Belenos/Belenus [God of the Week]

[Fiamma]

In Celtic mythology, Belenus (also Belinus, Belenos, Belinos, Belinu, Bellinus, Belus, Bel) was a deity worshipped in Gaul, Britain and Celtic areas of Italy, Austria and northern Spain. He had shrines from Aquileia on the Adriatic to Inveresk in Scotland. His name means "shining one" or "henbane god" and he is associated with heat and healing. He may be the same deity as Belatu-Cadros. In the Roman period he was identified with Apollo. His consort was Belisama.

-from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belenus





Belenos
Belenos: BEL-en-ohs
Gaulish: Bright, Shining
Also: Beli/Beli Mawr, Belinus.
beli: shining; Carey says it may be connected to belisa "henbane"
The Gaulish (continental Celtic) god of light, identified with Apollo via interpretatio Romana (http://www.maryjones.us/jce/interpretatioromana.html).
It is conjectured that he is the patron of Beltane (http://www.maryjones.us/jce/beltane.html) (the First of May), and the god refered to by Julius Caesar as Apollo. The identification with Beltane is likely based on two texts: Cormac's Glossary (http://www.maryjones.us/jce/cormac3.html), which says that Beltane is named for Bel, and that cattle were driven through two bonfires to purify them; the same idea is echoed in Tochmarch Emire (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G301021/)...


-from http://www.maryjones.us/jce/belenos.html


Belenus
Bel, Belenos, Belinos, Belinu, Bellinus, Belus
[Gaulish, bright (?)]. Continental Celtic god whose cult stretched from the Italian peninsula to the British Isles (http://www.answers.com/topic/british-isles). A principal shrine was at Aquileia (http://www.answers.com/topic/aquileia) on the Adriatic, and his worship was also associated with health giving waters such as those at Aquae Borvonis (Bourbon-les-Bains, north-east France). His worship was also known in Aquitaine and what is now Austria. Several ancient commentators linked him with Apollo (http://www.answers.com/topic/apollo-443), and some modern commentators classify him only as an aspect of Apollo; a shrine of Belenus at Inveresk (http://www.answers.com/topic/inveresk), Scotland, is inscribed ‘Apollini Granno’. The 19th-century attempt to link Belenus, under the spelling Bel, with the Phoenician Baal is now rejected. A tribal leader of pre-Roman Britain styled himself Cunobelinus or ‘Hound of Belenus’. Belenus apparently gives his name to Beli (http://www.answers.com/topic/beli-5) Mawr (http://www.answers.com/topic/mawr-1), a Welsh ancestor-deity, and may give his name to the fountain of Bérenton (formerly Belenton) at Brocéliande (http://www.answers.com/topic/broc-liande-1) in Brittany. The celebrations for the calendar feast of Beltaine (http://www.answers.com/topic/beltaine-1) may or may not derive from the veneration of Belenus. In Geoffrey of Monmouth (http://www.answers.com/topic/geoffrey-of-monmouth) (1136), Belenus is reduced to a mere mortal conqueror. Fanciful folk etymology links Belenus with Billingsgate, near the Thames in London. See. J. Gourvest, ‘Le Culte de Belenos en Provence occidentale et (http://www.answers.com/topic/et-suffix) en Gaule’, Ogam, 6 (1954), 257–62. See also BORVO (http://www.answers.com/topic/borvo).



-from http://www.answers.com/topic/belenus




http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/celtic/articles.html
http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/gallic.html#Belenus
http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_religions/Europe/belenus.htm
http://www.kernunnos.com/deities/belenus.html