o
Lugus") show that a god Lugus was worshipped there. A Gaulish feast of
Lugus in August--the month of Lug's festival in Ireland--was perhaps
superseded by one in honour of Augustus. No dedication to Lugus has yet
been found, but images of and inscriptions to Mercury abound at
Lugudunum Convenarum.[316] As there were three Brigits, so there may
have been several forms of Lugus, and two dedications to the _Lugoves_
have been found in Spain and Switzerland, one of them inscribed by the
shoemakers of Uxama.[317] Thus the Lugoves may have been multiplied
forms of Lugus or _Lugovos_, "a hero," the meaning given to "Lug" by
O'Davoren.[318] Shoe-making was not one of the arts professed by Lug,
but Professor Rh[^y]s recalls the fact that the Welsh Lleu, whom he
equates with Lug, disguised himself as a shoemaker.[319] Lugus, besides
being a mighty hero, was a great Celtic culture-god, superior to all
other culture divinities.

The euhemerists assigned a definite date to Lug's death, but side by
side with this the memory of his divinity prevailed, and he appears as
the father and helper of Cuchulainn, who was possibly a rebirth of the
god.[320] His high position appears in the fact that the Gaulish
assembly at Lugudunum was held in his honour, like the festival of
Lugnasad in Ireland. Craftsmen brought their wares to sell at this
festival of the god of crafts, while it may also have been a harvest
festival.[321] Whether it was a strictly solar feast is doubtful, though
Professor Rh[^y]s and others insist that Lug is a sun-god. The name of
the Welsh Lleu, "light," is equated with Lug, and the same meaning
assigned to the latter.[322] This equation has been contested and is
doubtful, Lugus probably meaning "hero."[323] Still the sun-like traits
ascribed to Lug before Mag-tured suggest that he was a sun-god, and
solar gods elsewhere, e.g. the Polynesian Maui, are culture-gods as
well. But it should be remembered that Lug is not associated with the
true solar festivals of Beltane and Midsummer.

While our knowledge of the Tuatha De Danann is based upon a series of
mythic tales and other records, that of the gods of the continental
Celts, apart from a few notices in classical authors and elsewhere,
comes from inscriptions. But as far as can be judged, though the names
of the two groups seldom coincide, their functions must have been much
alike, and their origins certainly the same. The Tuatha De Danann were
nature divinities of grow