General Notes

Also Known As:<_AKA> The /Great/
Name Prefix:<NPFX> Lord Of Celts / Britian


Beli Sovereign Lord of the MAWR

Beli Mawr (the Great), God of the Sun

Beli Mawr, called Belenos by the Romans, was the Celtic God of the Sun, representing the curative powers of the Suns heat. His festival
of Beltane, when bonfires were lit to welcome in the Summer and encourage the Suns warmth, was held on May 1st, and is remembered
in today's May Day festivities. His symbols were the horse (as shown, for example, by the clay horse figurine offerings at Belis
Sainte-Sabine shrine in Burgundy), and also the Wheel (as illustrated on the famous Gundestrup Cauldron). Perhaps, like Apollo, whom
he became identified with, Beli was thought to ride the Sun across the sky in a horse-drawn chariot. Indeed, a Celtic model horse and
wagon, carrying a gilded sun-disc, has been found at Trundholm in Denmark. Sometimes he is illustrated riding a single horse, throwing
thunder-bolts (hence an occasional idenification with Jupiter) and using his symbolic radiating wheel as a shield, as he tramples the
chthonic forces of a snake-limbed giant. This personification is similar to the classic depiction of the Archangel St.Michael defeating the
Devil. Sacred pagan hills associated with Beli, are thought to have had their dedications transferred to this saint (or sometimes St.George)
by the early Christians. Well known examples include St.Michaels Mount (Cornwall) and the churches of St.Michael on Brent Tor
(Devon), and Burrow Mump and Glastonbury Tor (Somerset): All on a supposed ley line that faces the Rising Sun at Beltane. He may
also have been worshipped on Dragon Hill below the great Uffington White Horse in Berkshire.