The Religion of the Ancient CeltsMacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Religion
The Religion of the Ancient Celts
MacCulloch, J. A. (John Arnott)
Celts -- Religion; Mythology, Celtic
and benefited all domestic animals--the old rite surviving in an
attenuated form, as described above.
Perhaps the goddess Damona was an animal divinity, if her name is
derived from _damatos_, "sheep," cognate to Welsh _dafad_, "sheep," and
Gaelic _damh_, "ox." Other divine animals, as has been seen, were
associated with the waters, and the use of beasts and birds in
divination doubtless points to their divine character. A cult of
bird-gods may lurk behind the divine name Bran, "raven," and the
reference to the magic birds of Rhiannon in the _Triads_.
3.
Animal worship is connected with totemism, and certain things point to
its existence among the Celts, or to the existence of conditions out of
which totemism was elsewhere developed. These are descent from animals,
animal tabus, the sacramental eating of an animal, and exogamy.
(1) _Descent from animals._--Celtic names implying descent from animals
or plants are of two classes, clan and personal names. If the latter are
totemistic, they must be derived from the former, since totemism is an
affair of the clan, while the so-called "personal totem," exemplified by
the American Indian _manitou_, is the guardian but never the ancestor of
a man. Some clan names have already been referred to. Others are the
Bibroci of south-east Britain, probably a beaver clan (_bebros_), and
the Eburones, a yew-tree clan (_eburos_).[730] Irish clans bore animal
names: some groups were called "calves," others "griffins," others "red
deer," and a plant name is seen in _Fir Bile_, "men of the tree."[731]
Such clan totemism perhaps underlies the stories of the "descendants of
the wolf" at Ossory, who became wolves for a time as the result of a
saintly curse. Other instances of lycanthropy were associated with
certain families.[732] The belief in lycanthropy might easily attach
itself to existing wolf-clans, the transformation being then explained
as the result of a curse. The stories of Cormac mac Art, suckled by a
she-wolf, of Lughaid mac Con, "son of a wolf-dog," suckled by that
animal, and of Oisin, whose mother was a fawn, and who would not eat
venison, are perhaps totemistic, while to totemism or to a cult of
animals may be ascribed what early travellers in Ireland say of the
people taking wolves as god-fathers and praying to them to do them no
ill.[733] In Wales bands of warriors at the battle of Cattraeth are
described in Oneurin's _Gododin_ as dogs, wolves, bears, and ravens,
while Owein's band of ravens which fought against Arthur, may have been
a raven clan, later misunderstood as actual ravens.[734] Certain groups
of Dalriad Scots bore animal names--Cinel Gabran, "Little goat clan,"
and Cinel Loarn, "Fox clan." Possibly the custom of denoting Highland
clans by animal or plant badges may be connected with a belief in
descent from plants or animals. On many coins an animal is represented
on horseback, perhaps leading a clan, as birds led the Celts to the
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