, the source of the Tara and the former name of the Blackwater; and Nimis, a Spanish river mentioned by Appian. Another group includes the Matrona (Marne), the Moder, the Madder, the Maronne and Maronna, and others, probably derived from a word signifying "mother." (Perhaps Matrona is Ligurian. But it seems to have strong Celtic affinities.) The mother-river was that which watered a whole region, just as in the Hindu sacred books the waters are mothers, sources of fertility. The Celtic mother-rivers were probably goddesses, akin to the Matres, givers of plenty and fertility. In Gaul, Sirona, a river-goddess, is represented like the Matres. She was associated with Grannos, perhaps as his mother, and Professor Rhŷs equates the pair with the Welsh Modron and Mabon; Modron is probably connected with Matrona.  In any case the Celts regarded rivers as bestowers of life, health, and plenty, and offered them rich gifts and sacrifices.

Gods like Grannos, Borvo, and others, equated with Apollo, presided over healing springs, and they are usually associated with goddesses, as their husbands or sons. But as the goddesses are more numerous, and as most Celtic river names are feminine, female divinities of rivers and springs doubtless had the earlier and foremost place, especially as their cult was connected with fertility. The gods, fewer in number, were all equated with Apollo, but the goddesses were not merged by the Romans into the personality of one goddess, since they themselves had their groups of river-goddesses, Nymphs and Naiads. Before the Roman conquest the cult of water-divinities, friends of mankind, must have formed a large part of the popular religion of Gaul, and their names may be counted by hundreds. Thermal springs had also their genii, and they were appropriated by the Romans, so that the local gods now shared their healing powers with Apollo, Æsculapius, and the Nymphs. Thus every spring, every woodland brook, every river in glen or valley, the roaring cataract, and the lake were haunted by divine beings, mainly thought of as beautiful females with whom the Matres were undoubtedly associated. There they revealed themselves to their worshippers, and when paganism had passed away, they remained as fées or fairies haunting spring, or well, or river. . (By extension of this belief any divinity might appear by the haunted spring. S. Patrick and his synod of bishops at an Irish well were supposed to be síd or gods.) Scores of fairy wells still exist, and by them mediæval knights had many a fabled amour with those beautiful beings still seen by the "ignorant" but romantic peasant.

anctuaries were erected at these springs by grateful worshippers, and at some of them festivals were held, or they were the resort of pilgrims. As sources of fertility they had a place in the ritual of the great festivals, and sacred wells were visited on Midsummer day, when also the river-gods claimed their human victims. Some of the goddesses were represented by statues or busts in Gallo-Roman times, if not earlier, and other images of them which have been found were of the nature of ex-votos, presented by worshippers in gratitude for the goddess's healing gifts. Money, ingots of gold or silver, and models of limbs or other parts of the body which had been or were desired to be healed, were also presented. Gregory of Tours says of the Gauls that they "represent in wood or bronze the members in which they suffer, and whose healing they desire, and place them in a temple."  Contact of the model with the divinity brought healing to the actual limbs on the principle of sympathetic magic. Many such models have been discovered. Thus in the shrine of Dea Sequana was found a vase with over a hundred; another contained over eight hundred. Inscriptions were engraved on plaques which were fastened to the walls of temples, or placed in springs.  Leaden tablets with inscriptions were placed in springs by those who desired healing or when the waters were low, and on some the actual waters are hardly discriminated from the divinities. The latter are asked to heal or flow or swell--words which apply more to the waters than to them, while the tablets, with their frank animism, also show that, in some cases, there were many elemental spirits of a well, only some of whom were rising to the rank of a goddess. They are called collectively Niskas--the Nixies of later tradition, but some have personal names--Lerano, Dibona, Dea--showing that they were tending to become separate divine personalities. The Peisgi are also appealed to, perhaps the later Piskies, unless the word is a corrupt form of a Celtic peiskos, or the Latin piscus, "fish."  This is unlikely, as fish could not exist in a warm sulphurous spring, though the Celts believed in the sacred fish of wells or streams. The fairies now associated with wells or with a water-world beneath them, are usually nameless, and only in a few cases have a definite name. They, like the older spirits of the wells, have generally a beneficent character.  Thus in the fountains of Logres dwelt damsels who fed the wayfarer with meat and bread, until grievous wrong was done them, when they disappeared and the land became waste.  Occasionally, however, they have a more malevolent character.

  

The spirit of the waters was often embodied in an animal, usually a fish. Even now in Brittany the fairy dweller in a spring has the form of an eel, while in the seventeenth century Highland wells contained fish so sacred that no one dared to catch them.  In Wales S. Cybi's well contained a huge eel in whose virtues the villagers believed, and terror prevailed when any one dared to take it from the water. Two sacred fish still exist in a holy well at Nant Peris, and are replaced by others when they die, the dead fish being buried.  (If the fish appeared when an invalid drank of the well, this was a good omen.) This latter act, solemnly performed, is a true sign of the divine or sacred character of the animal. Many wells with sacred fish exist in Ireland, and the fish have usually some supernatural quality--they never alter in size, they become invisible, or they take the form of beautiful women.  Any one destroying such fish was regarded as a sacrilegious person, and sometimes a hostile tribe killed and ate the sacred fish of a district invaded by them, just as Egyptians of one nome insulted those of another by killing their sacred animals.  In old Irish beliefs the salmon was the fish of knowledge. Thus whoever ate the salmon of Connla's well was dowered with the wisdom which had come to them through eating nuts from the hazels of knowledge around the well. In this case the sacred fish was eaten, but probably by certain persons only--those who had the right to do so. Sinend, who went to seek inspiration from the well, probably by eating one of its salmon, was overwhelmed by its waters. The legend of the salmon is perhaps based on old ritual practices of the occasional eating of a divine animal. In other cases, legends of a miraculous supply of fish from sacred wells are perhaps later Christian traditions of former pagan beliefs or customs concerning magical methods of increasing a sacred or totem animal species, like those used in Central Australia and New Guinea.  The frog is sometimes the sacred animal, and this recalls the fairytale of the Frog Bridegroom living in a well, who insisted on marrying the girl who drew its waters. Though this tale is not peculiar to the Celts, it is not improbable that the divine animal guardian of a well may have become the hero of a folk-tale, especially as such wells were sometimes taboo to women.  A fly was the guardian spirit of S. Michael's well in Banffshire. Auguries regarding health were drawn from its movements, and it was believed that the fly, when it grew old, transmigrated into another.  Such beliefs were not peculiarly Celtic. They are found in all European folk-lore, and they are still alive among savages--the animal being itself divine or the personification of a divinity. A huge sacred eel was worshipped by the Fijians; in North America and elsewhere there were serpent guardians of the waters; and the Semites worshipped the fish of sacred wells as incarnations or, symbols of a god.

ater Celtic folk-belief associated monstrous and malevolent beings with rivers and lakes. These may be the older divinities to whom a demoniac form has been given, but even in pagan times such monstrous beings may have been believed in, or they may be survivals of the more primitive monstrous guardians of the waters. The last were dragons or serpents, conventional forms of the reptiles which once dwelt in watery places, attacking all who came near. This old idea certainly survived in Irish and Highland belief, for the Fians conquered huge dragons or serpents in lochs, or saints chained them to the bottom of the waters. Hence the common place-name of Loch na piast, "Loch of the Monster." In other tales they emerge and devour the impious or feast on the dead. (S. Patrick, when he cleared Ireland of serpents, dealt in this way with the worst specimens. S. Columba quelled a monster which terrified the dwellers by the Ness.)  The Dracs of French superstition--river monsters who assume human form and drag down victims to the depths, where they devour them--resemble these.

The Each Uisge, or Water-horse, a horse with staring eyes, webbed feet, and a slimy coat, is still dreaded. He assumes different forms and lures the unwary to destruction, or he makes love in human shape to women, some of whom discover his true nature by seeing a piece of water-weed in his hair, and only escape with difficulty. Such a water-horse was forced to drag the chariot of S. Fechin of Fore, and under his influence became "gentler than any other horse."  Many Highland lochs are still haunted by this dreaded being, and he is also known in Ireland and France, where, however, he has more of a tricky and less of a demoniac nature.  His horse form is perhaps connected with the similar form ascribed to Celtic water-divinities. Manannan's horses were the waves, and he was invariably associated with a horse. Epona, the horse-goddess, was perhaps originally goddess of a spring, and, like the Matres, she is sometimes connected with the waters.  Horses were also sacrificed to river-divinities.  But the beneficent water-divinities in their horse form have undergone a curious distortion, perhaps as the result of later Christian influences. The name of one branch of the Fomorians, the Goborchinn, means the "Horse-headed," and one of their kings was Eochaid Echchenn, or "Horse-head."  Whether these have any connection with the water-horse is uncertain.

he foaming waters may have suggested another animal personification, since the name of the Boyne in Ptolemy,  is derived from a primitive bóu-s, ox, and vindo-s, white, in Irish bó find, white cow.  But it is not certain that this or the Celtic cult of the bull was connected with the belief in the Tarbh Uisge, or Water-bull, which had no ears and could assume other shapes. It dwells in lochs and is generally friendly to man, occasionally emerging to mate with ordinary cows. In the Isle of Man the Tarroo Ushtey, however, begets monsters.  These Celtic water-monsters have a curious resemblance to the Australian Bunyip. The Uruisg, often confused with the brownie, haunts lonely places and waterfalls, and, according to his mood, helps or harms the wayfarer. His appearance is that of a man with shaggy hair and beard.  In Wales the afanc is a water-monster, though the word first meant "dwarf," then "water-dwarf," of whom many kinds existed. They correspond to the Irish water-dwarfs, the Luchorpáin, descended with the Fomorians and Goborchinn from Ham.

In other cases the old water beings have a more pleasing form, like the syrens and other fairy beings who haunt French rivers, or the mermaids of Irish estuaries.  In Celtic France and Britain lake fairies are connected with a water-world like that of Elysium tales, the region of earlier divinities.  They unite with mortals, who, as in the Swan-maiden tales, lose their fairy brides through breaking a taboo. In many Welsh tales the bride is obtained by throwing bread and cheese on the waters, when she appears with an old man who has all the strength of youth. He presents his daughter and a number of fairy animals to the mortal. When she disappears into the waters after the breaking of the taboo, the lake is sometimes drained in order to recover her; the father then appears and threatens to submerge the whole district. Father and daughters are earlier lake divinities, and in the bread and cheese we may see a relic of the offerings to these.

uman sacrifice to water-divinities is suggested by the belief that water-monsters devour human beings, and by the tradition that a river claims its toll of victims every year. In popular rhymes the annual character of the sacrifice is hinted at, and Welsh legend tells of a voice heard once a year from rivers or lakes, crying, "The hour is come, but the man is not."  Here there is the trace of an abandoned custom of sacrifice and of the traditional idea of the anger of the divinity at being neglected. Such spirits or gods, like the water-monsters, would be ever on the watch to capture those who trespassed on their domain. In some cases the victim is supposed to be claimed on Midsummer eve, the time of the sacrifice in the pagan period.  The spirits of wells had also a harmful aspect to those, at least, who showed irreverence in approaching them. This is seen in legends about the danger of looking rashly into a well or neglecting to cover it, or in the belief that one must not look back after visiting the well. Spirits of wells were also besought to do harm to enemies.

Legends telling of the danger of removing or altering a well, or of the well moving elsewhere because a woman washed her hands in it, point to old taboos concerning wells. Boand, wife of Nechtain, went to the fairy well which he and his cup-bearers alone might visit, and when she showed her contempt for it, the waters rose and destroyed her. They now flow as the river Boyne. Sinend met with a similar fate for intruding on Connla's well, in this case the pursuing waters became the Shannon.  These are variants of a story which might be used to explain the origin of any river, but the legends suggest that certain wells were taboo to women because certain branches of knowledge, taught by the well, must be reserved for men.  The legends said in effect, "See what came of women obtruding beyond their proper sphere." Savage "mysteries" are usually taboo to women, who also exclude men from their sacred rites. On the other hand, as all tribal lore was once in the hands of the wise woman, such taboos and legends may have arisen when men began to claim such lore. In other legends women are connected with wells, as the guardians who must keep them locked up save when water was drawn. When the woman neglected to replace the cover, the waters burst forth, overwhelming her, and formed a loch.  (The waters often submerge a town, now seen below the waves--the town of Is in Armorica,  or the towers under Lough Neagh. In some Welsh instances a man is the culprit. In the case of Lough Neagh the keeper of the well was Liban, who lived on in the waters as a mermaid. Later she was caught and received the baptismal name of Muirghenn, "sea-birth." Here the myth of a water-goddess, said to have been baptized, is attached to the legend of the careless guardian of a spring, with whom she is identified. The woman is the priestess of the well who, neglecting part of its ritual, is punished. Even in recent times we find sacred wells in charge of a woman who instructs the visitors in the due ritual to be performed.  If such legends and survivals thus point to former Celtic Priestesses of wells, these are paralleled by the Norse Horgabrudar, guardians of wells, now elves living in the waters.  That such legends are based on the ritual of well-worship is suggested by Boand's walking three times widdershins round the well, instead of the customary deiseil. The due ritual must be observed, and the stories are a warning against its neglect.

n spite of twenty centuries of Christianity and the anathemas of saints and councils, the old pagan practices at healing wells have survived--a striking instance of human conservatism. S. Patrick found the pagans of his day worshipping a well called Slán, "health-giving," and offering sacrifices to it,  and the Irish peasant today has no doubt that there is something divine about his holy wells. The Celts brought the belief in the divinity of springs and wells with them, but would naturally adopt local cults wherever they found them. Afterwards the Church placed the old pagan wells under the protection of saints, but part of the ritual often remained unchanged. Hence many wells have been venerated for ages by different races and through changes in religion and polity. Thus at the thermal springs of Vicarello offerings have been found which show that their cult has continued from the Stone Age, through the Bronze Age, to the days of Roman civilisation, and so into modern times; nor is this a solitary instance.  But it serves to show that all races, high and low, preserve the great outlines of primitive nature religion unchanged. In all probability the ritual of the healing wells has also remained in great part unaltered, and wherever it is found it follows the same general type. The patient perambulated the well three times deiseil or sun-wise, taking care not to utter a word. Then he knelt at the well and prayed to the divinity for his healing. In modern times the saint, but occasionally the well itself, is prayed to.  Then he drank of the waters, bathed in them, or laved his limbs or sores, probably attended by the priestess of the well. Having paid her dues, he made an offering to the divinity of the well, and affixed the bandage or part of his clothing to the well or a tree nearby, that through it he might be in continuous rapport with the healing influences. Ritual formulæ probably accompanied these acts, but otherwise no word was spoken, and the patient must not look back on leaving the well. Special times, Beltane, Midsummer, or August st, were favourable for such visits,  and where a patient was too ill to present himself at the well, another might perform the ritual for him. The rag, or clothing hung on the tree seems to connect the spirit of the tree with that of the well, and tree and well are often found together. But sometimes it is thrown into the well, just as the Gaulish villagers of S. Gregory's day threw offerings of cloth and wool into a sacred lake.  The rag is even now regarded in the light of an offering, and such offerings, varying from valuable articles of clothing to mere rags, are still hung on sacred trees by the folk. It thus probably has always had a sacrificial aspect in the ritual of the well, but as magic and religion constantly blend, it had also its magical aspect. The rag, once in contact with the patient, transferred his disease to the tree, or, being still subtly connected with him, through it the healing properties passed over to him.

The offering thrown into the well--a pin, coin, etc., may also have this double aspect. The sore is often pricked or rubbed with the pin as if to transfer the disease to the well, and if picked up by another person, the disease may pass to him. This is also true of the coin.  But other examples show the sacrificial nature of the pin or other trifle, which is probably symbolic or a survival of a more costly offering. In some cases it is thought that those who do not leave it at the well from which they have drunk will die of thirst, and where a coin is offered it is often supposed to disappear, being taken by the spirit of the well.  The coin has clearly the nature of an offering, and sometimes it must be of gold or silver, while the antiquity of the custom on Celtic ground is seen by the classical descriptions of the coins glittering in the pool of Clitumnus and of the "gold of Toulouse" hid in sacred tanks.  It is also an old and widespread belief that all water belongs to some divine or monstrous guardian, who will not part with any of it without a quid pro quo. In many cases the two rites of rag and pin are not both used, and this may show that originally they had the same purpose--magical or sacrificial, or perhaps both. Other sacrifices were also made--an animal, food, or an ex voto, the last occurring even in late survivals as at S. The new's Well, Glasgow, where even in the eighteenth century tin cut to represent the diseased member was placed on the tree, or at S. Winifred's Well in Wales, where crutches were left.

ertain waters had the power of ejecting the demon of madness. Besides drinking, the patient was thrown into the waters, the shock being intended to drive the demon away, as elsewhere demons are exorcised by flagellation or beating. The divinity of the waters aided the process, and an offering was usually made to him. In other cases the sacred waters were supposed to ward off disease from the district or from those who drank of them. Or, again, they had the power of conferring fertility. Women made pilgrimages to wells, drank or bathed in the waters, implored the spirit or saint to grant them offspring, and made a due offering. (In some early Irish instances a worm swallowed with the waters by a woman causes pregnancy.)  Spirit or saint, by a transfer of his power, produced fruitfulness, but the idea was in harmony with the recognized power of water to purify, strengthen, and heal. Women, for a similar reason, drank or washed in the waters or wore some articles dipped in them, in order to have an easy delivery or abundance of milk.

The waters also gave oracles, their method of flowing the amount of water in the well, the appearance or non-appearance of bubbles at the surface when an offering was thrown in, the sinking or floating of various articles, all indicating whether a cure was likely to occur, whether fortune or misfortune awaited the inquirer, or, in the case of girls, whether their lovers would be faithful. The movements of the animal guardian of the well were also ominous to the visitor.  Rivers or river divinities were also appealed to. In cases of suspected fidelity the Celts dwelling by the Rhine placed the newly-born child in a shield on the waters. If it floated the mother was innocent; if it sank it was allowed to drown, and she was put to death. (The practice may have been connected with that noted by Aristotle, of plunging the newly-born into a river, to strengthen it, as he says, but more probably as a baptismal or purificatory rite.  Girls whose purity was suspected were similarly tested, and S. Gregory of Tours tells how a woman accused of adultery was proved by being thrown into the Saône.  The mediæval witch ordeal by water is connected with this custom, which is, however, widespread.

he malevolent aspect of the spirit of the well is seen in the "cursing wells" of which it was thought that when some article inscribed with an enemy's name was thrown into them with the accompaniment of a curse, the spirit of the well would cause his death. In some cases the curse was inscribed on a leaden tablet thrown into the waters, just as, in other cases, a prayer for the offerer's benefit was engraved on it. Or, again, objects over which a charm had been said were placed in a well that the victim who drew water might be injured. An excellent instance of a cursing-well is that of Fynnon Elian in Denbigh, which must once have had a guardian priestess, for in  an old woman who had charge of it presided at the ceremony. She wrote the name of the victim in a book, receiving a gift at the same time. A pin was dropped into the well in the name of the victim, and through it and through knowledge of his name, the spirit of the well-acted upon him to his hurt.  Obviously rites like these, in which magic and religion mingle, are not purely Celtic, but it is of interest to note their existence in Celtic lands and among Celtic folk.

The Religion of the Ancient Celts, By J. A. MacCulloch, 1911

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