Who is Danu?
Danu may have been the name of the Mother Goddess of the Continental Celts who migrated to Ireland. Place name evidence suggests that the people who worshipped her may have ranged widely over Europe, and that her worship is quite ancient. (latin-danuvius; Hungary- Duna; German Donau; Welsh, Don) Other Goddesses named Danu are also found in Russia and India- in the latter, within the Rig-Veda texts, the name Danu, signifies “stream” and “the waters of heaven”. Some commentators suggest that the ‘d’ in Danu is a prosethic ‘d’ – ie d’Anu, meaning in Irish “Of” Anu (as in the Tuatha d’Anu-the tribes of Anu) Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, MacKillop. p128 In the Book of Leinster, with the coming of the Tuatha de Danaans or the Tuatha d’Anu, she is givein as the Mother of the Gods. (Lady Gregory, Irish Myths and Legends, The Coming of the Tuatha de Danaans.
