Lug is the supreme god of Celtic mythology, not only because he is at the top of the hierarchy but also because he is pan-Celtic:he is one of the rare deities to be found, according to our knowledge, among all Celtic peoples .
Summary
A pan-Celtic god
The importance of Lugus in Gaul is particularly attested by a number of place names, the best known of which is Lugdunum ("dunon" in Gaulish, which means hostess and hill - see article dun), the city of Lyon and also that of Laon.
His equivalent in Wales is called Llew Llaw Gyffes (“handed”), he appears in literature in the stories of the “Mabinogion”.
It is in the Irish sources that it is most mentioned, in particular in the "Cath Maighe Tuireadh" (the "Battle of Mag Tured"). Nowadays, Lug is present in the feast of August 1:Lugnasad (Lûnasa in modern spelling).
The Tuatha Dé Danann
According to Irish sources, divine society is structured in the same way as human society, and the organization of the Tuatha Dé Danann (People of the tribe of Dana) is hierarchized into three functional classes:
* the priestly function whose role covers the Sacred, embodied by Dagda the god-druid
* the warrior function which is responsible in particular for sovereignty, represented by Ogme the warrior god and Nuada the god -roi
* the artisan function that must produce for the whole community, figured by Goibniu, Credne and Luchta
This schema reflects the tripartite ideology of the Indo-Europeans as studied by Georges Dumézil. Lug does not belong to any particular class, but to all of them, he is above because he can assume all the functions. One of his nicknames is Samildanach, the "polytechnician" in the sense that he masters all the arts, all the sciences.
Genesis and initiation
Lug is the son of Cian and Eithne, he is also related to the Fomorians by his maternal grandfather Balor, whom he kills with his slingshot, in accordance with a prophecy.
While he presents himself at the residence of King Nuada, on the occasion of a party, the Doorman refuses him access. Lug affirms that he can be useful, he is answered in the negative; thus he is successively carpenter, blacksmith, cupbearer, warrior, magician. It is as a chess player that he is accepted, and plays a game with the king he defeats. This part is purely symbolic since it is an intellectual contest at the end of which, Lug takes the power of the world.
We find him fighting with his son Cúchulainn, during Queen Medb's invasion of Ulster.
The polytechnician with multiple functions
Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars compares him to Mercury. His very name, in connection with light, makes him a solar god.
Another of his many nicknames is "lamfada" which means "long-armed", which confirms the universality of his powers. He masters creation, exchanges, thought and beauty, he is a druid, a warrior and an artisan who can also be vindictive and obscure.
He has a magic spear, a deadly weapon with every blow but which is also used for royal dubbing; it is inseparable from the Cauldron of Dagda filled with blood, it must be immersed in it to prevent it from destroying everything around it; he also wields a fearsome slingshot.
For the arts, he has a harp that plays music on its own, but which he knows how to use admirably:it can put you to sleep, make you cry or laugh.
Posterity
Note:Lug's omnipotence has led some to say that Druidism was a monotheistic religion, with all other gods merely its avatars. This thesis is debatable and unverifiable. It is also incompatible with the work of comparative mythology on the domain of Indo-European gods, whose structures of polytheistic pantheons are relatively similar.