Religion
Druids were animists, believing that gods and goddesses inhabited every natural being, feature and phenomenon. Lugus (thusly named for the light months on the calendar) was the god of light, Maponis the god of darkness, Nemetoma was the goddess of the sacred grove, and Mantosuelta was the goddess of the winding brooks.
Druids did believe in an after life. Druids believed that men's souls as well as the universe were indestructible, although fire and water may (temporarily) prevail. Druids believed in an immortal soul and in death passes to another body, reinforcing bravery against the terrors of death.
They believed that when you died you moved onto the Otherworld, and there was a continual exchange between worlds. Likewise, a birth meant the death of someone in the Otherworld and included mourning for the soul that left the Otherworld. Evidentally they made loans to others with the repayment to take place in the Otherworld or next life. Hmm...could we work that here?
There was a gathering place for the souls of the departed, always thought to be a small island to the south west of Ireland. From there you were transported by a god to the Otherworld. The Otherworld was thought of as merely a different place than our world.
The continual seach for the magic cauldron of plenty (which feeds everyone without end) and the cauldron of rebirth (in which the dead are placed to come back out alive) from the Otherworld turned into the Christian Holy Grail, but the legend of the original magic sword of Arthur is strictly Celtic.
The oak and mistletoe were most sacred, no ritual was held without them. Geese were also sacred. Mistletoe had to be grown on oak, which was rare.
Deities were both male and female. There were major deities, found throughout all the tribes, and minor deities worshiped within individual tribes. They did not believe their gods and goddesses to have human form and laughed to see the Roman's representation of gods as such. Yet the Celts believed themselves to be the descendants of gods. Their gods were often found in the standard meditation position, so like the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Celts gave their gods human form at the end of the Hallstatt era under Etruscan influence.
The Druids practised divination or foretelling the future by interpreting prophetic signs, some of which came from the flight of birds, the zodiac (seraul cicho) and the stars.
c 960 - Edgar the Peaceful was accepted as overlord by the Celts of England
1063 - Llywellyn, one of the last remaining original Celts was killed.
The last Rowena remembers is a all ditch attempt to finally annialate all Druids/Celts from the Roman Empire, being the daughter of Llywellyn and a Roman soldier.
Aine - goddess of love
Donn - god of the dead or the "dark one"
Banbha, Eriu and Fodla - the three godesses who lent their names to Ireland
Nechtan - water-god whose sacred well was a source of knowledge
Nemhain - goddess of war and battle
Oenghus - god of youth and love
Tuatha De Danaan - the race of gods who descendeed from the godess Danu; patrons of magic and arts
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