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{{Celtic mythology}} |
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'''Celtic polytheism''' |
The terms '''Celtic polytheism''', '''Celtic paganism''' and '''Druidism''' refer to the [[religion|religious]] beliefs and practices of ancient [[Celts]], until the [[Christianization]] of Celtic-speaking lands. At various times those lands included [[Ireland]], [[Great Britain|Britain]], [[Celtiberia]], [[Gaul]], areas along the [[Danube]] river, and [[Galatia]]. Currently, the areas of Europe that retain Celtic culture are limited to the six [[Celtic nations]]. |
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Celtic religious practices bear the marks of |
Celtic religious practices bear the marks of [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanization]] following the [[Roman Empire]]'s conquest of Gaul (58–51 BCE) and Britain (43 CE), although the depth and significance of Romanization is a subject of scholarly disagreement. |
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==The |
==The nature of Celtic polytheism== |
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According to classical sources, the Celts worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms <ref> Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). ''The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance''. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13 </ref> |
According to [[classical era]] sources, the [[Celts]] worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] terms. <ref> Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). ''The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance''. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13 </ref> Deities undoubtedly formed a background to everyday life. Both archaeology and the literary record indicate that ritual practice in Celtic societies lacked a clear distinction between the sacred and profane in which rituals, offerings and correct behaviour maintained a balance between gods and man, and harnessed supernatural forces for the benefit of the group. <ref> Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). ''The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance''. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13 </ref> |
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⚫ | The pagan Celts perceived the presence of the supernatural as integral to their world. The sky, the sun, the dark places underground all had their [[spirits]], [[Energy (spirituality)|life-force]]s and [[personality|personalities]]. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 29 </ref> Every [[mountain]], [[river]], [[spring]], [[marsh]], [[tree]] and [[crag|rocky outcrop]] was endowed with divinity. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 29</ref> While Greek and Roman culture revolved around urban life, Celtic society was predominantly rural. The close link enjoyed with the natural world is reflected in what we know of the religious systems of Celtic Europe during the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE. As in many [[polytheistic]] systems, the spirits worshipped were those of both the wild and cultivated landscapes and their inhabitants. Cults focussed upon features of the landscape; [[mountain]]s, [[forest]]s and [[animal]]s. Divine powers associated with the [[fertility]] of humans, of [[livestock]] and of [[crops]] were objects of veneration. Tribal territories were themselves held sacred and the [[mortuary enclosure|ground and waters which received the dead]] were imbued with sanctity and revered by their living relatives. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> Sanctuaries were sacred spaces separated from the ordinary world, often in natural locations such as springs, groves or lakes. Many [[topography|topographical]] features were deified as gods: many divine names refer to specific locations or geographical features, a clear indication of closely Celtic societies identified with place. Small thank offerings were placed in domestic storage pits while more elaborate deposits were left in specially dug ritual shafts and in lakes. These offerings linked the donor to the place in a concrete way, since complex and varied rituals involved the individual in personal contact with the sacred sites devoted to their gods. An image very different from the idea of druids administering a pan-Celtic religion. <ref> Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). ''The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance''. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13 </ref> |
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⚫ | The pagan Celts perceived the presence of the supernatural as integral to their world. The sky, the sun, the dark places underground all had their [[spirits]], [[Energy (spirituality)|life-force]]s and [[personality|personalities]] <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 29 </ref> |
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The character and vitality of certain animal species seems to have been considered [[numinous]]. Certain [[spirit]]s were very close to the animals with which they were associated: the names of [[Artio]] the [[ursine]] [[goddess]] and [[Epona]] the [[equine]] [[goddess]] are based on [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] words for ‘bear’ and ‘horse’ <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref>. |
The character and vitality of certain animal species seems to have been considered [[numinous]]. Certain [[spirit]]s were very close to the animals with which they were associated: the names of [[Artio]] the [[ursine]] [[goddess]] and [[Epona]] the [[equine]] [[goddess]] are based on [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] words for ‘bear’ and ‘horse’ <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref>. |
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===Sanctity of hunting=== |
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[[Hunting]] deities whose role acknowledges the economic importance of animals and the ritual of the hunt highlight a different relationship to nature. The animal elements in half-human, antlered deities suggest that the forest and its denizens possessed a [[numinous]] quality as well as an economic value. For this reason they were deified as gods. Some scholars explain shape-shifting and magical motifs in terms of Celtic beliefs about rebirth and the afterlife, but it is more likely that such deities had a regenerative function. Attributes like [[fruit]] and [[grain]] imply fecundity, while animals such as [[snake]] and [[deer]] (who shed their skins and antlers) suggest cycles of growth. <ref> Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). ''The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance''. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13 </ref> |
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===Weather worship=== |
===Weather worship=== |
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Meteorological patterns and phenomena, especially the [[sun]] and [[thunder]], were acknowledged as divine and propitiated. Inscribed dedications and iconography in the Roman period show that these spirits were personifications of natural forces <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> |
[[Meteorology|Meteorological]] patterns and phenomena, especially the [[sun]] and [[thunder]], were acknowledged as divine and propitiated. Inscribed dedications and iconography in the Roman period show that these spirits were personifications of natural forces. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> [[Taranis]]’s name indicates not that he was the god of thunder but that he actually was thunder. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> Archaeological evidence suggests that the sun and thunder were perceived as especially potent. Inscriptions to [[Taranis]] the ‘Thunderer’ have been found in [[Britain]], [[Gaul]], [[Germany]] and the former [[Yugoslavia]] and the Roman poet [[Lucan]] mentions him as a savage god who demanded [[human sacrifice]]. |
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⚫ | From the early [[Bronze Age]], people in much of temperate Europe used the [[spoke]]d [[wheel]] to represent the sun and, by the late [[Iron Age]] and Roman periods, solar deities were represented with wheel-symbols (see ''[[sun cross]]''). The Romans imported their own celestial god, [[Jupiter]], to Celtic lands and his imagery was merged with that of the native [[sun-god]] to produce a hybrid sky-deity who resembled the Roman god but who had the additional native solar attribute of the wheel. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 25</ref> This Celtic sky-god had variations in the way he was perceived and his cult expressed. Yet the link between the Celtic Jupiter and the solar wheel is maintained over a wide area: altars decorated with the wheels were set up by Roman soldiers stationed at [[Hadrian's Wall]], and also by supplicants in [[Cologne]] and [[Nîmes]]. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 28</ref> |
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⚫ | From the early [[Bronze Age]], people in much of temperate Europe used the [[spoke]]d [[wheel]] to represent the sun and, by the late[[Iron Age]] and |
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⚫ | The spirits of watery places were invoked as givers of life and as links between the earthly and the [[Other world|other world]]. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> [[Sequana]], for example, seems to have embodied the [[River Seine]] at its spring source and [[Sulis]] appears to have been one and the same as the [[hot spring]] at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], not simply its guardian or possessor. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24</ref> |
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⚫ | There is abundant evidence for the veneration of water by the Celts and indeed by their Bronze Age forebears. In the [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]], [[lake]]s, [[river]]s, [[spring]]s and [[bog]]s received special offerings of metalwork, wooden objects, animals and, occasionally, of human beings. By the Roman period, the names of some water-deities were recorded on inscriptions or were included in contemporary texts. The ancient name for the [[River Marne]] was [[Matrona]] ‘Great Mother;’ the [[Seine]] was [[Sequana]]; the [[Severn]], [[Sabrina]]; the [[Wharfe]], [[Verbeia]]; the [[Saône]], [[Souconna]], and there are countless others. Natural springs were foci for healing cults: Sulis was invoked as a healer at [[Bath, Somerset|Aquae Sulis]] and the goddess [[Arnemetia]] was hailed as a healer at [[Buxton|Aquae Arnemetiae]]. <ref> Green, Miranda J. (2005) ''Exploring the world of the druids.'' London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 25</ref> |
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⚫ | There is abundant evidence for the veneration of water by the Celts and indeed by their |
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==The evidence for Celtic religion== |
==The evidence for Celtic religion== |
Revision as of 16:19, 29 February 2008
Part of a series on |
Celtic mythologies |
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The terms Celtic polytheism, Celtic paganism and Druidism refer to the religious beliefs and practices of ancient Celts, until the Christianization of Celtic-speaking lands. At various times those lands included Ireland, Britain, Celtiberia, Gaul, areas along the Danube river, and Galatia. Currently, the areas of Europe that retain Celtic culture are limited to the six Celtic nations.
Celtic religious practices bear the marks of Romanization following the Roman Empire's conquest of Gaul (58–51 BCE) and Britain (43 CE), although the depth and significance of Romanization is a subject of scholarly disagreement.
The nature of Celtic polytheism
According to classical era sources, the Celts worshipped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms. [1] Deities undoubtedly formed a background to everyday life. Both archaeology and the literary record indicate that ritual practice in Celtic societies lacked a clear distinction between the sacred and profane in which rituals, offerings and correct behaviour maintained a balance between gods and man, and harnessed supernatural forces for the benefit of the group. [2]
The pagan Celts perceived the presence of the supernatural as integral to their world. The sky, the sun, the dark places underground all had their spirits, life-forces and personalities. [3] Every mountain, river, spring, marsh, tree and rocky outcrop was endowed with divinity. [4] While Greek and Roman culture revolved around urban life, Celtic society was predominantly rural. The close link enjoyed with the natural world is reflected in what we know of the religious systems of Celtic Europe during the late first millennium BCE and early first millennium CE. As in many polytheistic systems, the spirits worshipped were those of both the wild and cultivated landscapes and their inhabitants. Cults focussed upon features of the landscape; mountains, forests and animals. Divine powers associated with the fertility of humans, of livestock and of crops were objects of veneration. Tribal territories were themselves held sacred and the ground and waters which received the dead were imbued with sanctity and revered by their living relatives. [5] Sanctuaries were sacred spaces separated from the ordinary world, often in natural locations such as springs, groves or lakes. Many topographical features were deified as gods: many divine names refer to specific locations or geographical features, a clear indication of closely Celtic societies identified with place. Small thank offerings were placed in domestic storage pits while more elaborate deposits were left in specially dug ritual shafts and in lakes. These offerings linked the donor to the place in a concrete way, since complex and varied rituals involved the individual in personal contact with the sacred sites devoted to their gods. An image very different from the idea of druids administering a pan-Celtic religion. [6]
Animal worship
The character and vitality of certain animal species seems to have been considered numinous. Certain spirits were very close to the animals with which they were associated: the names of Artio the ursine goddess and Epona the equine goddess are based on Celtic words for ‘bear’ and ‘horse’ [7].
Sanctity of hunting
Hunting deities whose role acknowledges the economic importance of animals and the ritual of the hunt highlight a different relationship to nature. The animal elements in half-human, antlered deities suggest that the forest and its denizens possessed a numinous quality as well as an economic value. For this reason they were deified as gods. Some scholars explain shape-shifting and magical motifs in terms of Celtic beliefs about rebirth and the afterlife, but it is more likely that such deities had a regenerative function. Attributes like fruit and grain imply fecundity, while animals such as snake and deer (who shed their skins and antlers) suggest cycles of growth. [8]
Weather worship
Meteorological patterns and phenomena, especially the sun and thunder, were acknowledged as divine and propitiated. Inscribed dedications and iconography in the Roman period show that these spirits were personifications of natural forces. [9] Taranis’s name indicates not that he was the god of thunder but that he actually was thunder. [10] Archaeological evidence suggests that the sun and thunder were perceived as especially potent. Inscriptions to Taranis the ‘Thunderer’ have been found in Britain, Gaul, Germany and the former Yugoslavia and the Roman poet Lucan mentions him as a savage god who demanded human sacrifice.
From the early Bronze Age, people in much of temperate Europe used the spoked wheel to represent the sun and, by the late Iron Age and Roman periods, solar deities were represented with wheel-symbols (see sun cross). The Romans imported their own celestial god, Jupiter, to Celtic lands and his imagery was merged with that of the native sun-god to produce a hybrid sky-deity who resembled the Roman god but who had the additional native solar attribute of the wheel. [11] This Celtic sky-god had variations in the way he was perceived and his cult expressed. Yet the link between the Celtic Jupiter and the solar wheel is maintained over a wide area: altars decorated with the wheels were set up by Roman soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall, and also by supplicants in Cologne and Nîmes. [12]
Water worship
The spirits of watery places were invoked as givers of life and as links between the earthly and the other world. [13] Sequana, for example, seems to have embodied the River Seine at its spring source and Sulis appears to have been one and the same as the hot spring at Bath, not simply its guardian or possessor. [14]
There is abundant evidence for the veneration of water by the Celts and indeed by their Bronze Age forebears. In the Pre-Roman Iron Age, lakes, rivers, springs and bogs received special offerings of metalwork, wooden objects, animals and, occasionally, of human beings. By the Roman period, the names of some water-deities were recorded on inscriptions or were included in contemporary texts. The ancient name for the River Marne was Matrona ‘Great Mother;’ the Seine was Sequana; the Severn, Sabrina; the Wharfe, Verbeia; the Saône, Souconna, and there are countless others. Natural springs were foci for healing cults: Sulis was invoked as a healer at Aquae Sulis and the goddess Arnemetia was hailed as a healer at Aquae Arnemetiae. [15]
The evidence for Celtic religion
The evidence for the nature of Celtic religion comes partly from ancient literature (from the Classical commentators on the Celts, and from the vernacular mythic sources of Ireland and Wales) and partly from archaeological evidence, especially in the Roman period when inscribed dedications and religious images contribute significantly to our knowledge. What we lack because of the virtual non-literacy of Iron Age Celts is written testimony from the Celts themselves [16].
It is important to exercise some care in using all three of these sources for Celtic religion. The classical historians were inevitably subject to bias, distortion, ignorance, misunderstanding, literary convention and barbarian stereotyping, all of which combine to present a picture of Celtic religion which is somewhat skewed and, to acertain extent, unreal
[17].
Because of their chronological separation from the pre-Christian world, the early Welsh and Irish vernacular sources, written in the Welsh and Irish languages, must be scrutinized with even more rigour than the classical sources in assessing their validity as evidence for pagan Celtic religion [18]. While it is possible to single out specific texts which - because of their pagan content - can be strongly argued to encapsulate genuine echoes or resonances of the pre-Christian past, the earliest mythic stories of Ireland and Wales were not compiled in written form till the mediaeval period[19]. Opinion is divided as to whether these texts contain substantive material derived from oral tradition as preserved by bards or whether they were the creation of the mediaeval monastic tradition[20].
The archaeological evidence does not contain the bias inherent in the literary sources. Nonetheless, our interpretation of this evidence is inevitably coloured by the twenty-first-century mindset[21].
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 medieval 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 Christianised 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 Posidonius (c. 135–c. 51 BC) onward who recorded their own or others' observations on the Celts.
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.[22] The druids, the early Celtic priesthood, were said by Caesar to have taught the doctrine of transmigration of the soul along with astronomy and the nature and power of the gods.[23]
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.[24]
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.[25] 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.[26] A Welsh corollary to Tech Duinn is Annwfn, ruled by the Otherworld kings Arawn and Gwyn ap Nudd.[27]
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."[28] Or, in more detail, as sworn by the King of Ulster, Conchobar mac Nessa, in the Ulster Cycle tale, Táin Bó Cúailnge ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley"):
The sky is above us and the earth below and the sea all about us. Unless the firmament with its showers of stars falls down upon the earth, or the earth bursts asunder in an earthquake or the blue-bordered furrowy sea flows over the hair of the earth, I shall bring back every cow to her byre and yard and every woman to her home and dwelling, after victory in the battle.[29]
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
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
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
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
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.
Syncretism with other polytheistic systems
The locus classicus for the Celtic gods of Gaul is the passage in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (The Gallic War, 52–51 BC) in which he names six of them, together with their functions. He says that 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, who drove away diseases, Mars, who controlled war, Jupiter, who ruled the heavens, and Minerva, who promoted handicrafts. He adds that the Gauls regarded Dis Pater as their ancestor.[30]
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. Unsyncretised 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 called Teutates, which they interpret as "god of the tribe" (it is thought that teuta- meant "tribe" in Celtic).[31] 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.[citation needed]
Cults within Celtic polytheism
Antlered gods
A recurrent figure in Gaulish iconography is a cross-legged deity with antlers, sometimes surrounded by animals, often wearing or holding a torc. 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"[32]), and a pair of identical inscriptions from Seinsel-Rëlent ("Deo Ceruninco"[33]). Figured representations of this sort of deity, however, are widespread; the earliest known was found at Val Camonica in northern Italy,[citation needed] 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, or similar figure, is accompanied by a ram-headed serpent. At Reims, the figure is depicted with a cornucopia overflowing with grains or coins.Cite error: The <ref>
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Healing deities
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’[citation needed], though other etymologies have been convincingly proposed[34]) 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”.Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page). 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”.Cite error: The <ref>
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Goddesses of sacred waters
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 River Boyne), Sinann (the River Shannon), Sequana (the deified Seine), Matrona (the Marne), Souconna (the deified Saône) and perhaps Belisama (the Ribble).
While the most well-known deity of the sea is the god Manannán, possible early Irish sea goddesses include Fand, her sister Lí Ban, and the mother-goddess of the Fomorians, Domnu.
Goddesses of horses
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.
Mother goddesses
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.[35] Iconographically, Celtic mothers may appear singly or, quite often, triply; they usually hold fruit or cornucopiae or paterae;[31] 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.
Divine couples
One notable feature of Gaulish and Romano-Celtic sculpture is the frequent appearance of male and female deities in pairs, such as Rosmerta and ‘Mercury’, Nantosuelta and Sucellos, Sirona and Apollo Grannus, Borvo and Damona, or Mars Loucetius and Nemetona.Cite error: The <ref>
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Cult of Lugh
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.[35] 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.[25] 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.[36] 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.[citation needed]
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.Cite error: The <ref>
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Lugh is said to have instituted the festival of Lughnasadh, celebrated on 1 August, in commemoration of his foster-mother Tailtiu.[37]
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).[38]
Cult of 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.
Cult of Toutatis
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,[39] 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.Cite error: The <ref>
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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:
Les représentations de Mars, beaucoup plus rares [que celles de Mercure] (une trentaine de bas-reliefs), plus monotones dans leur académisme classique, et ses surnoms plus de deux fois plus nombreux (une cinquantaine) s'équilibrent pour mettre son importance à peu près sur le même plan que celle de Mercure mais sa domination n'est pas de même nature.
(“Mars' representations, much rarer [than Mercury's] (thirty-odd bas reliefs) and more monotone in their studied classicism, and his epithets which are more than twice as numerous (about fifty), balance each other to place his importance roughly on the same level as Mercury, but his domination is not of the same kind.” Duval 1993:71)Cite error: The<ref>
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Cult of Esus
Esus appears in two monumental statues as an axeman cutting branches from trees.
Gods with hammers
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.
Gods of strength and eloquence
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.[citation needed] Ogham script, an Irish writing system dating from the 4th century AD, was said to have been invented by him.[citation needed]
The divine bull
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 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.
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.
Interpretatio romana |
Gaulish/British | Irish | Welsh |
---|---|---|---|
Arianrhod | |||
Apollo | Belenus Borvo Grannus |
||
Victoria | Bodua | ||
Bran | Brân | ||
Cernunnos | |||
Epona | Macha | Rhiannon | |
Esus | |||
Vulcan | Gobannos | Goibniu | Gofannon |
Mercury Uiducus | Gwydion | ||
Mercury | Lugus | Lug | Lleu |
Neptune | Manannán | Manawydan | |
Apollo | Maponos | Maccan | Mabon |
Matronae | Modron | ||
Lamiae | The Morrígan | ||
Mars | Nodens | Nuadu | Lludd/Nudd |
Hercules | Ogmios | Ogma | |
Pryderi | |||
Pwyll | |||
Maia | Rosmerta | ||
Hygieia | Sirona | ||
Silvanus | Sucellus | the Dagda | |
Minerva | Sulis Coventina Icovellauna Sequana |
||
Junones | Suleviae | ||
Jupiter | Taranis | Turenn | Taran |
Mars | Toutatis | ||
Veteris |
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
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
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References
- ^ Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13
- ^ Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 29
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 29
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Wood, Juliette. ‘Introduction.’ In Squire, C. (2000). The mythology of the British Islands: an introduction to Celtic myth, legend, poetry and romance. London & Ware: UCL & Wordsworth Editions Ltd. ISBN 1-84022-500-9. Page 12-13
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 25
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 28
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 25
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Green, Miranda J. (2005) Exploring the world of the druids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0-500-28571-3. Page 24
- ^ Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997, pp.208-210. ISBN 0-19-815010-5.
- ^ Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico]] 5:14
- ^ James MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, pp.21, 205, 270, 322-3, 346, 359-60. ISBN 0-19-280120-1.
- ^ a b Patrick K. Ford (ed/trans), The Mabinogi and other Medieval Welsh Tales, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1977. ISBN 0-520-03414-7 Cite error: The named reference "Ford" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ MacKillop 1998, pp.147-9
- ^ MacKillop 1998, pp.19-20
- ^ Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Gods and Heroes of the Celts, translated by Myles Dillon, Berkeley, CA, Turtle Island Foundation, 1982, p.17. ISBN 0-913666-52-1.
- ^ Myles Dillon, Early Irish Literature, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 1994, p. 11. ISBN 1-85182-117-5
- ^ Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6:17-18
- ^ a b Paul-Marie Duval, Les dieux de la Gaule, Éditions Payot, Paris, 1993. ISBN 2-228-88621-1
- ^ Recueil des Inscriptions Gauloises I (1985), pp.318-325.
- ^ L'Année Épigraphique 1987, no. 772.
- ^ Peter Schrijver, "On Henbane and Early European Narcotics", Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie vol.51 (1999), pp.17-45
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Elizabeth A. Gray (ed/trans). 1982. Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. Irish Texts Society (Vol. LII), Naas, Co Kildare
- ^ 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.
- ^ Miranda Green. 1986. The Gods of the Celts. Alan Sutton, Gloucs. ISBN 0-86299-292-3
- ^ Marcus Annaeus Lucanus. c.61-65. Bellum civile, Book I, ll.498-501. Online translation
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.