Celtic Gods: The Gaulish god, Moccus (Pig)

Moccus
A Gaulish Deity: Pig

Moccus is a Gaulish god known from a single inscription found at Langres, France where he is equated with Roman Mercury and at Crevola d'Ossola, Italy where he is equated with Tincus. Moccus is a porcine (pig-associated) deity and he may have been a psychopomp.



Synonyms:
Gaul: Pig

Moccus is a god known from an inscription found at Langres, Haute-Marne, France (CIL XIII 05676) where he was equated with Mercury and at Crevola d'Ossola, Piedmont, Italy (CIL V 6650) where he was equated with Tincus. The deity's name is derived from the reconstructed proto-Celtic element *mukku- (pig).

Though the boar is the divine Celtic animal par excellence the domesticated pig was also considered a sacred animal amongst the Celts. Pig bones and whole joints having been found in Celtic graves and medieval texts indicate that prok was of central important at sacral feasts. The Mabinogi of Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed and Math fab Mathonwy indicate a belief in the otherworldly origin of pigs and the legend that they came to ther realm of man from the land of Annwfn. Thus pigs might have been perceived as otherworldly beings linked with the lands of happiness and the lands of death. Which may explain why they were used as grave goods. The association of the pig with the otherworld survived to modern times in the figure of the Hwch ddu gwta (The tail-less black sow) who sought-out souls on Calan Gaeaf (All Hallows' Eve). Could Moccus therefore have been a psychopomp? This may never be known for certain, but it is an interesting possibility.



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