'Celtic polytheism' refers to the religious
beliefs and
practices of ancient
Celts until the
Christianization of Celtic-speaking lands. At various times those lands included
Gaul,
Britain,
Ireland,
Celtiberia, certain territories on the
Danube, and
Galatia in
Asia Minor. Other terms, such as 'Druidism' or 'Celtic paganism', are also sometimes used with a similar meaning.
Celtic religious practices bear the marks of Romanization in the wake of the Roman conquest of
Gaul (
58–
51 BC) and
Roman Britain (AD
43), although the depth and significance of Romanization is a subject of scholarly disagreement.
Sources
Four main types of source provide information on Celtic polytheism: the minted
coins of Gaul, Raetia, Noricum and Britain; the sculptures, monuments and inscriptions associated with the Celts of
continental Europe and of Roman Britain;
Greek and
Roman literature; and the insular literatures of
Celtic mythology that have survived in writing from mediaeval times. All pose problems of interpretation. The pre-Roman coins of the
1st century BC and early 1st century AD bear few relevant inscriptions, and their iconography derives partly from standardized Hellenistic numismatic prototypes and partly presents highly local emblems. Most of the monuments, and their accompanying inscriptions, belong to the
Roman period and reflect a considerable degree of
syncretism between Celtic and
Roman gods; even where figures and motifs appear to derive from pre-Roman tradition, they are difficult to interpret in the absence of a preserved literature on mythology.
Only after the lapse of many centuries—beginning in the
7th century in
Ireland, even later in
Wales—were Celtic mythological traditions consigned to writing, but by then Ireland and Wales had been Christianized and the scribes and redactors were monastic scholars. The resulting literature is abundant and varied, but it is much removed in both time and location from its epigraphic and iconographic correlatives on the Continent and inevitably reflects the redactors' selectivity and something of their
Christian learning. There are nevertheless many points of agreement between the insular literatures and the continental evidence. This is particularly notable in the case of the
Classical commentators from
Poseidonius (c. 135–c. 51 BC) onward who recorded their own or others' observations on the Celts.
Syncretism with other forms of polytheism
The ''
locus classicus'' for the
Celtic gods of
Gaul is the passage in
Julius Caesar's ''
Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (52–51 BC; ''
The Gallic War'') in which he names five of them together with their functions.
Mercury was the most honoured of all the gods and many images of him were to be found. Mercury was regarded as the inventor of all the arts, the patron of travellers and of merchants, and the most powerful god in matters of commerce and gain. After him the
Gauls honoured
Apollo,
Mars,
Jupiter, and
Minerva. Of these gods they held almost the same opinions as other peoples did:
Apollo drove away diseases,
Minerva promoted handicrafts, Jupiter ruled the heavens, and Mars controlled wars.
[1]
In
characteristic Roman fashion, Caesar does not refer to these figures by their native names but by the names of the Roman gods with which he equated them, a procedure that greatly complicates the task of identifying his Gaulish deities with their counterparts in the insular literatures. He also presents a neat schematic equation of god and function that is quite foreign to the vernacular literary testimony. Yet, given its limitations, his brief catalog is a valuable witness.
The gods named by Caesar are well-attested in the later epigraphic record of Gaul and Britain. Not infrequently, their names are coupled with native Celtic theonyms and epithets, such as Mercury
Visucius,
Lenus Mars, Jupiter
Poeninus, or
Sulis Minerva. Unsyncretized theonyms are also widespread, particularly among goddesses such as
Sulevia,
Sirona,
Rosmerta, and
Epona. In all, several hundred names containing a Celtic element are attested in Gaul. The majority occur only once, which has led some scholars to conclude that the Celtic gods and their cults were local and tribal rather than national. Supporters of this view cite
Lucan's mention of a god
Teutates, which they interpret as "god of the tribe" (it is thought that ''teuta-'' meant "tribe" in Celtic).
[2] The multiplicity of deity names may also be explained otherwise—many, for example, may be simply epithets applied to major deities by widely extended cults.
Cosmology and eschatology
Though there are records of deity names, and archaeological remains including altars and temples, little is known about the specific
religious beliefs of the Celts of Gaul. Their burial practices, which included burying food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead, suggest a belief in
life after death.
[3] The
druids, the early Celtic priesthood, were said by
Caesar to have taught the doctrine of
transmigration of souls along with astronomy and the nature and power of the gods.
[4]
The Irish believed in an
Otherworld, which they described sometimes as underground, such as in the ''
Sídhe'' mounds, and sometimes located on islands in the Western Sea. The Otherworld was variously called ''Tír na mBeo'' ('the Land of the Living'), ''Mag Mell'' ('Delightful Plain'), and ''
Tír na nÓg'' ('Land of the Young'), among other names. It was believed to be a country where there was no sickness, old age, or death, where happiness lasted forever, and a hundred years was as one day. It was probably similar to the
Elysium of the
Greek mythology and both may have a shared origin in ancient
Proto-Indo-European religion. In Irish ''
Immrama'' ('voyage') tales, a beautiful young woman often approaches the hero and sings to him of this happy land. Sometimes she offers him an
apple, or the promise of her love in exchange for his assistance in battle. He follows her, and they journey over the sea together and are seen no more. Their journey may take place in a boat of glass, in a chariot or on horseback (usually upon a white horse, as in the case of the goddess
Niamh of the Golden Hair). Sometimes the hero returns after what he believes is a short time, only to find that all his companions are dead and he has actually been away for hundreds of years. Sometimes the hero sets out on a quest, and a magic mist descends upon him. He may find himself before an unusual palace and enter to find a warrior or a beautiful woman who makes him welcome. The woman may be the goddess
Fand, the warrior may be
Manannán mac Lir or
Lugh, and after strange adventures the hero may return successfully. However, even in cases where the mortal manages to return to his own time and place, he is forever changed by his contact with the Otherworld.
[5]
This conception of the Otherworld is also preserved in the Welsh story of '
Branwen, daughter of
Llyr', which ends with the survivors of the great battle feasting in the presence of the severed head of
Bran the Blessed, having forgotten all their suffering and sorrow, and having become unaware of the passage of time.
[6] In Irish lore,
Donn, a god of the dead, reigned over ''Tech Duinn'' ('The House of Donn'), which was seen as existing on or under
Bull Island, located off the Beare Peninsula in the Southwest of Ireland. It was believed that the newly-dead journeyed to ''Tech Duinn'', either to remain there forever, or perhaps as a starting-point on their journey to the
Blessed Isles across the Western Sea.
[7] A
Welsh corollary to ''Tech Duinn'' is ''
Annwfn'', ruled by the Otherworld kings
Arawn and
Gwyn ap Nudd.
[8]
Insular Celts swore their oaths by their personal or tribal gods, and the land, sea and sky; as in, 'I swear by the gods by whom my people swear' and 'If I break my oath, may the land open to swallow me, the sea rise to drown me, and the sky fall upon me.'
[9] Or, in more detail, as sworn by the King of
Ulster,
Conchobar in the
Ulster Cycle tale, ''
Táin Bó Cúailnge'' ('The Cattle Raid of Cooley'):
Worship
According to
Poseidonius and later classical authors Gaulish religion and culture were the concern of three professional classes—the
druids, the
bards, and the ''
vates''. This threefold hierarchy had its reflection among the two main branches of Celts in Ireland and Wales, but is best represented in early Irish tradition with its ''draoithe'' (druids), ''
filidh'' (visionary poets), and ''Faidh'' (seers). However these categories are not always fixed, and may be named or divided differently in different primary sources.
Classical sources claimed that the Celts had no temples (before the Gallo-Roman period) and that their ceremonies took place in forest sanctuaries. However, archaeologist have discovered a large number of temple sites excavated throughout the Celtic world, primarily in Gaul. In the Gallo-Roman period, more permanent stone temples were erected, and many of them have been discovered by archaeologists in Britain as well as in Gaul. Indeed, a distinct type of Celto-Roman temple called a ''fanum'' also was developed. This was distinguished from a common
Roman shrine by having an ambulatory on all four sides of the central
cella.
Celtic religious practice was probably
sacrificial in its interactions with the gods. Roman writers stated that the
Celts practiced human sacrifice in Gaul:
Cicero, Julius Caesar,
Suetonius, and
Lucan all refer to it, and
Pliny the Elder says that it occurred in Britain, too. It was forbidden under
Tiberius and
Claudius. However there is also the possibility that these claims may have been false, and used as a sort of propaganda to justify the Roman conquest of these territories. There are only very few recorded archaeological discoveries which preserve evidence of
human sacrifice and thus most contemporary historians tend to regard human sacrifice as rare within Celtic cultures. There is some
circumstantial evidence that human sacrifice was known in Ireland and was later forbidden by
St. Patrick, a claim which has also been disputed.
The early Celts considered some trees to be sacred. The importance of trees in Celtic religion is shown by the fact that the very name of the
Eburonian tribe contains a reference to the
yew tree, and that names like
Mac Cuilinn (son of holly) and
Mac Ibar (son of yew) appear in Irish myths. In Ireland, wisdom was symbolized by the salmon who feed on the hazelnuts from the trees that surround the well of wisdom (''Tobar Segais'').
There was also a
warrior cult that centered on the severed heads of their enemies. The Celts provided their dead with weapons and other accoutrements, which indicates that they most likely believed in some form of an afterlife.
Religious vocations or castes
Druids
Main articles: Druid
A
Druid was a member of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest known records of the Druids come from the
3rd century BC. Some scholars have suggested that the Druids were the Celtic counterparts of the Brahmans of India.
Bards and ''filid''
Main articles: Fili,
Bard
In Ireland the ''filid'' were visionary poets, associated with lorekeeping, versecraft, and the memorization of vast numbers of poems. They were also magicians, as Irish magic is intrinsically connected to poetry, and the
satire of a gifted poet was a serious
curse upon the one being satirized. To run afoul of a poet was a dangerous thing indeed to a people who valued reputation and honor more than life itself.
In Ireland a "bard" was considered a lesser grade of poet than a ''fili'' - more of a minstrel and rote reciter than an inspired artist with magical powers. However in
Wales ''bardd'' was the word for their visionary poets, and used in the same manner ''fili'' was in Ireland and Scotland.
The Celtic poets, of whatever grade, were composers of eulogy and satire, and a chief duty was that of composing and reciting verses on heroes and their deeds, and memorizing the genealogies of their patrons. It was essential to their livelihood that they increase the fame of their patrons, via tales, poems and songs. As early as the 1st century AD, the Latin author Lucan referred to "bards" as the national poets or minstrels of Gaul and Britain. In Gaul the institution gradually disappeared, whereas in Ireland and Wales it survived. The Irish bard through chanting preserved a tradition of poetic eulogy. In Wales, where the word ''bardd'' has always been used for poet, the bardic order was codified into distinct grades in the
10th century. Despite a decline of the order toward the end of the European
Middle Ages, the Welsh tradition has persisted and is celebrated in the annual
eisteddfod, a national assembly of poets and musicians.
Festivals
Insular sources provide important information about Celtic
religious festivals. In Ireland the year was divided into two periods of six months by the feasts of
Beltane (
May 1) and
Samhain (Samain;
November 1), and each of these periods was equally divided by the feasts of
Imbolc (
February 1), and
Lughnasadh (
August 1). Samhain seems originally to have meant "summer," but by the early Irish period it had come to mark summer's end. Beltine is also called Cetsamain ("First Samhain"). Imbolc has been compared by the French scholar
Joseph Vendryes to the Roman lustrations and apparently was a feast of purification for the farmers. Beltane ("Bright Fire") was the festival of the beginning of summer, and there is a tradition that on that day the people drove their cattle between two fires as a protection against disease. Lughnasadh was the feast of the god Lugh and a celebration of the
first fruits or early harvest.
The
Coligny calendar has sometimes been looked to for information regarding the Gaulish year including
holy days.
Beltane
Main articles: Beltane
Beltane was a festival held on the first day of May in Ireland and Scotland, celebrating the beginning of summer and open pasturing. In early Irish lore a number of significant events took place on Beltane, which long remained the focus of folk traditions and tales in Ireland, Scotland, and
the Isle of Man. Like Samhain, Beltane was seen as a time when the spirit realm is especially close at hand.
Samhain
Main articles: Samhain
The beginning of the month of
Samhain (
Old Irish ''samain''), was one of the most important calendar festivals of the Celtic year. At "the three nights of Samhain", held around the beginning of November, the world of the gods and spirits was believed to be made visible to humans. The deities and spirits may play tricks on their mortal worshipers, and it was a time filled with supernatural episodes. Samhain was traditionally a time of sacrifice, whether in offering to the deities or due to the need to slaughter any livestock that it would be impossible to feed for the entire winter. Samhain was an important precursor to the later festival of
Halloween, as it was a time for the Celts to honour the dead, the spirits and deities, and to face the realities and fears of the coming winter.
Cults within Celtic polytheism
Cult of Lug/Mercury
Main articles: Lugus,
Lugh,
Lleu
According to Caesar the god most honoured by the Gauls was ‘
Mercury’, and this is confirmed by numerous images and inscriptions. Mercury's name is often coupled with Celtic epithets, particularly in eastern and central Gaul; the commonest such names include
Visucius,
Cissonius, and
Gebrinius.
[10] Another name,
Lugus, is inferred from the recurrent
place-name ''Lugdunon'' ('the fort of Lugus') from which the modern
Lyon,
Laon, and
Loudun in
France and
Leiden in
The Netherlands derive their names; a similar element can be found in
Carlisle (formerly Castra Luguvallium) and
Legnica in Poland. The Irish and Welsh cognates of Lugus are
Lugh and
Lleu, respectively, and certain traditions concerning these figures mesh neatly with those of the Gaulish god. Caesar's description of the latter as "the inventor of all the arts" might almost have been a paraphrase of Lugh's conventional epithet ''samildánach'' ("possessed of many talents"), while Lleu is addressed as "master of the twenty crafts" in the ''
Mabinogi''.
[6] An episode in the Irish tale of the
Battle of Magh Tuiredh is a dramatic exposition of Lugh's claim to be master of all the arts and crafts.
[12] Inscriptions in Spain and Switzerland, one of them from a guild of shoemakers, are dedicated to
Lugoves, widely interpreted as a plural of Lugus perhaps referring to the god conceived in triple form.
The Gaulish Mercury often seems to function as a god of sovereignty. Gaulish depictions of Mercury sometimes show him bearded and/or with wings or horns emerging directly from his head, rather than from a winged hat. Both these characteristics are unusual for the classical god. More conventionally, the Gaulish Mercury is usually shown accompanied by a ram and/or a rooster, and carrying a
caduceus; his depiction at times is very classical.
Lugh is said to have instituted the festival of
Lughnasadh, celebrated on
1 August, in commemoration of his foster-mother
Tailtiu.
[13]
In Gaulish monuments and inscriptions, Mercury is very often accompanied by
Rosmerta, whom
Miranda Green interprets to be a goddess of fertility and prosperity. Green also notices that the Celtic Mercury frequently accompanies the
Deae Matres (see below).
[14]
Cult of Toutatis/Mars
Teutates, also spelled Toutatis (Celtic: "god of the tribe"), was one of three Celtic gods mentioned by the Roman poet
Lucan in the
1st century,
[15] the other two being
Esus ("lord") and
Taranis ("thunderer"). According to later commentators, victims sacrificed to Teutates were killed by being plunged headfirst into a vat filled with an unspecified liquid. Present-day scholars frequently speak of ‘the ''toutates''’ as plural, referring respectively to the patrons of the several tribes.
Of two later commentators on Lucan's text, one identifies Teutates with
Mercury, the other with
Mars. He is also known from dedications in Britain, where his name was written Toutatis.
Paul-Marie Duval, who considers the Gaulish Mars a syncretism with the Celtic ''toutates'', notes that:
Cult of Jupiter/Taranis
Main articles: Taranis
The Gaulish
Jupiter is often depicted with a thunderbolt in one hand and a distinctive wheel in the other. Scholars frequently identify this wheel/sky god with
Taranis, who is mentioned by
Lucan. The name Taranis may be cognate with those of
Taran, a minor figure in
Welsh mythology, and
Turenn, the father of the '
three gods of Dana' in
Irish mythology.
Healing deities
Main articles: Airmed,
Belenus,
Borvo,
Brighid,
Grannus,
Healing deities are known from many parts of the Celtic world; they frequently have associations with
thermal springs, healing wells,
herbalism and light.
Brighid, the triple goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft is perhaps the most well-known of the Insular Celtic deities of healing. She is associated with many healing springs and
wells. A lesser-known Irish healing goddess is
Airmed, also associated with a healing well and with the healing art of herbalism.
In Romano-Celtic tradition
Belenus (possibly from Celtic: ''
★ belen-'' ‘bright’, though other etymologies have been convincingly proposed
[16]) is found chiefly in
southern France and
northern Italy.
Apollo Grannus, though concentrated in central and eastern Gaul, also “occurs associated with medicinal waters in Brittany [...] and far away in the Danube Basin”.
Grannus's companion is frequently the goddess
Sirona. Another important Celtic deity of healing is
Bormo/
Borvo, particularly associated with thermal springs such as
Bourbonne-les-Bains and
Bourbon-Lancy. Such hot springs were (and often still are) believed to have therapeutic value. Green interprets the name Borvo to mean “seething, bubbling or boiling spring water”.
Goddesses of sacred waters
Main articles: Sulis,
Damona,
Sequana
In
Ireland, there are numerous holy wells dedicated to the goddess
Brighid. There are dedications to ‘
Minerva’ in Britain and throughout the Celtic areas of the Continent. At
Bath Minerva was identified with the goddess
Sulis, whose cult there centred on the thermal springs.
Other goddesses were also associated with sacred springs, such as
Icovellauna among the
Treveri and
Coventina at
Carrawburgh.
Damona and
Bormana also serve this function in companionship with the spring-god Borvo (see above).
A number of goddesses were deified rivers, notably
Boann (of the
Boyne),
Sequana (the deified
Seine),
Matrona (the deified
Marne),
Souconna (the deified
Saône) and perhaps
Belisama (perhaps the deified
Ribble).
While the most well-known deity of the sea is the god
Manannán, possible early Irish sea deities include
Fand, her sister
Lí Ban, and the mother-goddess of the
Fomorians,
Domnu.
The god of strength and eloquence
Main articles: Ogmios
A club-wielding god identified as
Ogmios is readily observed in Gaulish iconography.
In Gaul, he was identified with the Roman Hercules. He was portrayed as an old man with swarthy skin and armed with a bow and club. He was also a god of eloquence, and in that aspect he was represented as drawing along a company of men whose ears were chained to his tongue.
Ogmios' Irish equivalent was
Ogma, who was impressively portrayed as a swarthy man whose battle ardour was so great that he had to be controlled by chains held by other warriors until the right moment.
Ogham script, an Irish
writing system dating from the
4th century AD, was said to have been invented by him.
The god with the hammer
Main articles: Sucellus
Sucellos, the 'good striker' is usually portrayed as a
middle-aged bearded man, with a long-handled
hammer, or perhaps a beer
barrel suspended from a pole. His companion,
Nantosuelta, is sometimes depicted alongside him. When together, they are accompanied by symbols associated with prosperity and domesticity. This figure is often identified with
Silvanus, worshipped in southern Gaul under similar attributes;
Dis Pater, from whom, according to Caesar, all the Gauls believed themselves to be descended; and the Irish
Dagda, the 'good god', who possessed a caldron that was never empty and a huge club.
Mother goddesses
Main articles: Matronae
Mother goddesses are a recurrent feature in Celtic religions. The epigraphic record reveals many dedications to the Matres or Matronae, which are particularly prolific around
Cologne in the
Rhineland.
Iconographically, Celtic mothers may appear singly or, quite often,
triply; they usually hold fruit or ''cornucopiae'' or '';
they may also be full-breasted (or many-breasted) figures nursing infants.
Welsh and Irish tradition preserve a number of mother figures such as the Welsh
Dôn,
Rhiannon (‘great queen’) and
Modron (from Matrona, ‘great mother’), and the Irish
Danu,
Boand,
Macha and
Ernmas. However, all of these goddesses fulfill many roles in the mythology and symbolism of the Celts, and cannot be limited only to motherhood. In many of their tales, their having children is only mentioned in passing, and is not a central facet of their identity. "Mother" Goddesses may also be Goddesses of warfare and slaughter, or of healing and smithcraft.
Mother goddesses were at times symbols of sovereignty, creativity, birth, fertility, sexual union and nurturing. At other times they could be seen as punishers and destroyers: their offspring may be helpful or dangerous to the community, and the circumstances of their birth may lead to curses,
geasa or hardship, such as in the case of Macha's curse of the Ulstermen or Rhiannon's possible devouring of her child and subsequent punishment.
The horned god
Main articles: Cernunnos
A recurrent figure in Gaulish iconography is a cross-legged deity with horns or antlers, sometimes surrounded by animals, often wearing or holding a
torque. The name usually applied to him, Cernunnos, is attested only a few times, on a relief at
Notre Dame de Paris (currently reading ERNUNNOS, but an early sketch shows it as having read CERNUNNOS in the 18th century), an inscription from
Montagnac (αλλετ[ει]υος καρνονου αλ[ι]σο[ντ]εας, "Alleteinos [dedicated this] to Karnonos of Alisontia"
[17]), and a pair of identical inscriptions from
Seinsel-Rëlent ("Deo Ceruninco"
[18]). Figured representations of this god, however, are widespread; the earliest known was found at
Val Camonica in northern Italy, while the most famous is plate A of the
Gundestrup Cauldron, a 1st-century-BC vessel found in Denmark. On the Gundestrup Cauldron and sometimes elsewhere, Cernunnos is accompanied by a ram-headed serpent. At Reims, he is depicted with a
cornucopia overflowing with grains or coins.
The divine bull
Main articles: Tarvos Trigaranus
Another prominent
zoomorphic deity type is the divine bull.
Tarvos Trigaranus ("bull with three cranes") is pictured on reliefs from the cathedral at
Trier,
Germany, and at
Notre-Dame de
Paris. In
Irish literature, the
Donn Cuailnge ("Brown Bull of Cooley") plays a central role in the epic ''
Táin Bó Cuailnge'' ("The
Cattle-Raid of Cooley").
The horse goddess
Main articles: Epona,
Macha,
Rhiannon
The horse, an instrument of
Indo-European expansion, plays a part in all the mythologies of the various Celtic cultures. The cult of the Gaulish horse goddess
Epona was widespread. Adopted by the Roman cavalry, it spread throughout much of Europe, even to Rome itself. She seems to be the embodiment of "horse power" or horsemanship, which was likely perceived as a power vital for the success and protection of the tribe. She has insular analogues in the Welsh
Rhiannon and in the Irish
Édaín Echraidhe (echraidhe, "horse riding") and
Macha, who outran the fastest steeds.
The Welsh horse goddess Rhiannon is best known from The
Mabinogion, a collection of
medieval Welsh tales, in which she makes her first appearance on a pale, mysterious steed and meets King
Pwyll, whom she later marries. She was accused of killing and devouring her infant son, and in punishment she was forced to act as a horse and to carry visitors to the
royal court. According to another story, she was made to wear the collars of asses about her neck in the manner of a beast.
The Irish horse goddess
Macha, perhaps a threefold goddess herself, is associated with battle and sovereignty. Though a goddess in her own right, she is also considered to be part of the triple goddess of battle and slaughter, the
Morrígan. Other faces of the Morrígan were
Badhbh Catha and
Nemain.
Divine couples
One notable feature of Gaulish and Romano-Celtic sculpture is the frequent appearance of male and female deities in pairs, such as ‘Mercury’ and
Rosmerta,
Sucellos and
Nantosuelta,
Apollo Grannus and
Sirona,
Borvo and
Damona, or
Mars Loucetius and
Nemetona.
The ram-headed snake
A distinctive ram-headed snake accompanies Gaulish gods in a number of representations, including
the horned god from the
Gundestrup cauldron, Mercury, and Mars.
Esus
Main articles: Esus
Esus appears in two monumental statues as an axeman cutting branches from
trees.
Deities
This table shows some of the Celtic and Romano-Celtic
gods and
goddesses mentioned above, in Romanized form as well as ancient Gaulish or British names as well as those of the
Tuatha Dé Danann and characters from the ''
Mabinogion''. They are arranged so as to suggest some linguistic or functional associations among the ancient gods and literary figures; needless to say, all such associations are subject to continual scholarly revision and disagreement. In particular, it has been noted by scholars such as Sjoestedt that it is inappropriate to try to fit Insular Celtic deities into a Roman format as such attempts seriously distort the Insular deities.
The effect of Christianity
The conversion to
Christianity inevitably had a profound effect on this socio-religious system from the
5th century onward, though its character can only be extrapolated from documents of considerably later date. By the early 7th century the church had succeeded in relegating Irish druids to ignominious irrelevancy, while the ''
filidh,'' masters of traditional learning, operated in easy harmony with their clerical counterparts, contriving at the same time to retain a considerable part of their pre-Christian tradition,
social status, and privilege. But virtually all the vast corpus of early
vernacular literature that has survived was written down in monastic
scriptoria, and it is part of the task of modern scholarship to identify the relative roles of traditional continuity and ecclesiastical innovation as reflected in the written texts.
Cormac's Glossary (c. 900) recounts that St. Patrick banished those
mantic rites of the ''filidh'' that involved offerings to "demons", and it seems probable that the church took particular pains to stamp out
animal sacrifice and other rituals repugnant to Christian teaching. What survived of ancient ritual practice tended to be related to ''filidhecht'', the traditional repertoire of the ''filidh'', or to the central institution of sacral kingship. A good example is the pervasive and persistent concept of the
hierogamy (sacred marriage) of the king with the goddess of sovereignty: the sexual union, or ''
banais ríghi'' ("wedding of kingship"), which constituted the core of the royal inauguration seems to have been purged from the ritual at an early date through ecclesiastical influence, but it remains at least implicit, and often quite explicit, for many centuries in the literary tradition.
Nagy has noted the Gaelic
oral tradition has been remarkably conservative. The fact that we have tales in existence which were still being told in the 19th century in almost exactly the same form as they exist in ancient manuscripts leads to the strong probability that much of what the monks recorded was considerably older. Though the Christian interpolations in some of these tales are very obvious, many of them read like afterthoughts or footnotes to the main body of the tales, which most likely preserve traditions far older than the manuscripts themselves.
Mythology based on (though, not identical to) the pre-Christian religion is still common place knowledge in Celtic-speaking cultures. Various rituals involving acts of pilgrimage to sites such as hills and
sacred wells which are believed to have curative or otherwise beneficial properties are still performed. Based on evidence from the European continent, various figures which are still known in folklore in the
Celtic countries up to today, or who take part in post-Christian mythology, are known to have also been worshipped in those areas that did not have records before Christianity.
Revival
Various groups claim association with Celtic polytheism. These groups range from the
Reconstructionists, who work to practice ancient Celtic religion with as much accuracy as possible; to
new age, eclectic groups who take some of their inspiration from Celtic mythology but place little significance on any sort of historical precedent.
Celtic Reconstructionism
Main articles: Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism
Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism is an effort to reconstruct, in a modern Celtic cultural context, Celtic polytheistic practices from surviving written, archaeological and cultural examples of Celtic polytheism.
Neo-Druidism and Wicca
Modern eclectic religions such as
Wicca and
Neo-druidism place little emphasis on historical basis or reconstruction, instead blending many outside influences into a modern religion that draws little influence from, or resemblance to, historical Celtic polytheism outside of borrowed imagery or terminology.
See also
References
1. C. Julius Caesar (52–51 BC). ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''.
2. Paul-Marie Duval. 1993. ''Les dieux de la Gaule.'' Éditions Payot, Paris. ISBN 2-228-88621-1
3. Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-815010-5, pp.208-210.
4. Caesar, Julius. ''De Bello Gallico.'' Book V, § XIV.
5. MacKillop, James (1998) A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280120-1. pp.21, 205, 270, 322-3, 346, 359-60
6. Patrick K. Ford (ed/trans). 1977. ''The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales.'' University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-03414-7
7. MacKillop, James (1998) pp.147-9
8. MacKillop, James (1998) pp.19-20
9. Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise (1982) ''Gods and Heroes of the Celts''. Translated by Myles Dillon, Berkeley, CA, Turtle Island Foundation ISBN 0-913666-52-1. p.17
10. Jufer, Nicole & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). ''Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie.'' Paris: Editions Errance. ISBN 2-87772-200-7.
11. Patrick K. Ford (ed/trans). 1977. ''The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales.'' University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-03414-7
12. Elizabeth A. Gray (ed/trans). 1982. ''Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired.'' Irish Texts Society (Vol. LII), Naas, Co Kildare
13. R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed/trans). 1941. ''Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland. Part IV.'' Irish Texts Society (Vol. XLI), Dublin.
14. Miranda Green. 1986. ''The Gods of the Celts.'' Alan Sutton, Gloucs. ISBN 0-86299-292-3
15. Marcus Annaeus Lucanus. c.61-65. ''Bellum civile'', Book I, ll.498-501. Online translation
16. Peter Schrijver, "On Henbane and Early European Narcotics", ''Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie'' vol.51 (1999), pp.17-45
17. ''Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises'' I (1985), pp.318-325.
18. ''L'Année Épigraphique'' 1987, no. 772.
Further reading
★ de Vries, Jan (1961) ''Keltische Religion'', is a comprehensive survey, useful as a reference work.
★ Duval, Paul-Marie (1976) ''Les Dieux de la Gaule'', new ed. updated and enlarged.
★ Green, Miranda (1986, revised 2004) ''Gods of the Celts'', is a basic introduction, but relies on some controversial interpretations, largely due to the author not having fluency with any Celtic language.
★ Mac Cana, Proinsias (1970) ''Celtic Mythology'', contains a concise presentation and evaluation of the evidence, with copious illustrations.
★ MacNeill, John (1911?) ''Celtic Religion'', provides a brief outline for an overview of the subject.
★ Nagy, Joseph Falaky (1985) ''The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition'', tales and analysis in Gaelic and English.
★ O'Rahilly, Thomas F. (1946, reissued 1971) ''Early Irish History and Mythology'', a massive amount of material, including some fanciful conclusions.
★ Rhys, John (1898, reprinted 1979) ''Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom'', 3rd ed., long considered the classic work in English, is now out-of-date.
★ Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise (1949, reissued 1982; originally published in French, 1940) ''Gods and Heroes of the Celts'', concise and thorough reading of the heroic function in Celtic mythological tradition, with comparisons between deities of the various Celtic cultures vs Classical models.
★ Stercks, Claude (1986) ''Éléments de cosmogonie celtique'', contains an interpretive essay on the goddess Epona and related deities.
★ Vendryès, Joseph; Tonnelat, Ernest; Unbegaun, B.-O. (1948) ''Les Religions des Celtes, des Germains et des anciens Slaves''.
External links
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