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From a certain point of view the Celts can be considered the ancestors of all the modern Europeans; at the top of their power (about 300 a.C.) they ruled all the lands from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean, and from the Black Sea to Ireland, and from their language are derived many european language and some Indian dialects..
The word “Celts” has been used the first time by Herodotus in the 5th century a.C.; in that time Celts were already considered a big and powerful nation composed by tribes with different names, that anyway all together were known as Keltoi, and were linked to each other by a unique political organization, a powerful sacerdotal chaste, religious traditions, language and physical appearance.
Anyway their colture began to develop much earlier and seems that the origin of the Celtic world can be found in the 3rd millenium b.C.

It’s not easy to discover in details what was the mythology of this people because the Celts did not believe in writing as a method to record their knowledge that were considered sacred and so couldn’t fall in the hands of dishonourable people; consequently history, genealogy, astronomy, astrology and everything regarding religion were taught only orally.
Inscriptions, names of places and some hints that are found in Roman’s writers works transmitted to us the names of Celtic’s deities, but the main source that allowed us to know more about their mythology are the legends that survive even nowadays in Ireland and Wales.

PAGAN CELTIC DEITIES

In celtic society the sacerdotal chaste of Druids was in charge of all the matters regarding religion and also the legal matters; were the Druids who held the sacred knowledge of astronomy and phylosophy and who knew the powers and the duties of the immortals deities, but since this knowledge were never written, today we know them only vaguely.

The ancient Irish stories are the first who gave us informations about Celtic mythology (not only Irish). The Gods in the stories were known as Tuatha Dé Danann, “the children of Danu”, that is of the Mother Goddess. These deities had each an enough specific sphere of influence: Nuada “Silver Arm”, the king of Gods, was also a warrior, Morrigan was a war Goddess; the Dagda, or “Good God” was the Father God represented with a cauldron and a huge club; among his children there were Brigid (Goddess of fire and poetry), Angus (God of love) and Donn (Lord of dead); Lir and his son Manannan were Gods of the sea, Diancecht and his son Miach were Gods of medicine, Goibniu was the smith and his brother Credne the artificer.

The male was very important in Celtic civilization, but it seems that the female, in form of Earth Goddess, was predominant: she was the holy mother of the tribe, made the earth fertile and brought peace to her inhabitants.

Since each tribe had its own deities, is difficult to find a path in a labyrinth of names that we know thanks to some Roman inscriptions and that survive also today in Europe as place-name, like the river Severn in England and the Seine in France that take the names from the Goddess Sabrina and Sequana (the water sources for Celts were filled with magical energies: at the source of the Sein has been found a sanctuary sacred to Sequana, and the temple of Sabrina is probably located in Little Dean, in Gloucestershire).

Today we believe that some deities who appear in all the Celtic world with various names were much more than simple local deities. One of them is Cernunnos “the horned”, stag God old and wise that hold in his hand a misterious ram-headed snake and that was the God of animals; some Gaulish statues show him while he pour money from a bag because he was also the God of property and richness.
The Dagda had a Gaulish equivalent in the God Sucellus who was depicted with a cup and a plate (equivalent of the cauldron of the Irish God) and that appeared often with a dog.
Brigid in Gaul was called Bergusia; a sinister Goddess of war, the Irish Morrigan, was worshipped in all the continent under other names.

CELTS AND ANIMALS

Sometimes the warrior Goddess were triple and often they were associated with the raven that in battle fields feed on corpse.

There was also another deity associated with animals, the horse Goddess who was known in Europe with the name of Epona, as Macha in Ireland and Rhiannon in Wales (in coronation ceremonies of Celtics kings the white horses had a main role).

Celts believed that their deities assumed not only the appearance but also the characteristics of some animals that consequently were treated with much respect, as they were deities too.

The wild boar was kept in high consideration for the bravery with which it faced the hunters (example of how a good worrior should have being in battle) and its meat were the favourites in banquet, both in the living world and in the underworld and the dainty was reserved to the greatest hero of the group; the hunt to the wild boar was one of the favourite occupation of the noble Celts and magical and extraordinary powers were attributed to some swine of the underworld: you were able to kill and eat them in the evening, but they appeared again the day after.

Other very important animals were stags that were hunted for their flesh and in legends they often are needed to lure the hunters to convince them to enter in the underworld.

Celts were afraid of and respected very much cats, without keeping them inside the house: the cat was the symbol of obscure and powerful supernatural powers, tyranny and death and often they were depicted in the grave stones.

Among the birds some were considered lucky and others of bad luck; the crane for example were considered Goddess in form of birds and was a bad sign for a worrior to meet one of them in battle. Roosters, cranes and geese were tabù: you couldn’t eat them except during religious ceremonies.

Swans were always a good sign, symbols of love and purity and also today in the Hebrides nobody will even dare to kill a swan; men and deities were often changed into swans by jealous rivals and faithful lovers appeared in form of swans tied together by golden chains.

THE LEGEND OF MIDIR AND ETAIN

In the hollow hills of Ireland, in the lacy margin where the Atlantic tide touches the shore, on the islands just beyond sight off the western coast, lies a country invisible to most human eyes, a country called Tir na nÓg - the Land of Youth. Life in this Otherworld flows and eddies much like life in Ireland, except that to all of the strife and clamor, love and jealousy of the mortal world is added the shimmering loveliness of the fairy realm. Wars are waged, songs are crafted and sung before the ladies and gentlemen of the court, and the young fall deeply in love, as they do in our world.

Our tale begins in the golden world with the marriage of two people who are hopelessly, blissfully in love: Étaín, the most beautiful and best-hearted woman in all of Tir na nÓg, and her true love, Midir, handsome, clever and fiercely devoted. But not all the denizens of the Otherworld are without flaw or fault. Midir’s first wife, Fúamnach, is afire with jealousy at the sight of his joyful new bride, and from her rage and envy she concocts a dark spell. With one touch of her wand of scarlet rowan, Étaín is transformed into a splendid golden fly. The humming of her wings is a comfort to all who hear it, and the drops of water which fall from those delicate wings possess the power to cure disease. Midir recognizes his beloved Étaín even in her new form, and the two spend all their hours together.

Not content with merely depriving Étaín of her human form, Fúamnach resolves to split the two lovers forever. She conjures up a lashing wind that drives Étaín out of the house she shared with Midir, out beyond the safety of land and into the wildness of the sea winds. Helpless against the power of the spell, Étaín spends seven years buffeted among the waves and rocks. Sea-spray drenches her wings; loneliness pulls her closer to an ending in the cold grey ocean. At last, exhausted, she comes to land on the roof of a house in Northern Ireland in which people are feasting. The sight of a warm fire, laughing faces and a hearty meal cheers her heart. Closer and closer she creeps towards the warmth and merriment, hungry for the sound of voices after her long trial. But too close! In her frailty and eagerness she falls into a goblet of wine which is in the hand of a warrior’s wife. That good woman swallows Étaín along with the wine, and thereby conceives a daughter.

Étaín is reborn in Ireland as the daughter of a wealthy chieftain. Beloved by many, she is said to possess the three graces - the gift of love, the gift of generosity, and the gift of kindness. One day while Étaín and her handmaidens are bathing at the well they spy a man approaching them on horseback. He is Eochaid, the king of Ireland, and as soon as his eyes light on Étaín radiant face, he loses his heart to her and asks her to be his Queen. She consents to marry him, and the two live very happily together as King and Queen for quite some time. But truth will have its way, and dreams come to an end. Slowly the memory of another life and another world come to Étaín, and the silver polish wears away from the life she has created in the mortal world. She stretches her mind, as if waking from a long sleep.

One bright morning the King and Queen walk out into the woods that encircle their castle. No sooner have they stepped in among the trees than a heavy mist falls, obscuring their sight. A man dressed in a scarlet tunic steps from the mist; his hair is shining yellow and his eyes sparkling grey. He bows to Eochaid and asks, “Will we play a game of chess together?” And Eochaid answers, “We will, surely, sir; for I am good at that game.” The two sit down to play. Eochaid wins the first game and demands as his prize fifty dark grey horses with fifty silver bridles. He wins the second game and demands fifty boars, fifty white red-eared cows, fifty bright cloaks and fifty gold-hilted swords. The stranger wins the third game, and as his prize he demands, “My arms around Étaín and a kiss upon her lips.” Étaín gasps with recognition and turns to look at her two husbands. Eochaid agrees to honor Midir’s demand in a month’s time.

When the fated day arrives, Eochaid arranges all of the best warriors in Ireland in concentric circles around the castle, ring within ring of warriors, and the King and Queen in the center of the house. But Midir walks through the troops without casting a harsh word or shedding a drop of blood and comes to stand in the very room in which the King and Queen are drinking their wine. “I have come for that which we agreed upon,” he says, and with great sadness Eochaid leads Étaín into the center of the room. “You may put your arms around her and take but one kiss.” Midir puts his arms around Étaín and his mouth upon her mouth. In the twinkling of an eye they fly up through the skylight in the shape of two downy white swans, linked by a chain of gold. They fly all through the starry night, over the sea and through the strange mist that keep the two worlds apart, until at last they reach the beautiful country which is their own true home.