CERNUNNOS

An important stag-antlered fertility god, Cernunnos is usually shown as a male human figure sitting cross-legged, Buddha-like, on the ground. On the Paris relief known as the Tiberian Sailors’ Pillar, he is shown with stag’s ears and a torc hanging from each antler; the image bears the name “Cernunnos,” which means “Horned One.” The image is found in Britain, but it is more common in Gaul, where more than 30 examples are known. One bronze image from Bouray shows the god sitting cross-legged as usual, but instead of human feet he has the hooves of a stag.

Not all of these horned nature gods are named, but the label “Cernunnos” is commonly used to describe them all. Most of these images (as for most of the other gods) are late, but there is a Val Camonica carving of Cernunnos that was made as early as the fourth century BC, so his worship prevailed across a long time span.

The finest, most spectacular image of Cernunnos is the one on the Gundestrup cauldron, where he is shown as lord of the animals, accompanied by his stag, his ram-horned snake, his boar, and his bull. Cernunnos and his stag are as one: the artist has very deliberately made the antlers of Cernunnos and the antlers on the stag beside him exactly the same.

He is a god of the forest, of nature, of fertility, of fecundity, and therefore of human prosperity. This is reinforced by an impressive stone relief from Rheims, on which Cernunnos is shown with a sack of money; the coins flow out in a copious stream. Underneath him are a stag and a bull and he is flanked by two naked youths.

At Sommerecourt, a sculpture of Cernunnos was found with sockets in the god’s head where bronze or perhaps even real antlers were fitted. As usual, he sits crosslegged, but this time he is accompanied by a goddess as well as ram-homed snakes. Another image shows Cernunnos flanked by two youths who are standing on snakes.

A bronze image from Curgy (Seine et Loire) is of special interest. The god is sitting cross-legged, but this time he has three heads, perhaps for emphasis. He is feeding two ram-horned snakes with fruit piled up in his lap; the serpents coil round his body. The central head has sockets for the fitting of antlers.

Cernunnos was evidently a mainly Gaulish deity; there are few images of him in Britain. This implies that he was an imported deity, but he was not imported by the Romans. A pre-Roman Celtic silver coin has been found at Petersfield in Hampshire, showing Cernunnos with a sun wheel between his antlers. This is a link across to the image of Cernunnos on the Gundestrup cauldron, where he is also associated with a wheel god.

It would be possible to describe more individual examples of Cernunnos images, and there were lots of complex variations. One key recurring feature is his association with the stag. Another is the ram-horned snake. The overall impression is one of well-being and prosperity. Cernunnos is a god of nature, perhaps the god of nature, as well as the god of fruit, of corn, of beasts, and of plenty. The close coexistence of stag and stag god imply shapeshifting; Cernunnos could perhaps appear as a stag and a stag might metamorphose into the god.

With the arrival of Christianity, the old horned gods, especially very powerfiil horned gods such as Cernunnos, became identified with the Devil. Looked at objectively, there is no reason to see Cernunnos as anything other than totally benign, but those conditioned by a Christian upbringing are likely to be uneasy about a god wearing horns.

COCIDIUS

A god commonly worshiped along Hadrian’s Wall. “Cocidius” means “Red One.”

At Otterburn, just below the summit of a ridge, is a square chamber 7 feet (2m) across tucked away among huge slabs of rock. It is a natural chamber that was apparently used in antiquity as a shrine to Cocidius. Originally it had a roof over it. On the right, at the entrance, is a slab with a careliilly carved image of Cocidius cut into it. He is shown naked, with a large, pear-shaped head, and he is waving a spear and a round shield.

Cocidius was worshiped at several places along the western end of Hadrian’s Wall and always associated with the Roman legionaries, so it is particularly interestingly that his images are carved in indigenous Celtic style. It seems that, to this extent at least, the Roman soldiers in Britain “went native.”

COLIGNY CALENDAR

This unique bronze calendar was found in France, near Bourg-en-Bresse, at the end of the nineteenth century. It was made in the Romano-Celtic period, in the reign of Augustus.

It was evidently made under the auspices of Druids, as it shows the Druidical belief in lucky and unlucky days. Each month is divided into a good half, marked MAT (“auspicious”) and a bad half, marked ANM (“inauspicious.”) These were appropriate and inappropriate times to act. This idea was shared by the Romans, and it is one that has in a very small way survived to the present, with the idea that the thirteenth day of the month (especially if it is a Friday) is an unlucky day.

The Ulster Cycle of tales includes an episode about Queen Medb of Connaught, in which she is prevented from joining battle for a fortnight when the Druids advise her to wait for an auspicious day to fight.

The Gauls counted in nights. This nocturnal custom may have been widespread in the Celtic west. Until relatively recently in Britain it was possible to speak of a “sennight” (seven-nights), meaning a week—Shakespeare used it. “Fortnight”

(fourteen-nights) is still in general use for two weeks.

The Gauls’ month consisted of 29.5 days. The Druids seem to have wanted to reconcile the lunar calendar with the solar cycle, and did this by having a year of 12 months, alternately 29 and 30 days long, making a year of 354 days (or nights, as preferred). The difference between lunar and solar years was made up every 2.5 years by adding a thirteenth month. The years in turn formed cycles; according to Diodorus Siculus, great sacrificial ceremonies were held every five years, and there were “centuries” of 30 years that were used in assembling longer chronologies.

The Coligny calendar, covering a cycle of 62 consecutive months, was inscribed on a sheet of bronze and unfortunately exists only in a fragmentary state. But it is a very important object because it is the oldest extensive document in an ancient Celtic language. It uses Roman lettering and numerals, but its content is completely independent of the Roman calendar. It must have been made by Gaulish Druids. It is of outstanding interest in itself, but also because it has points in common with the Greek calendar, which in a similar way used an additional month every so often to catch up with the astronomical year. The month names also have similarities. The Gallic Ellembiu has its Greek equivalent in Elaphebolion, and the Gallic Equos in the Greek Hippios: both meaning “horse.” The Greek model was evidently an influence on the Druids.

There is no sign of anything like a Celtic timepiece, except in some of the sanctuaries, where there were isolated clusters of posts that could have been used as sun-dials.