Redirected from Cernunos
The word Cornu means "horned" in both modern French and in Latin, which was originally imposed upon them by the Romans. Cernunnos is a Roman name meaning "Horned One," probably the new Romanised name given by the Gauls to their very old horned god, in which case its use may have been widespread throughout Gaul after it became a Roman province.
Cernunos' portrayals are unusually consistent. His most distinctive attribute are his stag's horns, and he is usually portrayed as a mature man with long hair and a beard. He wears a torc, an ornate neck-ring used by the Celts to denote nobility. He often carries other torcs in his hands or hanging from his horns, as well as a purse filled with coins. He is usually portrayed seated and cross-legged, in the meditative or shamanic position.
Cave paintings in France from the Paleolithic show an upright stag; this may indicate that Cernunnos was worshipped in the Paleothic Era.
The Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn or Herne, ruler of the underworld and astral planes.
Cernunnos is nearly always portrayed with animals, in particular the stag[?]. He is also frequently associated with a unique beast that seems to belong only to him: a serpent with the horns of a ram. Less often he is associated with other beasts, including bulls, dogs and rats. Because of his frequent association with beasts he is often referred to as The Lord of the Animals. Because of his association with stags in particular (a particularly hunted beast) he is also known as The Lord of the Hunt.
In the modern Neo-Pagan movements, of which Wicca is the most notable, the worship of the Horned God has been revived. Whether or not these religious groups are actually surviving cults or modern reconstructions, the adherents generally follow the life-fertility-death cycle for Cernunnos, though his death is now usually set at Samhain, the Celtic Halloween Festival.
see also: Horned God