The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Good evening!

I find myself in a rather peculiar situation and I sincerely hope that the lovely people here will be able to help me. Having had a peek at the boards, I'm sure someone will!

First my background: I'm in my mid-30s. For at least the last 18 years I have considered myself to be an atheist. I was raised, rather loosely, Church of England and was briefly involved with an evangelical church when I was 17/18 due to pressure from my boyfriend at the time. I studied archaeology at university, and was particularly interested in the Iron Age. I've always been somewhat interested in mythology but never to the extent of gaining a significant level of knowledge.

On to my query:

 I'm currently writing a book. One of the characters started out with a vague back-story that was generically 'pagan'. Because I'm nothing if not thorough this wasn't good enough for me, so I started researching to make sure that what I wrote would be accurate - after all, getting things right is only respectful. Initially, I just wanted a plausible belief system for the character.

Well, my focus drifted, and I found myself looking more and more specifically at the Gaelic and Brythonic deities. As my family tree is predominantly Cornish, I've found myself particularly fascinated with trying to identify who my pre-Roman/Christian ancestors might have worshipped. Obviously, this is easier said than done due to the lack of significant evidence available!

So far, from looking at the internet, I've identified that Bride (by some name) is highly likely, but who else?

This has become quite pressing, as I feel I should be showing respect to -someone-, and Bride alone isn't the correct fit.

Where do I go from here?

Where do I go from here?

 
I've done a little research into deities of the West Country, as my father lives down there (and I always feel a bit overwhelmed with the numinous when I'm there - Glastonbury as a spiritual centre makes perfect sense). People have extrapolated from inscriptions (for which you'll need to explore the site that Gilbride linked to). The one that I've seen talked about in a few places is 'Tamara' as a goddess of the river Tamar. The river's name is likely Brythonic, and is found on one inscription, but that's as close to evidence as we get. Local folklore includes a legend of Tamara, but that could be fairly recent. There really isn't much evidence left of pre-Roman deities. I've seen people claim that Cornish deities may have had things in common with Welsh mythology, but that's pure speculation based on location and influenced by a modern Pagan idea of what Welsh mythology represents.

For the Brythonic side, you're talking about the Dumnonii tribe:

http://www.roman-britain.org/tribes/dumnonii.htm

Yes - that was the area of the Dumnonii tribe in which I have a special interest. I have never been able to track down anything I was confident with as being authentic ritual practice and  I've got a lot of research resources available. (I tend to call on Taran (Taranis) if I need to fend off the Evangelical Christians as he is a definite but unprovable possibility ( and there is a story behind that!)). More tangibly there is a temple complex believed to be dedicated to (Apollo) Cunomaglos just outside what we believe were the tribal boundaries so he might be worth some research.  

There is a more surviving information of the neighbouring Dobunni and Hwicce tribes. Stephen Yeates  has done some interesting work on their religious  practices.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribe-Witches-Religion-Dobunni-Hwicce/dp/1842173197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417634739&sr=8-1&keywords=tribe+of+the+witches

I personally believe that the practices of the Dumnonii would have been very similar.

Just remembered that Nodens  ( Nudd) is closely associated with St Nectans Glen in Cornwall

 
That's very interesting, as the Dindsenchas equates Nuada with Nechtan. Could you point me to a source?