Celtic Gods: The Celtic Goddess, Ana, Abundance / Wealth
Ana
A Celtic goddess, also known as Anna, Annan, Anu: Abundance, Wealth

This deity is known from the Cymric (Welsh) genealogies and from toponyms across the Celtic world. She may well have been the original Celtic earth goddess.

Synonyms: Anna, Annan, Anu
Cym, Brezh, Irish: Wealth, Abundance

Ana is an oddity in terms of Celtic deities in that only hints of her remain and she is often conflated with the goddess Dôn/Dannan. In Cymric mythology Ana only figures in the ancient genealogies. Genealogy 10 of Harleian MSS 3859 to be precise. Here Beli Fawr's wife is given as Anna, and purported to be the cousin of the Virgin Mary. This is where the Cymric confusion between Ana and Dôn originates.

In southern Brittany the cult of santez Anna (St Anne) is strongly-associated with pre-Christian religious sites and attests to the worship of an ancient goddess with a name similar to 'Ana'. A name whose etymology is unclear and may even be pre-Celtic though current interpretations suggest 'wealth' or 'abundance' as a translation based on the Irish form of Anu or Annan. The reconstructed proto-Celtic lexicon also gives the following possible derivation for the name: *anatī (soul,spirit) *ana- (breathe, remain) both suggesting an interpretation of 'engendering spirit' (in terms of giving life) so that the name Ana could be indicative of a deity type of the 'first mother' kind.

In Ireland the goddess has a relationship to a specific locale, namely the Dá Chích Anann (The Paps of Anu) two breast-shaped promontories east of Kilarney in County Kerry. The body of the woman suggested by the hills being the land itself which is why one interpretation of the meaning if Eireann the Irish for Ireland is 'the land of Ana'. Linguists have suggested that Annan is the genitive form of an n-stem noun, Anu. However, in the Lebor Gabála Érenn we encounter a figure called Anand, a daughter of Earnmhas who is said to be identical to both Danand (see Dôn) and Morrígu, which explains the common conflation of Anu/Ana with Dannan/Danu.

What we have here may be the fragmentary lore of an ancient earth goddess whose cult was certainly prevalent within the British Isles. It should be noted though that the name Ana is etymologically very closely related to the name of the goddess Tiana which contains the verbal form of Ana and is interpreted as meaning: 'The Abundant One', 'The Wealth Provider'.



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