introduction of domestic animals among men. Possibly some culture gods
had been worshipful animals, now worshipped as gods, who had given these
animals to man. Culture-goddesses still held their place among
culture-gods, and were regarded as their mothers. The prominence of
these divinities shows that the Celts were more than a race of warriors.

The pantheon was thus a large one, but on the whole the divinities of
growth were more generally important. The older nature spirits and
divine animals were never quite forgotten, especially by the folk, who
also preserved the old rituals of vegetation spirits, while the gods of
growth were worshipped at the great festivals. Yet in essence the lower
and the higher cults were one and the same, and, save where Roman
influence destroyed Celtic religion, the older primitive strands are
everywhere apparent. The temperament of the Celt kept him close to
nature, and he never quite dropped the primitive elements of his
religion. Moreover, the early influence of female cults of female
spirits and goddesses remained to the end as another predominant factor.

Most of the Celtic divinities were local in character, each tribe
possessing its own group, each god having functions similar to those of
other groups. Some, however, had or gained a more universal character,
absorbing divinities with similar functions. Still this local character
must be borne in mind. The numerous divinities of Gaul, with differing
names--but, judging by their assimilation to the same Roman divinity,
similar functions, are best understood as gods of local groups. This is
probably true also of Britain and Ireland. But those gods worshipped far
and wide over the Celtic area may be gods of the undivided Celts, or
gods of some dominant Celtic group extending their influence on all
sides, or, in some cases, popular gods whose cult passed beyond the
tribal bounds. If it seem precarious to see such close similarity in the