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0'

Religions Ancient and

Modern

CELTIC RELIGION
"''':

ANCIENT AND MODERN.

RELIGIONS:

Foolscap %vo.

ANIMISM.
By EuwARD Clodd,
PANTHEISM.

Price

\s.

?ut per volume.

Author of The Story of Creation.

By James Allanson Picton, Author

of

The Religion of

the

Universe,

THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT CHINA.

By

Profe.-sor

Giles, LL.D., Professor of Chinese

in the

University

of Cambridge.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT GREECE.

By Jane Harrison, Lecturer
Autiior qI Prolegomena

to

at

Newnham

College, Cambridge,

Study of Greek Religion,

ISLAM.
By Professor T. W. ARNOLD, Assistart Librarian
Author of The Preaching of Islam.

at the India

Office,

MAGIC AND FETISHISM.

By Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., Lecturer on Ethnology at
bridge University.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT

Cam-

EGYPT.

By Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie, F.R.S.

THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND .ASSYRIA.
By Theophilus G. Pinches, late of the British Museum.

BUDDHISM.

2 vols.

By Professor Rhys Davids, LL.D.

late Secretary of

The Royal

Asiatic Society.

HINDUISM.
By Dr. L. D. Barnett, of the Department pf Oriental Printed
Bookj and MSS., British Muieum.

SCANDINAVIAN RELIGION.
By William A. CrAIGIE,

Joint Editor of the Oxford English

Dictionary.

CELTIC RELIGION.
By Professor Anwyl,

Professor of

Welsh

at University College,

Aberystwyth.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

By Ch.vrles Squire, Author of The Mythology of

the British

Islands.

JUDAISM.
By Israel Abrahams, Lecturer in Talmudic Literature in Cambridge University, Author of Jewish Life in the Middle Ages.

PRIMITIVE OR NICENE CHRISTIANITY.

By John Sutherland Black, LL.D., Joint Editor

of the

Encyclo/ccdia Biblica.

SHINTOISM.
ZOROASTRIANISM.

MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIANITY.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT ITALY.

Other Volumes

to follow.

CELTIC RELIGION
IN PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES

By

EDWARD

,ANWYL,

LATE CLASSICAL SCHOLAR

OF

ORIEL

M.A.

COLLEGE, OXFORD

PROFESSOR OF WELSH AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AT

THE 'UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH

ACTING-CHAIRMAN OF THE CENTRAL WELSH BOARD
FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE ^ CO Ltd

16

JAMES STREET HAYMARKET

1906

Edinlmrgli

T.

and A. Constabi.k, Printer* to Hi>

Jfajesty

FOREWORD
CO

OT
*

__

It

is

only as prehistoric archaeology has

throw more and more light on the early

tions of Celtic lands that

it

come

to

civilisa-

has become possible to

interpret Celtic religion from a thoroughly

modern
The author cordially acknowledges
his indebtedness to numerous writers on this subject, but his researches into some portions of the
field especially have suggested to him the possi4 bility of giving a new presentation to certain facts
"^ and groups of facts, which the existing
evidence
^ disclosed.
It is to be hoped that a new interest in
-)

viewpoint.

the religion of the Celts

may

thereb}' be aroused.
E.

Aberystwyth,
February

15, 1906.

299278

Anwyl.

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in

2008

witii

IVIicrosoft

funding from

Corporation

littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/celticreligionOOanwy

CONTENTS
CHAP.
I.

II.

III.

Introductory

The

Celts,

The Chief Phases of Celtic

....
Civilisation,

The Correlation of Celtic Keligion with

THE Growth of Celtic Civilisation,
.

IV.

Celtic

Keligion

VI.

VII.

19

and the Development of

29

Individualised Deities,
V,

PAOK

The Humanised Gods of Celtic Religion,

The Celtic Priesthood,

The Celtic Other-World,

36
44

....

57

CELTIC RELIGION
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTORY
In dealing with
the

tlie

THE CELTS

subject of 'Celtic Religion'

duty of the writer

first

sense in which the term

this work.

It will be

'

explain the

to

is

Celtic

'

will be

used in

used in reference to those

countries and districts which, in historic

times,

have been at one time or other mainly of Celtic

speech.

It

does

not follow that

all

the races

which spoke a form of the Celtic tongue, a tongue

Indo-European family, were

same stock. Indeed, ethnological and
of the

all

of the

archaeologi-

cal evidence tends to establish clearly that, in

Gaul and

Britain, for example, (man

had lived

for

ages before the introduction of any variety of

Aryan

or Indo-European

speechj and this Avas

case throughout the whole of

Western and Southern Europe. Further, in the

probably the

CELTIC RELIGION
light of comparative philology,

it

has now become

abundantly clear that the forms of Indo-European

speech which we

call

Celtic are

related to those of the Italic

the best

family Latin

is

From

follows that

this

it

most

closely

family, of

known
we are

which

representative.J^
to look for the

centre of dissemination of Aryan Celtic speech in

some

district of

Europe that could have been the

natural centre of dissemination also for the Italic

languages?\

From

this

common

centre,

through

conquest and the commercial intercourse which

followed it, the tribes which spoke the various

forms of Celtic and Itahc speech spread into the

districts

common

occupied by them in historic times.

The

centre of radiation for Celtic and Italic

speech was probably in the

districts of

Noricum

and Pannonia, the modern

etc., and the neighbouring parts of the Danube
The conquering Aryan-speaking Celts
valley.
and Italians formed a military aristocracy, and
Carniola,

their success in extending

languages was largely due

combined, in

all

administration.

the

Carinthia,

range of their

to their skill in arms,

probability, with

talent

for

This military aristocracy was of

which carried Aryan speech

kindred type to that

into India

and

Persia,

Armenia and Greece, not

to speak of the original speakers of the Teutonic

INTRODUCTORY: THE CELTS

and Slavonic tongues.

In view of the necessity of

whence the Indo-European

languages in general could have

discovering- a centre,

Aryan

or

radiated

Eastwards, as well as Westwards, the

tendency to-day

is

to regard

these tongues as

having been spoken originally in some

district

between the Carpathians and the Steppes, in the

form of kindred dialects of a

Some branches

of the tribes

speech.

which spoke these

dialects penetrated into Central

less

common

Europe, doubt-

along the Danube, and, from the Danube

valley,

extended their

conquests together with

Aryan speech into Southern and Western Europe.

The proportion of
their various forms of

conquerors to conquered was not uniform in

all

the countries where they held sway, so that the

amount

of

Aryan blood

tion varied greatly,

in their resultant popula-

jln most cases, the families

of the original conquerors, by their skill in the art

of

war and a certain

instinct of government, suc-

ceeded in making their own tongues the dominant

media of communication

in the lands

where they

most of the languages

Europe to-day are of the Aryan or IndoEuropean type.
It does not, however, follow
necessarily from this that the early religious

ruled, with the result that

of

'

ideas or the artistic civilisation of countries

3

now

CELTIC RELIGION
Aryan

came

in speech

necessarily from tlie con-

querors rather than the conquered.

century

it

In the last

was long held that in countries of

Aryan speech the

essential features of their civili-

sation, their religious ideas, their social institutions, nay,

more, their inhabitants themselves,

were of Aryan

more

origin.

investigation

critical

has,

however,

enabled us to distinguish clearly between the de-

velopment of various factors of human life which in

and often have followed

lines.
The physical
history of race, for instance, forms a problem by
itself and must be studied by anthropological and
their evolution can follow

more

or less independent

ethnological

Language,

methods.

again,

has

often spread along lines other than those of race,

and

its

investigation appertains to the sphere of

the

philologist,

not

of

'i

Material

civilisation,

the

necessity followed

racial or of linguistic

lines of its own,

has

may

be safely

left to

Similarly the spread of ideas

in religion and thought

on

too,

either of

development, and the search

for its ancient trade-routes

the archaeologist,.

lines

and

is

one which has advanced

its

investigation

must be

conducted by the methods and along the lines of

the comparative study of religions.

In the wide sense, then, in which the word

INTRODUCTORY: THE CELTS

'

Celtic religion

cover the

'

modes

will

be used in this work,

it Avill

of religious thought prevalent in

the countries and districts, which, in course of

by their Celtic
To the sum-total of these religious
ideas contributions have been made from many
sources.
It would be rash to affirm that the
various streams of Aryan Celtic conquest made
no contributions to the conceptions of life and of
the world which the countries of their conquest
came to hold (and the evidence of language
points, indeed, to some such contributions), but
their quota appears to be small compared with
time, were mainly characterised

speech.

that of their predecessors

in view of the

nor

is

this surprising,

immense period during which the

had been previously

lands of their conquest

occupied.

Nothing

is

clearer than the marvel-

and immemorial
modes of thought, even in the face of conquest
and subjugation, and, whatever ideas on religion
the Aryan conquerors of Celtic lands may have

lous persistence of traditional

brought with them, they whose conquests were

often only partial could not eradicate the inveterate beliefs of their predecessors,

and the

result in

the end was doubtless some compromise, or else

the victory of the earlier faith.

But the Aryan conquerors of Gaul and

5

Italy

CELTIC RELIGION
men who had advanced up
one generation. Those men of

themselves were not

the

Danube

Aryan

in

speech

and

peninsula

who
into

poured

the

into

Gaul were

Italian

doubtless

in

blood not unmixed with the older inhabitants

and had entered into the

body of ideas which formed the religious beliefs
of the men of the Danube valley. The common
of Central Europe,

Aryan tongue, by Italians

compared withGreek, suggests

modifications of the

and Celts

alike, as

men

contact with

the

names

countries,

of different speech.J

Among

of Celtic gods, too, like those of other

we

find roots that are apparently irre-

ducible to any found in Indo-European speech,

and we know not what pre-Aryan tongues may

have contributed them;.- Scholars, to-day, are far
more alive than they ever were before to the
complexit}' of

the

have entered into

contributory elements
the

tissue

the

of

mankind, and the more the

religions of

of Celtic religion are investigated, the

plex do

its

that

ancient
relics

more com-

contributory factors become.

In the

long ages before history there were unrecorded

conquests and migrations innumerable, and ideas

do not

fail to

to record

spread because there

is

no historian

them.

The more the scanty remnants

6

of Celtic religion

INTRODUCTORY: THE CELTS

are examined, the clearer
its

characteristic features

becomes that many of

it

had been evolved during

the vast period of the ages of stone.

millennia,

men had

material

their

civilisation,

philosophy of

life,

Dur ing Uiese_

evolved, concomitantly Avith

traces of

kind of working"

which are found

in

every land where this form of civilisation has

prevailed.

from his

Man's religion can never be dissociated

social experience,

and the painful stages

through which "man reached the agricultural

example, have

for

mind

the

have

in

from

tiie

of

indications

names

We_

are

as they

thu s compelled.

which we have of

..Celtic

and
and legend, to come to
fundamental groundwork

of its deities,

its rites,

survivals in folk-lore

the conclusion, that

is

impress on

Western Europe,

in

every land.

religion, in the
its

left their indelible

man

life,

its

a body of ideas, similar to those of other lands,

which were the natural correlatives of the phases

of experience through which man passed in his
emergence into civilised life.
To demonstrate

and

to illustrate these relations will be the

of the following chapters.

aim

CHAPTER

II

THE CHIEF PHASES OF CELTIC CIVILISATION

In the chief countries of Celtic

civilisation, Gaul,

Cisalpine and Transalpine, Britain and Ireland,

abundant materials have been found for elucidating the stages of culture through which man
passed

example, palaeolithic

specimens of his

In

times.

prehistoric

in

man

has

Britain,

numerous

left

implements, but

for

the

forms

even of these rude implements suggest that they,

have been evolved from still more primitive

Some antiquarians have thought to detect
earlier
types in the stones that have been
such

too,

types.

named
'

'

eoliths

eoliths
'

may

'

found in Kent, but, though these

question of their history

It

is

show human

possibly

is

far

certain, however, that

use,

from being

man

the

settled.

succeeded in

maintaining himself for ages in the company of

the

now

mammoth,
extinct.

the Ice

Age

the cave-bear, and other animals

Whether

palseolithic

man

survived

in Britain has not so far been satisfac-

PALAEOLITHIC MAN
In Gaul, however, there

torily decided.

is

fair

evidence of continuity between the Palaeolithic

and Neolithic periods, and this continuity must
obviously have existed somewhere.

Still in spite

of the indications of continuity, the civilisation of

man

primitive
is

in

Gaul presents one aspect that

without any analogues in the

lithic

men

man

of the

question

life

of the palaeo-

of the River Drift period, or in that of

is

New

The

Stone Age.

the remarkable artistic

feature in
skill

shown

by the cave men of the Dordogne district. Some

of the drawings and carvings of these men reveal
a sense of form which would have done credit to

men

of a far later age.

whatever may have been

feature such as this,

its

object,

'

it

means of sympathetic
M. Salomon Reinach
the mere artistic impulse, is a

arose from an effort by

magic

whether

'

to catch animals, as

suggests, or to

standing reminder to us of the scantiness of our

data for estimating the lines of man's religious

and other development

in the

vast epochs of

prehistoric time.

We know

that from the

life

of

hunting

man

passed into the pastoral stage, having learned to

tame animals. How he came to do so, and by

what motives he Avas actuated, is still a mystery.
It may be, as M. Salomon Reinach has also
9

CELTIC RELIGION
suggested, that

was some curious and inde-

it

do

to

so,

thinks,

them

that led him

more probably, as the present writer
some sense of a need of the alliance of

finable sense of kinship with

or

animals against hostile

it

spirits.
In all probabilitywas no motive which we can now fathom. The

mind
mind

man

of early

passed after

agriculture,
in

man was
From

of a boy.

long

like the

unfathomable

the pastoral
ages

into

again

life

the

life

of

man

and the remains of neolithic

Gaul and in Britain give us glimpses of his

The ox, the sheep, the pig, the

and the dog were his domestic animals
he could groAv wheat and flax, and could supplement the produce of his farm by means of hunting and fishing. Neolithic man could spin and

life

as a farmer.

goat,

weave; he could obtain the necessary

flint

for

which he made by chipping and

polishing, and he could also make pottery of a

his implements,

rude variety.

In

its

essentials

we have here the

beginnings of the agricultural civilisation of

all

the world over.

In

life,

neolithic

man

man

dwelt

sometimes in pit-dwellings and sometimes in hutcircles,

covered with a roof of branches supported

by a central

pole.

his kin in long

in

In death, he was buried with

mounds

of earth called barrows,

chambered cairns and cromlechs or dolmens.

lO

BURIAL IN LATER STONE AGE

The

latter

usually

consist

by a

covered

stones

three

of

cap-stone

standing

forming

the

stony skeleton of a grave that has been exposed

to

mound

view after the

of earth that covered

it

In their graves the dead

has been washed away.

were buried in a crouching attitude, and fresh

burials were

made

as occasion required.

times the cromlech

there

is

a hole in one of the stones, the signi-

ficance of

been

which

is

for the ingress

of the

Some-

double, and occasionally

is

dolmen

unknown, unless it may have

and egress of souls. Graves

or cromlech type are found in all

the countries of AVestern Europe, North Africa,

and elsewhere, wherever stone suitable for the

purpose abounds, and in this we have a striking
illustration of the

ment

in

way

in

later correlated

to

lines of develop-

geographical, geological,

his

and other surroundings.

man

which

man's material civilisation are sooner or

The religious ideas of

came into correlation

in neolithic times also

with the conditions of his development, and the

uninterpreted stone circles

and

world are a standing witness

zeal of a
fore

mind

to

pillars

of

that was haunted by stone.

proceeding

to

exemplify

this

thesis

subsequent trend of Celtic civilisation

briefly sketched.
1

the

the religious

may

Bethe

be

CELTIC RELIGION
Through the pacific intercourse of commerce,
bronze weapons and implements began to find
their way, about 2000 B.C. or earlier,

from Central

and Southern Europe into Gaul, and thence into

Britain.
In Britain the Bronze Age begins at
about 1500 or 1400

some

B.C.,

and

it

archaeologists that bronze

this period

by the aid

is

thought

by-

was worked

at

of native tin in Britain

There are indications, however, that the

itself.

introduction of bronze into Britain was not by

way

commerce

of

alone.

About the beginning

of the Bronze period are found evidences in this

island of a race of different type from that of

man, being characterised by a round

skull and a powerful build, and by general indineolithic

cations of a martial bearing.

this race are usually

The remains

of

found in round barrows.

This race, which certainly used bronze weapons,

is

generally believed to have been the

that reached Britain of

wave

first

Aryan conquerors

of Celtic

speech from the nearest part of the continent,

must have arrived some time previously,

probably along the Rhine valley. As the type of
where

it

Celtic speech that has penetrated farthest to the

west

is

that

known

as the Goidelic or Irish,

it

not unreasonably been thought that this

have been the type that arrived

12

in Britain

has

must
first.

TYPES OF CELTIC SPEECH

too, that it

There are indications,

was

this type

that penetrated furthest into the west of Gaul.

Its

most marked

is its

preservation

as 'oo'

and of QU,

characteristic

of the pronunciation of

while the Brythonic

Welsh

'

U to
the

or

'

variety changed

a sound pronounced like the French

German

'

ti

'

and

also

QU

to P.

'

There

'

is

or

similar line of cleavage in the Italic languages,

where Latin corresponds

and Umbrian

to Goidelic,

and Oscan

Transalpine Gaul

to Brythonic.

was probably invaded by Aryan-speaking Celts

from more than one direction, and the infiltration
and invasion of new-comers, when it had once
begun, was doubtless continuous through these
various channels. There are cogent reasons for

thinking that ultimately the dominant type of

Celtic speech over the greater part of
to be that of the

Gaul came

rather than the QU type,

from the East and North-

owing

to the influx

east

an overflow from the Rhine valley of

speaking that dialect a dialect which, by

of

tribes

force of

farther

conquest and

culture, tended to spread

and farther West.

time went on, the

Into Britain, too, as

type of Celtic was carried,

and has survived in Welsh and Cornish, the

remnants of the tongue of ancient Britain. We
know, too, from the name Eporedia (Yvrea), that
13

CELTIC RELIGION
this

dialect

of

The

received

its first

Danube

valley, as

but

latter

into

may have

district

Celtic invaders direct

from the
M. Alexandre Bertrand held,

would be rash

it

must have spread

Celtic

Cisalpine Gaul.

assume that

to

all its in-

vaders came from that direction.

In connection,
however, with the history of Celtic religion it is
not the spread of the varying types of Celtic
dialect that

is

important, but the changes in the

civiKsation of Gaul and Britain,

religious ideas or

into the religious

which reacted on
which introduced new factors
development of these lands.

The predatory expeditions and wars

of conquest

of military Celtic tribes in search for

new homes

their

for

superfluous populations brought into

prominence the
also

agricultural
race.

at

deities of war, as

was the case

with the ancient Romans, themselves an

and

at the

The prominence

one stage has

number

left

same time a predatory

of war in Celtic tribal life

us the names of a large

of deities that were identified with

and Bellona, though

originally such.

all

In the

Mars

the war-gods were not

Roman

calendar there

is abundant evidence that Mars was at one time

an agricultural god as well as a god of war. The
same, as wiU be shown later, was the probable

history of

some

of the Celtic deities,

14

who were

THE IRON AGE IN GAUL

Roman

times with Mars and Bellona.

Caesar tells us that

Mars had at one time been

identified in

the chief god of the Gauls, and that in

that was

still

In Britain,

the case.

Germany
we find

also,

that there were several deities identified with

Mars, notably
this, too,

Belatucadrus and Cocidius, and

points in the direction of a development

of religion

under military influence.

appear to have

made

The Gauls

great strides in military

matters and in material civilisation during the

Iron Age.
Hallstatt

The culture of the Early Iron Age of

had been developed in Gaul on charac-

teristic lines of its

known

as the

type derives
of

it

it

own, resulting in the form

La Tene

or

name from

Marnian

type.

now
This

the striking specimens

that were discovered at La Tene on the

shore of Lake Neuchatel, and in the extensive

cemeteries of the Marne valley, the burials of

which cover a period of from 350-200 B.C.

It
was during the third century B.C. that this characteristic culture of

Gaul reached

its

zenith,

and

gave definite shape to the beautiful curved designs

known

as those of Late-Celtic Art.

Iron appears

have been introduced into Britain about 300

B.C., and the designs of Late-Celtic Art are here
to

represented best of

Excellent specimens of

all.

Late-Celtic culture have been found in Yorkshire

15

CELTIC RELIGION
and elsewhere, and important links witli continental developments have been discovered at
Aylesford, Aesica, Limavady, and other places.
Into the development of this tj'^pical Gaulish
culture elements are believed to have entered by

way of
Rhone

the important commercial avenue of the

valley from

Massilia

from

(Marseilles),

Greece (via Venetia), and possibly from Etruria.

Prehistoric archaeology affords

abundant proofs

that, in countries of Celtic speech, metal- working

and gold reached a remarkably

high pitch of perfection, and this is a clear inin bronze, iron,

dication that Celtic countries and districts which

were on the

line of trade routes, like the

had attained

valley,

Rhone

to a material civihsation of

no mean character before the Roman conquest.

In Britain,

too, the districts that

were in touch

with continental commerce had, as Caesar

us, also

developed in the same direction.

tells

The

development in civigrowth in many parts of Gaul, as

religious counterpart of this

lisation is the

attested

by Caesar and by many inscriptions and

place-names, of the worship of gods identified

with Mercury and Minerva, the deities of

sation and commerce.

It is

civili-

no accident that one

of the districts most conspicuous for this worship

was the

territory of the Allobrogic confederation,

i6

CIVILISATION NOT HOMOGENEOUS

where the commerce of the Rhone valley found
From this
its most remarkable development.
sketch of Celtic
seen

how here

ment

civilisation

it

be

readily

will

as elsewhere the religious develop-

of the Celts stood closely related to the

development of their

must be borne

civilisation generally.

It

in mind, however, that all parts of

the Celtic world were not equally affected by the

m.aterial

development in question.

Part of the

complexity of the history of Celtic religion arises

from the

fact that

we cannot be always

certain

of the degree of progress in civilisation

any given
pervaded

district
it,

of the ideas

which

or of the absorbing interests of its

Another

life.

had made,

which

difficulty, too, is that

the accounts

of Celtic religion given by ancient authorities do

harmonise

with

evidence of inscriptions.

The

not

always

the

indisputable

probability

is

that

the religious practices of the Celtic world were

no more homogeneous than its general civilisation, and that the ancient authorities are substantially true in their statements about certain
districts, certain

society,

while

periods, or

the

certain sections of

inscriptions,

springing

as

they do from the influence of the Gallo- Roman

civilisation,

especially

of

Eastern

Gaul

and

military Britain, give us most valuable supple-

17

CELTIC RELIGION
mentary evidence

for districts

and environments

The inscriptions, especially

names of deities which they reveal, have
afforded most valuable clues to the history of

of a different kind.

by

tlie

Celtic
earlier

belong.
Celtic

religion,

even in

than those to

stages

of

civilisation

which they themselves

In the next chapter the correlation of

religious

ideas

to

the

stages

civilisation will be further developed.

of

Celtic

CHAPTER

III

THE CORRELATION OF CELTIC RELIGION WITH

THE GROWTH OF CELTIC CIVILISATION
In dealing with the long vista of prehistoric time,
it

is

very

difficult for us, in

unduly

spective, not to shorten

the vast epochs of

its

forget, that in these

was ample time

areas of Europe

our

duration.

effort after per-

in

our thoughts

We

tend, too, to

unnumbered millennia there

for it to

be possible over certain

to evolve

what were

practically

through the prepotency of particular

new
During
stocks and the annihilation of others.
these epochs, again, after speech had arisen, there
races,

was time enough

to recast completely

language, for before the

dawn

many

of history language

from change than it is now, and

in these immense epochs whatever ideas as to the
world of their surroundings were vaguely felt by
prehistoric men and formulated for them by their
was no more

kinsmen

free

had abundant time in Avhich

supremacy. There must have

of genius,

to die or to Avin

been teons before the dawn even of conscious

19

CELTIC RELIGION
animism, and the experiment of trying sympathetic magic was, when first attempted, probably
regarded as a master-stroke of genius. The Stone

Age

was a long era of great if slow progress

in civilisation, and the evolution of the practices
and ideas which emerge as the concomitants of
itself

when closely regarded, bear

testimony to the mind's capacity for religious

its

agricultural stage,

progress in the light of experience and intelligent

experiment, and at the same time to the errors

into

which

it

sediment in

The Stone Age has

fell.

all

many

the casual observer

in

may seem

it

when judged
critically,

afford

and

many

world where

left

its

To
embedded

the folk-lore of the world.

of the ideas

mass of

error,

unhistorically,
at the

and so they are

but when viewed

same time

historicall}^,

they

glimpses of prehistoric genius in a

life

was of necessity a great experi-

The folk-lore of the world reveals for the

same stages of civilisation a wonderful uniformity and homogeneity, as Dr. J. G. Frazer

ment.

has

abundantly shown

This uniformity

is

in

his

not, however,

Golden Bough.

due

to necessary

uniformity of origin, but to a great extent to the

fact that

it

represents the state of equilibrium

arrived at between

minds

at a certain level

and

their environment, along lines of thought directed

20

MAN AND HIS PROBLEMS

by the momentiiiu given by the traditions of
millennia,

who

and the survival in history of the men

them.
The apparently

carefully regarded

unreasoned prohibitions often known as

many
ised

of

life,

which

persist

still

have their roots

'

taboos,'

even in modern

in ideas

civil-

and experiences

which no speculation of ours can now completely

fathom, however much we may guess at their

Many

origin.

of these ancient prohibitions have

vanished under new conditions, others have often

survived from a real or supposed

new

harmony with

experiences, that have arisen in the course of

After passing through a stage

man's history.

when he was
cares

too preoccupied with his material

and wants

to

haunted or not, early

consider whether he was

man

in the Celtic world as

elsewhere, after long epochs of vague unrest,

to realise that

he was somehow haunted

came

in the

at night, and it was this sense

haunted that impelled his intellect and

daytime as well as
of being

his imagination to seek

feelings.

Primitive

some explanation

man came

of his

to seek a solution

not of the Universe as a whole (for of this he had

no conception), but of the

he played a
it

is

part.

very remarkable

teristic local

local Universe, in

In dealing with Celtic

how it

which

folk-lore,

mirrors the charac-

colouring and scenery of the districts

21

CELTIC RELIGION
in

which

has originated.

it

Wales, for example,

it

is

In a country like

the folk-lore of springs,

caves, mountains, lakes, islands,

its

takably the land of

an

and the forms of

imagination, here as elsewhere, reflect unmis-

'

Where

its origin.

other world,' that

'

other world

'

is

it

depicts

either on

an island or

it is

a land beneath the sea, a lake,

or a river, or

it is

approachable only through some

cave or opening in the earth.

In the hunting-

grounds of the Celtic world the primitive hunter

knew every cranny

of the greater part

of his

environment with the accuracy born of long

familiarity, but there

were some peaks which he

could not scale, some caves which he could not

some jungles into which he could not

and in these he knew not what monsters
might lurk or unknown beings might live. In

penetrate,
enter,

Celtic folk-lore the belief in

fabulous monsters

Man was surrounded by

has not yet ceased.

dangers visible and invisible, and the time came

when some

prehistoric

the view that

less living

all

man

of genius

the objects around

than himself

the world, once adopted,

This animistic view of

made

from the various centres where

man

derived from

his world, but also

it

new

new

it

great

headway
and

originated,

sense of kinship with

terrors

22

propounded

him were no

from

it.

Knowing

SPIRITS IN CELTIC RELIGION

from the experience of dreams that he himself

seemed able

to

wander away from himself, he

thought in course of time that other living things

were somehow double, and the world around him

came
were

be occupied, not merely with things that

to

alive,

but with other selves of these things,

that could remain in

Here, again, this

new

an added interest

to

them

or leave

but

life,

a source of fresh terrors.

with invisible

spirits,

some

it

in the neolithic

ideas

Avas

less

and prohibitions.

stage the inhabitants

countries had attained to

in question, as

none the

The world swarmed

some hostile,
life had to be regu-

lated by strict rules of actions

Celtic

at will.

friendly,

and, in view of these beings,

Even

them

prehistoric philosophy gave

is

the

of

religious

seen not only by their

and by the names of groups of goddesses

folk-lore

such as the Matres (or mothers), but by the fact

that in historic times they

beyond

had advanced well

named and indicountries where the

this stage to that of

vidualised gods.

As

in all

gods were individualised, the

men

of Celtic lands,

whether aborigines or invaders, had toiled along

the steep ascent from the primitive vague sense
of being

haunted

to a belief in

gods who, like

Esus, Teutates, Grannos, Bormanus, Litavis,

names

of a definite character.

23

had

CELTIC RELIGION
Amon^the
themselves

prohibitions which had established

among the

races of Celtic lands, as

elsewhere, was that directed against the shedding

of the blood of one's

inhabiting

own

some

cations, too, that

at

kin.
There are indiany rate of the tribes

the case

among

kinship

fact continued to

be

the Picts of Scotland into historic

It does not follow, as

times.

reckoned

countries

these

through the mother, as in

we know from other

Gaul and

countries, that the pre-Aryan tribes of

Britain, or indeed the

Aryan

tribes themselves in

their earliest stage, regarded their original ancestors as

human.

Tarvos (the
goddess
cattle),

of

Certain

names

Moccos (the

bull),

horses),

Mullo (the

Damona

ass), as

of deities such as
pig),

(the

Epona

(the

goddess

of

well as the fact that

the ancient Britons, according to Caesar, preserved

the hen, the goose, and the hare, but did not

and eat them,

all

kill

point to the fact that in these

countries as elsewhere /certain animals were held

in

supreme respect and were carefully guarded

Judging from the analogy of kindred

from harm.

phenomena

in

other countries, the practice of

respecting certain animals was often associated

with the belief that

all

the

members

of certain

clans were descended from one or other of them,

but how far this system was elaborated in the

24

TRACES OF ANIMAL WORSHIP

Celtic world

which

is

it is

hard

known

widely

to say.

This phenonienon,

as totemism, appears to be

suggested by the prominence given to the wild

boar on Celtic coins and ensigns, and by the place
assigned on some inscriptions and bas-reliefs to
the tigure of a horned snake as well as by the

other animals that

of

effigies

covered.

It is

have been

of totemism in Gaul or elsewhere, but

always be borne in mind that early

regard

it

as

dis-

not easy to explain the beginnings

man

it

should

could not

an axiomatic truth that he was the

To reach that

superior of every other animal.

proud consciousness is a very high step in the

development of the human perspective, and it is

when we know

to the credit of the Celts that,

them

in

historic

times,

attained to this height, inasmuch as the

form

is

given to their

remembered how great

tion

is

human

when

implied

attributes.

have

they appear to

deities.

It is

human

not always

a step in religious evolu-

the gods are clothed with

M. Salomon Reinach, in his

account of the vestiges of totemism among the

Celts,

suggests that totemism

was merely the

hypertrophy of early man's social sense, which

extended from
This

may

man

to the animals

possibly be

improbable that

man

the case,

also

25

around him.

but

it

is

not

thought to discover in

CELTIC RELIGION
much-needed allies against some
and invisible enemies that beset him.

certain animals
of the visible

In his

conflict with the malign powers around

him, he might well have regarded certain animals
as being in some respects stronger combatants

against those powers than himself;

and where they

were not physically stronger, some of them, like
the snake, had a cunning and a subtlety that

seemed

far to surpass his own.

certain bodies of

men came

In course of time

to regard

as being in special alliance with

themselves

some one animal,

and as being descended from that animal as their

common ancestor. The existence side by side of
various tribes, each with

its

definite totem, has

not yet been fully proved for the Gaulish system,

may well have been a developed social

arrangement that was not an essential part of
such a mode of thought in its primary forms.
and

The

place of animal- worship in the Celtic religion

will

be more fully considered in a later chapter.

Here

it

is

only indicated as a necessary stage in

relation to man's civilisation in the hunting

the pastoral stages, which had

through before the historic

Britain in
being.

Roman

be

to

deities of

times could have

and

passed

Gaul and

come

into

Certain of the divine names of the historic

period, like Artio (the bear-goddess),

26

Moccus (the

TOTEMISM AND ANIMALS

Epona

pig),

(the mare), and

Damona

(the sheep),

bear the unmistakable impress of having been at

one time those of animals.

As

for the stage of civilisation at

originated, there

is

much

which totemism

difference of opinion.

mind which it implies would suggest

that it reflects a time when man's mind Avas preoccupied with wild beasts, and when the alliances
and friendships, which he would value in life,
The

stage of

might be found

in that sphere.

There

is

much

by M. Salomon

plausibility in the view put forward

Reinach, that the domestication of animals

itself

implies a totemistic habit of thought, and the

consequent protection of these animals by means

harm and

of taboos from
that, after

all,

death.

It

may

well be

the usefulness of domestic animals

from a material point of view was only a secondary

consideration for man, and a

happy discovery

after

unsuccessful totemistic attentions to other animals.

We know not

how many

creatures early

man

tried

to associate with himself but failed.

In

all

stages of man's history the alternation of

the seasons must have brought some rudiments of

order and system into his thoughts, though for a

long time he was too preoccupied to reflect upon

the regularly recurring vicissitudes of his

life.

the pastoral stage, the sense of order

came

27

In
to

CELTIC RELIGION
be more marked tlian in that of hunting, and

quickened the mind

all

to fresh thought.

The earth

Mother from whom

things came, and there are abundant indica-

came

to be regarded as the

tlohs'that the earth as the Mother, the Queen, the

Long-lived one,

etc.,

found her natural place as a

goddess among the Celts.

were probably not in

same.

But

it

is

all

Her names and

titles

places or in all tribes the

in the

agricultural stage that

she entered in Celtic lands, as she did in other

countries, into her completest religious heritage,

and

this aspect of Celtic religion

will

be dealt

with more fully in connection with the spirits

of vegetation.

countries
of

its

is

most

This phase of religion in Celtic

one which appears to underlie some

characteristic

forms,

and the one

which has survived longest in Celtic

The Earth-mother with her progeny of

spirits, of

springs, rivers, mountains, forests, trees,

and

folk-lore.

corn,

appears to have supplied most of the grouped and

individualised gods of the Celtic pantheon.
pis, of

Avhom Ctesar speaks

as the ancient

The
god of

the Gauls, was probably regarded as her son, to

whom
is

the dead returned in death.

the Gaulish god depicted with a

Whether he
hammer, or as

a huge dog swallowing the dead, has not yet been

established with any degree of certaint}^

28

CHAPTER
CELTIC RELIGION

IV

AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF

INDIVIDUALISED DEITIES

Like other religions, those of the Celtic lands of

Europe supplemented the earlier animism by a
belief in spirits,

who belonged

rocks, mountains, springs, rivers,

phenomena, and

to trees, animals,

and other natural

in folk-lore there still survives

abundant evidence that the Celt regarded

as

spirits

taking upon themselves a variety of forms,

animal and human.

It

was

animal form that helped

of the older

this idea of spirits in

to preserve

the

memory

totemism into historic times.

It is

thus that we have names of the type of Branno-

ggnos (son of the raven), Artogenos (son of the

and the like, not to speak of simpler namesBran (raven), March (horse), surviving into
historic times.
Bronze images, too, have been
found at Neuvy-en-Sullias, of a horse and a stag
(now in the Orleans museum), provided with
rings, which were, as M. Salomon Reinach suggests,
bear),

like

29

CELTIC RELIGION
probably used for the purpose of carrying these
images in procession. The wild boar, too, was a

emblem

favourite

of Gaul,

and there

is

extant a

bronze figure of a Celtic Diana riding on a boar's

At

back.

Bolar, near Nuits, there

a bronze mule.

museum

In the

was discovered

at

bas-relief of the goddess of horses,

Mayence is a
Epona (from

the Gaulish E]m>s = l,R,t. equus, horse), riding on

One

horseback.

ments of

this

of the

kind

is

most important monu-

a figure of Artio, the bear-

goddess (from Celtic Artos, a bear), found at

Muri near Berne. In front of her stood a figure
of a bear,

which was

also

found with her.

The

bull of the Tarvos Trigaranos bas-relief of Notre

Dame was also in all likelihood originally a totem,

and similarly the horned serpents of other basas

reliefs,

well

as

the boar found on Gaulish

ensigns and coins, especially in Belgic territory.

There

is

a representation, too, of a raven on a

which

is

identified with Mercury,

and which

is

lent of the

Iceni

is

is

on

'

Moccus,'

inscriptions,

found inscribed at Langres, Trobaso,

the valley of

Dalmazzo,
the boar

The name

Compiegne.

at

bas-relief

the

Ossola

and the Borgo san

undoubtedly the philological equiva-

Welsh

iniocli

(swine).

In Britain,

too,

frequently found on the coins of the

and other

tribes.

30

In Italy, according to

SURVIVALS OF ANIMAL WORSHIP

Mr.

Warde

offering

to

Fowler, the pig was an appropriate

the earth, so that in the

deities of

widespread use of the pig as a symbol in the

may

Celtic world, there

a connection between
diet of acorns, too,

the early days of

it

be some ancient echo of

and the earth-spirit. Its

may have marked

life

it

out, in

in forest-clearings, as the

animal embodiment of the

In the

oak-spirit.

legends of the Celtic races, even in historic times,

the pig, and especially the boar, finds an honoured

In addition

place.

the

ass, too,

animals aforementioned,

to the

was probably at one time venerated

in one of the districts of Gaul,

probable that Mullo, the

name

and

it

is

god

of a

not im-

identified

with Mars and regarded as the patron of muleteers,

mentioned on inscriptions

(at Nantes, Craon,

and

Les Provencheres near Craon), meant originally

'

an

The goddess Epona,

ass.'

also,

was widely spread, was probably

whose worship
one time an

at

animal goddess in the form of a mare, and the

name

of another goddess,

Damona,

either from

dam = Ii\ dmn, (ox); or Welsh daf-ad

may similarly be that of an ancient totem

the root
(sheep),

sheep or cow.

Nor was

it

in the

animal world

alone that the Celts saw indications of the divine.

While the chase and the pastoral

the mind's attention on the
31

life

life

concentrated

of animals, the

CELTIC RELIGION
growth of agriculture fixed man's thoughts on
the life of the earth, and all that grew upon it,
while at the same time he was led to think more

and more of the mysterious world beneath the

earth, from which all things came and to which
all

Nor could he

things returned.

the

forget

trees of the forest, especially those which, like the

oak,

had provided him with

their fruit as food in

The name Druid,

time of need.

as well as that of

the centre of worship of the Gauls of Asia Minor,

Drunemeton (the oak-grove), the statement of

Maximus of Tyre that the representation of Zeus
was a high oak, Pliny's account of
Druidism {Nat. Hist, xvi. 95), the numerous

to the Celts

and Silvana, the mention

Dervonnae on an inscription at

inscriptions to Silvanus

of Dervunes or

Cavalzesio near Brescia, and the abundant evidence

of survivals in folk-lore as collected

Frazer and others,

all

worship, and especially that of

contributed

its full

Celtic religion, at

some epochs.
commercial

world.

to the

The

J.

G.

the

had

oak,

share to the development of

any rate in some

The development

districts

and in
and

of martial

civilisation in later times

restrict its typical

ments

by Dr.

point to the fact that tree-

tended to

and more primitive develop-

more conservative parts of the

Celtic

in Caesar's time its

main

fact that

DRUIDISM
centre in Gaul was in the territory of
the tribe which has given

suggests that

its

its

tlic

name

Carnvites,

to Chartres,

chief votaries were mainl}- in

that part of the country.

This,

too,

was the

god Esus (the eponymous god of

district of the

the Essuvii), and in some degree of Teutates, the

is mentioned by Lucan.
It
had occurred to the present writer, before finding
the same view expressed by M. Salomon Reinach,
that the worship of Esus in Gaul was almost

cruelty of whose rites

entirely local in character.

rites of

the Druids, Cfesar

customary

to

which

into

us that

tells

make huge images

human

beings,

and the suggestion that the

usually

rite

it

was

of wickerwork,

The use

were placed and burnt.

regard to the

AVitli

criminals,

of wickerwork,

was

for purifying

the land, indicates a combination of the ideas of

tree-worship with those of early agricultural

When
to

the

Emperor Claudius

is

said

life.

by Suetonius

have suppressed Druidism, what

all probability,

that the

suppressed, leading, as

seem

to

suggest,

victims for men.

to

On

is meant is, in
more inhuman rites were
the Scholiasts on Lucan

substitution of

the side of

civil

animal

administra-

and education, the functions of the Druids,

as the successors of the primitive medicine men

tion

and magicians, doubtless varied greatly in

C

33

different

CELTIC RELIGION
Gaul and Britain^ according to the
progress that had been made in the differentiation
The more we investiof functions in social hfe.
parts

of

gate the state of the Celtic world in ancient

times, the clearer

it

becomes, that in civilisation

was very far from being homogeneous, and

heterogeneity of civilisation must have had

it

this

influence on

phenomena.

religion as well as

on other

The natural conservatism

cultural Hfe, too, perpetuated

its

social

of agri-

many practices even

and of these we
catch a gUmpse in Gregory of Tours, when he
tells us that at Autun the goddess Berecyntia was
times,

into comparatively late

worshipped, her image being carried on a wagon

It is
for the protection of the fields and the vines.
not impossible that by Berecyntia Gregory means
the goddess Brigindu, whose name occurs on an

same district of Gaul.

The belief in corn-spirits, and other ideas connected

inscription at

Volnay

in the

with the central thought of the farmer's life, show,

by their persistence in Celtic as well as other folklore,

how deeply they had

entered into the inner

tissue of the agricultural

mind, so as to be linked

to its keenest emotions.

Here the

rites of religion,

whether persuasive as in prayer, or compulsory as

in sympathetic magic, whether associated with com-

munal

or propitiatory sacrifice, whether directed

34

PRACTICAL IN CHARACTER
had an intensely
due to man's
the growth and

to the earth or to the heaven, all

practical

constant

and

terribly real character,

with

preoccupation

storage of food for

ing, the pastoral,

man and

and above

beast.

all in

In the hunt-

the agricultural

was not a matter merely of imagination or sentiment, but one most intimately
associated with the daily practice of life, and this
life,

religion

practical interest included in its purview rivers,

springs, forests, mountains,

man's existence.
is

and

And what

is

all

the setting of

true of agriculture

true also, in a greater or less degree, of the

life

of the Celtic metal-worker or the Celtic sailor.

Even

in late

Welsh legend Amaethon

(old Celtic

Ambactdnos), the patron god of farming (Welsh

Amaeth), and Gofannon, the patron god of the
metal-worker (Welsh gof, Irish gobha), were not
quite forgotten, and the prominence of the worship
of the counterparts of

Gaul

in historic times

Mercury and Minerva

was due

in

to the sense of

respect and gratitude, which each trade and each

who had rid the land

had
brought man into the
who
and

locality felt for the deity

ot monsters,

comparative calm of civilised

35

life.

CHAPTER

THE HUMANISED GODS OF CELTIC RELIGION

One

of the

most striking

the Celtic religion

deities

to us

which

it

is

facts

connected with

number of names of
These names are known

the large

includes.

almost entirely from inscriptions, for the

most part votive tablets, in acknowledgment of

some benefit, usually that of health, conferred
In Britain these votive
by the god on man.
tablets are chiefly found in the neighbourhood of
the Roman walls and camps, but we cannot be
always certain that the deities mentioned are
indigenous.

In Gaul, however, we are on surer

ground in associating certain deities with certain

districts, inasmuch as the evidence of placenames is often a guide. These inscriptions are
very unevenly distributed over Gaulish territory,
the Western and

the

North-Western

districts

being very sparsely represented.

In the present brief sketch

it

is

impossible to

enter into a full discussion of the relations of the

36

LOCAL AND NON-LOCAL DEITIES

names

on

found

localities,

religion

and the
but

it

inscriptions

particular

thrown on Celtic

light thus

may

to

be here stated that investiga-

tion tends to confirm the local character of

most

which the inscriptions name.

Out

of the deities

of these deities, some,

evolution, gained

true, in the process of

it is

a wider field of worshippers,

may even have been

while others, like Lugus,

at

one time more widely worshipped than they

came
like

to be in later times.

Lugus

(Irish

Lug),

Occasionally a

name

Segomo (Irish, in the

whence Camulo-

genitive, Segamonas), Camulos,

diinum

(Welsh Belyn),
Maponos (Welsh Mahon), Litavis (Welsh Llydaw),
by its existence in Britain as well as in Gaul, suggests that it was either one of the ancient deities
of the
to

(Colchester),

Aryan

Celts, or

Belenos

one whose worship came

extend over a larger area than

its

fellows.

Apart from a few exceptional considerations

this

kind, however, the

deities

is

of

local character of the

most marked.

very considerable

springs and rivers.

number

are the deities of

In Noricum, for example, we

have Adsalluta, a goddess associated with Savus

(the river Save).

(the Dee), and

the Mersey), a

In Britain

'

the goddess

'

Deva

Belisama (either the Eibble or

name meaning
37

'

the most warlike

CELTIC RELIGION
We

goddess,' are of this type.

goddess

the

have again Axona

the river Aisne, Sequana, the

of

goddess of the Seine, Ritona of the river

numerous nymphs and many other

Doubtless

fountains.

are

deities

of

names
with

left

of

very few clear traces on the

Vintios, a

of Celtic deities.

Mars,

deities

names of local
Aerial phenomena

other

kind.

this

appear to have

many

Rieii,

god

identified

was probably a god of the wind,

Taraniicus, a god of thunder, Leucetios, a god of

lightning,

(of Bath)

Sulis

beyond these there are

phenomena
on

few,

if anj'^,

nearly

all

reflections of the

Of the gods named

of the heavens.

inscriptions

sun-goddess, but

are

identified

with

The gods who came

Mercury, Mars, or Apollo.

to

be regarded as culture-deities appear from their

names

be of various origins

to

some

are

human-

ised totems, others are in origin deities of vegeta-

tion

or

local natural j)henomena.

indicated,

it is

clear that the

mercial and civilised

life

in certain

brought into prominence

Mercury and Minerva

tion.

to

As already
of comdistricts had

growth

deities identified

with

as the patrons of civilisa-

Military men, especially in Britain, appear

have favoured

deities like

brilliant in war), identified

About fourteen

Belatucadros (the

with Mars.

inscriptions mentioning

38

him have

DEITIES IDENTIFIED
been found

North of England and the South

The goddess Brigantia (the patron-

in the

of Scotland.

deity of the Brigantes), too,

inscriptions: Cocidius,

is

mentioned on four

identified

with Mars,

is

mentioned on thirteen: Avhile another popular

god appears to have been Silvanus. Among the

most noticeable names of the Celtic gods identified

with Mercury are Adsmerius or Atesmerius,
Dumiatis (the god of the Buy de Dome), lovantucarus (the lover of youth), Teutates (the god of
the people), Caletos (the hard), and Moccus (the
Several deities are identified with Mars,
boar).

and of these some of the most noticeable names

are Albiorix (world-king),

Dunatis (the god of the

Caturix (battle-king),

Belatucadrus (the

fort),

brilliant in war), Leucetius (the

god of lightning),

Mullo (the mule), Ollovidius (the all-knowing)

Vintius (the wind-god), and Vitucadrus (the

The

brilliant in energy).

identified with

Mars

large

reflects

number

of

names

the prominent place

one time given to war in the ideas that affected

the growth of the rehgion of the Celtic tribes.
at

Of the OQTods
interesting

identified with Hercules, the

name

is

Ogmios

(the

god

of

most
the

furrow) given by Lucian, but not found on any

inscription.

The

following

gods

others, are identified with Jupiter:

39

among
Aramo (the

too,

CELTIC RELIGION
gentle),

(the

Ambisagrus (the

large-lipped),

persistent),

would seem from

times at any rate Jupiter

Uxellimus (the highest).

that in historic

this

Bussumarus

Taranucus (the thunderer),

It

did not play a large part in Celtic

religious

ideas.

There remains another striking feature of Celtic

which has not yet been mentioned,

namely the identification of several deities with
religion

Apollo.

These

deities are essentially the presid-

ing deities of certain healing-springs and healthresorts,

and the growth of

popularity

is

their worship into

further striking index

to

the

development of religion side by side with certain

aspects of civilisation.
Celtic Apollo

is

One

of the

names of

Borvo (whence Bourbon), the

deity of certain hot springs.

This

name

is

Indo-

European, and was given to the local fountain-

god by the Celtic-speaking invaders of Gaul it

simply means the Boiler.' Other forms of the
name are also found, as Bormo and Bormanus.
:

'

At Aquoe Granni (Aix-la-Chapelle) and elsewhere

the
find

name
also

identified with Apollo is Grannos.

We

Mogons, and Mogounus, the patron

Moguntiacum (Mainz), and, once or twice,

Maponos (the great youth). The essential feature
of the Apollo worship was its association in

deity of

40

CELTIC GODDESSES
Gallo-Roman

civilisation

with the idea of healing,

an idea which, through the revival of the worship

of

^sculapius,

very

views

religious

affected

strongly in other quarters of the empire.

It

was

in this conception of the gods as the guides of

civilisation

and

Celtic religion, in
itself

restorers

the

some

of

districts at

health,

any

rate,

emerging into a measure of light

that

shows

after

long and toilsome progress from the darkness of

prehistoric

ideas.

What

Cfesar

says of

the

practice of the Gauls of beginning the year Avith

the night rather than with the

da}^,

and their

ancient belief that they were sprung from Dis, the

god of the lower world,

is

thus typified in their

religious history.

In dealing with the deities of the Celtic world

we must

not,

however, forget

the

goddesses,

though their history presents several problems

of great difficulty.

known

to

Of these goddesses some are

us by groups

women), Dervonnse (the

Proximte

oak-spirits),

(the

kins-

Niskai (the

water-sprites), Mairse, Matronce, Matres or Matrse

(the mothers), Quadrivice (the goddesses of cross

The Matres, Matra^, and MatrontB are

Deities of
qualified by some local name.

roads).

often

this type

appear to have been popular in Britain,

in the neighbourhood of Cologne

41

and in Provence.

CELTIC RELIGION
In some cases

it

uncertain whether some of

is

these grouped goddesses are Celtic or Teutonic.

an interesting parallel

It is

these grouped goddesses,

some
is

parts of

the

name

Wales
for

'

to the existence of

when we

Y Mamau

the

fairies.

'

find that in

(the mothers)

These

grouped

goddesses take us back to one of the most interesting stages in the early Celtic religion,

the earth-spirits or the corn-spirits

been completely individualised.

vidualised goddesses

the

names

many

when

had not yet

Of the

indi-

are strictly local, being

of springs or rivers.

Others, again,

appear to have emerged into greater individual

prominence, and of these we find several associated

on

of Celtic

inscriptions,

counterpart.

names
.early

sometimes with a god

name, but sometimes with his Latin

It is

by no means certain that the

so linked together were thus associated in

times,

and the fashion may have been a

later one, which, like other fashions, spread after

The relationship in some

had once begun.
may have been regarded as that of mother
and son, in others that of brother and sister, in

it

cases

others that of husband and wife;

not adequate for the

Of

final decision of

the data are

the question.

these associated pairs the following

may

be

noted, Mercurius and Rosmerta, Mercurius and

42

WELSH SURVIVALS OF NAMES

Dirona, Grannus (Apollo) and Sirona, Sucellus

and Nantosvelta, Borvo and Damona, Cicolluis

(Mars) and Litavis, Bormanus and Bormana,
Saviis

and Adsalluta, Mars and Nemetona.

One

meant the

long-

of these names, Sirona, probably

lived one,

and was applied

to the earth-mother.

In Welsh one or two names have survived which,

by

their structure, appear to

names

of goddesses

have been ancient

these are Khiannon (Rigan-

tona (the great queen), and

Modron (Matrona, the

The other

British deities will be

great mother).

more fully treated by another writer in this series

in a work on the ancient mythology of the British
It is enough to say that research tends
Isles.
more and more to confirm the view that the key
to the history of the Celtic deities is the realisa-

tion of the local character of the vast majority of

them.

43

CHAPTER

VI

THE CELTIC PRIESTHOOD

No name
more

in connection with Celtic

religion

is

familiar to the average reader than that of

the Druids, yet there

is

no section of the history

of Celtic religion that has given rise to greater

discussion than that relating to this order.

the

association

the

of

name

with

European root dru-, which we find

the

in the

Even
Indo-

Greek

word drus, an oak, has been questioned by such

a competent Celtic scholar as M. d'Arbois de
Jubainville, but on this point it cannot be said
that his criticism

is

the ancient world

who

make

conclusive.

The

writers of

refer to the Druids,

do not

what districts
the rites, ceremonies, and functions which they
were describing prevailed. Nor was it so much
always

it

sufficiently clear in

the priestly character of the Druids that produced

the deepest impression on the ancients.
philosophical

To some

and theological writers of antiquity

and their apparent affinities with

their doctrines

44

THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS

much

Pythagoreanism were of

greater interest

than their ceremonial or other functions.

thing at any rate

is

One

the Druids and

clear, that

their doctrines, or supposed doctrines,

had made

a deep impression on the writers of the ancient

There

world.

ment

a reference to

is

may

of Aristotle (which

genuine) that

in a frag-

assigning

of interest as

is

a place in express terms both

and the

them

not, however, be

among

them

the Celts

The_prominent feature of their

Galatse.

teaching which had attracted the attention of

other writers, such

the

as

historian Diodorus

Siculus and the Christian theologian Clement of

Alexandria, was the resemblance of their doctrine
concerning the immortality and transmigration of
the soul to the views of Pythagoras.
writers,

must not be

a religious or philosophical doctrine

treated as a thing apart, but
in its

must be interpreted

whole context in relation to

in history
in

Ancient

however, did not always remember that

which

ancients

and
it

its

development

community
To some of the

in the social life of the

has

the

flourished.

resemblance

superficial

between

the Druidic doctrine of the soul's future and

the teaching attributed
essential

point,

and

to Pythagoras

this

was enough

was the
to

give

the Druids a reputation for philosophy, so that

45

'

CELTIC RELIGION
a writer like Clement of Alexandria goes so far as
to regard the

Druids of the

'

Galatse

'

along with

the prophets of the Egyptians, the 'Chaldseans'

of the Assyrians, the

philosophers of the Celts,'

'

and the Magi of the Persians

philosophy
to

in this passage

the Galatse

not

'

clear.

and

as the pioneers of

the barbarians before

The reason

the Greeks.

drawn
is

among

for

it

spread

the distinction

between the 'Druids of

the philosophers of the Celts

'

Diodorus Siculus

calls attention to

the Druidic doctrine that the souls of

men were

immortal, and that after the lapse of an appointed

number

came

of years they

to life again, the soul

He

then entering into another body.

there

were

gians'

that

certain

he

says,

future from

In addition to these, the

had

also seers,

priestly seers

subjection to them.

of a

human

who had

In great

victim,

which he

he

states,

by means
it

the masses in

affairs

they had, he

by the slaughter

and the observation of the

fell,

the contortions of the

limbs, the spurting of the blood,

This,

foretold the

According to him

says, the practice of divination

attitude in

who

the flight of birds and

of the offering of sacrifices.

was these

and theolo-

'philosophers

were called Druids who were held

in exceptional honour.
Celts,

says that

and the

like.

was an ancient and established

46

THE DRUIDS AS THINKERS

Moreover,

practice.

to Diodorus,

to

it

was the custom, according

make no

sacrifice

without the

presence of a philosopher (apparently a Druid in

addition to the sacrificing seer), the theory being

who were

that those

authorities

on the divine

nature were to the gods intelligible mediators

for the offering of gifts

and the presentation of

These philosophers were in great

petitions.

quest, together with their poets, in

as in peace,

the

men

re-

war as well

and were consulted not merely by

own side, but also by those of

Even when two armies were on the
joining battle, these philosophers had
of their

the enemy.
point of

been

able,

Diodorus says, to step into the space

them from fighting,

they had charmed wild beasts.
The

between them and

exactly as

if

to

stop

moral which Diodorus draws from this

is,

that

even among the wildest of barbarians the spirited

principle of the soul yields to wisdom,

and that

Ares (the god of war) even there respects the

from

account that Diodorus

Muses.

It is clear

had

mind the three classes of non-military

men among the Celts, to whom other

in

this

professional

ancient writers also refer, namely, the Bards, the

Seers,

and the Druids.

an expansion, in the

His narrative

is

light of his

reading and

apparently

philosophical meditation, of information supplied

47

CELTIC RELIGION
by previous
latter, too,

writers,

chief authority, in addition to his

tion,

The

notably Posidonius.

appears to have been Julius Caesar's

but Caesar does not

own

observa-

appear expressly to

indicate the triple division here in question.

account which he gives

is

be even more valuable than

how far Avhat he

The

important, and would

it is

had he

told us

describes was written from his

own

personal information, and the degree of variation

(if

any) of religious practice in different

However,

Caesar's

consideration.

After

calling

attention

division of the Gaulish aristocracy into

sections, the

to

the

two main

Druids and the Knights, he proceeds

to speak of the Druids.

says,

districts.

statements deserve the closest

These were occupied, he

with religious matters, they attended to public

and private

sacrifices,

and interpreted omens.

Moreover, they were the teachers of the country.

To them the young men congregated for knowledge,

and the pupils held their teachers in great respect.
They, too, were the judges in public and private
disputes it was they Avho awarded damages and
:

penalties.

Any contumacy

in reference to their

judgments was punished by exclusion from the

This sentence of excommunication was
sacrifices.
the severest

men

punishment among the Gauls.

so punished Avere treated as

48

The/
outlaws, and

CJESAR'S

ACCOUNT OF THE DRUIDS

cut off from

and

human

all

privileges.

society, with its rights

Over these Druids there was one

who wielded the highest influence among

them. On his death the nearest of the others
head,

in dignity succeeded him, or,

several were equal,

if

the election of a successor was

of the Druids.

made by

the vote

Sometimes the primacy was not

The

decided without the arbitrament of arms.

Druids met at a fixed time of the year in a consecrated spot in the territory of the Carnutes, the

which was regarded as being in the centre

This assembly of Druids
of the whole of Gaul.
formed a court for the decision of cases brought
to them from everywhere around. It was thought,
district

Ceesar says, that the doctrine of the Druids was

discovered in Britain and thence carried over into

At

Gaul.

make

that time, too, those

a profounder study of

it

who wanted

to

resorted thither

The Druids had immunity

from military service and from the payment of
These privileges drew many into train
tribute.
mg for the profession, some of their own accord,
for

their training.

others at the instance of parents and relatives.

While

in training they

a large
as to

number

and some went so

far

spend twenty years in their course of pre-

paration.

were said to learn by heart

of verses,

The Druids held

49

it

wrong

to

put their

CELTIC RELIGION
religious teaching in writing, thougli, in almost

everything

they

made

else,

whether public or private

use of Greek

affairs,

Csesar thought

letters.

that they discouraged writing on the one hand,

teaching should become public property

lest their

on the other,

lest reliance

upon "\mting should

memory. To this

lessen the cultivation of the

risk Caesar could testify

from his own knowledge.

Their cardinal doctrine was that souls did not

perish,

but that after death they passed from

one person to another

as a

supreme incentive

and

this they regarded

to valour, since, with the

prosj)ect of immortality, the fear of death

for nothing.

They

carried

counted

on, moreover,

many

discussions about the stars and their motion, the

greatness of the universe and the lands, the nature

of things, the strength

gods,

and power of the immortal

and communicated

Gauls

their

knowledge

to their

In another passage Csesar says that the

pupils.

as

people were extremely devoted to

religious

ideas

seriously

ill,

and

practices.

who were engaged

Men who were

in war, or who

stood in any peril, offered, or promised to

human

and made use of the Druids

sacrifices,

as their agents for

was,

that

the

offer,

such

sacrifices.

immortal

appeased unless a

human
SO

gods
life

Their theory
could

not

be

were given for a

THE DRUIDS AND PYTHAGORAS

human life.

In addition to these private

they had also similar

human

sacrifices,

sacrifices of a public

Cajsar further contrasts the

character.

Germans

with the Gauls, saying that the former had no

Druids to preside over matters of

religion, fend

that they paid no attention to sacrifices.

In his work on divination, Cicero,

the profession which the Druids
science,

and of the power of

too, refers to

made

of natural

foretelling the future,

and instances the case of the iEduan Diviciacus,

his brother's guest and friend.
Nothing is here
said by Cicero of the three classes implied in
Diodorus, but Timagenes (quoted in Ammianus)
refers
'

'

the

to

bardi,'
drasidc^fi

three

euhages

'

'

(a

(a

'

classes

under the names

mistake for

mistake for druidjB

'

nature and of the heavens

is

').

vates

'),

and

The study

of

here attributed to

the second class of seers (vates).

class,

'

The highest

that of the Druids, were, he snys, in accord-

ance Avith the rule of Pythagoras, closely linked

together in confraternities, and by acquiring a

mind from

certain loftiness of

their investigations

into things that were

despised

immortal.

human

We

hidden and exalted, they

afiairs and declared the soul

see here the view expressed that

socially as well as intellectually the

Druids lived

according to the Pythagorean philosophy.

51

Origen

CELTIC RELIGION
also refers to the view that

was prevalent

in his

time, that Zamolxis, the servant of Pythagoras,

had taught the Druids the philosophy of Pytha-

He further states

goras.

The

sorcery.

aristocracy

is

that the Druids practised

triple division of the non-military

perhaps best given by Strabo, the

Greek geographer, who here follows Posidonius.

The three

classes

are

the

Bards,

Seers
-|

(ouateis=vates), and Druids.

The Bards were

hymn-writers and poets, the Seers

men

the

sacrificers

and

of science, while the Druids, in addition to

natural science, practised also moral philosophy.

They were regarded

this

as_the justest of men, and on

account were intrusted with the settlement

of private

means

and public disputes.

They had been the

of preventing armies from fighting

when

and were especially

intrusted with the judgment of cases involving
According to Strabo, they and
human life.
their fellow-countrymen held that souls and the
universe were immortal, but that fire and water
on the very verge of

battle,

Avould sometime prevail.

Sacrifices

were never

without the intervention of

made, Strabo

ssijs,

the Druids.

Pomponius Mela says that

in his

though the ancient savagery was

no more, and the Gauls abstained from human
time

(c.

44

sacrifices,

A.D.),

some

traces of their former practices

52

THE DRUIDS AS TEACHERS

remained, notably in their habit of cutting a

still

condemned to death
The Gauls,
the altars.

portion of the flesh of those

them

after bringing

he

says, in

to

spite of their traces

had an eloquence of

of barbarism,

own, and had the

their

Druids as their teachers in philosophy.

professed to

know

These

the size and form of the earth

and of the universe, the motions of the sky and

stars, and the will of the gods.
He refers, as
Ca3sar does, to their

that

work

was carried on

it

Mela speaks of

groves.

their doctrine

mortality, but says nothing as

other

and says

in education,

in caves or in secluded

As

to

of im-

the entry of

a proof of this

souls

into

belief

he speaks of the practice of burning and

bodies.

burying with the dead things appropriate to the

needs of the living.
his

Lucan, the Latin poet, in

Pharsalia, refers to the seclusion

of

the

Druids' groves and to their doctrine of immortality.

after

The Scholiasts' notes on this passage are

the manner of their kind, and add very

little

to

History
to face

our

knowledge.

(xvi, 249),

In Pliny's Natural

however, we seem to be face

with another, though perhaps a distorted,

tradition.
Pliny was an indefatigable compiler,
and appears partly by reading, partly by personal

observation,

to

have noticed
53

phases

of

Celtic

CELTIC RELIGION
religious practices

In the

looked.

which other writers had overplace he calls attention to

first

the veneration in

which

Gauls

the

mistletoe and the tree on which

that that tree was the oak.

it

held

the

grew, provided

Hence

their pre-

oak groves and their requirement

dilection for

of oak leaves for all religious rites.

remarks on the consonance of

name Druid

the etymology of the

Pliny here

this practice with

as interpreted

even through Greek (the Greek for an oak being

Were not

drus).

this respect for the

oak and

by numerous examples
and plant-worship given by Dr. Frazer
and others, it might well have been suspected
that Pliny was here quoting some writer who
had tried to argue from the etymology of the
name Druid. Another suspicious circumstance
for the mistletoe paralleled

of tree

in Pliny's account

is

his reference to the serpent's

G^g composed of snakes rolled together into a

ball.

He

states that

an 'Q%g' of about the

states

too,

he himself had seen such

size of

an apple.

Pliny,

that Tiberius Ca3sar abolished by a

decree of the Senate the Druids and the kind

of

seers

and

physicians the Gauls then had.

This statement, when read in

its

bably refers to the prohibition of

fices.

The

context, pro-

human

sacri-

historian Suetonius, in his account

54

'

VARYING USE OF THE NAME DRUID

of tlae Emperor Claudius, also states that Augustus
had prohibited
the religion of the Druids
(which, he says, was one of fearful savagery ')
to Roman citizens, but that Claudius had entirely
'

'

abolished

What

it.

here also meant, in view

is

of the description given of Druidism,

the abolishing of

Latin writers

its

human

there

is

doubtless

sacrifices.

In later

several

are

references

to

Druidesses, but these were probably only sor-

In

ceresses.

name

the

Irish

(genitive

driti

druad) meant a magician, and the word derwydd

in mediaeval

Welsh was

especially used in refer-

ence to the vaticinations which were then popular

in Wales.

When we
first

analyse

testimony of ancient

the

concerning the Druids, we see in the

writers

place that to different minds the

noted different things.

name

for

whether

the

To

Cttjsar it is

non-military

name

con-

the general

professional

class,

priests, seers, teachers, lawyers, or judges.

To others the Druids

are pre-eminently the philo-

sophers and teachers of the Gauls, and are distinguished from the seers designated rates.

To

others again, such as Pliny, they were the priests

of the oak-ritual,

whence

their

name was

In view of the variety of grades of

civilisation

then co-existing in Gaul and Britain,

55

derived.

it

is

not

CELTIC RELIGION
improbable that the development of

the non-

military professional class varied very considerably

in different districts, and that all the aspects of
Druidism which the ancient writers specify found

their appropriate places in the social system of

In Gaul and Britain, as elsewhere,

the Celts.
the

man was
all

of

office

the

primitive

tribal

medicine-

capable of indefinite development, and

the forms of

evolution could not have

its

proceeded ^^ari passu Avhere the sociological conditions found such scope for variation.

well be that the oak

for

It

example, lingered in remote agricultural

tricts

long after they had ceased to interest

along the main routes of Celtic civilisation.

bucolic

may

and mistletoe ceremonies,

mind does not

readily

dis-

men
The

abandon the prac-

tices of millennia.

In addition to the term Druid, we find in

Aulus Hirtius' continuation

War

(Bk.

viii.,

inscriptions,

Loire),

c.

Caesar's

Oallic

on two

one at Le-Puy-en-Velay (Dep. Haute-

and the other

at

Macon (Dep.

Loire), another priestly title,

the

office is

of

xxxviii., 2), as well as

that of a

'

'

gutuater.'

Saone-et-

At Macon

gutuater Martis,' but of

special features nothing

is

56

known.

its

CHAPTER

VII

THE CELTIC OTHER-WORLD

In the preceding chapter we have seen that the

was widely prevalent among Greek and

Roman writers that the Druids taught the im-

belief

Some

mortality of the soul.

too,

point out the undoubted

of these
fact,

writers,

by

attested

Archaeology, that objects which would be service-

and

able to the living were buried with the dead,

this

was regarded as a confirmation of the view

that the immortality of souls was to the Celts an

object of belief.

The study

of Archaeology on the

one hand, and of Comparative Religion on the

other, certainly leads to

the conclusion that in

the Bronze and the Early Iron Age, and in

probability in the

all

Stone Age, the idea prevailed

that death was not the end of man.

The holed

cromlechs of the later Stone Age were probably

designed for the egress and ingress of
food

souls.

The

and the weapons that were buried with

the dead were thought to be objects of genuine

57

CELTIC RELIGION
Roman

need.

religion, too, in

some

of its rites

provided means for the periodical expulsion of

hungry and

by the

their pacification

and

and

hostile spirits of the dead,

offer of food.

for

tomb

adjuncts were meant not merely for the

its

honour of the dead, but

also for the protection

was
and beneficent ghosts
like the Manes, and the unsatisfied and hostile
To the
ghosts like the Lemures and Larvae.
Celtic mind, when its analytical powers had
of the

living.

line of distinction

clear

drawn between

satisfied

come

and

to

birth,

man was

sufficiently

self-

conscious to reflect upon himself, the problem of

his

own nature

pressed for some solution.

In

these solutions the breath, the blood, the name,

the head, and even the hair generally played a

part,

but these Avould not in themselves explain

the mysterious phenomena of sleep, of dreams, of

epileps}^ of madness, of disease, of

and his

reflection,

familiarity with

man's shadow

By

and of man's death.

long

the scientific or quasi-scientific

explanations of these things, we find

it

difficult

to realise fully their constant fascination for early

man, who

had

like ourselves.

of early

him

man

his

thinkers and

philosophies

One very widely accepted

solution

in the Celtic world was, that within

there was another self which could live a

58

EARLY IDEAS OF THE SOUL

life

of its

own apart from

body, and Avhich

tlie

survived even death, burial,

Some-

and burning.

times this inner self was associated with the breath,

whence, for example, the Latin

Welsh

'enaid,'

both meaning

for the

man's shadow
the

'

the soul,

from the

At other times the term

self had reference to

root an-, to breathe.

employed

anima and the

'

second

the Greek

'

skia,'

the Latin 'umbra,'

Welsh ysgawd,' the English

'

There

shade.'

'

are abundant evidences, too, that the life-principle

was frequently regarded as being especially

associated with the blood.

Another tendency, of

which Principal Rhys has given numerous examples in his Welsh folk-lore, was to regard the
soul

as

capable of taking a visible form, not

necessarily

human, preferably that

creature.

In ancient writers there

tion as to the views prevalent

of

some winged

is

no informa-

among

the Celts

regarding the forms or the abodes of the

of the dead,

spirits

beyond the statement that the Druids

taught the doctrine of their re-birth.

We

are

thus compelled to look to the evidence afforded

by myth, legend, and

indications

as

to

folk-lore.

the

types

of

These give
earlier

fair

popular

would be a mistake
to assume that the ideas embodied in them had
remained entirely unchanged from remote times.

belief in these matters,

but

59

it

CELTIC RELIGION
The mind

of

man

at certain levels is quite capable

new myths and fresh folk-lore along

of its own psychology and its own logic.

of evolving

the lines

The forms which the

soul could take doubtless

varied greatly in men's opinions in different districts

and

in different mental perspectives, but

tends to confirm the view that early

folk-lore

man, in the

Celtic world as elsewhere, tended to

emphasise his conception of

the subtlety and

mobility of the soul as contrasted with the body.

Sooner or later the primitive philosopher was

bound to consider whither the soul went in dreams

He may

have thought
of any other sphere than that of his own normal
or in death.

life,

first

but other questions, such as the

spirits of

him

home

of the

vegetation in or under the earth, would

suggest, even
to

not at

if

this

thought had not occurred

before, that the spirits of

entrance to the

men,

Whether

world below.

too,

this

had

world

was further pictured in imagination depended

on the poetic genius of any given people.
The folk-lore of the Celtic races bears abundant

largely

testimony to their belief that beneath this world

there was another.

was

The 'annwfn'

of the

distinctly conceived in the folk-lore

in mediaeval poetry as being

the world).

'

is

elfydd

Welsh

embodied
'

(beneath

In mediaeval Welsh legend, again,

60

THE HOME OF THE DEAD

this

lower world

kingdoms,

like

regarded

is

world,

this

Arawn and Hafgan

in

as

and

divided into

its

kings, like

the Mabinogi of Pwyll,

are represented as being sometimes engaged in

From this lower world had come to man

conflict.
some of the blessings of civilisation, and among
them the much prized gift of swine. The lower
world could be even plundered by enterprising
heroes.

Marriages like that of Pwyll and Rhiannon

were possible between the dwellers of the one

The other-world

world and the other.

of the

Celts does not seem, however, to have been always

pictured as beneath the earth.

legend combine in viewing

on distant

islands,

it

Irish

and Welsh

at times as situated

and Welsh

folk-lore contains

several suggestions of another world situated be-

neath the waters of a

In

lake, a river, or a sea.

one or two passages also of Welsh mediaeval poetry

the shades are represented as wandering in the

woods of Caledonia (Coed Celyddon).

This was

no doubt a traditional idea in those families that

migrated to Wales in post-Roman times from
Strathclyde.

To those who puzzled over the

fate

of the souls of the dead the idea of their re-birth

was a very natural solution, and Mr. Alfred Nutt,

in his

Voyage of Bran, has called attention

the occurrence of this idea in Irish legend.

6i

to
It

CELTIC RELIGION
does not follow, however, that the souls of

men would

all

enjoy the privilege of this re-birth.

As Mr. Alfred Nutt

points out, Irish legend seems

to regard this re-birth only as the privilege of

the truly great.

of interest to

It is

note the

curious persistence of similar ideas as to death

and the other-world in literature written even in

Christian times and by monastic scribes.
In
Welsh, in addition

seems

mean

to

names

to

the

Annwfn, a term which

we have other

Not-world,'

'

the world below, such as

for

the loveless place

'
:

difant,'

the

ever)

'
:

elfydd/

abyss

The upper-world

invisible.
'

affwys,' the

sometimes

'

'
;

is

adfant,'

it

men

place

difancoll,' lost

affan,'

the land

the
is

called.

latter

term

turned back.

implies a picture of the earth as

a disc, whose rim or lip

prevent

'

sometimes

meaning the place whose rim

Apparently

anghar,'

unrimmed

(whence the modern Welsh word

for

'

is

curved back so as to

fi-om falling over into the

or the rimless place.

'

difant,'

In modern Celtic folk-lore

the various local other-worlds are the abodes of

fairies,

and

in these traditions there

be, as Principal

may

possibly

Bhfs has suggested, some

mixture of remmiscences of the

ants of the various districts.
like mediaeval legend,

has

62

inter-

earlier inhabit-

Modern

its stories

folk-lore,

of^the inter-

CELTIC CONCEPTION OF OTHER-WORLD

marriages of natives of this world with those of
the other-world, often located underneath a lake.

The curious reader

such

Avill

examples of

find several

stories in Principal Rhys's collection of Welsh

In
and Manx folk-lore.
the most classical of these
of Etain, a

betrothal

Irish

legend one of

stories is that of the

which has several

story

points of contact with the narrative of the meet-

Welsh MaThe name of Arthur's wife, Gwenhwj'far,

which means the White Spectre,' also suggests

ing of Pwyll and Rhiannon in the

binogi.

'

that originally she too played a part in a story

same kind.

of the

narratives,

which the

it

In

these

all

and

similar

important to note the way in

is

Celtic conceptions of the other-world,

in Britain and in Ireland, have been coloured

by

the geographical aspects of these two countries,

by their
mounds,
local

seas,

their

their lakes,

other-worlds

islands,

and

On

lainn,

it is

the

in a boat

as

The
we

clear impress of their

we meet

in Celtic legend are

a land of youth and beauty.

Irish
to

which there

bear,

the whole the conceptions of the

other-world which

joyous

their

their mountains.

of these lands

might have expected, the

origin.

their caves,

is

hero, for example,

an exceedingly

fair

is

Cuchubrought

island round

a silver wall and a bronze palisade.

63

CELTIC RELIGION
In one Welsh legend the cauldron of the Head
of

Annwfn has around

it

a rim of pearls.

One

Irish story has a naive description of the glories

Elysium in the words

of the Celtic

was that land

bearing

one pig always

Gododin

the poet Aneirin

'

and another

we

find

In the Welsh poem called

a different picture.

alive,

Occasionally, however,

ready cooked.'

'

'

there are three trees there always

fruit,

Admirable

is

represented as

expressing his gratitude at being rescued by the

Hen from

son of Llywarch

the abode of death, from the

the earth, from

loveless land.'

the Celtic

'the cruel prison of

The

salient features, therefore, of

conceptions of

the other-world are

their consonance with the suggestions

Celtic

scenery to

the

Celtic

made by

imagination, the

vagueness and variability of these conceptions

in

different

minds and

in different moods, the

absence of any ethical considerations beyond the

incentive given to bravery by the thought of

immortality, and

the

remarkable development

of a sense of possible inter-relations between the

two worlds, whether

conceptions, as

we

pacific

or hostile.

Such

see from Celtic legend, proved

an admirable stimulus and provided excellent

material for the development of Celtic narrative,

and the weird and romantic

64

effect

was further

CELTIC SCENERY AND CHARACTER

heightened by the general behef in the possiMoreover,
bilities of magic and metamorphosis.
the association with innumerable place-names of
legends of this type gave the beautiful scenery of
Celtic lands an added charm, which has attached
their inhabitants to

them with a

subtle

and un-

conquerable attachment scarcely intelligible

the more

to

prosaic inhabitants of prosaic lands.

of country tends

To the poetic Celt the love

to become almost a religion.
cannot remain

The Celtic mind

and seas whose

indifferent to lands

very beauty compels the eyes of

man

to

gaze

upon them

and the

lines

to their very horizon,

of observation

thus drawn

to

the horizon are

for the Celt continual temptations to the

Celtic

mind

thought

The preoccupation

of an infinity beyond.

of the

with the deities of his scenerj^ his

springs, his rivers, his seas, his forests, his

tains, his lakes,

was

in

tenour of his mind,

surroundings.

moun-

thorough keeping with the

when tuned

to its natural

In dealing with Celtic

mythology, and legend,

it

is

not so

religion,

much

varying local and temporal forms that

the

demand

our attention, as the all-pervading and animating

spirit,

which shows

essential character

its

even

through the scanty remains of the ancient Celtic

world.

Celtic

religion

65

bears

the

impress of

CELTIC RELIGION
nature on earth far more than nature in

tlie

The sense of the heaven above has

perhaps survived in some of the general IndoEuropean Celtic terms for the divine principle,
and there are some traces of a religious interest
in the sun and the god of thunder and lightning,
but every student of Celtic religion must feel
that the main and characteristic elements are
heavens.

associated Avith the earth in

all

the variety of

its

The great earth-mother and

her varied offspring ever come to view in
Celtic
religion under many names, and the
phenomena.

local

features even of the other-world could not be dissociated for the Celt from those of his mother-

The

earth.

ated with

festivals of his year, too, Avere associ-

the

decay and the renewal of her

The bonfires of November, May,

Midsummer, ad August were doubtless meant

annual

to

life.

be associated

life

and

the

the

Avith

spirits

that

vicissitudes of her
Avere

her

children.

For the Celt the year began in November, so

that
first

that

its

second half-year commenced

of May.

The idea

Avith

Avhich Ca3sar

the

refers,

the Gauls believed themselves descended

from Dis, the god of the

the

to

loAver Avorld,

and began

year with the night, counting their time

not by days but by nights, points in the same

66

CELTIC RELIGION

AND NATURE'S

LIFE

direction, namely that the darkness of the earth

had a greater hold on the mind than the brightThe Welsh terms for a week
ness of the sky.
and a fortnight, wythnos (eight nights) and

nights)

'pythefnos (fifteen
Csesar's

statement.

more natural

confirm

respectively

To us now

to associate religion

it

may seem

with the con-

templation of the heavens, but for the Celtic lands

at any rate the main trend of the evidence is to
show that the religious mind was mainly drawn
to a contemplation of the earth and her varied
life,

and that the Celt looked

for his other-world

either beneath the earth, with her rivers, lakes,

and seas, or in the islands on the distant horizon,

where earth and sky met. This predominance
of the earth in religion was in thorough keeping
with the intensity of religion as a factor in his
daily pursuits.

It Avas this intensity that

gave the

Druids at some time or other in the history

of the

Western Celts the power which Caesar

and others assign

to

them.

The whole people

of

the Gauls, even with their military aristocracy,

were extremely devoted

to religious ideas,

these led to the inhumanit}' of

human

though

sacrifices.

At one time their sense of the reality of the otherw^orld was so great, that they believed that loans
contracted in this world would be repaid there,
67

CELTIC RELIGION
and

practical belief could not go

than

that.

it is,

in the comparative study of

religions, to investigate

sociological

each religion in

conclusion,

brief sketch,

the

whole

which

is

meaning of its terms.

writer

hopes

and practices of the

this

for

the religious

Celtic peoples, will help

to interest students of religion in the

of thought

that

based on an independent

study of the main evidence

modes

its

and geographical environment as well

as in the etymological

ideas

further

All these considerations tend to show

how important

In

much

dominant

which from time immemorial

held sway in these lands of the

West

of Europe,

folk-lore and custom occasionally

show themselves even in the midst of our highly
developed and complex civilisation of to-day.
The thought of early man on the problems of

and which in

his being

thought

for after all his superstitions reveal

deserve respect, for in his efforts to

think he was trying to grope towards the

68

light.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bh?s, Hibbert Lectures on

Rnf s,

Celtic Folk-lore,

Reinach,

S., Cultcs,

Celtic

Heathendom.

Welsh and Manx.

Mythes

et

Religion.

NuTT, Alfred, The Voyage of Bran.

Squire, Mythology of the British Islands.

Gaidoz, Esquisse de Mythologie gauloise.

Bertrand, La Religion

des Goiilnis, les

Druides

et le

Druidisme.

Frazer, The Golden Bough.

Joyce, The Social History of Ireland.

D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Druides

celtiques

et

les

dieux

a forme d'aiiimaux.

WiNDiscH, Irischc Tcxte mit Worterbuch.

Cynddelw, Cymru Fu.

FouLKES, Enwogion Cymru.

Campbell, Poimlar Tales of

69

the

West Highlands.

Prmtcl by

T.

and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty

at the

Edinburgh University Press.

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