Nemain Collective

The gods and goddesses, or deities of the Celts are known from a variety of sources, these include written Celtic mythology, ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names.

It should be understood that there are two main types of Celtic deities: general and local. General deities were known by Celts throughout large regions, and are the gods and goddesses they invoked for protection, healing, luck, honour and many other needs. The local deities were the spirits of a particular feature of the landscape (such as particular mountains, trees or rivers) and thus was generally only known by the locals in the surrounding areas.

After Celtic lands became Christianized, there were attempts by Christian writers to anthropomorphise (or make human) or even demonize the pre-Christian deities. For example, in Irish mythological sources, the Tuatha Dé Danann are commonly taken to represent a divine pantheon, but there is evidence of Christian attempts to discredit this.