BELENUS

Belenus, the Baal of the Scripture, was identified with Mithras and with Apollo, the god of the sun. A forest in the neighborhood of Lausanne is still known as Sauvebelin, or the retreat or abiding place of Belenus, and traces of this name are to be found in many parts of England. The custom of kindling fires about midnight on the eve of the festival of St. John the Baptist, at the moment of the summer solstice, which was considered by the ancients a season of rejoicing and of divination, is a vestige of Druidism in honor of this deity.

It is a curious coincidence that the numerical value of the letters of the word Belenus, like those of Abrazas and Mithras, all representatives of the sun, amounts to 365, the exact number of the days in a solar year. But before ascribing great importance to this coincidence, it may be well to read what the mathematician Augustus De Morgan has said upon the subject of such comparisons in his Budget of Paraclozes (see Abrazas).