Badb. [I] A goddess of death and battles who is regarded as a triune deity: Badb, Nemain, and Macha meeting under the name the Morrigan. Badb's name signifies a crow or raven, which is a constant Celtic symbol of the war goddess. She was married to Net, who appears as an even more shadowy war god. In an account of the historical battle of Clontarf, A.D. 1014, it is said that Badb appeared shrieking over the heads of the warriors during the battle.

Badon. Battle of Mount Badon, dated by the Annale's Cambriae' to A.D. 516-518. The site of Arthur's twelfth great victory over the Anglo-Saxons in which 960 Saxon chieftains are said to have died. In the famous tale of the Mabinogion, Rhonabwy dreams of Arthur and his men gathered on the battlefield. Arthur's victory at Badon gave the Celts several decades of peace before the Anglo-Saxons pressed on with their conquest.

Balor of the Evil Eye. [I] A god of death and the most formidable of the Fomorii. His father was Buarainech. He had one eye, whose gaze was so malevolent that it destroyed whoever gazed upon it. The eyelid had to be levered up by servants. This is a fairly close description of Yspaddaden, the giant father of Olwen, with the exception that when his eyelid was levered up the eye did not destroy those on whom it gazed. As it was prophesied that Balor would be slain by his own grandson, he locked his only daughter, Ethlinn, in a crystal tower on Tory Island. Yspaddaden was not willing that his daughter should be married, either. In the case of Ethlinn, Cian, with the help of a druidess, Birog, managed to enter her tower and sleep with her; their child grew up to become Lugh Lamhfada, who fulfilled the prophecy by slaying Balor at the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh, taking out the giant's eye with a slingshot.

Ban. [W] King of Benoic. A foreign monarch who becomes an ally of Arthur. His brother is made into Bors of Gaul in Le' Mortet' d'Arthur.

Banba.[I] A triune goddess with Banba, Fotla, and Eire representing the sovranty and spirit of Ireland. She was the wife of Mac Cuill, son of Ogma. Her name has been used over the centuries as one of the symbols for "Mother Ireland."

Bard. A class of poets known throughout the ancient Celtic world. Bards, poets, and minstrels held a high position in Celtic society and were closely associated with the druids. Oiodorus Siculus observed: "They have also lyric poets whom they call bards. They sing to the accompaniment of instruments resembling lyres, sometimes a eulogy and sometimes a satire." The bards were a highly trained and professional group the repositories of Celtic history, legend, and folklore as well as poetry. They were under the patronage of chieftains and kings. Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 D.C.) remarks on the sophistication of Celtic eloquence and rhetoric. Poseidonius (ca. 135-50 D.C.), quoted by Athenaeus (ca. A.D. 200), records an incident that might well have come straight out of the Celtic mythological tales. A feast was given in Gaul by a chieftain named Louernios, whose name means "fox." A Celtic poet who arrived too late met Louernios and composed a song magnifying his greatness and lamenting his own late arrival. Louernios was very pleased and asked for a bag of gold and threw it to the poet, who ran beside his chariot. The poet picked it up and sang another song saying that the very tracks of Louernios' chariot on the earth gave gold and largesse to mankind.  But the bards were also powerful and in one myth, a satire composed by the bard Fafne, caused blotches to appear on the face of Meilge, the king. See also Filidh. Bardic schools flourished in historical Ireland and were finally suppressed in the seventeenth century.

Bardsey. [W] Bardsey Island-Ynys Enlli in Welsh-lies off the extreme western end of the Lleyn Peninsula, in Gwynedd. It is the island where Merlin, with nine attendants and the thirteen treasures of Britain, eventually goes and is held in a magical sleep for all time. See Myrddin. The island later became known as the "holy island of saints," for here the Celtic saint Dyfrig (dubricius), a major church leader of the second half of the fifth century, spent his last days, dying there on November 14, A.D. 612. His relics were removed from the island and placed in Llandaff in A.D. 1120. An interesting point is that medieval legends name Dyfrig as the arch-bishop who crowned Arthur as king.

Bean Sidhe. [I] Popularly known in English as "banshee." Literally, "woman of the hills," or, in modern usage, "women of the fairies." After the gods went underground and were transformed, in popular mind, to fairies, the banshee became a female fairy attached to a particular family; she warned of approaching death by giving an eerie wail.

Bebhionn. [I] A beautiful giantess, daughter of Treon of the Land of Maidens, who was promised to Aedh against her will and sought help from Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna. Aedh slew her.

Bebo. [I] Wife of Iubdan of the Faylinn, or Little People. She had an affair with the king of Ulster.

Becuma. [I] She dwelt in the Land of Promise and had an affair with Gaiar, son of Manannan Mac Lir. Because of this she was banished to the human world, where she persuaded Conn of the Hundred Battles to take her as his wife. She grew jealous of his son Art and tried to get him banished.

Bedwini. [W] Arthur's bishop, mentioned in the "Dream of Rhonabwy."

Bedwyr. [W] A warrior of Arthur's court who accompanies Culhwch in his search for Olwen and wounds the giant Ysbaddaden. He appears In the later forms of the Arthunan tales as Sir Bedivere.

Bel. See Belenus.

Belenus.Gaulish god cognate with Bel, Belinos, Beli, and Bile in Ireland and Britain. Caesar compared Belenus to Apollo and treated him as a solar god, dispenser of light, and a healer. The find at Trunholm shows him conveying a solar disc on his horse-drawn chariot. Numerous sanctuaries and places were named after him, and his image appeared on many Gaulish coins.  There are many places in Europe named after Belenus. In London we have the survival of Belinos'or Bile's Gate, which has come down to us as the famous Billingsgate. His name is also to be found in personal names such as that of one of the most notable Celtic kings of Britain before the Roman invasion-Cunobelinus-Cuno (Hound of) Belinos. Shakespeare has given him greater fame as Cymbeline. See alsoBeltaine.

Beli(W)Husband of Don,he is god of death, and alatter form of Belenus(above). He corresponds to Bile of Ireland. He is also father of Lludd and Llefelys. Often called Beli Mawr, he is claimed as an ancestor deity from who several royal lines of Wales claimed Decent

BeltaineA feast known in the Gaelic world(Ireland, Man, and Scotland). It is translated as "fires of Bel". One of the four major Celtic festivals falling on May eve and May1, it was also known as Cetshamhain. it was customary to observe the festival by lighting bonfires, hence Bel-tinne, fiores of Bel. This was the time when the celts offered praise to Bel,Belenus, or Bile, who was not only a god of death but of life as well, for he is sometimes represented as a solar deity and is regarded as having gained victory over the powers of darkness by bringing the people within sight of another harvest. On that day the fires of the household would be extinguished . At a given time the druids would rekindle the fires from torches lit by "the sacred fires of Bel". the rays of the sun, and the new flames symbolised a fresh start for everyone . Numbers of cattle from each herd would be drivenin ancient circles as a syblo of this purification . The festival was widely known, even surviving untill recently in Southern France. In Cornwall the may bonfires are still lit. Until the nineteenth centuary the Scottish Law Term starting in may was known as the Beltane Term. Significant events in Celtic myth happen in Beltane. It was then that Partholon came to Ireland. This pre-christian ceremony was claimed for christianity and merged with the feast of St John the Baptist.

Bendigeid Vran(W)seeBran the Blessed.

Bile(I)God of death who is cognate with Bel and Belenus. In some texts he is known as "Father of Gods and Men" and husband to Dana. In other texts he apears as the father of Milesius and significantly came from "Spain," a synonym for the Otherworld. Among his duties was to gather the souls and accompany them to the Otherworld.

Blathat(I)The name is cognate with the Welsh Blodeuwedd but their traditions are seperate. sometimes given as Blanid, she is daughter of Mend, king of Inis Fer Falga. Cu Roi, the king of Munster, carries her off to his fortress, which is constructed so that no one can find the entrance. Cuchulaine attempts to rescue her, and she helps him by emptying milk into a stream that runs through the fort. He is able to gain access and slays Cu Roi. Among the prisoners, however, is Fer Cherdne, Ctu Roi's bard. As the victorious procession winds its way along some cliffs, Fer Cherdne, in revenge for his master's death, grabs Blathnat by the waist and jumps over the cliffs with her, killing them both.