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[W] Husband of Don, he is god of death, and a later form of Belenus (above). He corresponds to Bíle of Ireland. He is also father of Lludd and Llefelys. Often called Beli Mawr, he is claimed as an ancestor deity from whom several royal lines of Wales claimed descent.
A feast known in the Gaelic world (Ireland, Man, and Scotland). It is translated as “fires of Bel.” One of the four major Celtic festivals falling on May Eve and May 1, it was also known as Cetshamhain. It was customary to observe the festival by lighting bonfires, hence Bel-tinne, fires of Bel. This was the time when the Celts offered praise to Bel, Belenus, or Bíle, who was not only a god of death but of life as well, for he is sometimes represented as a solar deity and he was regarded as having gained victory over the powers of darkness by bringing the people within sight of another harvest. On that day the fires of the household would be extinguished. At a given time the druids would rekindle the fires from torches lit by “the sacred fires of Bel,” the rays of the sun, and the new flames symbolised a fresh start for everyone. Numbers of cattle from each herd would be driven in ancient circles as a symbol of this purification. The festival was widely known, even surviving until recently in southern France. In Cornwall the May Bonfires are still lit. Until the nineteenth century the Scottish Law Term starting in May was known as the Beltane Term. Significant events in Celtic myth happen at Beltaine. It was then that Partholón came to Ireland. This pre-Christian ceremony was claimed for Christianity and merged with the feast day of St. John the Baptist.
[W] See Bran the Blessed.
[I] God of death who is cognate with Bel and Belenus. In some texts he is known as “Father of Gods and Men” and husband to Dana. In other texts he appears as the father of Milesius and significantly came from “Spain,” a synonym for the Otherworld. Among his duties was to gather the souls and accompany them to the Otherworld.
[I] The name is cognate with the Welsh Blodeuwedd but their traditions are separate. Sometimes given as Blanid, she is daughter of Mend, king of Inis Fer Falga. Cú Roí, the king of Munster, carries her off to his fortress, which is constructed so that no one can find the entrance. Cúchulainn attempts to rescue her, and she helps him by emptying milk into a stream that runs
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