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
We have the surface observations of classical observers, dedications in
the Romano-Celtic area to gods mostly assimilated to the gods of the
conquerors, figured monuments mainly of the same period, coins, symbols,
place and personal names. For the Irish Celts there is a mass of written
material found mainly in eleventh and twelfth century MSS. Much of this,
in spite of alteration and excision, is based on divine and heroic
myths, and it also contains occasional notices of ritual. From Wales
come documents like the _Mabinogion_, and strange poems the personages
of which are ancient gods transformed, but which tell nothing of rite or
cult.[2] Valuable hints are furnished by early ecclesiastical documents,
but more important is existing folk-custom, which preserves so much of
the old cult, though it has lost its meaning to those who now use it.
Folk-tales may also be inquired of, if we discriminate between what in
them is Celtic and what is universal. Lastly, Celtic burial-mounds and
other remains yield their testimony to ancient belief and custom.
From these sources we try to rebuild Celtic paganism and to guess at its
inner spirit, though we are working in the twilight on a heap of
fragments. No Celt has left us a record of his faith and practice, and
the unwritten poems of the Druids died with them. Yet from these
fragments we see the Celt as the seeker after God, linking himself by
strong ties to the unseen, and eager to conquer the unknown by religious
rite or magic art. For the things of the spirit have never appealed in
vain to the Celtic soul, and long ago classical observers were struck
with the religiosity of the Celts. They neither forgot nor transgressed
the law of the gods, and they thought that no good befell men apart from
their will.[3] The submission of the Celts to the Druids shows how they
welcomed authority in matters of religion, and all Celtic regions have
been characterised by religious devotion, easily passing over to
superstition, and by loyalty to ideals and lost causes. The Celts were
born dreamers, as their exquisite Elysium belief will show, and much
that is spiritual and romantic in more than one European literature is
due to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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