LUGH
Unlike most modern beliefs about the Celts they had very little interest in the sun and its solstices. The only representation of the sun in their pantheon was in the form of Lugh, the sun-warrior. He is also exceptional in that he was known throughout Europe, and his name turns up in places such as Lyons and Carlisle.
He was the many-skilled god, and when he came to the court of the Tuatha Dé Danaan, the home of the gods, he is told that he cannot gain entrance without his proving his mastery at some art. He claims he is master of them all, and eventually proves his skill at chess.
He also had one of the four major Celtic festivals named after him. Lugnasadh, on the 1st August. As possibly the most powerful of the gods, and representative of the sun, the nuclear symbol is most appropriate He wears it on his arm, mixed with the Celtic lion, itself often a sun symbol, on his skirt, and it occurs again on the chess board. Nuclear power is of course what the sun's energy is in itself, but is also man's use of energy, the exploitation of nature for his own purposes and power.
All images and text Copyright © 2003 Caroline Blackburn.