Today people all over the world will be celebrating the Eve of Beltane, a festival which has very ancient roots. The festival gets it name from the old Irish spelling “Beltain” (in modern Irish Mí Bhealtaine or Bealtaine refers to the entire month of May, and Lá Bealtaine is a more specific reference to the first day, “may day” and thus the festival). It is generally believed that this festival at the start of May was one which honoured the solar god Belenus, or Beli. However, there are a number of different gods who might somehow be linked to this festival through their names, and in the first installment of a series of Beltane Blogs we will share with you this extract from the book The Isles of the Many Gods (Sorita d’Este & David Rankine) and the entry for the god named as Belatucadros, whose attributes are very similar to that of of the better known Belenus and Beli. For more information on the Isles of the Many Gods click here.
Belatucadros
Name Bright Beautiful One or Fair Shining One Known Period of Worship 1st-5th century CE Place of Origin Cumbria or Germany? Place of Worship Cumbria Other Names Belatocadrus, Balatocadrus, Belatucairus, Belatocairus, Balatucairus, Belatucaurus, Baliticaurus, Belleticaurus, Belatucabrus, Belatugagrus, Blatucadrus and Blatucairus Belatucadros is a god whose name means “Bright Beautiful One” or “Fair Shining One”. At least twenty-eight altars bearing inscriptions to him have been found, almost all in northern Cumbria, so he may have been a patron to the Carvetii tribe who ruled there.[1] It has been suggested that his origins are with the Germanic Celts.
The Romans associated him with Mars, and the coincidences of inscriptions to him with ram horned god figures (sometimes armed), suggests he was a horned god. He was also referred to in seven inscriptions as the holy or blessed god Belatucadros. Only five of the inscriptions to him equate him with Mars, suggesting he was worshipped in his own right as a deity. Two altars to him use the phrase “pro se et suis”, i.e. “For himself and his own”, suggesting a role of protective deity.
[1] RIB 759, 772-7, 809, 887-9, 914, 918, 942, 948, 970, 1521, 1775, 1776, 1784, 1976, 1977, 2038, 2039, 2044, 2045, 2056, 2335.
Excerpt from The Isles of the Many Gods, d’Este & Rankine, Avalonia, 2007. (c) d’Este & Rankine, 2007. All Rights Reserved.
