Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Buadza 55yellow robe. Attributes: book, label, rosary, tridentand water jar. Also Brahmi.Bres MacelathaVegetation god. Celtic (Irish). The son of ERIUand of the Fomorian king Elatha. He is thereforepart TUATHA DE DANAAN by parentage but, havingbecome Lord of Ireland, he sides with the Fomoriansin the Battle of Moytura and is defeated.Concerned with the supply of food from the land.Brhaspati (lord of prayer)Astral god. Hindu (Vedic, Epic and Puranic). Thepersonification of the planet Jupiter. In Vedictexts he appears as a priest. The son of Angirasand the guru of the later Hindu pantheon. Consideredto be almost identical with BRAHMA. Hisconsort is the goddess TARA and his son is Kaca.He rides in a chariot drawn by eight horses.Color: golden yellow. Attributes: arrow, ax(golden), book, bow, rosary, staff and water jar.BrigantiaTutelary goddess. Romano-Celtic (British). Thegoddess of the Brigantes in the West Riding ofYorkshire. She became identified with CAELESTIS.At Corbridge, Northumberland, there is an altarinscribed to various deities, including CaelestisBrigantia. In a carved stone relief at Birrens, onthe Antonine Wall in Scotland, she is depictedwith the attributes of MINERVA. She may also bearlinks with the goddess BRIGIT. She is frequentlyassociated with water and herding.BRIGIT (exalted one)ORIGIN Celtic (Continental European and Irish).Fertility goddess.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP prehistoric timesuntil Christianization (circa AD 1100) and after.SYNONYMS Brigid; Bride; Banfile (poetess).CENTER(S) OF CULT various sanctuaries throughoutarea of Celtic influence.ART REFERENCES stone carvings.LITERARY SOURCES Books of Invasions; Cycles ofKings; various inscriptions.A major Celtic pastoral deity, described as a “wisewoman, the daughter of the DAGDA,” Brigitbecame “Christianized” as St. Brigit of Kildare,who lived from AD 450-523 and founded the firstfemale Christian community in Ireland. She wasoriginally celebrated on February 1 in the festivalof Imbolc, which coincided with the beginning oflactation in ewes and was regarded in Scotland asthe date on which Brigit deposed the blue-facedhag of winter (see CAILLEACH BHEUR). TheChristian calendar adopted the same date for theFeast of St. Brigit. There is no record that aChristian saint ever actually existed, but in Irishmythology she became the midwife to the VirginMary. The name can be traced into many Irishand European place names. It is also akin toBrhati which means “exalted one” in Sanskrit.BritanniaTutelary goddess. Romano-Celtic (British). Thegenia loci of Britain who first appears on thecoinage of Antoninus Pius in the second centuryAD. She became the symbol of the British Empireafter being partly syncretized with the Romanwar goddess MINERVA.BuadzaGod of the wind. Gan [district around Accra,Ghana, West Africa]. Also regarded as a stormgod. Also Olila.