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Cailleach: Cailleach is referred to as the "Mother of All" in parts of Scotland. Also known as Scotia, she is depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a wild bear and boar's tusks. She is believed to be a great sorceress. One superstition regarding Calliach is that the farmer who is last to harvest his grain would be the person to "look after" Caileach for the rest of the year, until the next harvest. The first farmer who finishes harvesting would make a corn-dolly from the grain he has harvested. He would, then, pass it on to the next farmer who finishes. It would keep going until the corn-dolly ends up with the last farmer. That last farmer would be obligated to watch the "old woman". She is also known to have created the earth. Another name for her is Skadi.
Cailleach Beara: The Irish/Celtic who was said to turn to stone every April 30 (Beltine) and to be reborn every October 31 (Samhain). She was represented as an old hag.
Camma: The goddess of the hunt among the Britons.
Camulus (Camulos): A Gaulish war god mentioned by the Romans, who associated them with Mars. He gave his name to the Roman town of Camulodunum (Colchester).
Carman: The Irish goddess whose three sons Calma, Dubh, and Olc ravaged Ireland before they were finally defeated by the Tuatha Dé Danann. Caswallawn: A Celtic war god of Britain.
Ceridwen (Kerridwen): Ceridwen is a magician who features in the mythical version of the life of the genuine bard Taliesin. Ceridwen had an ugly son, Afagddu ("ugly"), whom she wished to make wise. She brewed a magical liquid and had her kitchen boy Gwion tend it. Three drops scalded his hand and he licked them off, instantly acquiring all the knowledge. In an ancient, ancient hunt she pursued him: first she became a greyhound and he a hare, then she an otter and he a fish, then she a hawk and he a rabbit. Finally, she became a hen and he a grain of corn, and she ate him. She became pregnant with him and he was born nine months later, a boy of astounding grace and beauty whom she named Taliesin and put into a coracle in the sea.
Cernunnos: Cernunnos ("the horned one") is a Celtic god of fertility, wealth, and the underworld. His cult was spread all over Gaul, and was later imported into Britain. He is depicted with the antlers of a stag, accompanied by a snake with a ram's head or a ram, sometimes also carrying a purse which spills coins or grain.
Cliodhna: The Irish goddess of beauty. She later became a fairy queen in the area of Carraig Cliodhna in County Cork.
Clota: The Celtic goddess of the river Clyde.
Cocidius: A hunting deity of Celtic North Britain. The Romans equated him with their Silvanus.
Condatis: The River god of Celtic Britain. Corb: An Irish (Celtic) god; one of the Fomorians.
Coventina: The Celtic (Britain) goddess of water and springs. She was known locally in the area of Carrawburgh (Roman Brocolitia) along Hadrian's Wall.
Creiddylad: A Welsh goddess, daughter of Llyr. She appeared in Shakespeare's King Lear as the king's daughter Cordelia.
Crom Cruach (Cromm Crúac): The chief idol of Eirin. This huge object stood on the plain of Mag Sleact (the plain of adoration or prostration) in County Cavan in Ulster. Situated around him were twelve smaller idols made of stone while his was of gold. To him the early Irish sacrificed one third of their children on Samain (November 1) in return for milk and corn and the good weather that insured the fertility of cattle and crops. The god was held in horror for his terrible exactions; it was even dangerous to worship him, for the worshippers themselves often perished in the act of worship. It is said that his cult was introduced by a pre-Christian king names Tigernmus. During the prostrations one Samhain night, he and three fourths of his followers destroyed themselves. The twelve lesser idols that encircle Crom have led to the assumption that he was a solar deity; certainly a fertility god. However, he has not been identified with any of the ancient Irish gods. According to legend, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, cursed and destroyed it (the idol sunk back into the earth). The saint preached to the people against the burning of milk-cows and their first-born progeny. Crom Cruach, or Cromm Crúac means bloody crescent or bloody bent one and is mentioned as such in the 6th century Dinnshenchas in the Book of Leinster. It is also referred to as Cenn Crúaic (bloody head) in the Tripartite Life of Patrick. Another name is ríg-íodal h-Eireann, the king idol of Ireland.
Cuchulainn (Cu Chulain, Setanta, Cuchulain): The heroic tales of Cuchulainn are so old that they were almost forgotten when they were revived by 7th century bard named Sechan Torpeist. Cuchulainn was born Setanta, but changed his name when he placed a geis upon himself after killing Conchobair Mac Neasa's favorite guard dog when it attacked him. He vowed to take the place of the dog, guarding the pass into Ulster, and thus became knows as the Hound of Cualainn. Several women in Celtic myth are said to be his mother, some human and other divine. The god Lugh is sometimes also mentioned as his father, but this relationship appears to be more of a spiritual link than a biological one. Cuchulainn's human father is Sualtam. He studied under the warrior goddess Scathach on the Isle of Shadow and returned to Ulster to be a great warrior and leader of the Red Branch, a semi-chivalrous order of warriors of Ulster whose exploits make up an entire cycle in Irish mythology. He became semi-divine himself through his adventures and is now honored as a pagan god. Many of his stories are recorded at length in The Book of the Dun Cow. A statue in Dublin portrays his dramatic demise in battle when, while his men were asleep, he held off Maeve's armies single-handedly by being tied to a tree to remain standing. Cuchlainn's image may have once been that of a minor sun or sacrificial god. His great enemy, the sovereign Queen Maeve of Connacht, seemed ready to replace her husband with Cuchulainn who resisted the sacrificial role and battled her instead. Predictably, she won the war and his blood was spilled on the earth in the manner of the sacrificial gods. During his death battle he failed to recognize the Morrigan flying over him, and many believe that was what really killed him -- failure to realize the role he was born to play as symbolized by the death-bird in ages of the triple crone. He had many lovers including Aife, Emer, and 'the faery woman' Fand Curoi mac Daire: A Celtic sun-deity, believed to be a storm-bringing giant, armed with an ax.
Cwn Annwn: In Brythonic mythology, the hounds of Annwn. A pack of snow-white, red-eared spectral hounds which sometimes took part in the kidnappings and raids the inhabitants of the underworld sometimes make on this world (the Wild Hunt). They are associated in Wales with the sounds of migrating wild geese, and are said to be leading the souls of the damned to hell. The phantom chase is usually heard or seen in midwinter and is accompanied by a howling wind. Another name is Cwn Mamau ("hounds of the mothers"). In England, they are often called the Gabriel Hounds or Ratchets, and sometimes the Yell Hounds. They are accompanied by the hunter Gwyn, or Bran, or Arthur, but sometimes by Gabriel or Herne the Hunter.
Cyhiraeth: The Celtic goddess of streams. She later entered folklore as a spectre haunting woodland streams. Her shriek was said to foretell death (see: Banshee).