ABSTRACT
It would be a mistake to neglect the goddesses in this survey, since there is good reason to believe that their cults were important in everyday life, and were by no means confined to women and children. They were of considerable importance also among the Celtic peoples-even though we have little evidence as to how they were worshipped-for traces of powerful female divinities may be found in many Irish tales. One reason for our limited knowledge is no doubt because most of our records were written by men, and usually by monks, who would be unlikely to know much of the lore and practices of mothers, wives and unmarried girls who turned to the female deities to help them to achieve a good marriage or to give them healthy children; nor were they likely to give such matters their approval. Christian writers tended to condemn fertility rites, such as were usually associated with the female deities. Moreover, confusion is caused by the practice of giving many different names to one goddess, so that it is often assumed that these are separate divinities. It seems also that the goddesses were often worshipped in small local cults rather than in established public rituals like those of Thor or Odin. Sometimes they were represented as a group, receiving worship in Scandinavia as the Dísir, while the norns, valkyries and various female spirits of the Vanir are often introduced as groups of beings in the tales. In Ireland there is often a trio of goddesses under one name, as in the case of the Irish Brigid. Again, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between goddesses and giantesses; a goddess might be conceived as huge or even monstrous in stature, while a giantess from the underworld might become the bride of a god.
