You might remember my entry about the Celtic god of wine and the vintners in the Mosel river valley, Sucellus (the good striker: the prefix “Su” meaning “good”, and the Celtic word “cellus/cellos” meaning “striker”). In Jakarta we have very talented stone masons. They usually work with soft white stones. Well, I showed them my picture of Sucellus (from Kinsheim) and they produced a replica. Unfortunately, I did not explain to them who Sucellus was. I did not explain to them how powerful he was and how he was loved by the Celts and how he was worshipped in the Southern and the Eastern parts of Gaul. – Traces of him are found from Geneva to Lausanne, from the Mosel river to places in Alsace and even in York in England. He was also part of Lusitanian mythology which was heavily influenced by it’s Celtic and Roman invaders.
My beardless Sucellus
So instead of a middle-aged man with a curly beard, I got back a handsome young Sucellus without these insignia of the Celtic forest god. Fortunately, the long-handled hammer (or mallet) was depicted rightly. He also holds grapes as in the original. The only un-bearded Sucellus in this world is now in my possession and I will put him up in my small winery on Two Hills vineyard to remind me of my Celtic heritage and all the many people before me who enjoyed growing grapes and making wines.
I try to imagine 10.000 years from now when to some archaeologists’ surprise, a statue of the Celtic god is found far from Europe in the rolling hills of Two Hills vineyard near Glenburn, Victoria. Then finally also Australia will be on the map of the Celtic god searchers of the universe.
The Man from Mosel River 
My dear Sucellus,
you may wonder where the bearded master is going to take you. Fellows on the olymp, or whereever you usually hang out, may have warned you that giant mice are hopping all over the place and all other aninals are poisonous anyway. But rest assured, you will be accomodated in a safe barn, only occasionally attacked by a school of young swallows, and you will be surrounded by some faithful followers of your trade. I shall come to visit you there and see to it that you are treaterd with all due respect.
Rainer
Fine way of telling, and nice post to get data concerning my
presentation focus, which i am going to convey in academy.
Dear Rainer,
I am an Italian archaeologist based in Philadelphia (PA-USA) and I am trying to reach you via this blog, hoping to be able to find a more direct contact for you soon.
The reason I am contacting you is: “Sucellus”. I am working on an article on this wine/beer God and I stumbled trough https://themanfrommoselriver.com! Therefore, I would like to ask you, if that is ok, few information about the way you got acquainted with Sucellus; the statue you had realized for you and the role the God covers in your vineyard. Also, I would like to ask your permission to send to my editor, should he like the article, a picture of your statue to be eventually published with the article.
Hoping to have been not of too much disturb,
Respectfully,
Enzo Pignoli (enzoeepignoli@gmail.com)