{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14672/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14672","id":"gutenberg_14672","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14672","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Religious","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Celts -- Religion","Mythology, Celtic","Paganism"],"text":"THE RELIGION\n\nOF THE\n\nANCIENT CELTS\n\nBY\n\nJ.A. MACCULLOCH\n\n\n\nHON. D.D.(ST. ANDREWS); HON. CANON OF CUMBRAE CATHEDRAL\n\nAUTHOR OF \"COMPARATIVE THEOLOGY\"\n\"RELIGION: ITS ORIGIN AND FORMS\" \"THE MISTY ISLE OF SKYE\"\n\"THE CHILDHOOD OF FICTION: A STUDY OF FOLK-TALES AND PRIMITIVE THOUGHT\"\n\nEdinburgh: T. & T. CLARK, 38 George Street\n\n1911\n\nPrinted by\n\nMORRISON & GIBB LIMITED,\n\nFOR\n\nT. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.\n\nLONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED.\n\nNEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.\n\nTO\n\nANDREW LANG\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe scientific study of ancient Celtic religion is a thing of recent\ngrowth. As a result of the paucity of materials for such a study,\nearlier writers indulged in the wildest speculative flights and\nconnected the religion with the distant East, or saw in it the remains\nof a monotheistic faith or a series of esoteric doctrines veiled under\npolytheistic cults. With the works of MM. Gaidoz, Bertrand, and D'Arbois\nde Jubainville in France, as well as by the publication of Irish texts\nby such scholars as Drs. Windisch and Stokes, a new era may be said to\nhave dawned, and a flood of light was poured upon the scanty remains of\nCeltic religion. In this country the place of honour among students of\nthat religion belongs to Sir John Rh[^y]s, whose Hibbert Lectures _On\nthe Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom_\n(1886) was an epoch-making work. Every student of the subject since that\ntime feels the immense debt which he owes to the indefatigable\nresearches and the brilliant suggestions of Sir John Rh[^y]s, and I\nwould be ungrateful if I did not record my indebtedness to him. In his\nHibbert Lectures, and in his later masterly work on _The Arthurian\nLegend_, however, he took the standpoint of the \"mythological\" school,\nand tended to see in the old stories myths of the sun and dawn and the\ndarkness, and in the divinities sun-gods and dawn-goddesses and a host\nof dark personages of supernatural character. The present writer,\nstudying the subject rather from an anthropological point of view and in\nthe light of modern folk survivals, has found himself in disagreement\nwith Sir John Rh[^y]s on more than one occasion. But he is convinced\nthat Sir John would be the last person to resent this, and that, in\nspite of his mythological interpretations, his Hibbert Lectures must\nremain as a source of inspiration to all Celtic students. More recently\nthe studies of M. Salomon Reinach and of M. Dottin, and the valuable\nlittle book on _Celtic Religion_, by Professor Anwyl, have broken fresh\nground.[1]\n\nIn this book I have made use of all the available sources, and have\nendeavoured to study the subject from the comparative point of view and\nin the light of the anthropological method. I have also interpreted the\nearlier cults by means of recent folk-survivals over the Celtic area\nwherever it has seemed legitimate to do so. The results are summarised\nin the introductory chapter of the work, and students of religion, and\nespecially of Celtic religion, must judge how far they form a true\ninterpretation of the earlier faith of our Celtic forefathers, much of\nwhich resembles primitive religion and folk-belief everywhere.\n\nUnfortunately no Celt left an account of his own religion, and we are\nleft to our own interpretations, more or less valid, of the existing\nmaterials, and to the light shed on them by the comparative study of\nreligions. As this book was written during a long residence in the Isle\nof Skye, where the old language of the people still survives, and where\nthe _genius loci_ speaks everywhere of things remote and strange, it may\nhave been easier to attempt to realise the ancient religion there than\nin a busier or more prosaic place. Yet at every point I have felt how\nmuch would have been gained could an old Celt or Druid have revisited\nhis former haunts, and permitted me to question him on a hundred matters\nwhich must remain obscure. But this, alas, might not be!\n\nI have to thank Miss Turner and Miss Annie Gilchrist for valuable help\nrendered in the work of research, and the London Library for obtaining\nfor me several works not already in its possession. Its stores are an\ninvaluable aid to all students working at a distance from libraries.\n\nJ.A. MACCULLOCH.\n\nTHE RECTORY,\nBRIDGE OF ALLAN,\n_October_ 1911.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] See also my article \"Celts\" in Hastings' _Encyclop\u00e6dia of Religion\nand Ethics_, vol. iii.\n\n[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Throughout this book, some characters are used\nwhich are not part of the Latin-1 character set used in this e-book. The\nstring \"[^y]\" is used to represent a lower-case \"Y\" with a circumflex\nmark on top of it, \"[=a]\" is used to represent a lower-case \"A\" with a\nline on top of it, and \"[oe]\" is used to represent the \"oe\"-ligature.\nNumbers in braces such as \"{3}\" are used to represent the superscription\nof numbers, which was used in the book to give edition numbers to\nbooks.]\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAP.                                               PAGE\n\nI. INTRODUCTORY                                        1\nII. THE CELTIC PEOPLE                                  8\nIII. THE GODS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS       22\nIV. THE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE                      49\nV. THE TUATHA D\u00c9 DANANN                               63\nVI. THE GODS OF THE BRYTHONS                          95\nVII. THE C\u00daCHULAINN CYCLE                            127\nVIII. THE FIONN SAGA                                 142\nIX.  GODS AND MEN                                    158\nX.  THE CULT OF THE DEAD                             165\nXI. PRIMITIVE NATURE WORSHIP                         171\nXII. RIVER AND WELL WORSHIP                          181\nXIII. TREE AND PLANT WORSHIP                         198\nXIV. ANIMAL WORSHIP                                  208\nXV. COSMOGONY                                        227\nXVI. SACRIFICE, PRAYER, AND DIVINATION               233\nXVII. TABU                                           252\nXVIII. FESTIVALS                                     256\nXIX. ACCESSORIES OF CULT                             279\nXX. THE DRUIDS                                       293\nXXI. MAGIC                                           319\nXXII. THE STATE OF THE DEAD                          333\nXXIII. REBIRTH AND TRANSMIGRATION                    348\nXXIV. ELYSIUM                                        362\n\n\n\nLIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES THROUGHOUT THIS WORK\n\n(_This list is not a Bibliography._)\n\nBRAND: Rev. J. Brand, _Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great\nBritain._ 3 vols. 1870.\n\nBLANCHET: A. Blanchet, _Trait\u00e9 des monnaies gauloises._ 2 vols. Paris,\n1905.\n\nBERTRAND: A. Bertrand, _Religion des gaulois._ Paris, 1897.\n\nCAMPBELL, _WHT_: J.F. Campbell, _Popular Tales of the West Highlands._ 4\nvols. Edinburgh, 1890.\n\nCAMPBELL _LF_: J.F. Campbell, _Leabhar na Feinne._ London, 1872.\n\nCAMPBELL, _Superstitions_: J.G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the\nHighlands and Islands of Scotland._ 1900.\n\nCAMPBELL, _Witchcraft_: J.G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in\nthe Highlands and Islands of Scotland._ 1902.\n\nCORMAC: _Cormac's Glossary._ Tr. by J. O'Donovan. Ed. by W. Stokes.\nCalcutta, 1868.\n\nCOURCELLE--SENEUIL.: J.L. Courcelle-Seneuil, _Les dieux gaulois d'apr\u00e8s\nles monuments figur\u00e9s._ Paris, 1910.\n\n_CIL_: _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum._ Berlin, 1863 f.\n\n_CM_: _Celtic Magazine._ Inverness, 1875 f.\n\nCURTIN, _HTI_: J. Curtin, _Hero Tales of Ireland._ 1894.\n\nCURTIN, _Tales_: J. Curtin, _Tales of the Fairies and Ghost World._\n1895.\n\nDALZELL: Sir J.G. Dalzell, _Darker Superstitions of Scotland._ 1835.\n\nD'ARBOIS: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Cours de litterature celtique._\n12 vols. Paris, 1883-1902.\n\nD'ARBOIS _Les Celtes_: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Les Celtes._ Paris,\n1904.\n\nD'ARBOIS _Les Druides_: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Les Druides et les\ndieux celtiques \u00e0 formes d'animaux._ Paris, 1906.\n\nD'ARBOIS _PH_: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, _Les premiers habitants de\nl'Europe._ 2 vols. Paris, 1889-1894.\n\nDOM MARTIN: Dom Martin, _Le religion des gaulois._ 2 vols. Paris, 1727.\n\nDOTTIN: G. Dottin, _Manuel pour servir a l'\u00e9tude de l'antiquit\u00e9\nceltique._ Paris, 1906.\n\nELTON: C.I. Elton, _Origins of English History._ London, 1890.\n\nFRAZER, _GB_{2}: J.G. Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}. 3 vols. 1900.\n\nGUEST: Lady Guest, _The Mabinogion._ 3 vols. Llandovery, 1849.\n\nHAZLITT: W.C. Hazlitt, _Faiths and Folk-lore: A Dictionary of National\nBeliefs, Superstitions, and Popular Customs._ 2 vols. 1905.\n\nHOLDER: A. Holder, _Altceltischer Sprachschatz._ 3 vols. Leipzig, 1891\nf.\n\nHULL: Miss E. Hull, _The Cuchullin Saga._ London, 1898.\n\n_IT_: See Windisch-Stokes.\n\n_JAI_: _Journal of the Anthropological Institute._ London, 1871 f.\n\nJOYCE, _OCR_: P.W. Joyce, _Old Celtic Romances_{2}. London, 1894.\n\nJOYCE, _PN_: P.W. Joyce, _History of Irish Names of Places_{4}. 2 vols.\nLondon, 1901.\n\nJOYCE, _SH_: P.W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland._ 2 vols.\nLondon, 1903.\n\nJULLIAN: C. Jullian, _Recherches sur la religion gauloise._ Bordeaux,\n1903.\n\nKEATING: Keating, _History of Ireland._ Tr. O'Mahony. London, 1866.\n\nKENNEDY: P. Kennedy, _Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts._ 1866.\n\nLARMINIE: W. Larminie, _West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances._ 1893.\n\nLEAHY: Leahy, _Heroic Romances of Ireland._ 2 vols. London, 1905.\n\nLE BRAZ: A. Le Braz, _La Legende de la Mort chez les Bretons\narmoricains._ 2 vols. Paris, 1902.\n\n_LL_: _Leabhar Laignech_ (Book of Leinster), facsimile reprint. London,\n1880.\n\nLOTH: Loth, _Le Mabinogion._ 2 vols. Paris, 1889.\n\n_LU_: _Leabhar na h-Uidhre_ (Book of the Dun Cow), facsimile reprint.\nLondon, 1870.\n\nMACBAIN: A. MacBain, _Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language._\nInverness, 1896.\n\nMACDOUGALL: Macdougall, _Folk and Hero Tales._ London, 1891.\n\nMACKINLAY: J.M. Mackinlay, _Folk-lore of Scottish Lochs and Springs._\nGlasgow, 1893.\n\nMARTIN: M. Martin, _Description of the Western Islands of Scotland_{2}.\nLondon, 1716.\n\nMAURY: A. Maury, _Croyances et legendes du Moyen Age._ Paris, 1896.\n\nMONNIER: D. Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es._ Paris, 1854.\n\nMOORE: A.W. Moore, _Folk-lore of the Isle of Man._ 1891.\n\nNUTT-MEYER: A. Nutt and K. Meyer, _The Voyage of Bran._ 2 vols. London,\n1895-1897.\n\nO'CURRY _MC_: E. O'Curry, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish._ 4\nvols. London, 1873.\n\nO'CURRY _MS. Mat_: E. O'Curry, _MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History._\nDublin, 1861.\n\nO'GRADY: S.H. O'Grady, _Silva Gadelica._ 2 vols. 1892.\n\nREES: Rev. W.J. Rees, _Lives of Cambro-British Saints._ Llandovery,\n1853.\n\nREINACH, BF: S. Reinach, _Bronzes Figur\u00e9s de la Gaule romaine._ Paris,\n1900.\n\nREINACH, BF _Catal. Sommaire_: S. Reinach, _Catalogue Commaire du Mus\u00e9e\ndes Antinquit\u00e9e Nationales_{4}. Paris.\n\nREINACH, BF CMR: S. Reinach, _Cultes, Mythes, et Religions._ 2 vols.\nParis, 1905.\n\nRC: _Revue Celtique._ Paris, 1870 f.\n\nRENEL: C. Renel, _Religions de la Gaule._ Paris 1906.\n\nRH[^Y]S, _AL_: Sir John Rh[^y]s, _The Arthurian Legend._ Oxford, 1891.\n\nRH[^Y]S, _CB_{4}: Sir John Rh[^y]s, _Celtic Britain_{4}. London, 1908.\n\nRH[^Y]S, _CFL_: Sir John Rh[^y]s, _Celtic Folk-Lore._ 2 vols. Oxford,\n1901.\n\nRH[^Y]S, _HL_: Sir John Rh[^y]s, _Hibbert Lectures on Celtic\nHeathendom._ London, 1888.\n\nS\u00c9BILLOT: P. Sebillot, _La Folk-lore de la France._ 4 vols. Paris, 1904\nf.\n\nSKENE: W.F. Skene, _Four Ancient Books of Wales._ 2 vols. Edinburgh,\n1868.\n\nSTOKES, _TIG_: Whitley Stokes, _Three Irish Glossaries._ London, 1862.\n\nSTOKES, _Trip. Life_: Whitley Stokes, _The Tripartite Life of Patrick._\nLondon 1887.\n\nSTOKES, _US_: Whitley Stokes, _Urkeltischer Sprachschatz._ G\u00f6ttingen,\n1894 (in Fick's _Vergleichende W\u00f6rterbuch_{4}).\n\nTAYLOR: I. Taylor, _Origin of the Aryans._ London, n.d.\n\n_TSC_: _Transactions of Society of Cymmrodor._\n\n_TOS_: _Transactions of the Ossianic Society._ Dublin 1854-1861.\n\n_Trip. Life_: See Stokes.\n\nWILDE: Lady Wilde, _Ancient Legends and Superstitions of Ireland._ 2\nvols. 1887.\n\nWINDISCH, _T\u00e1in_: E. Windisch, _Die altirische Heldensage T\u00e1in B\u00f3\nC\u00faalgne._ Leipzig, 1905.\n\nWINDISCH-STOKES, _IT_: E. Windisch and W. Stokes, _Irische Texte._\nLeipzig, 1880 f.\n\nWOOD-MARTIN: Wood-Martin, _Elder Faiths of Ireland._ 2 vols. London,\n1903.\n\n_ZCP_: _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Celtische Philologie._ Halle, 1897 f.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nINTRODUCTORY.\n\n\nTo summon a dead religion from its forgotten grave and to make it tell\nits story, would require an enchanter's wand. Other old faiths, of\nEgypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, are known to us. But in their case\nliturgies, myths, theogonies, theologies, and the accessories of cult,\nremain to yield their report of the outward form of human belief and\naspiration. How scanty, on the other hand, are the records of Celtic\nreligion! The bygone faith of a people who have inspired the world with\nnoble dreams must be constructed painfully, and often in fear and\ntrembling, out of fragmentary and, in many cases, transformed remains.\n\nWe have the surface observations of classical observers, dedications in\nthe Romano-Celtic area to gods mostly assimilated to the gods of the\nconquerors, figured monuments mainly of the same period, coins, symbols,\nplace and personal names. For the Irish Celts there is a mass of written\nmaterial found mainly in eleventh and twelfth century MSS. Much of this,\nin spite of alteration and excision, is based on divine and heroic\nmyths, and it also contains occasional notices of ritual. From Wales\ncome documents like the _Mabinogion_, and strange poems the personages\nof which are ancient gods transformed, but which tell nothing of rite or\ncult.[2] Valuable hints are furnished by early ecclesiastical documents,\nbut more important is existing folk-custom, which preserves so much of\nthe old cult, though it has lost its meaning to those who now use it.\nFolk-tales may also be inquired of, if we discriminate between what in\nthem is Celtic and what is universal. Lastly, Celtic burial-mounds and\nother remains yield their testimony to ancient belief and custom.\n\nFrom these sources we try to rebuild Celtic paganism and to guess at its\ninner spirit, though we are working in the twilight on a heap of\nfragments. No Celt has left us a record of his faith and practice, and\nthe unwritten poems of the Druids died with them. Yet from these\nfragments we see the Celt as the seeker after God, linking himself by\nstrong ties to the unseen, and eager to conquer the unknown by religious\nrite or magic art. For the things of the spirit have never appealed in\nvain to the Celtic soul, and long ago classical observers were struck\nwith the religiosity of the Celts. They neither forgot nor transgressed\nthe law of the gods, and they thought that no good befell men apart from\ntheir will.[3] The submission of the Celts to the Druids shows how they\nwelcomed authority in matters of religion, and all Celtic regions have\nbeen characterised by religious devotion, easily passing over to\nsuperstition, and by loyalty to ideals and lost causes. The Celts were\nborn dreamers, as their exquisite Elysium belief will show, and much\nthat is spiritual and romantic in more than one European literature is\ndue to them.\n\nThe analogy of religious evolution in other faiths helps us in\nreconstructing that of the Celts. Though no historic Celtic group was\nracially pure, the profound influence of the Celtic temperament soon\n\"Celticised\" the religious contributions of the non-Celtic element which\nmay already have had many Celtic parallels. Because a given Celtic rite\nor belief seems to be \"un-Aryan,\" it need not necessarily be borrowed.\nThe Celts had a savage past, and, conservative as they were, they kept\nmuch of it alive. Our business, therefore, lies with Celtic religion as\na whole. These primitive elements were there before the Celts migrated\nfrom the old \"Aryan\" home; yet since they appear in Celtic religion to\nthe end, we speak of them as Celtic. The earliest aspect of that\nreligion, before the Celts became a separate people, was a cult of\nnature spirits, or of the life manifested in nature. But men and women\nprobably had separate cults, and, of the two, perhaps that of the latter\nis more important. As hunters, men worshipped the animals they slew,\napologising to them for the slaughter. This apologetic attitude, found\nwith all primitive hunters, is of the nature of a cult. Other animals,\ntoo sacred to be slain, would be preserved and worshipped, the cult\ngiving rise to domestication and pastoral life, with totemism as a\nprobable factor. Earth, producing vegetation, was the fruitful mother;\nbut since the origin of agriculture is mainly due to women, the Earth\ncult would be practised by them, as well as, later, that of vegetation\nand corn spirits, all regarded as female. As men began to interest\nthemselves in agriculture, they would join in the female cults, probably\nwith the result of changing the sex of the spirits worshipped. An\nEarth-god would take the place of the Earth-mother, or stand as her\nconsort or son. Vegetation and corn spirits would often become male,\nthough many spirits, even when they were exalted into divinities,\nremained female.\n\nWith the growth of religion the vaguer spirits tended to become gods and\ngoddesses, and worshipful animals to become anthropomorphic divinities,\nwith the animals as their symbols, attendants, or victims. And as the\ncult of vegetation spirits centred in the ritual of planting and sowing,\nso the cult of the divinities of growth centred in great seasonal and\nagricultural festivals, in which the key to the growth of Celtic\nreligion is to be found. But the migrating Celts, conquering new lands,\nevolved divinities of war; and here the old female influence is still at\nwork, since many of these are female. In spite of possessing so many\nlocal war-gods, the Celts were not merely men of war. Even the _equites_\nengaged in war only when occasion arose, and agriculture as well as\npastoral industry was constantly practised, both in Gaul and Britain,\nbefore the conquest.[4] In Ireland, the belief in the dependence of\nfruitfulness upon the king, shows to what extent agriculture flourished\nthere.[5] Music, poetry, crafts, and trade gave rise to culture\ndivinities, perhaps evolved from gods of growth, since later myths\nattributed to them both the origin of arts and crafts, and the\nintroduction of domestic animals among men. Possibly some culture gods\nhad been worshipful animals, now worshipped as gods, who had given these\nanimals to man. Culture-goddesses still held their place among\nculture-gods, and were regarded as their mothers. The prominence of\nthese divinities shows that the Celts were more than a race of warriors.\n\nThe pantheon was thus a large one, but on the whole the divinities of\ngrowth were more generally important. The older nature spirits and\ndivine animals were never quite forgotten, especially by the folk, who\nalso preserved the old rituals of vegetation spirits, while the gods of\ngrowth were worshipped at the great festivals. Yet in essence the lower\nand the higher cults were one and the same, and, save where Roman\ninfluence destroyed Celtic religion, the older primitive strands are\neverywhere apparent. The temperament of the Celt kept him close to\nnature, and he never quite dropped the primitive elements of his\nreligion. Moreover, the early influence of female cults of female\nspirits and goddesses remained to the end as another predominant factor.\n\nMost of the Celtic divinities were local in character, each tribe\npossessing its own group, each god having functions similar to those of\nother groups. Some, however, had or gained a more universal character,\nabsorbing divinities with similar functions. Still this local character\nmust be borne in mind. The numerous divinities of Gaul, with differing\nnames--but, judging by their assimilation to the same Roman divinity,\nsimilar functions, are best understood as gods of local groups. This is\nprobably true also of Britain and Ireland. But those gods worshipped far\nand wide over the Celtic area may be gods of the undivided Celts, or\ngods of some dominant Celtic group extending their influence on all\nsides, or, in some cases, popular gods whose cult passed beyond the\ntribal bounds. If it seem precarious to see such close similarity in the\nlocal gods of a people extending right across Europe, appeal can be made\nto the influence of the Celtic temperament, producing everywhere the\nsame results, and to the homogeneity of Celtic civilisation, save in\nlocal areas, e.g. the South of Gaul. Moreover, the comparison of the\nvarious testimonies of onlookers points to a general similarity, while\nthe permanence of the primitive elements in Celtic religion must have\ntended to keep it everywhere the same. Though in Gaul we have only\ninscriptions and in Ireland only distorted myths, yet those testimonies,\nas well as the evidence of folk-survivals in both regions, point to the\nsimilarity of religious phenomena. The Druids, as a more or less\norganised priesthood, would assist in preserving the general likeness.\n\nThus the primitive nature-spirits gave place to greater or lesser gods,\neach with his separate department and functions. Though growing\ncivilisation tended to separate them from the soil, they never quite\nlost touch with it. In return for man's worship and sacrifices, they\ngave life and increase, victory, strength, and skill. But these\nsacrifices, had been and still often were rites in which the\nrepresentative of a god was slain. Some divinities were worshipped over\na wide area, most were gods of local groups, and there were spirits of\nevery place, hill, wood, and stream. Magic rites mingled with the cult,\nbut both were guided by an organised priesthood. And as the Celts\nbelieved in unseen gods, so they believed in an unseen region whither\nthey passed after death.\n\nOur knowledge of the higher side of Celtic religion is practically a\nblank, since no description of the inner spiritual life has come down to\nus. How far the Celts cultivated religion in our sense of the term, or\nhad glimpses of Monotheism, or were troubled by a deep sense of sin, is\nunknown. But a people whose spiritual influence has later been so great,\nmust have had glimpses of these things. Some of them must have known the\nthirst of the soul for God, or sought a higher ethical standard than\nthat of their time. The enthusiastic reception of Christianity, the\ndevotion of the early Celtic saints, and the character of the old Celtic\nchurch, all suggest this.\n\nThe relation of the Celtic church to paganism was mainly intolerant,\nthough not wholly so. It often adopted the less harmful customs of the\npast, merging pagan festivals in its own, founding churches on the sites\nof the old cult, dedicating sacred wells to a saint. A saint would visit\nthe tomb of a pagan to hear an old epic rehearsed, or would call up\npagan heroes from hell and give them a place in paradise. Other saints\nrecall dead heroes from the Land of the Blessed, and learn the nature of\nthat wonderland and the heroic deeds\n\n  \"Of the old days, which seem to be\n   Much older than any history\n   That is written in any book.\"\n\nReading such narratives, we gain a lesson in the fine spirit of\nChristian tolerance and Christian sympathy.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[2] Some writers saw in the bardic poetry a Druidic-esoteric system and\ntraces of a cult practised secretly by the bards--the \"Neo-Druidic\nheresy\"; see Davies, _Myth. of the Brit. Druids_, 1809; Herbert, _The\nNeo-Druidic Heresy_, 1838. Several French writers saw in \"Druidism\" a\nmonotheistic faith, veiled under polytheism.\n\n[3] Livy, v. 46; C\u00e6sar, vi. 16; Dion. Hal. vii. 70; Arrian, _Cyneg_.\nxxxv. 1.\n\n[4] C\u00e6sar, vi. 15, cf. v. 12, \"having waged war, remained there and\ncultivated the lands.\"\n\n[5] Cf. Pliny, _HN_ xvii. 7, xviii. 18 on the wheeled ploughs and\nagricultural methods of Gauls and Britons. Cf. also Strabo, iv. 1. 2,\niv. 5. 5; Girald. Camb. _Top. Hib._ i. 4, _Descr. Camb._ i. 8; Joyce,\n_SH_ ii. 264.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE CELTIC PEOPLE.\n\n\nScrutiny reveals the fact that Celtic-speaking peoples are of differing\ntypes--short and dark as well as tall and fairer Highlanders or\nWelshmen, short, broad-headed Bretons, various types of Irishmen. Men\nwith Norse names and Norse aspect \"have the Gaelic.\" But all alike have\nthe same character and temperament, a striking witness to the influence\nwhich the character as well as the language of the Celts, whoever they\nwere, made on all with whom they mingled. Ethnologically there may not\nbe a Celtic race, but something was handed down from the days of\ncomparative Celtic purity which welded different social elements into a\ncommon type, found often where no Celtic tongue is now spoken. It\nemerges where we least expect it, and the stolid Anglo-Saxon may\nsuddenly awaken to something in himself due to a forgotten Celtic strain\nin his ancestry.\n\nTwo main theories of Celtic origins now hold the field:\n\n(1) The Celts are identified with the progenitors of the short,\nbrachycephalic \"Alpine race\" of Central Europe, existing there in\nNeolithic times, after their migrations from Africa and Asia. The type\nis found among the Slavs, in parts of Germany and Scandinavia, and in\nmodern France in the region of C\u00e6sar's \"Celt\u00e6,\" among the Auvergnats,\nthe Bretons, and in Loz\u00e8re and Jura. Representatives of the type have\nbeen found in Belgian and French Neolithic graves.[6] Professor Sergi\ncalls this the \"Eurasiatic race,\" and, contrary to general opinion,\nidentifies it with the Aryans, a savage people, inferior to the\ndolichocephalic Mediterranean race, whose language they Aryanised.[7]\nProfessor Keane thinks that they were themselves an Aryanised folk\nbefore reaching Europe, who in turn gave their acquired Celtic and\nSlavic speech to the preceding masses. Later came the Belg\u00e6, Aryans, who\nacquired the Celtic speech of the people they conquered.[8]\n\nBroca assumed that the dark, brachycephalic people whom he identified\nwith C\u00e6sar's \"Celt\u00e6,\" differed from the Belg\u00e6, were conquered by them,\nand acquired the language of their conquerors, hence wrongly called\nCeltic by philologists. The Belg\u00e6 were tall and fair, and overran Gaul,\nexcept Aquitaine, mixing generally with the Celt\u00e6, who in C\u00e6sar's time\nhad thus an infusion of Belgic blood.[9] But before this conquest, the\nCelt\u00e6 had already mingled with the aboriginal dolichocephalic folk of\nGaul, Iberians, or Mediterraneans of Professor Sergi. The latter had\napparently remained comparatively pure from admixture in Aquitaine, and\nare probably the Aquitani of C\u00e6sar.[10]\n\nBut were the short, brachycephalic folk Celts? C\u00e6sar says the people who\ncall themselves \"Celt\u00e6\" were called Gauls by the Romans, and Gauls,\naccording to classical writers, were tall and fair.[11] Hence the Celt\u00e6\nwere not a short, dark race, and C\u00e6sar himself says that Gauls\n(including Celt\u00e6) looked with contempt on the short Romans.[12] Strabo\nalso says that Celt\u00e6 and Belg\u00e6 had the same Gaulish appearance, i.e.\ntall and fair. C\u00e6sar's statement that Aquitani, Galli, and Belg\u00e6 differ\nin language, institutions, and laws is vague and unsupported by\nevidence, and may mean as to language no more than a difference in\ndialects. This is also suggested by Strabo's words, Celt\u00e6 and Belg\u00e6\n\"differ a little\" in language.[13] No classical writer describes the\nCelts as short and dark, but the reverse. Short, dark people would have\nbeen called Iberians, without respect to skulls. Classical observers\nwere not craniologists. The short, brachycephalic type is now prominent\nin France, because it has always been so, eliminating the tall, fair\nCeltic type. Conquering Celts, fewer in number than the broad and\nnarrow-headed aborigines, intermarried or made less lasting alliances\nwith them. In course of time the type of the more numerous race was\nbound to prevail. Even in C\u00e6sar's day the latter probably outnumbered\nthe tall and fair Celts, who had, however, Celticised them. But\nclassical writers, who knew the true Celt as tall and fair, saw that\ntype only, just as every one, on first visiting France or Germany, sees\nhis generalised type of Frenchman or German everywhere. Later, he\nmodifies his opinion, but this the classical observers did not do.\nC\u00e6sar's campaigns must have drained Gaul of many tall and fair Celts.\nThis, with the tendency of dark types to out-number fair types in South\nand Central Europe, may help to explain the growing prominence of the\ndark type, though the tall, fair type is far from uncommon.[14]\n\n(2) The second theory, already anticipated, sees in Gauls and Belg\u00e6 a\ntall, fair Celtic folk, speaking a Celtic language, and belonging to the\nrace which stretched from Ireland to Asia Minor, from North Germany to\nthe Po, and were masters of Teutonic tribes till they were driven by\nthem from the region between Elbe and Rhine.[15] Some Belgic tribes\nclaimed a Germanic ancestry,[16] but \"German\" was a word seldom used\nwith precision, and in this case may not mean Teutonic. The fair hair of\nthis people has made many suppose that they were akin to the Teutons.\nBut fairness is relative, and the dark Romans may have called brown hair\nfair, while they occasionally distinguished between the \"fair\" Gauls and\nfairer Germans. Their institutions and their religions (_pace_ Professor\nRh[^y]s) differed, and though they were so long in contact the names of\ntheir gods and priests are unlike.[17] Their languages, again, though of\n\"Aryan\" stock, differ more from each other than does Celtic from Italic,\npointing to a long period of Italo-Celtic unity, before Italiotes and\nCelts separated, and Celts came in contact with Teutons.[18] The typical\nGerman differs in mental and moral qualities from the typical Celt.\nContrast an east country Scot, descendant of Teutonic stock, with a West\nHighlander, and the difference leaps to the eyes. Celts and Germans of\nhistory differ, then, in relative fairness, character, religion, and\nlanguage.\n\nThe tall, blonde Teutonic type of the Row graves is dolichocephalic. Was\nthe Celtic type (assuming that Broca's \"Celts\" were not true Celts)\ndolicho or brachy? Broca thinks the Belg\u00e6 or \"Kymri\" were\ndolichocephalic, but all must agree with him that the skulls are too few\nto generalise from. Celtic iron-age skulls in Britain are\ndolichocephalic, perhaps a recrudescence of the aboriginal type. Broca's\n\"Kymric\" skulls are mesocephalic; this he attributes to crossing with\nthe short round-heads. The evidence is too scanty for generalisation,\nwhile the Walloons, perhaps descendants of the Belg\u00e6, have a high index,\nand some Gauls of classical art are broad-headed.[19]\n\nSkulls of the British round barrows (early Celtic Bronze Age) are mainly\nbroad, the best specimens showing affinity to Neolithic brachycephalic\nskulls from Grenelle (though their owners were 5 inches shorter),\nSelaigneaux, and Borreby.[20] Dr. Beddoe thinks that the narrow-skulled\nBelg\u00e6 on the whole reinforced the meso- or brachycephalic round barrow\nfolk in Britain. Dr. Thurnam identifies the latter with the Belg\u00e6\n(Broca's Kymri), and thinks that Gaulish skulls were round, with\nbeetling brows.[21] Professors Ripley and Sergi, disregarding their\ndifference in stature and higher cephalic index, identify them with the\nshort Alpine race (Broca's Celts). This is negatived by Mr. Keane.[22]\nMight not both, however, have originally sprung from a common stock and\nreached Europe at different times?[23]\n\nBut do a few hundred skulls justify these far-reaching conclusions\nregarding races enduring for thousands of years? At some very remote\nperiod there may have been a Celtic type, as at some further period\nthere may have been an Aryan type. But the Celts, as we know them, must\nhave mingled with the aborigines of Europe and become a mixed race,\nthough preserving and endowing others with their racial and mental\ncharacteristics. Some Gauls or Belg\u00e6 were dolichocephalic, to judge by\ntheir skulls, others were brachycephalic, while their fairness was a\nrelative term. Classical observers probably generalised from the higher\nclasses, of a purer type; they tell us nothing of the people. But the\nhigher classes may have had varying skulls, as well as stature and\ncolour of hair,[24] and Irish texts tell of a tall, fair, blue-eyed\nstock, and a short, dark, dark-eyed stock, in Ireland. Even in those\ndistant ages we must consider the people on whom the Celts impressed\ntheir characteristics, as well as the Celts themselves. What happened on\nthe Eurasian steppe, the hypothetical cradle of the \"Aryans,\" whence the\nCelts came \"stepping westwards,\" seems clear to some, but in truth is a\nbook sealed with seven seals. The men whose Aryan speech was to dominate\nfar and wide may already have possessed different types of skull, and\nthat age was far from \"the very beginning.\"\n\nThus the Celts before setting out on their _Wanderjahre_ may already\nhave been a mixed race, even if their leaders were of purer stock. But\nthey had the bond of common speech, institutions, and religion, and they\nformed a common Celtic type in Central and Western Europe. Intermarriage\nwith the already mixed Neolithic folk of Central Europe produced further\nremoval from the unmixed Celtic racial type; but though both reacted on\neach other as far as language, custom, and belief were concerned, on the\nwhole the Celtic elements predominated in these respects. The Celtic\nmigration into Gaul produced further racial mingling with descendants of\nthe old pal\u00e6olithic stock, dolichocephalic Iberians and Ligurians, and\nbrachycephalic swarthy folk (Broca's Celts). Thus even the first Celtic\narrivals in Britain, the Goidels, were a people of mixed race, though\nprobably relatively purer than the late coming Brythons, the latest of\nwhom had probably mingled with the Teutons. Hence among Celtic-speaking\nfolk or their descendants--short, dark, broad-beaded Bretons, tall, fair\nor rufous Highlanders, tall chestnut-haired Welshmen or Irishmen,\nHighlanders of Norse descent, short, dark, narrow-headed Highlanders,\nIrishmen, and Welshmen--there is a common Celtic _facies_, the result of\nold Celtic characteristics powerful enough so to impress themselves on\nsuch varied peoples in spite of what they gave to the Celtic incomers.\nThese peoples became Celtic, and Celtic in speech and character they\nhave remained, even where ancestral physical types are reasserting\nthemselves. The folk of a Celtic type, whether pre-Celtic, Celtic, or\nNorse, have all spoken a Celtic language and exhibit the same old Celtic\ncharacteristics--vanity, loquacity, excitability, fickleness,\nimagination, love of the romantic, fidelity, attachment to family ties,\nsentimental love of their country, religiosity passing over easily to\nsuperstition, and a comparatively high degree of sexual morality. Some\nof these traits were already noted by classical observers.\n\nCeltic speech had early lost the initial _p_ of old Indo-European\nspeech, except in words beginning with _pt_ and, perhaps, _ps_. Celtic\n_pare_ (Lat. _pr\u00e6_) became _are_, met with in _Aremorici_, \"the dwellers\nby the sea,\" _Arecluta_, \"by the Clyde,\" the region watered by the\nClyde. Irish _athair_, Manx _ayr_, and Irish _iasg_, represent\nrespectively Latin _pater_ and _piscis_. _P_ occurring between vowels\nwas also lost, e.g. Irish _caora_, \"sheep,\" is from _kaperax_; _for_,\n\"upon\" (Lat. _super_), from _uper_. This change took place before the\nGoidelic Celts broke away and invaded Britain in the tenth century B.C.,\nbut while Celts and Teutons were still in contact, since Teutons\nborrowed words with initial _p_, e.g. Gothic _fairguni_, \"mountain,\"\nfrom Celtic _percunion_, later _Ercunio_, the Hercynian forest. The loss\nmust have occurred before 1000 B.C. But after the separation of the\nGoidelic group a further change took place. Goidels preserved the sound\nrepresented by _qu_, or more simply by _c_ or _ch_, but this was changed\ninto _p_ by the remaining continental Celts, who carried with them into\nGaul, Spain, Italy, and Britain (the Brythons) words in which _q_ became\n_p_. The British _Epidii_ is from Gaulish _epos_, \"horse,\" which is in\nOld Irish _ech_ (Lat. _equus_). The Parisii take their name from\n_Qarisii_, the Pictones or Pictavi of Poictiers from _Pictos_ (which in\nthe plural _Pidi_ gives us \"Picts\"), derived from _quicto_. This change\ntook place after the Goidelic invasion of Britain in the tenth century\nB.C. On the other hand, some continental Celts may later have regained\nthe power of pronouncing _q_. In Gaul the _q_ of _Sequana_ (Seine) was\nnot changed to _p_, and a tribe dwelling on its banks was called the\nSequani. This assumes that Sequana was a pre-Celtic word, possibly\nLigurian.[25] Professor Rh[^y]s thinks, however, that Goidelic tribes,\nidentified by him with C\u00e6sar's Celt\u00e6, existed in Gaul and Spain before\nthe coming of the Galli, and had preserved _q_ in their speech. To them\nwe owe Sequana, as well as certain names with _q_ in Spain.[26] This at\nleast is certain, that Goidelic Celts of the _q_ group occupied Gaul and\nSpain before reaching Britain and Ireland. Irish tradition and\narch\u00e6ological data confirm this.[27] But whether their descendants were\nrepresented by C\u00e6sar's \"Celt\u00e6\" must be uncertain. Celt\u00e6 and Galli,\naccording to C\u00e6sar, were one and the same,[28] and must have had the\nsame general form of speech.\n\nThe dialects of Goidelic speech--Irish, Manx, Gaelic, and that of the\ncontinental Goidels--preserved the _q_ sound; those of Gallo-Brythonic\nspeech--Gaulish, Breton, Welsh, Cornish--changed _q_ into _p_. The\nspeech of the Picts, perhaps connected with the Pictones of Gaul, also\nhad this _p_ sound. Who, then, were the Picts? According to Professor\nRh[^y]s they were pre-Aryans,[29] but they must have been under the\ninfluence of Brythonic Celts. Dr. Skene regarded them as Goidels\nspeaking a Goidelic dialect with Brythonic forms.[30] Mr. Nicholson\nthinks they were Goidels who had preserved the Indo-European _p_.[31]\nBut might they not be descendants of a Brythonic group, arriving early\nin Britain and driven northwards by newcomers? Professor Windisch and\nDr. Stokes regard them as Celts, allied to the Brythons rather than to\nthe Goidels, the phonetics of their speech resembling those of Welsh\nrather than Irish.[32]\n\nThe theory of an early Goidelic occupation of Britain has been contested\nby Professor Meyer,[33] who holds that the first Goidels reached Britain\nfrom Ireland in the second century, while Dr. MacBain[34] was of the\nopinion that England, apart from Wales and Cornwall, knew no Goidels,\nthe place-names being Brythonic. But unless all Goidels reached Ireland\nfrom Gaul or Spain, as some did, Britain was more easily reached than\nIreland by migrating Goidels from the Continent. Prominent Goidelic\nplace-names would become Brythonic, but insignificant places would\nretain their Goidelic form, and to these we must look for decisive\nevidence.[35] A Goidelic occupation by the ninth century B.C. is\nsuggested by the name \"Cassiterides\" (a word of the _q_ group) applied\nto Britain. If the Goidels occupied Britain first, they may have called\ntheir land _Qretanis_ or _Qritanis_, which Pictish invaders would change\nto _Pretanis_, found in Welsh \"Ynys Pridain,\" Pridain's Isle, or Isle of\nthe Picts, \"pointing to the original underlying the Greek [Greek:\nPretanikai N\u00easoi] or Pictish Isles,\"[36] though the change may be due to\ncontinental _p_ Celts trading with _q_ Celts in Britain. With the\nPictish occupation would agree the fact that Irish Goidels called the\nPicts who came to Ireland _Cruithne=Qritani=Pre-tani_. In Ireland they\nalmost certainly adopted Goidelic speech.\n\nWhether or not all the Pictish invaders of Britain were called\n\"Pictavi,\" this word or Picti, perhaps from _quicto_ (Irish _cicht_,\n\"engraver\"),[37] became a general name for this people. _Q_ had been\nchanged into _p_ on the Continent; hence \"Pictavi\" or \"Pictones,\" \"the\ntattooed men,\" those who \"engraved\" figures on their bodies, as the\nPicts certainly did. Dispossessed and driven north by incoming Brythons\nand Belg\u00e6, they later became the virulent enemies of Rome. In 306\nEumenius describes all the northern tribes as \"Caledonii and other\nPicts,\" while some of the tribes mentioned by Ptolemy have Brythonic\nnames or names with Gaulish cognates. Place-names in the Pictish area,\npersonal names in the Pictish chronicle, and Pictish names like\n\"Peanfahel,\"[38] have Brythonic affinities. If the Picts spoke a\nBrythonic dialect, S. Columba's need of an interpreter when preaching to\nthem would be explained.[39] Later the Picts were conquered by Irish\nGoidels, the Scotti. The Picts, however, must already have mingled with\naboriginal peoples and with Goidels, if these were already in Britain,\nand they may have adopted their supposed non-Aryan customs from the\naborigines. On the other hand, the matriarchate seems at one time to\nhave been Celtic, and it may have been no more than a conservative\nsurvival in the Pictish royal house, as it was elsewhere.[40] Britons,\nas well as Caledonii, had wives in common.[41] As to tattooing, it was\npractised by the Scotti (\"the scarred and painted men\"?), and the\nBritons dyed themselves with woad, while what seem to be tattoo marks\nappear on faces on Gaulish coins.[42] Tattooing, painting, and\nscarifying the body are varieties of one general custom, and little\nstress can be laid on Pictish tattooing as indicating a racial\ndifference. Its purpose may have been ornamental, or possibly to impart\nan aspect of fierceness, or the figures may have been totem marks, as\nthey are elsewhere. Finally, the description of the Caledonii, a Pictish\npeople, possessing flaming hair and mighty limbs, shows that they\ndiffered from the short, dark pre-Celtic folk.[43]\n\nThe Pictish problem must remain obscure, a welcome puzzle to\nantiquaries, philologists, and ethnologists. Our knowledge of Pictish\nreligion is too scanty for the interpretation of Celtic religion to be\naffected by it. But we know that the Picts offered sacrifice before\nwar--a Celtic custom, and had Druids, as also had the Celts.\n\nThe earliest Celtic \"kingdom\" was in the region between the upper waters\nof the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Danube, where probably in Neolithic\ntimes the formation of their Celtic speech as a distinctive language\nbegan. Here they first became known to the Greeks, probably as a\nsemi-mythical people, the Hyperboreans--the folk dwelling beyond the\nRipoean mountains whence Boreas blew--with whom Hecat\u00e6us in the fourth\ncentury identifies them. But they were now known as Celts, and their\nterritory as Celtica, while \"Galatas\" was used as a synonym of \"Celt\u00e6,\"\nin the third century B.C.[44] The name generally applied by the Romans\nto the Celts was \"Galli\" a term finally confined by them to the people\nof Gaul.[45] Successive bands of Celts went forth from this\ncomparatively restricted territory, until the Celtic \"empire\" for some\ncenturies before 300 B.C. included the British Isles, parts of the\nIberian peninsula, Gaul, North Italy, Belgium, Holland, great part of\nGermany, and Austria. When the German tribes revolted, Celtic bands\nappeared in Asia Minor, and remained there as the Galatian Celts.\nArch\u00e6ological discoveries with a Celtic _facies_ have been made in most\nof these lands but even more striking is the witness of place-names.\nCeltic _dunon_, a fort or castle (the Gaelic _dun_), is found in\ncompound names from Ireland to Southern Russia. _Magos_, \"a field,\" is\nmet with in Britain, France, Switzerland, Prussia, Italy, and Austria.\nRiver and mountain names familiar in Britain occur on the Continent. The\nPennine range of Cumberland has the same name as the Appenines. Rivers\nnamed for their inherent divinity, _devos_, are found in Britain and on\nthe Continent--Dee, Deva, etc.\n\nBesides this linguistic, had the Celts also a political unity over their\ngreat \"empire,\" under one head? Such a unity certainly did not prevail\nfrom Ireland to the Balkan peninsula, but it prevailed over a large part\nof the Celtic area. Livy, following Timagenes, who perhaps cited a lost\nCeltic epos, speaks of king Ambicatus ruling over the Celts from Spain\nto Germany, and sending his sister's sons, Bellovesus and Segovesus,\nwith many followers, to found new colonies in Italy and the Hercynian\nforest.[46] Mythical as this may be, it suggests the hegemony of one\ntribe or one chief over other tribes and chiefs, for Livy says that the\nsovereign power rested with the Bituriges who appointed the king of\nCelticum, viz. Ambicatus. Some such unity is necessary to explain Celtic\npower in the ancient world, and it was made possible by unity of race or\nat least of the congeries of Celticised peoples, by religious\nsolidarity, and probably by regular gatherings of all the kings or\nchiefs. If the Druids were a Celtic priesthood at this time, or already\nformed a corporation as they did later in Gaul, they must have\nendeavoured to form and preserve such a unity. And if it was never so\ncompact as Livy's words suggest, it must have been regarded as an ideal\nby the Celts or by their poets, Ambicatus serving as a central figure\nround which the ideas of empire crystallised. The hegemony existed in\nGaul, where the Arverni and their king claimed power over the other\ntribes, and where the Romans tried to weaken the Celtic unity by\nopposing to them the Aedni.[47] In Belgium the hegemony was in the hands\nof the Suessiones, to whose king Belgic tribes in Britain submitted.[48]\nIn Ireland the \"high king\" was supreme over other smaller kings, and in\nGalatia the unity of the tribes was preserved by a council with regular\nassemblies.[49]\n\nThe diffusion of the Ambicatus legend would help to preserve unity by\nrecalling the mythic greatness of the past. The Boii and Insubri\nappealed to transalpine Gauls for aid by reminding them of the deeds of\ntheir ancestors.[50] Nor would the Druids omit to infuse into their\npupils' minds the sentiment of national greatness. For this and for\nother reasons, the Romans, to whom \"the sovereignty of all Gaul\" was an\nobnoxious watch-word, endeavoured to suppress them.[51] But the Celts\nwere too widely scattered ever to form a compact empire.[52] The Roman\nempire extended itself gradually in the consciousness of its power; the\ncohesion of the Celts in an empire or under one king was made impossible\nby their migrations and diffusion. Their unity, such as it was, was\nbroken by the revolt of the Teutonic tribes, and their subjugation was\ncompleted by Rome. The dreams of wide empire remained dreams. For the\nCelts, in spite of their vigour, have been a race of dreamers, their\nconquests in later times, those of the spirit rather than of the mailed\nfist. Their superiority has consisted in imparting to others their\ncharacteristics; organised unity and a vast empire could never be\ntheirs.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[6] Ripley, _Races of Europe_; Wilser, _L'Anthropologie_, xiv. 494;\nCollignon, _ibid._ 1-20; Broca, _Rev. d'Anthrop._ ii. 589 ff.\n\n[7] Sergi, _The Mediterranean Race_, 241 ff., 263 ff.\n\n[8] Keane, _Man, Past and Present_, 511 ff., 521, 528.\n\n[9] Broca, _Mem. d'Anthrop._ i. 370 ff. Hovelacque thinks, with Keane,\nthat the Gauls learned Celtic from the dark round-heads. But Galatian\nand British Celts, who had never been in contact with the latter, spoke\nCeltic. See Holmes, _C\u00e6sar's Conquest of Gaul_, 311-312.\n\n[10] C\u00e6sar, i. 1; Collignon, _Mem. Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris_, 3{me} ser.\ni. 67.\n\n[11] C\u00e6sar, i. 1.\n\n[12] C\u00e6sar, ii. 30.\n\n[13] C\u00e6sar, i. 1; Strabo, iv. 1. 1.\n\n[14] Cf. Holmes, 295; Beddoe, _Scottish Review_, xix. 416.\n\n[15] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 175.\n\n[16] C\u00e6sar, ii. 4; Strabo, vii. 1. 2. Germans are taller and fairer than\nGauls; Tacitus, _Agric._ ii. Cf. Beddoe, _JAI_ xx. 354-355.\n\n[17] D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 374. Welsh Gwydion and Teutonic Wuotan may have\nthe same root, see p. 105. Celtic Taranis has been compared to Donar,\nbut there is no connection, and Taranis was not certainly a thunder-god.\nMuch of the folk-religion was alike, but this applies to folk-religion\neverywhere.\n\n[18] D'Arbois, ii. 251.\n\n[19] Beddoe, _L'Anthropologie_, v. 516. Tall, fair, and highly\nbrachycephalic types are still found in France, _ibid._ i. 213;\nBortrand-Reinach, _Les Celtes_, 39.\n\n[20] Beddoe, 516; _L'Anthrop._, v. 63; Taylor, 81; Greenwell, _British\nBarrows_, 680.\n\n[21] _Fort. Rev._ xvi. 328; _Mem. of London Anthr. Soc._, 1865.\n\n[22] Ripley, 309; Sergi, 243; Keane, 529; Taylor, 112.\n\n[23] Taylor, 122, 295.\n\n[24] The Walloons are both dark and fair.\n\n[25] D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 132.\n\n[26] Rh[^y]s, _Proc. Phil. Soc._ 1891; \"Celt\u00e6 and Galli,\" _Proc. Brit.\nAcad._ ii. D'Arbois points out that we do not know that these words are\nCeltic (_RC_ xii, 478).\n\n[27] See pp. 51, 376.\n\n[28] C\u00e6sar, i. 1.\n\n[29] _CB_{4} 160.\n\n[30] Skene, i. ch. 8; see p. 135.\n\n[31] _ZCP_ iii. 308; _Keltic Researches_.\n\n[32] Windisch, \"Kelt. Sprachen,\" Ersch-Gruber's _Encylop\u00e4die_; Stokes,\n_Linguistic Value of the Irish Annals_.\n\n[33] _THSC_ 1895-1896, 55 f.\n\n[34] _CM_ xii. 434.\n\n[35] In the Isle of Skye, where, looking at names of prominent places\nalone, Norse derivatives are to Gaelic as 3 to 2, they are as 1 to 5\nwhen names of insignificant places, untouched by Norse influence, are\nincluded.\n\n[36] Rh[^y]s, _CB_{4} 241.\n\n[37] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 22.\n\n[38] Bede, _Eccl. Hist._ i. 12.\n\n[39] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._\n\n[40] See p. 222.\n\n[41] Dio Cass. lxxvi. 12; C\u00e6sar, v. 14. See p. 223.\n\n[42] Isidore, _Etymol._ ix. 2, 103; Rh[^y]s, _CB_ 242-243; C\u00e6sar, v. 14;\nNicholson, _ZCP_ in. 332.\n\n[43] Tacitus, _Agric._ ii.\n\n[44] If _Celt\u00e6_ is from _qelo_, \"to raise,\" it may mean \"the lofty,\"\njust as many savages call themselves \"the men,\" _par excellence_.\nRh[^y]s derives it from _qel_, \"to slay,\" and gives it the sense of\n\"warriors.\" See Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _US_ 83. _Galat\u00e6_ is from _gala_\n(Irish _gal_), \"bravery.\" Hence perhaps \"warriors.\"\n\n[45] \"Galli\" may be connected with \"Galat\u00e6,\" but D'Arbois denies this.\nFor all these titles see his _PH_ ii. 396 ff.\n\n[46] Livy, v. 31 f.; D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 304, 391.\n\n[47] Strabo, iv. 10. 3; C\u00e6sar, i. 31, vii. 4; _Frag. Hist. Gr\u00e6c._ i.\n437.\n\n[48] C\u00e6sar, ii. 4.\n\n[49] Strabo, xii. 5. 1.\n\n[50] Polybius, ii. 22.\n\n[51] C\u00e6sar, i. 2, 1-3.\n\n[52] On the subject of Celtic unity see Jullian, \"Du patriotisme\ngaulois,\" _RC_ xxiii. 373.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE GODS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS.\n\n\nThe passage in which C\u00e6sar sums up the Gaulish pantheon runs: \"They\nworship chiefly the god Mercury; of him there are many symbols, and they\nregard him as the inventor of all the arts, as the guide of travellers,\nand as possessing great influence over bargains and commerce. After him\nthey worship Apollo and Mars, Juppiter and Minerva. About these they\nhold much the same beliefs as other nations. Apollo heals diseases,\nMinerva teaches the elements of industry and the arts, Juppiter rules\nover the heavens, Mars directs war.... All the Gauls assert that they\nare descended from Dispater, their progenitor.\"[53]\n\nAs will be seen in this chapter, the Gauls had many other gods than\nthese, while the Roman gods, by whose names C\u00e6sar calls the Celtic\ndivinities, probably only approximately corresponded to them in\nfunctions. As the Greeks called by the names of their own gods those of\nEgypt, Persia, and Babylonia, so the Romans identified Greek, Teutonic,\nand Celtic gods with theirs. The identification was seldom complete, and\noften extended only to one particular function or attribute. But, as in\nGaul, it was often part of a state policy, and there the fusion of cults\nwas intended to break the power of the Druids. The Gauls seem to have\nadopted Roman civilisation easily, and to have acquiesced in the process\nof assimilation of their divinities to those of their conquerors. Hence\nwe have thousands of inscriptions in which a god is called by the name\nof the Roman deity to whom he was assimilated and by his own Celtic\nname--Jupiter Taranis, Apollo Grannus, etc. Or sometimes to the name of\nthe Roman god is added a descriptive Celtic epithet or a word derived\nfrom a Celtic place-name. Again, since Augustus reinstated the cult of\nthe Lares, with himself as chief Lar, the epithet Augustus was given to\nall gods to whom the character of the Lares could be ascribed, e.g.\nBelenos Augustus. Cults of local gods became cults of the genius of the\nplace, coupled with the genius of the emperor. In some cases, however,\nthe native name stands alone. The process was aided by art. Celtic gods\nare represented after Greco-Roman or Greco-Egyptian models. Sometimes\nthese carry a native divine symbol, or, in a few cases, the type is\npurely native, e.g. that of Cernunnos. Thus the native paganism was\nlargely transformed before Christianity appeared in Gaul. Many Roman\ngods were worshipped as such, not only by the Romans in Gaul, but by the\nGauls, and we find there also traces of the Oriental cults affected by\nthe Romans.[54]\n\nThere were probably in Gaul many local gods, tribal or otherwise, of\nroads and commerce, of the arts, of healing, etc., who, bearing\ndifferent names, might easily be identified with each other or with\nRoman gods. C\u00e6sar's Mercury, Mars, Minerva, etc., probably include many\nlocal Minervas, Mars, and Mercuries. There may, however, have been a few\ngreat gods common to all Gaul, universally worshipped, besides the\nnumerous local gods, some of whom may have been adopted from the\naborigines. An examination of the divine names in Holder's\n_Altceltischer Sprachschatz_ will show how numerous the local gods of\nthe continental Celts must have been. Professor Anwyl reckons that 270\ngods are mentioned once on inscriptions, 24 twice, 11 thrice, 10 four\ntimes, 3 five times, 2 seven times, 4 fifteen times, 1 nineteen times\n(Grannos), and 1 thirty-nine times (Belenos).[55]\n\nThe god or gods identified with Mercury were very popular in Gaul, as\nC\u00e6sar's words and the witness of place-names derived from the Roman name\nof the god show. These had probably supplanted earlier names derived\nfrom those of the corresponding native gods. Many temples of the god\nexisted, especially in the region of the Allobrogi, and bronze\nstatuettes of him have been found in abundance. Pliny also describes a\ncolossal statue designed for the Arverni who had a great temple of the\ngod on the Puy de D\u00f4me.[56] Mercury was not necessarily the chief god,\nand at times, e.g. in war, the native war-gods would be prominent. The\nnative names of the gods assimilated to Mercury are many in number; in\nsome cases they are epithets, derived from the names of places where a\nlocal \"Mercury\" was worshipped, in others they are derived from some\nfunction of the gods.[57] One of these titles is Artaios, perhaps\ncognate with Irish _art_, \"god,\" or connected with _artos_, \"bear.\"\nProfessor Rh[^y]s, however, finds its cognate in Welsh _\u00e2r_, \"ploughed\nland,\" as if one of the god's functions connected him with\nagriculture.[58] This is supported by another inscription to Mercurius\nCultor at Wurtemberg. Local gods of agriculture must thus have been\nassimilated to Mercury. A god Moccus, \"swine,\" was also identified with\nMercury, and the swine was a frequent representative of the corn-spirit\nor of vegetation divinities in Europe. The flesh of the animal was often\nmixed with the seed corn or buried in the fields to promote fertility.\nThe swine had been a sacred animal among the Celts, but had apparently\nbecome an anthropomorphic god of fertility, Moccus, assimilated to\nMercury, perhaps because the Greek Hermes caused fertility in flocks and\nherds. Such a god was one of a class whose importance was great among\nthe Celts as an agricultural people.\n\nCommerce, much developed among the settled Gauls, gave rise to a god or\ngods who guarded roads over which merchants travelled, and boundaries\nwhere their transactions took place. Hence we have an inscription from\nYorkshire, \"To the god who invented roads and paths,\" while another\nlocal god of roads, equated with Mercury, was Cimiacinus.[59]\n\nAnother god, Ogm\u00edos, a native god of speech, who draws men by chains\nfastened to the tip of his tongue, is identified in Lucian with\nHeracles, and is identical with the Goidelic Ogma.[60] Eloquence and\nspeech are important matters among primitive peoples, and this god has\nmore likeness to Mercury as a culture-god than to Heracles, Greek\nwriters speaking of eloquence as binding men with the chains of Hermes.\n\nSeveral local gods, of agriculture, commerce, and culture, were thus\nidentified with Mercury, and the Celtic Mercury was sometimes worshipped\non hilltops, one of the epithets of the god, Dumias, being connected\nwith the Celtic word for hill or mound. Irish gods were also associated\nwith mounds.\n\nMany local gods were identified with Apollo both in his capacity of god\nof healing and also that of god of light.[61] The two functions are not\nincompatible, and this is suggested by the name Grannos, god of thermal\nsprings both in Britain and on the Continent. The name is connected with\na root which gives words meaning \"burning,\" \"shining,\" etc., and from\nwhich comes also Irish _grian_, \"sun.\" The god is still remembered in a\nchant sung round bonfires in Auvergne. A sheaf of corn is set on fire,\nand called \"Granno mio,\" while the people sing, \"Granno, my friend;\nGranno, my father; Granno, my mother.\"[62] Another god of thermal\nsprings was Borvo, Bormo, or Bormanus, whose name is derived from\n_borvo_, whence Welsh _berw_, \"boiling,\" and is evidently connected with\nthe bubbling of the springs.[63] Votive tablets inscribed Grannos or\nBorvo show that the offerers desired healing for themselves or others.\n\nThe name Belenos found over a wide area, but mainly in Aquileia, comes\nfrom _belo-s_, bright, and probably means \"the shining one.\" It is thus\nthe name of a Celtic sun-god, equated with Apollo in that character. If\nhe is the Belinus referred to by Geoffrey of Monmouth,[64] his cult must\nhave extended into Britain from the Continent, and he is often mentioned\nby classical writers, while much later Ausonius speaks of his priest in\nGaul.[65] Many place and personal names point to the popularity of his\ncult, and inscriptions show that he, too, was a god of health and of\nhealing-springs. The plant _Belinuntia_ was called after him and\nvenerated for its healing powers.[66] The sun-god's functions of light\nand fertility easily passed over into those of health-giving, as our\nstudy of Celtic festivals will show.\n\nA god with the name Maponos, connected with words denoting\n\"youthfulness,\" is found in England and Gaul, equated with Apollo, who\nhimself is called _Bonus Puer_ in a Dacian inscription. Another god\nMogons or Mogounos, whose name is derived from _Mago_, \"to increase,\"\nand suggests the idea of youthful strength, may be a form of the\nsun-god, though some evidence points to his having been a sky-god.[67]\n\nThe Celtic Apollo is referred to by classical writers. Diodorus speaks\nof his circular temple in an island of the Hyperboreans, adorned with\nvotive offerings. The kings of the city where the temple stood, and its\noverseers, were called \"Boreads,\" and every nineteenth year the god\nappeared dancing in the sky at the spring equinox.[68] The\nidentifications of the temple with Stonehenge and of the Boreads with\nthe Bards are quite hypothetical. Apollonius says that the Celts\nregarded the waters of Eridanus as due to the tears of Apollo--probably\na native myth attributing the creation of springs and rivers to the\ntears of a god, equated by the Greeks with Apollo.[69] The Celtic\nsun-god, as has been seen, was a god of healing springs.\n\nSome sixty names or titles of Celtic war-gods are known, generally\nequated with Mars.[70] These were probably local tribal divinities\nregarded as leading their worshippers to battle. Some of the names show\nthat these gods were thought of as mighty warriors, e.g. Caturix,\n\"battle-king,\" Belatu-Cadros--a common name in Britain--perhaps meaning\n\"comely in slaughter,\"[71] and Albiorix, \"world-king.\"[72] Another name,\nRigisamus, from _rix_ and _samus_, \"like to,\" gives the idea of\n\"king-like.\"[73]\n\nToutatis, Totatis, and Tutatis are found in inscriptions from Seckau,\nYork, and Old Carlisle, and may be identified with Lucan's Teutates, who\nwith Taranis and Esus mentioned by him, is regarded as one of three\npan-Celtic gods.[74] Had this been the case we should have expected to\nfind many more inscriptions to them. The scholiast on Lucan identifies\nTeutates now with Mars, now with Mercury. His name is connected with\n_teuta_, \"tribe,\" and he is thus a tribal war-god, regarded as the\nembodiment of the tribe in its warlike capacity.\n\nNeton, a war-god of the Accetani, has a name connected with Irish _nia_,\n\"warrior,\" and may be equated with the Irish war-god N\u00e9t. Another god,\nCamulos, known from British and continental inscriptions, and figured on\nBritish coins with warlike emblems, has perhaps some connection with\nCumal, father of Fionn, though it is uncertain whether Cumal was an\nIrish divinity.[75]\n\nAnother god equated with Mars is the Gaulish Braciaca, god of malt.\nAccording to classical writers, the Celts were drunken race, and besides\nimporting quantities of wine, they made their own native drinks, e.g.\n[Greek: chourmi], the Irish _cuirm_, and _braccat_, both made from malt\n(_braich_).[76] These words, with the Gaulish _brace_, \"spelt,\"[77] are\nconnected with the name of this god, who was a divine personification of\nthe substance from which the drink was made which produced, according to\nprimitive ideas, the divine frenzy of intoxication. It is not clear why\nMars should have been equated with this god.\n\nC\u00e6sar says that the Celtic Juppiter governed heaven. A god who carries a\nwheel, probably a sun-god, and another, a god of thunder, called\nTaranis, seem to have been equated with Juppiter. The sun-god with the\nwheel was not equated with Apollo, who seems to have represented Celtic\nsun-gods only in so far as they were also gods of healing. In some cases\nthe god with the wheel carries also a thunderbolt, and on some altars,\ndedicated to Juppiter, both a wheel and a thunderbolt are figured. Many\nraces have symbolised the sun as a circle or wheel, and an old Roman\ngod, Summanus, probably a sun-god, later assimilated to Juppiter, had as\nhis emblem a wheel. The Celts had the same symbolism, and used the wheel\nsymbol as an amulet,[78] while at the midsummer festivals blazing\nwheels, symbolising the sun, were rolled down a slope. Possibly the god\ncarries a thunderbolt because the Celts, like other races, believed that\nlightning was a spark from the sun.\n\nThree divinities have claims to be the god whom C\u00e6sar calls Dispater--a\ngod with a hammer, a crouching god called Cernunnos, and a god called\nEsus or Silvanus. Possibly the native Dispater was differently envisaged\nin different districts, so that these would be local forms of one god.\n\n1. The god Taranis mentioned by Lucan is probably the Taranoos and\nTaranucnos of inscriptions, sometimes equated with Juppiter.[79] These\nnames are connected with Celtic words for \"thunder\"; hence Taranis is a\nthunder-god. The scholiasts on Lucan identify him now with Juppiter, now\nwith Dispater. This latter identification is supported by many who\nregard the god with the hammer as at once Taranis and Dispater, though\nit cannot be proved that the god with the hammer is Taranis. On one\ninscription the hammer-god is called Sucellos; hence we may regard\nTaranis as a distinct deity, a thunder-god, equated with Juppiter, and\npossibly represented by the Taran of the Welsh tale of _Kulhwych_.[80]\n\nPrimitive men, whose only weapon and tool was a stone axe or hammer,\nmust have regarded it as a symbol of force, then of supernatural force,\nhence of divinity. It is represented on remains of the Stone Age, and\nthe axe was a divine symbol to the Mycen\u00e6ans, a hieroglyph of Neter to\nthe Egyptians, and a worshipful object to Polynesians and Chaldeans. The\ncult of axe or hammer may have been widespread, and to the Celts, as to\nmany other peoples, it was a divine symbol. Thus it does not necessarily\ndenote a thunderbolt, but rather power and might, and possibly, as the\ntool which shaped things, creative might. The Celts made _ex voto_\nhammers of lead, or used axe-heads as amulets, or figured them on altars\nand coins, and they also placed the hammer in the hand of a god.[81]\n\nThe god with the hammer is a gracious bearded figure, clad in Gaulish\ndress, and he carries also a cup. His plastic type is derived from that\nof the Alexandrian Serapis, ruler of the underworld, and that of\nHades-Pluto.[82] His emblems, especially that of the hammer, are also\nthose of the Pluto of the Etruscans, with whom the Celts had been in\ncontact.[83] He is thus a Celtic Dispater, an underworld god, possibly\nat one time an Earth-god and certainly a god of fertility, and ancestor\nof the Celtic folk. In some cases, like Serapis, he carries a _modius_\non his head, and this, like the cup, is an emblem of chthonian gods, and\na symbol of the fertility of the soil. The god being benevolent, his\nhammer, like the tool with which man forms so many things, could only be\na symbol of creative force.[84] As an ancestor of the Celts, the god is\nnaturally represented in Celtic dress. In one bas-relief he is called\nSucellos, and has a consort, Nantosvelta.[85] Various meanings have been\nassigned to \"Sucellos,\" but it probably denotes the god's power of\nstriking with the hammer. M. D'Arbois hence regards him as a god of\nblight and death, like Balor.[86] But though this Celtic Dispater was a\ngod of the dead who lived on in the underworld, he was not necessarily a\ndestructive god. The underworld god was the god from whom or from whose\nkingdom men came forth, and he was also a god of fertility. To this we\nshall return.\n\n2. A bearded god, probably squatting, with horns from each of which\nhangs a torque, is represented on an altar found at Paris.[87] He is\ncalled Cernunnos, perhaps \"the horned,\" from _cerna_, \"horn,\" and a\nwhole group of nameless gods, with similar or additional attributes,\nhave affinities with him.\n\n(a) A bronze statuette from Autun represents a similar figure, probably\nhorned, who presents a torque to two ram's-headed serpents. Fixed above\nhis ears are two small heads.[88] On a monument from Vandoeuvres is a\nsquatting horned god, pressing a sack. Two genii stand beside him on a\nserpent, while one of them holds a torque.[89]\n\n(b) Another squatting horned figure with a torque occurs on an altar\nfrom Reims. He presses a bag, from which grain escapes, and on it an ox\nand stag are feeding. A rat is represented on the pediment above, and on\neither side stand Apollo and Mercury.[90] On the altar of Saintes is a\nsquatting but headless god with torque and purse. Beside him is a\ngoddess with a cornucopia, and a smaller divinity with a cornucopia and\nan apple. A similar squatting figure, supported by male and female\ndeities, is represented on the other side of the altar.[91] On the altar\nof Beaune are three figures, one horned with a cornucopia, another\nthree-headed, holding a basket.[92] Three figures, one female and two\nmale, are found on the Dennevy altar. One god is three-faced, the other\nhas a cornucopia, which he offers to a serpent.[93]\n\n(c) Another image represents a three-faced god, holding a serpent with a\nram's head.[94]\n\n(d) Above a seated god and goddess on an altar from Malmaison is a block\ncarved to represent three faces. To be compared with these are seven\nsteles from Reims, each with a triple face but only one pair of eyes.\nAbove some of these is a ram's head. On an eighth stele the heads are\nseparated.[95]\n\nCernunnos may thus have been regarded as a three-headed, horned,\nsquatting god, with a torque and ram's-headed serpent. But a horned god\nis sometimes a member of a triad, perhaps representing myths in which\nCernunnos was associated with other gods. The three-headed god may be\nthe same as the horned god, though on the Beaune altar they are\ndistinct. The various representations are linked together, but it is not\ncertain that all are varying types of one god. Horns, torque, horned\nsnake, or even the triple head may have been symbols pertaining to more\nthan one god, though generally associated with Cernunnos.\n\nThe squatting attitude of the god has been differently explained, and\nits affinities regarded now as Buddhist, now as Greco-Egyptian.[96] But\nif the god is a Dispater, and the ancestral god of the Celts, it is\nnatural, as M. Mowat points out, to represent him in the typical\nattitude of the Gauls when sitting, since they did not use seats.[97]\nWhile the horns were probably symbols of power and worn also by chiefs\non their helmets,[98] they may also show that the god was an\nanthropomorphic form of an earlier animal god, like the wolf-skin of\nother gods. Hence also horned animals would be regarded as symbols of\nthe god, and this may account for their presence on the Reims monument.\nAnimals are sometimes represented beside the divinities who were their\nanthropomorphic forms.[99] Similarly the ram's-headed serpent points to\nanimal worship. But its presence with three-headed and horned gods is\nenigmatic, though, as will be seen later, it may have been connected\nwith a cult of the dead, while the serpent was a chthonian animal.[100]\nThese gods were gods of fertility and of the underworld of the dead.\nWhile the bag or purse (interchangeable with the cornucopia) was a\nsymbol of Mercury, it was also a symbol of Pluto, and this may point to\nthe fact that the gods who bear it had the same character as Pluto. The\nsignificance of the torque is also doubtful, but the Gauls offered\ntorques to the gods, and they may have been regarded as vehicles of the\nwarrior's strength which passed from him to the god to whom the victor\npresented it.\n\nThough many attempts have been made to prove the non-Celtic origin of\nthe three-headed divinities or of their images,[101] there is no reason\nwhy the conception should not be Celtic, based on some myth now lost to\nus. The Celts had a cult of human heads, and fixed them up on their\nhouses in order to obtain the protection of the ghost. Bodies or heads\nof dead warriors had a protective influence on their land or tribe, and\nmyth told how the head of the god Bran saved his country from invasion.\nIn other myths human heads speak after being cut off.[102] It might thus\neasily have been believed that the representation of a god's head had a\nstill more powerful protective influence, especially when it was\ntriplicated, thus looking in all directions, like Janus.\n\nThe significance of the triad on these monuments is uncertain but since\nthe supporting divinities are now male, now female, now male and female,\nit probably represents myths of which the horned or three-headed god was\nthe central figure. Perhaps we shall not be far wrong in regarding such\ngods, on the whole, as Cernunnos, a god of abundance to judge by his\nemblems, and by the cornucopia held by his companions, probably\ndivinities of fertility. In certain cases figures of squatting and\nhorned goddesses with cornucopia occur.[103] These may be consorts of\nCernunnos, and perhaps preceded him in origin. We may also go further\nand see in this god of abundance and fertility at once an Earth and an\nUnder-earth god, since earth and under-earth are much the same to\nprimitive thought, and fertility springs from below the earth's surface.\nThus Cernunnos would be another form of the Celtic Dispater. Generally\nspeaking, the images of Cernunnos are not found where those of the god\nwith the hammer (Dispater) are most numerous. These two types may thus\nbe different local forms of Dispater. The squatting attitude of\nCernunnos is natural in the image of the ancestor of a people who\nsquatted. As to the symbols of plenty, we know that Pluto was confounded\nwith Plutus, the god of riches, because corn and minerals came out of\nthe earth, and were thus the gifts of an Earth or Under-earth god.\nCeltic myth may have had the same confusion.\n\nOn a Paris altar and on certain steles a god attacks a serpent with a\nclub. The serpent is a chthonian animal, and the god, called Smertullos,\nmay be a Dispater.[104] Gods who are anthropomorphic forms of earlier\nanimal divinities, sometimes have the animals as symbols or attendants,\nor are regarded as hostile to them. In some cases Dispater may have\noutgrown the serpent symbolism, the serpent being regarded locally as\nhis foe; this assumes that the god with the club is the same as the god\nwith the hammer. But in the case of Cernunnos the animal remained as his\nsymbol.\n\nDispater was a god of growth and fertility, and besides being lord of\nthe underworld of the dead, not necessarily a dark region or the abode\nof \"dark\" gods as is so often assumed by writers on Celtic religion, he\nwas ancestor of the living. This may merely have meant that, as in other\nmythologies, men came to the surface of the earth from an underground\nregion, like all things whose roots struck deep down into the earth. The\nlord of the underworld would then easily be regarded as their\nancestor.[105]\n\n3. The hammer and the cup are also the symbols of a god called Silvanus,\nidentified by M. Mowat with Esus,[106] a god represented cutting down a\ntree with an axe. Axe and hammer, however, are not necessarily\nidentical, and the symbols are those of Dispater, as has been seen. A\npurely superficial connection between the Roman Silvanus and the Celtic\nDispater may have been found by Gallo-Roman artists in the fact that\nboth wear a wolf-skin, while there may once have been a Celtic wolf\ntotem-god of the dead.[107] The Roman god was also associated with the\nwolf. This might be regarded as one out of many examples of a mere\nsuperficial assimilation of Roman and Celtic divinities, but in this\ncase they still kept certain symbols of the native Dispater--the cup and\nhammer. Of course, since the latter was also a god of fertility, there\nwas here another link with Silvanus, a god of woods and vegetation. The\ncult of the god was widespread--in Spain, S. Gaul, the Rhine provinces,\nCisalpine Gaul, Central Europe and Britain. But one inscription gives\nthe name Selvanos, and it is not impossible that there was a native god\nSelvanus. If so, his name may have been derived from _selva_,\n\"possession,\" Irish _sealbh_, \"possession,\" \"cattle,\" and he may have\nbeen a chthonian god of riches, which in primitive communities consisted\nof cattle.[108] Domestic animals, in Celtic mythology, were believed to\nhave come from the god's land. Selvanus would thus be easily identified\nwith Silvanus, a god of flocks.\n\nThus the Celtic Dispater had various names and forms in different\nregions, and could be assimilated to different foreign gods. Since Earth\nand Under-earth are so nearly connected, this divinity may once have\nbeen an Earth-god, and as such perhaps took the place of an earlier\nEarth-mother, who now became his consort or his mother. On a monument\nfrom Salzbach, Dispater is accompanied by a goddess called Aeracura,\nholding a basket of fruit, and on another monument from Ober-Seebach,\nthe companion of Dispater holds a cornucopia. In the latter instance\nDispater holds a hammer and cup, and the goddess may be Aeracura.\nAeracura is also associated with Dispater in several inscriptions.[109]\nIt is not yet certain that she is a Celtic goddess, but her presence\nwith this evidently Celtic god is almost sufficient proof of the fact.\nShe may thus represent the old Earth-goddess, whose place the native\nDispater gradually usurped.\n\nLucan mentions a god Esus, who is represented on a Paris altar as a\nwoodman cutting down a tree, the branches of which are carried round to\nthe next side of the altar, on which is represented a bull with three\ncranes--Tarvos Trigaranos. The same figure, unnamed, occurs on another\naltar at Tr\u00e8ves, but in this case the bull's head appears in the\nbranches, and on them sit the birds. M. Reinach applies one formula to\nthe subjects of these altars--\"The divine Woodman hews the Tree of the\nBull with Three Cranes.\"[110] The whole represents some myth unknown to\nus, but M. D'Arbois finds in it some allusion to events in the\nC\u00fachulainn saga. To this we shall return.[111] Bull and tree are perhaps\nboth divine, and if the animal, like the images of the divine bull, is\nthree-horned, then the three cranes (_garanus_, \"crane\") may be a rebus\nfor three-horned (_trikeras_), or more probably three-headed\n(_trikarenos_).[112] In this case woodman, tree, and bull might all be\nrepresentatives of a god of vegetation. In early ritual, human, animal,\nor arboreal representatives of the god were periodically destroyed to\nensure fertility, but when the god became separated from these\nrepresentatives, the destruction or slaying was regarded as a sacrifice\nto the god, and myths arose telling how he had once slain the animal. In\nthis case, tree and bull, really identical, would be mythically regarded\nas destroyed by the god whom they had once represented. If Esus was a\ngod of vegetation, once represented by a tree, this would explain why,\nas the scholiast on Lucan relates, human sacrifices to Esus were\nsuspended from a tree. Esus was worshipped at Paris and at Tr\u00e8ves; a\ncoin with the name \u00c6sus was found in England; and personal names like\nEsugenos, \"son of Esus,\" and Esunertus, \"he who has the strength of\nEsus,\" occur in England, France, and Switzerland.[113] Thus the cult of\nthis god may have been comparatively widespread. But there is no\nevidence that he was a Celtic Jehovah or a member, with Teutates and\nTaranis, of a pan-Celtic triad, or that this triad, introduced by Gauls,\nwas not accepted by the Druids.[114] Had such a great triad existed,\nsome instance of the occurrence of the three names on one inscription\nwould certainly have been found. Lucan does not refer to the gods as a\ntriad, nor as gods of all the Celts, or even of one tribe. He lays\nstress merely on the fact that they were worshipped with human\nsacrifice, and they were apparently more or less well-known local\ngods.[115]\n\nThe insular Celts believed that some of their gods lived on or in hills.\nWe do not know whether such a belief was entertained by the Gauls,\nthough some of their deities were worshipped on hills, like the Puy de\nD\u00f4me. There is also evidence of mountain worship among them. One\ninscription runs, \"To the Mountains\"; a god of the Pennine Alps,\nPoeninus, was equated with Juppiter; and the god of the Vosges mountains\nwas called Vosegus, perhaps still surviving in the giant supposed to\nhaunt them.[116]\n\nCertain grouped gods, _Dii Casses_, were worshipped by Celts on the\nright bank of the Rhine, but nothing is known regarding their functions,\nunless they were road gods. The name means \"beautiful\" or \"pleasant,\"\nand _Cassi_ appears in personal and tribal names, and also in\n_Cassiterides_, an early name of Britain, perhaps signifying that the\nnew lands were \"more beautiful\" than those the Celts had left. When tin\nwas discovered in Britain, the Mediterranean traders called it [Greek:\nchassiteros], after the name of the place where it was found, as\n_cupreus_, \"copper,\" was so called from Cyprus.[117]\n\nMany local tutelar divinities were also worshipped. When a new\nsettlement was founded, it was placed under the protection of a tribal\ngod, or the name of some divinised river on whose banks the village was\nplaced, passed to the village itself, and the divinity became its\nprotector. Thus Dea Bibracte, Nemausus, and Vasio were tutelar\ndivinities of Bibracte, Nimes, and Vaison. Other places were called\nafter Belenos, or a group of divinities, usually the _Matres_ with a\nlocal epithet, watched over a certain district.[118] The founding of a\ntown was celebrated in an annual festival, with sacrifices and libations\nto the protecting deity, a practice combated by S. Eloi in the eighth\ncentury. But the custom of associating a divinity with a town or region\nwas a great help to patriotism. Those who fought for their homes felt\nthat they were fighting for their gods, who also fought on their side.\nSeveral inscriptions, \"To the genius of the place,\" occur in Britain,\nand there are a few traces of tutelar gods in Irish texts, but generally\nlocal saints had taken their place.\n\nThe Celtic cult of goddesses took two forms, that of individual and that\nof grouped goddesses, the latter much more numerous than the grouped\ngods. Individual goddesses were worshipped as consorts of gods, or as\nseparate personalities, and in the latter case the cult was sometimes\nfar extended. Still more popular was the cult of grouped goddesses. Of\nthese the _Matres_, like some individual goddesses, were probably early\nEarth-mothers, and since the primitive fertility-cults included all that\nmight then be summed up as \"civilisation,\" such goddesses had already\nmany functions, and might the more readily become divinities of special\ncrafts or even of war. Many individual goddesses are known only by their\nnames, and were of a purely local character.[119] Some local goddesses\nwith different names but similar functions are equated with the same\nRoman goddess; others were never so equated.\n\nThe Celtic Minerva, or the goddesses equated with her, \"taught the\nelements of industry and the arts,\"[120] and is thus the equivalent of\nthe Irish Brigit. Her functions are in keeping with the position of\nwoman as the first civiliser--discovering agriculture, spinning, the art\nof pottery, etc. During this period goddesses were chiefly worshipped,\nand though the Celts had long outgrown this primitive stage, such\nculture-goddesses still retained their importance. A goddess equated\nwith Minerva in Southern France and Britain is Belisama, perhaps from\n_qval_, \"to burn\" or \"shine.\"[121] Hence she may have been associated\nwith a cult of fire, like Brigit and like another goddess Sul, equated\nwith Minerva at Bath and in Hesse, and in whose temple perpetual fires\nburned.[122] She was also a goddess of hot springs. Belisama gave her\nname to the Mersey,[123] and many goddesses in Celtic myth are\nassociated with rivers.\n\nSome war-goddesses are associated with Mars--Nemetona (in Britain and\nGermany), perhaps the same as the Irish Nemon, and Cathubodua, identical\nwith the Irish war-goddess Badb-catha, \"battle-crow,\" who tore the\nbodies of the slain.[124] Another goddess Andrasta, \"invincible,\"\nperhaps the same as the Andarta of the Voconces, was worshipped by the\npeople of Boudicca with human sacrifices, like the native Bellona of the\nScordisci.[125]\n\nA goddess of the chase was identified with Artemis in Galatia, where she\nhad a priestess Camma, and also in the west. At the feast of the\nGalatian goddess dogs were crowned with flowers, her worshippers feasted\nand a sacrifice was made to her, feast and sacrifice being provided out\nof money laid aside for every animal taken in the chase.[126] Other\ngoddesses were equated with Diana, and one of her statues was destroyed\nin Christian times at Tr\u00e8ves.[127] These goddesses may have been thought\nof as rushing through the forest with an attendant train, since in later\ntimes Diana, with whom they were completely assimilated, became, like\nHolda, the leader of the \"furious host\" and also of witches'\nrevels.[128] The Life of C\u00e6sarius of Arles speaks of a \"demon\" called\nDiana by the rustics. A bronze statuette represents the goddess riding a\nwild boar,[129] her symbol and, like herself, a creature of the forest,\nbut at an earlier time itself a divinity of whom the goddess became the\nanthropomorphic form.\n\nGoddesses, the earlier spirits of the waters, protected rivers and\nsprings, or were associated with gods of healing wells. Dirona or Sirona\nis associated with Grannos mainly in Eastern Gaul and the Rhine\nprovinces, and is sometimes represented carrying grapes and grain.[130]\nThus this goddess may once have been connected with fertility, perhaps\nan Earth-mother, and if her name means \"the long-lived,\"[131] this would\nbe an appropriate title for an Earth-goddess. Another goddess, Stanna,\nmentioned in an inscription at Perigueux, is perhaps \"the standing or\nabiding one,\" and thus may also have been Earth-goddess.[132] Grannos\nwas also associated with the local goddesses Vesunna and Aventia, who\ngave their names to Vesona and Avanche. His statue also stood in the\ntemple of the goddess of the Seine, Sequana.[133] With Bormo were\nassociated Bormana in Southern Gaul, and Damona in Eastern Gaul--perhaps\nan animal goddess, since the root of her name occurs in Irish _dam_,\n\"ox,\" and Welsh _dafad_, \"sheep.\" Dea Brixia was the consort of\nLuxovius, god of the waters of Luxeuil. Names of other goddesses of the\nwaters are found on _ex votos_ and plaques which were placed in or near\nthem. The Roman Nymph\u00e6, sometimes associated with Bormo, were the\nequivalents of the Celtic water-goddesses, who survived in the\nwater-fairies of later folk-belief. Some river-goddesses gave their\nnames to many rivers in the Celtic area--the numerous Avons being named\nfrom Abnoba, goddess of the sources of the Danube, and the many Dees and\nDives from Divona. Clota was goddess of the Clyde, Sabrina had her\nthrone \"beneath the translucent wave\" of the Severn, Icauna was goddess\nof the Yonne, Sequana of the Seine, and Sinnan of the Shannon.\n\nIn some cases forests were ruled by goddesses--that of the Ardennes by\nDea Arduinna, and the Black Forest, perhaps because of the many waters\nin it, by Dea Abnoba.[134] While some goddesses are known only by being\nassociated with a god, e.g. Kosmerta with Mercury in Eastern Gaul,\nothers have remained separate, like Epona, perhaps a river-goddess\nmerged with an animal divinity, and known from inscriptions as a\nhorse-goddess.[135] But the most striking instance is found in the\ngrouped goddesses.\n\nOf these the _Deoe Matres_, whose name has taken a Latin form and whose\ncult extended to the Teutons, are mentioned in many inscriptions all\nover the Celtic area, save in East and North-West Gaul.[136] In art they\nare usually represented as three in number, holding fruit, flowers, a\ncornucopia, or an infant. They were thus goddesses of fertility, and\nprobably derived from a cult of a great Mother-goddess, the Earth\npersonified. She may have survived as a goddess Berecynthia; worshipped\nat Autun, where her image was borne through the fields to promote\nfertility, or as the goddesses equated with Demeter and Kore, worshipped\nby women on an island near Britain.[137] Such cults of a Mother-goddess\nlie behind many religions, but gradually her place was taken by an\nEarth-god, the Celtic Dispater or Dagda, whose consort the goddess\nbecame. She may therefore be the goddess with the cornucopia on\nmonuments of the horned god, or Aeracura, consort of Dispater, or a\ngoddess on a monument at Epinal holding a basket of fruit and a\ncornucopia, and accompanied by a ram's-headed serpent.[138] These\nsymbols show that this goddess was akin to the _Matres_. But she\nsometimes preserved her individuality, as in the case of Berecynthia and\nthe _Matres_, though it is not quite clear why she should have been thus\ntriply multiplied. A similar phenomenon is found in the close connection\nof Demeter and Persephone, while the Celts regarded three as a sacred\nnumber. The primitive division of the year into three seasons--spring,\nsummer, and winter--may have had its effect in triplicating a goddess of\nfertility with which the course of the seasons was connected.[139] In\nother mythologies groups of three goddesses are found, the Hathors in\nEgypt, the Moirai, Gorgons, and Grai\u00e6 of Greece, the Roman Fates, and\nthe Norse Norn\u00e6, and it is noticeable that the _Matres_ were sometimes\nequated with the Parc\u00e6 and Fates.[140]\n\nIn the _Matres_, primarily goddesses of fertility and plenty, we have\none of the most popular and also primitive aspects of Celtic religion.\nThey originated in an age when women cultivated the ground, and the\nEarth was a goddess whose cult was performed by priestesses. But in\ncourse of time new functions were bestowed on the _Matres_. Possibly\nriver-goddesses and others are merely mothers whose functions have\nbecome specialised. The _Matres_ are found as guardians of individuals,\nfamilies, houses, of towns, a province, or a whole nation, as their\nepithets in inscriptions show. The _Matres Domestic\u00e6_ are household\ngoddesses; the _Matres Trever\u00e6_, or _Gallaic\u00e6_, or _Vediant\u00e6_, are the\nmothers of Tr\u00e8ves, of the Gallaec\u00e6, of the Vediantii; the _Matres\nNemetiales_ are guardians of groves. Besides presiding over the fields\nas _Matres Campestr\u00e6_ they brought prosperity to towns and people.[141]\nThey guarded women, especially in childbirth, as _ex votos_ prove, and\nin this aspect they are akin to the _Junones_ worshipped also in Gaul\nand Britain. The name thus became generic for most goddesses, but all\nalike were the lineal descendants of the primitive Earth-mother.[142]\n\nPopular superstition has preserved the memory of these goddesses in the\nthree _bonnes dames_, _dames blanches_, and White Women, met by\nwayfarers in forests, or in the three fairies or wise women of\nfolk-tales, who appear at the birth of children. But sometimes they have\nbecome hateful hags. The _Matres_ and other goddesses probably survived\nin the beneficent fairies of rocks and streams, in the fairy Abonde who\nbrought riches to houses, or Esterelle of Provence who made women\nfruitful, or Aril who watched over meadows, or in beings like Melusine,\nViviane, and others.[143] In Gallo-Roman Britain the cult of the\n_Matres_ is found, but how far it was indigenous there is uncertain. A\nWelsh name for fairies, _Y Mamau_, \"the Mothers,\" and the phrase, \"the\nblessing of the Mothers\" used of a fairy benediction, may be a\nreminiscence of such goddesses.[144] The presence of similar goddesses\nin Ireland will be considered later.[145] Images of the _Matres_ bearing\na child have sometimes been taken for those of the Virgin, when found\naccidentally, and as they are of wood blackened with age, they are known\nas _Vierges Noires_, and occupy an honoured place in Christian\nsanctuaries. Many churches of N\u00f4tre Dame have been built on sites where\nan image of the Virgin is said to have been miraculously found--the\nimage probably being that of a pagan Mother. Similarly, an altar to the\n_Matres_ at Vaison is now dedicated to the Virgin as the \"good\nMother.\"[146]\n\nIn inscriptions from Eastern and Cisalpine Gaul, and from the Rhine and\nDanube region, the _Matron\u00e6_ are mentioned, and this name is probably\nindicative of goddesses like the _Matres_.[147] It is akin to that of\nmany rivers, e.g. the Marne or Meyrone, and shows that the Mothers were\nassociated with rivers. The Mother river fertilised a large district,\nand exhibited the characteristic of the whole group of goddesses.\n\nAkin also to the _Matres_ are the _Sulevi\u00e6_, guardian goddesses called\n_Matres_ in a few inscriptions; the _Comedov\u00e6_, whose name perhaps\ndenotes guardianship or power; the _Domin\u00e6_, who watched over the home,\nperhaps the _Dames_ of medi\u00e6val folk-lore; and the _Virgines_, perhaps\nan appellative of the _Matres_, and significant when we find that virgin\npriestesses existed in Gaul and Ireland.[148] The _Proxum\u00e6_ were\nworshipped in Southern Gaul, and the _Quadrivi\u00e6_, goddesses of\ncross-roads, at Cherbourg.[149]\n\nSome Roman gods are found on inscriptions without being equated with\nnative deities. They may have been accepted by the Gauls as new gods, or\nthey had perhaps completely ousted similar native gods. Others, not\nmentioned by C\u00e6sar, are equated with native deities, Juno with Clivana,\nSaturn with Arvalus, and to a native Vulcan the Celts vowed spoils of\nwar.[150] Again, many native gods are not equated with Roman deities on\ninscriptions. Apart from the divinities of Pyren\u00e6an inscriptions, who\nmay not be Celtic, the names of over 400 native deities, whether equated\nwith Roman gods or not, are known. Some of these names are mere\nepithets, and most of the gods are of a local character, known here by\none name, there by another. Only in a very few cases can it be asserted\nthat a god was worshipped over the whole Celtic area by one name, though\nsome gods in Gaul, Britain, and Ireland with different names have\ncertainly similar functions.[151]\n\nThe pantheon of the continental Celts was a varied one. Traces of the\nprimitive agricultural rites, and of the priority of goddesses to gods,\nare found, and the vaguer aspects of primitive nature worship are seen\nbehind the cult of divinities of sky, sun, thunder, forests, rivers, or\nin deities of animal origin. We come next to evidence of a higher stage,\nin divinities of culture, healing, the chase, war, and the underworld.\nWe see divinities of Celtic groups--gods of individuals, the family, the\ntribe. Sometimes war-gods assumed great prominence, in time of war, or\namong the aristocracy, but with the development of commerce, gods\nassociated with trade and the arts of peace came to the front.[152] At\nthe same time the popular cults of agricultural districts must have\nremained as of old. With the adoption of Roman civilisation, enlightened\nCelts separated themselves from the lower aspects of their religion, but\nthis would have occurred with growing civilisation had no Roman ever\nentered Gaul. In rural districts the more savage aspects of the cult\nwould still have remained, but that these were entirely due to an\naboriginal population is erroneous. The Celts must have brought such\ncults with them or adopted cults similar to their own wherever they\ncame. The persistence of these cults is seen in the fact that though\nChristianity modified them, it could not root them out, and in\nout-of-the-way corners, survivals of the old ritual may still be found,\nfor everywhere the old religion of the soil dies hard.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[53] C\u00e6sar, _de Bell. Gall._ vi. 17, 18.\n\n[54] Bloch (Lavisse), _Hist, de France_, i. 2, 419; Reinaoh, _BF_ 13,\n23.\n\n[55] _Trans. Gaelic Soc. of Inverness_, xxvi. p. 411 f.\n\n[56] Vallentin, _Les Dieux de la cit\u00e9 des Allobroges_, 15; Pliny, _HN_\nxxxiv. 7.\n\n[57] These names are Alaunius, Arcecius, Artaius, Arvernorix, Arvernus,\nAdsmerius, Canetonensis, Clavariatis, Cissonius, Cimbrianus, Dumiatis,\nMagniacus, Moecus, Toeirenus, Vassocaletus, Vellaunus, Visuoius,\nBiausius, Cimiacinus, Naissatis. See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[58] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 6.\n\n[59] H\u00fcbner, vii. 271; _CIL_ iii. 5773.\n\n[60] Lucian, _Heracles_, 1 f. Some Gaulish coins figure a head to which\nare bound smaller heads. In one case the cords issue from the mouth\n(Blanchet, i. 308, 316-317). These may represent Lucian's Ogm\u00edos, but\nother interpretations have been put upon them. See Robert, _RC_ vii.\n388; Jullian, 84.\n\n[61] The epithets and names are Anextiomarus, Belenos, Bormo, Borvo, or\nBormanus, Cobledulitavus, Cosmis (?), Grannos, Livicus, Maponos, Mogo or\nMogounos, Sianus, Toutiorix, Viudonnus, Virotutis. See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[62] Pommerol, _Ball. de Soc. d'ant. de Paris_, ii. fasc. 4.\n\n[63] See Holder, _s.v._ Many place-names are derived from _Borvo, e.g._\nBourbon l'Archambaut, which gave its name to the Bourbon dynasty, thus\nconnected with an old Celtic god.\n\n[64] See p. 102, _infra_.\n\n[65] Jul. Cap. _Maxim._ 22; Herodian, viii. 3; Tert. _Apol._ xxiv. 70;\nAuson. _Prof._ xi. 24.\n\n[66] Stokes derives _belinuntia_ from _beljo_-, a tree or leaf, Irish\n_bile_, _US_ 174.\n\n[67] Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _US_ 197; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 23; see p. 180,\n_infra_.\n\n[68] Diod. Sic. ii. 47.\n\n[69] Apoll. Rhod. iv. 609.\n\n[70] Albiorix, Alator, Arixo, Beladonnis, Barrex, Belatucadros,\nBolvinnus, Braciaca, Britovis, Buxenus, Cabetius, Camulus, Cariocecius,\nCaturix, Cemenelus, Cicollius, Carrus, Cocosus, Cociduis, Condatis,\nCnabetius, Corotiacus, Dinomogetimarus, Divanno, Dunatis, Glarinus,\nHalamardus, Harmogius, Ieusdriuus, Lacavus, Latabius, Leucetius,\nLeucimalacus, Lenus, Mullo, Medocius, Mogetius, Nabelcus, Neton, Ocelos,\nOllondios, Rudianus, Rigisamus, Randosatis, Riga, Segomo, Sinatis,\nSmertatius, Toutates, Tritullus, Vesucius, Vincius, Vitucadros,\nVorocius. See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[71] D'Arbois, ii. 215; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 37.\n\n[72] So Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 42.\n\n[73] H\u00fcbner, 61.\n\n[74] Holder, _s.v._; Lucan, i. 444 f. The opinions of writers who take\nthis view are collected by Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 137.\n\n[75] Holder, _s.v._ The Gaulish name Camulogenus, \"born of Cumel,\"\nrepresents the same idea as in Fionn's surname, MacCumall.\n\n[76] Athen. iv. 36; Dioscorides, ii. 110; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 116, 120; _IT_\ni. 437, 697.\n\n[77] Pliny, _HN_ xviii. 7.\n\n[78] Gaidoz, _Le Dieu Gaulois de Soleil_; Reinach, _CS_ 98, _BF_ 35;\nBlanchet, i. 27.\n\n[79] Lucan, _Phar._ i. 444. Another form, Tanaros, may be simply the\nGerman Donar.\n\n[80] Loth, i. 270.\n\n[81] Gaidoz, _RC_ vi. 457; Reinach, _OS_ 65, 138; Blanchet, i. 160. The\nhammer is also associated with another Celtic Dispater, equated with\nSylvanus, who was certainly not a thunder-god.\n\n[82] Reinach, _BF_ 137 f.; Courcelle-Seneuil, 115 f.\n\n[83] Barthelemy, _RC_ i. l f.\n\n[84] See Flouest, _Rev. Arch._ v. 17.\n\n[85] Reinach, _RC_ xvii. 45.\n\n[86] D'Arbois, ii. 126. He explains Nantosvelta as meaning \"She who is\nbrilliant in war.\" The goddess, however, has none of the attributes of a\nwar-goddess. M. D'Arbois also saw in a bas-relief of the hammer-god, a\nfemale figure, and a child, the Gaulish equivalents of Balor, Ethne, and\nLug (_RC_ xv. 236). M. Reinach regards Sucellos, Nantosvelta, and a bird\nwhich is figured with them, as the same trio, because pseudo-Plutarch\n(_de Fluv._ vi. 4) says that _lougos_ means \"crow\" in Celtic. This is\nmore than doubtful. In any case Ethne has no warlike traits in Irish\nstory, and as Lug and Balor were deadly enemies, it remains to be\nexplained why they appear tranquilly side by side. See _RC_ xxvi. 129.\nPerhaps Nantosvelta, like other Celtic goddesses, was a river nymph.\n_Nanto_ Gaulish is \"valley,\" and _nant_ in old Breton is \"gorge\" or\n\"brook.\" Her name might mean \"shining river.\" See Stokes, _US_ 193, 324.\n\n[87] _RC_ xviii. 254. Cernunnos may be the Juppiter Cernenos of an\ninscription from Pesth, Holder, _s.v._\n\n[88] Reinach, _BF_ 186, fig. 177.\n\n[89] _Rev. Arch._ xix. 322, pl. 9.\n\n[90] Bertrand, _Rev. Arch._ xv. 339, xvi. pl. 12.\n\n[91] Ibid. xv. pl. 9, 10.\n\n[92] Ibid. xvi. 9.\n\n[93] Ibid. pl. 12 _bis_.\n\n[94] Bertrand, _Rev. Arch._ xvi. 8.\n\n[95] Ibid. xvi. 10 f.\n\n[96] Ibid. xv., xvi.; Reinach, _BF_ 17, 191.\n\n[97] _Bull. Epig._ i. 116; Strabo, iv. 3; Diod. Sic. v. 28.\n\n[98] Diod. Sic. v. 30; Reinach, _BF_ 193.\n\n[99] See p. 212, _infra_.\n\n[100] See p. 166, _infra_.\n\n[101] See, e.g., Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 29; de Witte, _Rev. Arch._ ii.\n387, xvi. 7; Bertrand, _ibid._ xvi. 3.\n\n[102] See pp. 102, 242, _infra_; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 554; Curtin, 182; _RC_\nxxii. 123, xxiv. 18.\n\n[103] Dom Martin, ii. 185; Reinach, _BF_ 192, 199.\n\n[104] See, however, p. 136, _infra_; and for another interpretation of\nthis god as equivalent of the Irish Lug slaying Balor, see D'Arbois, ii.\n287.\n\n[105] See p. 229, _infra_.\n\n[106] Reinach, _BF_ 162, 184; Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 62, _Rev. Epig._\n1887, 319, 1891, 84.\n\n[107] Reinach, _BF_ 141, 153, 175, 176, 181; see p. 218, _infra_.\nFlouest, _Rev. Arch._ 1885, i. 21, thinks that the identification was\nwith an earlier chthonian Silvanus. Cf. Jullian, 17, note 3, who\nobserves that the Gallo-Roman assimilations were made \"sur le doinaine\narchaisant des faits populaires et rustiques de l'Italie.\" For the\ninscriptions, see Holder, _s.v._\n\n[108] Stokes, _US_ 302; MacBain, 274; _RC_ xxvi. 282.\n\n[109] Gaidoz, _Rev. Arch._ ii. 1898; Mowat, _Bull. Epig._ i. 119;\nCourcelle-Seneuil, 80 f.; Pauly-Wissowa, _Real. Lex._ i. 667;\nDaremberg-Saglio, _Dict._ ii., _s.v._ \"Dispater.\"\n\n[110] Lucan, i. 444; _RC_ xviii. 254, 258.\n\n[111] See p. 127, _infra_.\n\n[112] For a supposed connection between this bas-relief and the myth of\nGeryon, see Reinach, _BF_ 120; _RC_ xviii. 258 f.\n\n[113] _Coins of the Ancient Britons_, 386; Holder, i. 1475, 1478.\n\n[114] For these theories see Dom Martin, ii. 2; Bertrand, 335 f.\n\n[115] Cf. Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 149.\n\n[116] Orelli, 2107, 2072; Monnier, 532; Tacitus, xxi. 38.\n\n[117] Holder, i. 824; Reinach, _Rev. Arch._ xx. 262; D'Arbois, _Les\nCeltes_, 20. Other grouped gods are the Bacucei, Castoeci, Icotii,\nIfles, Lugoves, Nervini, and Silvani. See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[118] For all these see Holder, _s.v._\n\n[119] Professor Anwyl gives the following statistics: There are 35\ngoddesses mentioned once, 2 twice, 3 thrice, 1 four times, 2 six times,\n2 eleven times, 1 fourteen times (Sirona), 1 twenty-one times\n(Rosmerta), 1 twenty-six times (Epona) (_Trans. Gael. Soc. Inverness_,\nxxvi. 413).\n\n[120] C\u00e6sar, vi. 17.\n\n[121] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 54; _Rev. Arch._ i. 201. See Holder,\n_s.v._\n\n[122] Solinus, xxii. 10; Holder, _s.v._\n\n[123] Ptolemy, ii. 2.\n\n[124] See p. 71, _infra_.\n\n[125] Dio Cass. lxii. 7; Amm. Mare, xxvii. 4. 4.\n\n[126] Plutarch, _de Vir. Mul._ 20; Arrian, _Cyneg._ xxxiv. 1.\n\n[127] S. Greg. _Hist._ viii. 15.\n\n[128] Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 283, 933; Reinach, _RC_ xvi. 261.\n\n[129] Reinach, _BF_ 50.\n\n[130] Holder, i. 1286; Robert, _RC_ iv. 133.\n\n[131] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 27.\n\n[132] Anwyl, _Celt. Rev._ 1906, 43.\n\n[133] Holder, _s.v._; Bulliot, _RC_ ii. 22.\n\n[134] Holder, i. 10, 89.\n\n[135] Holder, _s.v._; see p. 213, _infra_.\n\n[136] Holder, ii. 463. They are very numerous in South-East Gaul, where\nalso three-headed gods are found.\n\n[137] See pp. 274-5, _infra_.\n\n[138] Courcelle-Seneuil, 80-81.\n\n[139] See my article \"Calendar\" in Hastings' _Encyclop. of Religion and\nEthics_, iii. 80.\n\n[140] _CIL_ v. 4208, 5771, vii. 927; Holder, ii. 89.\n\n[141] For all these titles see Holder, _s.v._\n\n[142] There is a large literature devoted to the _Matres_. See De Wal,\n_Die M\u00e6der Gottinem_; Vallentin, _Le Culte des Matr\u00e6_; Daremberg-Saglio,\n_Dict. s.v. Matres_; Ihm, _Jahrbuch. des Vereins von Alterth. in\nRheinlande_, No. 83; Roscher, _Lexicon_, ii. 2464 f.\n\n[143] See Maury, _F\u00e9es du Moyen Age_; S\u00e9billot, i. 262; Monnier, 439 f.;\nWright, _Celt, Roman, and Saxon_, 286 f.; Vallentin, _RC_ iv. 29. The\n_Matres_ may already have had a sinister aspect in Roman times, as they\nappear to be intended by an inscription _Lamiis Tribus_ on an altar at\nNewcastle. H\u00fcbner, 507.\n\n[144] Anwyl, _Celt. Rev._ 1906, 28. Cf. _Y Foel Famau_, \"the hill of the\nMothers,\" in the Clwydian range.\n\n[145] See p. 73, _infra_.\n\n[146] Vallentin, _op. cit._ iv. 29; Maury, _Croyances du Moyen Age_,\n382.\n\n[147] Holder, _s.v._\n\n[148] See pp. 69, 317, _infra_.\n\n[149] For all these see Holder, _s.v._; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 103; _RC_ iv. 34.\n\n[150] Florus, ii. 4.\n\n[151] See the table of identifications, p. 125, _infra_.\n\n[152] We need not assume with Jullian, 18, that there was one supreme\ngod, now a war-god, now a god of peace. Any prominent god may have\nbecome a war-god on occasion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE.\n\n\nThree divine and heroic cycles of myths are known in Ireland, one\ntelling of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, the others of C\u00fachulainn and of the\nFians. They are distinct in character and contents, but the gods of the\nfirst cycle often help the heroes of the other groups, as the gods of\nGreece and India assisted the heroes of the epics. We shall see that\nsome of the personages of these cycles may have been known in Gaul; they\nare remembered in Wales, but, in the Highlands, where stories of\nC\u00fachulainn and Fionn are still told, the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann are less known\nnow than in 1567, when Bishop Carsewell lamented the love of the\nHighlanders for \"idle, turbulent, lying, worldly stories concerning the\nTuatha D\u00e9danans.\"[153]\n\nAs the new Ach\u00e6an religion in Greece and the Vedic sacred books of India\nregarded the aboriginal gods and heroes as demons and goblins, so did\nChristianity in Ireland sometimes speak of the older gods there. On the\nother hand, it was mainly Christian scribes who changed the old\nmythology into history, and made the gods and heroes kings. Doubtless\nmyths already existed, telling of the descent of rulers and people from\ndivinities, just as the Gauls spoke of their descent from Dispater, or\nas the Incas of Peru, the Mikados of Japan, and the kings of Uganda\nconsidered themselves offspring of the gods. This is a universal\npractice, and made it the more easy for Christian chroniclers to\ntransmute myth into history. In Ireland, as elsewhere, myth doubtless\ntold of monstrous races inhabiting the land in earlier days, of the\nstrife of the aborigines and incomers, and of their gods, though the\naboriginal gods may in some cases have been identified with Celtic gods,\nor worshipped in their own persons. Many mythical elements may therefore\nbe looked for in the euhemerised chronicles of ancient Ireland. But the\nchroniclers themselves were but the continuers of a process which must\nhave been at work as soon as the influence of Christianity began to be\nfelt.[154] Their passion, however, was to show the descent of the Irish\nand the older peoples from the old Biblical personages, a process dear\nto the modern Anglo-Israelite, some of whose arguments are based on the\nwild romancing of the chroniclers.\n\nVarious stories were told of the first peopling of Ireland. Banba, with\ntwo other daughters of Cain, arrived with fifty women and three men,\nonly to die of the plague. Three fishermen next discovered Ireland, and\n\"of the island of Banba of Fair Women with hardihood they took\npossession.\" Having gone to fetch their wives, they perished in the\ndeluge at Tuath Inba.[155] A more popular account was that of the coming\nof Cessair, Noah's granddaughter, with her father, husband, a third man,\nLadru, \"the first dead man of Erin,\" and fifty damsels. Her coming was\nthe result of the advice of a _laimh-dhia_, or \"hand-god,\" but their\nship was wrecked, and all save her husband, Finntain, who survived for\ncenturies, perished in the flood.[156] Cessair's ship was less\nserviceable than her grandparent's! Followed the race of Partholan, \"no\nwiser one than the other,\" who increased on the land until plague swept\nthem away, with the exception of Tuan mac Caraill, who after many\ntransformations, told the story of Ireland to S. Finnen centuries\nafter.[157] The survival of Finntain and Tuan, doubles of each other,\nwas an invention of the chroniclers, to explain the survival of the\nhistory of colonists who had all perished. Keating, on the other hand,\nrejecting the sole survivor theory as contradictory to Scripture,\nsuggests that \"aerial demons,\" followers of the invaders, revealed all\nto the chroniclers, unless indeed they found it engraved with \"an iron\npen and lead in the rocks.\"[158]\n\nTwo hundred years before Partholan's coming, the Fomorians had\narrived,[159] and they and their chief Cichol Gricenchos fought\nPartholan at Mag Itha, where they were defeated. Cichol was footless,\nand some of his host had but one arm and one leg.[160] They were demons,\naccording to the chroniclers, and descendants of the luckless Ham.\nNennius makes Partholan and his men the first Scots who came from Spain\nto Ireland. The next arrivals were the people of Nemed who returned to\nSpain, whence they came (Nennius), or died to a man (Tuan). They also\nwere descendants of the inevitable Noah, and their sojourn in Ireland\nwas much disturbed by the Fomorians who had recovered from their defeat,\nand finally overpowered the Nemedians after the death of Nemed.[161]\nFrom Tory Island the Fomorians ruled Ireland, and forced the Nemedians\nto pay them annually on the eve of Samhain (Nov. 1st) two-thirds of\ntheir corn and milk and of the children born during the year. If the\nFomorians are gods of darkness, or, preferably, aboriginal deities, the\ntribute must be explained as a dim memory of sacrifice offered at the\nbeginning of winter when the powers of darkness and blight are in the\nascendant. The Fomorians had a tower of glass in Tory Island. This was\none day seen by the Milesians, to whom appeared on its battlements what\nseemed to be men. A year after they attacked the tower and were\noverwhelmed in the sea.[162] From the survivors of a previously wrecked\nvessel of their fleet are descended the Irish. Another version makes the\nNemedians the assailants. Thirty of them survived their defeat, some of\nthem going to Scotland or Man (the Britons), some to Greece (to return\nas the Firbolgs), some to the north, where they learned magic and\nreturned as the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[163] The Firbolgs, \"men of bags,\"\nresenting their ignominious treatment by the Greeks, escaped to Ireland.\nThey included the Firbolgs proper, the Fir-Domnann, and the\nGalioin.[164] The Fomorians are called their gods, and this, with the\ncontemptuous epithets bestowed on them, may point to the fact that the\nFirbolgs were the pre-Celtic folk of Ireland and the Fomorians their\ndivinities, hostile to the gods of the Celts or regarded as dark\ndeities. The Firbolgs are vassals of Ailill and Medb, and with the Fir\nDomnann and Galioin are hostile to C\u00fachulainn and his men,[165] just as\nFomorians were to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. The strifes of races and of\ntheir gods are inextricably confused.\n\nThe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann arrived from heaven--an idea in keeping with their\ncharacter as beneficent gods, but later legend told how they came from\nthe north. They reached Ireland on Beltane, shrouded in a magic mist,\nand finally, after one or, in other accounts, two battles, defeated the\nFirbolgs and Fomorians at Magtured. The older story of one battle may be\nregarded as a euhemerised account of the seeming conflict of nature\npowers.[166] The first battle is described in a fifteenth to sixteenth\ncentury MS.,[167] and is referred to in a fifteenth century account of\nthe second battle, full of archaic reminiscences, and composed from\nvarious earlier documents.[168] The Firbolgs, defeated in the first\nbattle, join the Fomorians, after great losses. Meanwhile Nuada, leader\nof the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, lost his hand, and as no king with a blemish\ncould sit on the throne, the crown was given to Bres, son of the\nFomorian Elatha and his sister Eri, a woman of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. One\nday Eri espied a silver boat speeding to her across the sea. From it\nstepped forth a magnificent hero, and without delay the pair, like the\nlovers in Theocritus, \"rejoiced in their wedlock.\" The hero, Elatha,\nforetold the birth of Eri's son, so beautiful that he would be a\nstandard by which to try all beautiful things. He gave her his ring, but\nshe was to part with it only to one whose finger it should fit. This was\nher child Bres, and by this token he was later, as an exile, recognised\nby his father, and obtained his help against the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. Like\nother wonderful children, Bres grew twice as quickly as any other child\nuntil he was seven.[169] Though Elatha and Eri are brother and sister,\nshe is among the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[170] There is the usual inconsistency\nof myth here and in other accounts of Fomorian and Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann\nunions. The latter had just landed, but already had united in marriage\nwith the Fomorians. This inconsistency escaped the chroniclers, but it\npoints to the fact that both were divine not human, and that, though in\nconflict, they united in marriage as members of hostile tribes often do.\n\nThe second battle took place twenty-seven years after the first, on\nSamhain. It was fought like the first on the plain of Mag-tured, though\nlater accounts made one battle take place at Mag-tured in Mayo, the\nother at Mag-tured in Sligo.[171] Inconsistently, the conquering Tuatha\nD\u00e9 Danann in the interval, while Bres is their king, must pay tribute\nimposed by the Fomorians. Obviously in older accounts this tribute must\nhave been imposed before the first battle and have been its cause. But\nwhy should gods, like the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, ever have been in\nsubjection? This remains to be seen, but the answer probably lies in\nparallel myths of the subjection or death of divinities like Ishtar,\nAdonis, Persephone, and Osiris. Bres having exacted a tribute of the\nmilk of all hornless dun cows, the cows of Ireland were passed through\nfire and smeared with ashes--a myth based perhaps on the Beltane fire\nritual.[172] The avaricious Bres was satirised, and \"nought but decay\nwas on him from that hour,\"[173] and when Nuada, having recovered,\nclaimed the throne, he went to collect an army of the Fomorians, who\nassembled against the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. In the battle Indech wounded\nOgma, and Balor slew Nuada, but was mortally wounded by Lug. Thereupon\nthe Fomorians fled to their own region.\n\nThe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann remained masters of Ireland until the coming of the\nMilesians, so named from an eponymous Mile, son of Bile. Ith, having\nbeen sent to reconnoitre, was slain, and the Milesians now invaded\nIreland in force. In spite of a mist raised by the Druids, they landed,\nand, having met the three princes who slew Ith, demanded instant battle\nor surrender of the land. The princes agreed to abide by the decision of\nthe Milesian poet Amairgen, who bade his friends re-embark and retire\nfor the distance of nine waves. If they could then effect a landing,\nIreland was theirs. A magic storm was raised, which wrecked many of\ntheir ships, but Amairgen recited verses, fragments, perhaps, of some\nold ritual, and overcame the dangers. After their defeat the survivors\nof the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann retired into the hills to become a fairy folk,\nand the Milesians (the Goidels or Scots) became ancestors of the Irish.\n\nThroughout the long story of the conquests of Ireland there are many\nreduplications, the same incidents being often ascribed to different\npersonages.[174] Different versions of similar occurrences, based on\nolder myths and traditions, may already have been in existence, and\nritual practices, dimly remembered, required explanation. In the hands\nof the chroniclers, writing history with a purpose and combining their\ninformation with little regard to consistency, all this was reduced to a\nmore or less connected narrative. At the hands of the prosaic\nchroniclers divinity passed from the gods, though traces of it still\nlinger.\n\n  \"Ye are gods, and, behold, ye shall die, and the waves be upon you at\n     last.\n   In the darkness of time, in the deeps of the years, in the changes of\n     things,\n   Ye shall sleep as a slain man sleeps, and the world shall forget you for\n     kings.\"\n\nFrom the annalistic point of view the Fomorians are sea demons or\npirates, their name being derived from _muir_, \"sea,\" while they are\ndescended along with other monstrous beings from them. Professor\nRh[^y]s, while connecting the name with Welsh _foawr_, \"giant\" (Gaelic\n_famhair_), derives the name from _fo_, \"under,\" and _muir_, and regards\nthem as submarine beings.[175] Dr. MacBain connected them with the\nfierce powers of the western sea personified, like the _Muireartach_, a\nkind of sea hag, of a Fionn ballad.[176] But this association of the\nFomorians with the ocean may be the result of a late folk-etymology,\nwhich wrongly derived their name from _muir_. The Celtic experience of\nthe Lochlanners or Norsemen, with whom the Fomorians are\nassociated,[177] would aid the conception of them as sea-pirates of a\nmore or less demoniacal character. Dr. Stokes connects the second\nsyllable _mor_ with _mare_ in \"nightmare,\" from _moro_, and regards them\nas subterranean as well as submarine.[178] But the more probable\nderivation is that of Zimmer and D'Arbois, from _fo_ and _morio_ (_mor_,\n\"great\"),[179] which would thus agree with the tradition which regarded\nthem as giants. They were probably beneficent gods of the aborigines,\nwhom the Celtic conquerors regarded as generally evil, perhaps equating\nthem with the dark powers already known to them. They were still\nremembered as gods, and are called \"champions of the _s\u00edd_,\" like the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[180] Thus King Bres sought to save his life by\npromising that the kine of Ireland would always be in milk, then that\nthe men of Ireland would reap every quarter, and finally by revealing\nthe lucky days for ploughing, sowing, and reaping.[181] Only an\nautochthonous god could know this, and the story is suggestive of the\ntrue nature of the Fomorians. The hostile character attributed to them\nis seen from the fact that they destroyed corn, milk, and fruit. But in\nIreland, as elsewhere, this destructive power was deprecated by begging\nthem not to destroy \"corn nor milk in Erin beyond their fair\ntribute.\"[182] Tribute was also paid to them on Samhain, the time when\nthe powers of blight feared by men are in the ascendant. Again, the\nkingdom of Balor, their chief, is still described as the kingdom of\ncold.[183] But when we remember that a similar \"tribute\" was paid to\nCromm Cruaich, a god of fertility, and that after the conquest of the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann they also were regarded as hostile to agriculture,[184]\nwe realise that the Fomorians must have been aboriginal gods of\nfertility whom the conquering Celts regarded as hostile to them and\ntheir gods. Similarly, in folk-belief the beneficent corn-spirit has\nsometimes a sinister and destructive aspect.[185] Thus the stories of\n\"tribute\" would be distorted reminiscences of the ritual of gods of the\nsoil, differing little in character from that of the similar Celtic\ndivinities. What makes it certain that the Fomorians were aboriginal\ngods is that they are found in Ireland before the coming of the early\ncolonist Partholan. They were the gods of the pre-Celtic folk--Firbolgs,\nFir Domnann, and Galioin[186]--all of them in Ireland before the Tuatha\nD\u00e9 Danaan arrived, and all of them regarded as slaves, spoken of with\nthe utmost contempt. Another possibility, however, ought to be\nconsidered. As the Celtic gods were local in character, and as groups of\ntribes would frequently be hostile to other groups, the Fomorians may\nhave been local gods of a group at enmity with another group,\nworshipping the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danaan.\n\nThe strife of Fomorians and Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann suggests the dualism of all\nnature religions. Demons or giants or monsters strive with gods in\nHindu, Greek, and Teutonic mythology, and in Persia the primitive\ndualism of beneficent and hurtful powers of nature became an ethical\ndualism--the eternal opposition of good and evil. The sun is vanquished\nby cloud and storm, but shines forth again in vigour. Vegetation dies,\nbut undergoes a yearly renewal. So in myth the immortal gods are wounded\nand slain in strife. But we must not push too far the analogy of the\napparent strife of the elements and the wars of the gods. The one\nsuggested the other, especially where the gods were elemental powers.\nBut myth-making man easily developed the suggestion; gods were like men\nand \"could never get eneuch o' fechtin'.\" The Celts knew of divine\ncombats before their arrival in Ireland, and their own hostile powers\nwere easily assimilated to the hostile gods of the aborigines.\n\nThe principal Fomorians are described as kings. Elatha was son of N\u00e9t,\ndescribed by Cormac as \"a battle god of the heathen Gael,\" i.e. he is\none of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, and has as wives two war-goddesses, Badb\nand Nemaind.[187] Thus he resembles the Fomorian Tethra whose wife is a\n_badb_ or \"battle-crow,\" preying on the slain.[188] Elatha's name,\nconnected with words meaning \"knowledge,\" suggests that he was an\naboriginal culture-god.[189] In the genealogies, Fomorians and Tuatha D\u00e9\nDanann are inextricably mingled. Bres's temporary position as king of\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9a may reflect some myth of the occasional supremacy of the\npowers of blight. Want and niggardliness characterise his reign, and\nafter his defeat a better state of things prevails. Bres's consort was\nBrigit, and their son Ruadan, sent to spy on the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, was\nslain. His mother's wailing for him was the first mourning wail ever\nheard in Erin.[190] Another god, Indech, was son of D\u00e9a Domnu, a\nFomorian goddess of the deep, i.e. of the underworld and probably also\nof fertility, who may hold a position among the Fomorians similar to\nthat of Danu among the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. Indech was slain by Ogma, who\nhimself died of wounds received from his adversary.\n\nBalor had a consort Cethlenn, whose venom killed Dagda. His one eye had\nbecome evil by contact with the poisonous fumes of a concoction which\nhis father's Druids were preparing. The eyelid required four men to\nraise it, when his evil eye destroyed all on whom its glance fell. In\nthis way Balor would have slain Lug at Mag-tured, but the god at once\nstruck the eye with a sling-stone and slew him.[191] Balor, like the\nGreek Medusa, is perhaps a personification of the evil eye, so much\nfeared by the Celts. Healthful influences and magical charms avert it;\nhence Lug, a beneficent god, destroys Balor's maleficence.\n\nTethra, with Balor and Elatha, ruled over Erin at the coming of the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann. From a phrase used in the story of Connla's visit to\nElysium, \"Thou art a hero of the men of Tethra,\" M. D'Arbois assumes\nthat Tethra was ruler of Elysium, which he makes one with the land of\nthe dead. The passage, however, bears a different interpretation, and\nthough a Fomorian, Tethra, a god of war, might be regarded as lord of\nall warriors.[192] Elysium was not the land of the dead, and when M.\nD'Arbois equates Tethra with Kronos, who after his defeat became ruler\nof a land of dead heroes, the analogy, like other analogies with Greek\nmythology, is misleading. He also equates Bres, as temporary king of the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann, with Kronos, king of heaven in the age of gold.\nKronos, again, slain by Zeus, is parallel to Balor slain by his grandson\nLug. Tethra, Bres, and Balor are thus separate fragments of one god\nequivalent to Kronos.[193] Yet their personalities are quite distinct.\nEach race works out its mythology for itself, and, while parallels are\ninevitable, we should not allow these to override the actual myths as\nthey have come down to us.\n\nProfessor Rh[^y]s makes Bile, ancestor of the Milesians who came from\nSpain, a Goidelic counterpart of the Gaulish Dispater, lord of the dead,\nfrom whom the Gauls claimed descent. But Bile, neither a Fomorian nor of\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, is an imaginary and shadowy creation. Bile is next\nequated with a Brythonic Beli, assumed to be consort of D\u00f4n, whose\nfamily are equivalent to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[194] Beli was a mythic\nking whose reign was a kind of golden age, and if he was father of D\u00f4n's\nchildren, which is doubtful, Bile would then be father of the Tuatha D\u00e9\nDanann. But he is ancestor of the Milesians, their opponents according\nto the annalists. Beli is also equated with Elatha, and since D\u00f4n,\nreputed consort of Beli, was grandmother of Llew, equated with Irish\nLug, grandson of Balor, Balor is equivalent to Beli, whose name is\nregarded by Professor Rh[^y]s as related etymologically to Balor's.[195]\nBile, Balor, and Elatha are thus Goidelic equivalents of the shadowy\nBeli. But they also are quite distinct personalities, nor are they ever\nhinted at as ancestral gods of the Celts, or gods of a gloomy\nunderworld. In Celtic belief the underworld was probably a fertile\nregion and a place of light, nor were its gods harmful and evil, as\nBalor was.\n\nOn the whole, the Fomorians came to be regarded as the powers of nature\nin its hostile aspect. They personified blight, winter, darkness, and\ndeath, before which men trembled, yet were not wholly cast down, since\nthe immortal gods of growth and light, rulers of the bright other-world,\nwere on their side and fought against their enemies. Year by year the\ngods suffered deadly harm, but returned as conquerors to renew the\nstruggle once more. Myth spoke of this as having happened once for all,\nbut it went on continuously.[196] Gods were immortal and only seemed to\ndie. The strife was represented in ritual, since men believe that they\ncan aid the gods by magic, rite, or prayer. Why, then, do hostile\nFomorians and Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann intermarry? This happens in all\nmythologies, and it probably reflects, in the divine sphere, what takes\nplace among men. Hostile peoples carry off each the other's women, or\nthey have periods of friendliness and consequent intermarriage. Man\nmakes his gods in his own image, and the problem is best explained by\nfacts like these, exaggerated no doubt by the Irish annalists.\n\nThe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, in spite of their euhemerisation, are more than\nhuman. In the north where they learned magic, they dwelt in four cities,\nfrom each of which they brought a magical treasure--the stone of Fal,\nwhich \"roared under every king,\" Lug's unconquerable spear, Nuada's\nirresistible sword, the Dagda's inexhaustible cauldron. But they are\nmore than wizards or Druids. They are re-born as mortals; they have a\ndivine world of their own, they interfere in and influence human\naffairs. The euhemerists did not go far enough, and more than once their\ndivinity is practically acknowledged. When the Fian Caoilte and a woman\nof the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann appear before S. Patrick, he asks, \"Why is she\nyouthful and beautiful, while you are old and wrinkled?\" And Caoilte\nreplies, \"She is of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, who are unfading and whose\nduration is perennial. I am of the sons of Milesius, that are perishable\nand fade away.\"[197]\n\nAfter their conversion, the Celts, sons of Milesius, thought that the\ngods still existed in the hollow hills, their former dwellings and\nsanctuaries, or in far-off islands, still caring for their former\nworshippers. This tradition had its place with that which made them a\nrace of men conquered by the Milesians--the victory of Christianity over\npaganism and its gods having been transmuted into a strife of races by\nthe euhemerists. The new faith, not the people, conquered the old gods.\nThe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann became the _Daoine-sidhe_, a fairy folk, still\noccasionally called by their old name, just as individual fairy kings or\nqueens bear the names of the ancient gods. The euhemerists gave the\nFomorians a monstrous and demoniac character, which they did not always\ngive to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; in this continuing the old tradition that\nFomorians were hostile and the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann beneficent and mild.\n\nThe mythological cycle is not a complete \"body of divinity\"; its\napparent completeness results from the chronological order of the\nannalists. Fragments of other myths are found in the _Dindsenchas_;\nothers exist as romantic tales, and we have no reason to believe that\nall the old myths have been preserved. But enough remains to show the\ntrue nature of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann--their supernatural character, their\npowers, their divine and unfailing food and drink, their mysterious and\nbeautiful abode. In their contents, their personages, in the actions\nthat are described in them, the materials of the \"mythological cycle,\"\nshow how widely it differs from the C\u00fachulainn and Fionn cycles.[198]\n\"The white radiance of eternity\" suffuses it; the heroic cycles, magical\nand romantic as they are, belong far more to earth and time.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[153] For some Highland references to the gods in saga and _M\u00e4rchen_,\nsee _Book of the Dean of Lismore_, 10; Campbell, _WHT_ ii. 77. The\nsea-god Lir is probably the Liur of Ossianic ballads (Campbell, _LF_\n100, 125), and his son Manannan is perhaps \"the Son of the Sea\" in a\nGaelic song (Carmichael, _CG_ ii. 122). Manannan and his daughters are\nalso known (Campbell, _witchcraft_, 83).\n\n[154] The euhemerising process is first seen in tenth century poems by\nEochaid hua Flainn, but was largely the work of Flainn Manistrech, _ob._\n1056. It is found fully fledged in the _Book of Invasions_.\n\n[155] Keating, 105-106.\n\n[156] Keating, 107; _LL_ 4_b_. Cf. _RC_ xvi. 155.\n\n[157] _LL_ 5.\n\n[158] Keating, 111. Giraldus Cambrensis, _Hist. Irel._ c. 2, makes\nRoanus survive and tell the tale of Partholan to S. Patrick. He is the\nCaoilte mac Ronan of other tales, a survivor of the Fians, who held many\nracy dialogues with the Saint. Keating abuses Giraldus for equating\nRoanus with Finntain in his \"lying history,\" and for calling him Roanus\ninstead of Ronanus, a mistake in which he, \"the guide bull of the herd,\"\nis followed by others.\n\n[159] Keating, 164.\n\n[160] _LL_ 5_a_.\n\n[161] Keating, 121; _LL_ 6_a_; _RC_ xvi. 161.\n\n[162] Nennius, _Hist. Brit._ 13.\n\n[163] _LL_ 6, 8_b_.\n\n[164] _LL_ 6_b_, 127_a_; _IT_ iii. 381; _RC_ xvi. 81.\n\n[165] _LL_ 9_b_, 11_a_.\n\n[166] See Cormac, _s.v._ \"Nescoit,\" _LU_ 51.\n\n[167] _Harl. MSS._ 2, 17, pp. 90-99. Cf. fragment from _Book of\nInvasions_ in _LL_ 8.\n\n[168] _Harl. MS._ 5280, translated in _RC_ xii. 59 f.\n\n[169] _RC_ xii. 60; D'Arbois, v. 405 f.\n\n[170] For Celtic brother-sister unions see p. 224.\n\n[171] O'Donovan, _Annals_, i. 16.\n\n[172] _RC_ xv. 439.\n\n[173] _RC_ xii. 71.\n\n[174] Professor Rh[^y]s thinks the Partholan story is the aboriginal,\nthe median the Celtic version of the same event. Partholan, with initial\n_p_ cannot be Goidelic (_Scottish Review_, 1890, \"Myth. Treatment of\nCeltic Ethnology\").\n\n[175] _HL_ 591.\n\n[176] _CM_ ix. 130; Campbell _LF_ 68.\n\n[177] _RC_ xii. 75.\n\n[178] _US_ 211.\n\n[179] D'Arbois, ii. 52; _RC_ xii. 476.\n\n[180] _RC_ xii. 73.\n\n[181] _RC_ xii. 105.\n\n[182] _RC_ xxii. 195.\n\n[183] Larmime, \"Kian, son of Kontje.\"\n\n[184] See p. 78; _LL_ 245_b_.\n\n[185] Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forsch._ 310 f.\n\n[186] \"Fir Domnann,\" \"men of Domna,\" a goddess (Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 597), or a\ngod (D'Arbois, ii. 130). \"Domna\" is connected with Irish-words meaning\n\"deep\" (Windisch, _IT_ i. 498; Stokes, _US_ 153). Domna, or Domnu, may\ntherefore have been a goddess of the deep, not the sea so much as the\nunderworld, and so perhaps an Earth-mother from whom the Fir Domnann\ntraced their descent.\n\n[187] Cormac, _s.v._ \"Neith\"; D'Arbois, v. 400; _RC_ xii. 61.\n\n[188] _LU_ 50. Tethra is glossed _badb_ (_IT_ i. 820).\n\n[189] _IT_ i. 521; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 274 f.\n\n[190] _RC_ xii. 95.\n\n[191] _RC_ xii. 101.\n\n[192] See p. 374.\n\n[193] D'Arbois, ii. 198, 375.\n\n[194] _HL_ 90-91.\n\n[195] _HL_ 274, 319, 643. For Beli, see p. 112, _infra_.\n\n[196] Whatever the signification of the battle of Mag-tured may be, the\nplace which it was localised is crowded with Neolithic megaliths,\ndolmens, etc. To later fancy these were the graves of warriors slain in\na great battle fought there, and that battle became the fight between\nFomorians and Tuatha D\u00e9 Dananns. Mag-tured may have been the scene of a\nbattle between their respective worshippers.\n\n[197] O'Grady, ii. 203.\n\n[198] It should be observed that, as in the Vedas, the Odyssey, the\nJapanese _Ko-ji-ki_, as well as in barbaric and savage mythologies,\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6 abound in the Irish mythological cycle.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE TUATHA D\u00c9 DANANN\n\n\nThe meaning formerly given to _Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann_ was \"the men of science\nwho were gods,\" _danann_ being here connected with _d\u00e1n_, \"knowledge.\"\nBut the true meaning is \"the tribes _or_ folk of the goddess Danu,\"[199]\nwhich agrees with the cognates _Tuatha_ or _Fir Dea_, \"tribes _or_ men\nof the goddess.\" The name was given to the group, though Danu had only\nthree sons, Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharbar. Hence the group is also called\n_fir tri ndea_, \"men of the three gods.\"[200] The equivalents in Welsh\nstory of Danu and her folk are D\u00f4n and her children. We have seen that\nthough they are described as kings and warriors by the annalists, traces\nof their divinity appear. In the C\u00fachulainn cycle they are supernatural\nbeings and sometimes demons, helping or harming men, and in the Fionn\ncycle all these characteristics are ascribed to them. But the theory\nwhich prevailed most is that which connected them with the hills or\nmounds, the last resting-places of the mighty dead. Some of these bore\ntheir names, while other beings were also associated with the mounds\n(_s\u00edd_)--Fomorians and Milesian chiefs, heroes of the sagas, or those\nwho had actually been buried in them.[201] Legend told how, after the\ndefeat of the gods, the mounds were divided among them, the method of\ndivision varying in different versions. In an early version the Tuatha\nD\u00e9 Danann are immortal and the Dagda divides the _s\u00edd_.[202] But in a\npoem of Flann Manistrech (_ob._ 1056) they are mortals and die.[203] Now\nfollows a regular chronology giving the dates of their reigns and their\ndeaths, as in the poem of Gilla Coemain (eleventh century).[204] Hence\nanother legend told how, Dagda being dead, Bodb Dearg divided the _s\u00edd_,\nyet even here Manannan is said to have conferred immortality upon the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[205] The old pagan myths had shown that gods might\ndie, while in ritual their representatives were slain, and this may have\nbeen the starting-point of the euhemerising process. But the divinity of\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann is still recalled. Eochaid O'Flynn (tenth century),\ndoubtful whether they are men or demons, concludes, \"though I have\ntreated of these deities in order, yet have I not adored them.\"[206]\nEven in later times they were still thought of as gods in exile, a view\nwhich appears in the romantic tales and sagas existing side by side with\nthe notices of the annalists. They were also regarded as fairy kings and\nqueens, and yet fairies of a different order from those of ordinary\ntradition. They are \"fairies or sprites with corporeal forms, endowed\nwith immortality,\" and yet also _dei terreni_ or _s\u00edde_ worshipped by\nthe folk before the coming of S. Patrick. Even the saint and several\nbishops were called by the fair pagan daughters of King Loegaire, _fir\ns\u00edde_, \"men of the _s\u00edd_,\" that is, gods.[207] The _s\u00edd_ were named\nafter the names of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann who reigned in them, but the\ntradition being localised in different places, several mounds were\nsometimes connected with one god. The _s\u00edd_ were marvellous underground\npalaces, full of strange things, and thither favoured mortals might go\nfor a time or for ever. In this they correspond exactly to the oversea\nElysium, the divine land.\n\nBut why were the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann associated with the mounds? If fairies\nor an analogous race of beings were already in pagan times connected\nwith hills or mounds, gods now regarded as fairies would be connected\nwith them. Dr. Joyce and O'Curry think that an older race of aboriginal\ngods or _s\u00edd-folk_ preceded the Tuatha D\u00e9a in the mounds.[208] These may\nhave been the Fomorians, the \"champions of the _s\u00edd_,\" while in _Mesca\nUlad_ the Tuatha D\u00e9a go to the underground dwellings and speak with the\n_s\u00edde_ already there. We do not know that the fairy creed as such\nexisted in pagan times, but if the _s\u00edde_ and the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann were\nonce distinct, they were gradually assimilated. Thus the Dagda is called\n\"king of the _s\u00edde_\"; Aed Abrat and his daughters, Fand and Liban, and\nLabraid, Liban's husband, are called _s\u00edde_, and Manannan is Fand's\nconsort.[209] Labraid's island, like the _s\u00edd_ of Mider and the land to\nwhich women of the _s\u00edde_ invite Connla, differs but little from the\nusual divine Elysium, while Mider, one of the _s\u00edde_, is associated with\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann.[210] The _s\u00edde_ are once said to be female, and\nare frequently supernatural women who run away or marry mortals.[211]\nThus they may be a reminiscence of old Earth goddesses. But they are not\nexclusively female, since there are kings of the _s\u00edde_, and as the name\n_Fir s\u00edde_, \"men of the _s\u00edde_,\" shows, while S. Patrick and his friends\nwere taken for _s\u00edd_-folk.\n\nThe formation of the legend was also aided by the old cult of the gods\non heights, some of them sepulchral mounds, and now occasionally sites\nof Christian churches.[212] The Irish god Cenn Cruaich and his Welsh\nequivalent Penn Cruc, whose name survives in _Pennocrucium_, have names\nmeaning \"chief _or_ head of the mound.\"[213] Other mounds or hills had\nalso a sacred character. Hence gods worshipped at mounds, dwelling or\nrevealing themselves there, still lingered in the haunted spots; they\nbecame fairies, or were associated with the dead buried in the mounds,\nas fairies also have been, or were themselves thought to have died and\nbeen buried there. The haunting of the mounds by the old gods is seen in\na prayer of S. Columba's, who begs God to dispel \"this host (i.e. the\nold gods) around the cairns that reigneth.\"[214] An early MS also tells\nhow the Milesians allotted the underground part of Erin to the Tuatha\nD\u00e9a who now retired within the hills; in other words, they were gods of\nthe hills worshipped by the Milesians on hills.[215] But, as we shall\nsee, the gods dwelt elsewhere than in hills.[216]\n\nTumuli may already in pagan times have been pointed out as tombs of gods\nwho died in myth or ritual, like the tombs of Zeus in Crete and of\nOsiris in Egypt. Again, fairies, in some aspects, are ghosts of the\ndead, and haunt tumuli; hence, when gods became fairies they would do\nthe same. And once they were thought of as dead kings, any notable\ntumuli would be pointed out as theirs, since it is a law in folk-belief\nto associate tumuli or other structures not with the dead or with their\nbuilders, but with supernatural or mythical or even historical\npersonages. If _s\u00edde_ ever meant \"ghosts,\" it would be easy to call the\ndead gods by this name, and to connect them with the places of the\ndead.[217]\n\nMany strands went to the weaving of the later conception of the gods,\nbut there still hung around them an air of mystery, and the belief that\nthey were a race of men was never consistent with itself.\n\nDanu gave her name to the whole group of gods, and is called their\nmother, like the Egyptian Neith or the Semitic Ishtar.[218] In the\nannalists she is daughter of Dagda, and has three sons. She may be akin\nto the goddess Anu, whom Cormac describes as \"_mater deorum\nhibernensium_. It was well she nursed the gods.\" From her name he\nderives _ana_, \"plenty,\" and two hills in Kerry are called \"the Paps of\nAnu.\"[219] Thus as a goddess of plenty Danu or Anu may have been an\nearly Earth-mother, and what may be a dim memory of Anu in\nLeicestershire confirms this view. A cave on the Dane Hills is called\n\"Black Annis' Bower,\" and she is said to have been a savage woman who\ndevoured human victims.[220] Earth-goddesses usually have human victims,\nand Anu would be no exception. In the cult of Earth divinities Earth and\nunder-Earth are practically identical, while Earth-goddesses like\nDemeter and Persephone were associated with the underworld, the dead\nbeing Demeter's folk. The fruits of the earth with their roots below the\nsurface are then gifts of the earth- or under-earth goddess. This may\nhave been the case with Danu, for in Celtic belief the gifts of\ncivilisation came from the underworld or from the gods. Professor\nRh[^y]s finds the name Anu in the dat. _Anoniredi_, \"chariot of Anu,\" in\nan inscription from Vaucluse, and the identification is perhaps\nestablished by the fact that goddesses of fertility were drawn through\nthe fields in a vehicle.[221] Cormac also mentions Buanann as mother and\nnurse of heroes, perhaps a goddess worshipped by heroes.[222]\n\nDanu is also identified with Brigit, goddess of knowledge (_d\u00e1n_),\nperhaps through a folk-etymology. She was worshipped by poets, and had\ntwo sisters of the same name connected with leechcraft and\nsmithwork.[223] They are duplicates or local forms of Brigit, a goddess\nof culture and of poetry, so much loved by the Celts. She is thus the\nequivalent of the Gaulish goddess equated with Minerva by C\u00e6sar, and\nfound on inscriptions as Minerva Belisama and Brigindo. She is the Dea\nBrigantia of British inscriptions.[224] One of the seats of her worship\nwas the land of the Brigantes, of whom she was the eponymous goddess,\nand her name (cf. Ir. _brig_, \"power\" or \"craft\"; Welsh _bri_, \"honour,\"\n\"renown\") suggests her high functions. But her popularity is seen in the\ncontinuation of her personality and cult in those of S. Brigit, at whose\nshrine in Kildare a sacred fire, which must not be breathed on, or\napproached by a male, was watched daily by nineteen nuns in turn, and on\nthe twentieth day by the saint herself.[225] Similar sacred fires were\nkept up in other monasteries,[226] and they point to the old cult of a\ngoddess of fire, the nuns being successors of a virgin priesthood like\nthe vestals, priestesses of Vesta. As has been seen, the goddesses\nBelisama and Sul, probably goddesses of fire, resembled Brigit in\nthis.[227] But Brigit, like Vesta, was at once a goddess of fire and of\nfertility, as her connection with Candlemas and certain ritual survivals\nalso suggest. In the Hebrides on S. Bride's day (Candlemas-eve) women\ndressed a sheaf of oats in female clothes and set it with a club in a\nbasket called \"Briid's bed.\" Then they called, \"Briid is come, Briid is\nwelcome.\" Or a bed was made of corn and hay with candles burning beside\nit, and Bride was invited to come as her bed was ready. If the mark of\nthe club was seen in the ashes, this was an omen of a good harvest and a\nprosperous year.[228] It is also noteworthy that if cattle cropped the\ngrass near S. Brigit's shrine, next day it was as luxuriant as ever.\n\nBrigit, or goddesses with similar functions, was regarded by the Celts\nas an early teacher of civilisation, inspirer of the artistic, poetic,\nand mechanical faculties, as well as a goddess of fire and fertility. As\nsuch she far excelled her sons, gods of knowledge. She must have\noriginated in the period when the Celts worshipped goddesses rather than\ngods, and when knowledge--leechcraft, agriculture, inspiration--were\nwomen's rather than men's. She had a female priesthood, and men were\nperhaps excluded from her cult, as the tabued shrine at Kildare\nsuggests. Perhaps her fire was fed from sacred oak wood, for many\nshrines of S. Brigit were built under oaks, doubtless displacing pagan\nshrines of the goddess.[229] As a goddess, Brigit is more prominent than\nDanu, also a goddess of fertility, even though Danu is mother of the\ngods.\n\nOther goddesses remembered in tradition are Cleena and Vera, celebrated\nin fairy and witch lore, the former perhaps akin to a river-goddess\nClota, the Clutoida (a fountain-nymph) of the continental Celts; the\nlatter, under her alternative name Dirra, perhaps a form of a goddess of\nGaul, Dirona.[230] Aine, one of the great fairy-queens of Ireland, has\nher seat at Knockainy in Limerick, where rites connected with her former\ncult are still performed for fertility on Midsummer eve. If they were\nneglected she and her troops performed them, according to local\nlegend.[231] She is thus an old goddess of fertility, whose cult, even\nat a festival in which gods were latterly more prominent, is still\nremembered. She is also associated with the waters as a water-nymph\ncaptured for a time as a fairy-bride by the Earl of Desmond.[232] But\nolder legends connect her with the _s\u00edd_. She was daughter of Eogabal,\nking of the _s\u00edd_ of Knockainy, the grass on which was annually\ndestroyed at Samhain by his people, because it had been taken from them,\nits rightful owners. Oilill Olomm and Ferchus resolved to watch the\n_s\u00edd_ on Samhain-eve. They saw Eogabal and Aine emerge from it. Ferchus\nkilled Eogabal, and Oilill tried to outrage Aine, who bit the flesh from\nhis ear. Hence his name of \"Bare Ear.\"[233] In this legend we see how\nearlier gods of fertility come to be regarded as hostile to growth.\nAnother story tells of the love of Aill\u00e9n, Eogabal's son, for Manannan's\nwife and that of Aine for Manannan. Aine offered her favours to the god\nif he would give his wife to her brother, and \"the complicated bit of\nromance,\" as S. Patrick calls it, was thus arranged.[234]\n\nAlthough the Irish gods are warriors, and there are special war-gods,\nyet war-goddesses are more prominent, usually as a group of\nthree--Morrigan, Neman, and Macha. A fourth, Badb, sometimes takes the\nplace of one of these, or is identical with Morrigan, or her name, like\nthat of Morrigan, may be generic.[235] _Badb_ means \"a scald-crow,\"\nunder which form the war-goddesses appeared, probably because these\nbirds were seen near the slain. She is also called Badbcatha,\n\"battle-Badb,\" and is thus the equivalent of _-athubodua,_ or, more\nprobably, _Cathubodua_, mentioned in an inscription from Haute-Savoie,\nwhile this, as well as personal names like _Boduogenos_, shows that a\ngoddess Bodua was known to the Gauls.[236] The _badb_ or battle-crow is\nassociated with the Fomorian Tethra, but Badb herself is consort of a\nwar-god N\u00e9t, one of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, who may be the equivalent of\nNeton, mentioned in Spanish inscriptions and equated with Mars.\nElsewhere Neman is N\u00e9t's consort, and she may be the Nemetona of\ninscriptions, e.g. at Bath, the consort of Mars. Cormac calls N\u00e9t and\nNeman \"a venomous couple,\" which we may well believe them to have\nbeen.[237] To Macha were devoted the heads of slain enemies, \"Macha's\nmast,\" but she, according to the annalists, was slain at Mag-tured,\nthough she reappears in the C\u00fachulainn saga as the Macha whose\nill-treatment led to the \"debility\" of the Ulstermen.[238] The name\nMorrigan may mean \"great queen,\" though Dr. Stokes, connecting _mor_\nwith the same syllable in \"Fomorian,\" explains it as\n\"nightmare-queen.\"[239] She works great harm to the Fomorians at\nMag-tured, and afterwards proclaims the victory to the hills, rivers,\nand fairy-hosts, uttering also a prophecy of the evils to come at the\nend of time.[240] She reappears prominently in the C\u00fachulainn saga,\nhostile to the hero because he rejects her love, yet aiding the hosts of\nUlster and the Brown Bull, and in the end trying to prevent the hero's\ndeath.[241]\n\nThe prominent position of these goddesses must be connected with the\nfact that women went out to war--a custom said to have been stopped by\nAdamnan at his mother's request, and that many prominent heroines of the\nheroic cycles are warriors, like the British Boudicca, whose name may be\nconnected with _boudi_, \"victory.\" Specific titles were given to such\nclasses of female warriors--_bangaisgedaig_, _banfeinnidi_, etc.[242]\nBut it is possible that these goddesses were at first connected with\nfertility, their functions changing with the growing warlike tendencies\nof the Celts. Their number recalls that of the threefold _Matres_, and\npossibly the change in their character is hinted in the Romano-British\ninscription at Benwell to the _Lamiis Tribus_, since Morrigan's name is\nglossed _lamia_.[243] She is also identified with Anu, and is mistress\nof Dagda, an Earth-god, and with Badb and others expels the Fomorians\nwhen they destroyed the agricultural produce of Ireland.[244] Probably\nthe scald-crow was at once the symbol and the incarnation of the\nwar-goddesses, who resemble the Norse Valkyries, appearing sometimes as\ncrows, and the Greek Keres, bird-like beings which drank the blood of\nthe slain. It is also interesting to note that Badb, who has the\ncharacter of a prophetess of evil, is often identified with the \"Washer\nat the Ford,\" whose presence indicates death to him whose armour or\ngarments she seems to cleanse.[245]\n\nThe _Matres_, goddesses of fertility, do not appear by name in Ireland,\nbut the triplication of such goddesses as Morrigan and Brigit, the\nthreefold name of Dagda's wife, or the fact that Arm, Danu, and Buanan\nare called \"mothers,\" while Buanan's name is sometimes rendered \"good\nmother,\" may suggest that such grouped goddesses were not unknown. Later\nlegend knows of white women who assist in spinning, or three hags with\npower over nature, or, as in the _Battle of Ventry_, of three\nsupernatural women who fall in love with Conncrithir, aid him in fight,\nand heal his wounds. In this document and elsewhere is mentioned the\n\"_s\u00edd_ of the White Women.\"[246] Goddesses of fertility are usually\ngoddesses of love, and the prominence given to females among the _s\u00edde_,\nthe fact that they are often called _Be find_, \"White Women,\" like\nfairies who represent the _Matres_ elsewhere, and that they freely offer\ntheir love to mortals, may connect them with this group of goddesses.\nAgain, when the Milesians arrived in Ireland, three kings of the Tuatha\nD\u00e9a had wives called Eriu, Banba, and Fotla, who begged that Ireland\nshould be called after them. This was granted, but only Eriu (Erin)\nremained in general use.[247] The story is an \u00e6tiological myth\nexplaining the names of Ireland, but the three wives may be a group like\nthe _Matres_, guardians of the land which took its name from them.\n\nBrian, Iuchar, and Iucharba, who give a title to the whole group, are\ncalled _tri dee Donand_, \"the three gods (sons of) Danu,\" or, again,\n\"gods of _d\u00e1n_\" (knowledge), perhaps as the result of a folk-etymology,\nassociating _d\u00e2n_ with their mother's name Danu.[248] Various attributes\nare personified as their descendants, Wisdom being son of all\nthree.[249] Though some of these attributes may have been actual gods,\nespecially Ecne or Wisdom, yet it is more probable that the\npersonification is the result of the subtleties of bardic science, of\nwhich similar examples occur.[250] On the other hand, the fact that Ecne\nis the son of three brothers, may recall some early practice of\npolyandry of which instances are met with in the sagas.[251] M. D'Arbois\nhas suggested that Iuchar and Iucharba are mere duplicates of Brian, who\nusually takes the leading place, and he identifies them with three kings\nof the Tuatha D\u00e9a reigning at the time of the Milesian invasion--\nMacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrainne, so called, according to Keating,\nbecause the hazel (_coll_), the plough (_cecht_), and the sun (_grian_)\nwere \"gods of worship\" to them. Both groups are grandsons of Dagda, and\nM. D'Arbois regards this second group as also triplicates of one god,\nbecause their wives Fotla, Banba, and Eriu all bear names of Ireland\nitself, are personifications of the land, and thus may be \"reduced to\nunity.\"[252] While this reasoning is ingenious, it should be remembered\nthat we must not lay too much stress upon Irish divine genealogies,\nwhile each group of three may have been similar local gods associated at\na later time as brothers. Their separate personality is suggested by the\nfact that the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann are called after them \"the Men of the\nThree Gods,\" and their supremacy appears in the incident of Dagda, Lug,\nand Ogma consulting them before the fight at Mag-tured--a natural\nproceeding if they were gods of knowledge or destiny.[253] The brothers\nare said to have slain the god Cian, and to have been themselves slain\nby Lug, and on this seems to have been based the story of _The Children\nof Tuirenn_, in which they perish through their exertions in obtaining\nthe _eric_ demanded by Lug.[254] Here they are sons of Tuirenn, but more\nusually their mother Danu or Brigit is mentioned.\n\nAnother son of Brigit's was Ogma, master of poetry and inventor of\n_ogham_ writing, the word being derived from his name.[255] It is more\nprobable that Ogma's name is a derivative from some word signifying\n\"speech\" or \"writing,\" and that the connection with \"ogham\" may be a\nmere folk-etymology. Ogma appears as the champion of the gods,[256] a\nposition given him perhaps from the primitive custom of rousing the\nwarriors' emotions by eloquent speeches before a battle. Similarly the\nBabylonian Marduk, \"seer of the gods,\" was also their champion in fight.\nOgma fought and died at Mag-tured; but in other accounts he survives,\ncaptures Tethra's sword, goes on the quest for Dagda's harp, and is\ngiven a _s\u00edd_ after the Milesian victory. Ogma's counterpart in Gaul is\nOgm\u00edos, a Herakles and a god of eloquence, thus bearing the dual\ncharacter of Ogma, while Ogma's epithet _grianainech_, \"of the smiling\ncountenance,\" recalls Lucian's account of the \"smiling face\" of\nOgm\u00edos.[257] Ogma's high position is the result of the admiration of\nbardic eloquence among the Celts, whose loquacity was proverbial, and to\nhim its origin was doubtless ascribed, as well as that of poetry. The\ngenealogists explain his relationship to the other divinities in\ndifferent ways, but these confusions may result from the fact that gods\nhad more than one name, of which the annalists made separate\npersonalities. Most usually Ogma is called Brigit's son. Her functions\nwere like his own, but in spite of the increasing supremacy of gods over\ngoddesses, he never really eclipsed her.\n\nAmong other culture gods were those associated with the arts and\ncrafts--the development of Celtic art in metal-work necessitating the\nexistence of gods of this art. Such a god is Goibniu, eponymous god of\nsmiths (Old Ir. _goba_, \"smith\"), and the divine craftsman at the battle\nof Mag-tured, making spears which never failed to kill.[258] Smiths have\neverywhere been regarded as uncanny--a tradition surviving from the\nfirst introduction of metal among those hitherto accustomed to stone\nweapons and tools. S. Patrick prayed against the \"spells of women,\nsmiths, and Druids,\" and it is thus not surprising to find that Goibniu\nhad a reputation for magic, even among Christians. A spell for making\nbutter, in an eighth century MS. preserved at S. Gall, appeals to his\n\"science.\"[259] Curiously enough, Goibniu is also connected with the\nculinary art in myth, and, like Hephaistos, prepares the feast of the\ngods, while his ale preserves their immortality.[260] The elation\nproduced by heady liquors caused them to be regarded as draughts of\nimmortality, like Soma, Haoma, or nectar. Goibniu survives in tradition\nas the _Gobhan Saer_, to whom the building of round towers is ascribed.\n\nAnother god of crafts was Creidne the brazier (Ir. _cerd_, \"artificer\";\ncf. Scots _caird_, \"tinker\"), who assisted in making a silver hand for\nNuada, and supplied with magical rapidity parts of the weapons used at\nMag-tured.[261] According to the annalists, he was drowned while\nbringing golden ore from Spain.[262] Luchtine, god of carpenters,\nprovided spear-handles for the battle, and with marvellous skill flung\nthem into the sockets of the spear-heads.[263]\n\nDiancecht, whose name may mean \"swift in power,\" was god of medicine,\nand, with Creidne's help, fashioned a silver hand for Nuada.[264] His\nson Miach replaced this by a magic restoration of the real hand, and in\njealousy his father slew him--a version of the _M\u00e4rchen_ formula of the\njealous master. Three hundred and sixty-five herbs grew from his grave,\nand were arranged according to their properties by his sister Airmed,\nbut Diancecht again confused them, \"so that no one knows their proper\ncures.\"[265] At the second battle of Mag-tured, Diancecht presided over\na healing-well containing magic herbs. These and the power of spells\ncaused the mortally wounded who were placed in it to recover. Hence it\nwas called \"the spring of health.\"[266] Diancecht, associated with a\nhealing-well, may be cognate with Grannos. He is also referred to in the\nS. Gall MS., where his healing powers are extolled.\n\nAn early chief of the gods is Dagda, who, in the story of the battle of\nMag-tured, is said to be so called because he promised to do more than\nall the other gods together. Hence they said, \"It is thou art the _good\nhand_\" (_dag-dae_). The _C\u00f3ir Anmann_ explains _Dagda_ as \"fire of god\"\n(_daig_ and _d\u00e9a_). The true derivation is from _dagos_, \"good,\" and\n_deivos_, \"god,\" though Dr. Stokes considers _Dagda_ as connected with\n_dagh_, whence _daghda_, \"cunning.\"[267] Dagda is also called Cera, a\nword perhaps derived from _kar_ and connected with Lat. _cerus_,\n\"creator\" and other names of his are _Ruad-rofhessa_, \"lord of great\nknowledge,\" and _Eochaid Ollathair_, \"great father,\" \"for a great father\nto the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann was he.\"[268] He is also called \"a beautiful\ngod,\" and \"the principal god of the pagans.\"[269] After the battle he\ndivides the _brugs_ or _s\u00edd_ among the gods, but his son Oengus, having\nbeen omitted, by a stratagem succeeded in ousting his father from\nhis _s\u00edd_, over which he now himself reigned[270]--possibly the survival\nof an old myth telling of a superseding of Dagda's cult by that of\nOengus, a common enough occurrence in all religions. In another version,\nDagda being dead, Bodb Dearg divides the _s\u00edd_, and Manannan makes the\nTuatha D\u00e9a invisible and immortal. He also helps Oengus to drive out his\nfoster-father Elemar from his _brug_, where Oengus now lives as a\ngod.[271] The underground _brugs_ are the gods' land, in all respects\nresembling the oversea Elysium, and at once burial-places of the\neuhemerised gods and local forms of the divine land. Professor Rh[^y]s\nregards Dagda as an atmospheric god; Dr. MacBain sees in him a sky-god.\nMore probably he is an early Earth-god and a god of agriculture. He has\npower over corn and milk, and agrees to prevent the other gods from\ndestroying these after their defeat by the Milesians--former beneficent\ngods being regarded as hurtful, a not uncommon result of the triumph of\na new faith.[272] Dagda is called \"the god of the earth\" \"because of the\ngreatness of his power.\"[273] Mythical objects associated with him\nsuggest plenty and fertility--his cauldron which satisfied all comers,\nhis unfailing swine, one always living, the other ready for cooking, a\nvessel of ale, and three trees always laden with fruit. These were in\nhis _s\u00edd_, where none ever tasted death;[274] hence his _s\u00edd_ was a\nlocal Elysium, not a gloomy land of death, but the underworld in its\nprimitive aspect as the place of gods of fertility. In some myths he\nappears with a huge club or fork, and M. D'Arbois suggests that he may\nthus be an equivalent of the Gaulish god with the mallet.[275] This is\nprobable, since the Gaulish god may have been a form of Dispater, an\nEarth or under-Earth god of fertility.\n\nIf Dagda was a god of fertility, he may have been an equivalent of a god\nwhose image was called _Cenn_ or _Cromm Cruaich_, \"Head _or_ Crooked One\nof the Mound,\" or \"Bloody Head _or_ Crescent.\"[276] Vallancey, citing a\ntext now lost, says that _Crom-eocha_ was a name of Dagda, and that a\nmotto at the sacrificial place at Tara read, \"Let the altar ever blaze\nto Dagda.\"[277] These statements may support this identification. The\ncult of Cromm is preserved in some verses:\n\n  \"He was their god,\n   The withered Cromm with many mists...\n   To him without glory\n   They would kill their piteous wretched offspring,\n   With much wailing and peril,\n   To pour their blood around Cromm Cruaich.\n   Milk and corn\n   They would ask from him speedily\n   In return for a third of their healthy issue,\n   Great was the horror and fear of him.\n   To him noble Gaels would prostrate themselves.\"[278]\n\nElsewhere we learn that this sacrifice in return for the gifts of corn\nand milk from the god took place at Samhain, and that on one occasion\nthe violent prostrations of the worshippers caused three-fourths of them\nto die. Again, \"they beat their palms, they pounded their bodies ...\nthey shed falling showers of tears.\"[279] These are reminiscences of\norgiastic rites in which pain and pleasure melt into one. The god must\nhave been a god of fertility; the blood of the victims was poured on the\nimage, the flesh, as in analogous savage rites and folk-survivals, may\nhave been buried in the fields to promote fertility. If so, the victims'\nflesh was instinct with the power of the divinity, and, though their\nnumber is obviously exaggerated, several victims may have taken the\nplace of an earlier slain representative of the god. A mythic _Crom\nDubh_, \"Black Crom,\" whose festival occurs on the first Sunday in\nAugust, may be another form of Cromm Cruaich. In one story the name is\ntransferred to S. Patrick's servant, who is asked by the fairies when\nthey will go to Paradise. \"Not till the day of judgment,\" is the answer,\nand for this they cease to help men in the processes of agriculture. But\nin a variant Manannan bids Crom ask this question, and the same result\nfollows.[280] These tales thus enshrine the idea that Crom and the\nfairies were ancient gods of growth who ceased to help men when they\ndeserted them for the Christian faith. If the sacrifice was offered at\nthe August festival, or, as the texts suggest, at Samhain, after\nharvest, it must have been on account of the next year's crop, and the\nflesh may have been mingled with the seed corn.\n\nDagda may thus have been a god of growth and fertility. His wife or\nmistress was the river-goddess, Boand (the Boyne),[281] and the children\nascribed to him were Oengus, Bodb Dearg, Danu, Brigit, and perhaps Ogma.\nThe euhemerists made him die of Cethlenn's venom, long after the battle\nof Mag-tured in which he encountered her.[282] Irish mythology is\nremarkably free from obscene and grotesque myths, but some of these\ncluster round Dagda. We hear of the Gargantuan meal provided for him in\nsport by the Fomorians, and of which he ate so much that \"not easy was\nit for him to move and unseemly was his apparel,\" as well as his conduct\nwith a Fomorian beauty. Another amour of his was with Morrigan, the\nplace where it occurred being still known as \"The Couple's Bed.\"[283] In\nanother tale Dagda acts as cook to Conaire the great.[284]\n\nThe beautiful and fascinating Oengus is sometimes called _Mac Ind Oc_,\n\"Son of the Young Ones,\" i.e. Dagda and Boand, or _In Mac Oc_, \"The\nYoung Son.\" This name, like the myth of his disinheriting his father,\nmay point to his cult superseding that of Dagda. If so, he may then have\nbeen affiliated to the older god, as was frequently done in parallel\ncases, e.g. in Babylon. Oengus may thus have been the high god of some\ntribe who assumed supremacy, ousting the high god of another tribe,\nunless we suppose that Dagda was a pre-Celtic god with functions similar\nto those of Oengus, and that the Celts adopted his cult but gave that of\nOengus a higher place. In one myth the supremacy of Oengus is seen.\nAfter the first battle of Mag-tured, Dagda is forced to become the slave\nof Bres, and is much annoyed by a lampooner who extorts the best pieces\nof his rations. Following the advice of Oengus, he not only causes the\nlampooner's death, but triumphs over the Fomorians.[285] On insufficient\ngrounds, mainly because he was patron of Diarmaid, beloved of women, and\nbecause his kisses became birds which whispered love thoughts to youths\nand maidens, Oengus has been called the Eros of the Gaels. More probably\nhe was primarily a supreme god of growth, who occasionally suffered\neclipse during the time of death in nature, like Tammuz and Adonis, and\nthis may explain his absence from Mag-tured. The beautiful story of his\nvision of a maiden with whom he fell violently in love contains too many\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6 to be of any mythological or religious value. His\nmother Boand caused search to be made for her, but without avail. At\nlast she was discovered to be the daughter of a semi-divine lord of a\n_s\u00edd_, but only through the help of mortals was the secret of how she\ncould be taken wrung from him. She was a swan-maiden, and on a certain\nday only would Oengus obtain her. Ultimately she became his wife. The\nstory is interesting because it shows how the gods occasionally required\nmortal aid.[286]\n\nEqually influenced by _M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6 is the story of Oengus and\nEtain. Etain and Fuamnach were wives of Mider, but Fuamnach was jealous\nof Etain, and transformed her into an insect. In this shape Oengus found\nher, and placed her in a glass _grianan_ or bower filled with flowers,\nthe perfume of which sustained her. He carried the _grianan_ with him\nwherever he went, but Fuamnach raised a magic wind which blew Etain away\nto the roof of Etair, a noble of Ulster. She fell through a smoke-hole\ninto a golden cup of wine, and was swallowed by Etair's wife, of whom\nshe was reborn.[287] Professor Rh[^y]s resolves all this into a sun and\ndawn myth. Oengus is the sun, Etain the dawn, the _grianan_ the expanse\nof the sky.[288] But the dawn does not grow stronger with the sun's\ninfluence, as Etain did under that of Oengus. At the sun's appearance\nthe dawn begins\n\n    \"to faint in the light of the sun she loves,\n  To faint in his light and to die.\"\n\nThe whole story is built up on the well-known _M\u00e3rchen_ formul\u00e6 of the\n\"True Bride\" and the \"Two Brothers,\" but accommodated to well-known\nmythic personages, and the _grianan_ is the Celtic equivalent of various\nobjects in stories of the \"Cinderella\" type, in which the heroine\nconceals herself, the object being bought by the hero and kept in his\nroom.[289] Thus the tale reveals nothing of Etain's divine functions,\nbut it illustrates the method of the \"mythological\" school in\ndiscovering sun-heroes and dawn-maidens in any incident, mythical or\nnot.\n\nOengus appears in the Fionn cycle as the fosterer and protector of\nDiarmaid.[290] With Mider, Bodb, and Morrigan, he expels the Fomorians\nwhen they destroy the corn, fruit, and milk of the Tuatha D\u00e9\nDanann.[291] This may point to his functions as a god of fertility.\n\nAlthough Mider appears mainly as a king of the _s\u00edde_ and ruler of the\n_brug_ of Bri L\u00e9ith, he is also connected with the Tuatha D\u00e9a.[292]\nLearning that Etain had been reborn and was now married to King Eochaid,\nhe recovered her from him, but lost her again when Eochaid attacked his\n_brug_. He was ultimately avenged in the series of tragic events which\nled to the death of Eochaid's descendant Conaire. Though his _s\u00edd_ is\nlocated in Ireland, it has so much resemblance to Elysium that Mider\nmust be regarded as one of its lords. Hence he appears as ruler of the\nIsle of Falga, i.e. the Isle of Man regarded as Elysium. Thence his\ndaughter Bl\u00e1thnat, his magical cows and cauldron, were stolen by\nC\u00fachulainn and Curoi, and his three cranes from Bri L\u00e9ith by\nAitherne[293]--perhaps distorted versions of the myths which told how\nvarious animals and gifts came from the god's land. Mider may be the\nIrish equivalent of a local Gaulish god, Medros, depicted on bas-reliefs\nwith a cow or bull.[294]\n\nThe victory of the Tuatha D\u00e9a at the first battle of Mag-tured, in June,\ntheir victory followed, however, by the deaths of many of them at the\nsecond battle in November, may point to old myths dramatising the\nphenomena of nature, and connected with the ritual of summer and winter\nfestivals. The powers of light and growth are in the ascendant in\nsummer; they seem to die in winter. Christian euhemerists made use of\nthese myths, but regarded the gods as warriors who were slain, not as\nthose who die and revive again. At the second battle, Nuada loses his\nlife; at the first, though his forces are victorious, his hand was cut\noff by the Fomorian Sreng, for even when victorious the gods must\nsuffer. A silver hand was made for him by Diancecht, and hence he was\ncalled Nuada _Argetl\u00e1m_, \"of the silver hand.\" Professor Rh[^y]s regards\nhim as a Celtic Zeus, partly because he is king of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann,\npartly because he, like Zeus or Tyr, who lost tendons or a hand through\nthe wiles of evil gods, is also maimed.[295] Similarly in the _Rig-Veda_\nthe A\u00e7vins substitute a leg of iron for the leg of Vispala, cut off in\nbattle, and the sun is called \"golden-handed\" because Savitri cut off\nhis hand and the priests replaced it by one of gold. The myth of Nuada's\nhand may have arisen from primitive attempts at replacing lopped-off\nlimbs, as well as from the fact that no Irish king must have any bodily\ndefect, or possibly because an image of Nuada may have lacked a hand or\npossessed one of silver. Images were often maimed or given artificial\nlimbs, and myths then arose to explain the custom.[296] Nuada appears to\nbe a god of life and growth, but he is not a sun-god. His Welsh\nequivalent is Ll\u00fbd Llawereint, or \"silver-handed,\" who delivers his\npeople from various scourges. His daughter Creidylad is to be wedded to\nGwythur, but is kidnapped by Gwyn. Arthur decides that they must fight\nfor her yearly on 1st May until the day of judgment, when the victor\nwould gain her hand.[297] Professor Rh[^y]s regards Creidylad as a\nPersephone, wedded alternately to light and dark divinities.[298] But\nthe story may rather be explanatory of such ritual acts as are found in\nfolk-survivals in the form of fights between summer and winter, in which\na Queen of May figures, and intended to assist the conflict of the gods\nof growth with those of blight.[299] Creidylad is daughter of a probable\ngod of growth, nor is it impossible that the story of the battle of\nMag-tured is based on mythic explanations of such ritual combats.\n\nThe Brythons worshipped Nuada as Nodons in Romano-British times. The\nremains of his temple exist near the mouth of the Severn, and the god\nmay have been equated with Mars, though certain symbols seem to connect\nhim with the waters as a kind of Neptune.[300] An Irish mythic poet\nNuada Necht may be the Nechtan who owned a magic well whence issued the\nBoyne, and was perhaps a water-god. If such a water-god was associated\nwith Nuada, he and Nodons might be a Celtic Neptune.[301] But the\nrelationship and functions of these various personages are obscure, nor\nis it certain that Nodons was equated with Neptune or that Nuada was a\nwater-god. His name may be cognate with words meaning \"growth,\"\n\"possession,\" \"harvest,\" and this supports the view taken here of his\nfunctions.[302] The Welsh Nudd Hael, or \"the Generous,\" who possessed a\nherd of 21,000 milch kine, may be a memory of this god, and it is\npossible that, as a god of growth, Nuada had human incarnations called\nby his name.[303]\n\nLer, whose name means \"sea,\" and who was a god of the sea, is father of\nManannan as well as of the personages of the beautiful story called _The\nChildren of Lir_, from which we learn practically all that is known of\nhim. He resented not being made ruler of the Tuatha D\u00e9a, but was later\nreconciled when the daughter of Bodb Dearg was given to him as his wife.\nOn her death, he married her sister, who transformed her step-children\ninto swans.[304] Ler is the equivalent of the Brythonic Llyr, later\nimmortalised by Shakespeare as King Lear.\n\nThe greatness of Manannan mac Lir, \"son of the sea,\" is proved by the\nfact that he appears in many of the heroic tales, and is still\nremembered in tradition and folk-tale. He is a sea-god who has become\nmore prominent than the older god of the sea, and though not a supreme\ngod, he must have had a far-spreading cult. With Bodb Dearg he was\nelected king of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. He made the gods invisible and\nimmortal, gave them magical food, and assisted Oengus in driving out\nElemar from his _s\u00edd_. Later tradition spoke of four Manannans, probably\nlocal forms of the god, as is suggested by the fact that the true name\nof one of them is said to be Orbsen, son of Allot. Another, the son of\nLer, is described as a renowned trader who dwelt in the Isle of Man, the\nbest of pilots, weather-wise, and able to transform himself as he\npleased. The _C\u00f3ir Anmann_ adds that the Britons and the men of Erin\ndeemed him god of the sea.[305] That position is plainly seen in many\ntales, e.g. in the magnificent passage of _The Voyage of Bran_, where he\nsuddenly sweeps into sight, riding in a chariot across the waves from\nthe Land of Promise; or in the tale of _C\u00fachulainn's Sickness_, where\nhis wife Fand sees him, \"the horseman of the crested sea,\" coming across\nthe waves. In the _Agallamh na Senorach_ he appears as a cavalier\nbreasting the waves. \"For the space of nine waves he would be submerged\nin the sea, but would rise on the crest of the tenth without wetting\nchest or breast.\"[306] In one archaic tale he is identified with a great\nsea wave which swept away Tuag, while the waves are sometimes called\n\"the son of Lir's horses\"--a name still current in Ireland, or, again,\n\"the locks of Manannan's wife.\"[307] His position as god of the sea may\nhave given rise to the belief that he was ruler of the oversea Elysium,\nand, later, of the other-world as a magical domain coterminous with this\nearth. He is still remembered in the Isle of Man, which may owe its name\nto him, and which, like many another island, was regarded by the Goidels\nas the island Elysium under its name of Isle of Falga. He is also the\nManawyddan of Welsh story.\n\nManannan appears in the C\u00fachulainn and Fionn cycles, usually as a ruler\nof the Other-world. His wife Fand was C\u00fachulainn's mistress, Diarmaid\nwas his pupil in fairyland, and Cormac was his guest there. Even in\nChristian times surviving pagan beliefs caused legend to be busy with\nhis name. King Fiachna was fighting the Scots and in great danger, when\na stranger appeared to his wife and announced that he would save her\nhusband's life if she would consent to abandon herself to him. She\nreluctantly agreed, and the child of the _amour_ was the seventh-century\nKing Mongan, of whom the annalist says, \"every one knows that his real\nfather was Manannan.\"[308] Mongan was also believed to be a rebirth of\nFionn. Manannan is still remembered in folk-tradition, and in the Isle\nof Man, where his grave is to be seen, some of his ritual survived until\nlately, bundles of rushes being placed for him on midsummer eve on two\nhills.[309] Barintus, who steers Arthur to the fortunate isles, and S.\nBarri, who crossed the sea on horseback, may have been legendary forms\nof a local sea-god akin to Manannan, or of Manannan himself.[310] His\nsteed was Enbarr, \"water foam _or_ hair,\" and Manannan was \"the horseman\nof the man\u00e9d sea.\" \"Barintus,\" perhaps connected with _barr find_,\n\"white-topped,\" would thus be a surname of the god who rode on Enbarr,\nthe foaming wave, or who was himself the wave, while his mythic\nsea-riding was transferred to the legend of S. Barri, if such a person\never existed.\n\nVarious magical possessions were ascribed to Manannan--his armour and\nsword, the one making the wearer invulnerable, the other terrifying all\nwho beheld it; his horse and canoe; his swine, which came to life again\nwhen killed; his magic cloak; his cup which broke when a lie was spoken;\nhis tablecloth, which, when waved, produced food. Many of these are\nfound everywhere in _M\u00e4rchen_, and there is nothing peculiarly Celtic in\nthem. We need not, therefore, with the mythologists, see in his armour\nthe vapoury clouds or in his sword lightning or the sun's rays. But\ntheir magical nature as well as the fact that so much wizardry is\nattributed to Manannan, points to a copious mythology clustering round\nthe god, now for ever lost.\n\nThe parentage of Lug is differently stated, but that account which makes\nhim son of Cian and of Ethne, daughter of Balor, is best attested.[311]\nFolk-tradition still recalls the relation of Lug and Balor. Balor, a\nrobber living in Tory Island, had a daughter whose son was to kill her\nfather. He therefore shut her up in an inaccessible place, but in\nrevenge for Balor's stealing MacIneely's cow, the latter gained access\nto her, with the result that Ethne bore three sons, whom Balor cast into\nthe sea. One of them, Lug, was recovered by MacIneely and fostered by\nhis brother Gavida. Balor now slew MacIneely, but was himself slain by\nLug, who pierced his single eye with a red-hot iron.[312] In another\nversion, Kian takes MacIneely's place and is aided by Manannan, in\naccordance with older legends.[313] But Lug's birth-story has been\ninfluenced in these tales by the _M\u00e4rchen_ formula of the girl hidden\naway because it has been foretold that she will have a son who will slay\nher father.\n\nLug is associated with Manannan, from whose land he comes to assist the\nTuatha D\u00e9a against the Fomorians. His appearance was that of the sun,\nand by this brilliant warrior's prowess the hosts were utterly\ndefeated.[314] This version, found in _The Children of Tuirenn_, differs\nfrom the account in the story of Mag-tured. Here Lug arrives at the\ngates of Tara and offers his services as a craftsman. Each offer is\nrefused, until he proclaims himself \"the man of each and every art,\" or\n_samild\u00e1nach_, \"possessing many arts.\" Nuada resigns his throne to him\nfor thirteen days, and Lug passes in review the various craftsmen (i.e.\nthe gods), and though they try to prevent such a marvellous person\nrisking himself in fight, he escapes, heads the warriors, and sings his\nwar-song. Balor, the evil-eyed, he slays with a sling-stone, and his\ndeath decided the day against the Fomorians. In this account Lug\n_samild\u00e1nach_ is a patron of the divine patrons of crafts; in other\nwords, he is superior to a whole group of gods. He was also inventor of\ndraughts, ball-play, and horsemanship. But, as M. D'Arbois shows,\n_samild\u00e1nach_ is the equivalent of \"inventor of all arts,\" applied by\nC\u00e6sar to the Gallo-Roman Mercury, who is thus an equivalent of Lug.[315]\nThis is attested on other grounds. As Lug's name appears in Irish Louth\n(_Lug-magh_) and in British Lugu-vallum, near Hadrian's Wall, so in Gaul\nthe names Lugudunum (Lyons), Lugudiacus, and Lugselva (\"devoted to\nLugus\") show that a god Lugus was worshipped there. A Gaulish feast of\nLugus in August--the month of Lug's festival in Ireland--was perhaps\nsuperseded by one in honour of Augustus. No dedication to Lugus has yet\nbeen found, but images of and inscriptions to Mercury abound at\nLugudunum Convenarum.[316] As there were three Brigits, so there may\nhave been several forms of Lugus, and two dedications to the _Lugoves_\nhave been found in Spain and Switzerland, one of them inscribed by the\nshoemakers of Uxama.[317] Thus the Lugoves may have been multiplied\nforms of Lugus or _Lugovos_, \"a hero,\" the meaning given to \"Lug\" by\nO'Davoren.[318] Shoe-making was not one of the arts professed by Lug,\nbut Professor Rh[^y]s recalls the fact that the Welsh Lleu, whom he\nequates with Lug, disguised himself as a shoemaker.[319] Lugus, besides\nbeing a mighty hero, was a great Celtic culture-god, superior to all\nother culture divinities.\n\nThe euhemerists assigned a definite date to Lug's death, but side by\nside with this the memory of his divinity prevailed, and he appears as\nthe father and helper of C\u00fachulainn, who was possibly a rebirth of the\ngod.[320] His high position appears in the fact that the Gaulish\nassembly at Lugudunum was held in his honour, like the festival of\nLugnasad in Ireland. Craftsmen brought their wares to sell at this\nfestival of the god of crafts, while it may also have been a harvest\nfestival.[321] Whether it was a strictly solar feast is doubtful, though\nProfessor Rh[^y]s and others insist that Lug is a sun-god. The name of\nthe Welsh Lleu, \"light,\" is equated with Lug, and the same meaning\nassigned to the latter.[322] This equation has been contested and is\ndoubtful, Lugus probably meaning \"hero.\"[323] Still the sun-like traits\nascribed to Lug before Mag-tured suggest that he was a sun-god, and\nsolar gods elsewhere, e.g. the Polynesian Maui, are culture-gods as\nwell. But it should be remembered that Lug is not associated with the\ntrue solar festivals of Beltane and Midsummer.\n\nWhile our knowledge of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann is based upon a series of\nmythic tales and other records, that of the gods of the continental\nCelts, apart from a few notices in classical authors and elsewhere,\ncomes from inscriptions. But as far as can be judged, though the names\nof the two groups seldom coincide, their functions must have been much\nalike, and their origins certainly the same. The Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann were\nnature divinities of growth, light, agriculture--their symbols and\npossessions suggesting fertility, e.g. the cauldron. They were\ndivinities of culture and crafts, and of war. There must have been many\nother gods in Ireland than those described here, while some of those may\nnot have been worshipped all over Ireland. Generally speaking, there\nwere many local gods in Gaul with similar functions but different names,\nand this may have been true of Ireland. Perhaps the different names\ngiven to Dagda, Manannan, and others were simply names of similar local\ngods, one of whom became prominent, and attracted to himself the names\nof the others. So, too, the identity of Danu and Brigit might be\nexplained, or the fact that there were three Brigits. We read also in\nthe texts of the god of Connaught, or of Ulster, and these were\napparently regional divinities, or of \"the god of Druidism\"--perhaps a\ngod worshipped specially by Druids.[324] The remote origin of some of\nthese divinities may be sought in the primitive cult of the Earth\npersonified as a fertile being, and in that of vegetation and\ncorn-spirits, and the vague spirits of nature in all its aspects. Some\nof these still continued to be worshipped when the greater gods had been\nevolved. Though animal worship was not lacking in Ireland, divinities\nwho are anthropomorphic forms of earlier animal-gods are less in\nevidence than on the Continent. The divinities of culture, crafts, and\nwar, and of departments of nature, must have slowly assumed the definite\npersonality assigned them in Irish religion. But, doubtless, they\nalready possessed that before the Goidels reached Ireland. Strictly\nspeaking, the underground domain assigned later to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann\nbelongs only to such of them as were associated with fertility. But in\ncourse of time most of the group, as underground dwellers, were\nconnected with growth and increase. These could be blighted by their\nenemies, or they themselves could withhold them when their worshippers\noffended them.[325]\n\nIrish mythology points to the early pre-eminence of goddesses. As\nagriculture and many of the arts were first in the hands of women,\ngoddesses of fertility and culture preceded gods, and still held their\nplace when gods were evolved. Even war-goddesses are prominent in\nIreland. Celtic gods and heroes are often called after their mothers,\nnot their fathers, and women loom largely in the tales of Irish\ncolonisation, while in many legends they play a most important part.\nGoddesses give their name to divine groups, and, even where gods are\nprominent, their actions are free, their personalities still clearly\ndefined. The supremacy of the divine women of Irish tradition is once\nmore seen in the fact that they themselves woo and win heroes; while\ntheir capacity for love, their passion, their eternal youthfulness and\nbeauty are suggestive of their early character as goddesses of\never-springing fertility.[326]\n\nThis supremacy of goddesses is explained by Professor Rh[^y]s as\nnon-Celtic, as borrowed by the Celts from the aborigines.[327] But it is\ntoo deeply impressed on the fabric of Celtic tradition to be other than\nnative, and we have no reason to suppose that the Celts had not passed\nthrough a stage in which such a state of things was normal. Their innate\nconservatism caused them to preserve it more than other races who had\nlong outgrown such a state of things.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[199] _HL_ 89; Stokes, _RC_ xii. 129. D'Arbois, ii. 125, explains it as\n\"Folk of the god whose mother is called Danu.\"\n\n[200] _RC_ xii. 77. The usual Irish word for \"god\" is _dia_; other names\nare _Fiadu_, _Art_, _Dess_.\n\n[201] See Joyce, _SII_. i. 252, 262; _PN_ i. 183.\n\n[202] _LL_ 245_b_.\n\n[203] _LL_ 11.\n\n[204] _LL_ 127. The mounds were the sepulchres of the euhemerised gods.\n\n[205] _Book of Fermoy_, fifteenth century.\n\n[206] _LL_ 11_b_.\n\n[207] _IT_ i. 14, 774; Stokes, _TL_ i. 99, 314, 319. _S\u00edd_ is a fairy\nhill, the hill itself or the dwelling within it. Hence those who dwell\nin it are _Aes_ or _Fir s\u00edde_, \"men of the mound,\" or _s\u00edde_, fairy\nfolk. The primitive form is probably _s\u00eados_, from _s\u00ead_, \"abode\" or\n\"seat\"; cf. Greek [Greek: edos] \"a temple.\" Thurneysen suggests a\nconnection with a word equivalent to Lat. _sidus_, \"constellation,\" or\n\"dwelling of the gods.\"\n\n[208] Joyce, _SH_ i. 252; O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 505.\n\n[209] \"Vision of Oengus,\" _RC_ iii. 344; _IT_ i. 197 f.\n\n[210] Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 118; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 71; see p. 363,\n_infra_.\n\n[211] Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 118, \u00a7 6; _IT_ iii. 407; _RC_ xvi. 139.\n\n[212] Shore, _JAI_ xx. 9.\n\n[213] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 203 f. _Pennocrucium_ occurs in the _Itinerary_ of\nAntoninus.\n\n[214] Keating, 434.\n\n[215] Joyce, _SH_ i. 252.\n\n[216] See p. 228. In Scandinavia the dead were called elves, and lived\nfeasting in their barrows or in hills. These became the seat of\nancestral cults. The word \"elf\" also means any divine spirit, later a\nfairy. \"Elf\" and _s\u00edde_ may thus, like the \"elf-howe\" and the _s\u00edd_ or\nmound, have a parallel history. See Vigfusson-Powell, _Corpus Poet.\nBoreale_, i. 413 f.\n\n[217] Tuan MacCairill (_LU_ 166) calls the Tuatha D\u00e9a, \"d\u00e9e ocus and\u00e9e,\"\nand gives the meaning as \"poets and husbandmen.\" This phrase, with the\nsame meaning, is used in \"C\u00f3ir Anmann\" (_IT_ iii. 355), but there we\nfind that it occurred in a pagan formula of blessing--\"The blessing of\ngods and not-gods be on thee.\" But the writer goes on to say--\"These\nwere their gods, the magicians, and their non-gods, the husbandmen.\"\nThis may refer to the position of priest-kings and magicians as gods.\nRh[^y]s compares Sanskrit _deva_ and _adeva_ (_HL_ 581). Cf. the phrase\nin a Welsh poem (Skene, i. 313), \"Teulu Oeth et Anoeth,\" translated by\nRh[^y]s as \"Household of Power and Not-Power\" (_CFL_ ii. 620), but the\nmeaning is obscure. See Loth, i. 197.\n\n[218] _LL_ 10_b_.\n\n[219] Cormac, 4. Stokes (_US_ 12) derives Anu from _(p)an_, \"to\nnourish\"; cf. Lat. _panis_.\n\n[220] _Leicester County Folk-lore_, 4. The _C\u00f3ir Anmann_ says that Anu\nwas worshipped as a goddess of plenty (_IT_ iii. 289).\n\n[221] Rh[^y]s, _Trans. 3rd Inter. Cong. Hist. of Rel._ ii. 213. See\nGrimm, _Teut. Myth._ 251 ff., and p. 275, _infra_.\n\n[222] Rh[^y]s, _ibid._ ii. 213. He finds her name in the place-name\n_Bononia_ and its derivatives.\n\n[223] Cormac, 23.\n\n[224] C\u00e6sar, vi. 17; Holder, _s.v._; Stokes, _TIG_ 33.\n\n[225] Girald. Cambr. _Top. Hib._ ii. 34 f. Vengeance followed upon rash\nintrusion. For the breath tabu see Frazer, _Early Hist. of the\nKingship_, 224.\n\n[226] Joyce, _SH_ i. 335.\n\n[227] P. 41, _supra_.\n\n[228] Martin, 119; Campbell, _Witchcraft_, 248.\n\n[229] Frazer, _op. cit._ 225.\n\n[230] Joyce, _PN_ i. 195; O'Grady, ii. 198; Wood-Martin, i. 366; see p.\n42, _supra_.\n\n[231] Fitzgerald, _RC_ iv. 190. Aine has no connection with Anu, nor is\nshe a moon-goddess, as is sometimes supposed.\n\n[232] _RC_ iv. 189.\n\n[233] Keating, 318; _IT_ iii. 305; _RC_ xiii. 435.\n\n[234] O'Grady, ii. 197.\n\n[235] _RC_ xii. 109, xxii. 295; Cormac, 87; Stokes, _TIG_ xxxiii.\n\n[236] Holder, i. 341; _CIL_ vii. 1292; C\u00e6sar, ii. 23.\n\n[237] _LL_ 11_b_; Cormac, s.v. _Neit_; _RC_ iv. 36; _Arch. Rev._ i. 231;\nHolder, ii. 714, 738.\n\n[238] Stokes, _TIG, LL_ 11_a_.\n\n[239] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 43; Stokes, _RC_ xii. 128.\n\n[240] _RC_ xii. 91, 110.\n\n[241] See p. 131.\n\n[242] Petrie, _Tara_, 147; Stokes, _US_ 175; Meyer, _Cath Finntr\u00e1ga_,\nOxford, 1885, 76 f.; _RC_ xvi. 56, 163, xxi. 396.\n\n[243] _CIL_ vii. 507; Stokes, _US_ 211.\n\n[244] _RC_ i. 41, xii. 84.\n\n[245] _RC_ xxi. 157, 315; Miss Hull, 247. A _baobh_ (a common Gaelic\nname for \"witch\") appears to Oscar and prophesies his death in a Fionn\nballad (Campbell, _The Fians_, 33). In Brittany the \"night-washers,\"\nonce water-fairies, are now regarded as _revenants_ (Le Braz, i. 52).\n\n[246] Joyce, _SH_ i. 261; Miss Hull, 186; Meyer, _Cath Finntraga_, 6,\n13; _IT_ i. 131, 871.\n\n[247] _LL_ 10_a_.\n\n[248] _LL_ 10_a_, 30_b_, 187_c_.\n\n[249] _RC_ xxvi. 13; _LL_ 187_c_.\n\n[250] Cf. the personification of the three strains of Dagda's harp\n(Leahy, ii. 205).\n\n[251] See p. 223, _infra_.\n\n[252] D'Arbois, ii. 372.\n\n[253] _RC_ xii. 77, 83.\n\n[254] _LL_ 11; _Atlantis_, London, 1858-70, iv. 159.\n\n[255] O'Donovan, _Grammar_, Dublin, 1845, xlvii.\n\n[256] _RC_ xii. 77.\n\n[257] Lucian, _Herakles_.\n\n[258] _RC_ xii. 89. The name is found in Gaulish Gobannicnos, and in\nWelsh Abergavenny.\n\n[259] _IT_ i. 56; Zimmer, _Gloss\u00e6 Hibernic\u00e6_, 1881, 270.\n\n[260] _Atlantis_, 1860, iii. 389.\n\n[261] _RC_ xii. 89.\n\n[262] _LL_ ll_a_.\n\n[263] _RC_ xii. 93.\n\n[264] Connac, 56, and _C\u00f3ir Anmann_ (_IT_ iii. 357) divide the name as\n_d\u00eda-na-cecht_ and explain it as \"god of the powers.\"\n\n[265] _RC_ xii. 67. For similar stories of plants springing from graves,\nsee my _Childhood of Fiction_, 115.\n\n[266] _RC_ xii, 89, 95.\n\n[267] _RC_ vi. 369; Cormac, 23.\n\n[268] Cormac, 47, 144; _IT_ iii. 355, 357.\n\n[269] _IT_ iii. 355; D'Arbois, i. 202.\n\n[270] _LL_ 246_a_.\n\n[271] _Irish MSS. Series_, i. 46; D'Arbois, ii. 276. In a MS. edited by\nDr. Stirn, Oengus was Dagda's son by Elemar's wife, the amour taking\nplace in her husband's absence. This incident is a parallel to the\nbirth-stories of Mongan and Arthur, and has also the Fatherless Child\ntheme, since Oengus goes in tears to Mider because he has been taunted\nwith having no father or mother. In the same MS. it is the Dagda who\ninstructs Oengus how to obtain Elemar's _s\u00edd_. See _RC_ xxvii. 332,\nxxviii. 330.\n\n[272] _LL_ 245_b_.\n\n[273] _IT_ iii. 355.\n\n[274] O'Donovan, _Battle of Mag-Rath_, Dublin, 1842, 50; _LL_ 246_a_.\n\n[275] D'Arbois, v. 427, 448.\n\n[276] The former is Rh[^y]s's interpretation (_HL_ 201) connecting\n_Cruaich_ with _cr\u00faach_, \"a heap\"; the latter is that of D'Arbois (ii.\n106), deriving _Cruaich_ from _cru_, \"blood.\" The idea of the image\nbeing bent or crooked may have been due to the fact that it long stood\nready to topple over, as a result of S. Patrick's miracle. See p. 286,\n_infra_.\n\n[277] Vallancey, in _Coll. de Rebus Hib._ 1786, iv. 495.\n\n[278] _LL_ 213_b_. D'Arbois thinks Cromm was a Fomorian, the equivalent\nof Taranis (ii. 62). But he is worshipped by Gaels. _Crin_, \"withered,\"\nprobably refers to the idol's position after S. Patrick's miracle, no\nlonger upright but bent like an old man. Dr. Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of\nIreland_, 87, with exaggerated patriotism, thinks the sacrificial\ndetails are copied by a Christian scribe from the Old Testament, and are\nno part of the old ritual.\n\n[279] _RC_ xvi. 35, 163.\n\n[280] Fitzgerald, _RL_ iv. 175.\n\n[281] _RC_ xxvi. 19.\n\n[282] _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.M. 3450.\n\n[283] _RC_ xii. 83, 85; Hyde, _op. cit._ 288.\n\n[284] _LU_ 94.\n\n[285] _RC_ xii. 65. Elsewhere three supreme \"ignorances\" are ascribed to\nOengus (_RL_ xxvi. 31).\n\n[286] _RC_ iii. 342.\n\n[287] _LL_ 11_c_; _LU_ 129; _IT_ i. 130. Cf. the glass house, placed\nbetween sky and moon, to which Tristan conducts the queen. Bedier,\n_Tristan et Iseut_, 252. In a fragmentary version of the story Oengus is\nEtain's wooer, but Mider is preferred by her father, and marries her. In\nthe latter half of the story, Oengus does not appear (see p. 363,\n_infra_). Mr. Nutt (_RC_ xxvii. 339) suggests that Oengus, not Mider,\nwas the real hero of the story, but that its Christian redactors gave\nMider his place in the second part. The fragments are edited by Stirn\n(_ZCP_ vol. v.).\n\n[288] _HL_ 146.\n\n[289] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, 114, 153. The tale has some unique\nfeatures, as it alone among Western _M\u00e4rchen_ and saga variants of the\n\"True Bride\" describes the malicious woman as the wife of Mider. In\nother words, the story implies polygamy, rarely found in European\nfolk-tales.\n\n[290] O'Grady, _TOS_ iii.\n\n[291] _RC_ i. 41.\n\n[292] O'Curry, _MC_ i. 71.\n\n[293] _LL_ 117_a_. See p. 381, _infra_.\n\n[294] Cumont, _RC_ xxvi. 47; D'Arbois, _RC_ xxvii. 127, notes the\ndifficulty of explaining the change of _e_ to _i_ in the names.\n\n[295] _HL_ 121.\n\n[296] See Crooke, _Folk-Lore_, viii. 341. Cf. Herod, ii. 131.\n\n[297] Loth, i. 269.\n\n[298] _HL_ 563.\n\n[299] Train, _Isle of Man_, Douglas, 1845, ii. 118; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._\nii. ch. 24; Frazer, _GB_{2} ii. 99 f.\n\n[300] Bathurst, _Roman Antiquities at Lydney Park_, 1879; Holder, _s.v._\n\"Nodons.\"\n\n[301] See Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 122; Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 30.\n\n[302] Stokes, _US_ 194-195; Rh[^y]s, _HL_, 128, _IT_ i. 712.\n\n[303] Loth, ii. 235, 296. See p. 160, _infra_.\n\n[304] Joyce, _OCR_.\n\n[305] For these four Manannans see Cormac 114, _RC_ xxiv. 270, _IT_ iii.\n357.\n\n[306] O'Grady, ii.\n\n[307] _Bodley Dindsenchas_, No. 10, _RC_ xii. 105; Joyce, _SH_ i. 259;\n_Otia Merseiana_, ii. \"Song of the Sea.\"\n\n[308] _LU_ 133.\n\n[309] Moore, 6.\n\n[310] Geoffrey, _Vita Merlini_, 37; Rees, 435. Other saintly legends are\nderived from myths, e.g. that of S. Barri in his boat meeting S.\nScuithne walking on the sea. Scuithne maintains he is walking on a\nfield, and plucks a flower to prove it, while Barri confutes him by\npulling a salmon out of the sea. This resembles an episode in the\nmeeting of Bran and Manannan (Stokes, _F\u00e9lire_, xxxix.; Nutt-Meyer, i.\n39). Saints are often said to assist men just as the gods did.\nColumcille and Brigit appeared over the hosts of Erin assisting and\nencouraging them _(RC_ xxiv. 40).\n\n[311] _RC_ xii. 59.\n\n[312] _Folk-Lore Journal_, v. 66; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 314.\n\n[313] Larminie, \"Kian, son of Kontje.\"\n\n[314] Joyce, _OCR_ 37.\n\n[315] D'Arbois, vi. 116, _Les Celtes_, 39, _RC_ xii. 75, 101, 127, xvi.\n77. Is the defaced inscription at Geitershof, _Deo M ... Sam ..._\n(Holder, ii. 1335), a dedication to Mercury Samild\u00e1nach? An echo of\nLug's story is found in the Life of S. Herve, who found a devil in his\nmonastery in the form of a man who said he was a good carpenter, mason,\nlocksmith, etc., but who could not make the sign of the cross. Albert le\nGrand, _Saints de la Bretagne_, 49, _RC_ vii. 231.\n\n[316] Holder, _s.v._; D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 44, _RC_ vii. 400.\n\n[317] Holder, _s.v._ \"Lugus.\"\n\n[318] Stokes, _TIG_ 103. Gaidoz contests the identification of the\nLugoves and of Lug with Mercury, and to him the Lugoves are grouped\ndivinities like the _Matres_ (_RC_ vi. 489).\n\n[319] _HL_ 425.\n\n[320] See p. 349, _infra_.\n\n[321] See p. 272, _infra_.\n\n[322] _HL_ 409.\n\n[323] See Loth, _RC_ x. 490.\n\n[324] Leahy, i. 138, ii. 50, 52, _LU_ 124_b_.\n\n[325] _LL_ 215_a_; see p. 78, _supra_.\n\n[326] See, further, p. 385, _infra_.\n\n[327] _The Welsh People_, 61. Professor Rh[^y]s admits that the theory\nof borrowing \"cannot easily be proved.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE GODS OF THE BRYTHONS\n\n\nOur knowledge of the gods of the Brythons, i.e. as far as Wales is\nconcerned, is derived, apart from inscriptions, from the _Mabinogion_,\nwhich, though found in a fourteenth century MS., was composed much\nearlier, and contains elements from a remote past. Besides this, the\n_Triads_, probably of twelfth-century origin, the _Taliesin_, and other\npoems, though obscure and artificial, the work of many a \"confused bard\ndrivelling\" (to cite the words of one of them), preserve echoes of the\nold mythology.[328] Some of the gods may lurk behind the personages of\nGeoffrey of Monmouth's _Historia Britonum_ and of the Arthurian cycle,\nthough here great caution is required. The divinities have become heroes\nand heroines, kings and princesses, and if some of the episodes are\nbased on ancient myths, they are treated in a romantic spirit. Other\nepisodes are mere _M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6. Like the wreckage of some rich\ngalleon, the _d\u00e9bris_ of the old mythology has been used to construct a\nnew fabric, and the old divinities have even less of the god-like traits\nof the personages of the Irish texts.\n\nSome of the personages bear similar names to the Irish divinities, and\nin some cases there is a certain similarity of incidents to those of the\nIrish tales.[329] Are, then, the gods dimly revealed in Welsh literature\nas much Goidelic as Brythonic? Analysing the incidents of the\n_Mabinogion_, Professor Anwyl has shown that they have an entirely local\ncharacter, and are mainly associated with the districts of Dyfed and\nGwent, of Anglesey, and of Gwynedd, of which Pryderi, Branwen, and\nGwydion are respectively the heroic characters.[330] These are the\ndistricts where a strong Goidelic element prevailed, whether these\nGoidels were the original inhabitants of Britain, driven there by\nBrythons,[331] or tribes who had settled there from Ireland,[332] or\nperhaps a mixture of both. In any case they had been conquered by\nBrythons and had become Brythonic in speech from the fifth century\nonwards. On account of this Goidelic element, it has been claimed that\nthe personages of the _Mabinogion_ are purely Goidelic. But examination\nproves that only a few are directly parallel in name with Irish\ndivinities, and while here there are fundamental likenesses, the\n_incidents_ with Irish parallels may be due to mere superficial\nborrowings, to that interchange of _M\u00e4rchen_ and mythical _donn\u00e9es_\nwhich has everywhere occurred. Many incidents have no Irish parallels,\nand most of the characters are entirely different in name from Irish\ndivinities. Hence any theory which would account for the likenesses,\nmust also account for the differences, and must explain why, if the\n_Mabinogion_ is due to Irish Goidels, there should have been few or no\nborrowings in Welsh literature from the popular C\u00fachulainn and Ossianic\nsagas,[333] and why, at a time when Brythonic elements were uppermost,\nsuch care should have been taken to preserve Goidelic myths. If the\ntales emanated from native Welsh Goidels, the explanation might be that\nthey, the kindred of the Irish Goidels, must have had a certain\ncommunity with them in divine names and myths, while others of their\ngods, more local in character, would differ in name. Or if they are\nBrythonic, the likenesses might be accounted for by an early community\nin myth and cult among the common ancestors of Brythons and\nGoidels.[334] But as the date of the composition of the _Mabinogion_ is\ncomparatively late, at a time when Brythons had overrun these Goidelic\ndistricts, more probably the tales contain a mingling of Goidelic (Irish\nor Welsh) and Brythonic divinities, though some of these may be\nsurvivals of the common Celtic heritage.[335] Celtic divinities were\nmainly of a local, tribal character. Hence some would be local Goidelic\ndivinities, others, classed with these, local Brythonic divinities. This\nwould explain the absence of divinities and heroes of other local\nBrythonic groups, e.g. Arthur, from the _Mabinogion_. But with the\ngrowing importance of these, they attracted to their legend the folk of\nthe _Mabinogion_ and other tales. These are associated with Arthur in\n_Kulhwych_, and the D\u00f4n group mingles with that of Taliesin in the\n_Taliesin_ poems.[336] Hence Welsh literature, as far as concerns the\nold religion, may be regarded as including both local Goidelic and\nBrythonic divinities, of whom the more purely Brythonic are Arthur,\nGwynn, Taliesin, etc.[337] They are regarded as kings and queens, or as\nfairies, or they have magical powers. They are mortal and die, and the\nplace of their burial is pointed out, or existing tumuli are associated\nwith them, All this is parallel to the history of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann,\nand shows how the same process of degradation had been at work in Wales\nas in Ireland.\n\nThe story of the Llyr group is told in the _Mabinogion_ of Branwen and\nof Manawyddan. They are associated with the Pwyll group, and apparently\nopposed to that of D\u00f4n. Branwen is married to Matholwych, king of\nIreland, but is ill-treated by him on account of the insults of the\nmischievous Evnissyen, in spite of the fact that Bran had atoned for the\ninsult by many gifts, including that of a cauldron of regeneration. Now\nhe crosses with an army to Ireland, where Evnissyen throws Branwen's\nchild, to whom the kingdom is given, on the fire. A fight ensues; the\ndead Irish warriors are resuscitated in the cauldron, but Evnissyen, at\nthe cost of his life, destroys it. Bran is slain, and by his directions\nhis head is cut off and carried first to Harlech, then to Gwales, where\nit will entertain its bearers for eighty years. At the end of that time\nit is to be taken to London and buried. Branwen, departing with the\nbearers, dies of a broken heart at Anglesey, and meanwhile Caswallyn,\nson of Beli, seizes the kingdom.[338] Two of the bearers of the head are\nManawyddan and Pryderi, whose fortunes we follow in the _Mabinogi_ of\nthe former. Pryderi gives his mother Rhiannon to Manawyddan as his wife,\nalong with some land which by magic art is made barren. After following\ndifferent crafts, they are led by a boar to a strange castle, where\nRhiannon and Pryderi disappear along with the building. Manawyddan, with\nPryderi's wife Kieva, set out as shoemakers, but are forced to abandon\nthis craft on account of the envy of the craftsmen. Finally, we learn\nhow Manawyddan overcame the enchanter Llwyt, who, because of an insult\noffered by Pryderi's father to his friend Gwawl, had made Rhiannon and\nPryderi disappear. They are now restored, and Llwyt seeks no further\nrevenge.\n\nThe story of Branwen is similar to a tale of which there are variants in\nTeutonic and Scandinavian sagas, but the resemblance is closer to the\nlatter.[339] Possibly a similar story with their respective divinities\nor heroes for its characters existed among Celts, Teutons, and Norsemen,\nbut more likely it was borrowed from Norsemen who occupied both sides of\nthe Irish Sea in the ninth and tenth century, and then naturalised by\nfurnishing it with Celtic characters. But into this framework many\nnative elements were set, and we may therefore scrutinise the story for\nCeltic mythical elements utilised by its redactor, who probably did not\nstrip its Celtic personages of their earlier divine attributes. In the\ntwo _Mabinogi_ these personages are Llyr, his sons Bran and Manawyddan,\nhis daughter Branwen, their half-brothers Nissyen and Evnissyen, sons of\nLlyr's wife Penardim, daughter of Beli, by a previous marriage with\nEurosswyd.\n\nLlyr is the equivalent of the Irish Ler, the sea-god, but two other\nLlyrs, probably duplicates of himself, are known to Welsh story--Llyr\nMarini, and the Llyr, father of Cordelia, of the chroniclers.[340] He is\nconstantly confused with Lludd Llawereint, e.g. both are described as\none of three notable prisoners of Britain, and both are called fathers\nof Cordelia or Creiddylad.[341] Perhaps the two were once identical, for\nManannan is sometimes called son of Alloid (= Lludd), in Irish texts, as\nwell as son of Ler.[342] But the confusion may be accidental, nor is it\ncertain that Nodons or Lludd was a sea-god. Llyr's prison was that of\nEurosswyd,[343] whose wife he may have abducted and hence suffered\nimprisonment. In the _Black Book of Caermarthen_ Bran is called son of Y\nWerydd or \"Ocean,\" according to M. Loth's interpretation of the name,\nwhich would thus point to Llyr's position as a sea-god. But this is\ncontested by Professor Rh[^y]s who makes Ywerit wife of Llyr, the name\nbeing in his view a form of the Welsh word for Ireland. In Geoffrey and\nthe chroniclers Llyr becomes a king of Britain whose history and that of\nhis daughters was immortalised by Shakespeare. Geoffrey also refers to\nLlyr's burial in a vault built in honour of Janus.[344] On this\nProfessor Rh[^y]s builds a theory that Llyr was a form of the Celtic Dis\nwith two faces and ruler of a world of darkness.[345] But there is no\nevidence that the Celtic Dispater was lord of a gloomy underworld, and\nit is best to regard Llyr as a sea-divinity.\n\nManawyddan is not god-like in these tales in the sense in which the\nmajestic Manannan of Irish story is, though elsewhere we learn that\n\"deep was his counsel.\"[346] Though not a magician, he baffles one of\nthe great wizards of Welsh story, and he is also a master craftsman, who\ninstructs Pryderi in the arts of shoe-making, shield-making, and\nsaddlery. In this he is akin to Manannan, the teacher of Diarmaid.\nIncidents of his career are reflected in the _Triads_, and his union\nwith Rhiannon may point to an old myth in which they were from the first\na divine pair, parents of Pryderi. This would give point to his\ndeliverance of Pryderi and Rhiannon from the hostile magician.[347]\nRhiannon resembles the Irish Elysium goddesses, and Manawyddan, like\nManannan, is lord of Elysium in a _Taliesin_ poem.[348] He is a\ncraftsman and follows agriculture, perhaps a reminiscence of the old\nbelief that fertility and culture come from the god's land. Manawyddan,\nlike other divinities, was drawn into the Arthurian cycle, and is one of\nthose who capture the famous boar, the _Twrch Trwyth_.[349]\n\nBran, or Bendigeit Vran (\"Bran the Blessed\"), probably an old pagan\ntitle which appropriately enough denotes one who figured later in\nChristian hagiology, is so huge that no house or ship can hold him.\nHence he wades over to Ireland, and as he draws near is thought to be a\nmountain. This may be an archaic method of expressing his divinity--a\ngigantic non-natural man like some of the Tuatha D\u00e9a and Ossianic\nheroes. But Bran also appears as the _Urdawl Ben_, or \"Noble Head,\"\nwhich makes time pass to its bearers like a dream, and when buried\nprotects the land from invasion. Both as a giant squatting on a rock and\nas a head, Bran is equated by Professor Rh[^y]s with Cernunnos, the\nsquatting god, represented also as a head, and also with the Welsh Urien\nwhose attribute was a raven, the supposed meaning of Bran's name.[350]\nHe further equates him with Uthr Ben, \"Wonderful Head,\" the superior\nbard, harper and piper of a _Taliesin_ poem.[351] Urien, Bran, and Uthr\nare three forms of a god worshipped by bards, and a \"dark\" divinity,\nwhose wading over to Ireland signifies crossing to Hades, of which he,\nlike Yama, who first crossed the rapid waters to the land of death, is\nthe ruler.[352] But Bran is not a \"dark\" god in the sense implied here.\nCernunnos is god of a happy underworld, and there is nothing dark or\nevil in him or in Bran and his congeners. Professor Rh[^y]s's \"dark\"\ndivinities are sometimes, in his view, \"light\" gods, but they cannot be\nboth. The Celtic lords of the dead had no \"dark\" character, and as gods\nof fertility they were, so to speak, in league with the sun-god, the\nslayer of Bran, according to Professor Rh[^y]s's ingenious theory. And\nalthough to distracted Irish secretaries Ireland may be Hades, its\nintroduction into this _Mabinogi_ merely points to the interpretation of\na mythico-historic connection between Wales and Ireland. Thus if Bran is\nCernunnos, this is because he is a lord of the underworld of fertility,\nthe counterpart of which is the distant Elysium, to which Bran seems\nrather to belong. Thus, in presence of his head, time passes as a dream\nin feasting and joy. This is a true Elysian note, and the tabued door of\nthe story is also suggestive of the tabus of Elysium, which when broken\nrob men of happiness.[353] As to the power of the head in protecting the\nland, this points to actual custom and belief regarding the relics of\nthe dead and the power of divine images or sculptured heads.[354] The\ngod Bran has become a king and law-giver in the _Mabinogion_ and the\n_Triads_,[355] while Geoffrey of Monmouth describes how Belinus and\nBrennus, in the Welsh version Beli and Bran, dispute the crown of\nBritain, are reconciled, and finally conquer Gaul and Rome.[356] The\nmythic Bran is confused with Brennus, leader of the Gauls against Rome\nin 390 B.C., and Belinus may be the god Belenos, as well as Beli, father\nof Lludd and Caswallawn. But Bran also figures as a Christian\nmissionary. He is described as hostage at Rome for his son Caradawc,\nreturning thence as preacher of Christianity to the Cymry--a legend\narising out of a misunderstanding of his epithet \"Blessed\" and a\nconfusing of his son with the historic Caractacus.[357] Hence Bran's\nfamily is spoken of as one of the three saintly families of Prydein, and\nhe is ancestor of many saints.[358]\n\nBranwen, \"White Bosom,\" daughter of a sea-god, may be a sea-goddess,\n\"Venus of the northern sea,\"[359] unless with Mr. Nutt we connect her\nwith the cauldron described in her legend,[360] symbol of an orgiastic\ncult, and regard her as a goddess of fertility. But the connection is\nnot clear in the story, though in some earlier myth the cauldron may\nhave been her property. As Brangwaine, she reappears in romance, giving\na love-potion to Tristram--perhaps a reminiscence of her former\nfunctions as a goddess of love, or earlier of fertility. In the\n_Mabinogion_ she is buried in Anglesey at Ynys Bronwen, where a cairn\nwith bones discovered in 1813 was held to be the grave and remains of\nBranwen.[361]\n\nThe children of D\u00f4n, the equivalent of Danu, and probably like her, a\ngoddess of fertility, are Gwydion, Gilv\u00e6thwy, Am\u00e6thon, Govannon, and\nArianrhod, with her sons, Dylan and Llew.[362] These correspond,\ntherefore, in part to the Tuatha D\u00e9a, though the only members of the\ngroup who bear names similar to the Irish gods are Govannon (= Goibniu)\nand possibly Llew (= Lug). Gwydion as a culture-god corresponds to Ogma.\nIn the _Triads_ Beli is called father of Arianrhod,[363] and assuming\nthat this Arianrhod is identical with the daughter of D\u00f4n, Professor\nRh[^y]s regards Beli as husband of D\u00f4n. But the identification is far\nfrom certain, and the theory built upon it that Beli is one with the\nIrish Bile, and that both are lords of a dark underworld, has already\nbeen found precarious.[364] In later belief D\u00f4n was associated with the\nstars, the constellation Cassiopeia being called her court. She is\ndescribed as \"wise\" in a _Taliesin_ poem.[365]\n\nThis group of divinities is met with mainly in the _Mabinogi_ of Math,\nwhich turns upon Gilv\u00e6thwy's illicit love of Math's \"foot-holder\"\nGoewin. To assist him in his _amour_, Gwydion, by a magical trick,\nprocures for Math from the court of Pryderi certain swine sent him by\nArawn, king of Annwfn. In the battle which follows when the trick is\ndiscovered, Gwydion slays Pryderi by enchantment. Math now discovers\nthat Gilv\u00e6thwy has seduced Goewin, and transforms him and Gwydion\nsuccessively into deer, swine, and wolves. Restored to human form,\nGwydion proposes that Arianrhod should be Math's foot-holder, but Math\nby a magic test discovers that she is not a virgin. She bears two sons,\nDylan, fostered by Math, and another whom Gwydion nurtures and for whom\nhe afterwards by a trick obtains a name from Arianrhod, who had sworn\nnever to name him. The name is Llew Llaw Gyffes, \"Lion of the Sure\nHand.\" By magic, Math and Gwydion form a wife for Llew out of flowers.\nShe is called Blodeuwedd, and later, at the instigation of a lover,\nGronw, she discovers how Llew can be killed. Gronw attacks and wounds\nhim, and he flies off as an eagle. Gwydion seeks for Llew, discovers\nhim, and retransforms him to human shape. Then he changes Blodeuwedd\ninto an owl, and slays Gronw.[366] Several independent tales have gone\nto the formation of this _Mabinogi_, but we are concerned here merely\nwith the light it may throw on the divine characters who figure in it.\n\nMath or Math Hen, \"the Ancient,\"[367] is probably an old divinity of\nGwyned, of which he is called lord. He is a king and a magician,\npre-eminent in wizardry, which he teaches to Gwydion, and in a _Triad_\nhe is called one of the great men of magic and metamorphosis of\nBritain.[368] More important are his traits of goodness to the\nsuffering, and justice with no trace of vengeance to the wrong-doer.\nWhether these are derived from his character as a god or from the Celtic\nkingly ideal, it is impossible to say, though the former is by no means\nunlikely. Possibly his supreme magical powers make him the equivalent of\nthe Irish \"god of Druidism,\" but this is uncertain, since all gods were\nmore or less dowered with these.\n\nGwydion's magical powers are abundantly illustrated in the tale. At\nPryderi's court he changes fungus into horses and dogs, and afterwards\nslays Pryderi by power of enchantments; he produces a fleet by magic\nbefore Arianrhod's castle; with Math's help he forms Blodeuwedd out of\nflowers; he gives Llew his natural shape when he finds him as a wasted\neagle on a tree, his flesh and the worms breeding in it dropping from\nhim; he transforms the faithless Blodeuwedd into an owl. Some of these\nand other deeds are referred to in the _Taliesin_ poems, while Taliesin\ndescribes himself as enchanted by Gwydion.[369] In the _Triads_ he is\none of the three great astrologers of Prydein, and this emphasis laid on\nhis powers of divination is significant when it is considered that his\nname may be derived from a root _vet_, giving words meaning \"saying\" or\n\"poetry,\" while cognate words are Irish _f\u00e1ith_, \"a prophet\" or \"poet,\"\nGerman _wuth_, \"rage,\" and the name of Odinn.[370] The name is\nsuggestive of the ecstasy of inspiration producing prophetic and poetic\nutterance. In the _Mabinogion_ he is a mighty bard, and in a poem, he,\nunder the name of Gweir, is imprisoned in the Other-world, and there\nbecomes a bard, thus receiving inspiration from the gods' land.[371] He\nis the ideal _f\u00e1ith_--diviner, prophet, and poet, and thus the god of\nthose professing these arts. Strabo describes how the Celtic _vates_\n(_f\u00e1ith_) was also a philosopher, and this character is given in a poem\nto Seon (probably = Gwydion), whose artists are poets and\nmagicians.[372] But he is also a culture-god, bringing swine to men from\nthe gods' land. For though Pryderi is described as a mortal who has\nhimself received the swine from Annwfn (Elysium), there is no doubt that\nhe himself was a lord of Annwfn, and it was probably on account of\nGwydion's theft from Annwfn that he, as Gweir, was imprisoned there\n\"through the messenger of Pwyll and Pryderi.\"[373] A raid is here made\ndirectly on the god's land for the benefit of men, and it is\nunsuccessful, but in the _Mabinogi_ a different version of the raid is\ntold. Perhaps Gwydion also brought kine from Annwfn, since he is called\none of the three herds of Britain,[374] while he himself may once have\nbeen an animal god, then an anthropomorphic deity associated with\nanimals. Thus in the _Mabinogi_, when Gwydion flees with the swine, he\nrests each night at a place one of the syllables of which is _Moch_,\n\"swine\"--an \u00e6tiological myth explaining why places which were once sites\nof the cult of a swine-god, afterwards worshipped as Gwydion, were so\ncalled.\n\nGwydion has also a tricky, fraudulent character in the _Mabinogi_, and\nalthough \"in his life there was counsel,\" yet he had a \"vicious\nmuse.\"[375] It is also implied that he is lover of his sister Arianrhod\nand father of Dylan and Llew--the mythic reflections of a time when such\nunions, perhaps only in royal houses, were permissible. Instances occur\nin Irish tales, and Arthur was also his sister's lover.[376] In later\nbelief Gwydion was associated with the stars; and the Milky Way was\ncalled Caer Gwydion. Across it he had chased the faithless\nBlodeuwedd.[377] Professor Rh[^y]s equates him with Odinn, and regards\nboth as representing an older Celto-Teutonic hero, though many of the\nalleged similarities in their respective mythologies are not too\nobvious.[378]\n\nAm\u00e6thon the good is described in _Kulhwych_ as the only husbandman who\ncould till or dress a certain piece of land, though Kulhwych will not be\nable to force him or to make him follow him.[379] This, together with\nthe name Am\u00e6thon, from Cymric _am\u00e6th_, \"labourer\" or \"ploughman,\" throws\nsome light on his functions.[380] He was a god associated with\nagriculture, either as one who made waste places fruitful, or possibly\nas an anthropomorphic corn divinity. But elsewhere his taking a roebuck\nand a whelp, and in a _Triad_, a lapwing from Arawn, king of Annwfn, led\nto the battle of Godeu, in which he fought Arawn, aided by Gwydion, who\nvanquished one of Arawn's warriors, Bran, by discovering his name.[381]\nAm\u00e6thon, who brings useful animals from the gods' land, plays the same\npart as Gwydion, bringer of the swine. The dog and deer are frequent\nrepresentatives of the corn-spirit, of which Am\u00e6thon may have been an\nanthropomorphic form, or they, with the lapwing, may have been earlier\nworshipful animals, associated with Am\u00e6thon as his symbols, while later\nmyth told how he had procured them from Annwfn.\n\nThe divine functions of Llew Llaw Gyffes are hardly apparent in the\n_Mabinogi_. The incident of Blodeuwedd's unfaithfulness is simply that\nof the _M\u00e4rchen_ formula of the treacherous wife who discovers the\nsecret of her husband's life, and thus puts him at her lover's\nmercy.[382] But since Llew is not slain, but changes to eagle form, this\nunusual ending may mean that he was once a bird divinity, the eagle\nlater becoming his symbol. Some myth must have told of his death, or he\nwas afterwards regarded as a mortal who died, for a poem mentions his\ntomb, and adds, \"he was a man who never gave justice to any one.\" Dr.\nSkene suggests that truth, not justice, is here meant, and finds in this\na reference to Llew's disguises.[383] Professor Rh[^y]s, for reasons not\nheld convincing by M. Loth, holds that _Llew_, \"lion,\" was a\nmisapprehension for his true name _Lleu_, interpreted by him\n\"light.\"[384] This meaning he also gives to _Lug_, equating Lug and\nLlew, and regarding both as sun-gods. He also equates _Llaw Gyffes_,\n\"steady _or_ strong hand,\" with Lug's epithet _L\u00e1m fada_, \"long hand,\"\nsuggesting that _gyffes_ may have meant \"long,\" although it was Llew's\nsteadiness of hand in shooting which earned him the title.[385] Again,\nLlew's rapid growth need not make him the sun, for this was a privilege\nof many heroes who had no connection with the sun. Llew's unfortunate\nmatrimonial affairs are also regarded as a sun myth. Blodeuwedd is a\ndawn goddess dividing her love between the sun-god and the prince of\ndarkness. Llew as the sun is overcome by the latter, but is restored by\nthe culture-hero Gwydion, who slays the dark rival. The transformation\nof Blodeuwedd into an owl means that the Dawn has become the Dusk.[386]\nAs we have seen, all this is a _M\u00e4rchen_ formula with no mythical\nsignificance. Evidence of the precariousness of such an interpretation\nis furnished from the similar interpretation of the story of Curoi's\nwife, Blathnat, whose lover C\u00fachulainn slew Curoi.[387] Here a supposed\nsun-god is the treacherous villain who kills a dark divinity, husband of\na dawn goddess.\n\nIf Llew is a sun-god, the equivalent of Lug, it is curious that he is\nnever connected with the August festival in Wales which corresponds to\nLugnasad in Ireland. There may be some support to the theory which makes\nhim a sun-god in a _Triad_ where he is one of the three _ruddroawc_ who\ncause a year's sterility wherever they set their feet, though in this\nArthur excels them, for he causes seven years' sterility![388] Does this\npoint to the scorching of vegetation by the summer sun? The mythologists\nhave not made use of this incident. On the whole the evidence for Llew\nas a sun-god is not convincing. The strongest reason for identifying him\nwith Lug rests on the fact that both have uncles who are smiths and have\nsimilar names--Govannon and Gavida (Goibniu). Like Am\u00e6thon, Govannon,\nthe artificer or smith (_g\u00f4f_, \"smith\"), is mentioned in _Kulhwych_ as\none whose help must be gained to wait at the end of the furrows to\ncleanse the iron of the plough.[389] Here he is brought into connection\nwith the plough, but the myth to which the words refer is lost. A\n_Taliesin_ poem associates him with Math--\"I have been with artificers,\nwith the old Math and with Govannon,\" and refers to his _Caer_ or\ncastle.[390]\n\nArianrhod, \"silver wheel,\" has a twofold character. She pretends to be a\nvirgin, and disclaims all knowledge of her son Llew, yet she is mistress\nof Gwydion. In the _Triads_ she appears as one of the three blessed (or\nwhite) ladies of Britain.[391] Perhaps these two aspects of her\ncharacter may point to a divergence between religion and mythology, the\ncult of a virgin goddess of whom myth told discreditable things. More\nlikely she was an old Earth-goddess, at once a virgin and a fruitful\nmother, like Artemis, the virgin goddess, yet neither chaste nor fair,\nor like a Babylonian goddess addressed as at once \"mother, wife, and\nmaid.\" Arianrhod, \"beauty famed beyond summer's dawn,\" is mentioned in a\n_Taliesin_ poem, and she was later associated with the constellation\nCorona Borealis.[392] Possibly her real name was forgotten, and that of\nArianrhod derived from a place-name, \"Caer Arianrhod,\" associated with\nher. The interpretation which makes her a dawn goddess, mother of light,\nLleu, and darkness, Dylan, is far from obvious.[393] Dylan, after his\nbaptism, rushed into the sea, the nature of which became his. No wave\never broke under him; he swam like a fish; and hence was called Dylan\nEil Ton or \"son of the wave.\" Govannon, his uncle, slew him, an incident\ninterpreted as the defeat of darkness, which \"hies away to lurk in the\nsea.\" Dylan, however, has no dark traits and is described as a blonde.\nThe waves lament his death, and, as they dash against the shore, seek to\navenge it. His grave is \"where the wave makes a sullen sound,\" but\npopular belief identifies him with the waves, and their noise as they\npress into the Conway is his dying groan. Not only is he _Eil Ton_, \"son\nof the wave,\" but also _Eil Mor_, \"son of the sea.\"[394] He is thus a\nlocal sea-god, and like Manannan identified with the waves, and yet\nseparate from them, since they mourn his death. The _Mabinogi_ gives us\nthe _d\u00e9bris_ of myths explaining how an anthropomorphic sea-god was\nconnected with the goddess Arianrhod and slain by a god Govannon.\n\nAnother _Mabinogion_ group is that of Pwyll, prince of Dyved, his wife\nRhiannon, and their son Pryderi.[395] Pwyll agrees with Arawn, king of\nAnnwfn (Elysium), to reign over his kingdom for a year. At the end of\nthat time he slays Arawn's rival Havgan. Arawn sends him gifts, and\nPwyll is now known as Pen or Head of Annwfn, a title showing that he was\nonce a god, belonging to the gods' land, later identified with the\nChristian Hades. Pwyll now agrees with Rhiannon,[396] who appears\nmysteriously on a magic hillock, and whom he captures, to rid her of an\nunwelcome suitor Gwawl. He imprisons him in a magical bag, and Rhiannon\nweds Pwyll. The story thus resolves itself into the formula of the Fairy\nBride, but it paves the way for the vengeance taken on Pryderi and\nRhiannon by Gwawl's friend Llwyt. Rhiannon has a son who is stolen as\nsoon as born. She is accused of slaying him and is degraded, but Teyrnon\nrecovers the child from its super-human robber and calls him Gwri. As he\ngrows up, Teyrnon notices his resemblance to Pwyll, and takes him to his\ncourt. Rhiannon is reinstated, and because she cries that her anguish\n(_pryderi_) is gone, the boy is now called Pryderi. Here, again, we have\n_M\u00e4rchen_ incidents, which also appear in the Fionn saga.[397]\n\nThough there is little that is mythological here, it is evident that\nPwyll is a god and Rhiannon a goddess, whose early importance, like that\nof other Celtic goddesses, appears from her name, a corruption of\nRigantona, \"great queen.\" Elsewhere we hear of her magic birds whose\nsong charmed Bran's companions for seven years, and of her marriage to\nManawyddan--an old myth in which Manawyddan may have been Pryderi's\nfather, while possibly in some other myth Pryderi may have been child of\nRigantona and Teyrnon (=Tigernonos, \"king\").[398] We may postulate an\nold Rhiannon saga, fragments of which are to be found in the _Mabinogi_,\nand there may have been more than one goddess called Rigantona, later\nfused into one. But in the tales she is merely a queen of old romance.\n\nPryderi, as has been seen, was despoiled of his swine by Gwydion. They\nwere the gift of Arawn, but in the _Triads_ they seem to have been\nbrought from Annwfn by Pwyll, while Pryderi acted as swineherd.[399]\nBoth Pwyll and Pryderi are thus connected with those myths which told of\nthe bringing of domestic animals from the gods' land. But since they are\ncertainly gods, associated with the gods' land, this is perhaps the\nresult of misunderstanding. A poem speaks of the magic cauldron of Pen\nAnnwfn, i.e. Pwyll, and this points to a myth explaining his connection\nwith Annwfn in a different way from the account in the _Mabinogi_. The\npoem also tells how Gweir was imprisoned in Caer Sidi (=Annwfn) \"through\nthe messenger of Pwyll and Pryderi.\"[400] They are thus lords of Annwfn,\nwhose swine Gweir (Gwydion) tries to steal. Elsewhere Caer Sidi is\nassociated with Manawyddan and Pryderi, perhaps a reference to their\nconnection as father and son.[401] Thus Pryderi and Pwyll belong to the\nbright Elysium, and may once have been gods of fertility associated with\nthe under-earth region, which was by no means a world of darkness.\nWhatever be the meaning of the death of Pryderi at the hands of Gwydion,\nit is connected with later references to his grave.[402]\n\nA fourth group is that of Beli and his sons, referred to in the\n_Mabinogi_ of Branwen, where one of them, Caswallawn, usurps the throne,\nand thus makes Manawyddan, like MacGregor, landless. In the _Dream of\nMaxen_, the sons of Beli are Lludd, Caswallawn, Nynnyaw, and\nLlevelys.[403] Geoffrey calls Beli Heli, and speaks of an earlier king\nBelinus, at enmity with his brother Brennius.[404] But probably Beli or\nHeli and Belinus are one and the same, and both represent the earlier\ngod Belenos. Caswellawn becomes Cassivellaunus, opponent of C\u00e6sar, but\nin the _Mabinogi_ he is hostile to the race of Llyr, and this may be\nconnected with whatever underlies Geoffrey's account of the hostility of\nBelinus and Brennius (=Bran, son of Llyr), perhaps, like the enmity of\nthe race of D[^o]n to Pryderi, a reminiscence of the strife of rival\ntribes or of Goidel and Brython.[405] As has been seen, the evidence for\nregarding Beli as D[^o]n's consort or the equivalent of Bile is slender.\nNor, if he is Belenos, the equivalent of Apollo, is he in any sense a\n\"dark\" god. He is regarded as a victorious champion, preserver of his\n\"honey isle\" and of the stability of his kingdom, in a _Taliesin_ poem\nand in the _Triads_.[406]\n\nThe personality of Casswallawn is lost in that of the historic\nCassivellaunus, but in a reference to him in the _Triads_ where, with\nCaradawc and Gweirydd, he bears the title \"war king,\" we may see a\nglimpse of his divine character, that of a god of war, invisibly leading\non armies to battle, and as such embodied in great chiefs who bore his\nname.[407] Nynnyaw appears in Geoffrey's pages as Nennius, who dies of\nwounds inflicted by C\u00e6sar, to the great grief of Cassivellaunus.[408]\n\nThe theory that Lludd Llaw Ereint or _Lodens Lamargentios_ represents\n_Nodens_ (Nuada) _L[=a]margentios_, the change being the result of\nalliteration, has been contested,[409] while if the Welsh Lludd and Nudd\nwere identical it is strange that they should have become distinct\npersonalities, Gwyn, son of Nudd, being the lover of Creiddylad,\ndaughter of Lludd,[410] unless in some earlier myth their love was that\nof brother and sister. Lludd is also confused or is identical with Llyr,\njust as the Irish Ler is with Alloid. He is probably the son of Beli\nwho, in the tale of _Lludd and Llevelys_, by the advice of Llevelys rids\nhis country of three plagues.[411] These are, first, the Coranians who\nhear every whisper, and whom he destroys by throwing over them water in\nwhich certain insects given him by Levelys have been bruised. The second\nis a shriek on May-eve which makes land and water barren, and is caused\nby a dragon which attacks the dragon of the land. These Lludd captures\nand imprisons at Dinas Emreis, where they afterwards cause trouble to\nVortigern at the building of his castle. The third is that of the\ndisappearance of a year's supply of food by a magician, who lulls every\none to sleep and who is captured by Lludd. Though the Coranians appear\nin the _Triads_ as a hostile tribe,[412] they may have been a\nsupernatural folk, since their name is perhaps derived from _c\u00f2r_,\n\"dwarf,\" and they are now regarded as mischievous fairies.[413] They may\nthus be analogous to the Fomorians, and their story, like that of the\ndragon and the magician who produce blight and loss of food, may be\nbased on older myth or ritual embodying the belief in powers hostile to\nfertility, though it is not clear why those powers should be most active\non May-day. But this may be a misunderstanding, and the dragons are\novercome on May-eve. The references in the tale to Lludd's generosity\nand liberality in giving food may reflect his function as a god of\ngrowth, but, like other euhemerised gods, he is also called a mighty\nwarrior, and is said to have rebuilt the walls of Caer Ludd (London),\nhis name still surviving in \"Ludgate Hill,\" where he was buried.[414]\nThis legend doubtless points to some ancient cult of Lludd at this spot.\n\nNudd already discussed under his title Nodons, is less prominent than\nhis son Gwyn, whose fight with Gwthur we have explained as a mythic\nexplanation of ritual combats for the increase of fertility. He also\nappears as a hunter and as a great warrior,[415] \"the hope of armies,\"\nand thus he may be a god of fertility who became a god of war and the\nchase. But legend associated him with Annwfn, and regarded him, like the\nTuatha D\u00e9a, as a king of fairyland.[416] In the legend of S. Collen, the\nsaint tells two men, whom he overhears speaking of Gwyn and the fairies,\nthat these are demons. \"Thou shalt receive a reproof from Gwyn,\" said\none of them, and soon after Collen was summoned to meet the king of\nAnnwfn on Glastonbury Tor. He climbed the hill with a flask of holy\nwater, and saw on its top a splendid castle, with crowds of beautiful\nand youthful folk, while the air resounded with music. He was brought to\nGwyn, who politely offered him food, but \"I will not eat of the leaves\nof the tree,\" cried the saint; and when he was asked to admire the\ndresses of the crowd, all he would say was that the red signified\nburning, the blue coldness. Then he threw the holy water over them, and\nnothing was left but the bare hillside.[417] Though Gwyn's court on\nGlastonbury is a local Celtic Elysium, which was actually located there,\nthe story marks the hostility of the Church to the cult of Gwyn, perhaps\npractised on hilltops, and this is further seen in the belief that he\nhunts souls of the wicked and is connected with Annwfn in its later\nsense of hell. But a mediant view is found in _Kulhwych_, where it is\nsaid of him that he restrains the demons of hell lest they should\ndestroy the people of this world. In the _Triads_ he is, like other\ngods, a great magician and astrologer.[418]\n\nAnother group, unknown to the _Mabinogion_, save that Taliesin is one of\nthe bearers of Bran's head, is found in the _Book of Taliesin_ and in\nthe late story of Taliesin. These, like the _Arthur_ cycle, often refer\nto personages of the _Mabinogion_; hence we gather that local groups of\ngods, originally distinct, were later mingled in story, the references\nin the poems reflecting this mingling. Late as is the _Hanes Taliesin_\nor story of Taliesin, and expressed as much of it is in a _M\u00e4rchen_\nformula, it is based on old myths about Cerridwen and Taliesin of which\nits compiler made use, following an old tradition already stereotyped in\none of the poems in the _M\u00e4rchen_ formula of the Transformation\nCombat.[419] But the mythical fragments are also mingled with traditions\nregarding the sixth century poet Taliesin. The older saga was perhaps\ndeveloped in a district south of the Dyfi estuary.[420] In Lake Tegid\ndwell Tegid Voel, Cerridwen, and their children--the fair maiden\nCreirwy, Morvran, and the ugly Avagddu. To give Avagddu knowledge, his\nmother prepares a cauldron of inspiration from which three drops of\ninspiration will be produced. These fall on the finger of Gwion, whom\nshe set to stir it. He put the finger in his mouth, and thus acquired\nthe inspiration. He fled, and Cerridwen pursued, the rest of the story\nbeing accommodated to the Transformation Combat formula. Finally,\nCerridwen as a hen swallows Gwion as a grain of wheat, and bears him as\na child, whom she throws into the sea. Elphin, who rescues him, calls\nhim Taliesin, and brings him up as a bard.[421]\n\nThe water-world of Tegid is a submarine Elysium with the customary\ncauldron of inspiration, regeneration, and fertility, like the cauldron\nassociated with a water-world in the _Mabinogion_. \"Shall not my chair\nbe defended from the cauldron of Cerridwen,\" runs a line in a Taliesin\npoem, while another speaks of her chair, which was probably in Elysium\nlike that of Taliesin himself in Caer Sidi.[422] Further references to\nher connection with poetry show that she may have been worshipped by\nbards, her cauldron being the source of their inspiration.[423] Her\nanger at Gwion may point to some form of the Celtic myth of the theft of\nthe elements of culture from the gods' land. But the cauldron was first\nof all associated with a fertility cult,[424] and Cerridwen must\ntherefore once have been a goddess of fertility, who, like Brigit, was\nlater worshipped by bards. She may also have been a corn-goddess, since\nshe is called a goddess of grain, and tradition associates the pig--a\ncommon embodiment of the corn-spirit--with her.[425] If the tradition is\ncorrect, this would be an instance, like that of Demeter and the pig, of\nan animal embodiment of the corn-spirit being connected with a later\nanthropomorphic corn-goddess.\n\nTaliesin was probably an old god of poetic inspiration confused with the\nsixth century poet of the same name, perhaps because this boastful poet\nidentified himself or was identified by other bards with the gods. He\nspeaks of his \"splendid chair, inspiration of fluent and urgent song\" in\nCaer Sidi or Elysium, and, speaking in the god's name or identifying\nhimself with him, describes his presence with Llew, Bran, Gwydion, and\nothers, as well as his creation and his enchantment before he became\nimmortal.[426] He was present with Arthur when a cauldron was stolen\nfrom Aunwfn, and basing his verses on the mythic transformations and\nrebirths of the gods, recounts in highly inflated language his own\nnumerous forms and rebirths.[427] His claims resemble those of the\n_Shaman_ who has the entree of the spirit-world and can transform\nhimself at will. Taliesin's rebirth is connected with his acquiring of\ninspiration. These incidents appear separately in the story of Fionn,\nwho acquired his inspiration by an accident, and was also said to have\nbeen reborn as Mongan. They are myths common to various branches of the\nCeltic people, and applied in different combinations to outstanding gods\nor heroes.[428] The _Taliesin_ poems show that there may have been two\ngods or two mythic aspects of one god, later combined together. He is\nthe son of the goddess and dwells in the divine land, but he is also a\nculture-hero stealing from the divine land. Perhaps the myths reflect\nthe encroachment of the cult of a god on that of a goddess, his\nworshippers regarding him as her son, her worshippers reflecting their\nhostility to the new god in a myth of her enmity to him. Finally, the\nlegend of the rescue of Taliesin the poet from the waves became a myth\nof the divine outcast child rescued by Elphin, and proving himself a\nbard when normal infants are merely babbling.\n\nThe occasional and obscure references to the other members of this group\nthrow little light on their functions, save that Morvran, \"sea-crow,\" is\ndescribed in _Kulhwych_ as so ugly and terrible that no one would strike\nhim at the battle of Camlan. He may have been a war-god, like the\nscald-crow goddesses of Ireland, and he is also spoken of in the\n_Triads_ as an \"obstructor of slaughter\" or \"support of battle.\"[429]\n\nIngenuity and speculation have busied themselves with trying to prove\nthat the personages of the Arthurian cycle are the old gods of the\nBrythons, and the incidents of the romances fragments of the old\nmythology. While some of these personages--those already present in\ngenuinely old Welsh tales and poems or in Geoffrey's _History_--are\nreminiscent of the old gods, the romantic presentment of them in the\ncycle itself is so largely imaginative, that nothing certain can be\ngained from it for the understanding of the old mythology, much less the\nold religion. Incidents which are the common stock of real life as well\nas of romance are interpreted mythologically, and it is never quite\nobvious why the slaying of one hero by another should signify the\nconquest of a dark divinity by a solar hero, or why the capture of a\nheroine by one knight when she is beloved of another, should make her a\ndawn-goddess sharing her favours, now with the sun-god, now with a\n\"dark\" divinity. Or, even granting the truth of this method, what light\ndoes it throw on Celtic religion?\n\nWe may postulate a local Arthur saga fusing an old Brythonic god with\nthe historic sixth century Arthur. From this or from Geoffrey's handling\nof it sprang the great romantic cycle. In the ninth century Nennius\nArthur is the historic war-chief, possibly Count of Britain, but in the\nreference to his hunting the _Porcus Troit_ (the _Twrch Trwyth_) the\nmythic Arthur momentarily appears.[430] Geoffrey's Arthur differs from\nthe later Arthur of romance, and he may have partially rationalised the\nsaga, which was either of recent formation or else local and obscure,\nsince there is no reference to Arthur in the _Mabinogion_--a fact which\nshows that \"in the legends of Gwynedd and Dyfedd he had no place\nwhatever,\"[431] and also that Arthur the god or mythic hero was also\npurely local. In Geoffrey Arthur is the fruit of Igerna's _amour_ with\nUther, to whom Merlin has given her husband's shape. Arthur conquers\nmany hosts as well as giants, and his court is the resort of all\nvalorous persons. But he is at last wounded by his wife's seducer, and\ncarried to the Isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds, and nothing\nmore is ever heard of him.[432] Some of these incidents occur also in\nthe stories of Fionn and Mongan, and those of the mysterious begetting\nof a wonder child and his final disappearance into fairyland are local\nforms of a tale common to all branches of the Celts.[433] This was\nfitted to the history of the local god or hero Arthur, giving rise to\nthe local saga, to which was afterwards added events from the life of\nthe historic Arthur. This complex saga must then have acquired a wider\nfame long before the romantic cycle took its place, as is suggested by\nthe purely Welsh tales of _Kulhwych_ and the _Dream of Rhonabwy_, in the\nformer of which the personages (gods) of the _Mabinogion_ figure in\nArthur's train, though he is far from being the Arthur of the romances.\nSporadic references to Arthur occur also in Welsh literature, and to the\nearlier saga belongs the Arthur who spoils Elysium of its cauldron in a\n_Taliesin_ poem.[434] In the _Triads_ there is a mingling of the\nhistoric, the saga, and the later romance Arthur, but probably as a\nresult of the growing popularity of the saga Arthur he is added to many\nTriads as a more remarkable person than the three whom they\ndescribe.[435] Arthurian place-names over the Brythonic area are more\nprobably the result of the popularity of the saga than that of the later\nromantic cycle, a parallel instance being found in the extent of\nOssianic place-names over the Goidelic area as a result of the spread of\nthe Fionn saga.\n\nThe character of the romance Arthur--the flower of knighthood and a\ngreat warrior--and the blending of the historic war-leader Arthur with\nthe mythic Arthur, suggest that the latter was the ideal hero of certain\nBrythonic groups, as Fionn and C\u00fachulainn of certain Goidelic groups. He\nmay have been the object of a cult as these heroes perhaps were, or he\nmay have been a god more and more idealised as a hero. If the earlier\nform of his name was Artor, \"a ploughman,\" but perhaps with a wider\nsignificance, and having an equivalent in Artaius, a Gaulish god equated\nwith Mercury,[436] he may have been a god of agriculture who became a\nwar-god. But he was also regarded as a culture-hero, stealing a cauldron\nand also swine from the gods' land, the last incident euhemerised into\nthe tale of an unsuccessful theft from March, son of Meirchion,[437]\nwhile, like other culture-heroes, he is a bard. To his story was easily\nfitted that of the wonder-child, who, having finally disappeared into\nElysium (later located at Glastonbury), would reappear one day, like\nFionn, as the Saviour of his people. The local Arthur finally attained a\nfame far exceeding that of any Brythonic god or hero.\n\nMerlin, or Myrddin, appears in the romances as a great magician who is\nfinally overcome by the Lady of the Lake, and is in Geoffrey son of a\nmysterious invisible personage who visits a woman, and, finally taking\nhuman shape, begets Merlin. As a son who never had a father he is chosen\nas the foundation sacrifice for Vortigern's tower by his magicians, but\nhe confutes them and shows why the tower can never be built, namely,\nbecause of the dragons in the pool beneath it. Then follow his\nprophecies regarding the dragons and the future of the country, and the\nstory of his removal of the Giant's Dance, or Stonehenge, from Ireland\nto its present site--an \u00e6tiological myth explaining the origin of the\ngreat stone circle. His description of how the giants used the water\nwith which they washed the stones for the cure of sickness or wounds,\nprobably points to some ritual for healing in connection with these\nmegaliths. Finally, we hear of his transformation of the lovelorn Uther\nand of his confidant Ulfin, as well as of himself.[438] Here he appears\nas little more than an ideal magician, possibly an old god, like the\nIrish \"god of Druidism,\" to whose legend had been attached a story of\nsupernatural conception. Professor Rh[^y]s regards him as a Celtic Zeus\nor as the sun, because late legends tell of his disappearance in a glass\nhouse into the sea. The glass house is the expanse of light travelling\nwith the sun (Merlin), while the Lady of the Lake who comes daily to\nsolace Merlin in his enchanted prison is a dawn-goddess. Stonehenge was\nprobably a temple of this Celtic Zeus \"whose late legendary self we have\nin Merlin.\"[439] Such late romantic episodes and an \u00e6tiological myth can\nhardly be regarded as affording safe basis for these views, and their\nmythological interpretation is more than doubtful. The sun is never\nprisoner of the dawn as Merlin is of Viviane. Merlin and his glass house\ndisappear for ever, but the sun reappears every morning. Even the most\npoetic mythology must conform in some degree to actual phenomena, but\nthis cannot be said of the systems of mythological interpretation. If\nMerlin belongs to the pagan period at all, he was probably an ideal\nmagician or god of magicians, prominent, perhaps, in the Arthur saga as\nin the later romances, and credited with a mysterious origin and an\nequally mysterious ending, the latter described in many different ways.\n\nThe boastful Kei of the romances appears already in _Kulhwych_, while in\nGeoffrey he is Arthur's seneschal.[440] Nobler traits are his in later\nWelsh poetry; he is a mighty warrior, fighting even against a hundred,\nthough his powers as a toper are also great. Here, too, his death is\nlamented.[441] He may thus have been a god of war, and his battle-fury\nmay be poetically described in a curious passage referring to him in\n_Kulhwych_: \"His breath lasted nine days and nine nights under water. He\ncould remain without sleep for the same period. No physician could heal\na wound inflicted by his sword. When he pleased he could make himself as\ntall as the tallest tree in the wood. And when it rained hardest,\nwhatever he carried remained dry above and below his hand to the\ndistance of a handbreadth, so great was his natural heat. When it was\ncoldest he was as glowing fuel to his companions.\"[442] This almost\nexactly resembles C\u00fachulainn's aspect in his battle-fury. In a curious\npoem Gwenhyvar (Guinevere) extols his prowess as a warrior above that of\nArthur, and in _Kulhwych_ and elsewhere there is enmity between the\ntwo.[443] This may point to Kei's having been a god of tribes hostile to\nthose of whom Arthur was hero.\n\nMabon, one of Arthur's heroes in _Kulhwych_ and the _Dream of Rhonabwy_,\nwhose name, from _mab_ (_map_), means \"a youth,\" may be one with the god\nMaponos equated with Apollo in Britain and Gaul, perhaps as a god of\nhealing springs.[444] His mother's name, Modron, is a local form of\n_Matrona_, a river-goddess and probably one of the mother-goddesses as\nher name implies. In the _Triads_ Mabon is one of the three eminent\nprisoners of Prydein. To obtain his help in hunting the magic boar his\nprison must be found, and this is done by animals, in accordance with a\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formula, while the words spoken by them show the immense\nduration of his imprisonment--perhaps a hint of his immortality.[445]\nBut he was also said to have died and been buried at Nantlle,[446]\nwhich, like Gloucester, the place of his prison, may have been a site of\nhis widely extended cult.[447]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTaken as a whole the various gods and heroes of the Brythons, so far as\nthey are known to us, just as they resemble the Irish divinities in\nhaving been later regarded as mortals, magicians, and fairies, so they\nresemble them in their functions, dimly as these are perceived. They are\nassociated with Elysium, they are lords of fertility and growth, of the\nsea, of the arts of culture and of war. The prominent position of\ncertain goddesses may point to what has already been discovered of them\nin Gaul and Ireland--their pre-eminence and independence. But, like the\ndivinities of Gaul and Ireland, those of Wales were mainly local in\ncharacter, and only in a few cases attained a wider popularity and cult.\n\nCertain British gods mentioned on inscriptions may be identified with\nsome of those just considered--Nodons with Nudd or Lludd, Belenos with\nBelinus or Beli, Maponos with Mabon, Taranos (in continental\ninscriptions only), with a Taran mentioned in _Kulhwych_.[448] Others\nare referred to in classical writings--Andrasta, a goddess of victory,\nto whom Boudicca prayed;[449] Sul, a goddess of hot springs, equated\nwith Minerva at Bath.[450] Inscriptions also mention Epona, the\nhorse-goddess; Brigantia, perhaps a form of Brigit; Belisama (the Mersey\nin Ptolemy),[451] a goddess in Gaulish inscriptions. Others refer to the\ngroup goddesses, the _Matres_. Some gods are equated with Mars--Camulos,\nknown also on the Continent and perhaps the same as Cumal, father of\nFionn; Belatucadros, \"comely in slaughter\"; Cocidius, Corotiacus,\nBarrex, and Totatis (perhaps Lucan's Teutates). Others are equated with\nApollo in his character as a god of healing--Anextiomarus, Grannos (at\nMusselburgh and in many continental inscriptions), Arvalus, Mogons, etc.\nMost of these and many others found on isolated inscriptions were\nprobably local in character, though some, occurring also on the\nContinent, had attained a wider popularity.[452] But some of the\ninscriptions referring to the latter may be due to Gaulish soldiers\nquartered in Britain.\n\nCOMPARATIVE TABLE OF DIVINITIES WITH SIMILAR NAMES IN IRELAND, BRITAIN,\nAND GAUL.\n\n_Italics denote names found in Inscriptions._\n\nIRELAND.      BRITAIN.            GAUL.\n              _Anextiomarus_      _Anextiomarus_\nAnu           Anna (?)            _Anoniredi_, \"chariot of Anu\"\nBadb                              _Bodua_\n              Beli, Belinus       _Belenos_\n              Belisama            _Belisama_\nBrigit        _Brigantia_         _Brigindu_\nBron          Bran                Brennus (?)\nBuanann                           _Buanu_\nCumal         _Camulos_           _Camulos_\nDanu          D\u00f4n\n              _Epona_             _Epona_\nGoibniu       Govannon\n              _Grannos_           _Grannos_\nLer           Llyr\nLug           Llew or Lleu (?)    Lugus, _Lugores_\n              Mabon, _Maponos_    _Maponos_\nManannan      Manawyddan\n              _Matres_            _Matres_\nMider                             _Medros_ (?)\n              Modron              _Matrona_ (?)\nNemon                             _Nemetona_\nN\u00e9t                               _Neton_\nNuada         _Nodons_, Nudd\n              Hael, Ll\u00fbdd (?)\nOgma                              Ogm\u00edos\n              _Silvanus_          _Silvanus_\n              Taran               _Taranis_\n              _Totatis, Tutatis_  Teutates\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[328] The text of the _Mabinogion_ has been edited by Rh[^y]s and Evans,\n1887, and it has been translated into English by Lady Guest, and more\ncritically, into French, by Loth. Many of the _Triads_ will be found in\nLoth's second volume. For the poetry see Skene, _Four Ancient Books of\nWales_.\n\n[329] These incidents are found mainly in the story of Branwen, e.g.\nthose of the cauldron, a frequent accessory in Irish tales; the\nregeneration of the warriors, also found in the story of Mag-tured,\nthough no cauldron is used; the red-hot house, occurring also in _Mesca\nUlad_; the description of Bran paralleled by that of MacCecht.\n\n[330] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 277, ii. 124, iii. 122.\n\n[331] Bp. of S. Davids, _Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynned_, 1851;\nRh[^y]s, _TSC_ 1894-1895, 21.\n\n[332] Skene, i. 45; Meyer, _TSC_ 1895-1896, 55.\n\n[333] Cf. John, _The Mabinogion_, 1901, 19. Curoi appears as Kubert, and\nConchobar as Knychur in _Kulhwych_ (Loth, i. 202). A poem of _Taliesin_\nhas for subject the death of Corroi, son of Dayry (Curoi mac Daire),\nSkene, i. 254.\n\n[334] Loth, _RC_ x. 356; John, _op. cit._ 19; Nutt, _Arch. Rev._ i. 331.\n\n[335] The giant Ysppadden in _Kulhwych_ resembles Balor, but has no evil\neye.\n\n[336] Anwyl, _ZCP_ ii. 127-128, \"The merging of the two legends [of D\u00f4n\nand Taliesin] may have arisen through the fusion of Penllyn with Ardudwy\nand Arvon.\"\n\n[337] Professor Rh[^y]s thinks that the Llyr family may be pre-Celtic,\n_TSC_ 1894-1895, 29 f.; _CFL_ 552.\n\n[338] Loth, i. 97 f.; Lady Guest, iii. 143 f.\n\n[339] See Nutt, _Folk-lore Record_, v. 1 f.\n\n[340] Loth, i. 298, ii. 243-244; Geoffrey, _Hist. Brit._ ii. 11.\n\n[341] Loth, i. 224, 265, ii. 215, 244; Geoff. ii. 11.\n\n[342] Skene, i. 81; Rh[^y]s, _Academy_, Jan. 7, 1882.\n\n[343] _Triads_, Loth, ii. 293; Nutt, _Folk-lore Record_, v. 9.\n\n[344] _Hist. Brit._ ii. 11-14.\n\n[345] _AL_ 131.\n\n[346] Skene, i. 262.\n\n[347] See Nutt-Meyer, ii. 17.\n\n[348] Skene, i. 276.\n\n[349] Loth, i. 208, 280; see also i. 197, ii. 245, 294.\n\n[350] See Skene i. 355. The raven is rather the bird of prey come to\ndevour Urien than his \"attribute.\"\n\n[351] Skene, i. 298.\n\n[352] For these theories see Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 90_f_.; _AL_ ch. 11; _CFL_\n552.\n\n[353] See Ch. XXIV.\n\n[354] See p. 242.\n\n[355] Loth, i. 65, ii. 285.\n\n[356] _Hist. Brit._ iii. 1_f_. Geoffrey says that Billingsgate was\ncalled after Belinus, and that his ashes were preserved in the gate, a\ntradition recalling some connection of the god with the gate.\n\n[357] An early Caradawc saga may have become mingled with the story of\nCaractacus.\n\n[358] Rees, 77.\n\n[359] So Elton, 291.\n\n[360] _Folk-lore Record_, v. 29.\n\n[361] Lady Guest, iii. 134.\n\n[362] D\u00f4n is sometimes held to be male, but she is distinctly called\nsister of Math (Loth, i. 134), and as the equivalent of Danu she must be\nfemale.\n\n[363] Loth, ii. 209.\n\n[364] See p. 60, _supra_, and Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 90_f_.\n\n[365] Lady Guest, iii. 255; Skene, i. 297, 350.\n\n[366] For this _Mabinogi_ see Loth, i. 117f.; Guest, iii. 189f.\n\n[367] Skene, i. 286.\n\n[368] Loth, ii. 229, 257; and for other references to Math, Skene, i.\n281, 269, 299.\n\n[369] Skene, i. 296, 281.\n\n[370] Loth, ii. 297; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 276.\n\n[371] Skene, i. 264.\n\n[372] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 270. Skene, i. 430, 537, gives a different meaning\nto _seon_.\n\n[373] Skene, i. 264.\n\n[374] Loth, ii. 296.\n\n[375] Skene, i. 299, 531.\n\n[376] See p. 224, _infra_.\n\n[377] Guest, iii. 255; Morris, _Celtic Remains_, 231.\n\n[378] _HL_ 283 _f_. See also Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ i. 131.\n\n[379] Loth, i. 240.\n\n[380] Stokes, _US_ 34.\n\n[381] _Myvyrian Arch\u00e6ol._ i. 168; Skene, i. 275, 278 f.; Loth, ii. 259.\n\n[382] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, 127. Llew's vulnerability does not\ndepend on the discovery of his separable soul, as is usual. The earliest\nform of this _M\u00e4rchen_ is the Egyptian story of the Two Brothers, and\nthat of Samson and Delilah is another old form of it.\n\n[383] Skene, i. 314, ii. 342.\n\n[384] _HL_ 408; _RC_ x. 490.\n\n[385] _HL_ 237, 319, 398, 408.\n\n[386] _HL_ 384.\n\n[387] _HL_ 474, 424.\n\n[388] Loth, ii. 231.\n\n[389] Loth, i. 240.\n\n[390] Skene, i, 286-287.\n\n[391] Loth, ii. 263.\n\n[392] Skene, ii. 159; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 157; Guest, iii. 255.\n\n[393] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 161, 566.\n\n[394] Skene, i. 282, 288, 310, 543, ii. 145; Loth, i. 135; Rh[^y]s, _HL_\n387.\n\n[395] Loth, i. 27 f.; Guest, iii. 7 f.\n\n[396] Rhiannon is daughter of Heveidd Hen or \"the Ancient,\" probably an\nold divinity.\n\n[397] In the _Mabinogi_ and in Fionn tales a mysterious hand snatches\naway newly-born children. Cf. _ZCP_ i. 153.\n\n[398] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 288.\n\n[399] Loth, ii. 247.\n\n[400] Skene, i. 264.\n\n[401] Ibid. i. 276.\n\n[402] Ibid. i. 310.\n\n[403] Loth, i. 166.\n\n[404] _Hist. Brit._ ii. 11, iii. 1, 20, iv. 3.\n\n[405] Cf. Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 287.\n\n[406] Skene, i. 431; Loth, ii. 278. Some phrases seem to connect Beli\nwith the sea--the waves are his cattle, the brine his liquor.\n\n[407] Loth, ii. 209, 249, 260, 283.\n\n[408] Geoffrey, _Brit. Hist._ iv. 3. 4.\n\n[409] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 125 f.; Loth, i. 265; MacBain, _CM_ ix. 66.\n\n[410] See Loth, i. 269; and Skene, i. 293.\n\n[411] Loth, i. 173 f.\n\n[412] Loth, ii. 256, 274.\n\n[413] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 606. Cf. the Breton fairies, the _Korr_ and\n_Korrigan_.\n\n[414] Geoffrey, iii. 20.\n\n[415] Loth, i. 253-254; Skene, i. 293.\n\n[416] Guest, iii. 323.\n\n[417] Ibid. 325.\n\n[418] Loth, i. 253, ii. 297.\n\n[419] See p. 353, _infra_.; Skene, i. 532.\n\n[420] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 293.\n\n[421] Guest, iii. 356 f.\n\n[422] Skene, i. 275, 296.\n\n[423] Ibid. i. 498, 500.\n\n[424] See p. 382, _infra_.\n\n[425] _Mon. Hist. Brit._ i. 698, ii.; Thomas, _Revue de l'hist. des\nReligions_, xxxviii. 339.\n\n[426] Skene, i. 263, 274-276, 278, 281-282, 286-287. His \"chair\" bestows\nimmortal youth and freedom from sickness.\n\n[427] Skene, i. 264, 376 f., 309, 532. See p. 356, _infra_.\n\n[428] See pp. 350-1, _infra_. Fionn and Taliesin are examples of the\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formula of a hero expelled and brought back to honour,\nNutt-Meyer, ii. 88.\n\n[429] Loth, i. 209, ii. 238; Skene, ii. 459.\n\n[430] Nennius, ch. 50, 79.\n\n[431] Anwyl, _ZCP_ i. 293.\n\n[432] Geoffrey, viii. 9-xi. 3.\n\n[433] Nutt-Meyer, ii. 22 f.\n\n[434] See p. 381, _infra_.\n\n[435] Loth, ii. 232, 245.\n\n[436] Rh[^y]s, _AL_, 39 f. Others derive the name from _arto-s_, \"bear.\"\nMacBain, 357.\n\n[437] Loth. ii. 247; Skene, ii. 459.\n\n[438] Geoffrey, vi. 17-19, vii. viii. 1, 10-12, 19. In a poem (Skene, i.\n478), Myrddin is called \"the man who speaks from the grave\"--a\nconception familiar to the Celts, who thought of the dead as living on\nin the grave. See p. 340, _infra_.\n\n[439] Rh[^y]s, _HL_, 154 f., 158-159, 194.\n\n[440] Geoffrey, ix. 12, etc.\n\n[441] Skene, ii. 51.\n\n[442] Loth. i. 225; cf. p. 131, _infra_. From this description Elton\nsupposes Kei to have been a god of fire.\n\n[443] _Myv. Arch._ i. 175; Loth, i. 269. Rh[^y]s, _AL_ 59, thinks Merlin\nmay have been Guinevere's ravisher.\n\n[444] Holder, i. 414.\n\n[445] Loth i. 250, 260 f., 280, ii. 215, 244.\n\n[446] Skene, i. 363, ii. 406; _Myv. Arch._ i. 78.\n\n[447] Hu Gadarn is mentioned in the _Triads_ as a leader of the Cymry\nfrom the east and their teacher in ploughing. He divided them into\nclans, and invented music and song. The monster _avanc_ was drawn by him\nfrom the lake which had burst and caused the flood (see p. 231,\n_infra_). Perhaps Hu is an old culture-god of some tribes, but the\n_Triads_ referring to him are of late date (Loth, ii. 271, 289, 290-291,\n298-299). For the ridiculous Neo-Druidic speculations based on Hu, see\nDavies, _Celtic Researches_ and _Mythology and Rites of the Druids_.\n\nGurgiunt, son of Belinus, in Geoffrey, iii. 11, may be the French\nlegendary Gargantua, perhaps an old god. See the works of S\u00e9billot and\nGaidoz on _Gargantua_.\n\n[448] Loth, i. 270.\n\n[449] Dio Cassius, lxii. 6.\n\n[450] Solinus, xxii. 10. See p. 2, _supra_.\n\n[451] Ptol. ii. 3. 2.\n\n[452] For all these see Holder, _s.v._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE C\u00daCHULAINN CYCLE.\n\n\nThe events of the C\u00fachulainn cycle are supposed to date from the\nbeginning of the Christian era--King Conchobar's death synchronising\nwith the crucifixion. But though some personages who are mentioned in\nthe Annals figure in the tales, on the whole they deal with persons who\nnever existed. They belong to a world of romance and myth, and embody\nthe ideals of Celtic paganism, modified by Christian influences and\nthose of classical tales and romantic sagas of other regions, mainly\nScandinavian. The present form of the tales as they exist in the _Book\nof the Dun Cow_ and the _Book of Leinster_ must have been given them in\nthe seventh or eighth century, but they embody materials of a far older\ndate. At an early time the saga may have had a more or less definite\nform, but new tales were being constantly added to it, and some of the\nlonger tales are composed of incidents which once had no connection with\neach other.\n\nC\u00fachulainn is the central figure of the cycle, and its central episode\nis that of the _T\u00e1in b\u00f3 Cuailgne_, or \"Cattle Spoil of Cooley.\" Other\npersonages are Conchobar and Dechtire, Ailill and Medb, Fergus, Conall\nCernach, C\u00faroi, Deirdre, and the sons of Usnach. Some of these are of\ndivine descent, some are perhaps euhemerised divinities; Conchobar is\ncalled _d\u00eda talmaide_, \"a terrestrial god,\" and Dechtire a goddess. The\ncycle opens with the birth of Conchobar, son of Cathbad and of Nessa,\ndaughter of one of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, though in an older rescension\nof the tale he is Nessa's son by the god Lug. During Conchobar's reign\nover Ulster C\u00fachulainn was born. He was son of Dechtire, either by\nSualtaim, or by her brother Conchobar, or by the god Lug, of whom he may\nalso be a reincarnation.[453] Like other heroes of saga, he possesses\ngreat strength and skill at a tender age, and, setting out for\nConchobar's court, overpowers the king's \"boy corps,\" and then becomes\ntheir chief. His next adventure is the slaying of the watch-dog of\nCulann the smith, and his appeasing the anger of its owner by offering\nto act as his watch-dog. Cathbad now announced that his name would\nhenceforth be C\u00fa Chulainn, \"Culann's hound.\"[454] At the mature age of\nseven he obtained Conchobar's spears, sword, shield, and chariot, and\nwith these he overcame three mighty champions, returning in the\ndistortion of his \"battle-fury\" to Emania. To prevent mischief from his\nrage, the women went forth naked to meet him. He modestly covered his\neyes, for it was one of his _geasa_ not to look on a woman's breast.\nThus taken unawares, he was plunged into three successive vats of cold\nwater until his natural appearance was restored to him, although the\nwater boiled and hissed from his heat.[455]\n\nAs C\u00fachulainn grew up, his strength, skill, wisdom, and beauty were\nunsurpassed. All women fell in love with him, and to forestall a series\nof _bonnes fortunes_, the men of Ulster sought a wife for him. But the\nhero's heart was set on Emer, daughter of Forgall, whom he wooed in a\nstrange language which none but she could understand. At last she\nconsented to be his wife if he would slay a number of warriors. Forgall\nwas opposed to the match, and with a view to C\u00fachulainn's destruction\nsuggested that he should go to Donall in Alba to increase his skill, and\nto Scathach if he would excel all other warriors. He agreed, provided\nthat Forgall would give him whatever he asked for on his return. Arrived\nin Alba, he refused the love of Donall's daughter, Dornolla, who swore\nto be avenged. Thence he went to Scathach, overcoming all the dangers of\nthe way, leaping in safety the gulf surrounding her island, after\nessaying in vain to cross a narrow, swinging bridge. From Scathach he\nlearned supreme skill in arms, and overcame her Amazonian rival Aife. He\nbegat a son by Aife, and instructed her to call him Conla, to give him\nhis father's ring, to send him to seek C\u00fachulainn, and to forbid him to\nreveal his name. In the sequel, C\u00fachulainn, unaware that Conla was his\nson, slew him in single combat, too late discovering his identity from\nthe ring which he wore. This is the well-known saga formula of Sohrab\nand Rustum, of Theseus and Hippolytus. On his return from Scathach's\nisle C\u00fachulainn destroyed Forgall's _rath_ with many of its inmates,\nincluding Forgall, and carried off Emer. To the ten years which\nfollowed, during which he was the great champion of Ulster, belong many\ntales in which he figures prominently. One of these is _The Debility of\nthe Ultonians_. This was caused by Macha, who, during her pregnancy, was\nforced to run a race with Conchobar's horses. She outran them, but gave\nbirth immediately to twins, and, in her pangs, cursed the men of Ulster,\nwith a curse that, in time of oppression, they would be overcome with\nthe weakness of childbirth. From this C\u00fachulainn was exempt, for he was\nnot of Ulster, but a son of Lug.[456] Various attempts have been made to\nexplain this \"debility.\" It may be a myth explaining a Celtic use of the\n\"couvade,\" though no example of a simultaneous tribal couvade is known,\nunless we have here an instance of Westermarck's \"human pairing season\nin primitive times,\" with its consequent simultaneous birth-period for\nwomen and couvade for men.[457] Others, with less likelihood, explain it\nas a period of tabu, with cessation from work and warfare, at a funeral\nor festival.[458] In any case Macha's curse is a myth explanatory of the\norigin of some existing custom, the duration of which is much\nexaggerated by the narrator. To this period belong also the tale of\nC\u00fachulainn's visit to Elysium, and others to be referred to later.\nAnother story describes his attack upon Morrigan because she would\nneither yield up the cows which she was driving away nor tell her true\nname--an instance of the well-known name tabu. Morrigan took the form of\na bird, and was then recognised by C\u00fachulainn, who poured scorn upon\nher, while she promised to oppose him during the fight of the _T\u00e1in_ in\nthe forms of an eel, a wolf, and a cow, all of which he vowed to\ndestroy.[459] Like many others in the saga, this story is introductory\nto the main episode of the _T\u00e1in_. To this we now turn.\n\nMedb had been wife of Conchobar, but, leaving him, had married in\nsuccession two chiefs called Ailill, the second of whom had a bull,\nFindbennach, the White-horned, which she resolved to match by one in\nevery way its equal. Having been refused the Brown Bull of Cuailgne, she\nsummoned all her forces to invade Ulster. The moment was inauspicious\nfor Ulster, for all its men were suffering from their \"debility.\"\nC\u00fachulainn, therefore, went out to encounter the host, and forced Medb\nto agree that a succession of her warriors should engage him in single\ncombat. Among these was his old friend Ferdia, and nothing is so\ntouching as his reluctance to fight him or so pathetic as his grief when\nFerdia falls. The reluctance is primarily due to the tie of\nblood-brotherhood existing between them. Finally, the Ulstermen rose in\nforce and defeated Medb, but not before she had already captured the\nbull and sent it into her own land. There it was fought by the\nFindbennach and slew it, rushing back to Ulster with the mangled body on\nits horns. But in its frenzy a rock seemed to be another bull, which it\ncharged; its brains were dashed out, and it fell dead.\n\nThe Morrigan had warned the bull of the approach of Medb's army, and she\nhad also appeared in the form of a beautiful woman to C\u00fachulainn\noffering him her love, only to be repulsed. Hence she turned against\nhim, and described how she would oppose him as an eel, a wolf, and a red\nheifer--an incident which is probably a variant of that already\ndescribed.[460] In each of these shapes she was conquered and wounded by\nthe hero, and knowing that none whom he hurt could be healed save by\nhimself, she appeared to him as an old crone milking a cow. At each\ndraught of the milk which he received from her he blessed her with \"the\nblessing of gods and not-gods,\" and so her wounds were healed.[461] For\nthis, at a later time, she tried to ward off his death, but\nunsuccessfully. During the progress of the _T\u00e1in_, one of C\u00fachulainn's\n\"fairy kinsmen,\" namely, Lug, who announced himself as his father,\nappeared to aid him, while others of the Tuatha D\u00e9a threw \"herbs of\nhealing\" into the streams in which his wounds were washed.[462]\n\nDuring the _T\u00e1in_, C\u00fachulainn slaughtered the wizard Calatin and his\ndaughters. But Calatin's wife bore three posthumous sons and three\ndaughters, and through their means the hero was at last slain.\nEverything was done to keep him back from the host which now advanced\nagainst Ulster, but finally one of Calatin's daughters took the form of\nNiamh and bade him go forth. As he passed to the fight, Calatin's\ndaughters persuaded him to eat the flesh of a dog--a fatal deed, for it\nwas one of his _geasa_ never to eat dog's flesh. So it was that in the\nfight he was slain by Lugaid,[463] and his soul appeared to the thrice\nfifty queens who had loved him, chanting a mystic song of the coming of\nChrist and the day of doom--an interesting example of a phantasm\ncoincidental with death.[464] This and other Christian touches show that\nthe Christian redactors of the saga felt tenderly towards the old pagan\nhero. This is even more marked in the story in which he appears to King\nLoegaire and S. Patrick, begging the former to believe in God and the\nsaint, and praying Patrick to \"bring me with thy faithful ones unto the\nland of the living.\"[465] A similar Christianising appears in the story\nof Conchobar's death, the result of his mad frenzy on hearing from his\nDruid that an earthquake is the result of the shameful crucifixion of\nChrist.[466]\n\nIn the saga, C\u00fachulainn appears as the ideal Celtic warrior, but, like\nother ideal warriors, he is a \"magnified, non-natural man,\" many of his\ndeeds being merely exaggerations of those common among barbaric folk.\nEven his \"distortion\" or battle frenzy is but a magnifying of the wild\nfrenzy of all wild fighters. To the person of this ideal warrior, some\nof whose traits may have been derived from traditional stories of actual\nheroes, _M\u00e4rchen_ and saga episodes attached themselves. Of every ideal\nhero, Celtic, Greek, Babylonian, or Polynesian, certain things are\ntold--his phenomenal strength as a child; his victory over enormous\nforces; his visits to the Other-world; his amours with a goddess; his\ndivine descent. These belong to the common stock of folk-tale episodes,\nand accumulate round every great name. Hence, save in the colouring\ngiven to them or the use made of them by any race, they do not afford a\nkey to the mythic character of the hero. Such deeds are ascribed to\nC\u00fachulainn, as they doubtless were to the ideal heroes of the \"undivided\nAryans,\" but though parallels may be found between him and the Greek\nHeracles, they might just as easily be found in non-Aryan regions, e.g.\nin Polynesia. Thus the parallels between C\u00fachulainn and Heracles throw\nlittle light on the personality of the former, though here and there in\nsuch parallels we observe a peculiarly Celtic touch. Thus, while the\nGreek hero rescues Hesione from a dragon, it is from three Fomorians\nthat C\u00fachulainn rescues Devorgilla, namely, from beings to whom actual\nhuman sacrifice was paid. Thus a _M\u00e4rchen_ formula of world-wide\nexistence has been moulded by Celtic religious belief and ritual\npractice.[467]\n\nIt was inevitable that the \"mythological school\" should regard\nC\u00fachulainn as a solar hero. Thus \"he reaches his full development at an\nunusually early age,\" as the sun does,[468] but also as do many other\nheroes of saga and _M\u00e4rchen_ who are not solar. The three colours of\nC\u00fachulainn's hair, dark near the skin, red in the middle, golden near\nthe top, are claimed to be a description of the sun's rays, or of the\nthree parts into which the Celts divided the day.[469] Elsewhere his\ntresses are yellow, like Prince Charlie's in fact and in song, yet he\nwas not a solar hero. Again, the seven pupils of his eyes perhaps\n\"referred to the days of the week.\"[470] Blindness befell all women who\nloved him, a reference to the difficulty of gazing at the sun.[471] This\nis prosaic! The blindness was a compliment paid to C\u00fachulainn the blind,\nby women who made themselves blind while talking to him, just as Conall\nCernach's mistresses squinted as he did.[472] C\u00fachulainn's blindness\narose from his habit of sinking one eye into his head and protruding the\nother--a well-known solar trait! His \"distortion,\" during which, besides\nthis \"blindness,\" blood shot upwards from his head and formed a magic\nmist, and his anger caused showers of sparks to mount above him, points\nto dawn or sunset,[473] though the setting sun would rather suggest a\nhero sinking calmly to rest than a mad giant setting out to slaughter\nfriend and foe. The \"distortion,\" as already pointed out, is the\nexaggerated description of the mad warrior rage, just as the fear which\nproduced death to those who saw him brandish his weapons, was also\nproduced by Maori warrior methods.[474] Lug, who may be a sun-god, has\nno such \"distortion.\" The cooling of the hero in three vats, the waters\nof which boil over, and his emergence from them pinky red in colour,\nsymbolise the sun sinking into the waters and reappearing at dawn.[475]\nMight it not describe in an exaggerated way the refreshing bath taken by\nfrenzied warriors, the water being supposed to grow warm from the heat\nof their bodies?[476] One of the hero's _geasa_ was not to see\nManannan's horses, the waves; which, being interpreted, means that the\nsun is near its death as it approaches the sea. Yet Lug, a sun-god,\nrides the steed Enbarr, a personification of the waves, while C\u00fachulainn\nhimself often crossed the sea, and also lived with the sea-god's wife,\nFand, without coming to grief. Again, the magic horses which he drives,\nblack and grey in colour, are \"symbols of day and night,\"[477] though it\nis not obvious why a grey horse should symbolise day, which is not\nalways grey even in the isles of the west. Unlike a solar hero, too,\nC\u00fachulainn is most active in winter, and rests for a brief space from\nslaughtering at midday--the time of the sun's greatest activity both in\nsummer and winter.\n\nAnother theory is that every visit of the hero to a strange land\nsignifies a descent to Hades, suggested by the sun sinking in the west.\nScathach's island may be Hades, but it is more probably Elysium with\nsome traits borrowed from the Christian idea of hell. But Emer's land,\nalso visited by C\u00fachulainn, suggests neither Hades nor Elysium. Emer\ncalls herself _ingen rig richis garta_, translated by Professor Rh[^y]s\nas \"daughter of the coal-faced king,\" i.e. she is daughter of darkness.\nHence she is a dawn-maiden and becomes the sun-hero's wife.[478] There\nis nothing in the story to corroborate this theory, apart from the fact\nthat it is not clear, even to the hypothetical primitive mind, why dawn\nand sun should be a divine pair. Emer's words probably mean that she is\n\"daughter of a king\" and \"a flame of hospitality\" (_richis garta_.)[479]\nC\u00fachulainn, in visiting her, went from west to east, contrary to the\napparent course of the sun. The extravagance of the solar theory is\nfurther seen in the hypothesis that because C\u00fachulainn has other wives,\nthe sun-god made love to as many dawn-maidens as there are days in the\nyear,[480] like the king in Louys' romance with his 366 wives, one for\neach day of the year, leap-year included.\n\nFurther examples of the solar theory need not be cited. It is enough to\nsee in C\u00fachulainn the ideal warrior, whose traits are bombastic and\nobscure exaggerations of actual custom and warfare, or are borrowed from\nfolk-tale _motifs_ not exclusively Celtic. Possibly he may have been a\nwar-god, since he is associated with Badb[481] and also with Morrigan.\nBut he has also some traits of a culture hero. He claims superiority in\nwisdom, in law, in politics, in the art of the _Filid_, and in Druidism,\nwhile he brings various things from the world of the gods[482]. In any\ncase the Celts paid divine honours to heroes, living or dead,[483] and\nC\u00fachulainn, god or ideal hero, may have been the subject of a cult. This\nlends point to the theory of M. D'Arbois that C\u00fachulainn and Conall\nCernach are the equivalents of Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, said by\nDiodorus to be worshipped among the Celts near the Ocean.[484]\nC\u00fachulainn, like Pollux, was son of a god, and was nursed, according to\nsome accounts, by Findcho\u00e9m, mother of Conall,[485] just as Leda was\nmother of Castor as well as of Pollux. But, on the other hand,\nC\u00fachulainn, unlike Pollux, was mortal. M. D'Arbois then identifies the\ntwo pairs of heroes with certain figures on an altar at Cluny. These are\nCastor and Pollux; Cernunnos and Smertullos. He equates Castor with\nCernunnos, and Pollux with Smertullos. Smertullos is C\u00fachulainn, and the\nname is explained from an incident in the _T\u00e1in_, in which the hero,\nreproached for his youth, puts on a false beard before attacking\nMorrigan in her form as an eel. This is expressed by _sm\u00e9rthain_, \"to\nattach\", and is thus connected with and gave rise to the name\nSmertullos. On the altar Smertullos is attacking an eel or serpent.\nHence Pollux is Smertullos-C\u00fachulainn.[486] Again, the name Cernunnos\nsignifies \"the horned one,\" from _cernu_, \"horn,\" a word found in\nConall's epithet Cernach. But this was not given him because he was\nhorned, but because of the angular shape of his head, the angle (_cern_)\nbeing the result of a blow.[487] The epithet may mean \"victorious.\"[488]\nOn the whole, the theory is more ingenious than convincing, and we have\nno proof that the figures of Castor and Pollux on the altar were\nduplicates of the Celtic pair. Cernunnos was an underworld god, and\nConall has no trace of such a character.\n\nM. D'Arbois also traces the saga in Gaul in the fact that on the menhir\nof Kervadel Mercury is figured with a child, Mercury, in his opinion,\nbeing Lug, and the child C\u00fachulainn.[489] On another altar are depicted\n(1) a woodman, Esus, cutting down a tree, and (2) a bull on which are\nperched three birds--Tarvos Trigaranos. The two subjects, as M. Reinach\npoints out, are combined on another altar at Tr\u00e8ves, on which a woodman\nis cutting down a tree in which are perched three birds, while a bull's\nhead appears in the branches.[490] These represent, according to M.\nD'Arbois, incidents of the _T\u00e1in_--the cutting down of trees by\nC\u00fachulainn and placing them in the way of his enemies, and the warning\nof the bull by Morrigan in the bird form which she shared with her\nsisters Badb and Macha.[491] Why, then, is C\u00fachulainn called Esus?\n\"Esus\" comes from a root which gives words meaning \"rapid motion,\"\n\"anger,\" \"strength\"--all shown by the hero.[492] The altars were found\nin the land of the Belgic Treveri, and some Belgic tribes may have\npassed into Britain and Ireland carrying the Esus-C\u00fachulainn legend\nthere in the second century B.C., e.g. the Setantii, dwelling by the\nMersey, and bearing a name similar to that of the hero in his\nchildhood--Setanta (_Setantios_) as well as the Menapii and Brigantes,\nlocated in Ireland by Ptolemy.[493] In other words, the divine Esus,\nwith his surname Smertullos, was called in Ireland Setanta, after the\nSetantii, and at a later date, C\u00fachulainn. The princely name Donnotaurus\nresembles _Dond tarb_, the \"Brown Bull\" of the saga, and also suggests\nits presence in Gaul, while the name [Greek: d\u00eaiotaros], perhaps the\nequivalent of _De[^u]io-taruos_, \"Divine Bull,\" is found in\nGalatia.[494] Thus the main elements of the saga may have been known to\nthe continental Celts before it was localised in Ireland,[495] and, it\nmay be added, if it was brought there by Gallo-British tribes, this\nmight account for the greater popularity of the native, possibly\npre-Celtic, Fionn saga among the folk, as well as for the finer literary\nquality of the C\u00fachulainn saga. But the identification of Esus with\nC\u00fachulainn rests on slight grounds; the names Esus and Smertullos are\nnot found in Ireland, and the Gaulish Esus, worshipped with human\nsacrifice, has little affinity with the hero, unless his deeds of\nslaughter are reminiscent of such rites. It is possible, however, that\nthe episode of the _T\u00e1in_ came from a myth explaining ritual acts. This\nmyth may have been the subject of the bas-reliefs, carried to Ireland,\nand there worked into the saga.\n\nThe folk-versions of the saga, though resembling the literary versions,\nare less elaborate and generally wilder, and perhaps represent its\nprimitive form.[496] The greatest differences are found in versions of\nthe _T\u00e1in_ and of C\u00fachulainn's death, which, separate in the saga, are\nparts of one folk-tale, the death occurring during the fighting over the\nbull. The bull is his property, and Medb sends Garbh mac Stairn to take\nit from him. He pretends to be a child, goes to bed, and tricks Garbh,\nwho goes off to get the bull. C\u00fachulainn arrives before him and\npersonates the herdsman. Each seizes a horn, and the bull is torn in\ntwo.[497] Does this represent the primitive form of the _T\u00e1in_, and,\nfurther, were the bull and C\u00fachulainn once one and the same--a bull, the\nincarnation of a god or vegetation spirit, being later made\nanthropomorphic--a hero-god whose property or symbol was a bull?\nInstances of this process are not unknown among the Celts.[498] In\nIndia, Indra was a bull and a divine youth, in Greece there was the\nbull-Dionysos, and among the Celts the name of the divine bull was borne\nby kings.[499] In the saga Morrigan is friendly to the bull, but fights\nfor Medb; but she is now friendly, now hostile to C\u00fachulainn, finally,\nhowever, trying to avert his doom. If he had once been the bull, her\nfriendliness would not be quite forgotten, once he became human and\nseparate from the bull. When she first met C\u00fachulainn she had a cow on\nwhom the Brown Bull was to beget a calf, and she told the hero that \"So\nlong as the calf which is in this cow's body is a yearling, it is up to\nthat time that thou art in life; and it is this that will lead to the\n_T\u00e1in_.\"[500] This suggests that the hero was to die in the battle, but\nit shows that the Brown Bull's calf is bound up his life. The Bull was a\nreincarnation of a divine swineherd, and if, as in the case of\nC\u00fachulainn, \"his rebirth could only be of himself,\"[501] the calf was\nsimply a duplicate of the bull, and, as it was bound up with the hero's\nlife, bull and hero may well have been one. The life or soul was in the\ncalf, and, as in all such cases, the owner of the soul and that in which\nit is hidden are practically identical. C\u00fachulainn's \"distortion\" might\nthen be explained as representing the bull's fury in fight, and the\nfolk-tales would be popular forms of an old myth explaining ritual in\nwhich a bull, the incarnation of a tree or vegetation spirit, was slain,\nand the sacred tree cut down and consumed, as in Celtic agricultural\nritual. This would be the myth represented on the bas-reliefs, and in\nthe ritual the bull would be slain, rent, and eaten by his worshippers.\nWhy, then, should C\u00fachulainn rend the bull? In the later stages of such\nrites the animal was slain, not so much as a divine incarnation as a\nsacrifice to the god once incarnated in him. And when a god was thus\nseparated from his animal form, myths often arose telling how he himself\nhad slain the animal.[502] In the case of C\u00fachulainn and the bull, the\ngod represented by the bull became separate from it, became\nanthropomorphic, and in that form was associated with or actually was\nthe hero C\u00fachulainn. Bull sacrifices were common among the Celts with\nwhom the bull had been a divine animal.[503] Possibly a further echo of\nthis myth and ritual is to be found in the folk-belief that S. Martin\nwas cut up and eaten in the form of an ox--the god incarnate in the\nanimal being associated with a saint.[504] Thus the literary versions of\nthe _T\u00e1in_, departing from the hypothetical primitive versions, kept the\nbull as the central figure, but introduced a rival bull, and described\nits death differently, while both bulls are said to be reincarnations of\ndivine swine-herds.[505] The idea of a fight for a bull is borrowed from\nactual custom, and thus the old form of the story was further distorted.\n\nThe C\u00fachulainn saga is more coherent than the Fionn saga, because it\npossesses one central incident. The \"canon\" of the saga was closed at an\nearly date, while that of Fionn has practically never been closed,\nmainly because it has been more a saga of the folk than that of\nC\u00fachulainn. In some respects the two may have been rivals, for if the\nC\u00fachulainn saga was introduced by conquerors from Britain or Gaul, it\nwould not be looked on with favour by the folk. Or if it is the saga of\nUlster as opposed to that of Leinster, rivalry would again ensue. The\nFionn saga lives more in the hearts of the people, though it sometimes\nborrows from the other. This borrowing, however, is less than some\ncritics, e.g. Zimmer, maintain. Many of the likenesses are the result of\nthe fact that wherever a hero exists a common stock of incidents becomes\nhis. Hence there is much similarity in all sagas wherever found.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[453] _IT_ i. 134; Nutt-Meyer, ii. 38 f.; Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 342; L.\nDuvau, \"La Legende de la Conception de C\u00fachulainn,\" _RC_ ix. 1 f.\n\n[454] Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 118 f. For a similar reason Finnchad was called\nC\u00fa Cerca, \"the hound of Cerc\" (_IT_ iii. 377).\n\n[455] For the boyish exploits, see Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 106 f.\n\n[456] _RC_ vii. 225; Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 20. Macha is a granddaughter of\nLer, but elsewhere she is called Mider's daughter (_RC_ xvi. 46).\n\n[457] Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ ii. 654; Westermarck, _Hist. of Human Marriage_,\nch. 2.\n\n[458] Miss Hull, _Folk-Lore_, xii. 60, citing instances from Jevons,\n_Hist. of Religion_, 65.\n\n[459] Windisch, _IT_ ii. 239.\n\n[460] Windisch, 184, 312, 330; cf. _IT_ iii. 355; Miss Hull, 164 f.;\nRh[^y]s, _HL_ 468.\n\n[461] _LL_ 119_a_; _RC_ iii. 175.\n\n[462] Windisch, 342.\n\n[463] _RC_ iii. 175 f.\n\n[464] Ibid. 185.\n\n[465] Crowe, _Jour. Kilkenny Arch. Soc._ 1870-1871, 371 f.\n\n[466] _LL_ 79_a_; O'Curry, _MS. Mat_, 640.\n\n[467] _LL_ 125_a_. See my _Childhood of fiction_, ch. 14.\n\n[468] Miss Hull, lxxvi.\n\n[469] \"Da Derga's Hostel,\" _RC_ xxii. 283; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 438.\n\n[470] _LL_ 68_a_; Rh[^y]s, 437; Ingcel the one-eyed has also many pupils\n(_RC_ xxii. 58).\n\n[471] Miss Hull, lxiii.\n\n[472] _RC_ viii. 49.\n\n[473] _LL_ 77_b_; Miss Hull, lxii.\n\n[474] Other Celtic heroes undergo this distortion, which resembles the\nScandinavian warrior rage followed by languor, as in the case of\nC\u00fachulainn.\n\n[475] Miss Hull, p. lxvi.\n\n[476] Irish saints, standing neck deep in freezing water, made it hot.\n\n[477] _IT_ i. 268; D'Arbois, v. 103; Miss Hull, lxvi.\n\n[478] _HL_ 448.\n\n[479] See Meyer, _RC xi_. 435; Windisch, _IT_ i. 589, 740. Though\n_richis_ means \"charcoal,\" it is also glossed \"flame,\" hence it could\nonly be glowing charcoal, without any idea of darkness.\n\n[480] _HL_ 458.\n\n[481] _IT_ i. 107.\n\n[482] _Arch. Rev._ i. 1 f.; _IT_ i. 213; see p. 381, _infra_.\n\n[483] See p. 164, _infra_.\n\n[484] Diod. Siculus, iv. 56.\n\n[485] _IT_ iii. 393.\n\n[486] _Les Celtes_, 58 f. Formerly M. D'Arbois identified Smertullos\nwith Lug, ii. 217; Holder, i. 46, 262. For the incident of the beard,\nsee Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 308.\n\n[487] _IT_ iii. 395.\n\n[488] _IT_ i. 420.\n\n[489] _RC_ xxvii. 319 f.\n\n[490] _RC_ xviii. 256.\n\n[491] _Les Celtes_, 63; _RC_ xix. 246.\n\n[492] D'Arbois, _RC_ xx. 89.\n\n[493] D'Arbois, _RC_ xxvii. 321; _Les Celtes_, 65.\n\n[494] _Les Celtes_, 49; C\u00e6sar, vi. 14.\n\n[495] In contradiction to this, M. D'Arbois elsewhere thinks that Druids\nfrom Britain may have taught the C\u00fachulainn legend in Gaul (_RC_ xxvii.\n319).\n\n[496] See versions in _Book of the Dean of Lismore_; _CM_ xiii.;\nCampbell, _The Fians_, 6 f.\n\n[497] _CM_ xiii. 327, 514. The same story is told of Fionn, _ibid._ 512.\nSee also ballad versions in Campbell, _LF_ 3 f.\n\n[498] See p. 212, _infra_.\n\n[499] A Galatian king was called Brogitaros, probably a form of\n_Brogitaruos_, \"bull of the province,\" a title borne by Conchobar, _tarb\nin ch\u00f3icid_ (_IT_ i. 72). This with the epithets applied to heroes in\nthe _Triads_, \"bull-phantom,\" \"prince bull of combat\" (Loth, ii. 232,\n243), may be an appellative denoting great strength.\n\n[500] _IT_ ii. 241 f.; D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 168.\n\n[501] Miss Hull, 58.\n\n[502] See p. 212, _infra_.\n\n[503] See p. 208, _infra_.\n\n[504] Fitzgerald, _RC_ vi. 254.\n\n[505] See p. 243, _infra_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE FIONN SAGA.\n\n\nThe most prominent characters in the Fionn saga, after the death of\nFionn's father Cumal, are Fionn, his son Oisin, his grandson Oscar, his\nnephew Diarmaid with his _ball-seire_, or \"beauty-spot,\" which no woman\ncould resist; Fergus famed for wisdom and eloquence; Caoilte mac Ronan,\nthe swift; Conan, the comic character of the saga; Goll mac Morna, the\nslayer of Cumal, but later the devoted friend of Fionn, besides a host\nof less important personages. Their doings, like those of the heroes of\nsaga and epos everywhere, are mainly hunting, fighting, and love-making.\nThey embody much of the Celtic character--vivacity, valour, kindness,\ntenderness, as well as boastfulness and fiery temper. Though dating from\npagan times, the saga throws little light upon pagan beliefs, but\nreveals much concerning the manners of the period. Here, as always in\nearly Celtdom, woman is more than a mere chattel, and occupies a\ncomparatively high place. The various parts of the saga, like those of\nthe Finnish _Kalevala_, always existed separately, never as one complete\nepos, though always bearing a certain relation to each other. Lonnrot,\nin Finland, was able, by adding a few connecting links of his own, to\ngive unity to the _Kalevala_, and had MacPherson been content to do this\nfor the Fionn saga, instead of inventing, transforming, and serving up\nthe whole in the manner of the sentimental eighteenth century, what a\nboon would he have conferred on Celtic literature. The various parts of\nthe saga belong to different centuries and come from different authors,\nall, however, imbued with the spirit of the Fionn tradition.\n\nA date cannot be given to the beginnings of the saga, and additions have\nbeen made to it even down to the eighteenth century, Michael Comyn's\npoem of Oisin in Tir na n-Og being as genuine a part of it as any of the\nearlier pieces. Its contents are in part written, but much more oral.\nMuch of it is in prose, and there is a large poetic literature of the\nballad kind, as well as _M\u00e4rchen_ of the universal stock made purely\nCeltic, with Fionn and the rest of the heroic band as protagonists. The\nsaga embodies Celtic ideals and hopes; it was the literature of the\nCeltic folk on which was spent all the riches of the Celtic imagination;\na world of dream and fancy into which they could enter at all times and\ndisport themselves. Yet, in spite of its immense variety, the saga\npreserves a certain unity, and it is provided with a definite framework,\nrecounting the origin of the heroes, the great events in which they were\nconcerned, their deaths or final appearances, and the breaking up of the\nFionn band.\n\nThe historic view of the Fians is taken by the annalists, by Keating,\nO'Curry, Dr. Joyce, and Dr. Douglas Hyde.[506] According to this view,\nthey were a species of militia maintained by the Irish kings for the\nsupport of the throne and the defence of the country. From Samhain to\nBeltane they were quartered on the people, and from Beltane to Samhain\nthey lived by hunting. How far the people welcomed this billeting, we\nare not told. Their method of cooking the game which they hunted was one\nwell known to all primitive peoples. Holes were dug in the ground; in\nthem red-hot stones were placed, and on the stones was laid venison\nwrapped in sedge. All was then covered over, and in due time the meat\nwas done to a turn. Meanwhile the heroes engaged in an elaborate\ntoilette before sitting down to eat. Their beds were composed of\nalternate layers of brushwood, moss, and rushes. The Fians were divided\ninto _Catha_ of three thousand men, each with its commander, and\nofficers to each hundred, each fifty, and each nine, a system not unlike\nthat of the ancient Peruvians. Each candidate for admission to the band\nhad to undergo the most trying ordeals, rivalling in severity those of\nthe American Indians, and not improbably genuine though exaggerated\nreminiscences of actual tests of endurance and agility. Once admitted he\nhad to observe certain _geasa_ or \"tabus,\" e.g. not to choose his wife\nfor her dowry like other Celts, but solely for her good manners, not to\noffer violence to a woman, not to flee when attacked before less than\nnine warriors, and the like.\n\nAll this may represent some genuine tradition with respect to a warrior\nband, with many exaggerations in details and numbers. Some of its\noutstanding heroes may have had names derived from or corresponding to\nthose of the heroes of an existing saga. But as time went on they became\nas unhistorical as their ideal prototypes; round their names\ncrystallised floating myths and tales; things which had been told of the\nsaga heroes were told of them; their names were given to the personages\nof existing folk-tales. This might explain the great divergence between\nthe \"historical\" and the romantic aspects of the saga as it now exists.\nYet we cannot fail to see that what is claimed as historical is full of\nexaggeration, and, in spite of the pleading of Dr. Hyde and other\npatriots, little historic fact can be found in it. Even if this exists,\nit is the least important part of the saga. What is important is that\npart--nine-tenths of the whole--which \"is not true because it cannot be\ntrue.\" It belongs to the region of the supernatural and the unreal. But\npersonages, nine-tenths of whose actions belong to this region, must\nbear the same character themselves, and for that reason are all the more\ninteresting, especially when we remember that the Celts firmly believed\nin them and in their exploits. A Fionn myth arose as all myths do,\nincreasing as time went on, and the historical nucleus, if it ever\nexisted, was swamped and lost. Throughout the saga the Fians are more\nthan mere mortals, even in those very parts which are claimed as\nhistorical. They are giants; their story \"bristles with the\nsupernatural\"; they are the ideal figures of Celtic legend throwing\ntheir gigantic shadows upon the dim and misty background of the past. We\nmust therefore be content to assume that whether personages called\nFionn, Oisin, Diarmaid, or Conan, ever existed, what we know of them now\nis purely mythical.\n\nBearing in mind that they are the cherished heroes of popular fancy in\nIreland and the Scottish Highlands, we have now to inquire whether they\nwere Celtic in origin. We have seen that the Celts were a conquering\npeople in Ireland, bringing with them their own religion and mythology,\ntheir own sagas and tales reflected now in the mythological and\nC\u00fachulainn cycles, which found a local habitation in Ireland. C\u00fachulainn\nwas the hero of a saga which flourished more among the aristocratic and\nlettered classes than among the folk, and there are few popular tales\nabout him. But it is among the folk that the Fionn saga has always been\npopular, and for every peasant who could tell a story of C\u00fachulainn a\nthousand could tell one of Fionn. Conquerors often adopt beliefs,\ntraditions, and customs of the aboriginal folk, after hostilities have\nceased, and if the pre-Celtic people had a popular hero and a saga\nconcerning him, it is possible that in time it was accepted by the Celts\nor by the lower classes among them. But in the process it must have been\ncompletely Celticised, like the aborigines themselves; to its heroes\nwere given Celtic names, or they may have been associated with existing\nCeltic personages like Cumal, and the whole saga was in time adapted to\nthe conceptions and legendary history of the Celts. Thus we might\naccount for the fact that it has so largely remained without admixture\nwith the mythological and C\u00fachulainn cycles, though its heroes are\nbrought into relation with the older gods. Thus also we might account\nfor its popularity as compared with the C\u00fachulainn saga among the\npeasantry in whose veins must flow so much of the aboriginal blood both\nin Ireland and the Highlands. In other words, it was the saga of a\nnon-Celtic people occupying both Ireland and Scotland. If Celts from\nWestern Europe occupied the west of Scotland at an early date, they may\nhave been so few in number that their own saga or sagas died out. Or if\nthe Celtic occupation of the West Highlands originated first from\nIreland, the Irish may have been unable to impose their C\u00fachulainn saga\nthere, or if they themselves had already adopted the Fionn saga and\nfound it again in the Highlands, they would but be the more attached to\nwhat was already localised there. This would cut the ground from the\ntheory that the Fionn saga was brought to Scotland from Ireland, and it\nwould account for its popularity in the Highlands, as well as for the\nfact that many Fionn stories are attached to Highland as well as to\nIrish localities, while many place-names in both countries have a Fian\norigin. Finally, the theory would explain the existence of so many\n_M\u00e4rchen_ about Fionn and his men, so few about C\u00fachulainn.\n\nReturning to the theory of the historic aspect of the Fians, it should\nbe noted that, while, when seen through the eyes of the annalists, the\nsaga belongs to a definite historical period, when viewed by itself it\nbelongs to a mythic age, and though the Fians are regarded as champions\nof Ireland, their foes are usually of a supernatural kind, and they\nthemselves move in a magic atmosphere. They are also brought into\nconnection with the unhistoric Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; they fight with them or\nfor them; they have amours with or wed their women; and some of the gods\neven become members of the Fian band. Diarmaid was the darling of the\ngods Oengus and Manannan, and in his direst straits was assisted by the\nformer. In all this we are in the wonderland of myth, not the _terra\nfirma_ of history. There is a certain resemblance between the C\u00fachulainn\nand Fionn sagas, but no more than that which obtains between all sagas\neverywhere. Both contain similar incidents, but these are the stock\nepisodes of universal saga belief, fitted to the personages of\nindividual sagas. Hence we need not suppose with Professor Windisch that\nthe mythic incidents of the Fionn saga are derived from the C\u00fachulainn\ncycle.\n\nThe personages against whom Fionn and his men fight show the mythic\nnature of the saga. As champions of Leinster they fight the men of\nUlster and Connaught, but they also war against oversea invaders--the\nLochlanners. While Lochlann may mean any land beyond the sea, like the\nWelsh _Llychlyn_ it probably meant \"the fabulous land beneath the lakes\nor the waves of the sea,\" or simply the abode of hostile, supernatural\nbeings. Lochlanners would thus be counterparts of the Fomorians, and the\nconflicts of the Fians with them would reflect old myths. But with the\nNorse invasions, the Norsemen became the true Lochlanners, against whom\nFionn and his men fight as Charlemagne fought Muhammadans--a sheer\nimpossibility. Professor Zimmer, however, supposes that the Fionn saga\ntook shape during the Norse occupation from the ninth century onwards.\nFionn is half Norse, half Irish, and equivalent to Caittil Find, who\ncommanded the apostate Irish in the ninth century, while Oisin and Oscar\nare the Norse Asvin and Asgeirr. But it is difficult to understand why\none who was half a Norseman should become the chosen hero of the Celts\nin the very age in which Norsemen were their bitter enemies, and why\nFionn, if of Norse origin, fights against Lochlanners, i.e. Norsemen. It\nmay also be inquired why the borrowing should have affected the saga\nonly, not the myths of the gods. No other Celtic scholar has given the\nslightest support to this brilliant but audacious theory. On the other\nhand, if the saga has Norse affinities, and if it is, in origin,\npre-Celtic, these may be sought in an earlier connection of Ireland with\nScandinavia in the early Bronze Age. Ireland had a flourishing\ncivilisation then, and exported beautiful gold ornaments to Scandinavia,\nwhere they are still found in Bronze Age deposits.[507] This flourishing\ncivilisation was overwhelmed by the invasion of the Celtic barbarians.\nBut if the Scandinavians borrowed gold and artistic decorations from\nIreland, and if the Fionn saga or part of it was already in existence,\nwhy should they not have borrowed some of its incidents, or why, on the\nother hand, should not some episodes have found their way from the north\nto Ireland? We should also consider, however, that similar incidents may\nhave been evolved in both countries on similar lines and quite\nindependently.\n\nThe various contents of the saga can only be alluded to in the briefest\nmanner. Fionn's birth-story belongs to the well-known \"Expulsion and\nReturn\" formula, applied to so many heroes of saga and folk-tale, but\nhighly elaborated in his case at the hands of the annalists. Thus his\nfather Cumal, uncle of Conn the Hundred Fighter, 122-157 A.D., wished to\nwed Muirne, daughter of Conn's chief druid, Tadg. Tadg refused, knowing\nthat through this marriage he would lose his ancestral seat. Cumal\nseized Muirne and married her, and the king, on Tadg's appeal, sent an\narmy against him. Cumal was slain; Muirne fled to his sister, and gave\nbirth to Demni, afterwards known as Fionn. Perhaps in accordance with\nold matriarchal usage, Fionn's descent through his mother is emphasised,\nwhile he is related to the ancient gods, Tadg being son of Nuada. This\nat once points to the mythical aspect of the saga. Cumal may be\nidentical with the god Camulos. In a short time, Fionn, now a marauder\nand an outlaw, appeared at Conn's Court, and that same night slew one of\nthe Tuatha D\u00e9a, who came yearly and destroyed the palace. For this he\nreceived his rightful heritage--the leadership of the Fians, formerly\ncommanded by Cumal.[508] Another incident of Fionn's youth tells how he\nobtained his \"thumb of knowledge.\" The eating of certain \"salmon of\nknowledge\" was believed to give inspiration, an idea perhaps derived\nfrom earlier totemistic beliefs. The bard Finn\u00e9ces, having caught one of\nthe coveted salmon, set his pupil Fionn to cook it, forbidding him to\ntaste it. But as he was turning the fish Fionn burnt his thumb and\nthrust it into his mouth, thus receiving the gift of inspiration.\nHereafter he had only to suck his thumb in order to obtain secret\ninformation.[509] In another story the inspiration is already in his\nthumb, as Samson's strength was in his hair, but the power is also\npartly in his tooth, under which, after ritual preparation, he has to\nplace his thumb and chew it.[510]\n\nFionn had many wives and sweethearts, one of them, Saar, being mother of\nOisin. Saar was turned into a fawn by a Druid, and fled from Fionn's\nhouse. Long after he found a beast-child in the forest and recognised\nhim as his son. He nourished him until his beast nature disappeared, and\ncalled him Oisin, \"little fawn.\" Round this birth legend many stories\nsprang up--a sure sign of its popularity.[511] Oisin's fame as a poet\nfar excelled that of Fionn, and he became the ideal bard of the Gaels.\n\nBy far the most passionate and tragic story of the saga is that of\nDiarmaid and Grainne, to whom Fionn was betrothed. Grainne put _geasa_\nupon Diarmaid to elope with her, and these he could not break. They\nfled, and for many days were pursued by Fionn, who at last overtook\nthem, but was forced by the Fians to pardon the beloved hero. Meanwhile\nFionn waited for his revenge. Knowing that it was one of Diarmaid's\n_geasa_ never to hunt a wild boar, he invited him to the chase of the\nboar of Gulban. Diarmaid slew it, and Fionn then bade him measure its\nlength with his foot. A bristle pierced his heel, and he fell down in\nagony, beseeching Fionn to bring him water in his hand, for if he did\nthis he would heal him. In spite of repeated appeals, Fionn, after\nbringing the water, let it drip from his hands. Diarmaid's brave soul\npassed away, and on Fionn's character this dire blot was fixed for\never.[512]\n\nOther tales relate how several of the Fians were spirited away to the\nLand beyond the Seas, how they were rescued, how Diarmaid went to Land\nunder Waves, and how Fionn and his men were entrapped in a Fairy Palace.\nOf greater importance are those which tell the end of the Fian band.\nThis, according to the annalists, was the result of their exactions and\ndemands. Fionn was told by his wife, a wise woman, never to drink out of\na horn, but coming one day thirsty to a well, he forgot this tabu, and\nso brought the end near. He encountered the sons of Uirgrenn, whom he\nhad slain, and in the fight with them he fell.[513] Soon after were\nfought several battles, culminating in that of Gabhra in which all but a\nfew Fians perished. Among the survivors were Oisin and Caoilte, who\nlingered on until the coming of S. Patrick. Caoilte remained on earth,\nbut Oisin, whose mother was of the _s\u00edd_ folk, went to fairyland for a\ntime, ultimately returning and joining S. Patrick's company.[514] But a\ndifferent version is given in the eighteenth century poem of Michael\nComyn, undoubtedly based on popular tales. Oisin met the Queen of Tir na\nn-Og and went with her to fairyland, where time passed as a dream until\none day he stood on a stone against which she had warned him. He saw his\nnative land and was filled with home-sickness. The queen tried to\ndissuade him, but in vain. Then she gave him a horse, warning him not to\nset foot on Irish soil. He came to Ireland; and found it all changed.\nSome puny people were trying in vain to raise a great stone, and begged\nthe huge stranger to help them. He sprang from his horse and flung the\nstone from its resting-place. But when he turned, his horse was gone,\nand he had become a decrepit old man. Soon after he met S. Patrick and\nrelated the tale to him.\n\nOf most of the tales preserved in twelfth to fifteenth century MSS. it\nmay be said that in essence they come down to us from a remote\nantiquity, like stars pulsing their clear light out of the hidden depths\nof space. Many of them exist as folk-tales, often wild and weird in\nform, while some folk-tales have no literary parallels. Some are\n_M\u00e4rchen_ with members of the Fian band as heroes, and of these there\nare many European parallels. But it is not unlikely that, as in the case\nof the C\u00fachulainn cycle, the folk versions may be truer to the original\nforms of the saga than the rounded and polished literary versions.\nWhatever the Fians were in origin--gods, mythic heroes, or actual\npersonages--it is probable that a short _Heldensage_ was formed in early\ntimes. This slowly expanded, new tales were added, and existing\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6 were freely made use of by making their heroes the\nheroes of the saga. Then came the time when many of the tales were\nwritten down, while later they were adapted to a scheme of Irish\nhistory, the heroes becoming warriors of a definite historic period, or\nperhaps connected with such warriors. But these heroes belonged to a\ntimeless world, whose margins are \"the shore of old romance,\" and it was\nas if they, who were not for an age but for all time, scorned to become\nthe puppets of the page of history.\n\nThe earliest evidence of the attitude of the ecclesiastical world to\nthese heroes is found in the _Agallamh na Senorach_, or \"Colloquy of the\nAncients.\"[515] This may have been composed in the thirteenth century,\nand its author knew scores of Fionn legends. Making use of the tradition\nthat Caoilte and Oisin had met S. Patrick, he makes Caoilte relate many\nof the tales, usually in connection with some place-name of Fian origin.\nThe saint and his followers are amazed at the huge stature of the Fians,\nbut Patrick asperges them with holy water, and hosts of demons flee from\nthem. At each tale which Caoilte tells, the saint says, \"Success and\nbenediction, Caoilte. All this is to us a recreation of spirit and of\nmind, were it only not a destruction of devotion and a dereliction of\nprayer.\" But presently his guardian angel appears, and bids him not only\nlisten to the tales but cause them to be written down. He and his\nattendant clerics now lend a willing ear to the recital and encourage\nthe narrator with their applause. Finally, baptism is administered to\nCaoilte and his men, and by Patrick's intercessions Caoilte's relations\nand Fionn himself are brought out of hell. In this work the\nrepresentatives of paganism are shown to be on terms of friendliness\nwith the representatives of Christianity.\n\nBut in Highland ballads collected in the sixteenth century by the Dean\nof Lismore, as well as in Irish ballads found in MSS. dating from the\nseventeenth century onwards, the saint is a sour and intolerant cleric,\nand the Fians are equally intolerant and blasphemous pagans. There is no\nattempt at compromise; the saint rejoices that the Fian band are in\nhell, and Oisin throws contempt on the God of the shaven priests. But\nsometimes this contempt is mingled with humour and pathos. Were the\nheroes of Oisin's band now alive, scant work would be made of the monks'\nbells, books, and psalm-singing. It is true that the saint gives the\nweary old man hospitality, but Oisin's eyes are blinded with tears as he\nthinks of the departed glories of the Fians, and his ears are tormented\n\"by jangling bells, droning psalms, and howling clerics.\" These ballads\nprobably represent one main aspect of the attitude of the Church to\nCeltic paganism. How, then, did the more generous _Colloquy_ come into\nbeing? We must note first that some of the ballads have a milder tone.\nOisin is urged to accept the faith, and he prays for salvation. Probably\nthese represent the beginning of a reaction in favour of the old heroes,\ndating from a time when the faith was well established. There was no\ndanger of a pagan revival, and, provided the Fians were Christianised,\nit might be legitimate to represent them as heroic and noble. The\n_Colloquy_ would represent the high-water mark of this reaction among\nthe lettered classes, for among the folk, to judge by popular tales, the\nFians had never been regarded in other than a favourable light. The\n_Colloquy_ re-established the dignity of the Fian band in the eyes of\nofficial Christianity. They are baptized or released from hell, and in\ntheir own nature they are virtuous and follow lofty ideals. \"Who or what\nwas it that maintained you in life?\" asks Patrick. And Caoilte gives the\nnoble reply, \"Truth that was in our hearts, and strength in our arms,\nand fulfilment in our tongues.\" Patrick says of Fionn: \"He was a king, a\nseer, a poet, a lord with a manifold and great train; our magician, our\nknowledgeable one, our soothsayer; all whatsoever he said was sweet with\nhim. Excessive, perchance, as ye deem my testimony of Fionn, although ye\nhold that which I say to be overstrained, nevertheless, and by the King\nthat is above me, he was three times better still.\" Not only so, but\nCaoilte maintains that Fionn and his men were aware of the existence of\nthe true God. They possessed the _anima naturaliter Christiana_. The\ngrowing appreciation of a wider outlook on life, and possibly\nacquaintance with the romances of chivalry, made the composition of the\n_Colloquy_ possible, but, again, it may represent a more generous\nconception of paganism existing from the time of the first encounter of\nChristianity with it in Ireland.\n\nThe strife of creeds in Ireland, the old order changing, giving place to\nnew, had evidently impressed itself on the minds of Celtic poets and\nromancers. It suggested itself to them as providing an excellent\n\"situation\"; hence we constantly hear of the meeting of gods, demigods,\nor heroes with the saints of the new era. Frequently they bow before the\nCross, they are baptized and receive the Christian verity, as in the\n_Colloquy_ and in some documents of the C\u00fachulainn cycle. Probably no\nother European folk-literature so takes advantage of just this\nsituation, this meeting of creeds, one old and ready to vanish away, the\nother with all the buoyant freshness of youth.\n\nWas MacPherson's a genuine Celtic epic unearthed by him and by no one\nelse? No mortal eye save his has ever seen the original, but no one who\nknows anything of the contents of the saga can deny that much of his\nwork is based on materials collected by him. He knew some of the tales\nand ballads current among the folk, possibly also some of the Irish MS.\nversions. He saw that there was a certain unity among them, and he saw\nthat it was possible to make it more evident still. He fitted the\nfloating incidents into an epic framework, adding, inventing, altering,\nand moulding the whole into an English style of his own. Later he seems\nto have translated the whole into Gaelic. He gave his version to the\nworld, and found himself famous, but he gave it as the genuine\ntranslation of a genuine Celtic epic. Here was his craft; here he was\nthe \"charlatan of genius.\" His genius lay in producing an epic which\npeople were willing to read, and in making them believe it to be not his\nwork but that of the Celtic heroic age. Any one can write an epic, but\nfew can write one which thousands will read, which men like\nChateaubriand, Goethe, Napoleon, Byron, and Coleridge will admire and\nlove, and which will, as it were, crystallise the aspirations of an age\nweary with classical formalism. MacPherson introduced his readers to a\nnew world of heroic deeds, romantic adventure, deathless love, exquisite\nsentiments sentimentally expressed. He changed the rough warriors and\nbeautiful but somewhat unabashed heroines of the saga into sentimental\npersonages, who suited the taste of an age poised between the bewigged\nand powdered formalism of the eighteenth century, and the outburst of\nnew ideals which was to follow. His _Ossian_ is a cross between Pope's\n_Homer_ and Byron's _Childe Harold_. His heroes and heroines are not on\ntheir native heath, and are uncertain whether to mince and strut with\nPope or to follow nature with Rousseau's noble savages and Saint\nPierre's Paul and Virginia. The time has gone when it was heresy to cast\ndoubt upon the genuineness of MacPherson's epic, but if any one is still\ndoubtful, let him read it and then turn to the existing versions,\nballads, and tales. He will find himself in a totally different\natmosphere, and will recognise in the latter the true epic note--the\nwarrior's rage and the warrior's generosity, dire cruelty yet infinite\ntenderness, wild lust yet also true love, a world of magic\nsupernaturalism, but an exact copy of things as they were in that\nfar-off age. The barbarism of the time is in these old tales--deeds\nwhich make one shiver, customs regarding the relations of the sexes now\nfound only among savages, social and domestic arrangements which are\nsomewhat lurid and disgusting. And yet, withal, the note of bravery, of\npassion, of authentic life is there; we are held in the grip of genuine\nmanhood and womanhood. MacPherson gives a picture of the Ossianic age as\nhe conceived it, an age of Celtic history that \"never was on sea or\nland.\" Even his ghosts are un-Celtic, misty and unsubstantial phantasms,\nunlike the embodied _revenants_ of the saga which are in agreement with\nthe Celtic belief that the soul assumed a body in the other world.\nMacPherson makes Fionn invariably successful, but in the saga tales he\nis often defeated. He mingles the C\u00fachulainn and Ossianic cycles, but\nthese, save in a few casual instances, are quite distinct in the old\nliterature. Yet had not his poem been so great as it is, though so\nun-Celtic, it could not have influenced all European literature. But\nthose who care for genuine Celtic literature, the product of a people\nwho loved nature, romance, doughty deeds, the beauty of the world, the\nmusic of the sea and the birds, the mountains, valour in men, beauty in\nwomen, will find all these in the saga, whether in its literary or its\npopular forms. And through it all sounds the undertone of Celtic pathos\nand melancholy, the distant echo\n\n  \"Of old unhappy, far-off things\n   And battles long ago.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[506] See Joyce, _OCR_ 447.\n\n[507] Montelius, _Les Temps Pr\u00e9historiques_, 57, 151; Reinach, _RC_ xxi.\n8.\n\n[508] The popular versions of this early part of the saga differ much in\ndetail, but follow the main outlines in much the same way. See Curtin,\n_HTI_ 204; Campbell, _LF_ 33 f.; _WHT_ iii. 348.\n\n[509] In a widespread group of tales supernatural knowledge is obtained\nby eating part of some animal, usually a certain snake. In many of these\ntales the food is eaten by another person than he who obtained it, as in\nthe case of Fionn. Cf. the Welsh story of Gwion, p. 116, and the\nScandinavian of Sigurd, and other parallels in Miss Cox, _Cinderella_,\n496; Frazer, _Arch. Rev._ i. 172 f. The story is thus a folk-tale\nformula applied to Fionn, doubtless because it harmonised with Celtic or\npre-Celtic totemistic ideas. But it is based on ancient ideas regarding\nthe supernatural knowledge possessed by reptiles or fish, and among\nAmerican Indians, Maoris, Solomon Islanders, and others there are\nfigured representations of a man holding such an animal, its tongue\nbeing attached to his tongue. He is a _shaman_, and American Indians\nbelieve that his inspiration comes from the tongue of a mysterious river\notter, caught by him. See Dall, _Bureau of Ethnol._ 3rd report; and Miss\nBuckland, _Jour. Anth. Inst._ xxii. 29.\n\n[510] _TOS_ iv.; O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 396; Joyce, _OCR_ 194, 339.\n\n[511] For ballad versions see Campbell, _LF_ 198.\n\n[512] Numerous ballad versions are given in Campbell _LF_ 152 f. The\ntale is localised in various parts of Ireland and the Highlands, many\ndolmens in Ireland being known as Diarmaid and Grainne's beds.\n\n[513] For an account differing from this annalistic version, see _ZCP_\ni. 465.\n\n[514] O'Grady, ii. 102. This, on the whole, agrees with the Highland\nballad version, _LF_ 198.\n\n[515] _IT_ iv.; O'Grady, _Silva Gad._ text and translation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nGODS AND MEN.\n\n\nThough man usually makes his gods in his own image, they are unlike as\nwell as like him. Intermediate between them and man are ideal heroes\nwhose parentage is partly divine, and who may themselves have been gods.\nOne mark of the Celtic gods is their great stature. No house could\ncontain Bran, and certain divine people of Elysium who appeared to Fionn\nhad rings \"as thick as a three-ox goad.\"[516] Even the Fians are giants,\nand the skull of one of them could contain several men. The gods have\nalso the attribute of invisibility, and are only seen by those to whom\nthey wish to disclose themselves, or they have the power of concealing\nthemselves in a magic mist. When they appear to mortals it is usually in\nmortal guise, sometimes in the form of a particular person, but they can\nalso transform themselves into animal shapes, often that of birds. The\nanimal names of certain divinities show that they had once been animals\npure and simple, but when they became anthropomorphic, myths would arise\ntelling how they had appeared to men in these animal shapes. This, in\npart, accounts for these transformation myths. The gods are also\nimmortal, though in myth we hear of their deaths. The Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann\nare \"unfading,\" their \"duration is perennial.\"[517] This immortality is\nsometimes an inherent quality; sometimes it is the result of eating\nimmortal food--Manannan's swine, Goibniu's feast of age and his immortal\nale, or the apples of Elysium. The stories telling of the deaths of the\ngods in the annalists may be based on old myths in which they were said\nto die, these myths being connected with ritual acts in which the human\nrepresentatives of gods were slain. Such rites were an inherent part of\nCeltic religion. Elsewhere the ritual of gods like Osiris or Adonis,\nbased on their functions as gods of vegetation, was connected with\nelaborate myths telling of their death and revival. Something akin to\nthis may have occurred among the Celts.\n\nThe divinities often united with mortals. Goddesses sought the love of\nheroes who were then sometimes numbered among the gods, and gods had\namours with the daughters of men.[518] Frequently the heroes of the\nsagas are children of a god or goddess and a mortal,[519] and this\ndivine parentage was firmly believed in by the Celts, since personal\nnames formed of a divine name and _-genos_ or _-gnatos_, \"born of,\" \"son\nof,\" are found in inscriptions over the whole Celtic area, or in Celtic\ndocuments--Boduogenos, Camulognata, etc. Those who first bore these\nnames were believed to be of divine descent on one side. Spirits of\nnature or the elements of nature personified might also be parents of\nmortals, as a name like Morgen, from _Morigenos_, \"Son of the Sea,\" and\nmany others suggest. For this and for other reasons the gods frequently\ninterfere in human affairs, assisting their children or their\nfavourites. Or, again, they seek the aid of mortals or of the heroes of\nthe sagas in their conflicts or in time of distress, as when Morrigan\nbesought healing from C\u00fachulainn.\n\nAs in the case of early Greek and Roman kings, Celtic kings who bore\ndivine names were probably believed to be representatives or\nincarnations of gods. Perhaps this explains why a chief of the Boii\ncalled himself a god and was revered after his death, and why the Gauls\nso readily accepted the divinity of Augustus. Irish kings bear divine\nnames, and of these Nuada occurs frequently, one king, Ir\u00e9l F\u00e1ith, being\nidentified with Nuada Airgetlam, while in one text _nuadat_ is glossed\n_in r\u00edg_, \"of the king,\" as if _Nuada_ had come to be a title meaning\n\"king.\" Welsh kings bear the name Nudd (Nodons), and both the actual and\nthe mythic leader Brennus took their name from the god Bran. King\nConchobar is called _d\u00eda talmaide_, \"a terrestrial god.\" If kings were\nthought to be god-men like the Pharaohs, this might account for the\nfrequency of tales about divine fatherhood or reincarnation, while it\nwould also explain the numerous _geasa_ which Irish kings must observe,\nunlike ordinary mortals. Prosperity was connected with their observance,\nthough this prosperity was later thought to depend on the king's\ngoodness. The nature of the prosperity--mild seasons, abundant crops,\nfruit, fish, and cattle--shows that the king was associated with\nfertility, like the gods of growth.[520] Hence they had probably been\nonce regarded as incarnations of such gods. Wherever divine kings are\nfound, fertility is bound up with them and with the due observance of\ntheir tabus. To prevent misfortune to the land, they are slain before\nthey grow old and weak, and their vigour passes on to their successors.\nTheir death benefits their people.[521] But frequently the king might\nreign as long as he could hold his own against all comers, or, again, a\nslave or criminal was for a time treated as a mock king, and slain as\nthe divine king's substitute. Scattered hints in Irish literature and in\nfolk survivals show that some such course as this had been pursued by\nthe Celts with regard to their divine kings, as it was also\nelsewhere.[522] It is not impossible that some at least of the Druids\nstood in a similar relation to the gods. Kings and priests were probably\nat first not differentiated. In Galatia twelve \"tetrarchs\" met annually\nwith three hundred assistants at Drunemeton as the great national\ncouncil.[523] This council at a consecrated place (_nemeton_), its\nlikeness to the annual Druidic gathering in Gaul, and the possibility\nthat _Dru_- has some connection with the name \"Druid,\" point to a\nreligious as well as political aspect of this council. The \"tetrarchs\"\nmay have been a kind of priest-kings; they had the kingly prerogative of\nacting as judges as had the Druids of Gaul. The wife of one of them was\na priestess,[524] the office being hereditary in her family, and it may\nhave been necessary that her husband should also be a priest. One\ntetrarch, Deiotarus, \"divine bull,\" was skilled in augury, and the\npriest-kingship of Pessinus was conferred on certain Celts in the second\ncentury B.C., as if the double office were already a Celtic\ninstitution.[525] Mythic Celtic kings consulted the gods without any\npriestly intervention, and Queen Boudicca had priestly functions.[526]\nWithout giving these hints undue emphasis, we may suppose that the\ndifferentiation of the two offices would not be simultaneous over the\nCeltic area. But when it did take effect priests would probably lay\nclaim to the prerogatives of the priest-king as incarnate god. Kings\nwere not likely to give these up, and where they retained them priests\nwould be content with seeing that the tabus and ritual and the slaying\nof the mock king were duly observed. Irish kings were perhaps still\nregarded as gods, though certain Druids may have been divine priests,\nsince they called themselves creators of the universe, and both\ncontinental and Irish Druids claimed superiority to kings. Further, the\nname [Greek: semnotheoi], applied along with the name \"Druids\" to Celtic\npriests, though its meaning is obscure, points to divine pretensions on\ntheir part.[527]\n\nThe incarnate god was probably representative of a god or spirit of\nearth, growth, or vegetation, represented also by a tree. A symbolic\nbranch of such a tree was borne by kings, and perhaps by Druids, who\nused oak branches in their rites.[528] King and tree would be connected,\nthe king's life being bound up with that of the tree, and perhaps at one\ntime both perished together. But as kings were represented by a\nsubstitute, so the sacred tree, regarded as too sacred to be cut down,\nmay also have had its _succedaneum_. The Irish _bile_ or sacred tree,\nconnected with the kings, must not be touched by any impious hand, and\nit was sacrilege to cut it down.[529] Probably before cutting down the\ntree a branch or something growing upon it, e.g. mistletoe, had to be\ncut, or the king's symbolic branch secured before he could be slain.\nThis may explain Pliny's account of the mistletoe rite. The mistletoe or\nbranch was the soul of the tree, and also contained the life of the\ndivine representative. It must be plucked before the tree could be cut\ndown or the victim slain. Hypothetical as this may be, Pliny's account\nis incomplete, or he is relating something of which all the details were\nnot known to him. The rite must have had some other purpose than that of\nthe magico-medical use of the mistletoe which he describes, and though\nhe says nothing of cutting down the tree or slaying a human victim, it\nis not unlikely that, as human sacrifice had been prohibited in his\ntime, the oxen which were slain during the rite took the place of the\nlatter. Later romantic tales suggest that, before slaying some\npersonage, the mythico-romantic survivor of a divine priest or king, a\nbranch carried by him had to be captured by his assailant, or plucked\nfrom the tree which he defended.[530] These may point to an old belief\nin tree and king as divine representatives, and to a ritual like that\nassociated with the Priest of Nemi. The divine tree became the mystic\ntree of Elysium, with gold and silver branches and marvellous fruits.\nArmed with such a branch, the gift of one of its people, mortals might\npenetrate unhindered to the divine land. Perhaps they may be regarded as\nromantic forms of the old divine kings with the branch of the divine\ntree.\n\nIf in early times the spirit of vegetation was feminine, her\nrepresentative would be a woman, probably slain at recurring festivals\nby the female worshippers. This would explain the slaying of one of\ntheir number at a festival by Namnite women. But when male spirits or\ngods superseded goddesses, the divine priest-king would take the place\nof the female representative. On the other hand, just as the goddess\nbecame the consort of the god, a female representative would continue as\nthe divine bride in the ritual of the sacred marriage, the May Queen of\nlater folk-custom. Sporadically, too, conservatism would retain female\ncults with female divine incarnations, as is seen by the presence of the\nMay Queen alone in certain folk-survivals, and by many Celtic rituals\nfrom which men were excluded.[531]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[516] O'Grady, ii. 228.\n\n[517] Ibid. ii. 203. Cf. C\u00e6sar, vi. 14, \"the immortal gods\" of Gaul.\n\n[518] Cf. Ch. XXIV.; O'Grady, ii. 110, 172; Nutt-Meyer, i. 42.\n\n[519] Leahy, ii. 6.\n\n[520] _IT_ iii. 203; _Trip. Life_, 507; _Annals of the Four Masters_,\nA.D. 14; _RC_ xxii. 28, 168. Chiefs as well as kings probably influenced\nfertility. A curious survival of this is found in the belief that\nherrings abounded in Dunvegan Loch when MacLeod arrived at his castle\nthere, and in the desire of the people in Skye during the potato famine\nthat his fairy banner should be waved.\n\n[521] An echo of this may underlie the words attributed to King Ailill,\n\"If I am slain, it will be the redemption of many\" (O'Grady, ii. 416).\n\n[522] See Frazer, _Kingship_; Cook, _Folk-Lore_, 1906, \"The European\nSky-God.\" Mr. Cook gives ample evidence for the existence of Celtic\nincarnate gods. With his main conclusions I agree, though some of his\ninferences seem far-fetched. The divine king was, in his view, a\nsky-god; he was more likely to have been the representative of a god or\nspirit of growth or vegetation.\n\n[523] Strabo, xii. 5. 2.\n\n[524] Plutarch, _de Virt. Mul._ 20.\n\n[525] Cicero, _de Div._ i. 15, ii. 36; Strabo, xii. 5. 3; Stachelin,\n_Gesch. der Kleinasiat. Galater._\n\n[526] Livy, v. 34; Dio Cass. lxii. 6.\n\n[527] _Ancient Laws of Ireland_, i. 22; Diog. Laert. i. proem 1; see p.\n301, _infra_.\n\n[528] Pliny, xvi. 95.\n\n[529] P. 201, _infra_.\n\n[530] Cf. the tales of Gawain and the Green Knight with his holly bough,\nand of Gawain's attempting to pluck the bough of a tree guarded by\nGramoplanz (Weston, _Legend of Sir Gawain_, 22, 86). Cf. also the tale\nof Diarmaid's attacking the defender of a tree to obtain its fruit, and\nthe subsequent slaughter of each man who attacks the hero hidden in its\nbranches (_TOS_ vol. iii.). Cf. Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 441.\n\n[531] See Chap. XVIII.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE CULT OF THE DEAD.\n\n\nThe custom of burying grave-goods with the dead, or slaying wife or\nslaves on the tomb, does not necessarily point to a cult of the dead,\nyet when such practices survive over a long period they assume the form\nof a cult. These customs flourished among the Celts, and, taken in\nconnection with the reverence for the sepulchres of the dead, they point\nto a worship of ancestral spirits as well as of great departed heroes.\nHeads of the slain were offered to the \"strong shades\"--the ghosts of\ntribal heroes whose praises were sung by bards.[532] When such heads\nwere placed on houses, they may have been devoted to the family ghosts.\nThe honour in which mythic or real heroes were held may point to an\nactual cult, the hero being worshipped when dead, while he still\ncontinued his guardianship of the tribe. We know also that the tomb of\nKing Cottius in the Alps was a sacred place, that Irish kings were often\ninaugurated on ancestral burial cairns, and that Irish gods were\nassociated with barrows of the dead.[533]\n\nThe cult of the dead culminated at the family hearth, around which the\ndead were even buried, as among the Aeduii; this latter custom may have\nbeen general.[534] In any case the belief in the presence of ancestral\nghosts around the hearth was widespread, as existing superstitions show.\nIn Brittany the dead seek warmth at the hearth by night, and a feast is\nspread for them on All Souls' eve, or crumbs are left for them after a\nfamily gathering.[535] But generally the family ghost has become a\nbrownie, lutin, or pooka, haunting the hearth and doing the household\nwork.[536] Fairy corresponds in all respects to old ancestral ghost, and\nthe one has succeeded to the place of the other, while the fairy is even\nsaid to be the ghost of a dead person.[537] Certain arch\u00e6ological\nremains have also a connection with this ancient cult. Among Celtic\nremains in Gaul are found andirons of clay, ornamented with a ram's\nhead. M. Dechelette sees in this \"the symbol of sacrifice offered to the\nsouls of ancestors on the altar of the hearth.\"[538] The ram was already\nassociated as a sacrificial animal with the cult of fire on the hearth,\nand by an easy transition it was connected with the cult of the dead\nthere. It is found as an emblem on ancient tombs, and the domestic Lar\nwas purified by the immolation of a ram.[539] Figurines of a ram have\nbeen found in Gaulish tombs, and it is associated with the god of the\nunderworld.[540] The ram of the andirons was thus a permanent\nrepresentative of the victim offered in the cult of the dead. A\nmutilated inscription on one of them may stand for _Laribus augustis_,\nand certain markings on others may represent the garlands twined round\nthe victim.[541] Serpents with rams' heads occur on the monuments of the\nunderworld god. The serpent was a chthonian god or the emblem of such a\ngod, and it may have been thought appropriate to give it the head of an\nanimal associated with the cult of the dead.\n\nThe dead were also fed at the grave or in the house. Thus cups were\nplaced in the recess of a well in the churchyard of Kilranelagh by those\ninterring a child under five, and the ghost of the child was supposed to\nsupply the other spirits with water from these cups.[542] In Ireland,\nafter a death, food is placed out for the spirits, or, at a burial, nuts\nare placed in the coffin.[543] In some parts of France, milk is poured\nout on the grave, and both in Brittany and in Scotland the dead are\nsupposed to partake of the funeral feast.[544] These are survivals from\npagan times and correspond to the rites in use among those who still\nworship ancestors. In Celtic districts a cairn or a cross is placed over\nthe spot where a violent or accidental death has occurred, the purpose\nbeing to appease the ghost, and a stone is often added to the cairn by\nall passers-by.[545]\n\nFestivals were held in Ireland on the anniversaries of the death of\nkings or chiefs, and these were also utilised for purposes of trade,\npleasure, or politics. They sometimes occurred on the great festivals,\ne.g. Lugnasad and Samhain, and were occasionally held at the great\nburial-places.[546] Thus the gathering at Taillti on Lugnasad was said\nto have been founded by Lug in memory of his foster-mother, Tailtiu, and\nthe Leinstermen met at Carman on the same day to commemorate King\nGarman, or in a variant account, a woman called Carman. She and her sons\nhad tried to blight the corn of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, but the sons were\ndriven off and she died of grief, begging that a fair should always be\nheld in her name, and promising abundance of milk, fruit, and fish for\nits observance.[547] These may be \u00e6tiological myths explaining the\norigin of these festivals on the analogy of funeral festivals, but more\nlikely, since Lugnasad was a harvest festival, they are connected with\nthe custom of slaying a representative of the corn-spirit. The festival\nwould become a commemoration of all such victims, but when the custom\nitself had ceased it would be associated with one particular personage,\nthe corn-goddess regarded as a mortal.\n\nThis would be the case where the victim was a woman, but where a male\nwas slain, the analogy of the slaying of the divine king or his\n_succedaneum_ would lead to the festivals being regarded as\ncommemorative of a king, e.g. Garman. This agrees with the statement\nthat observance of the festival produced plenty; non-observance, dearth.\nThe victims were slain to obtain plenty, and the festival would also\ncommemorate those who had died for this good cause, while it would also\nappease their ghosts should these be angry at their violent deaths.\nCertain of the dead were thus commemorated at Lugnasad, a festival of\nfertility. Both the corn-spirit or divinity slain in the reaping of the\ncorn, and the human victims, were appeased by its observance.[548] The\nlegend of Carman makes her hostile to the corn--a curious way of\nregarding a corn-goddess. But we have already seen that gods of\nfertility were sometimes thought of as causing blight, and in\nfolk-belief the corn-spirit is occasionally believed to be dangerous.\nSuch inversions occur wherever revolutions in religion take place.\n\nThe great commemoration of the dead was held on Samhain eve, a festival\nintended to aid the dying powers of vegetation, whose life, however, was\nstill manifested in evergreen shrubs, in the mistletoe, in the sheaf of\ncorn from last harvest--the abode of the corn-spirit.[549] Probably,\nalso, human representatives of the vegetation or corn-spirit were slain,\nand this may have suggested the belief in the presence of their ghosts\nat this festival. Or the festival being held at the time of the death of\nvegetation, the dead would naturally be commemorated then. Or, as in\nScandinavia, they may have been held to have an influence on fertility,\nas an extension of the belief that certain slain persons represented\nspirits of fertility, or because trees and plants growing on the barrows\nof the dead were thought to be tenanted by their spirits.[550] In\nScandinavia, the dead were associated with female spirits or _fylgjur_,\nidentified with the _disir_, a kind of earth-goddesses, living in hollow\nhills.[551] The nearest Celtic analogy to these is the _Matres_,\ngoddesses of fertility. Bede says that Christmas eve was called\n_Modranicht_, \"Mothers' Night,\"[552] and as many of the rites of Samhain\nwere transferred to Yule, the former date of _Modranicht_ may have been\nSamhain, just as the Scandinavian _Disablot_, held in November, was a\nfestival of the _disir_ and of the dead.[553] It has been seen that the\nCeltic Earth-god was lord of the dead, and that he probably took the\nplace of an Earth-goddess or goddesses, to whom the _Matres_ certainly\ncorrespond. Hence the connection of the dead with female Earth-spirits\nwould be explained. Mother Earth had received the dead before her place\nwas taken by the Celtic Dispater. Hence the time of Earth's decay was\nthe season when the dead, her children, would be commemorated. Whatever\nbe the reason, Celts, Teutons, and others have commemorated the dead at\nthe beginning of winter, which was the beginning of a new year, while a\nsimilar festival of the dead at New Year is held in many other lands.\n\nBoth in Ireland and in Brittany, on November eve food is laid out for\nthe dead who come to visit the houses and to warm themselves at the fire\nin the stillness of the night, and in Brittany a huge log burns on the\nhearth. We have here returned to the cult of the dead at the\nhearth.[554] Possibly the Yule log was once a log burned on the\nhearth--the place of the family ghosts--at Samhain, when new fire was\nkindled in each house. On it libations were poured, which would then\nhave been meant for the dead. The Yule log and the log of the Breton\npeasants would thus be the domestic aspect of the fire ritual, which had\nits public aspect in the Samhain bonfires.\n\nAll this has been in part affected by the Christian feast of All Souls.\nDr. Frazer thinks that the feast of All Saints (November 1st) was\nintended to take the place of the pagan cult of the dead. As it failed\nto do this, All Souls, a festival of all the dead, was added on November\n2nd.[555] To some extent, but not entirely, it has neutralised the pagan\nrites, for the old ideas connected with Samhain still survive here and\nthere. It is also to be noted that in some cases the friendly aspect of\nthe dead has been lost sight of, and, like the _s\u00edd_-folk, they are\npopularly connected with evil powers which are in the ascendant on\nSamhain eve.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[532] Silius Italicus, v. 652; Lucan, i. 447. Cf. p. 241, _infra_.\n\n[533] Ammian. Marcell. xv. 10. 7; Joyce, _SH_ i. 45.\n\n[534] Bulliot, _Fouilles du Mont Beuvray_, Autun, 1899, i. 76, 396.\n\n[535] Le Braz, ii. 67; Sauv\u00e9, _Folk-lore des Hautes Vosges_, 295;\nB\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Superstitions et Survivances_, i. 11.\n\n[536] Hearn, _Aryan Household_, 43 f.; B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, i. 33; _Rev. des\nTrad._ i. 142; Carmichael, ii. 329; Cosquin, _Trad. Pop. de la\nLorraine_, i. 82.\n\n[537] Kennedy, 126. The mischievous brownie who overturns furniture and\nsmashes crockery is an exact reproduction of the Poltergeist.\n\n[538] Dechelette, _Rev. Arch._ xxxiii, (1898), 63, 245, 252.\n\n[539] Cicero, _De Leg._ ii. 22.\n\n[540] Dechelette, 256; Reinach, _BF_ 189.\n\n[541] Dechelette, 257-258. In another instance the ram is marked with\ncrosses like those engraved on images of the underworld god with the\nhammer.\n\n[542] Kennedy, 187.\n\n[543] Lady Wilde, 118; Curtin, _Tales_, 54.\n\n[544] Le Braz, i. 229; Gregor, 21; Cambry, _Voyage dans le Finist\u00e8re_,\ni. 229.\n\n[545] Le Braz, ii. 47; _Folk-Lore_, iv. 357; MacCulloch, _Misty Isle of\nSkye_, 254; S\u00e9billot, i. 235-236.\n\n[546] Names of places associated with the great festivals are also those\nof the chief pagan cemeteries, Tara, Carman, Taillti, etc. (O'Curry,\n_MC_ ii. 523).\n\n[547] _Rennes Dindsenchas_, _RC_ xv. 313-314.\n\n[548] Cf. Frazer, _Adonis_, 134.\n\n[549] Cf. Chambers, _Medi\u00e6val Stage_, i. 250, 253.\n\n[550] See Vigfusson-Powell, _Corpus Poet. Boreale_, i. 405, 419. Perhaps\nfor a similar reason a cult of the dead may have occurred at the\nMidsummer festival.\n\n[551] Miss Faraday, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 398 f.\n\n[552] Bede, _de Temp. Rat._ c. xv.\n\n[553] Vigfusson-Powell, i. 419.\n\n[554] Curtin, _Tales_, 157; Haddon, _Folk-Lore_, iv. 359; Le Braz, ii.\n115 _et passim._\n\n[555] Frazer, _Adonis_, 253 f.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nPRIMITIVE NATURE WORSHIP.\n\n\nIn early thought everything was a person, in the loose meaning then\npossessed by personality, and many such \"persons\" were worshipped--\nearth, sun, moon, sea, wind, etc. This led later to more complete\npersonification, and the sun or earth divinity or spirit was more or\nless separated from the sun or earth themselves. Some Celtic divinities\nwere thus evolved, but there still continued a veneration of the objects\nof nature in themselves, as well as a cult of nature spirits or\nsecondary divinities who peopled every part of nature. \"Nor will I call\nout upon the mountains, fountains, or hills, or upon the rivers, which\nare now subservient to the use of man, but once were an abomination and\ndestruction to them, and to which the blind people paid divine honours,\"\ncries Gildas.[556] This was the true cult of the folk, the \"blind\npeople,\" even when the greater gods were organised, and it has survived\nwith modifications in out-of-the-way places, in spite of the coming of\nChristianity.\n\nS. Kentigern rebuked the Cambrians for worshipping the elements, which\nGod made for man's use.[557] The question of the daughters of Loegaire\nalso throws much light on Celtic nature worship. \"Has your god sons or\ndaughters?... Have many fostered his sons? Are his daughters dear and\nbeautiful to men? Is he in heaven or on earth, in the sea, in the\nrivers, in the mountains, in the valleys?\"[558] The words suggest a\nbelief in divine beings filling heaven, earth, sea, air, hills, glens,\nlochs, and rivers, and following human customs. A na\u00efve faith, full of\nbeauty and poetry, even if it had its dark and grim aspects! These\npowers or personalities had been invoked from time immemorial, but the\ninvocations were soon stereotyped into definite formulas. Such a formula\nis put into the mouth of Amairgen, the poet of the Milesians, when they\nwere about to invade Erin, and it may have been a magical invocation of\nthe powers of nature at the beginning of an undertaking or in times of\ndanger:\n\n  \"I invoke the land of Ireland!\n   Shining, shining sea!\n   Fertile, fertile mountain!\n   Wooded vale!\n   Abundant river, abundant in waters!\n   Fish abounding lake!\n   Fish abounding sea!\n   Fertile earth!\n   Irruption of fish! Fish there!\n   Bird under wave! Great fish!\n   Crab hole! Irruption of fish!\n   Fish abounding sea!\"[559]\n\nA similar formula was spoken after the destruction of Da Derga's Hostel\nby MacCecht on his finding water. He bathed in it and sang--\n\n  \"Cold fountain! Surface of strand ...\n   Sea of lake, water of Gara, stream of river;\n   High spring well; cold fountain!\"[560]\n\nThe goddess Morrigan, after the defeat of the Fomorians, invokes the\npowers of nature and proclaims the victory to \"the royal mountains of\nIreland, to its chief waters, and its river mouths.\"[561] It was also\ncustomary to take oaths by the elements--heaven, earth, sun, fire, moon,\nsea, land, day, night, etc., and these punished the breaker of the\noath.[562] Even the gods exacted such an oath of each other. Bres swore\nby sun, moon, sea, and land, to fulfil the engagement imposed on him by\nLug.[563] The formul\u00e6 survived into Christian times, and the faithful\nwere forbidden to call the sun and moon gods or to swear by them, while\nin Breton folk-custom at the present day oaths by sun, moon, or earth,\nfollowed by punishment of the oath-breaker by the moon, are still in\nuse.[564] These oaths had originated in a time when the elements\nthemselves were thought to be divine, and similar adjurations were used\nby Greeks and Scandinavians.\n\nWhile the greater objects of nature were worshipped for themselves\nalone, the Celts also peopled the earth with spirits, benevolent or\nmalevolent, of rocks, hills, dales, forests, lakes, and streams,[565]\nand while greater divinities of growth had been evolved, they still\nbelieved in lesser spirits of vegetation, of the corn, and of fertility,\nconnected, however, with these gods. Some of these still survive as\nfairies seen in meadows, woodlands, or streams, or as demoniac beings\nhaunting lonely places. And even now, in French folk-belief, sun, moon,\nwinds, etc., are regarded as actual personages. Sun and moon are husband\nand wife; the winds have wives; they are addressed by personal names and\nreverenced.[566] Some spirits may already have had a demoniac aspect in\npagan times. The Tuatha D\u00e9a conjured up _meisi_, \"spectral bodies that\nrise from the ground,\" against the Milesians, and at their service were\nmalignant sprites--_urtrochta_, and \"forms, spectres, and great queens\"\ncalled _guidemain_ (false demons). The Druids also sent forth\nmischievous spirits called _siabra_. In the _T\u00e1in_ there are references\nto _boc\u00e2nachs_, _ban\u00e2naichs_, and _geniti-glinni_, \"goblins, eldritch\nbeings, and glen-folk.\"[567] These are twice called Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann,\nand this suggests that they were nature-spirits akin to the greater\ngods.[568] The _geniti-glinni_ would be spirits haunting glen and\nvalley. They are friendly to C\u00fachulainn in the _T\u00e1in_, but in the _Feast\nof Bricriu_ he and other heroes fight and destroy them.[569] In modern\nIrish belief they are demons of the air, perhaps fallen angels.[570]\n\nMuch of this is probably pre-Celtic as well as Celtic, but it held its\nground because it was dear to the Celts themselves. They upheld the\naboriginal cults resembling those which, in the lands whence they came,\nhad been native and local with themselves. Such cults are as old as the\nworld, and when Christianity expelled the worship of the greater gods,\nyounger in growth, the ancient nature worship, dowered with immortal\nyouth,\n\n      \"bowed low before the blast\n  In patient deep disdain,\"\n\nto rise again in vigour. Preachers, councils, and laws inveighed against\nit. The old rites continued to be practised, or survived under a\nChristian dress and colouring. They are found in Breton villages, in\nHighland glens, in Welsh and Cornish valleys, in Irish townships, and\nonly the spread of school-board education, with its materialism and\nuninviting common sense, is forcing them at last to yield.\n\nThe denunciations of these cults throw some light upon them. Offerings\nat trees, stones, fountains, and cross-roads, the lighting of fires or\ncandles there, and vows or incantations addressed to them, are\nforbidden, as is also the worship of trees, groves, stones, rivers, and\nwells. The sun and moon are not to be called lords. Wizardry, and\ndivination, and the leapings and dancings, songs and choruses of the\npagans, i.e. their orgiastic cults, are not to be practised.\nTempest-raisers are not to ply their diabolical craft.[571] These\ndenunciations, of course, were not without their effect, and legend told\nhow the spirits of nature were heard bewailing the power of the\nChristian saints, their mournful cries echoing in wooded hollows,\nsecluded valleys, and shores of lake and river.[572] Their power, though\nlimited, was not annihilated, but the secrecy in which the old cults\noften continued to be practised gave them a darker colour. They were\nidentified with the works of the devil, and the spirits of paganism with\ndark and grisly demons.[573] This culminated in the medi\u00e6val witch\npersecutions, for witchcraft was in part the old paganism in a new\nguise. Yet even that did not annihilate superstition, which still lives\nand flourishes among the folk, though the actual worship of\nnature-spirits has now disappeared.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPerhaps the most important object in nature to the early Celts as to\nmost primitive folk was the moon. The phases of the moon were apparent\nbefore men observed the solstices and equinoxes, and they formed an easy\nmethod of measuring time. The Celtic year was at first lunar--Pliny\nspeaks of the Celtic method of counting the beginning of months and\nyears by the moon--and night was supposed to precede day.[574] The\nfestivals of growth began, not at sunrise, but on the previous evening\nwith the rising of the moon, and the name _La Lunade_ is still given to\nthe Midsummer festival in parts of France.[575] At Vallon de la Suille a\nwood on the slope where the festival is held is called _Bois de la\nLune_; and in Ireland, where the festival begins on the previous\nevening, in the district where an ascent of Cnoc Aine is made, the\nposition of the moon must be observed. A similar combination of sun and\nmoon cults is found in an inscription at Lausanne--_To the genius of the\nsun and moon._[576]\n\nPossibly sun festivals took the place of those of the moon. Traces of\nthe connection of the moon with agriculture occur in different regions,\nthe connection being established through the primitive law of\nsympathetic magic. The moon waxes and wanes, therefore it must affect\nall processes of growth or decay. Dr. Frazer has cited many instances of\nthis belief, and has shown that the moon had a priority to the sun in\nworship, e.g. in Egypt and Babylon.[577] Sowing is done with a waxing\nmoon, so that, through sympathy, there may be a large increase. But\nharvesting, cutting timber, etc., should be done with a waning moon,\nbecause moisture being caused by a waxing moon, it was necessary to\navoid cutting such things as would spoil by moisture at that time.\nSimilar beliefs are found among the Celts. Mistletoe and other magical\nplants were culled with a waxing moon, probably because their power\nwould thus be greater. Dr. Johnson noted the fact that the Highlanders\nsowed their seed with a waxing moon, in the expectation of a better\nharvest. For similar occult reasons, it is thought in Brittany that\nconception during a waxing moon produces a male child, during a waning\nmoon a female, while _accouchements_ at the latter time are dangerous.\nSheep and cows should be killed at the new moon, else their flesh will\nshrink, but peats should be cut in the last quarter, otherwise they will\nremain moist and give out \"a power of smoke.\"[578]\n\nThese ideas take us back to a time when it was held that the moon was\nnot merely the measurer of time, but had powerful effects on the\nprocesses of growth and decay. Artemis and Diana, moon-goddesses, had\npower over all growing things, and as some Celtic goddesses were equated\nwith Diana, they may have been connected with the moon, more especially\nas Gallo-Roman images of Diana have the head adorned with a crescent\nmoon. In some cases festivals of the moon remained intact, as among the\nCeltiberians and other peoples to the north of them, who at the time of\nfull moon celebrated the festival of a nameless god, dancing all night\nbefore the doors of their houses.[579] The nameless god may have been\nthe moon, worshipped at the time of her intensest light. Moonlight\ndances round a great stone, with singing, on the first day of the year,\noccurred in the Highlands in the eighteenth century.[580] Other\nsurvivals of cult are seen in the practices of bowing or baring the head\nat new moon, or addressing it with words of adoration or supplication.\nIn Ireland, Camden found the custom at new moon of saying the Lord's\nPrayer with the addition of the words, \"Leave us whole and sound as Thou\nhast found us.\" Similar customs exist in Brittany, where girls pray to\nthe moon to grant them dreams of their future husbands.[581] Like other\nraces, the Celts thought that eclipses were caused by a monster\nattacking the moon, while it could be driven off with cries and shouts.\nIn 218 B.C. the Celtic allies of Attalus were frightened by an eclipse,\nand much later Christian legislation forbade the people to assemble at\nan eclipse and shout, _Vince, Luna!_[582] Such a practice was observed\nin Ireland in the seventeenth century. At an earlier time, Irish poets\naddressed sun and moon as divinities, and they were represented on\naltars even in Christian times.[583]\n\nWhile the Celts believed in sea-gods--Manannan, Morgen, Dylan--the sea\nitself was still personified and regarded as divine. It was thought to\nbe a hostile being, and high tides were met by Celtic warriors, who\nadvanced against them with sword and spear, often perishing in the\nrushing waters rather than retreat. The ancients regarded this as\nbravado. M. Jullian sees in it a sacrifice by voluntary suicide; M.\nD'Arbois, a tranquil waiting for death and the introduction to another\nlife.[584] But the passages give the sense of an actual attack on the\nwaves--living things which men might terrify, and perhaps with this was\ncombined the belief that no one could die during a rising tide.\nSimilarly French fishermen threaten to cut a fog in two with a knife,\nwhile the legend of S. Lunaire tells how he threw a knife at a fog, thus\ncausing its disappearance.[585] Fighting the waves is also referred to\nin Irish texts. Thus Tuirbe Tr\u00e1gmar would \"hurl a cast of his axe in the\nface of the flood-tide, so that he forbade the sea, which then would not\ncome over the axe.\" C\u00fachulainn, in one of his fits of anger, fought the\nwaves for seven days, and Fionn fought and conquered the Muireartach, a\npersonification of the wild western sea.[586] On the French coast\nfishermen throw harpoons at certain harmful waves called the Three Witch\nWaves, thus drawing their blood and causing them to subside.[587] In\nsome cases human victims may have been offered to the rising waters,\nsince certain tales speak of a child set floating on the waves, and\nthis, repeated every seven years, kept them in their place.[588]\n\nThe sea had also its beneficent aspects. The shore was \"a place of\nrevelation of science,\" and the sea sympathised with human griefs. At\nthe Battle of Ventry \"the sea chattered, telling the losses, and the\nwaves raised a heavy, woeful great moan in wailing them.\"[589] In other\ncases in Ireland, by a spell put on the waves, or by the intuitive\nknowledge of the listener, it was revealed that they were wailing for a\ndeath or describing some distant event.[590] In the beautiful song sung\nby the wife of Cael, \"the wave wails against the shore for his death,\"\nand in Welsh myth the waves bewailed the death of Dylan, \"son of the\nwave,\" and were eager to avenge it. The noise of the waves rushing into\nthe vale of Conwy were his dying groans.[591] In Ireland the roaring of\nthe sea was thought to be prophetic of a king's death or the coming of\nimportant news; and there, too, certain great waves were celebrated in\nstory--Clidna's, Tuaithe's, and Rudhraidhe's.[592] Nine waves, or the\nninth wave, partly because of the sacred nature of the number nine,\npartly because of the beneficent character of the waves, had a great\nimportance. They formed a barrier against invasion, danger, or\npestilence, or they had a healing effect.[593]\n\nThe wind was also regarded as a living being whose power was to be\ndreaded. It punished King Loegaire for breaking his oath. But it was\nalso personified as a god Vintius, equated with Pollux and worshipped by\nCeltic sailors, or with Mars, the war-god who, in his destructive\naspect, was perhaps regarded as the nearest analogue to a god of stormy\nwinds.[594] Druids and Celtic priestesses claimed the power of\ncontrolling the winds, as did wizards and witches in later days. This\nthey did, according to Christian writers, by the aid of demons, perhaps\nthe old divinities of the air. Bishop Agobard describes how the\n_tempestarii_ raised tempests which destroyed the fruits of the earth,\nand drew \"aerial ships\" from Magonia, whither the ships carried these\nfruits.[595] Magonia may be the upper air ruled over by a sky god\nMagounos or Mogounos, equated with Apollo.[596] The winds may have been\nhis servants, ruled also by earthly magicians. Like Yahweh, as conceived\nby Hebrew poets, he \"bringeth the winds out of his treasures,\" and\n\"maketh lightnings with rain.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[556] Gildas ii. 4.\n\n[557] Jocelyn, _Vila Kentig._ c. xxxii.\n\n[558] _Trip. Life_, 315.\n\n[559] _LL_ 12_b_. The translation is from D'Arbois, ii. 250 f; cf.\nO'Curry, _MC_ ii. 190.\n\n[560] _RC_ xxii. 400.\n\n[561] _RC_ xii. 109.\n\n[562] Petrie, _Tara_, 34; _RC_ vi. 168; _LU_ 118.\n\n[563] Joyce, _OCR_ 50.\n\n[564] D'Achery, _Spicelegium_, v. 216; S\u00e9billot, i. 16 f., 56, 211.\n\n[565] Gregory of Tours, _Hist._ ii. 10, speaks of the current belief in\nthe divinity of waters, birds, and beasts.\n\n[566] S\u00e9billot, i. 9, 35, 75, 247, etc.\n\n[567] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 273; Cormac, 87; Stokes, _TIG_ xxxiii., _RC_ xv.\n307.\n\n[568] Miss Hull, 170, 187, 193; _IT_ i. 214; Leahy, i. 126.\n\n[569] _IT_ i. 287.\n\n[570] Henderson, _Irish Texts_, ii. 210.\n\n[571] _Capit. Karoli Magni_, i. 62; _Leges Luitprand._ ii. 38; Canon 23,\n2nd Coun. of Arles, Hefele, _Councils_, iii. 471; D'Achery, v. 215. Some\nof these attacks were made against Teutonic superstitions, but similar\nsuperstitions existed among the Celts.\n\n[572] See Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ ii. 498.\n\n[573] A more tolerant note is heard, e.g., in an Irish text which says\nthat the spirits which appeared of old were divine ministrants not\ndemoniacal, while angels helped the ancients because they followed\nnatural truth. \"Cormac's Sword,\" _IT_ iii. 220-221. Cf. p. 152, _supra_.\n\n[574] C\u00e6sar, vi. 18; Pliny xxii. 14. Pliny speaks of culling mistletoe\non the sixth day of the moon, which is to them the beginning of months\nand years (_sexta luna, quae principia_, etc.). This seems to make the\nsixth, not the first, day of the moon that from which the calculation\nwas made. But the meaning is that mistletoe was culled on the sixth day\nof the moon, and that the moon was that by which months and years were\nmeasured. _Luna_, not _sexta luna_, is in apposition with _quae_. Traces\nof the method of counting by nights or by the moon survive locally in\nFrance, and the usage is frequent in Irish and Welsh literature. See my\narticle \"Calendar\" (Celtic) in Hastings' _Encyclop. of Religion and\nEthics_, iii. 78 f.\n\n[575] Delocke, \"La Procession dite La Lunade,\" _RC_ ix. 425.\n\n[576] Monnier, 174, 222; Fitzgerald, _RC_ iv. 189.\n\n[577] Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, ii. 154 f.\n\n[578] Pliny, xvi. 45; Johnson, _Journey_, 183; Ramsay, _Scotland in the\nEighteenth Century_, ii. 449; S\u00e9billot, i. 41 f.; MacCulloch, _Misty\nIsle of Skye_, 236. In Brittany it is thought that girls may conceive by\nthe moon's power (_RC_ iii. 452).\n\n[579] Strabo, iii. 4. 16.\n\n[580] Brand, _s.v._ \"New Year's Day.\"\n\n[581] Chambers, _Popular Rhymes_, 35; S\u00e9billot, i. 46, 57 f.\n\n[582] Polybius, v. 78; _Vita S. Eligii_, ii. 15.\n\n[583] Osborne, _Advice to his Son_ (1656), 79; _RC_ xx. 419, 428.\n\n[584] Aristotle, _Nic. Eth._ iii. 77; _Eud. Eth._ iii. 1. 25; Stob\u00e6us,\nvii. 40; \u00c6lian, xii. 22; Jullian, 54; D'Arbois, vi. 218.\n\n[585] S\u00e9billot, i. 119. The custom of throwing something at a \"fairy\neddy,\" i.e. a dust storm, is well known on Celtic ground and elsewhere.\n\n[586] _Folk-Lore,_ iv. 488; Curtin, _HTI_ 324; Campbell, _The Fians_,\n158. Fian warriors attacked the sea when told it was laughing at them.\n\n[587] _M\u00e9lusine_, ii. 200.\n\n[588] S\u00e9billot, ii. 170.\n\n[589] Meyer, _Cath. Finntraga_, 40.\n\n[590] _RC_ xvi. 9; _LB_ 32_b_, 55.\n\n[591] Meyer, _op. cit._ 55; Skene, i. 282, 288, 543; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 387.\n\n[592] Meyer, 51; Joyce, _PN_ i. 195, ii. 257; _RC_ xv. 438.\n\n[593] See p. 55, _supra_; _IT_ i. 838, iii. 207; _RC_ ii. 201, ix. 118.\n\n[594] Holder, _s.v._ \"Vintius.\"\n\n[595] Agobard, i. 146.\n\n[596] See Stokes, _RC_ vi. 267.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nRIVER AND WELL WORSHIP.\n\n\nAmong the Celts the testimony of contemporary witnesses, inscriptions,\nvotive offerings, and survivals, shows the importance of the cult of\nwaters and of water divinities. Mr. Gomme argues that Celtic\nwater-worship was derived from the pre-Celtic aborigines,[597] but if\nso, the Celts must have had a peculiar aptitude for it, since they were\nso enthusiastic in its observance. What probably happened was that the\nCelts, already worshippers of the waters, freely adopted local cults of\nwater wherever they came. Some rivers or river-goddesses in Celtic\nregions seem to posses pre-Celtic names.[598]\n\nTreasures were flung into a sacred lake near Toulouse to cause a\npestilence to cease. Caepion, who afterwards fished up this treasure,\nfell soon after in battle--a punishment for cupidity, and _aurum\nTolosanum_ now became an expression for goods dishonestly acquired.[599]\nA yearly festival, lasting three days, took place at Lake G\u00e9vaudan.\nGarments, food, and wax were thrown into the waters, and animals were\nsacrificed. On the fourth day, it is said, there never failed to spring\nup a tempest of rain, thunder, and lightning--a strange reward for this\nworship of the lake.[600] S. Columba routed the spirits of a Scottish\nfountain which was worshipped as a god, and the well now became sacred,\nperhaps to the saint himself, who washed in it and blessed it so that it\ncured diseases.[601]\n\nOn inscriptions a river name is prefixed by some divine epithet--_dea_,\n_augusta_, and the worshipper records his gratitude for benefits\nreceived from the divinity or the river itself. Bormanus, Bormo or\nBorvo, Danuvius (the Danube), and Luxovius are found on inscriptions as\nnames of river or fountain gods, but goddesses are more\nnumerous--Acionna, Aventia, Bormana, Brixia, Carpundia, Clutoida,\nDivona, Sirona, Ura--well-nymphs; and Icauna (the Yonne), Matrona, and\nSequana (the Seine)--river-goddesses.[602] No inscription to the goddess\nof a lake has yet been found. Some personal names like Dubrogenos (son\nof the Dubron), Enigenus (son of the Aenus), and the belief of\nVirdumarus that one of his ancestors was the Rhine,[603] point to the\nidea that river-divinities might have amours with mortals and beget\nprogeny called by their names. In Ireland, Conchobar was so named from\nthe river whence his mother Nessa drew water, perhaps because he was a\nchild of the river-god.[604]\n\nThe name of the water-divinity was sometimes given to the place of his\nor her cult, or to the towns which sprang up on the banks of rivers--the\ndivinity thus becoming a tutelary god. Many towns (e.g. Divonne or\nDyonne, etc.) have names derived from a common Celtic river name Deuona,\n\"divine.\" This name in various forms is found all over the Celtic\narea,[605] and there is little doubt that the Celts, in their onward\nprogress, named river after river by the name of the same divinity,\nbelieving that each new river was a part of his or her kingdom. The name\nwas probably first an appellative, then a personal name, the divine\nriver becoming a divinity. Deus Nemausus occurs on votive tablets at\nNimes, the name Nemausus being that of the clear and abundant spring\nthere whence flowed the river of the same name. A similar name occurs in\nother regions--Nemesa, a tributary of the Moselle; Nemh, the source of\nthe Tara and the former name of the Blackwater; and Nimis, a Spanish\nriver mentioned by Appian. Another group includes the Matrona (Marne),\nthe Moder, the Madder, the Maronne and Maronna, and others, probably\nderived from a word signifying \"mother.\"[606] The mother-river was that\nwhich watered a whole region, just as in the Hindu sacred books the\nwaters are mothers, sources of fertility. The Celtic mother-rivers were\nprobably goddesses, akin to the _Matres_, givers of plenty and\nfertility. In Gaul, Sirona, a river-goddess, is represented like the\n_Matres_. She was associated with Grannos, perhaps as his mother, and\nProfessor Rh[^y]s equates the pair with the Welsh Modron and Mabon;\nModron is probably connected with Matrona.[607] In any case the Celts\nregarded rivers as bestowers of life, health, and plenty, and offered\nthem rich gifts and sacrifices.[608]\n\nGods like Grannos, Borvo, and others, equated with Apollo, presided over\nhealing springs, and they are usually associated with goddesses, as\ntheir husbands or sons. But as the goddesses are more numerous, and as\nmost Celtic river names are feminine, female divinities of rivers and\nsprings doubtless had the earlier and foremost place, especially as\ntheir cult was connected with fertility. The gods, fewer in number, were\nall equated with Apollo, but the goddesses were not merged by the Romans\ninto the personality of one goddess, since they themselves had their\ngroups of river-goddesses, Nymphs and Naiads. Before the Roman conquest\nthe cult of water-divinities, friends of mankind, must have formed a\nlarge part of the popular religion of Gaul, and their names may be\ncounted by hundreds. Thermal springs had also their genii, and they were\nappropriated by the Romans, so that the local gods now shared their\nhealing powers with Apollo, \u00c6sculapius, and the Nymphs. Thus every\nspring, every woodland brook, every river in glen or valley, the roaring\ncataract, and the lake were haunted by divine beings, mainly thought of\nas beautiful females with whom the _Matres_ were undoubtedly associated.\nThere they revealed themselves to their worshippers, and when paganism\nhad passed away, they remained as _f\u00e9es_ or fairies haunting spring, or\nwell, or river.[609] Scores of fairy wells still exist, and by them\nmedi\u00e6val knights had many a fabled amour with those beautiful beings\nstill seen by the \"ignorant\" but romantic peasant.\n\nSanctuaries were erected at these springs by grateful worshippers, and\nat some of them festivals were held, or they were the resort of\npilgrims. As sources of fertility they had a place in the ritual of the\ngreat festivals, and sacred wells were visited on Midsummer day, when\nalso the river-gods claimed their human victims. Some of the goddesses\nwere represented by statues or busts in Gallo-Roman times, if not\nearlier, and other images of them which have been found were of the\nnature of _ex votos_, presented by worshippers in gratitude for the\ngoddess's healing gifts. Money, ingots of gold or silver, and models of\nlimbs or other parts of the body which had been or were desired to be\nhealed, were also presented. Gregory of Tours says of the Gauls that\nthey \"represent in wood or bronze the members in which they suffer, and\nwhose healing they desire, and place them in a temple.\"[610] Contact of\nthe model with the divinity brought healing to the actual limbs on the\nprinciple of sympathetic magic. Many such models have been discovered.\nThus in the shrine of Dea Sequana was found a vase with over a hundred;\nanother contained over eight hundred. Inscriptions were engraved on\nplaques which were fastened to the walls of temples, or placed in\nsprings.[611] Leaden tablets with inscriptions were placed in springs by\nthose who desired healing or when the waters were low, and on some the\nactual waters are hardly discriminated from the divinities. The latter\nare asked to heal or flow or swell--words which apply more to the waters\nthan to them, while the tablets, with their frank animism, also show\nthat, in some cases, there were many elemental spirits of a well, only\nsome of whom were rising to the rank of a goddess. They are called\ncollectively _Niskas_--the Nixies of later tradition, but some have\npersonal names--Lerano, Dibona, Dea--showing that they were tending to\nbecome separate divine personalities. The Peisgi are also appealed to,\nperhaps the later Piskies, unless the word is a corrupt form of a Celtic\n_peiskos_, or the Latin _piscus_, \"fish.\"[612] This is unlikely, as fish\ncould not exist in a warm sulphurous spring, though the Celts believed\nin the sacred fish of wells or streams. The fairies now associated with\nwells or with a water-world beneath them, are usually nameless, and only\nin a few cases have a definite name. They, like the older spirits of the\nwells, have generally a beneficent character.[613] Thus in the fountains\nof Logres dwelt damsels who fed the wayfarer with meat and bread, until\ngrievous wrong was done them, when they disappeared and the land became\nwaste.[614] Occasionally, however, they have a more malevolent\ncharacter.[615]\n\nThe spirit of the waters was often embodied in an animal, usually a\nfish. Even now in Brittany the fairy dweller in a spring has the form of\nan eel, while in the seventeenth century Highland wells contained fish\nso sacred that no one dared to catch them.[616] In Wales S. Cybi's well\ncontained a huge eel in whose virtues the villagers believed, and terror\nprevailed when any one dared to take it from the water. Two sacred fish\nstill exist in a holy well at Nant Peris, and are replaced by others\nwhen they die, the dead fish being buried.[617] This latter act,\nsolemnly performed, is a true sign of the divine or sacred character of\nthe animal. Many wells with sacred fish exist in Ireland, and the fish\nhave usually some supernatural quality--they never alter in size, they\nbecome invisible, or they take the form of beautiful women.[618] Any one\ndestroying such fish was regarded as a sacrilegious person, and\nsometimes a hostile tribe killed and ate the sacred fish of a district\ninvaded by them, just as Egyptians of one nome insulted those of another\nby killing their sacred animals.[619] In old Irish beliefs the salmon\nwas the fish of knowledge. Thus whoever ate the salmon of Connla's well\nwas dowered with the wisdom which had come to them through eating nuts\nfrom the hazels of knowledge around the well. In this case the sacred\nfish was eaten, but probably by certain persons only--those who had the\nright to do so. Sinend, who went to seek inspiration from the well,\nprobably by eating one of its salmon, was overwhelmed by its waters. The\nlegend of the salmon is perhaps based on old ritual practices of the\noccasional eating of a divine animal. In other cases, legends of a\nmiraculous supply of fish from sacred wells are perhaps later Christian\ntraditions of former pagan beliefs or customs concerning magical methods\nof increasing a sacred or totem animal species, like those used in\nCentral Australia and New Guinea.[620] The frog is sometimes the sacred\nanimal, and this recalls the _M\u00e4rchen_ of the Frog Bridegroom living in\na well, who insisted on marrying the girl who drew its waters. Though\nthis tale is not peculiar to the Celts, it is not improbable that the\ndivine animal guardian of a well may have become the hero of a\nfolk-tale, especially as such wells were sometimes tabu to women.[621] A\nfly was the guardian spirit of S. Michael's well in Banffshire. Auguries\nregarding health were drawn from its movements, and it was believed that\nthe fly, when it grew old, transmigrated into another.[622]\n\nSuch beliefs were not peculiarly Celtic. They are found in all European\nfolk-lore, and they are still alive among savages--the animal being\nitself divine or the personification of a divinity. A huge sacred eel\nwas worshipped by the Fijians; in North America and elsewhere there were\nserpent guardians of the waters; and the Semites worshipped the fish of\nsacred wells as incarnations or symbols of a god.\n\nLater Celtic folk-belief associated monstrous and malevolent beings with\nrivers and lakes. These may be the older divinities to whom a demoniac\nform has been given, but even in pagan times such monstrous beings may\nhave been believed in, or they may be survivals of the more primitive\nmonstrous guardians of the waters. The last were dragons or serpents,\nconventional forms of the reptiles which once dwelt in watery places,\nattacking all who came near. This old idea certainly survived in Irish\nand Highland belief, for the Fians conquered huge dragons or serpents in\nlochs, or saints chained them to the bottom of the waters. Hence the\ncommon place-name of Loch na piast, \"Loch of the Monster.\" In other\ntales they emerge and devour the impious or feast on the dead.[623] The\n_Dracs_ of French superstition--river monsters who assume human form and\ndrag down victims to the depths, where they devour them--resemble these.\n\nThe _Each Uisge_, or \"Water-horse,\" a horse with staring eyes, webbed\nfeet, and a slimy coat, is still dreaded. He assumes different forms and\nlures the unwary to destruction, or he makes love in human shape to\nwomen, some of whom discover his true nature by seeing a piece of\nwater-weed in his hair, and only escape with difficulty. Such a\nwater-horse was forced to drag the chariot of S. Fechin of Fore, and\nunder his influence became \"gentler than any other horse.\"[624] Many\nHighland lochs are still haunted by this dreaded being, and he is also\nknown in Ireland and France, where, however, he has more of a tricky and\nless of a demoniac nature.[625] His horse form is perhaps connected with\nthe similar form ascribed to Celtic water-divinities. Manannan's horses\nwere the waves, and he was invariably associated with a horse. Epona,\nthe horse-goddess, was perhaps originally goddess of a spring, and, like\nthe _Matres_, she is sometimes connected with the waters.[626] Horses\nwere also sacrificed to river-divinities.[627] But the beneficent\nwater-divinities in their horse form have undergone a curious\ndistortion, perhaps as the result of later Christian influences. The\nname of one branch of the Fomorians, the Goborchinn, means the\n\"Horse-headed,\" and one of their kings was Eochaid Echchenn, or\n\"Horse-head.\"[628] Whether these have any connection with the\nwater-horse is uncertain.\n\nThe foaming waters may have suggested another animal personification,\nsince the name of the Boyne in Ptolemy, [Greek: bououinda], is derived\nfrom a primitive _b\u00f3u-s_, \"ox,\" and _vindo-s_, \"white,\" in Irish _b\u00f3\nfind_, \"white cow.\"[629] But it is not certain that this or the Celtic\ncult of the bull was connected with the belief in the _Tarbh Uisge_, or\n\"Water-bull,\" which had no ears and could assume other shapes. It dwells\nin lochs and is generally friendly to man, occasionally emerging to mate\nwith ordinary cows. In the Isle of Man the _Tarroo Ushtey_, however,\nbegets monsters.[630] These Celtic water-monsters have a curious\nresemblance to the Australian _Bunyip_.\n\nThe _Uruisg_, often confused with the brownie, haunts lonely places and\nwaterfalls, and, according to his mood, helps or harms the wayfarer. His\nappearance is that of a man with shaggy hair and beard.[631] In Wales\nthe _afanc_ is a water-monster, though the word first meant \"dwarf,\"\nthen \"water-dwarf,\" of whom many kinds existed. They correspond to the\nIrish water-dwarfs, the _Luchorp\u00e1in_, descended with the Fomorians and\nGoborchinn from Ham.[632]\n\nIn other cases the old water beings have a more pleasing form, like the\nsyrens and other fairy beings who haunt French rivers, or the mermaids\nof Irish estuaries.[633] In Celtic France and Britain lake fairies are\nconnected with a water-world like that of Elysium tales, the region of\nearlier divinities.[634] They unite with mortals, who, as in the\nSwan-maiden tales, lose their fairy brides through breaking a tabu. In\nmany Welsh tales the bride is obtained by throwing bread and cheese on\nthe waters, when she appears with an old man who has all the strength of\nyouth. He presents his daughter and a number of fairy animals to the\nmortal. When she disappears into the waters after the breaking of the\ntabu, the lake is sometimes drained in order to recover her; the father\nthen appears and threatens to submerge the whole district. Father and\ndaughters are earlier lake divinities, and in the bread and cheese we\nmay see a relic of the offerings to these.[635]\n\nHuman sacrifice to water-divinities is suggested by the belief that\nwater-monsters devour human beings, and by the tradition that a river\nclaims its toll of victims every year. In popular rhymes the annual\ncharacter of the sacrifice is hinted at, and Welsh legend tells of a\nvoice heard once a year from rivers or lakes, crying, \"The hour is come,\nbut the man is not.\"[636] Here there is the trace of an abandoned custom\nof sacrifice and of the traditional idea of the anger of the divinity at\nbeing neglected. Such spirits or gods, like the water-monsters, would be\never on the watch to capture those who trespassed on their domain. In\nsome cases the victim is supposed to be claimed on Midsummer eve, the\ntime of the sacrifice in the pagan period.[637] The spirits of wells had\nalso a harmful aspect to those, at least, who showed irreverence in\napproaching them. This is seen in legends about the danger of looking\nrashly into a well or neglecting to cover it, or in the belief that one\nmust not look back after visiting the well. Spirits of wells were also\nbesought to do harm to enemies.\n\nLegends telling of the danger of removing or altering a well, or of the\nwell moving elsewhere because a woman washed her hands in it, point to\nold tabus concerning wells. Boand, wife of Nechtain, went to the fairy\nwell which he and his cup-bearers alone might visit, and when she showed\nher contempt for it, the waters rose and destroyed her. They now flow as\nthe river Boyne. Sinend met with a similar fate for intruding on\nConnla's well, in this case the pursuing waters became the Shannon.[638]\nThese are variants of a story which might be used to explain the origin\nof any river, but the legends suggest that certain wells were tabu to\nwomen because certain branches of knowledge, taught by the well, must be\nreserved for men.[639] The legends said in effect, \"See what came of\nwomen obtruding beyond their proper sphere.\" Savage \"mysteries\" are\nusually tabu to women, who also exclude men from their sacred rites. On\nthe other hand, as all tribal lore was once in the hands of the wise\nwoman, such tabus and legends may have arisen when men began to claim\nsuch lore. In other legends women are connected with wells, as the\nguardians who must keep them locked up save when water was drawn. When\nthe woman neglected to replace the cover, the waters burst forth,\noverwhelming her, and formed a loch.[640] The woman is the priestess of\nthe well who, neglecting part of its ritual, is punished. Even in recent\ntimes we find sacred wells in charge of a woman who instructs the\nvisitors in the due ritual to be performed.[641] If such legends and\nsurvivals thus point to former Celtic priestesses of wells, these are\nparalleled by the Norse Horgabrudar, guardians of wells, now elves\nliving in the waters.[642] That such legends are based on the ritual of\nwell-worship is suggested by Boand's walking three times _widdershins_\nround the well, instead of the customary _deiseil_. The due ritual must\nbe observed, and the stories are a warning against its neglect.\n\nIn spite of twenty centuries of Christianity and the anathemas of saints\nand councils, the old pagan practices at healing wells have survived--a\nstriking instance of human conservatism. S. Patrick found the pagans of\nhis day worshipping a well called _Sl\u00e1n_, \"health-giving,\" and offering\nsacrifices to it,[643] and the Irish peasant to-day has no doubt that\nthere is something divine about his holy wells. The Celts brought the\nbelief in the divinity of springs and wells with them, but would\nnaturally adopt local cults wherever they found them. Afterwards the\nChurch placed the old pagan wells under the protection of saints, but\npart of the ritual often remained unchanged. Hence many wells have been\nvenerated for ages by different races and through changes in religion\nand polity. Thus at the thermal springs of Vicarello offerings have been\nfound which show that their cult has continued from the Stone Age,\nthrough the Bronze Age, to the days of Roman civilisation, and so into\nmodern times; nor is this a solitary instance.[644] But it serves to\nshow that all races, high and low, preserve the great outlines of\nprimitive nature religion unchanged. In all probability the ritual of\nthe healing wells has also remained in great part unaltered, and\nwherever it is found it follows the same general type. The patient\nperambulated the well three times _deiseil_ or sun-wise, taking care not\nto utter a word. Then he knelt at the well and prayed to the divinity\nfor his healing. In modern times the saint, but occasionally the well\nitself, is prayed to.[645] Then he drank of the waters, bathed in them,\nor laved his limbs or sores, probably attended by the priestess of the\nwell. Having paid her dues, he made an offering to the divinity of the\nwell, and affixed the bandage or part of his clothing to the well or a\ntree near by, that through it he might be in continuous _rapport_ with\nthe healing influences. Ritual formul\u00e6 probably accompanied these acts,\nbut otherwise no word was spoken, and the patient must not look back on\nleaving the well. Special times, Beltane, Midsummer, or August 1st, were\nfavourable for such visits,[646] and where a patient was too ill to\npresent himself at the well, another might perform the ritual for\nhim.[647]\n\nThe rag or clothing hung on the tree seems to connect the spirit of the\ntree with that of the well, and tree and well are often found together.\nBut sometimes it is thrown into the well, just as the Gaulish villagers\nof S. Gregory's day threw offerings of cloth and wool into a sacred\nlake.[648] The rag is even now regarded in the light of an offering, and\nsuch offerings, varying from valuable articles of clothing to mere rags,\nare still hung on sacred trees by the folk. It thus probably has always\nhad a sacrificial aspect in the ritual of the well, but as magic and\nreligion constantly blend, it had also its magical aspect. The rag, once\nin contact with the patient, transferred his disease to the tree, or,\nbeing still subtly connected with him, through it the healing properties\npassed over to him.\n\nThe offering thrown into the well--a pin, coin, etc., may also have this\ndouble aspect. The sore is often pricked or rubbed with the pin as if to\ntransfer the disease to the well, and if picked up by another person,\nthe disease may pass to him. This is also true of the coin.[649] But\nother examples show the sacrificial nature of the pin or other trifle,\nwhich is probably symbolic or a survival of a more costly offering. In\nsome cases it is thought that those who do not leave it at the well from\nwhich they have drunk will die of thirst, and where a coin is offered it\nis often supposed to disappear, being taken by the spirit of the\nwell.[650] The coin has clearly the nature of an offering, and sometimes\nit must be of gold or silver, while the antiquity of the custom on\nCeltic ground is seen by the classical descriptions of the coins\nglittering in the pool of Clitumnus and of the \"gold of Toulouse\" hid in\nsacred tanks.[651] It is also an old and widespread belief that all\nwater belongs to some divine or monstrous guardian, who will not part\nwith any of it without a _quid pro quo_. In many cases the two rites of\nrag and pin are not both used, and this may show that originally they\nhad the same purpose--magical or sacrificial, or perhaps both. Other\nsacrifices were also made--an animal, food, or an _ex voto_, the last\noccurring even in late survivals as at S. Thenew's Well, Glasgow, where\neven in the eighteenth century tin cut to represent the diseased member\nwas placed on the tree, or at S. Winifred's Well in Wales, where\ncrutches were left.\n\nCertain waters had the power of ejecting the demon of madness. Besides\ndrinking, the patient was thrown into the waters, the shock being\nintended to drive the demon away, as elsewhere demons are exorcised by\nflagellation or beating. The divinity of the waters aided the process,\nand an offering was usually made to him. In other cases the sacred\nwaters were supposed to ward off disease from the district or from those\nwho drank of them. Or, again, they had the power of conferring\nfertility. Women made pilgrimages to wells, drank or bathed in the\nwaters, implored the spirit or saint to grant them offspring, and made a\ndue offering.[652] Spirit or saint, by a transfer of his power, produced\nfruitfulness, but the idea was in harmony with the recognised power of\nwater to purify, strengthen, and heal. Women, for a similar reason,\ndrank or washed in the waters or wore some articles dipped in them, in\norder to have an easy delivery or abundance of milk.[653]\n\nThe waters also gave oracles, their method of flowing, the amount of\nwater in the well, the appearance or non-appearance of bubbles at the\nsurface when an offering was thrown in, the sinking or floating of\nvarious articles, all indicating whether a cure was likely to occur,\nwhether fortune or misfortune awaited the inquirer, or, in the case of\ngirls, whether their lovers would be faithful. The movements of the\nanimal guardian of the well were also ominous to the visitor.[654]\nRivers or river divinities were also appealed to. In cases of suspected\nfidelity the Celts dwelling by the Rhine placed the newly-born child in\na shield on the waters. If it floated the mother was innocent; if it\nsank it was allowed to drown, and she was put to death.[655] Girls whose\npurity was suspected were similarly tested, and S. Gregory of Tours\ntells how a woman accused of adultery was proved by being thrown into\nthe Sa\u00f4ne.[656] The medi\u00e6val witch ordeal by water is connected with\nthis custom, which is, however, widespread.[657]\n\nThe malevolent aspect of the spirit of the well is seen in the \"cursing\nwells\" of which it was thought that when some article inscribed with an\nenemy's name was thrown into them with the accompaniment of a curse, the\nspirit of the well would cause his death. In some cases the curse was\ninscribed on a leaden tablet thrown into the waters, just as, in other\ncases, a prayer for the offerer's benefit was engraved on it. Or, again,\nobjects over which a charm had been said were placed in a well that the\nvictim who drew water might be injured. An excellent instance of a\ncursing-well is that of Fynnon Elian in Denbigh, which must once have\nhad a guardian priestess, for in 1815 an old woman who had charge of it\npresided at the ceremony. She wrote the name of the victim in a book,\nreceiving a gift at the same time. A pin was dropped into the well in\nthe name of the victim, and through it and through knowledge of his\nname, the spirit of the well acted upon him to his hurt.[658] Obviously\nrites like these, in which magic and religion mingle, are not purely\nCeltic, but it is of interest to note their existence in Celtic lands\nand among Celtic folk.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[597] _Ethnol. in Folklore_, 104 f.\n\n[598] D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 132, 169; Dottin, 240.\n\n[599] Justin, xxxii. 3; Strabo, iv. 1. 13.\n\n[600] S. Gregory, _In Glor. Conf._ ch. 2. Perhaps the feast and\nofferings were intended to cause rain in time of drought. See p. 321,\n_infra_.\n\n[601] Adamman, _Vita Colum._ ii. 10.\n\n[602] See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[603] D'Arbois, _RC_ x. 168, xiv. 377; _CIL_ xii. 33; Propertius, iv.\n10. 41.\n\n[604] See p. 349, _infra_.\n\n[605] Cf. Ptolemy's [Greek: D\u00eaouana] and [Greek: D\u00eaouna] (ii. 3. 19, 11.\n29); the Scots and English Dee; the Divy in Wales; D\u00eave, Dive, and\nDivette in France; Devon in England; Deva in Spain (Ptolemy's [Greek:\nD\u00eaoua], ii. 6. 8). The Shannon is surnamed even in the seventh century\n\"the goddess\" (_Trip. Life_, 313).\n\n[606] Holder, _s.v._; D'Arbois, _PH_ ii. 119, thinks _Matrona_ is\nLigurian. But it seems to have strong Celtic affinities.\n\n[607] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 27-29, _RC_ iv. 137.\n\n[608] On the whole subject see Pictet, \"Quelques noms celtiques de\nrivi\u00e8res,\" _RC_ ii. 1 f. Orosius, v. 15. 6, describes the sacrifices of\ngold, silver, and horses, made to the Rh\u00f4ne.\n\n[609] Maury, 18. By extension of this belief any divinity might appear\nby the haunted spring. S. Patrick and his synod of bishops at an Irish\nwell were supposed to be _s\u00edd_ or gods (p. 64, _supra_.) By a fairy well\nJeanne d'Arc had her first vision.\n\n[610] Greg. Tours, _Vita Patr._ c. 6.\n\n[611] See Reinach, _Catal. Sommaire_, 23, 115; Baudot, _Rapport sur les\nfouilles faits aux sources de la Seine_, ii. 120; _RC_ ii. 26.\n\n[612] For these tablets see Nicolson, _Keltic Studies_, 131 f.; Jullian,\n_RC_ 1898.\n\n[613] S\u00e9billot, ii. 195.\n\n[614] Prologue to Chrestien's _Conte du Graal_.\n\n[615] S\u00e9billot, ii. 202 f.\n\n[616] Ibid. 196-197; Martin, 140-141; Dalyell, 411.\n\n[617] Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 366; _Folk-Lore_, viii. 281. If the fish\nappeared when an invalid drank of the well, this was a good omen. For\nthe custom of burying sacred animals, see Herod, ii. 74; \u00c6lian, xiii.\n26.\n\n[618] Gomme, _Ethnol. in Folklore_, 92.\n\n[619] _Trip. Life_, 113; Tigernach, _Annals_, A.D. 1061.\n\n[620] Mackinley, 184.\n\n[621] Burne, _Shropshire Folk-Lore_, 416; Campbell, _WHT_ ii. 145.\n\n[622] _Old Stat. Account_, xii. 465.\n\n[623] S. Patrick, when he cleared Ireland of serpents, dealt in this way\nwith the worst specimens. S. Columba quelled a monster which terrified\nthe dwellers by the Ness. Joyce, _PN_ i. 197; Adamnan, _Vita Columb._\nii. 28; Kennedy, 12, 82, 246; _RC_ iv. 172, 186.\n\n[624] _RC_ xii. 347.\n\n[625] For the water-horse, see Campbell, _WHT_ iv. 307; Macdongall, 294;\nCampbell, _Superstitions_, 203; and for the Manx _Glashtyn_, a kind of\nwater-horse, see Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 285. For French cognates, see\nB\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Superstitions et Survivances_, i. 349 f.\n\n[626] Reinach, _CMR_ i. 63.\n\n[627] Orosius, v. 15. 6.\n\n[628] _LU_ 2_a_. Of Eochaid is told a variant of the Midas story--the\ndiscovery of his horse's ears. This is also told of Labraid Lore (_RC_\nii. 98; Kennedy, 256) and of King Marc'h in Brittany and in Wales (Le\nBraz, ii. 96; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ 233). Other variants are found in\nnon-Celtic regions, so the story has no mythological significance on\nCeltic ground.\n\n[629] Ptol. ii. 2. 7.\n\n[630] Campbell, _WHT_ iv. 300 f.; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 284; Waldron, _Isle\nof Man_, 147.\n\n[631] Macdougall, 296; Campbell, _Superstitions_, 195. For the Uruisg as\nBrownie, see _WHT_ ii. 9; Graham, _Scenery of Perthshire_, 19.\n\n[632] Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ ii. 431, 469, _HL_, 592; _Book of Taliesin_, vii.\n135.\n\n[633] S\u00e9billot, ii. 340; _LL_ 165; _IT_ i. 699.\n\n[634] S\u00e9billot, ii. 409.\n\n[635] See Pughe, _The Physicians of Myddfai_, 1861 (these were\ndescendants of a water-fairy); Rh[^y]s, _Y Cymmrodor_, iv. 164;\nHartland, _Arch. Rev._ i. 202. Such water-gods with lovely daughters are\nknown in most mythologies--the Greek Nereus and the Nereids, the\nSlavonic Water-king, and the Japanese god Ocean-Possessor (Ralston,\n_Songs of the Russian People_, 148; Chamberlain, _Ko-ji-ki_, 120).\nManannan had nine daughters (Wood-Martin, i. 135).\n\n[636] S\u00e9billot, ii. 338, 344; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 243; Henderson,\n_Folk-Lore of the N. Counties_, 262. Cf. the rhymes, \"L'Arguenon veut\nchaque ann\u00e9e son poisson,\" the \"fish\" being a human victim, and\n\n  \"Blood-thirsty Dee\n   Each year needs three,\n   But bonny Don,\n   She needs none.\"\n\n[637] S\u00e9billot, ii. 339.\n\n[638] _Rendes Dindsenchas_, _RC_ xv. 315, 457. Other instances of\npunishment following misuse of a well are given in S\u00e9billot, ii. 192;\nRees, 520, 523. An Irish lake no longer healed after a hunter swam his\nmangy hounds through it (Joyce, _PN_ ii. 90). A similar legend occurs\nwith the Votiaks, one of whose sacred lakes was removed to its present\nposition because a woman washed dirty clothes in it (_L'Anthropologie_,\nxv. 107).\n\n[639] Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 392.\n\n[640] Girald. Cambr. _Itin. Hib._ ii. 9; Joyce, _OCR_ 97; Kennedy, 281;\nO'Grady, i. 233; Skene, ii. 59; Campbell, _WHT_ ii. 147. The waters\noften submerge a town, now seen below the waves--the town of Is in\nArmorica (Le Braz, i. p. xxxix), or the towers under Lough Neagh. In\nsome Welsh instances a man is the culprit (Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 379). In\nthe case of Lough Neagh the keeper of the well was Liban, who lived on\nin the waters as a mermaid. Later she was caught and received the\nbaptismal name of Muirghenn, \"sea-birth.\" Here the myth of a\nwater-goddess, said to have been baptized, is attached to the legend of\nthe careless guardian of a spring, with whom she is identified (O'Grady,\nii. 184, 265).\n\n[641] Roberts, _Cambrian Pop. Antiq._ 246; Hunt, _Popular Romances_,\n291; _New Stat. Account_, x. 313.\n\n[642] Thorpe, _Northern Myth._ ii. 78.\n\n[643] Joyce, _PN_ ii. 84. _Sl\u00e1n_ occurs in many names of wells.\nWell-worship is denounced in the canons of the Fourth Council of Arles.\n\n[644] Cartailhac, _L'Age de Pierre_, 74; Bulliot et Thiollier, _Mission\nde S. Martin_, 60.\n\n[645] S\u00e9billot, ii. 284.\n\n[646] Dalyell, 79-80; S\u00e9billot, ii. 282, 374; see p. 266, _infra_.\n\n[647] I have compiled this account of the ritual from notices of the\nmodern usages in various works. See, e.g., Moore, _Folk-Lore_, v. 212;\nMackinley, _passim_; Hope, _Holy Wells_; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_; S\u00e9billot, 175\nf.; Dixon, _Gairloch_, 150 f.\n\n[648] Brand, ii. 68; Greg. _In Glor. Conf._ c. 2.\n\n[649] S\u00e9billot, ii. 293, 296; _Folk-Lore_, iv. 55.\n\n[650] Mackinley, 194; S\u00e9billot, ii. 296.\n\n[651] _Folk-Lore_, iii. 67; _Athen\u00e6um_, 1893, 415; Pliny, _Ep._ viii. 8;\nStrabo, iv. 287; Diod. Sic. v. 9.\n\n[652] Walker, _Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot._ vol. v.; S\u00e9billot, ii. 232. In\nsome early Irish instances a worm swallowed with the waters by a woman\ncauses pregnancy. See p. 352, _infra_.\n\n[653] S\u00e9billot, ii. 235-236.\n\n[654] See Le Braz, i. 61; _Folk-Lore_, v. 214; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 364;\nDalyell, 506-507; Scott, _Minstrelsy_, Introd. xliii; Martin, 7;\nS\u00e9billot, ii. 242 f.; _RC_ ii. 486.\n\n[655] Jullian, _Ep. to Maximin_, 16. The practice may have been\nconnected with that noted by Aristotle, of plunging the newly-born into\na river, to strengthen it, as he says (_Pol._ vii. 15. 2), but more\nprobably as a baptismal or purificatory rite. See p. 309, _infra_.\n\n[656] Lefevre, _Les Gaulois_, 109; Michelet, _Origines du droit\nfran\u00e7ais_, 268.\n\n[657] See examples of its use in Post, _Grundriss der Ethnol.\nJurisprudenz_, ii. 459 f.\n\n[658] Roberts, _Cambrian Popular Antiquities_, 246.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTREE AND PLANT WORSHIP.\n\n\nThe Celts had their own cult of trees, but they adopted local\ncults--Ligurian, Iberian, and others. The _Fagus Deus_ (the divine\nbeech), the _Sex arbor_ or _Sex arbores_ of Pyrenean inscriptions, and\nan anonymous god represented by a conifer on an altar at Toulouse,\nprobably point to local Ligurian tree cults continued by the Celts into\nRoman times.[659] Forests were also personified or ruled by a single\ngoddess, like _Dea Arduinna_ of the Ardennes and _Dea Abnoba_ of the\nBlack Forest.[660] But more primitive ideas prevailed, like that which\nassigned a whole class of tree-divinities to a forest, e.g. the _Fat\u00e6\nDervones_, spirits of the oak-woods of Northern Italy.[661] Groups of\ntrees like _Sex arbores_ were venerated, perhaps for their height,\nisolation, or some other peculiarity.\n\nThe Celts made their sacred places in dark groves, the trees being hung\nwith offerings or with the heads of victims. Human sacrifices were hung\nor impaled on trees, e.g. by the warriors of Boudicca.[662] These, like\nthe offerings still placed by the folk on sacred trees, were attached to\nthem because the trees were the abode of spirits or divinities who in\nmany cases had power over vegetation.\n\nPliny said of the Celts: \"They esteem nothing more sacred than the\nmistletoe and the tree on which it grows. But apart from this they\nchoose oak-woods for their sacred groves, and perform no sacred rite\nwithout using oak branches.\"[663] Maximus of Tyre also speaks of the\nCeltic (? German) image of Zeus as a lofty oak, and an old Irish\nglossary gives _daur_, \"oak,\" as an early Irish name for \"god,\" and\nglosses it by _dia_, \"god.\"[664] The sacred need-fire may have been\nobtained by friction from oak-wood, and it is because of the old\nsacredness of the oak that a piece of its wood is still used as a\ntalisman in Brittany.[665] Other Aryan folk besides the Celts regarded\nthe oak as the symbol of a high god, of the sun or the sky,[666] but\nprobably this was not its earliest significance. Oak forests were once\nmore extensive over Europe than they are now, and the old tradition that\nmen once lived on acorns has been shown to be well-founded by the\nwitness of arch\u00e6ological finds, e.g. in Northern Italy.[667] A people\nliving in an oak region and subsisting in part on acorns might easily\ntake the oak as a representative of the spirit of vegetation or growth.\nIt was long-lived, its foliage was a protection, it supplied food, its\nwood was used as fuel, and it was thus clearly the friend of man. For\nthese reasons, and because it was the most abiding and living thing men\nknew, it became the embodiment of the spirits of life and growth.\nFolk-lore survivals show that the spirit of vegetation in the shape of\nhis representative was annually slain while yet in full vigour, that his\nlife might benefit all things and be passed on undiminished to his\nsuccessor.[668] Hence the oak or a human being representing the spirit\nof vegetation, or both together, were burned in the Midsummer fires.\nHow, then, did the oak come to symbolise a god equated with Zeus. Though\nthe equation may be worthless, it is possible that the connection lay in\nthe fact that Zeus and Juppiter had agricultural functions, or that,\nwhen the equation was made, the earlier spirit of vegetation had become\na divinity with functions resembling those of Zeus. The fires were\nkindled to recruit the sun's life; they were fed with oak-wood, and in\nthem an oak or a human victim representing the spirit embodied in the\noak was burned. Hence it may have been thought that the sun was\nstrengthened by the fire residing in the sacred oak; it was thus \"the\noriginal storehouse or reservoir of the fire which was from time to time\ndrawn out to feed the sun.\"[669] The oak thus became the symbol of a\nbright god also connected with growth. But, to judge by folk survivals,\nthe older conception still remained potent, and tree or human victim\naffected for good all vegetable growth as well as man's life, while at\nthe same time the fire strengthened the sun.\n\nDr. Evans argues that \"the original holy object within the central\ntriliths of Stonehenge was a sacred tree,\" an oak, image of the Celtic\nZeus. The tree and the stones, once associated with ancestor worship,\nhad become symbols of \"a more celestial Spirit or Spirits than those of\ndeparted human beings.\"[670] But Stonehenge has now been proved to have\nbeen in existence before the arrival of the Celts, hence such a cult\nmust have been pre-Celtic, though it may quite well have been adopted by\nthe Celts. Whether this hypothetical cult was practised by a tribe, a\ngroup of tribes, or by the whole people, must remain obscure, and,\nindeed, it may well be questioned whether Stonehenge was ever more than\nthe scene of some ancestral rites.\n\nOther trees--the yew, the cypress, the alder, and the ash, were\nvenerated, to judge by what Lucan relates of the sacred grove at\nMarseilles. The Irish Druids attributed special virtues to the hazel,\nrowan, and yew, the wood of which was used in magical ceremonies\ndescribed in Irish texts.[671] Fires of rowan were lit by the Druids of\nrival armies, and incantations said over them in order to discomfit the\nopposing host,[672] and the wood of all these trees is still believed to\nbe efficacious against fairies and witches.\n\nThe Irish _bile_ was a sacred tree, of great age, growing over a holy\nwell or fort. Five of them are described in the _Dindsenchas_, and one\nwas an oak, which not only yielded acorns, but nuts and apples.[673] The\nmythic trees of Elysium had the same varied fruitage, and the reason in\nboth cases is perhaps the fact that when the cultivated apple took the\nplace of acorns and nuts as a food staple, words signifying \"nut\" or\n\"acorn\" were transferred to the apple. A myth of trees on which all\nthese fruits grew might then easily arise. Another Irish _bile_ was a\nyew described in a poem as \"a firm strong god,\" while such phrases in\nthis poem as \"word-pure man,\" \"judgment of origin,\" \"spell of\nknowledge,\" may have some reference to the custom of writing divinations\nin ogham on rods of yew. The other _bile_ were ash-trees, and from one\nof them the _Fir Bile_, \"men of the tree,\" were named--perhaps a\ntotem-clan.[674] The lives of kings and chiefs appear to have been\nconnected with these trees, probably as representatives of the spirit of\nvegetation embodied in the tree, and under their shadow they were\ninaugurated. But as a substitute for the king was slain, so doubtless\nthese pre-eminent sacred trees were too sacred, too much charged with\nsupernatural force, to be cut down and burned, and the yearly ritual\nwould be performed with another tree. But in time of feud one tribe\ngloried in destroying the _bile_ of another; and even in the tenth\ncentury, when the _bile maighe Adair_ was destroyed by Maelocohlen the\nact was regarded with horror. \"But, O reader, this deed did not pass\nunpunished.\"[675] Of another _bile_, that of Borrisokane, it was said\nthat any house in which a fragment of it was burned would itself be\ndestroyed by fire.[676]\n\nTribal and personal names point to belief in descent from tree gods or\nspirits and perhaps to totemism. The Eburones were the yew-tree tribe\n(_eburos_); the Bituriges perhaps had the mistletoe for their symbol,\nand their surname Vivisci implies that they were called \"Mistletoe\nmen.\"[677] If _bile_ (tree) is connected with the name Bile, that of the\nancestor of the Milesians, this may point to some myth of descent from a\nsacred tree, as in the case of the _Fir Bile_, or \"men of the\ntree.\"[678] Other names like Guidgen (_Viduo-genos_, \"son of the tree\"),\nDergen (_Dervo-genos_, \"son of the oak\"), Guerngen (_Verno-genos_, \"son\nof the alder\"), imply filiation to a tree. Though these names became\nconventional, they express what had once been a living belief. Names\nborrowed directly from trees are also found---Eburos or Ebur, \"yew,\"\nDerua or Deruacus, \"oak,\" etc.\n\nThe veneration of trees growing beside burial mounds or megalithic\nmonuments was probably a pre-Celtic cult continued by the Celts. The\ntree embodied the ghost of the person buried under it, but such a ghost\ncould then hardly be differentiated from a tree spirit or divinity. Even\nnow in Celtic districts extreme veneration exists for trees growing in\ncemeteries and in other places. It is dangerous to cut them down or to\npluck a leaf or branch from them, while in Breton churchyards the yew is\nthought to spread a root to the mouth of each corpse.[679] The story of\nthe grave of Cyperissa, daughter of a Celtic king in the Danube region,\nfrom which first sprang the \"mournful cypress,\"[680] is connected with\nuniversal legends of trees growing from the graves of lovers until their\nbranches intertwine. These embody the belief that the spirit of the dead\nis in the tree, which was thus in all likelihood the object of a cult.\nInstances of these legends occur in Celtic story. Yew-stakes driven\nthrough the bodies of Naisi and Deirdre to keep them apart, became\nyew-trees the tops of which embraced over Armagh Cathedral. A yew sprang\nfrom the grave of Bail\u00e9 Mac Buain, and an apple-tree from that of his\nlover Aillinn, and the top of each had the form of their heads.[681] The\nidentification of tree and ghost is here complete.\n\nThe elder, rowan, and thorn are still planted round houses to keep off\nwitches, or sprigs of rowan are placed over doorways--a survival from\nthe time when they were believed to be tenanted by a beneficent spirit\nhostile to evil influences. In Ireland and the Isle of Man the thorn is\nthought to be the resort of fairies, and they, like the woodland fairies\nor \"wood men\" are probably representatives of the older tree spirits and\ngods of groves and forests.[682]\n\nTree-worship was rooted in the oldest nature worship, and the Church had\nthe utmost difficulty in suppressing it. Councils fulminated against the\ncult of trees, against offerings to them or the placing of lights before\nthem and before wells or stones, and against the belief that certain\ntrees were too sacred to be cut down or burned. Heavy fines were levied\nagainst those who practised these rites, yet still they continued.[683]\nAmator, Bishop of Auxerre, tried to stop the worship of a large\npear-tree standing in the centre of the town and on which the\nsemi-Christian inhabitants hung animals' heads with much ribaldry. At\nlast S. Germanus destroyed it, but at the risk of his life. S. Martin of\nTours was allowed to destroy a temple, but the people would not permit\nhim to attack a much venerated pine-tree which stood beside it--an\nexcellent example of the way in which the more official paganism fell\nbefore Christianity, while the older religion of the soil, from which it\nsprang, could not be entirely eradicated.[684] The Church often effected\na compromise. Images of the gods affixed to trees were replaced by those\nof the Virgin, but with curious results. Legends arose telling how the\nfaithful had been led to such trees and there discovered the image of\nthe Madonna miraculously placed among the branches.[685] These are\nanalogous to the legends of the discovery of images of the Virgin in the\nearth, such images being really those of the _Matres_.\n\nRepresentations of sacred trees are occasionally met with on coins,\naltars, and _ex votos_.[686] If the interpretation be correct which sees\na representation of part of the C\u00fachulainn legend on the Paris and\nTr\u00e8ves altars, the trees figured there would not necessarily be sacred.\nBut otherwise they may depict sacred trees.\n\nWe now turn to Pliny's account of the mistletoe rite. The Druids held\nnothing more sacred than this plant and the tree on which it grew,\nprobably an oak. Of it groves were formed, while branches of the oak\nwere used in all religious rites. Everything growing on the oak had been\nsent from heaven, and the presence of the mistletoe showed that God had\nselected the tree for especial favour. Rare as it was, when found the\nmistletoe was the object of a careful ritual. On the sixth day of the\nmoon it was culled. Preparations for a sacrifice and feast were made\nbeneath the tree, and two white bulls whose horns had never been bound\nwere brought there. A Druid, clad in white, ascended the tree and cut\nthe mistletoe with a golden sickle. As it fell it was caught in a white\ncloth; the bulls were then sacrificed, and prayer was made that God\nwould make His gift prosperous to those on whom He had bestowed it. The\nmistletoe was called \"the universal healer,\" and a potion made from it\ncaused barren animals to be fruitful. It was also a remedy against all\npoisons.[687] We can hardly believe that such an elaborate ritual merely\nled up to the medico-magical use of the mistletoe. Possibly, of course,\nthe rite was an attenuated survival of something which had once been\nmore important, but it is more likely that Pliny gives only a few\npicturesque details and passes by the _rationale_ of the ritual. He does\nnot tell us who the \"God\" of whom he speaks was, perhaps the sun-god or\nthe god of vegetation. As to the \"gift,\" it was probably in his mind the\nmistletoe, but it may quite well have meant the gift of growth in field\nand fold. The tree was perhaps cut down and burned; the oxen may have\nbeen incarnations of a god of vegetation, as the tree also may have\nbeen. We need not here repeat the meaning which has been given to the\nritual,[688] but it may be added that if this meaning is correct, the\nrite probably took place at the time of the Midsummer festival, a\nfestival of growth and fertility. Mistletoe is still gathered on\nMidsummer eve and used as an antidote to poisons or for the cure of\nwounds. Its Druidic name is still preserved in Celtic speech in words\nsignifying \"all-healer,\" while it is also called _s\u00f9gh an daraich_, \"sap\nof the oak,\" and _Druidh lus_, \"Druid's weed.\"[689]\n\nPliny describes other Celtic herbs of grace. _Selago_ was culled without\nuse of iron after a sacrifice of bread and wine--probably to the spirit\nof the plant. The person gathering it wore a white robe, and went with\nunshod feet after washing them. According to the Druids, _Selago_\npreserved one from accident, and its smoke when burned healed maladies\nof the eye.[690] _Samolus_ was placed in drinking troughs as a remedy\nagainst disease in cattle. It was culled by a person fasting, with the\nleft hand; it must be wholly uprooted, and the gatherer must not look\nbehind him.[691] _Vervain_ was gathered at sunrise after a sacrifice to\nthe earth as an expiation--perhaps because its surface was about to be\ndisturbed. When it was rubbed on the body all wishes were gratified; it\ndispelled fevers and other maladies; it was an antidote against\nserpents; and it conciliated hearts. A branch of the dried herb used to\nasperge a banquet-hall made the guests more convivial[692]\n\nThe ritual used in gathering these plants--silence, various tabus,\nritual purity, sacrifice--is found wherever plants are culled whose\nvirtue lies in this that they are possessed by a spirit. Other plants\nare still used as charms by modern Celtic peasants, and, in some cases,\nthe ritual of gathering them resembles that described by Pliny.[693] In\nIrish sagas plants have magical powers. \"Fairy herbs\" placed in a bath\nrestored beauty to women bathing therein.[694] During the _T\u00e1in_\nC\u00fachulainn's wounds were healed with \"balsams and healing herbs of fairy\npotency,\" and Diancecht used similar herbs to restore the dead at the\nbattle of Mag-tured.[695]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[659] Sacaze, _Inscr. des Pyren._ 255; Hirschfeld, _Sitzungsberichte_\n(Berlin, 1896), 448.\n\n[660] _CIL_ vi. 46; _CIR_ 1654, 1683.\n\n[661] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 52.\n\n[662] Lucan, _Phar._ Usener's ed., 32; Orosius, v. 16. 6; Dio Cass.\nlxii. 6.\n\n[663] Pliny, xvi. 44. The Scholiast on Lucan says that the Druids\ndivined with acorns (Usener, 33).\n\n[664] Max. Tyr. _Diss._ viii. 8; Stokes, _RC_ i. 259.\n\n[665] Le Braz, ii. 18.\n\n[666] Mr. Chadwick (_Jour. Anth. Inst._ xxx. 26) connects this high god\nwith thunder, and regards the Celtic Zeus (Taranis, in his opinion) as a\nthunder-god. The oak was associated with this god because his\nworshippers dwelt under oaks.\n\n[667] Helbig, _Die Italiker in der Poebene_, 16 f.\n\n[668] Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2} iii. 198.\n\n[669] Frazer, _loc. cit._\n\n[670] Evans, _Arch. Rev._ i. 327 f.\n\n[671] Joyce, _SH_ i. 236.\n\n[672] O'Curry, _MC_ i. 213.\n\n[673] _LL_ 199_b_; _Rennes Dindsenchas_, _RC_ xv. 420.\n\n[674] _RC_ xv. 455, xvi. 279; Hennessey, _Chron. Scot._ 76.\n\n[675] Keating, 556; Joyce, _PN_ i. 499.\n\n[676] Wood-Martin, ii. 159.\n\n[677] D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_, 51; Jullian, 41.\n\n[678] Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 60.\n\n[679] See S\u00e9billot, i. 293; Le Braz, i. 259; _Folk-Lore Journal_, v.\n218; _Folk-Lore Record_, 1882.\n\n[680] Val. Probus, _Comm. in Georgica_, ii. 84.\n\n[681] Miss Hull, 53; O'Ourry, _MS. Mat._ 465. Writing tablets, made from\neach of the trees when they were cut down, sprang together and could not\nbe separated.\n\n[682] _Stat. Account_, iii. 27; Moore, 151; S\u00e9billot, i. 262, 270.\n\n[683] Dom Martin, i. 124; _Vita S. Eligii_, ii. 16.\n\n[684] _Acta Sanct._ (Bolland.), July 31; Sulp. Sever. _Vita S. Mart._\n457.\n\n[685] Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 76; Maury, 13, 299. The story of beautiful\nwomen found in trees may be connected with the custom of placing images\nin trees, or with the belief that a goddess might be seen emerging from\nthe tree in which she dwelt.\n\n[686] De la Tour, _Atlas des Monnaies Gaul_, 260, 286; Reinach, _Catal.\nSommaire_, 29.\n\n[687] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 44.\n\n[688] See p. 162, _supra_.\n\n[689] See Cameron, _Gaelic Names of Plants_, 45. In Gregoire de Rostren,\n_Dict. fran\u00e7ois-celt._ 1732, mistletoe is translated by _dour-dero_,\n\"oak-water,\" and is said to be good for several evils.\n\n[690] Pliny, xxiv. 11.\n\n[691] Ibid.\n\n[692] Ibid. xxv. 9.\n\n[693] See Carmichael, _Carmina Gadelica_; De Nore, _Coutumes ... des\nProvinces de France_, 150 f.; Sauv\u00e9, _RC_ vi. 67, _CM_ ix. 331.\n\n[694] O'Grady, ii. 126.\n\n[695] Miss Hull, 172; see p. 77, _supra_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nANIMAL WORSHIP.\n\n\nAnimal worship pure and simple had declined among the Celts of historic\ntimes, and animals were now regarded mainly as symbols or attributes of\ndivinities. The older cult had been connected with the pastoral stage in\nwhich the animals were divine, or with the agricultural stage in which\nthey represented the corn-spirit, and perhaps with totemism. We shall\nstudy here (1) traces of the older animal cults; (2) the transformation\nof animal gods into symbols; and (3) traces of totemism.\n\n\n1.\n\n\nThe presence of a bull with three cranes (_Tarvos Trigaranos_) on the\nParis altar, along with the gods Esus, Juppiter, and Vulcan, suggests\nthat it was a divine animal, or the subject of a divine myth. As has\nbeen seen, this bull may be the bull of the _T\u00e1in b\u00f3 Cuailgne_. Both it\nand its opponent were reincarnations of the swine-herds of two gods. In\nthe Irish sagas reincarnation is only attributed to gods or heroes, and\nthis may point to the divinity of the bulls. We have seen that this and\nanother altar may depict some myth in which the bull was the incarnation\nof a tree or vegetation spirit. The divine nature of the bull is\nattested by its presence on Gaulish coins as a religious symbol, and by\nimages of the animal with three horns--an obvious symbol of\ndivinity.[696] On such an image in bronze the Cimbri, Celticised\nGermans, swore. The images are pre-Roman, since they are found at\nHallstadt and La T\u00e8ne. Personal names like Donnotaurus (the equivalent\nof the _Donn Taruos_ of the _T\u00e1in_) or Deiotaros (\"divine bull\"), show\nthat men were called after the divine animal.[697] Similarly many\nplace-names in which the word _taruos_ occurs, in Northern Italy, the\nPyrenees, Scotland, Ireland, and elsewhere, suggest that the places\nbearing these names were sites of a bull cult or that some myth, like\nthat elaborated in the _T\u00e1in_, had been there localised.[698] But, as\npossibly in the case of C\u00fachulainn and the bull, the animal tended to\nbecome the symbol of a god, a tendency perhaps aided by the spread of\nMithraism with its symbolic bull. A god Medros leaning on a bull is\nrepresented at Haguenau, possibly a form of Mider or of Meduris, a\nsurname of Toutatis, unless Medros is simply Mithras.[699] Echoes of the\ncult of the bull or cow are heard in Irish tales of these animals\nbrought from the _s\u00edd_, or of magic bulls or of cows which produced\nenormous supplies of milk, or in saintly legends of oxen leading a saint\nto the site of his future church.[700] These legends are also told of\nthe swine,[701] and they perhaps arose when a Christian church took the\nplace of the site of a local animal cult, legend fusing the old and the\nnew cult by making the once divine animal point out the site of the\nchurch. A late relic of a bull cult may be found in the carnival\nprocession of the _Boeuf Gras_ at Paris.\n\nA cult of a swine-god Moccus has been referred to. The boar was a divine\nsymbol on standards, coins, and altars, and many bronze images of the\nanimal have been found. These were temple treasures, and in one case the\nboar is three-horned.[702] But it was becoming the symbol of a goddess,\nas is seen by the altars on which it accompanies a goddess, perhaps of\nfertility, and by a bronze image of a goddess seated on a boar. The\naltars occur in Britain, of which the animal may be the emblem--the\n\"Caledonian monster\" of Claudian's poem.[703] The Galatian Celts\nabstained from eating the swine, and there has always been a prejudice\nagainst its flesh in the Highlands. This has a totemic appearance.[704]\nBut the swine is esteemed in Ireland, and in the texts monstrous swine\nare the staple article of famous feasts.[705] These may have been\nlegendary forms of old swine-gods, the feasts recalling sacrificial\nfeasts on their flesh. Magic swine were also the immortal food of the\ngods. But the boar was tabu to certain persons, e.g. Diarmaid, though\nwhether this is the attenuated memory of a clan totem restriction is\nuncertain. In Welsh story the swine comes from Elysium--a myth\nexplaining the origin of its domestication, while domestication\ncertainly implies an earlier cult of the animal. When animals come to be\ndomesticated, the old cult restrictions, e.g. against eating them,\nusually pass away. For this reason, perhaps, the Gauls, who worshipped\nan anthropomorphic swine-god, trafficked in the animal and may have\neaten it.[706] Welsh story also tells of the magic boar, the _Twrch\nTrwyth_, hunted by Arthur, possibly a folk-tale reminiscence of a boar\ndivinity.[707] Place-names also point to a cult of the swine, and a\nrecollection of its divinity may underlie the numerous Irish tales of\nmagical swine.[708] The magic swine which issued from the cave of\nCruachan and destroyed the young crops are suggestive of the\ntheriomorphic corn-spirit in its occasional destructive aspect.[709]\nBones of the swine, sometimes cremated, have been found in Celtic graves\nin Britain and at Hallstadt, and in one case the animal was buried alone\nin a tumulus at Hallstadt, just as sacred animals were buried in Egypt,\nGreece, and elsewhere.[710] When the animal was buried with the dead, it\nmay have been as a sacrifice to the ghost or to the god of the\nunderworld.\n\nThe divinity of the serpent is proved by the occurrence of a horned\nserpent with twelve Roman gods on a Gallo-Roman altar.[711] In other\ncases a horned or ram's-headed serpent appears as the attribute of a\ngod, and we have seen that the ram's-headed serpent may be a fusion of\nthe serpent as a chthonian animal with the ram, sacrificed to the dead.\nIn Greece Dionysus had the form both of a bull and a horned serpent, the\nhorn being perhaps derived from the bull symbol. M. Reinach claims that\nthe primitive elements of the Orphic myth of the Thracian\nDionysos-Zagreus--divine serpents producing an egg whence came the\nhorned snake Zagreus, occur in dislocated form in Gaul. There enlacing\nserpents were believed to produce a magic egg, and there a horned\nserpent was worshipped, but was not connected with the egg. But they may\nonce have been connected, and if so, there may be a common foundation\nboth for the Greek and the Celtic conceptions in a Celtic element in\nThrace.[712] The resemblances, however, may be mere coincidences, and\nhorned serpents are known in other mythologies--the horn being perhaps a\nsymbol of divinity. The horned serpent sometimes accompanies a god who\nhas horns, possibly Cernunnos, the underworld god, in accordance with\nthe chthonian character of the serpent.[713] In the C\u00f9chulainn cycle\nLoeg on his visit to the Other-world saw two-headed serpents--perhaps a\nfurther hint of this aspect of the animal.[714]\n\nIn all these instances of animal cults examples of the tendency to make\nthe divine animal anthropomorphic have been seen. We have now to\nconsider some instances of the complete anthropomorphic process.\n\n\n2.\n\n\nAn old bear cult gave place to the cult of a bear goddess and probably\nof a god. At Berne--an old Celtic place-name meaning \"bear\"--was found a\nbronze group of a goddess holding a patera with fruit, and a bear\napproaching her as if to be fed. The inscription runs, _Deae Artioni\nLicinia Sabinilla_.[715] A local bear-cult had once existed at Berne,\nand is still recalled in the presence of the famous bears there, but the\ndivine bear had given place to a goddess whose name and symbol were\nursine. From an old Celtic _Artos_, fem. _Arta_, \"bear,\" were derived\nvarious divine names. Of these _Dea Artio(n)_ means \"bear goddess,\" and\n_Artaios_, equated with Mercury, is perhaps a bear god.[716] Another\nbear goddess, Andarta, was honoured at Die (Dr\u00f4me), the word perhaps\nmeaning \"strong bear\"--_And_- being an augmentive.[717] Numerous\nplace-names derived from _Artos_ perhaps witness to a widespread cult of\nthe bear, and the word also occurs in Welsh, and Irish personal\nnames--Arthmael, Arthbiu, and possibly Arthur, and the numerous Arts of\nIrish texts. Descent from the divine bear is also signified in names\nlike Welsh _Arthgen_, Irish _Artigan_, from _Artigenos_, \"son of the\nbear.\" Another Celtic name for \"bear\" was the Gaulish _matu_, Irish\n_math_, found in _Matugenos_, \"son of the bear,\" and in MacMahon, which\nis a corrupt form of _Mac-math-ghamhain_, \"son of the bear's son,\" or\n\"of the bear.\"[718]\n\nSimilarly a cult of the stag seems to have given place to that of a god\nwith stag's horns, represented on many bas-reliefs, and probably\nconnected with the underworld.[719] The stag, as a grain-eater, may have\nbeen regarded as the embodiment of the corn-spirit, and then associated\nwith the under-earth region whence the corn sprang, by one of those\ninversions of thought so common in the stage of transition from animal\ngods to gods with animal symbols. The elk may have been worshipped in\nIreland, and a three antlered stag is the subject of a story in the\nFionn saga.[720] Its third antler, like the third horn of bull or boar,\nmay be a sign of divinity.\n\nThe horse had also been worshipped, but a goddess Epona (Gaul. _epo-s_,\n\"horse\"), protectress of horses and asses, took its place, and had a\nfar-spread cult. She rides a horse or mare with its foal, or is seated\namong horses, or feeds horses. A representation of a mare suckling a\nfoal--a design analogous to those in which Epona feeds foals--shows that\nher primitive equine nature had not been forgotten.[721] The Gauls were\nhorse-rearers, and Epona was the goddess of the craft; but, as in other\ncases, a cult of the horse must have preceded its domestication, and its\nflesh may not have been eaten, or, if so, only sacramentally.[722]\nFinally, the divine horse became the anthropomorphic horse-goddess. Her\nimages were placed in stables, and several inscriptions and statuettes\nhave been found in such buildings or in cavalry barracks.[723] The\nremains of the cult have been found in the Danube and Rhine valleys, in\nEastern Gaul, and in Northern Italy, all Celtic regions, but it was\ncarried everywhere by Roman cavalry recruited from the Celtic\ntribes.[724] Epona is associated with, and often has, the symbols of the\n_Matres_, and one inscription reads _Eponabus_, as if there were a group\nof goddesses called Epona.[725] A goddess who promoted the fertility of\nmares would easily be associated with goddesses of fertility. Epona may\nalso have been confused with a river-goddess conceived of as a spirited\nsteed. Water-spirits took that shape, and the _Matres_ were also\nriver-goddesses.\n\nA statuette of a horse, with a dedication to a god Rudiobus, otherwise\nunknown, may have been carried processionally, while a mule has a\ndedication to Segomo, equated elsewhere with Mars. A mule god Mullo,\nalso equated with Mars, is mentioned on several inscriptions.[726] The\nconnection with Mars may have been found in the fact that the October\nhorse was sacrificed to him for fertility, while the horse was probably\nassociated with fertility among the Celts. The horse was sacrificed both\nby Celts and Teutons at the Midsummer festival, undoubtedly as a divine\nanimal. Traces of the Celtic custom survive in local legends, and may be\ninterpreted in the fuller light of the Teutonic accounts. In Ireland a\nman wearing a horse's head rushed through the fire, and was supposed to\nrepresent all cattle; in other words, he was a surrogate for them. The\nlegend of Each Labra, a horse which lived in a mound and issued from it\nevery Midsummer eve to give oracles for the coming year, is probably\nconnected with the Midsummer sacrifice of the horse.[727] Among the\nTeutons the horse was a divine sacrificial animal, and was also sacred\nto Freyr, the god of fertility, while in Teutonic survivals a horse's\nhead was placed in the Midsummer fire.[728] The horse was sporadically\nthe representative of the corn-spirit, and at Rome the October horse was\nsacrificed in that capacity and for fertility.[729] Among the Celts, the\nhorse sacrificed at Midsummer may have represented the vegetation-spirit\nand benefited all domestic animals--the old rite surviving in an\nattenuated form, as described above.\n\nPerhaps the goddess Damona was an animal divinity, if her name is\nderived from _damatos_, \"sheep,\" cognate to Welsh _dafad_, \"sheep,\" and\nGaelic _damh_, \"ox.\" Other divine animals, as has been seen, were\nassociated with the waters, and the use of beasts and birds in\ndivination doubtless points to their divine character. A cult of\nbird-gods may lurk behind the divine name Bran, \"raven,\" and the\nreference to the magic birds of Rhiannon in the _Triads_.\n\n\n3.\n\n\nAnimal worship is connected with totemism, and certain things point to\nits existence among the Celts, or to the existence of conditions out of\nwhich totemism was elsewhere developed. These are descent from animals,\nanimal tabus, the sacramental eating of an animal, and exogamy.\n\n(1) _Descent from animals._--Celtic names implying descent from animals\nor plants are of two classes, clan and personal names. If the latter are\ntotemistic, they must be derived from the former, since totemism is an\naffair of the clan, while the so-called \"personal totem,\" exemplified by\nthe American Indian _manitou_, is the guardian but never the ancestor of\na man. Some clan names have already been referred to. Others are the\nBibroci of south-east Britain, probably a beaver clan (_bebros_), and\nthe Eburones, a yew-tree clan (_eburos_).[730] Irish clans bore animal\nnames: some groups were called \"calves,\" others \"griffins,\" others \"red\ndeer,\" and a plant name is seen in _Fir Bile_, \"men of the tree.\"[731]\nSuch clan totemism perhaps underlies the stories of the \"descendants of\nthe wolf\" at Ossory, who became wolves for a time as the result of a\nsaintly curse. Other instances of lycanthropy were associated with\ncertain families.[732] The belief in lycanthropy might easily attach\nitself to existing wolf-clans, the transformation being then explained\nas the result of a curse. The stories of Cormac mac Art, suckled by a\nshe-wolf, of Lughaid mac Con, \"son of a wolf-dog,\" suckled by that\nanimal, and of Oisin, whose mother was a fawn, and who would not eat\nvenison, are perhaps totemistic, while to totemism or to a cult of\nanimals may be ascribed what early travellers in Ireland say of the\npeople taking wolves as god-fathers and praying to them to do them no\nill.[733] In Wales bands of warriors at the battle of Cattraeth are\ndescribed in Oneurin's _Gododin_ as dogs, wolves, bears, and ravens,\nwhile Owein's band of ravens which fought against Arthur, may have been\na raven clan, later misunderstood as actual ravens.[734] Certain groups\nof Dalriad Scots bore animal names--Cinel Gabran, \"Little goat clan,\"\nand Cinel Loarn, \"Fox clan.\" Possibly the custom of denoting Highland\nclans by animal or plant badges may be connected with a belief in\ndescent from plants or animals. On many coins an animal is represented\non horseback, perhaps leading a clan, as birds led the Celts to the\nDanube area, and these may depict myths telling how the clan totem\nanimal led the clan to its present territory.[735] Such myths may\nsurvive in legends relating how an animal led a saint to the site of his\nchurch.[736] Celtic warriors wore helmets with horns, and Irish story\nspeaks of men with cat, dog, or goat heads.[737] These may have been men\nwearing a head-gear formed of the skin or head of the clan totem, hence\nremembered at a later time as monstrous beings, while the horned helmets\nwould be related to the same custom. Solinus describes the Britons as\nwearing animal skins before going into battle.[738] Were these skins of\ntotem animals under whose protection they thus placed themselves? The\n\"forms of beasts, birds, and fishes\" which the Cruithne or Picts\ntattooed on their bodies may have been totem marks, while the painting\nof their bodies with woad among the southern Britons may have been of\nthe same character, though C\u00e6sar's words hardly denote this. Certain\nmarks on faces figured on Gaulish coins seem to be tattoo marks.[739]\n\nIt is not impossible that an early wolf-totem may have been associated,\nbecause of the animal's nocturnal wanderings in forests, with the\nunderworld whence, according to Celtic belief, men sprang and whither\nthey returned, and whence all vegetation came forth. The Gallo-Roman\nSilvanus, probably an underworld god, wears a wolf-skin, and may thus be\na wolf-god. There were various types of underworld gods, and this\nwolf-type--perhaps a local wolf-totem ancestor assimilated to a local\n\"Dispater\"--may have been the god of a clan who imposed its mythic wolf\norigin on other clans. Some Celtic bronzes show a wolf swallowing a man\nwho offers no resistance, probably because he is dead. The wolf is much\nbigger than the man, and hence may be a god.[740] These bronzes would\nthus represent a belief setting forth the return of men to their totem\nancestor after death, or to the underworld god connected with the totem\nancestor, by saying that he devoured the dead, like certain Polynesian\ndivinities and the Greek Eurynomos.\n\nIn many individual names the first part is the name of an animal or\nplant, the second is usually _genos_, \"born from,\" or \"son of,\" e.g.\nArtigenos, Matugenos, \"son of the bear\" (_artos_, _matu_-); Urogenos,\noccurring as Urogenertos, \"he who has the strength of the son of the\nurus\"; Brannogenos, \"son of the raven\"; Cunogenos, \"son of the\ndog.\"[741] These names may be derived from clan totem names, but they\ndate back to a time when animals, trees, and men were on a common\nfooting, and the possibility of human descent from a tree or an animal\nwas believed in. Professor Rh[^y]s has argued from the frequency of\npersonal names in Ireland, like C\u00far\u00f3i, \"Hound of R\u00f3i,\" C\u00fa Corb, \"Corb's\nHound,\" Mac Con, \"Hound's Son,\" and Maelchon, \"Hound's Slave,\" that\nthere existed a dog totem or god, not of the Celts, but of a pre-Celtic\nrace.[742] This assumes that totemism was non-Celtic, an assumption\nbased on preconceived notions of what Celtic institutions ought to have\nbeen. The names, it should be observed, are personal, not clan names.\n\n(2) _Animal tabus._--Besides the dislike of swine's flesh already noted\namong certain Celtic groups, the killing and eating of the hare, hen,\nand goose were forbidden among the Britons. C\u00e6sar says they bred these\nanimals for amusement, but this reason assigned by him is drawn from his\nknowledge of the breeding of rare animals by rich Romans as a pastime,\nsince he had no knowledge of the breeding of sacred animals which were\nnot eaten--a common totemic or animal cult custom.[743] The hare was\nused for divination by Boudicca,[744] doubtless as a sacred animal, and\nit has been found that a sacred character still attaches to these\nanimals in Wales. A cock or hen was ceremonially killed and eaten on\nShrove Tuesday, either as a former totemic animal, or, less likely, as a\nrepresentative of the corn-spirit. The hare is not killed in certain\ndistricts, but occasionally it is ceremonially hunted and slain\nannually, while at yearly fairs the goose is sold exclusively and\neaten.[745] Elsewhere, e.g. in Devon, a ram or lamb is ceremonially\nslain and eaten, the eating being believed to confer luck.[746] The\nill-luck supposed to follow the killing of certain animals may also be\nreminiscent of totemic tabus. Fish were not eaten by the Pictish Meat\u00e6\nand Caledonii, and a dislike of eating certain fresh-water fish was\nobserved among certain eighteenth century Highlanders.[747] It has been\nalready seen that certain fish living in sacred wells were tabu, and\nwere believed to give oracles. Heron's flesh was disliked in Ireland,\nand it was considered unlucky to kill a swan in the Hebrides.[748] Fatal\nresults following upon the killing or eating of an animal with which the\neater was connected by name or descent are found in the Irish sagas.\nConaire was son of a woman and a bird which could take human shape, and\nit was forbidden to him to hunt birds. On one occasion he did so, and\nfor this as well as the breaking of other tabus, he lost his life.[749]\nIt was tabu to C\u00fachulainn, \"the hound of Culann,\" to eat dog's flesh,\nand, having been persuaded to do this, his strength went from him, and\nhe perished. Diarmaid, having been forbidden to hunt a boar with which\nhis life was connected, was induced by Fionn to break this tabu, and in\nconsequence he lost his life by one of the boar's bristles entering his\nfoot, or (in a variant) by the boar's killing him. Another instance is\nfound in a tale of certain men transformed to badgers. They were slain\nby Cormac, and brought to his father Tadg to eat. Tadg unaccountably\nloathed them, because they were transformed men and his cousins.[750] In\nthis tale, which may contain the _d\u00e9bris_ of totemic usage, the loathing\narises from the fact that the badgers are men--a common form of myths\nexplanatory of misunderstood totemic customs, but the old idea of the\nrelation between a man and his totem is not lost sight of. The other\ntales may also be reminiscent of a clan totem tabu, later centred in a\nmythic hero. Perhaps the belief in lucky or unlucky animals, or in omens\ndrawn from their appearance, may be based on old totem beliefs or in\nbeliefs in the divinity of the animals.\n\n(3) _Sacramental eating of an animal._--The custom of \"hunting the\nwren,\" found over the whole Celtic area, is connected with animal\nworship and may be totemistic in origin. In spite of its small size, the\nwren was known as the king of birds, and in the Isle of Man it was\nhunted and killed on Christmas or S. Stephen's day. The bird was carried\nin procession from door to door, to the accompaniment of a chant, and\nwas then solemnly buried, dirges being sung. In some cases a feather was\nleft at each house and carefully treasured, and there are traces of a\ncustom of boiling and eating the bird.[751] In Ireland, the hunt and\nprocession were followed by a feast, the materials of which were\ncollected from house to house, and a similar usage obtained in France,\nwhere the youth who killed the bird was called \"king.\"[752] In most of\nthese districts it was considered unlucky or dangerous to kill the bird\nat any other time, yet it might be ceremonially killed once a year, the\ndead animal conferred luck, and was solemnly eaten or buried with signs\nof mourning. Similar customs with animals which are actually worshipped\nare found elsewhere,[753] and they lend support to the idea that the\nCelts regarded the wren as a divine animal, or perhaps a totem animal,\nthat it was necessary to slay it ritually, and to carry it round the\nhouses of the community to obtain its divine influence, to eat it\nsacramentally or to bury it. Probably like customs were followed in the\ncase of other animals,[754] and these may have given rise to such\nstories as that of the eating of MacDatho's wonderful boar, as well as\nto myths which regarded certain animals, e.g. the swine, as the immortal\nfood of the gods. Other examples of ritual survivals of such sacramental\neating have already been noted, and it is not improbable that the eating\nof a sacred pastoral animal occurred at Samhain.\n\n(4) _Exogamy._--Exogamy and the counting of descent through the mother\nare closely connected with totemism, and some traces of both are found\namong the Celts. Among the Picts, who were, perhaps, a Celtic group of\nthe Brythonic stock, these customs survived in the royal house. The\nkingship passed to a brother of the king by the same mother, or to a\nsister's son, while the king's father was never king and was frequently\na \"foreigner.\" Similar rules of succession prevailed in early Aryan\nroyal houses--Greek and Roman,--and may, as Dr. Stokes thought, have\nexisted at Tara in Ireland, while in a Fian tale of Oisin he marries the\ndaughter of the king of T\u00edr na n-Og, and succeeds him as king partly for\nthat reason, and partly because he had beaten him in the annual race for\nthe kingship.[755] Such an athletic contest for the kingship was known\nin early Greece, and this tale may support the theory of the Celtic\npriest-kingship, the holder of the office retaining it as long as he was\nnot defeated or slain. Traces of succession through a sister's son are\nfound in the _Mabinogion_, and Livy describes how the mythic Celtic king\nAmbicatus sent not his own but his sister's sons to found new\nkingdoms.[756] Irish and Welsh divine and heroic groups are named after\nthe mother, not the father--the children of Danu and of D\u00f4n, and the men\nof Domnu. Anu is mother of the gods, Buanann of heroes. The eponymous\nancestor of the Scots is a woman, Scota, and the earliest colonisers of\nIreland are women, not men. In the sagas gods and heroes have frequently\na matronymic, and the father's name is omitted--Lug mac Ethnend,\nConchobar mac Nessa, Indech, son of De Domnann, Corpre, son of Etain,\nand others. Perhaps parallel to this is the custom of calling men after\ntheir wives--e.g. the son of Fergus is Fer Tlachtga, Tlachtga's\nhusband.[757] In the sagas, females (goddesses and heroines) have a high\nplace accorded to them, and frequently choose their own lovers or\nhusbands--customs suggestive of the matriarchate. Thus what was once a\ngeneral practice was later confined to the royal house or told of divine\nor heroic personages. Possibly certain cases of incest may really be\nexaggerated accounts of misunderstood unions once permissible by totemic\nlaw. C\u00e6sar speaks of British polyandry, brothers, sons, and fathers\nsharing a wife in common.[758] Strabo speaks of Irish unions with\nmothers and sisters, perhaps referring not to actual practice but to\nreports of saga tales of incest.[759] Dio Cassius speaks of community of\nwives among the Caledonians and Meat\u00e6, and Jerome says much the same of\nthe Scoti and Atecotti.[760] These notices, with the exception of\nC\u00e6sar's, are vague, yet they refer to marriage customs different from\nthose known to their reporters. In Irish sagas incest legends circle\nround the descendants of Etain--fathers unite with daughters, a son with\nhis mother, a woman has a son by her three brothers (just as Ecne was\nson of Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba), and is also mother of Crimthan by\nthat son.[761] Brother and sister unions occur both in Irish and Welsh\nstory.[762]\n\nIn these cases incest with a mother cannot be explained by totemic\nusage, but the cases may be distorted reminiscences of what might occur\nunder totemism, namely, a son taking the wives of his father other than\nhis own mother, when those were of a different totem from his own. Under\ntotemism, brothers and sisters by different mothers having different\ntotems, might possibly unite, and such unions are found in many\nmythologies. Later, when totemism passed away, the unions, regarded with\nhorror, would be supposed to take place between children by the same\nmother. According to totem law, a father might unite with his daughter,\nsince she was of her mother's totem, but in practice this was frowned\nupon. Polygamy also may co-exist with totemism, and of course involves\nthe counting of descent through the mother as a rule. If, as is\nsuggested by the \"debility\" of the Ultonians, and by other evidence, the\ncouvade was a Celtic institution, this would also point to the existence\nof the matriarchate with the Celts. To explain all this as pre-Aryan, or\nto say that the classical notices refer to non-Aryan tribes and that the\nevidence in the Irish sagas only shows that the Celts had been\ninfluenced by the customs of aboriginal tribes among whom they\nlived,[763] is to neglect the fact that the customs are closely bound up\nwith Celtic life, while it leaves unexplained the influence of such\ncustoms upon a people whose own customs, according to this theory, were\nso totally different. The evidence, taken as a whole, points to the\nexistence of totemism among the early Celts, or, at all events, of the\nelements which elsewhere compose it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCeltic animal worship dates back to the primitive hunting and pastoral\nperiod, when men worshipped the animals which they hunted or reared.\nThey may have apologised to the animal hunted and slain--a form of\nworship, or, where animals were not hunted or were reared and\nworshipped, one of them may have been slain annually and eaten to obtain\nits divine power. Care was taken to preserve certain sacred animals\nwhich were not hunted, and this led to domestication, the abstinence of\nearlier generations leading to an increased food supply at a later time,\nwhen domesticated animals were freely slain. But the earlier sacramental\nslaying of such animals survived in the religious aspect of their\nslaughter at the beginning of winter.[764] The cult of animals was also\nconnected with totemic usage, though at a later stage this cult was\nreplaced by that of anthropomorphic divinities, with the older divine\nanimals as their symbols, sacrificial victims, and the like. This\nevolution now led to the removal of restrictions upon slaying and eating\nthe animals. On the other hand, the more primitive animal cults may have\nremained here and there. Animal cults were, perhaps, largely confined to\nmen. With the rise of agriculture mainly as an art in the hands of\nwomen, and the consequent cult of the Earth-mother, of fertility and\ncorn-spirits probably regarded as female, the sacramental eating of the\ndivine animal may have led to the slaying and eating of a human or\nanimal victim supposed to embody such a spirit. Later the two cults were\nbound to coalesce, and the divine animal and the animal embodiment of\nthe vegetation spirit would not be differentiated. On the other hand,\nwhen men began to take part in women's fertility cults, the fact that\nsuch spirits were female or were perhaps coming to be regarded as\ngoddesses, may have led men to envisage certain of the anthropomorphic\nanimal divinities as goddesses, since some of these, e.g. Epona and\nDamona, are female. But with the increasing participation of men in\nagriculture, the spirits or goddesses of fertility would tend to become\nmale, or the consorts or mothers of gods of fertility, though the\nearlier aspect was never lost sight of, witness the Corn-Mother. The\nevolution of divine priest-kings would cause them to take the place of\nthe earlier priestesses of these cults, one of whom may have been the\ndivine victim. Yet in local survivals certain cults were still confined\nto women, and still had their priestesses.[765]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[696] Reinach, _BF_ 66, 244. The bull and three cranes may be a rebus on\nthe name of the bull, _Tarvos Trikarenos_, \"the three-headed,\" or\nperhaps _Trikeras_, \"three-horned.\"\n\n[697] Plutarch, _Marius_, 23; C\u00e6sar, vii. 65; D'Arbois, _Les Celtes_,\n49.\n\n[698] Holder, _s.v._ _Tarba_, _Tarouanna_, _Tarvisium_, etc.; D'Arbois,\n_Les Druides_, 155; S. Greg. _In Glor. Conf._ 48.\n\n[699] _CIL_ xiii. 6017; _RC_ xxv. 47; Holder, ii. 528.\n\n[700] Leahy, ii. 105 f.; Curtin, _MFI_ 264, 318; Joyce, _PN_ i. 174;\nRees, 453. Cf. Ailred, _Life of S. Ninian_, c. 8.\n\n[701] Jocelyn, _Vita S. Kentig._ c. 24; Rees, 293, 323.\n\n[702] Tacitus, _Germ._ xlv.; Blanchet, i. 162, 165; Reinach, _BF_ 255\nf., _CMR_ i. 168; Bertrand, _Arch. Celt._ 419.\n\n[703] Pennant, _Tour in Scotland_, 268; Reinach, _RC_ xxii. 158, _CMR_\ni. 67.\n\n[704] Pausan, vii. 17, 18; Johnson, _Journey_, 136.\n\n[705] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 127; _IT_ i. 99, 256 (Bricriu's feast and the tale\nof Macdatho's swine).\n\n[706] Strabo, iv. 4. 3, says these swine attacked strangers. Varro, _de\nRe Rustica_, ii. 4, admires their vast size. Cf. Polyb. ii. 4.\n\n[707] The hunt is first mentioned in Nennius, c. 79, and then appears as\na full-blown folk-tale in _Kulhwych_, Loth, i. 185 f. Here the boar is a\ntransformed prince.\n\n[708] I have already suggested, p. 106, _supra_, that the places where\nGwydion halted with the swine of Elysium were sites of a swine-cult.\n\n[709] _RC_ xiii. 451. Cf. also _TOS_ vi. \"The Enchanted Pigs of Oengus,\"\nand Campbell, _LF_ 53.\n\n[710] _L'Anthropologie_, vi. 584; Greenwell, _British Barrows_, 274,\n283, 454; _Arch. Rev._ ii. 120.\n\n[711] _Rev. Arch._ 1897, 313.\n\n[712] Reinach, \"Zagreus le serpent cornu,\" _Rev. Arch_. xxxv. 210.\n\n[713] Reinach, _BF_ 185; Bertrand, 316.\n\n[714] \"C\u00fachulainn's Sick-bed,\" D'Arbois, v. 202.\n\n[715] See Reinach, _CMR_ i. 57.\n\n[716] _CIL_ xiii. 5160, xii. 2199. Rh[^y]s, however, derives Artaios\nfrom _ar_, \"ploughed land,\" and equates the god with Mercurius Cultor.\n\n[717] _CIL_ xii. 1556-1558; D'Arbois, _RC_ x. 165.\n\n[718] For all these place and personal names, see Holder and D'Arbois,\n_op. cit. Les Celtes_, 47 f., _Les Druides_, 157 f.\n\n[719] See p. 32, _supra_; Reinach, _CMR_ i. 72, _Rev. Arch._ ii. 123.\n\n[720] O'Grady, ii. 123.\n\n[721] Epona is fully discussed by Reinach in his _Epona_, 1895, and in\narticles (illustrated) in _Rev. Arch._ vols. 26, 33, 35, 40, etc. See\nalso ii. [1898], 190.\n\n[722] Reinach suggests that this may explain why Vercingetorix, in view\nof siege by the Romans, sent away his horses. They were too sacred to be\neaten. C\u00e6sar, vii. 71; Reinach, _RC_ xxvii. 1 f.\n\n[723] Juvenal, viii. 154; Apul. _Metam._ iii. 27; Min. Felix, _Octav._\nxxvii. 7.\n\n[724] For the inscriptions, see Holder, _s.v._ \"Epona.\"\n\n[725] _CIL_ iii. 7904.\n\n[726] _CIL_ xiii. 3071; Reinach, _BF_ 253, _CMR_ i. 64, _R\u00e9pert. de la\nStat._ ii. 745; Holder, ii. 651-652.\n\n[727] Granger, _Worship of the Romans_, 113; Kennedy, 135.\n\n[728] Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 49, 619, 657, 661-664.\n\n[729] Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, ii. 281, 315.\n\n[730] C\u00e6sar, v. 21, 27. Possibly the Dea Bibracte of the Aeduans was a\nbeaver goddess.\n\n[731] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 207; Elton, 298.\n\n[732] Girald. Cambr. _Top. Hib._ ii. 19, _RC_ ii. 202; _Folk-Lore_, v.\n310; _IT_ iii. 376.\n\n[733] O'Grady, ii. 286, 538; Campbell, _The Fians_, 78; Thiers, _Trait\u00e9\ndes Superstitions_, ii. 86.\n\n[734] Lady Guest, ii. 409 f.\n\n[735] Blanchet, i. 166, 295, 326, 390.\n\n[736] See p. 209, _supra_.\n\n[737] Diod. Sic. v. 30; _IT_ iii. 385; _RC_ xxvi. 139; Rh[^y]s, _HL_\n593.\n\n[738] _Man. Hist. Brit._ p. x.\n\n[739] Herodian, iii. 14, 8; Duald MacFirbis in Irish _Nennius_, p. vii;\nC\u00e6sar, v. 10; _ZCP_ iii. 331.\n\n[740] See Reinach, \"Les Carnassiers androphages dans l'art\ngallo-romain,\" _CMR_ i. 279.\n\n[741] See Holder, _s.v._\n\n[742] Rh[^y]s, _CB_{4} 267.\n\n[743] C\u00e6sar, v. 12.\n\n[744] Dio Cassius, lxii. 2.\n\n[745] See a valuable paper by N.W. Thomas, \"Survivance du Culte des\nAnimaux dans le Pays de Galles,\" in _Rev. de l'Hist. des Religions_,\nxxxviii. 295 f., and a similar paper by Gomme, _Arch. Rev._ 1889, 217 f.\nBoth writers seem to regard these cults as pre-Celtic.\n\n[746] Gomme, _Ethnol. in Folklore_, 30, _Village Community_, 113.\n\n[747] Dio Cass. lxxii. 21; Logan, _Scottish Gael_, ii. 12.\n\n[748] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 529; Martin, 71.\n\n[749] _RC_ xxii. 20, 24, 390-1.\n\n[750] _IT_ iii. 385.\n\n[751] Waldron, _Isle of Man_, 49; Train, _Account of the Isle of Man_,\nii. 124.\n\n[752] Vallancey, _Coll. de Reb. Hib._ iv. No. 13; Cl\u00e9ment, _F\u00e9tes_, 466.\nFor English customs, see Henderson, _Folklore of the Northern Counties_,\n125.\n\n[753] Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, ii. 380, 441, 446.\n\n[754] For other Welsh instances of the danger of killing certain birds,\nsee Thomas, _op. cit._ xxxviii. 306.\n\n[755] Frazer, _Kingship_, 261; Stokes, _RC_ xvi. 418; Larminie, _Myths\nand Folk-tales_, 327.\n\n[756] See Rh[^y]s, _Welsh People_, 44; Livy, v. 34.\n\n[757] Cf. _IT_ iii. 407, 409.\n\n[758] C\u00e6sar, v. 14.\n\n[759] Strabo, iv. 5. 4.\n\n[760] Dio Cass. lxxvi. 12; Jerome, _Adv. Jovin._ ii. 7. Giraldus has\nmuch to say of incest in Wales, probably actual breaches of moral law\namong a barbarous people (_Descr. Wales_, ii. 6).\n\n[761] _RC_ xii. 235, 238, xv. 291, xvi. 149; _LL_ 23_a_, 124_b_. In\nvarious Irish texts a child is said to have three fathers--probably a\nreminiscence of polyandry. See p. 74, _supra_, and _RC_ xxiii. 333.\n\n[762] _IT_ i. 136; Loth, i. 134 f.; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 308.\n\n[763] Zimmer, \"Matriarchy among the Picts,\" in Henderson, _Leabhar nan\nGleann_.\n\n[764] See p. 259, _infra_.\n\n[765] See p. 274, _infra_.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nCOSMOGONY.\n\n\nWhether the early Celts regarded Heaven and Earth as husband and wife is\nuncertain. Such a conception is world-wide, and myth frequently explains\nin different ways the reason of the separation of the two. Among the\nPolynesians the children of heaven and earth--the winds, forests, and\nseas personified--angry at being crushed between their parents in\ndarkness, rose up and separated them. This is in effect the Greek myth\nof Uranus, or Heaven, and G\u00e6a, or Earth, divorced by their son Kronos,\njust as in Hindu myth Dyaus, or Sky, and Prithivi, or Earth, were\nseparated by Indra. Uranus in Greece gave place to Zeus, and, in India,\nDyaus became subordinate to Indra. Thus the primitive Heaven personified\nrecedes, and his place is taken by a more individualised god. But\ngenerally Mother Earth remains a constant quantity. Earth was nearer man\nand was more unchanging than the inconstant sky, while as the producer\nof the fruits of the earth, she was regarded as the source of all\nthings, and frequently remained as an important divinity when a crowd of\nother divinities became prominent. This is especially true of\nagricultural peoples, who propitiate Earth with sacrifice, worship her\nwith orgiastic rites, or assist her processes by magic. With advancing\ncivilisation such a goddess is still remembered as the friend of man,\nand, as in the Eleusinia, is represented sorrowing and rejoicing like\nman himself. Or where a higher religion ousts the older one, the ritual\nis still retained among the folk, though its meaning may be forgotten.\n\nThe Celts may thus have possessed the Heaven and Earth myth, but all\ntrace of it has perished. There are, however, remnants of myths showing\nhow the sky is supported by trees, a mountain, or by pillars. A high\nmountain near the sources of the Rhone was called \"the column of the\nsun,\" and was so lofty as to hide the sun from the people of the\nsouth.[766] It may have been regarded as supporting the sky, while the\nsun moved round it. In an old Irish hymn and its gloss, Brigit and\nPatrick are compared to the two pillars of the world, probably alluding\nto some old myth of sky or earth resting on pillars.[767] Traces of this\nalso exist in folk-belief, as in the accounts of islands resting on four\npillars, or as in the legend of the church of Kernitou which rests on\nfour pillars on a congealed sea and which will be submerged when the sea\nliquefies--a combination of the cosmogonic myth with that of a great\ninundation.[768] In some mythologies a bridge or ladder connects heaven\nand earth. There may be a survival of some such myth in an Irish poem\nwhich speaks of the _drochet bethad_, or \"bridge of life,\" or in the\n_drochaid na flaitheanas_, or \"bridge of heaven,\" of Hebridean\nfolk-lore.[769]\n\nThose gods who were connected with the sky may have been held to dwell\nthere or on the mountain supporting it. Others, like the Celtic\nDispater, dwelt underground. Some were connected with mounds and hills,\nor were supposed to have taken up their abode in them. Others, again,\ndwelt in a distant region, the Celtic Elysium, which, once the Celts\nreached the sea, became a far-off island. Those divinities worshipped in\ngroves were believed to dwell there and to manifest themselves at midday\nor midnight, while such objects of nature as rivers, wells, and trees\nwere held to be the abode of gods or spirits. Thus it is doubtful\nwhether the Celts ever thought of their gods as dwelling in one Olympus.\nThe Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann are said to have come from heaven, but this may be\nthe mere assertion of some scribe who knew not what to make of this\ngroup of beings.\n\nIn Celtic belief men were not so much created by gods as descended from\nthem. \"All the Gauls assert that they are descended from Dispater, and\nthis, they say, has been handed down to them by the Druids.\"[770]\nDispater was a Celtic underworld god of fertility, and the statement\nprobably presupposes a myth, like that found among many primitive\npeoples, telling how men once lived underground and thence came to the\nsurface of the earth. But it also points to their descent from the god\nof the underworld. Thither the dead returned to him who was ancestor of\nthe living as well as lord of the dead.[771] On the other hand, if the\nearth had originally been thought of as a female, she as Earth-mother\nwould be ancestress of men. But her place in the myth would easily be\ntaken by the Earth or Under-earth god, perhaps regarded as her son or\nher consort. In other cases, clans, families, or individuals often\ntraced their descent to gods or divine animals or plants. Classical\nwriters occasionally speak of the origin of branches of the Celtic race\nfrom eponymous founders, perhaps from their knowledge of existing Celtic\nmyths.[772] Ammianus Marcellinus also reports a Druidic tradition to the\neffect that some Gauls were indigenous, some had come from distant\nislands, and others from beyond the Rhine.[773] But this is not so much\na myth of origins, as an explanation of the presence of different\npeoples in Gaul--the aborigines, the Celt\u00e6, and the Belgic Gauls. M.\nD'Arbois assumes that \"distant islands\" means the Celtic Elysium, which\nhe regards as the land of the dead,[774] but the phrase is probably no\nmore than a distorted reminiscence of the far-off lands whence early\ngroups of Celts had reached Gaul.\n\nOf the creation of the world no complete myth has survived, though from\na gloss to the _Senchus M\u00f3r_ we learn that the Druids, like the\nBr[=a]hmans, boasted that they had made sun, moon, earth, and sea--a\nboast in keeping with their supposed powers over the elements.[775]\nCertain folk-beliefs, regarding the origin of different parts of nature,\nbear a close resemblance to primitive cosmogonic myths, and they may be\ntaken as _disjecta membra_ of similar myths held by the Celts and\nperhaps taught by the Druids. Thus sea, rivers, or springs arose from\nthe micturition of a giant, fairy, or saint, or from their sweat or\nblood. Islands are rocks cast by giants, and mountains are the material\nthrown up by them as they were working on the earth. Wells sprang up\nfrom the blood of a martyr or from the touch of a saint's or a fairy's\nstaff.[776] The sea originated from a magic cask given by God to a\nwoman. The spigot, when opened, could not be closed again, and the cask\nnever ceased running until the waters covered the earth--a tale with\nsavage parallels.[777] In all these cases, giant, saint, or fairy has\ndoubtless taken the place of a god, since the stories have a very\nprimitive _facies_. The giant is frequently Gargantua, probably himself\nonce a divinity. Other references in Irish texts point to the common\ncosmogonic myth of the earth having gradually assumed its present form.\nThus many new lakes and plains are said to have been formed in Ireland\nduring the time of Partholan and Nemed, the plains being apparently\nbuilt up out of existing materials.[778] In some cases the formation of\na lake was the result of digging the grave of some personage after whom\nthe lake was then named.[779] Here we come upon the familiar idea of the\ndanger of encroaching on the domain of a deity, e.g. that of the\nEarth-god, by digging the earth, with the consequent punishment by a\nflood. The same conception is found in Celtic stories of a lake or river\nformed from the overflowing of a sacred well through human carelessness\nor curiosity, which led to the anger of the divinity of the well.[780]\nOr, again, a town or castle is submerged on account of the wickedness of\nits inhabitants, the waters being produced by the curse of God or a\nsaint (replacing a pagan god) and forming a lake.[781] These may be\nregarded as forms of a Celtic deluge-myth, which in one case, that of\nthe Welsh story of the ship of Nevyd, which saved Dwyvan and Dwyfach and\na pair of all kinds of animals when Lake Llion overflowed, has\napparently borrowed from the Biblical story.[782] In other cases lakes\nare formed from the tears of a god, e.g. Manannan, whose tears at the\ndeath of his son formed three lochs in Erin.[783] Apollonius reports\nthat the waters of Eridanus originated from the tears of Apollo when\ndriven from heaven by his father.[784] This story, which he says is\nCeltic, has been clothed by him in a Greek form, and the god in question\nmay have been Belenos, equated with Apollo. Sometimes the formation of\nstreams was ascribed to great hail-storms--an evident mythic rendering\nof the damage done by actual spates, while the Irish myths of\n\"illimitable sea-bursts,\" of which three particular instances are often\nmentioned, were doubtless the result of the experience of tidal waves.\n\nAlthough no complete account of the end of all things, like that of the\nScandinavian Ragnarok, has survived, scattered hints tell of its former\nexistence. Strabo says that the Druids taught that \"fire and water must\none day prevail\"--an evident belief in some final cataclysm.[785] This\nis also hinted at in the words of certain Gauls to Alexander, telling\nhim that what they feared most of all was the fall of the heavens upon\ntheir heads.[786] In other words, they feared what would be the signal\nof the end of all things. On Irish ground the words of Conchobar may\nrefer to this. He announced that he would rescue the captives and spoil\ntaken by Medb, unless the heavens fell, and the earth burst open, and\nthe sea engulphed all things.[787] Such a myth mingled with Christian\nbeliefs may underlie the prophecy of Badb after Mag-tured regarding the\nevils to come and the end of the world, and that of Fercertne in the\n_Colloquy of the Two Sages_.[788] Both have a curious resemblance to the\nSybil's prophecy of doom in the Voluspa. If the gods themselves were\ninvolved in such a catastrophe, it would not be surprising, since in\nsome aspects their immortality depended on their eating and drinking\nimmortal food and drink.[789]\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[766] Avienus, _Ora Maritima_, 644 f.\n\n[767] _IT_ i. 25; Gaidoz, _ZCP_ i. 27.\n\n[768] _Annales de Bretagne_, x. 414.\n\n[769] _IT_ i. 50, cf. 184; _Folk-Lore_, vi. 170.\n\n[770] C\u00e6sar, vi. 18.\n\n[771] See p. 341, _infra_.\n\n[772] Diod. Sic. v. 24; Appian, _Illyrica_, 2.\n\n[773] Amm. Marcel, xv. 9.\n\n[774] D'Arbois, ii. 262, xii. 220.\n\n[775] _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 23. In one MS. Adam is said to have\nbeen created thus--his body of earth, his blood of the sea, his face of\nthe sun, his breath of the wind, etc. This is also found in a Frisian\ntale (Vigfusson-Powell, _Corpus Poet. Bor._ i. 479), and both stories\npresent an inversion of well-known myths about the creation of the\nuniverse from the members of a giant.\n\n[776] S\u00e9billot, i. 213 f., ii. 6, 7, 72, 97, 176, 327-328. Cf. _RC_ xv.\n482, xvi. 152.\n\n[777] S\u00e9billot, ii. 6.\n\n[778] _LL_ 56; Keating, 117, 123.\n\n[779] _RC_ xv. 429, xvi. 277.\n\n[780] See p. 191, _supra_.\n\n[781] S\u00e9billot, ii. 41 f., 391, 397; see p. 372, _infra_.\n\n[782] _Triads_ in Loth, ii. 280, 299; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 583, 663.\n\n[783] _RC_ xvi. 50, 146.\n\n[784] Apoll. iv. 609 f.\n\n[785] Strabo, iv. 4. 4.\n\n[786] Arrian, _Anab._ i. 4. 7; Strabo, vii. 3. 8. Cf. Jullian, 85.\n\n[787] _LL_ 94; Miss Hull, 205.\n\n[788] _RC_ xii. 111, xxvi. 33.\n\n[789] A possible survival of a world-serpent myth may be found in \"Da\nDerga's Hostel\" (_RC_ xxii. 54), where we hear of Leviathan that\nsurrounds the globe and strikes with his tail to overwhelm the world.\nBut this may be a reflection of Norse myths of the Midgard serpent,\nsometimes equated with Leviathan.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nSACRIFICE, PRAYER, AND DIVINATION.\n\n\nThe Semites are often considered the worst offenders in the matter of\nhuman sacrifice, but in this, according to classical evidence, they were\nclosely rivalled by the Celts of Gaul. They offered human victims on the\nprinciple of a life for a life, or to propitiate the gods, or in order\nto divine the future from the entrails of the victim. We shall examine\nthe Celtic custom of human sacrifice from these points of view first.\n\nC\u00e6sar says that those afflicted with disease or engaged in battle or\ndanger offer human victims or vow to do so, because unless man's life be\ngiven for man's life, the divinity of the gods cannot be appeased.[790]\nThe theory appears to have been that the gods sent disease or ills when\nthey desired a human life, but that any life would do; hence one in\ndanger might escape by offering another in his stead. In some cases the\nvictims may have been offered to disease demons or diseases personified,\nsuch as Celtic imagination still believes in,[791] rather than to gods,\nor, again, they may have been offered to native gods of healing. Coming\ndanger could also be averted on the same principle, and though the\nvictims were usually slaves, in times of great peril wives and children\nwere sacrificed.[792] After a defeat, which showed that the gods were\nstill implacable, the wounded and feeble were slain, or a great leader\nwould offer himself.[793] Or in such a case the Celts would turn their\nweapons against themselves, making of suicide a kind of sacrifice,\nhoping to bring victory to the survivors.[794]\n\nThe idea of the victim being offered on the principle of a life for a\nlife is illustrated by a custom at Marseilles in time of pestilence. One\nof the poorer classes offered himself to be kept at the public expense\nfor some time. He was then led in procession, clad in sacred boughs, and\nsolemnly cursed, and prayer was made that on him might fall the evils of\nthe community. Then he was cast headlong down. Here the victim stood for\nthe lives of the city and was a kind of scape-victim, like those at the\nThargelia.[795]\n\nHuman victims were also offered by way of thanksgiving after victory,\nand vows were often made before a battle, promising these as well as\npart of the spoil. For this reason the Celts would never ransom their\ncaptives, but offered them in sacrifice, animals captured being\nimmolated along with them.[796] The method of sacrifice was slaughter by\nsword or spear, hanging, impaling, dismembering, and drowning. Some gods\nwere propitiated by one particular mode of sacrifice--Taranis by\nburning, Teutates by suffocation, Esus (perhaps a tree-god) by hanging\non a tree. Drowning meant devoting the victim to water-divinities.[797]\n\nOther propitiatory sacrifices took place at intervals, and had a general\nor tribal character, the victims being criminals or slaves or even\nmembers of the tribe. The sacrificial pile had the rude outline of a\nhuman form, the limbs of osier, enclosing human as well as some animal\nvictims, who perished by fire. Diodorus says that the victims were\nmalefactors who had been kept in prison for five years, and that some of\nthem were impaled.[798] This need not mean that the holocausts were\nquinquennial, for they may have been offered yearly, at Midsummer, to\njudge by the ritual of modern survivals.[799] The victims perished in\nthat element by which the sun-god chiefly manifested himself, and by the\nsacrifice his powers were augmented, and thus growth and fertility were\npromoted. These holocausts were probably extensions of an earlier\nslaying of a victim representing the spirit of vegetation, though their\nvalue in aiding fertility would be still in evidence. This is suggested\nby Strabo's words that the greater the number of murders the greater\nwould be the fertility of the land, probably meaning that there would\nthen be more criminals as sacrificial victims.[800] Varro also speaks of\nhuman sacrifice to a god equated with Saturn, offered because of all\nseeds the human race is the best, i.e. human victims are most productive\nof fertility.[801] Thus, looked at in one way, the later rite was a\npropitiatory sacrifice, in another it was an act of magico-religious\nritual springing from the old rite of the divine victim. But from both\npoints of view the intention was the same--the promotion of fertility in\nfield and fold.\n\nDivination with the bodies of human victims is attested by Tacitus, who\nsays that \"the Druids consult the gods in the palpitating entrails of\nmen,\" and by Strabo, who describes the striking down of the victim by\nthe sword and the predicting of the future from his convulsive\nmovements.[802] To this we shall return.\n\nHuman sacrifice in Gaul was put down by the Romans, who were amazed at\nits extent, Suetonius summing up the whole religion in a\nphrase--_druidarum religionem dir\u00e6 immanitatis_.[803] By the year 40\nA.D. it had ceased, though victims were offered symbolically, the Druids\npretending to strike them and drawing a little blood from them.[804]\nOnly the pressure of a higher civilisation forced the so-called\nphilosophic Druids to abandon their revolting customs. Among the Celts\nof Britain human sacrifice still prevailed in 77 A.D.[805] Dio Cassius\ndescribes the refinements of cruelty practised on female victims\n(prisoners of war) in honour of the goddess Andrasta--their breasts cut\noff and placed over their mouths, and a stake driven through their\nbodies, which were then hung in the sacred grove.[806] Tacitus speaks of\nthe altars in Mona (Anglesey) laved with human blood. As to the Irish\nCelts, patriotic writers have refused to believe them guilty of such\npractices,[807] but there is no _a priori_ reason which need set them\napart from other races on the same level of civilisation in this custom.\nThe Irish texts no doubt exaggerate the number of the victims, but they\ncertainly attest the existence of the practice. From the _Dindsenchas_,\nwhich describes many archaic usages, we learn that \"the firstlings of\nevery issue and the chief scions of every clan\" were offered to Cromm\nCruaich--a sacrifice of the first-born,--and that at one festival the\nprostrations of the worshippers were so violent that three-fourths of\nthem perished, not improbably an exaggerated memory of orgiastic\nrites.[808] Dr. Joyce thinks that these notices are as incredible as the\nmythic tales in the _Dindsenchas_. Yet the tales were doubtless quite\ncredible to the pagan Irish, and the ritual notices are certainly\nfounded on fact. Dr. Joyce admits the existence of foundation sacrifices\nin Ireland, and it is difficult to understand why human victims may not\nhave been offered on other occasions also.\n\nThe purpose of the sacrifice, namely, fertility, is indicated in the\npoetical version of the cult of Cromm--\n\n  \"Milk and corn\n   They would ask from him speedily,\n   In return for one-third of their healthy issue.\"[809]\n\nThe Nemedian sacrifice to the Fomorians is said to have been two-thirds\nof their children and of the year's supply of corn and milk[810]--an\nobvious misunderstanding, the victims really being offered to obtain\ncorn and milk. The numbers are exaggerated,[811] but there can be no\ndoubt as to the nature of the sacrifice--the offering of an agricultural\nfolk to the divinities who helped or retarded growth. Possibly part of\nthe flesh of the victims, at one time identified with the god, was\nburied in the fields or mixed with the seed-corn, in order to promote\nfertility. The blood was sprinkled on the image of the god. Such\npractices were as obnoxious to Christian missionaries as they had been\nto the Roman Government, and we learn that S. Patrick preached against\n\"the slaying of yoke oxen and milch cows and the burning of the\nfirst-born progeny\" at the Fair of Taillte.[812] As has been seen, the\nIrish version of the Perseus and Andromeda story, in which the victim is\noffered not to a dragon, but to the Fomorians, may have received this\nform from actual ritual in which human victims were sacrificed to the\nFomorians.[813] In a Japanese version of the same story the maiden is\noffered to the sea-gods. Another tale suggests the offering of human\nvictims to remove blight. In this case the land suffers from blight\nbecause the adulteress Becuma, married to the king of Erin, has\npretended to be a virgin. The Druids announced that the remedy was to\nslay the son of an undefiled couple and sprinkle the doorposts and the\nland with his blood. Such a youth was found, but at his mother's request\na two-bellied cow, in which two birds were found, was offered in his\nstead.[814] In another instance in the _Dindsenchas_, hostages,\nincluding the son of a captive prince, are offered to remove plagues--an\nequivalent to the custom of the Gauls.[815]\n\nHuman sacrifices were also offered when the foundation of a new building\nwas laid. Such sacrifices are universal, and are offered to propitiate\nthe Earth spirits or to provide a ghostly guardian for the building. A\nCeltic legend attaches such a sacrifice to the founding of the monastery\nat Iona. S. Oran agrees to adopt S. Columba's advice \"to go under the\nclay of this island to hallow it,\" and as a reward he goes straight to\nheaven.[816] The legend is a semi-Christian form of the memory of an old\npagan custom, and it is attached to Oran probably because he was the\nfirst to be buried in the island. In another version, nothing is said of\nthe sacrifice. The two saints are disputing about the other world, and\nOran agrees to go for three days into the grave to settle the point at\nissue. At the end of that time the grave is opened, and the triumphant\nOran announces that heaven and hell are not such as they are alleged to\nbe. Shocked at his latitudinarian sentiments, Columba ordered earth to\nbe piled over him, lest he cause a scandal to the faith, and Oran was\naccordingly buried alive.[817] In a Welsh instance, Vortigern's castle\ncannot be built, for the stones disappear as soon as they are laid. Wise\nmen, probably Druids, order the sacrifice of a child born without a\nfather, and the sprinkling of the site with his blood.[818] \"Groaning\nhostages\" were placed under a fort in Ireland, and the foundation of the\npalace of Emain Macha was also laid with a human victim.[819] Many\nsimilar legends are connected with buildings all over the Celtic area,\nand prove the popularity of the pagan custom. The sacrifice of human\nvictims on the funeral pile will be discussed in a later chapter.\n\nOf all these varieties of human sacrifice, those offered for fertility,\nprobably at Beltane or Midsummer, were the most important. Their\npropitiatory nature is of later origin, and their real intention was to\nstrengthen the divinity by whom the processes of growth were directed.\nStill earlier, one victim represented the divinity, slain that his life\nmight be revived in vigour. The earth was sprinkled with his blood and\nfed with his flesh in order to fertilise it, and possibly the\nworshippers partook sacramentally of the flesh. Propitiatory holocausts\nof human victims had taken the place of the slain representative of a\ngod, but their value in promoting fertility was not forgotten. The\nsacramental aspect of the rite is perhaps to be found in Pliny's words\nregarding \"the slaying of a human being as a most religious act and\neating the flesh as a wholesome remedy\" among the Britons.[820] This may\nmerely refer to \"medicinal cannibalism,\" such as still survives in\nItaly, but the passage rather suggests sacramental cannibalism, the\neating of part of a divine victim, such as existed in Mexico and\nelsewhere. Other acts of cannibalism are referred to by classical\nwriters. Diodorus says the Irish ate their enemies, and Pausanias\ndescribes the eating the flesh and drinking the blood of children among\nthe Galatian Celts. Drinking out of a skull the blood of slain\n(sacrificial) enemies is mentioned by Ammianus and Livy, and Solinus\ndescribes the Irish custom of bathing the face in the blood of the slain\nand drinking it.[821] In some of these cases the intention may simply\nhave been to obtain the dead enemy's strength, but where a sacrificial\nvictim was concerned, the intention probably went further than this. The\nblood of dead relatives was also drunk in order to obtain their virtues,\nor to be brought into closer _rapport_ with them.[822] This is analogous\nto the custom of blood brotherhood, which also existed among the Celts\nand continued as a survival in the Western Isles until a late date.[823]\n\nOne group of Celtic human sacrifices was thus connected with primitive\nagricultural ritual, but the warlike energies of the Celts extended the\npractice. Victims were easily obtained, and offered to the gods of war.\nYet even these sacrifices preserved some trace of the older rite, in\nwhich the victim represented a divinity or spirit.\n\nHead-hunting, described in classical writings and in Irish texts, had\nalso a sacrificial aspect. The heads of enemies were hung at the\nsaddle-bow or fixed on spears, as the conquerors returned home with\nsongs of victory.[824] This gruesome picture often recurs in the texts.\nThus, after the death of C\u00fachulainn, Conall Cernach returned to Emer\nwith the heads of his slayers strung on a withy. He placed each on a\nstake and told Emer the name of the owner. A Celtic _oppidum_ or a\nking's palace must have been as gruesome as a Dayak or Solomon Island\nvillage. Everywhere were stakes crowned with heads, and the walls of\nhouses were adorned with them. Poseidonius tells how he sickened at such\na sight, but gradually became more accustomed to it.[825] A room in the\npalace was sometimes a store for such heads, or they were preserved in\ncedar-wood oil or in coffers. They were proudly shown to strangers as a\nrecord of conquest, but they could not be sold for their weight in\ngold.[826] After a battle a pile of heads was made and the number of the\nslain was counted, and at annual festivals warriors produced the tongues\nof enemies as a record of their prowess.[827]\n\nThese customs had a religious aspect. In cutting off a head the Celt\nsaluted the gods, and the head was offered to them or to ancestral\nspirits, and sometimes kept in grove or temple.[828] The name given to\nthe heads of the slain in Ireland, the \"mast of Macha,\" shows that they\nwere dedicated to her, just as skulls found under an altar had been\ndevoted to the Celtic Mars.[829] Probably, as among Dayaks, American\nIndians, and others, possession of a head was a guarantee that the ghost\nof its owner would be subservient to its Celtic possessor, either in\nthis world or in the next, since they are sometimes found buried in\ngraves along with the dead.[830] Or, suspended in temples, they became\nan actual and symbolical offering of the life of their owners, if, as is\nprobable, the life or soul was thought to be in the head. Hence, too,\nthe custom of drinking from the skull of the slain had the intention of\ntransferring his powers directly to the drinker.[831] Milk drunk from\nthe skull of Conall Cernach restored to enfeebled warriors their\npristine strength,[832] and a folk-survival in the Highlands--that of\ndrinking from the skull of a suicide (here taking the place of the slain\nenemy) in order to restore health--shows the same idea at work. All\nthese practices had thus one end, that of the transference of spirit\nforce--to the gods, to the victor who suspended the head from his house,\nand to all who drank from the skull. Represented in bas-relief on houses\nor carved on dagger-handles, the head may still have been thought to\npossess talismanic properties, giving power to house or weapon. Possibly\nthis cult of human heads may have given rise to the idea of a divine\nhead like those figured on Gaulish images, or described, e.g., in the\nstory of Bran. His head preserved the land from invasion, until Arthur\ndisinterred it,[833] the story being based on the belief that heads or\nbodies of great warriors still had a powerful influence.[834] The\nrepresentation of the head of a god, like his whole image, would be\nthought to possess the same preservative power.\n\nA possible survival of the sacrifice of the aged may be found in a\nBreton custom of applying a heavy club to the head of old persons to\nlighten their death agonies, the clubs having been formerly used to kill\nthem. They are kept in chapels, and are regarded with awe.[835]\n\nAnimal victims were also frequently offered. The Galatian Celts made a\nyearly sacrifice to their Artemis of a sheep, goat, or calf, purchased\nwith money laid by for each animal caught in the chase. Their dogs were\nfeasted and crowned with flowers.[836] Further details of this ritual\nare unfortunately lacking. Animals captured in war were sacrificed to\nthe war-gods by the Gauls, or to a river-god, as when the horses of the\ndefeated host were thrown into the Rhine by the Gaulish conquerors of\nMallius.[837] We have seen that the white oxen sacrificed at the\nmistletoe ritual may once have been representatives of the\nvegetation-spirit, which also animated the oak and the mistletoe. Among\nthe insular Celts animal sacrifices are scarcely mentioned in the texts,\nprobably through suppression by later scribes, but the lives of Irish\nsaints contain a few notices of the custom, e.g. that of S. Patrick,\nwhich describes the gathering of princes, chiefs, and Druids at Tara to\nsacrifice victims to idols.[838] In Ireland the peasantry still kill a\nsheep or heifer for S. Martin on his festival, and ill-luck is thought\nto follow the non-observance of the rite.[839] Similar sacrifices on\nsaints' days in Scotland and Wales occurred in Christian times.[840] An\nexcellent instance is that of the sacrifice of bulls at Gairloch for the\ncure of lunatics on S. Maelrubha's day (August 25th). Libations of milk\nwere also poured out on the hills, ruined chapels were perambulated,\nwells and stones worshipped, and divination practised. These rites,\noccurring in the seventeenth century, were condemned by the Presbytery\nof Dingwall, but with little effect, and some of them still\nsurvive.[841] In all these cases the saint has succeeded to the ritual\nof an earlier god. Mr. Cook surmises that S. Maelrubha was the successor\nof a divine king connected with an oak and sacred well, the god or\nspirit of which was incarnate in him. These divine kings may at one time\nhave been slain, or a bull, similarly incarnating the god or spirit, may\nhave been killed as a surrogate. This slaying was at a later time\nregarded as a sacrifice and connected with the cure of madness.[842] The\nrite would thus be on a parallel with the slaying of the oxen at the\nmistletoe gathering, as already interpreted. Eilean Maree (Maelrubha),\nwhere the tree and well still exist, was once known as Eilean mo righ\n(\"the island of my king\"), or Eilean a Mhor Righ (\"of the great king\"),\nthe king having been worshipped as a god. This piece of corroborative\nevidence was given by the oldest inhabitant to Sir Arthur Mitchell.[843]\nThe people also spoke of the god Mourie.\n\nOther survivals of animal sacrifice are found in cases of cattle-plague,\nas in Morayshire sixty years ago, in Wales, Devon, and the Isle of Man.\nThe victim was burned and its ashes sprinkled on the herd, or it was\nthrown into the sea or over a precipice.[844] Perhaps it was both a\npropitiatory sacrifice and a scape-animal, carrying away the disease,\nthough the rite may be connected with the former slaying of a divine\nanimal whose death benefited all the cattle of the district. In the\nHebrides the spirits of earth and air were propitiated every quarter by\nthrowing outside the door a cock, hen, duck, or cat, which was supposed\nto be seized by them. If the rite was neglected, misfortune was sure to\nfollow. The animal carried away evils from the house, and was also a\npropitiatory sacrifice.\n\nThe blood of victims was sprinkled on altars, images, and trees, or, as\namong the Boii, it was placed in a skull adorned with gold.[845] Other\nlibations are known mainly from folk-survivals. Thus Breton fishermen\nsalute reefs and jutting promontories, say prayers, and pour a glass of\nwine or throw a biscuit or an old garment into the sea.[846] In the\nHebrides a curious rite was performed on Maundy Thursday. After midnight\na man walked into the sea, and poured ale or gruel on the waters, at the\nsame time singing:\n\n  \"O God of the sea,\n   Put weed in the drawing wave,\n   To enrich the ground,\n   To shower on us food.\"\n\nThose on shore took up the strain in chorus.[847] Thus the rite was\ndescribed by one who took part in it a century ago, but Martin, writing\nin the seventeenth century, gives other details. The cup of ale was\noffered with the words, \"Shony, I give you this cup of ale, hoping that\nyou will be so kind as to send plenty of seaweed for enriching our\nground for the ensuing year.\" All then went in silence to the church and\nremained there for a time, after which they indulged in an orgy\nout-of-doors. This orgiastic rite may once have included the intercourse\nof the sexes--a powerful charm for fertility. \"Shony\" was some old\nsea-god, and another divinity of the sea, Brianniul, was sometimes\ninvoked for the same purpose.[848] Until recently milk was poured on\n\"Gruagach stones\" in the Hebrides, as an offering to the Gruagach, a\nbrownie who watched over herds, and who had taken the place of a\ngod.[849]\n\n\nPRAYER.\n\n\nPrayer accompanied most rites, and probably consisted of traditional\nformul\u00e6, on the exact recital of which depended their value. The Druids\ninvoked a god during the mistletoe rite, and at a Galatian sacrifice,\noffered to bring birds to destroy grasshoppers, prayer was made to the\nbirds themselves.[850] In Mona, at the Roman invasion, the Druids raised\ntheir arms and uttered prayers for deliverance, at the same time cursing\nthe invaders, and Boudicca invoked the protection of the goddess\nAndrasta in a similar manner.[851] Chants were sung by the \"priestesses\"\nof Sena to raise storms, and they were also sung by warriors both before\nand after a battle, to the accompaniment of a measured dance and the\nclashing of arms.[852] These warrior chants were composed by bards, and\nprobably included invocations of the war-gods and the recital of famous\ndeeds. They may also have been of the nature of spells ensuring the help\nof the gods, like the war-cries uttered by a whole army to the sound of\ntrumpets.[853] These consisted of the name of a god, of a tribe or clan,\nor of some well-known phrase. As the recital of a divine name is often\nsupposed to force the god to help, these cries had thus a magical\naspect, while they also struck terror into the foe.[854] Warriors also\nadvanced dancing to the fray, and they are depicted on coins dancing on\nhorseback or before a sword, which was worshipped by the Celts.[855] The\nCeltiberian festival at the full moon consisted entirely of dancing. The\ndance is a primitive method of expressing religious emotion, and where\nit imitates certain actions, it is intended by magical influence to\ncrown the actions themselves with success. It is thus a kind of acted\nprayer with magical results.\n\n\nDIVINATION.\n\n\nA special class of diviners existed among the Celts, but the Druids\npractised divination, as did also the unofficial layman. Classical\nwriters speak of the Celts as of all nations the most devoted to, and\nthe most experienced in, the science of divination. Divination with a\nhuman victim is described by Diodorus. Libations were poured over him,\nand he was then slain, auguries being drawn from the method of his fall,\nthe movements of his limbs, and the flowing of his blood. Divination\nwith the entrails was used in Galatia, Gaul, and Britain.[856] Beasts\nand birds also provided omens. The course taken by a hare let loose gave\nan omen of success to the Britons, and in Ireland divination was used\nwith a sacrificial animal.[857] Among birds the crow was pre-eminent,\nand two crows are represented speaking into the ears of a man on a\nbas-relief at Compi\u00e8gne. The Celts believed that the crow had shown\nwhere towns should be founded, or had furnished a remedy against poison,\nand it was also an arbiter of disputes.[858] Artemidorus describes how,\nat a certain place, there were two crows. Persons having a dispute set\nout two heaps of sweetmeats, one for each disputant. The birds swooped\ndown upon them, eating one and dispersing the other. He whose heap had\nbeen scattered won the case.[859] Birds were believed to have guided the\nmigrating Celts, and their flight furnished auguries, because, as\nDeiotaurus gravely said, birds never lie. Divination by the voices of\nbirds was used by the Irish Druids.[860]\n\nOmens were drawn from the direction of the smoke and flames of sacred\nfires and from the condition of the clouds.[861] Wands of yew were\ncarried by Druids--\"the wand of Druidism\" of many folk-tales--and were\nused perhaps as divining-rods. Ogams were also engraved on rods of yews,\nand from these Druids divined hidden things. By this means the Druid\nDalan discovered where Etain had been hidden by the god Mider. The\nmethod used may have been that of drawing one of the rods by lot and\nthen divining from the marks upon it. A similar method was used to\ndiscover the route to be taken by invaders, the result being supposed to\ndepend on divine interposition.[862] The knowledge of astronomy ascribed\nby C\u00e6sar to the Druids was probably of a simple kind, and much mixed\nwith astrology, and though it furnished the data for computing a simple\ncalendar, its use was largely magical.[863] Irish diviners forecast the\ntime to build a house by the stars, and the date at which S. Columba's\neducation should begin, was similarly discovered.[864]\n\nThe _Imbas Forosnai_, \"illumination between the hands,\" was used by the\n_Fil\u00e9_ to discover hidden things. He chewed a piece of raw flesh and\nplaced it as an offering to the images of the gods whom he desired to\nhelp him. If enlightenment did not come by the next day, he pronounced\nincantations on his palms, which he then placed on his cheeks before\nfalling asleep. The revelation followed in a dream, or sometimes after\nawaking.[865] Perhaps the animal whose flesh was eaten was a sacred one.\nAnother method was that of the _Teinm Laegha_. The _Fil\u00e9_ made a verse\nand repeated it over some person or thing regarding which he sought\ninformation, or he placed his staff on the person's body and so obtained\nwhat he sought. The rite was also preceded by sacrifice; hence S.\nPatrick prohibited both it and the _Imbas Forosnai_.[866] Another\nincantation, the _C\u00e9tnad_, was sung through the fist to discover the\ntrack of stolen cattle or of the thief. If this did not bring\nenlightenment, the _Fil\u00e9_ went to sleep and obtained the knowledge\nthrough a dream.[867] Another _C\u00e9tnad_ for obtaining information\nregarding length of life was addressed to the seven daughters of the\nsea. Perhaps the incantation was repeated mechanically until the seer\nfell into a kind of trance. Divination by dreams was also used by the\ncontinental Celts.[868]\n\nOther methods resemble \"trance-utterance.\" \"A great obnubilation was\nconjured up for the bard so that he slept a heavy sleep, and things\nmagic-begotten were shewn to him to enunciate,\" apparently in his sleep.\nThis was called \"illumination by rhymes,\" and a similar method was used\nin Wales. When consulted, the seer roared violently until he was beside\nhimself, and out of his ravings the desired information was gathered.\nWhen aroused from this ecstatic condition, he had no remembrance of what\nhe had uttered. Giraldus reports this, and thinks, with the modern\nspiritualist, that the utterance was caused by spirits.[869] The\nresemblance to modern trance-utterance and to similar methods used by\nsavages is remarkable, and psychological science sees in it the\npromptings of the subliminal self in sleep.\n\nThe _taghairm_ of the Highlanders was a survival from pagan times. The\nseer was usually bound in a cow's hide--the animal, it may be\nconjectured, having been sacrificed in earlier times. He was left in a\ndesolate place, and while he slept spirits were supposed to inspire his\ndreams.[870] Clothing in the skin of a sacrificial animal, by which the\nperson thus clothed is brought into contact with it and hence with the\ndivinity to which it is offered, or with the divine animal itself where\nthe victim is so regarded, is a widespread custom. Hence, in this Celtic\nusage, contact with divinity through the hide would be expected to\nproduce enlightenment. For a like reason the Irish sacrificed a sheep\nfor the recovery of the sick, and clothed the patient in its skin.[871]\nBinding the limbs of the seer is also a widespread custom, perhaps to\nrestrain his convulsions or to concentrate the psychic force.\n\nBoth among the continental and Irish Celts those who sought hidden\nknowledge slept on graves, hoping to be inspired by the spirits of the\ndead.[872] Legend told how, the full version of the _T\u00e1in_ having been\nlost, Murgan the _Fil\u00e9_ sang an incantation over the grave of Fergus mac\nRoig. A cloud hid him for three days, and during that time the dead man\nappeared and recited the saga to him.\n\nIn Ireland and the Highlands, divination by looking into the\nshoulder-blade of a sheep was used to discover future events or things\nhappening at a distance, a survival from pagan times.[873] The scholiast\non Lucan describes the Druidic method of chewing acorns and then\nprophesying, just as, in Ireland, eating nuts from the sacred hazels\nround Connla's well gave inspiration.[874] The \"priestesses\" of Sena and\nthe \"Druidesses\" of the third century had the gift of prophecy, and it\nwas also ascribed freely to the _Filid_, the Druids, and to Christian\nsaints. Druids are said to have prophesied the coming of S. Patrick, and\nsimilar prophecies are put in the mouths of Fionn and others, just as\nMontezuma's priests foretold the coming of the Spaniards.[875] The word\nused for such prophecies--_baile_, means \"ecstasy,\" and it suggests that\nthe prophet worked himself into a frenzy and then fell into a trance, in\nwhich he uttered his forecast. Prophecies were also made at the birth of\na child, describing its future career.[876] Careful attention was given\nto the utterances of Druidic prophets, e.g. Medb's warriors postponed\ntheir expedition for fifteen days, because the Druids told them they\nwould not succeed if they set out sooner.[877]\n\nMythical personages or divinities are said in the Irish texts to have\nstood on one leg, with one arm extended, and one eye closed, when\nuttering prophecies or incantations, and this was doubtless an attitude\nused by the seer.[878] A similar method is known elsewhere, and it may\nhave been intended to produce greater force. From this attitude may have\noriginated myths of beings with one arm, one leg, and one eye, like some\nFomorians or the _Fachan_ whose weird picture Campbell of Islay drew\nfrom verbal descriptions.[879]\n\nEarly Celtic saints occasionally describe lapses into heathenism in\nIreland, not characterised by \"idolatry,\" but by wizardry, dealing in\ncharms, and _fidlanna_, perhaps a kind of divination with pieces of\nwood.[880] But it is much more likely that these had never really been\nabandoned. They belong to the primitive element of religion and magic\nwhich people cling to long after they have given up \"idolatry.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[790] C\u00e6sar, vi. 16.\n\n[791] Rh[^y]s, _CB_{4} 68.\n\n[792] Justin, xxvi. 2; Pomp. Mela, iii. 2.\n\n[793] Diod. Sic. xxii. 9.\n\n[794] See Jullian, 53.\n\n[795] Servius on _\u00c6neid_, iii. 57.\n\n[796] C\u00e6sar, vi. 16; Livy, xxxviii. 47; Diod. Sic. v. 32, xxxi. 13;\nAthen\u00e6us, iv. 51; Dio Cass., lxii. 7.\n\n[797] Diod. Sic, xxxiv. 13; Strabo, iv. 4; Orosius, v. 16; Schol. on\nLucan, Usener's ed. 32.\n\n[798] C\u00e6sar, vi. 16; Strabo, iv. 4; Diod. Sic. v. 32; Livy, xxxviii. 47.\n\n[799] Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, 529 f.\n\n[800] Strabo, _ibid._ 4. 4.\n\n[801] S. Aug. _de Civ. Dei_, vii. 19.\n\n[802] Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30; Strabo, iv. 4. 4.\n\n[803] Suet. _Claud._ 25.\n\n[804] Pomp. Mela, iii. 2. 18.\n\n[805] Pliny, _HN_ xxx. 4. 13.\n\n[806] Dio. Cass. lxii. 6.\n\n[807] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 222; Joyce, _SH_ i. ch. 9.\n\n[808] _RC_ xvi. 35.\n\n[809] _LL_ 213_b_.\n\n[810] See p. 52, _supra_.\n\n[811] See, however, accounts of reckless child sacrifices in Ellis,\n_Polynesian Researches_, i. 252, and Westermarck, _Moral Ideas_, i. 397.\n\n[812] O'Curry, _MC_ Intro, dcxli.\n\n[813] _LU_ 126_a_. A folk-version is given by Larminie, _West Irish\nFolk-Tales_, 139.\n\n[814] _Book of Fermoy_, 89_a_.\n\n[815] O'Curry, _MC_ Intro. dcxl, ii. 222.\n\n[816] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._ Reeve's ed. 288.\n\n[817] Carmichael, _Carmina Gadelica_, ii. 317.\n\n[818] Nennius, _Hist. Brit._ 40.\n\n[819] Stokes, _TIG_ xli.; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 9.\n\n[820] Pliny, _HN_ xxx. 1. The feeding of Ethni, daughter of Crimthann,\non human flesh that she might sooner attain maturity may be an instance\nof \"medicinal cannibalism\" (_IT_ iii. 363). The eating of parents among\nthe Irish, described by Strabo (iv. 5), was an example of \"honorific\ncannibalism.\" See my article \"Cannibalism\" in Hastings' _Encycl. of Rel.\nand Ethics_, iii, 194.\n\n[821] Diod. Sic. vi. 12; Paus. x. 22. 3; Amm. Marc. xxvii. 4; Livy,\nxxiii. 24; Solin. xxii. 3.\n\n[822] This custom continued in Ireland until Spenser's time.\n\n[823] Leahy, i. 158; Giraldus, _Top. Hib._ iii. 22; Martin, 109.\n\n[824] Sil. Ital. iv. 213; Diod. Sic. xiv. 115; Livy, x. 26; Strabo, iv.\n4. 5; Miss Hull, 92.\n\n[825] Diod. Sic. v. 29; Strabo, iv. 4. 5.\n\n[826] D'Arbois, v. 11; Diod. Sic. v. 29; Strabo, _loc. cit._\n\n[827] _Annals of the Four Masters_, 864; _IT_ i. 205.\n\n[828] Sil. Ital. iv. 215, v. 652; Lucan, _Phar._ i. 447; Livy, xxiii.\n24.\n\n[829] See p. 71, _supra_; _CIL_ xii. 1077. A dim memory of head-taking\nsurvived in the seventeenth century in Eigg, where headless skeletons\nwere found, of which the islanders said that an enemy had cut off their\nheads (Martin, 277).\n\n[830] Belloguet, _Ethnol. Gaul._ iii. 100.\n\n[831] Sil. Ital. xiii. 482; Livy, xxiii. 24; Florus, i. 39.\n\n[832] _ZCP_ i. 106.\n\n[833] Loth, i. 90 f., ii. 218-219. Sometimes the weapons of a great\nwarrior had the same effect. The bows of Gwerthevyr were hidden in\ndifferent parts of Prydein and preserved the land from Saxon invasion,\nuntil Gwrtheyrn, for love of a woman, dug them up (Loth, ii. 218-219).\n\n[834] See p. 338, _infra_. In Ireland, the brain of an enemy was taken\nfrom the head, mixed with lime, and made into a ball. This was allowed\nto harden, and was then placed in the tribal armoury as a trophy.\n\n[835] _L'Anthropologie_, xii. 206, 711. Cf. the English tradition of the\n\"Holy Mawle,\" said to have been used for the same purpose. Thorns,\n_Anecdotes and Traditions_, 84.\n\n[836] Arrian, _Cyneg._ xxxiii.\n\n[837] C\u00e6sar, vi. 17; Orosius, v. 16. 6.\n\n[838] D'Arbois, i. 155.\n\n[839] Curtin, _Tales of the Fairies_, 72; _Folk-Lore_, vii. 178-179.\n\n[840] Mitchell, _Past in the Present_, 275.\n\n[841] Mitchell, _op. cit._ 271 f.\n\n[842] Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 332.\n\n[843] Mitchell, _loc. cit._ 147. The corruption of \"Maelrubha\" to\n\"Maree\" may have been aided by confusing the name with _mo_ or _mhor\nrigh_.\n\n[844] Mitchell, _loc. cit._; Moore, 92, 145; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 305;\nWorth, _Hist. of Devonshire_, 339; Dalyell, _passim_.\n\n[845] Livy, xxiii. 24.\n\n[846] S\u00e9billot, ii. 166-167; _L'Anthrop._ xv. 729.\n\n[847] Carmichael, _Carm. Gad._ i. 163.\n\n[848] Martin, 28. A scribe called \"Sonid,\" which might be the equivalent\nof \"Shony,\" is mentioned in the Stowe missal (_Folk-Lore_, 1895).\n\n[849] Campbell, _Superstitions_, 184 f; _Waifs and Strays of Celtic\nTrad._ ii. 455.\n\n[850] Aelian, xvii. 19.\n\n[851] Tacitus, _Ann._ xiv. 30; Dio Cass. lxii. 6.\n\n[852] Appian, _Celtica_, 8; Livy, xxi. 28, xxxviii. 17, x. 26.\n\n[853] Livy, v. 38, vii. 23; Polybius, ii. 29. Cf. Watteville, _Le cri de\nguerre chez les differents peuples_, Paris, 1889.\n\n[854] Livy, v. 38.\n\n[855] Appian, vi. 53; Muret et Chabouillet, _Catalogue des monnaies\ngauloises_, 6033 f., 6941 f.\n\n[856] Diod. v. 31; Justin, xxvi. 2, 4; Cicero, _de Div._ ii. 36, 76;\nTac. _Ann._ xiv. 30; Strabo, iii. 3. 6.\n\n[857] Dio Cass. lxii. 6.\n\n[858] Reinach, _Catal. Sommaire_, 31; Pseudo-Plutarch, _de Fluviis_, vi.\n4; _Mirab. Auscult._ 86.\n\n[859] Strabo, iv. 4. 6.\n\n[860] Justin, xxiv, 4; Cicero, _de Div._ i. 15. 26. (Cf. the two magic\ncrows which announced the coming of C\u00fachulainn to the other world\n(D'Arbois, v. 203); Irish _Nennius_, 145; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 224; cf. for\na Welsh instance, Skene, i. 433.)\n\n[861] Joyce, _SH_ i. 229; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 224, _MS Mat._ 284.\n\n[862] _IT_ i. 129; Livy, v. 34; Loth, _RC_ xvi. 314. The Irish for\nconsulting a lot is _crann-chur_, \"the act of casting wood.\"\n\n[863] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14.\n\n[864] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 46, 224; Stokes, _Three Irish Homilies_, 103.\n\n[865] Cormac, 94. Fionn's divination by chewing his thumb is called\n_Imbas Forosnai_ (_RC_ xxv. 347).\n\n[866] _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 45.\n\n[867] Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, 241.\n\n[868] Justin, xliii. 5.\n\n[869] O'Grady, ii. 362; Giraldus, _Descr. Camb._ i. 11.\n\n[870] Pennant, _Tour in Scotland_, i. 311; Martin, 111.\n\n[871] Richardson, _Folly of Pilgrimages_, 70.\n\n[872] Tertullian, _de Anima_, 57; _Coll. de Reb. Hib._ iii. 334.\n\n[873] Campbell, _Superstitions_, 263; Curtin, _Tales_, 84.\n\n[874] Lucan, ed. Usener, 33.\n\n[875] See examples in O'Curry, _MS Mat._ 383 f.\n\n[876] Miss Hull, 19, 20, 23.\n\n[877] _LU_ 55.\n\n[878] _RC_ xii. 98, xxi. 156, xxii. 61.\n\n[879] _RC_ xv. 432; _Annals of the Four Masters_, A.M. 2530; Campbell,\n_WHT_ iv. 298.\n\n[880] See \"Adamnan's Second Vision.\" _RC_ xii. 441.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nTABU.\n\n\nThe Irish _geis_, pl. _geasa_, which may be rendered by Tabu, had two\nsenses. It meant something which must not be done for fear of disastrous\nconsequences, and also an obligation to do something commanded by\nanother.\n\nAs a tabu the _geis_ had a large place in Irish life, and was probably\nknown to other branches of the Celts.[881] It followed the general\ncourse of tabu wherever found. Sometimes it was imposed before birth, or\nit was hereditary, or connected with totemism. Legends, however, often\narose giving a different explanation to _geasa_, long after the customs\nin which they originated had been forgotten. It was one of Diarmaid's\n_geasa_ not to hunt the boar of Ben Gulban, and this was probably\ntotemic in origin. But legend told how his father killed a child, the\ncorpse being changed into a boar by the child's father, who said its\nspan of life would be the same as Diarmaid's, and that he would be slain\nby it. Oengus put _geasa_ on Diarmaid not to hunt it, but at Fionn's\ndesire he broke these, and was killed.[882] Other _geasa_--those of\nC\u00fachulainn not to eat dog's flesh, and of Conaire never to chase\nbirds--also point to totemism.\n\nIn some cases _geasa_ were based on ideas of right and wrong, honour or\ndishonour, or were intended to cause avoidance of unlucky days. Others\nare unintelligible to us. The largest number of _geasa_ concerned kings\nand chiefs, and are described, along with their corresponding\nprivileges, in the _Book of Rights_. Some of the _geasa_ of the king of\nConnaught were not to go to an assembly of women at Leaghair, not to sit\nin autumn on the sepulchral mound of the wife of Maine, not to go in a\ngrey-speckled garment on a grey-speckled horse to the heath of Cruachan,\nand the like.[883] The meaning of these is obscure, but other examples\nare more obvious and show that all alike corresponded to the tabus\napplying to kings in primitive societies, who are often magicians,\npriests, or even divine representatives. On them the welfare of the\ntribe and the making of rain or sunshine, and the processes of growth\ndepend. They must therefore be careful of their actions, and hence they\nare hedged about with tabus which, however unmeaning, have a direct\nconnection with their powers. Out of such conceptions the Irish kingly\n_geasa_ arose. Their observance made the earth fruitful, produced\nabundance and prosperity, and kept both the king and his land from\nmisfortune. In later times these were supposed to be dependent on the\n\"goodness\" or the reverse of the king, but this was a departure from the\nolder idea, which is clearly stated in the _Book of Rights_.[884] The\nkings were divinities on whom depended fruitfulness and plenty, and who\nmust therefore submit to obey their _geasa_. Some of their prerogatives\nseem also to be connected with this state of things. Thus they might eat\nof certain foods or go to certain places on particular days.[885] In\nprimitive societies kings and priests often prohibit ordinary mortals\nfrom eating things which they desire for themselves by making them\n_tabu_, and in other cases the fruits of the earth can only be eaten\nafter king or priest has partaken of them ceremonially. This may have\nbeen the case in Ireland. The privilege relating to places may have\nmeant that these were sacred and only to be entered by the king at\ncertain times and in his sacred capacity.\n\nAs a reflection from this state of things, the heroes of the sagas,\nC\u00fachulainn and Fionn, had numerous _geasa_ applicable to themselves,\nsome of them religious, some magical, others based on primitive ideas of\nhonour, others perhaps the invention of the narrators.[886]\n\n_Geasa_, whether in the sense of tabus or of obligations, could be\nimposed by any one, and must be obeyed, for disobedience produced\ndisastrous effects. Probably the obligation was framed as an incantation\nor spell, and the power of the spell being fully believed in, obedience\nwould follow as a matter of course.[887] Examples of such _geasa_ are\nnumerous in Irish literature. C\u00fachulainn's father-in-law put _geasa_ on\nhim that he should know no rest until he found out the cause of the\nexile of the sons of Doel. And Grainne put _geasa_ on Diarmaid that he\nshould elope with her, and this he did, though the act was repugnant to\nhim.\n\nAmong savages the punishment which is supposed to follow tabu-breaking\nis often produced through auto-suggestion when a tabu has been\nunconsciously infringed and this has afterwards been discovered. Fear\nproduces the result which is feared. The result is believed, however, to\nbe the working of divine vengeance. In the case of Irish _geasa_,\ndestruction and death usually followed their infringement, as in the\ncase of Diarmaid and C\u00fachulainn. But the best instance is found in the\ntale of _The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel_, in which the _s\u00edd_-folk\navenge themselves for Eochaid's action by causing the destruction of his\ndescendant Conaire, who is forced to break his _geasa_. These are first\nminutely detailed; then it is shown how, almost in spite of himself,\nConaire was led on to break them, and how, in the sequel, his tragic\ndeath occurred.[888] Viewed in this light as the working of divine\nvengeance to a remote descendant of the offender by forcing him to break\nhis tabus, the story is one of the most terrible in the whole range of\nIrish literature.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[881] The religious interdictions mentioned by C\u00e6sar (vi. 13) may be\nregarded as tabus, while the spoils of war placed in a consecrated place\n(vi. 18), and certain animals among the Britons (v. 12), were clearly\nunder tabu.\n\n[882] Joyce, _OCR_ 332 f.\n\n[883] _Book of Rights_, ed. O'Donovan, 5.\n\n[884] _Book of Rights_, 7.\n\n[885] Ibid. 3 f.\n\n[886] _LL_ 107; O'Grady, ii. 175.\n\n[887] In Highland tales _geasa_ is translated \"spells.\"\n\n[888] _RC_ xxii. 27 f. The story of _Da Choca's Hostel_ has for its\nsubject the destruction of Cormac through breaking his _geasa_ (_RC_\nxxi. 149 f.).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nFESTIVALS.\n\n\nThe Celtic year was not at first regulated by the solstices and\nequinoxes, but by some method connected with agriculture or with the\nseasons. Later, the year was a lunar one, and there is some evidence of\nattempts at synchronising solar and lunar time. But time was mainly\nmeasured by the moon, while in all calculations night preceded day.[889]\nThus _oidhche Samhain_ was the night preceding Samhain (November 1st),\nnot the following night. The usage survives in our \"sennight\" and\n\"fortnight.\" In early times the year had two, possibly three divisions,\nmarking periods in pastoral or agricultural life, but it was afterwards\ndivided into four periods, while the year began with the winter\ndivision, opening at Samhain. A twofold, subdivided into a fourfold\ndivision is found in Irish texts,[890] and may be tabulated as\nfollows:--\n\n                       1st quarter, _Geimredh_, beginning with the\n_A_. Geimredh          festival of _Samhain_, November 1st.\n     (winter half)\n                       2nd quarter, _Earrach_, beginning February\n                       1st (sometimes called _Oimelc_).\n\n\n                       3rd quarter, _Samradh_, beginning with the\n_B_. Samhradh          festival of _Beltane_, May 1st (called also\n     (summer half)     _C\u00e9t-soman_ or _C\u00e9t-samain_, 1st day of\n                       _Samono-s_; cf. Welsh _Cyntefyn_).\n\n                       4th quarter, _Foghamhar_, beginning with\n                       the festival of _Lugnasadh_, August 1st\n                       (sometimes called _Brontroghain_).\n\nThese divisions began with festivals, and clear traces of three of them\noccur over the whole Celtic area, but the fourth has now been merged in\nS. Brigit's day. Beltane and Samhain marked the beginning of the two\ngreat divisions, and were perhaps at first movable festivals, according\nas the signs of summer or winter appeared earlier or later. With the\nadoption of the Roman calendar some of the festivals were displaced,\ne.g. in Gaul, where the Calends of January took the place of Samhain,\nthe ritual being also transferred.\n\nNone of the four festivals is connected with the times of equinox and\nsolstice. This points to the fact that originally the Celtic year was\nindependent of these. But Midsummer day was also observed not only by\nthe Celts, but by most European folk, the ritual resembling that of\nBeltane. It has been held, and an old tradition in Ireland gives some\nsupport to the theory, that under Christian influences the old pagan\nfeast of Beltane was merged in that of S. John Baptist on Midsummer\nday.[891] But, though there are Christian elements in the Midsummer\nritual, denoting a desire to bring it under Church influence, the pagan\nelements in folk-custom are strongly marked, and the festival is deeply\nrooted in an earlier paganism all over Europe. Without much acquaintance\nwith astronomy, men must have noted the period of the sun's longest\ncourse from early times, and it would probably be observed ritually. The\nfestivals of Beltane and Midsummer may have arisen independently, and\nentered into competition with each other. Or Beltane may have been an\nearly pastoral festival marking the beginning of summer when the herds\nwent out to pasture, and Midsummer a more purely agricultural festival.\nAnd since their ritual aspect and purpose as seen in folk-custom are\nsimilar, they may eventually have borrowed each from the other. Or they\nmay be later separate fixed dates of an earlier movable summer festival.\nFor our purpose we may here consider them as twin halves of such a\nfestival. Where Midsummer was already observed, the influence of the\nRoman calendar would confirm that observance. The festivals of the\nChristian year also affected the older observances. Some of the ritual\nwas transferred to saints' days within the range of the pagan festival\ndays, thus the Samhain ritual is found observed on S. Martin's day. In\nother cases, holy days took the place of the old festivals--All Saints'\nand All Souls' that of Samhain, S. Brigit's day that of February 1st, S.\nJohn Baptist's day that of Midsummer, Lammas that of Lugnasad, and some\nattempt was made to hallow, if not to oust, the older ritual.\n\nThe Celtic festivals being primarily connected with agricultural and\npastoral life, we find in their ritual survivals traces not only of a\nreligious but of a magical view of things, of acts designed to assist\nthe powers of life and growth. The proof of this will be found in a\ndetailed examination of the surviving customs connected with them.\n\n\nSAMHAIN.\n\n\nSamhain,[892] beginning the Celtic year, was an important social and\nreligious occasion. The powers of blight were beginning their\nascendancy, yet the future triumph of the powers of growth was not\nforgotten. Probably Samhain had gathered up into itself other feasts\noccurring earlier or later. Thus it bears traces of being a harvest\nfestival, the ritual of the earlier harvest feast being transferred to\nthe winter feast, as the Celts found themselves in lands where harvest\nis not gathered before late autumn. The harvest rites may, however, have\nbeen associated with threshing rather than ingathering. Samhain also\ncontains in its ritual some of the old pastoral cults, while as a New\nYear feast its ritual is in great part that of all festivals of\nbeginnings.\n\nNew fire was brought into each house at Samhain from the sacred\nbonfire,[893] itself probably kindled from the need-fire by the friction\nof pieces of wood. This preserved its purity, the purity necessary to a\nfestival of beginnings.[894] The putting away of the old fires was\nprobably connected with various rites for the expulsion of evils, which\nusually occur among many peoples at the New Year festival. By that\nprocess of dislocation which scattered the Samhain ritual over a wider\nperiod and gave some of it to Christmas, the kindling of the Yule log\nmay have been originally connected with this festival.\n\nDivination and forecasting the fate of the inquirer for the coming year\nalso took place. Sometimes these were connected with the bonfire, stones\nplaced in it showing by their appearance the fortune or misfortune\nawaiting their owners.[895] Others, like those described by Burns in his\n\"Hallowe'en,\" were unconnected with the bonfire and were of an erotic\nnature.[896]\n\nThe slaughter of animals for winter consumption which took place at\nSamhain, or, as now, at Martinmas, though connected with economic\nreasons, had a distinctly religious aspect, as it had among the Teutons.\nIn recent times in Ireland one of the animals was offered to S. Martin,\nwho may have taken the place of a god, and ill-luck followed the\nnon-observance of the custom.[897] The slaughter was followed by general\nfeasting. This later slaughter may be traced back to the pastoral stage,\nin which the animals were regarded as divine, and one was slain annually\nand eaten sacramentally. Or, if the slaughter was more general, the\nanimals would be propitiated. But when the animals ceased to be\nworshipped, the slaughter would certainly be more general, though still\npreserving traces of its original character. The pastoral sacrament may\nalso have been connected with the slaying and eating of an animal\nrepresenting the corn-spirit at harvest time. In one legend S. Martin is\nassociated with the animal slain at Martinmas, and is said to have been\ncut up and eaten in the form of an ox,[898] as if a former divine animal\nhad become an anthropomorphic divinity, the latter being merged in the\npersonality of a Christian saint.\n\nOther rites, connected with the Calends of January as a result of\ndislocation, point also in this direction. In Gaul and Germany riotous\nprocessions took place with men dressed in the heads and skins of\nanimals.[899] This rite is said by Tille to have been introduced from\nItaly, but it is more likely to have been a native custom.[900] As the\npeople ate the flesh of the slain animals sacramentally, so they clothed\nthemselves in the skins to promote further contact with their divinity.\nPerambulating the township sunwise dressed in the skin of a cow took\nplace until recently in the Hebrides at New Year, in order to keep off\nmisfortune, a piece of the hide being burned and the smoke inhaled by\neach person and animal in the township.[901] Similar customs have been\nfound in other Celtic districts, and these animal disguises can hardly\nbe separated from the sacramental slaughter at Samhain.[902]\n\nEvils having been or being about to be cast off in the New Year ritual,\na few more added to the number can make little difference. Hence among\nprimitive peoples New Year is often characterised by orgiastic rites.\nThese took place at the Calends in Gaul, and were denounced by councils\nand preachers.[903] In Ireland the merriment at Samhain is often\nmentioned in the texts,[904] and similar orgiastic rites lurk behind the\nHallowe'en customs in Scotland and in the licence still permitted to\nyouths in the quietest townships of the West Highlands at Samhain eve.\n\nSamhain, as has been seen, was also a festival of the dead, whose ghosts\nwere fed at this time.[905]\n\nAs the powers of growth were in danger and in eclipse in winter, men\nthought it necessary to assist them. As a magical aid the Samhain\nbonfire was chief, and it is still lit in the Highlands. Brands were\ncarried round, and from it the new fire was lit in each house. In North\nWales people jumped through the fire, and when it was extinct, rushed\naway to escape the \"black sow\" who would take the hindmost.[906] The\nbonfire represented the sun, and was intended to strengthen it. But\nrepresenting the sun, it had all the sun's force, hence those who jumped\nthrough it were strengthened and purified. The Welsh reference to the\nhindmost and to the black sow may point to a former human sacrifice,\nperhaps of any one who stumbled in jumping through the fire. Keating\nspeaks of a Druidic sacrifice in the bonfire, whether of man or beast is\nnot specified.[907] Probably the victim, like the scapegoat, was laden\nwith the accumulated evils of the year, as in similar New Year customs\nelsewhere. Later belief regarded the sacrifice, if sacrifice there was,\nas offered to the powers of evil--the black sow, unless this animal is a\nreminiscence of the corn-spirit in its harmful aspect. Earlier powers,\nwhether of growth or of blight, came to be associated with Samhain as\ndemoniac beings--the \"malignant bird flocks\" which blighted crops and\nkilled animals, the _samhanach_ which steals children, and Mongfind the\nbanshee, to whom \"women and the rabble\" make petitions on Samhain\neve.[908] Witches, evil-intentioned fairies, and the dead were\nparticularly active then.\n\nThough the sacrificial victim had come to be regarded as an offering to\nthe powers of blight, he may once have represented a divinity of growth\nor, in earlier times, the corn-spirit. Such a victim was slain at\nharvest, and harvest is often late in northern Celtic regions, while the\nslaying was sometimes connected not with the harvest field, but with the\nlater threshing. This would bring it near the Samhain festival. The\nslaying of the corn-spirit was derived from the earlier slaying of a\ntree or vegetation-spirit embodied in a tree and also in a human or\nanimal victim. The corn-spirit was embodied in the last sheaf cut as\nwell as in an animal or human being.[909] This human victim may have\nbeen regarded as a king, since in late popular custom a mock king is\nchosen at winter festivals.[910] In other cases the effigy of a saint is\nhung up and carried round the different houses, part of the dress being\nleft at each. The saint has probably succeeded to the traditional ritual\nof the divine victim.[911] The primitive period in which the corn-spirit\nwas regarded as female, with a woman as her human representative, is\nalso recalled in folk-custom. The last sheaf is called the Maiden or the\nMother, while, as in Northamptonshire, girls choose a queen on S.\nCatharine's day, November 26th, and in some Christmas pageants \"Yule's\nwife,\" as well as Yule, is present, corresponding to the May queen of\nthe summer festival.[912] Men also masqueraded as women at the Calends.\nThe dates of these survivals may be explained by that dislocation of the\nSamhain festival already pointed out. This view of the Samhain human\nsacrifices is supported by the Irish offerings to the Fomorians--gods of\ngrowth, later regarded as gods of blight, and to Cromm Cruaich, in both\ncases at Samhain.[913] With the evolution of religious thought, the\nslain victim came to be regarded as an offering to evil powers.\n\nThis aspect of Samhain, as a festival to promote and assist festivity,\nis further seen in the belief in the increased activity of fairies at\nthat time. In Ireland, fairies are connected with the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann,\nthe divinities of growth, and in many folk-tales they are associated\nwith agricultural processes. The use of evergreens at Christmas is\nperhaps also connected with the carrying of them round the fields in\nolder times, as an evidence that the life of nature was not\nextinct.[914]\n\nSamhain may thus be regarded as, in origin, an old pastoral and\nagricultural festival, which in time came to be looked upon as affording\nassistance to the powers of growth in their conflict with the powers of\nblight. Perhaps some myth describing this combat may lurk behind the\nstory of the battle of Mag-tured fought on Samhain between the Tuatha D\u00e9\nDanann and the Fomorians. While the powers of blight are triumphant in\nwinter, the Tuatha D\u00e9a are represented as the victors, though they\nsuffer loss and death. Perhaps this enshrines the belief in the\ncontinual triumph of life and growth over blight and decay, or it may\narise from the fact that Samhain was both a time of rejoicing for the\ningathered harvest, and of wailing for the coming supremacy of winter\nand the reign of the powers of blight.\n\n\nBELTANE.\n\n\nIn Cormac's _Glossary_ and other texts, \"Beltane\" is derived from\n_bel-tene_, \"a goodly fire,\" or from _bel-dine_, because newly-born\n(_dine_) cattle were offered to Bel, an idol-god.[915] The latter is\nfollowed by those who believe in a Celtic Belus, connected with Baal. No\nsuch god is known, however, and the god Belenos is in no way connected\nwith the Semitic divinity. M. D'Arbois assumes an unknown god of death,\nBeltene (from _beltu_, \"to die\"), whose festival Beltane was.[916] But\nBeltane was a festival of life, of the sun shining in his strength. Dr.\nStokes gives a more acceptable explanation of the word. Its primitive\nform was _belo-te_[_p_]_ni\u00e2_, from _belo-s_, \"clear,\" \"shining,\" the\nroot of the names Belenos and Belisama, and _te_[_p_]_nos_, \"fire.\" Thus\nthe word would mean something like \"bright fire,\" perhaps the sun or the\nbonfire, or both.[917]\n\nThe folk-survivals of the Beltane and Midsummer festivals show that both\nwere intended to promote fertility.\n\nOne of the chief ritual acts at Beltane was the kindling of bonfires,\noften on hills. The house-fires in the district were often extinguished,\nthe bonfire being lit by friction from a rotating wheel--the German\n\"need-fire.\"[918] The fire kept off disease and evil, hence cattle were\ndriven through it, or, according to Cormac, between two fires lit by\nDruids, in order to keep them in health during the year.[919] Sometimes\nthe fire was lit beneath a sacred tree, or a pole covered with greenery\nwas surrounded by the fuel, or a tree was burned in the fire.[920] These\ntrees survive in the Maypole of later custom, and they represented the\nvegetation-spirit, to whom also the worshippers assimilated themselves\nby dressing in leaves. They danced sunwise round the fire or ran through\nthe fields with blazing branches or wisps of straw, imitating the course\nof the sun, and thus benefiting the fields.[921] For the same reason the\ntree itself was probably borne through the fields. Houses were decked\nwith boughs and thus protected by the spirit of vegetation.[922]\n\nAn animal representing the spirit of vegetation may have been slain. In\nlate survivals of Beltane at Dublin, a horse's skull and bones were\nthrown into the fire,[923] the attenuated form of an earlier sacrifice\nor slaying of a divine victim, by whom strength was transferred to all\nthe animals which passed through the fire. In some cases a human victim\nmay have been slain. This is suggested by customs surviving in\nPerthshire in the eighteenth century, when a cake was broken up and\ndistributed, and the person who received a certain blackened portion was\ncalled the \"Beltane carline\" or \"devoted.\" A pretence was made of\nthrowing him into the fire, or he had to leap three times through it,\nand during the festival he was spoken of as \"dead.\"[924] Martin says\nthat malefactors were burned in the fire,[925] and though he cites no\nauthority, this agrees with the Celtic use of criminals as victims.\nPerhaps the victim was at one time a human representative of the\nvegetation-spirit.\n\nBeltane cakes or bannocks, perhaps made of the grain of the sacred last\nsheaf from the previous harvest, and therefore sacramental in character,\nwere also used in different ways in folk-survivals. They were rolled\ndown a slope--a magical imitative act, symbolising and aiding the course\nof the sun. The cake had also a divinatory character. If it broke on\nreaching the foot of the slope this indicated the approaching death of\nits owner. In another custom in Perthshire, part of a cake was thrown\nover the shoulder with the words, \"This I give to thee, preserve thou my\nhorses; this to thee, preserve thou my sheep; this to thee, O fox,\npreserve thou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded crow; this to thee, O\neagle.\" Here there is an appeal to beneficial and noxious powers,\nwhether this was the original intention of the rite.[926] But if the\ncakes were made of the last sheaf, they were probably at one time eaten\nsacramentally, their sacrificial use emerging later.\n\nThe bonfire was a sun-charm, representing and assisting the sun.\nRain-charms were also used at Beltane. Sacred wells were visited and the\nceremony performed with their waters, these perhaps being sprinkled over\nthe tree or the fields to promote a copious rainfall for the benefit of\nvegetation. The use of such rites at Beltane and at other festivals may\nhave given rise to the belief that wells were especially efficacious\nthen for purposes of healing. The custom of rolling in the grass to\nbenefit by May dew was probably connected with magical rites in which\nmoisture played an important part.[927]\n\nThe idea that the powers of growth had successfully combated those of\nblight may have been ritually represented. This is suggested by the\nmimic combats of Summer and Winter at this time, to which reference has\nalready been made. Again, the May king and queen represent earlier\npersonages who were regarded as embodying the spirits of vegetation and\nfertility at this festival, and whose marriage or union magically\nassisted growth and fertility, as in numerous examples of this ritual\nmarriage elsewhere.[928] It may be assumed that a considerable amount of\nsexual licence also took place with the same magical purpose. Sacred\nmarriage and festival orgy were an appeal to the forces of nature to\ncomplete their beneficial work, as well as a magical aid to them in that\nwork. Analogy leads to the supposition that the king of the May was\noriginally a priest-king, the incarnation of the spirit of vegetation.\nHe or his surrogate was slain, while his bodily force was unabated, in\norder that it might be passed on undiminished to his successor. But the\npersistent place given to the May queen rather than to the king suggests\nthe earlier prominence of women and of female spirits of fertility or of\na great Mother-goddess in such rites. It is also significant that in the\nPerthshire ritual the man chosen was still called the _Beltane carlane_\nor _cailleach_ (\"old woman\"). And if, as Professor Pearson maintains,\nwitch orgies are survivals of old sex-festivals, then the popular belief\nin the activity of witches on Beltane eve, also shows that the festival\nhad once been mainly one in which women took part. Such orgies often\ntook place on hills which had been the sites of a cult in former\ntimes.[929]\n\n\nMIDSUMMER.\n\n\nThe ritual of the Midsummer festival did not materially differ from that\nof Beltane, and as folk-survivals show, it was practised not only by the\nCelts, but by many other European peoples. It was, in fact, a primitive\nnature festival such as would readily be observed by all under similar\npsychic conditions and in like surroundings. A bonfire was again the\ncentral rite of this festival, the communal nature of which is seen in\nthe fact that all must contribute materials to it. In local survivals,\nmayor and priest, representing the earlier local chief and priest, were\npresent, while a service in church preceded the procession to the scene\nof the bonfire. Dancing sunwise round the fire to the accompaniment of\nsongs which probably took the place of hymns or tunes in honour of the\nSun-god, commonly occurred, and by imitating the sun's action, may have\nbeen intended to make it more powerful. The livelier the dance the\nbetter would be the harvest.[930] As the fire represented the sun, it\npossessed the purifying and invigorating powers of the sun; hence\nleaping through the fire preserved from disease, brought prosperity, or\nremoved barrenness. Hence also cattle were driven through the fire. But\nif any one stumbled as he leaped, ill-luck was supposed to follow him.\nHe was devoted to the _fadets_ or spirits,[931] and perhaps, like the\n\"devoted\" Beltane victim, he may formerly have been sacrificed. Animal\nsacrifices are certainly found in many survivals, the victims being\noften placed in osier baskets and thrown into the fire. In other\ndistricts great human effigies of osier were carried in procession and\nburned.[932]\n\nThe connection of such sacrifices with the periodical slaying of a\nrepresentative of the vegetation-spirit has been maintained by Mannhardt\nand Dr. Frazer.[933] As has been seen, periodic sacrifices for the\nfertility of the land are mentioned by C\u00e6sar, Strabo, and Diodorus,\nhuman victims and animals being enclosed in an osier image and\nburned.[934] These images survive in the osier effigies just referred\nto, while they may also be connected with the custom of decking the\nhuman representatives of the spirit of vegetation in greenery. The\nholocausts may be regarded as extensions of the earlier custom of\nslaying one victim, the incarnation of a vegetation-spirit. This slaying\nwas gradually regarded as sacrificial, but as the beneficial effect of\nthe sacrifice on growth was still believed in, it would naturally be\nthought that still better effects would be produced if many victims were\noffered. The victims were burned in a fire representing the sun, and\nvegetation was thus doubly benefited, by the victims and by the sun-god.\n\nThe oldest conception of the vegetation-spirit was that of a tree-spirit\nwhich had power over rain, sunshine, and every species of fruitfulness.\nFor this reason a tree had a prominent place both in the Beltane and\nMidsummer feasts. It was carried in procession, imparting its benefits\nto each house or field. Branches of it were attached to each house for\nthe same purpose. It was then burned, or it was set up to procure\nbenefits to vegetation during the year and burned at the next Midsummer\nfestival.[935] The sacred tree was probably an oak, and, as has been\nseen, the mistletoe rite probably took place on Midsummer eve, as a\npreliminary to cutting down the sacred tree and in order to secure the\nlife or soul of the tree, which must first be secured before the tree\ncould be cut down. The life of the tree was in the mistletoe, still\nalive in winter when the tree itself seemed to be dead. Such beliefs as\nthis concerning the detachable soul or life survive in _M\u00e4rchen_, and\nare still alive among savages.[936]\n\nFolk-survivals show that a human or an animal representative of the\nvegetation-spirit, brought into connection with the tree, was also slain\nor burned along with the tree.[937] Thus the cutting of the mistletoe\nwould be regarded as a preliminary to the slaying of the human victim,\nwho, like the tree, was the representative of the spirit of vegetation.\n\nThe bonfire representing the sun, and the victims, like the tree,\nrepresenting the spirit of vegetation, it is obvious why the fire had\nhealing and fertilising powers, and why its ashes and the ashes or the\nflesh of the victims possessed the same powers. Brands from the fire\nwere carried through the fields or villages, as the tree had been, or\nplaced on the fields or in houses, where they were carefully preserved\nfor a year. All this aided growth and prosperity, just as the smoke of\nthe fire, drifting over the fields, produced fertility. Ashes from the\nfire, and probably the calcined bones or even the flesh of the victims,\nwere scattered on the fields or preserved and mixed with the seed corn.\nAgain, part of the flesh may have been eaten sacramentally, since, as\nhas been seen, Pliny refers to the belief of the Celts in the eating of\nhuman flesh as most wholesome.\n\nIn the Stone Age, as with many savages, a circle typified the sun, and\nas soon as the wheel was invented its rolling motion at once suggested\nthat of the sun. In the _Edda_ the sun is \"the beautiful, the shining\nwheel,\" and similar expressions occur in the _Vedas_. Among the Celts\nthe wheel of the sun was a favourite piece of symbolism, and this is\nseen in various customs at the Midsummer festival. A burning wheel was\nrolled down a slope or trundled through the fields, or burning brands\nwere whirled round so as to give the impression of a fiery wheel. The\nintention was primarily to imitate the course of the sun through the\nheavens, and so, on the principle of imitative magic, to strengthen it.\nBut also, as the wheel was rolled through the fields, so it was hoped\nthat the direct beneficial action of the sun upon them would follow.\nSimilar rites might be performed not only at Midsummer, but at other\ntimes, to procure blessing or to ward off evil, e.g. carrying fire round\nhouses or fields or cattle or round a child _deiseil_ or sunwise,[938]\nand, by a further extension of thought, the blazing wheel, or the\nremains of the burning brands thrown to the winds, had also the effect\nof carrying off accumulated evils.[939]\n\nBeltane and Midsummer thus appear as twin halves of a spring or early\nsummer festival, the intention of which was to promote fertility and\nhealth. This was done by slaying the spirit of vegetation in his\nrepresentative--tree, animal, or man. His death quickened the energies\nof earth and man. The fire also magically assisted the course of the\nsun. Survival of the ancient rites are or were recently found in all\nCeltic regions, and have been constantly combated by the Church. But\nthough they were continued, their true meaning was forgotten, and they\nwere mainly performed for luck or out of sheer conservatism. Sometimes a\nChristian aspect was given to them, e.g. by connecting the fires with S.\nJohn, or by associating the rites with the service of the Church, or by\nthe clergy being present at them. But their true nature was still\nevident as acts of pagan worship and magic which no veneer of\nChristianity could ever quite conceal.[940]\n\n\nLUGNASAD.\n\n\nThe 1st of August, coming midway between Beltane and Samhain, was an\nimportant festival among the Celts. In Christian times the day became\nLammas, but its name still survives in Irish as Lugnasad, in Gaelic as\nLunasdal or Lunasduinn, and in Manx as Laa Luanys, and it is still\nobserved as a fair or feast in many districts. Formerly assemblies at\nconvenient centres were held on this day, not only for religious\npurposes, but for commerce and pleasure, both of these being of course\nsaturated with religion. \"All Ireland\" met at Taillti, just as \"all\nGaul\" met at Lugudunum, \"Lug's town,\" or Lyons, in honour of Augustus,\nthough the feast there had formerly been in honour of the god\nLugus.[941] The festival was here Romanised, as it was also in Britain,\nwhere its name appears as _Goel-aoust_, _Gul-austus_, and _Gwyl Awst_,\nnow the \"August feast,\" but formerly the \"feast of Augustus,\" the name\nhaving replaced one corresponding to Lugnasad.[942]\n\nCormac explains the name Lugnasad as a festival of Lugh mac Ethlenn,\ncelebrated by him in the beginning of autumn, and the _Rennes\nDindsenchas_ accounts for its origin by saying that Lug's foster-mother,\nTailtiu, having died on the Calends of August, he directed an assembly\nfor lamentation to be held annually on that day at her tomb.[943] Lug is\nthus the founder of his own festival, for that it was his, and not\nTailtiu's, is clear from the fact that his name is attached to it. As\nLammas was a Christian harvest thanksgiving, so also was Lugnasad a\npagan harvest feast, part of the ritual of which passed over to Samhain.\nThe people made glad before the sun-god--Lug perhaps having that\ncharacter--who had assisted them in the growth of the things on which\ntheir lives depended. Marriages were also arranged at this feast,\nprobably because men had now more leisure and more means for entering\nupon matrimony. Possibly promiscuous love-making also occurred as a\nresult of the festival gladness, agricultural districts being still\nnotoriously immoral. Some evidence points to the connection of the feast\nwith Lug's marriage, though this has been allegorised into his wedding\nthe \"sovereignty of Erin.\" Perhaps we have here a hint of the rite of\nthe sacred marriage, for the purpose of magically fertilising the fields\nagainst next year's sowing.\n\nDue observance of the feast produced abundance of corn, fruit, milk, and\nfish. Probably the ritual observed included the preservation of the last\nsheaf as representing the corn-spirit, giving some of it to the cattle\nto strengthen them, and mingling it with next year's corn to impart to\nit the power of the corn-spirit. It may also have included the slaying\nof an animal or human incarnation of the corn-spirit, whose flesh and\nblood quickened the soil and so produced abundance next year, or, when\npartaken of by the worshippers, brought blessings to them. To neglect\nsuch rites, abundant instances of which exist in folk-custom, would be\nheld to result in scarcity. This would also explain, as already\nsuggested, why the festival was associated with the death of Tailtiu or\nof Carman. The euhemerised queen-goddess Tailtiu and the woman Carman\nhad once been corn-goddesses, evolved from more primitive corn-spirits,\nand slain at the feast in their female representatives. The story of\ntheir death and burial at the festival was a dim memory of this ancient\nrite, and since the festival was also connected with the sun-god Lug, it\nwas easy to bring him into relationship with the earlier goddess.\nElsewhere the festival, in its memorial aspect, was associated with a\nking, probably because male victims had come to be representatives of a\ncorn-god who had taken the place of the goddess.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSome of the ritual of these festivals is illustrated by scattered\nnotices in classical writers, and on the whole they support our theory\nthat the festivals originated in a female cult of spirits or goddesses\nof fertility. Strabo speaks of sacrifices offered to Demeter and Kore,\naccording to the ritual followed at Samothrace, in an island near\nBritain, i.e. to native goddesses equated with them. He also describes\nthe ritual of the Namnite women on an island in the Loire. They are\ncalled Bacchantes because they conciliated Bacchus with mysteries and\nsacrifices; in other words, they observed an orgiastic cult of a god\nequated with Bacchus. No man must set foot on the island, but the women\nleft it once a year for intercourse with the other sex. Once a year the\ntemple of the god was unroofed, and roofed again before sunset. If any\nwoman dropped her load of materials (and it was said this always\nhappened), she was torn in pieces and her limbs carried round the\ntemple.[944] Dionysius Periegetes says the women were crowned with ivy,\nand celebrated their mysteries by night in honour of Earth and\nProserpine with great clamour.[945] Pliny also makes a reference to\nBritish rites in which nude women and girls took part, their bodies\nstained with woad.[946]\n\nAt a later time, S. Gregory of Tours speaks of the image of a goddess\nBerecynthia drawn on a litter through the streets, fields, and vineyards\nof Augustodunum on the days of her festival, or when the fields were\nthreatened with scarcity. The people danced and sang before it. The\nimage was covered with a white veil.[947] Berecynthia has been\nconjectured by Professor Anwyl to be the goddess Brigindu, worshipped at\nValnay.[948]\n\nThese rites were all directed towards divinities of fertility. But in\nharvest customs in Celtic Scotland and elsewhere two sheaves of corn\nwere called respectively the Old Woman and the Maiden, the corn-spirit\nof the past year and that of the year to come, and corresponding to\nDemeter and Kore in early Greek agricultural ritual. As in Greece, so\namong the Celts, the primitive corn-spirits had probably become more\nindividualised goddesses with an elaborate cult, observed on an island\nor at other sacred spots. The cult probably varied here and there, and\nthat of a god of fertility may have taken the place of the cult of\ngoddesses. A god was worshipped by the Namnite women, according to\nStrabo, goddesses according to Dionysius. The mangled victim was\nprobably regarded as representative of a divinity, and perhaps part of\nthe flesh was mixed with the seed-corn, like the grain of the Maiden\nsheaf, or buried in the earth. This rite is common among savages, and\nits presence in old European ritual is attested by survivals. That these\nrites were tabu to men probably points to the fact that they were\nexamples of an older general custom, in which all such rites were in the\nhands of women who cultivated the earth, and who were the natural\npriestesses of goddesses of growth and fertility, of vegetation and the\ngrowing corn. Another example is found in the legend and procession of\nGodiva at Coventry--the survival of a pagan cult from which men were\nexcluded.[949]\n\nPliny speaks of the nudity of the women engaged in the cult. Nudity is\nan essential part of all primitive agricultural rites, and painting the\nbody is also a widespread ritual act. Dressing with leaves or green\nstuff, as among the Namnite women, and often with the intention of\npersonating the spirit of vegetation, is also customary. By unveiling\nthe body, and especially the sexual organs, women more effectually\nrepresented the goddess of fertility, and more effectually as her\nrepresentatives, or through their own powers, magically conveyed\nfertility to the fields. Nakedness thus became a powerful\nmagico-religious symbol, and it is found as part of the ritual for\nproducing rain.[950]\n\nThere is thus abundant evidence of the cult of fertility, vegetation,\nand corn-spirits, who tended to become divinities, male or female. Here\nand there, through conservatism, the cult remained in the hands of\nwomen, but more generally it had become a ritual in which both men and\nwomen took part--that of the great agricultural festivals. Where a\ndivinity had taken the place of the vaguer spirits, her image, like that\nof Berecynthia, was used in the ritual, but the image was probably the\nsuccessor of the tree which embodied the vegetation-spirit, and was\ncarried through the fields to fertilise them. Similar processions of\nimages, often accompanied by a ritual washing of the image in order to\ninvigorate the divinity, or, as in the similar May-day custom, to\nproduce rain, are found in the Teutonic cult of Nerthus, the Phrygian of\nCybele, the Hindu of Bhavani, and the Roman ritual of the Bona Dea. The\nimage of Berecynthia was thus probably washed also. Washing the images\nof saints, usually to produce rain, has sometimes taken the place of the\nwashing of a divine image, and similarly the relics of a saint are\ncarried through a field, as was the tree or image. The community at Iona\nperambulated a newly sown field with S. Columba's relics in time of\ndrought, and shook his tunic three times in the air, and were rewarded\nby a plentiful rain, and later, by a bounteous harvest.[951]\n\nMany of these local cults were pre-Celtic, but we need not therefore\nsuppose that the Celts, or the Aryans as a whole, had no such\ncults.[952] The Aryans everywhere adopted local cults, but this they\nwould not have done if, as is supposed, they had themselves outgrown\nthem. The cults were local, but the Celts had similar local cults, and\neasily accepted those of the people they conquered. We cannot explain\nthe persistence of such primitive cults as lie behind the great Celtic\nfestivals, both in classical times and over the whole area of Europe\namong the peasantry, by referring them solely to a pre-Aryan folk. They\nwere as much Aryan as pre-Aryan. They belong to those unchanging strata\nof religion which have so largely supplied the soil in which its later\nand more spiritual growths have flourished. And among these they still\nemerge, unchanged and unchanging, like the gaunt outcrops of some\nancient rock formation amid rich vegetation and fragrant flowers.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[889] Pliny, xvi. 45; C\u00e6sar, vi. 18. See my article \"Calendar (Celtic)\"\nin Hastings' _Encyclop\u00e6dia of Rel. and Ethics_, iii. 78 f., for a full\ndiscussion of the problems involved.\n\n[890] O'Donovan, _Book of Rights_, Intro. lii f.\n\n[891] O'Donovan, li.; Bertrand, 105; Keating, 300.\n\n[892] Samhain may mean \"summer-end,\" from _sam_, \"summer,\" and _fuin_,\n\"sunset\" or \"end,\" but Dr. Stokes (_US_ 293) makes _samani_- mean\n\"assembly,\" i.e. the gathering of the people to keep the feast.\n\n[893] Keating, 125, 300.\n\n[894] See MacBain, _CM_ ix. 328.\n\n[895] Brand, i. 390; Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth\nCentury_, ii. 437; _Stat. Account_, xi. 621.\n\n[896] Hazlitt, 297-298, 340; Campbell, _Witchcraft_, 285 f.\n\n[897] Curtin, 72.\n\n[898] Fitzgerald, _RC_ vi. 254.\n\n[899] See Chambers, _Medi\u00e6val Stage_, App. N, for the evidence from\ncanons and councils regarding these.\n\n[900] Tille, _Yule and Christmas_, 96.\n\n[901] Chambers, _Popular Rhymes_, 166.\n\n[902] Hutchinson, _View of Northumberland_, ii. 45; Thomas, _Rev. de\nl'Hist. des Rel._ xxxviii. 335 f.\n\n[903] _Patrol. Lot._ xxxix. 2001.\n\n[904] _IT_ i. 205; _RC_ v. 331; Leahy, i. 57.\n\n[905] See p. 169, _supra_.\n\n[906] The writer has himself seen such bonfires in the Highlands. See\nalso Hazlitt, 298; Pennant, _Tour_, ii. 47; Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 515, _CFL_ i.\n225-226. In Egyptian mythology, Typhon assailed Horus in the form of a\nblack swine.\n\n[907] Keating, 300.\n\n[908] Joyce, _SH_ ii. 556; _RC_ x. 214, 225, xxiv. 172; O'Grady, ii.\n374; _CM_ ix. 209.\n\n[909] See Mannhardt, _Mythol. Forschung._ 333 f.; Frazer, _Adonis_,\n_passim_; Thomas, _Rev. de l'Hist. des Rel._ xxxviii. 325 f.\n\n[910] Hazlitt, 35; Chambers, _Medi\u00e6val Stage_, i. 261.\n\n[911] Chambers, _Book of Days_, ii. 492; Hazlitt, 131.\n\n[912] Hazlitt, 97; Davies, _Extracts from Munic. Records of York_, 270.\n\n[913] See p. 237, _supra_; _LL_ 16, 213.\n\n[914] Chambers, _Med. Stage_, i. 250 f.\n\n[915] Cormac, _s.v._ \"Belltaine,\" \"Bel\"; _Arch. Rev._ i. 232.\n\n[916] D'Arbois, ii. 136.\n\n[917] Stokes, _US_ 125, 164. See his earlier derivation, dividing the\nword into _belt_, connected with Lithuan. _baltas_, \"white,\" and _aine_,\nthe termination in _sechtmaine_, \"week\" (_TIG_ xxxv.).\n\n[918] Need-fire (Gael. _Teinne-eiginn_, \"necessity fire\") was used to\nkindle fire in time of cattle plague. See Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 608 f.;\nMartin, 113; Jamieson's _Dictionary_, _s.v._ \"neidfyre.\"\n\n[919] Cormac, _s.v._; Martin, 105, says that the Druids extinguished all\nfires until their dues were paid. This may have been a tradition in the\nHebrides.\n\n[920] Joyce, _PN_ i. 216; Hone, _Everyday Book_, i. 849, ii. 595.\n\n[921] Pennant, _Tour in Scotland_, i. 291.\n\n[922] Hazlitt, 339, 397.\n\n[923] Hone, _Everyday Book_, ii. 595. See p. 215, _supra_.\n\n[924] Sinclair, _Stat. Account_, xi. 620.\n\n[925] Martin, 105.\n\n[926] For these usages see Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the\nEighteenth Century_, ii. 439 f.; Sinclair, _Stat. Account_, v. 84, xi.\n620, xv. 517. For the sacramental and sacrificial use of similar loaves,\nsee Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, i. 94, ii. 78; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ iii.\n1239 f.\n\n[927] _New Stat. Account_, Wigtownshire, 208; Hazlitt, 38, 323, 340.\n\n[928] See Miss Owen, _Folk-lore of the Musquakie Indians_, 50; Frazer,\n_Golden Bough_{2}, ii. 205.\n\n[929] For notices of Beltane survivals see Keating, 300; Campbell,\n_Journey from Edinburgh_, i. 143; Ramsay, _Scotland and Scotsmen_, ii.\n439 f.; _Old Stat. Account_, v. 84, xi. 620, xv. 517; Gregor, _Folk-lore\nof N.E. of Scotland_, 167. The paganism of the survivals is seen in the\nfact that Beltane fires were frequently prohibited by Scottish\necclesiastical councils.\n\n[930] Meyrac, _Traditions ... des Ardennes_, 68.\n\n[931] Bertrand, 119.\n\n[932] Ibid. 407; Gaidoz, 21; Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, 514, 523; Brand,\ni. 8, 323.\n\n[933] Mannhardt, _op. cit._ 525 f.; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, iii. 319.\n\n[934] P. 234, _supra_.\n\n[935] Frazer, _op. cit._ i. 74; Brand, i. 222, 237, 246, 318; Hone,\n_Everyday Book_, ii. 595; Mannhardt, _op. cit._ 177; Grimm, _Teut.\nMyth._ 621, 777 f.\n\n[936] See my _Childhood of Fiction_, ch. v.\n\n[937] Frazer, i. 82, ii. 247 f., 275; Mannhardt, 315 f.\n\n[938] Martin, 117. The custom of walking _deiseil_ round an object still\nsurvives, and, as an imitation of the sun's course, it is supposed to\nbring good luck or ward off evil. For the same reason the right hand\nturn was of good augury. Medb's charioteer, as she departed for the war,\nmade her chariot turn to the right to repel evil omens (_LU_ 55).\nCuriously enough, Pliny (xxviii. 2) says that the Gauls preferred the\nleft-hand turn in their religious rites, though Athen\u00e6us refers to the\nright-hand turn among them. _Deiseil_ is from _dekso-s_, \"right,\" and\n_svel_, \"to turn.\"\n\n[939] Hone, i. 846; Hazlitt, ii. 346.\n\n[940] This account of the Midsummer ritual is based on notices found in\nHone, _Everyday Book_; Hazlitt, ii. 347 f.; Gaidoz, _Le Dieu Soleil_;\nBertrand; Deloche, _RC_ ix. 435; _Folk-Lore_, xii. 315; Frazer, _Golden\nBough_{2}, iii. 266 f.; Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ ii. 617 f.; Monnier, 186 f.\n\n[941] _RC_ xvi. 51; Guiraud, _Les Assembl\u00e9es provinciales dans l'Empire\nRomain_.\n\n[942] D'Arbois, i. 215, _Les Celtes_, 44; Loth, _Annales de Bretagne_,\nxiii. No. 2.\n\n[943] _RC_ xvi. 51.\n\n[944] Strabo, iv. 4. 6.\n\n[945] Dion. Per. v. 570.\n\n[946] Pliny, xxii. 1.\n\n[947] Greg, _de Glor. Conf._ 477; Sulp. Sev. _Vita S. Martini_, 9; Pass.\nS. Symphor. Migne, _Pat. Graec._ v. 1463, 1466. The cult of Cybele had\nbeen introduced into Gaul, and the ritual here described resembles it,\nbut we are evidently dealing here with the cult of a native goddess.\nSee, however, Frazer, _Adonis_, 176.\n\n[948] Anwyl, _Celtic Religion_, 41.\n\n[949] See Hartland, _Science of Fairy-Tales_, 84 f.\n\n[950] Professor Rh[^y]s suggests that nudity, being a frequent symbol of\nsubmission to a conqueror, acquired a similar significance in religious\nrites (_AL_ 180). But the magical aspect of nudity came first in time.\n\n[951] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._ ii. 45.\n\n[952] See Gomme, _Ethnology in Folk-lore_, 30 f., _Village Community_,\n114.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nACCESSORIES OF CULT.\n\nTEMPLES.\n\n\nIn primitive religion the place of worship is seldom a temple made with\nhands, but rather an enclosed space in which the symbol or image of the\ngod stands. The sacredness of the god makes the place of his cult\nsacred. Often an open space in the forest is the scene of the regular\ncult. There the priests perform the sacred rites; none may enter it but\nthemselves; and the trembling worshipper approaches it with awe lest the\ngod should slay him if he came too near.\n\nThe earliest temples of the Gauls were sacred groves, one of which, near\nMassilia, is described by Lucan. No bird built in it, no animal lurked\nnear, the leaves constantly shivered when no breeze stirred them. Altars\nstood in its midst, and the images of the gods were misshapen trunks of\ntrees. Every tree was stained with sacrificial blood. The poet then\ndescribes marvels heard or seen in the grove--the earth groaning, dead\nyews reviving, trees surrounded with flame yet not consumed, and huge\nserpents twining round the oaks. The people feared to approach the\ngrove, and even the priest would not walk there at midday or midnight\nlest he should then meet its divine guardian.[953] Dio speaks of human\nsacrifices offered to Andrasta in a British grove, and in 61 A.D. the\nwoods of Mona, devoted to strange rites, were cut down by Roman\nsoldiers.[954] The sacred _Dru-nemeton_ of the Galatian Celts may have\nbeen a grove.[955] Place-names also point to the widespread existence of\nsuch groves, since the word _nemeton_, \"grove,\" occurs in many of them,\nshowing that the places so called had been sites of a cult. In Ireland,\n_fid-nemed_ stood for \"sacred grove.\"[956] The ancient groves were still\nthe objects of veneration in Christian times, though fines were levied\nagainst those who still clung to the old ways.[957]\n\nSacred groves were still used in Gallo-Roman times, and the Druids may\nhave had a preference for them, a preference which may underlie the\nwords of the scholiast on Lucan, that \"the Druids worship the gods\nwithout temples in woods.\" But probably more elaborate temples, great\ntribal sanctuaries, existed side by side with these local groves,\nespecially in Cisalpine Gaul, where the Boii had a temple in which were\nstored the spoils of war, while the Insubri had a similar temple.[958]\nThese were certainly buildings. The \"consecrated place\" in Transalpine\nGaul, which C\u00e6sar mentions, and where at fixed periods judgments were\ngiven, might be either a grove or a temple. C\u00e6sar uses the same phrase\nfor sacred places where the spoils of war were heaped; these may have\nbeen groves, but Diodorus speaks of treasure collected in \"temples and\nsacred places\" ([Greek: en tois hierois chai temenesin]), and Plutarch\nspeaks of the \"temple\" where the Arverni hung C\u00e6sar's sword.[959] The\n\"temple\" of the Namnite women, unroofed and re-roofed in a day, must\nhave been a building. There is no evidence that the insular Celts had\ntemples. In Gallo-Roman times, elaborate temples, perhaps occupying\nsites of earlier groves or temples, sprang up over the Romano-Celtic\narea. They were built on Roman models, many of them were of great size,\nand they were dedicated to Roman or Gallo-Roman divinities.[960] Smaller\nshrines were built by grateful worshippers at sacred springs to their\npresiding divinity, as many inscriptions show. In the temples stood\nimages of the gods, and here were stored sacred vessels, sometimes made\nof the skulls of enemies, spoils of war dedicated to the gods, money\ncollected for sacred purposes, and war standards, especially those which\nbore divine symbols.\n\nThe old idea that stone circles were Druidic temples, that human\nsacrifices were offered on the \"altar-stone,\" and libations of blood\npoured into the cup-markings, must be given up, along with much of the\nastronomical lore associated with the circles. Stonehenge dates from the\nclose of the Neolithic Age, and most of the smaller circles belong to\nthe early Bronze Age, and are probably pre-Celtic. In any case they were\nprimarily places of sepulture. As such they would be the scene of\nancestor worship, but yet not temples in the strict sense of the word.\nThe larger circles, burial-places of great chiefs or kings, would become\ncentral places for the recurring rites of ghost-worship, possibly also\nrallying places of the tribe on stated occasions. But whether this\nghost-worship was ever transmuted into the cult of a god at the circles\nis uncertain and, indeed, unlikely. The Celts would naturally regard\nthese places as sacred, since the ghosts of the dead, even those of a\nvanquished people, are always dangerous, and they also took over the\nmyths and legends[961] associated with them, such, e.g., as regarded the\nstones themselves, or trees growing within the circles, as embodiments\nof the dead, while they may also have used them as occasional places of\nsecondary interment. Whether they were ever led to copy such circles\nthemselves is uncertain, since their own methods of interment seem to\nhave been different. We have seen that the gods may in some cases have\nbeen worshipped at tumuli, and that Lugnasad was, at some centres,\nconnected with commemorative cults at burial-places (mounds, not\ncircles). But the reasons for this are obscure, nor is there any hint\nthat other Celtic festivals were held near burial mounds. Probably such\ncommemorative rites at places of sepulture during Lugnasad were only\npart of a wider series occurring elsewhere, and we cannot assume from\nsuch vague notices that stone circles were Druidic temples where worship\nof an Oriental nature was carried on.\n\nProfessor Rh[^y]s is disposed to accept the old idea that Stonehenge was\nthe temple of Apollo in the island of the Hyperboreans, mentioned by\nDiodorus, where the sun-god was worshipped.[962] But though that temple\nwas circular, it had walls adorned with votive offerings. Nor does the\ntemple unroofed yearly by the Namnite women imply a stone circle, for\nthere is not the slightest particle of evidence that the circles were\never roofed in any way.[963] Stone circles with mystic trees growing in\nthem, one of them with a well by which entrance was gained to T\u00edr fa\nTonn, are mentioned in Irish tales. They were connected with magic\nrites, but are not spoken of as temples.[964]\n\n\nALTARS.\n\n\nLucan describes realistically the awful sacrifices of the Gauls on cruel\naltars not a whit milder than those of Diana, and he speaks of \"altars\npiled with offerings\" in the sacred grove at Marseilles.[965] Cicero\nsays that human victims were sacrificed on altars, and Tacitus describes\nthe altars of Mona smeared with human blood.[966] \"Druids' altars\" are\nmentioned in the Irish \"Expedition of Dathi,\" and Cormac speaks of\n_indelba_, or altars adorned with emblems.[967] Probably many of these\naltars were mere heaps of stone like the Norse _horg_, or a great block\nof stone. Some sacrifices, however, were too extensive to be offered on\nan altar, but in such cases the blood would be sprinkled upon it. Under\nRoman influence, Celtic altars took the form of those of the conquerors,\nwith inscriptions containing names of native or Roman gods and\nbas-reliefs depicting some of these. The old idea that dolmens were\nCeltic altars is now abandoned. They were places of sepulture of the\nNeolithic or early Bronze Age, and were originally covered with a mound\nof earth. During the era of Celtic paganism they were therefore hidden\nfrom sight, and it is only in later times that the earth has been\nremoved and the massive stones, arranged so as to form a species of\nchamber, have been laid bare.\n\n\nIMAGES.\n\n\nThe Gauls, according to C\u00e6sar, possessed _plurima simulacra_ of the\nnative Mercury, but he does not refer to images of other gods. We need\nnot infer from this that the Celts had a prejudice against images, for\namong the Irish Celts images are often mentioned, and in Gaul under\nRoman rule many images existed.\n\nThe existence of images among the Celts as among other peoples, may owe\nsomething to the cult of trees and of stones set up over the dead. The\nstone, associated with the dead man's spirit, became an image of\nhimself, perhaps rudely fashioned in his likeness. A rough-hewn tree\ntrunk became an image of the spirit or god of trees. On the other hand,\nsome anthropomorphic images, like the pal\u00e6olithic or Mycen\u00e6an figurines,\nmay have been fashioned without the intermediary of tree-trunk or stone\npillar. Maximus of Tyre says that the Celtic image of Zeus was a lofty\noak, perhaps a rough-hewn trunk rather than a growing tree, and such\nroughly carved tree-trunks, images of gods, are referred to by Lucan in\nhis description of the Massilian grove.[968] Pillar stones set up over\nthe graves of the dead are often mentioned in Irish texts. These would\ncertainly be associated with the dead; indeed, existing legends show\nthat they were believed to be tenanted by the ghosts and to have the\npower of motion. This suggests that they had been regarded as images of\nthe dead. Other stones honoured in Ireland were the _cloch labrais_, an\noracular stone; the _lia fail_, or coronation stone, which shouted when\na king of the Milesian race seated himself upon it; and the _lia\nadrada_, or stone of adoration, apparently a boundary stone.[969] The\n_plurima simulacra_ of the Gaulish Mercury may have been boundary stones\nlike those dedicated to Mercury or Hermes among the Romans and Greeks.\nDid C\u00e6sar conclude, or was it actually the case, that the Gauls\ndedicated such stones to a god of boundaries who might be equated with\nMercury? Many such standing stones still exist in France, and their\nnumber must have been greater in C\u00e6sar's time. Seeing them the objects\nof superstitious observances, he may have concluded that they were\n_simulacra_ of a god. Other Romans besides himself had been struck by\nthe resemblance of these stones to their Hermai, and perhaps the Gauls,\nif they did not already regard them as symbols of a god, acquiesced in\nthe resemblance. Thus, on the menhir of Kervadel are sculptured four\nfigures, one being that of Mercury, dating from Gallo-Roman times.\nBeneath another, near Peronne, a bronze statuette of Mercury was\ndiscovered.[970] This would seem to show that the Gauls had a cult of\npillar stones associated with a god of boundaries. C\u00e6sar probably uses\nthe word _simulacrum_ in the sense of \"symbol\" rather than \"image,\"\nthough he may have meant native images not fully carved in human shape,\nlike the Irish _c\u00e9rmand_, _cerstach_, ornamented with gold and silver,\nthe \"chief idol\" of north Ireland, or like the similarly ornamented\n\"images\" of Cromm Cruaich and his satellites.[971] The adoration of\nsacred stones continued into Christian times and was much opposed by the\nChurch.[972] S. Samson of Dol (sixth century) found men dancing round a\n_simulacrum abominabile_, which seems to have been a kind of standing\nstone, and having besought them to desist, he carved a cross upon\nit.[973] Several _menhirion_ in France are now similarly\nornamented.[974]\n\nThe number of existing Gallo-Roman images shows that the Celts had not\nadopted a custom which was foreign to them, and they must have already\npossessed rude native images. The disappearance of these would be\nexplained if they were made of perishable material. Wooden images of the\n_Matres_ have been occasionally found, and these may be pre-Roman. Some\nof the images of the three-headed and crouching gods show no sign of\nRoman influences in their modelling, and they may have been copied from\nearlier images of wood. We also find divine figures on pre-Roman\ncoins.[975] Certain passages in classical writings point to the\nexistence of native images. A statue of a goddess existed in a temple at\nMarseilles, according to Justin, and the Galatian Celts had images of\nthe native Juppiter and Artemis, while the conquering Celts who entered\nRome bowed to the seated senators as to statues of the gods.[976] The\nGauls placed rich ornaments on the images of the gods, and presumably\nthese were native \"idols.\"\n\n\"Idols\" are frequently mentioned in Irish texts, and there is no doubt\nthat these mean images.[977] Cormac mac Art refused to worship \"idols,\"\nand was punished by the Druids.[978] The idols of Cromm Cruaich and his\nsatellites, referred to in the _Dindsenchas_, were carved to represent\nthe human form; the chief one was of gold, the others of stone. These\nwere miraculously overthrown by S. Patrick; but in the account of the\nmiracle the chief idol was of stone adorned with gold and silver, the\nothers, numbering twelve, were ornamented with bronze.[979] They stood\nin Mag Slecht, and similar sacred places with groups of images evidently\nexisted elsewhere, e.g. at Rath Archaill, \"where the Druid's altars and\nimages are.\"[980] The lady Cessair, before coming to Ireland, is said to\nhave taken advice of her _laimh-dhia_, or \"hand gods,\" perhaps small\nimages used for divination.[981]\n\nFor the British Celts the evidence is slender, but idolatry in the sense\nof \"image-worship\" is frequently mentioned in the lives of early\nsaints.[982] Gildas also speaks of images \"mouldering away within and\nwithout the deserted temples, with stiff and deformed features.\"[983]\nThis pathetic picture of the forsaken shrines of forgotten gods may\nrefer to Romano-Celtic images, but the \"stiff and deformed features\"\nsuggest rather native art, the art of a people unskilful at reproducing\nthe human form, however artistic they may have been in other directions.\n\nIf the native Celts of Ireland had images, there is no reason to\nsuppose, especially considering the evidence just adduced, that the\nGauls, or at least the Druids, were antagonistic to images. This last is\nM. Reinach's theory, part of a wider hypothesis that the Druids were\npre-Celtic, but became the priests of the Celts, who till then had no\npriests. The Druids prohibited image-worship, and this prohibition\nexisted in Gaul, _ex hypothesi_, from the end of pal\u00e6olithic times.\nPythagoras and his school were opposed to image-worship, and the\nclassical writers claimed a connection between the Pythagoreans and the\nDruids. M. Reinach thinks there must have been some analogy between\nthem, and that was hostility to anthropomorphism. But the analogy is\ndistinctly stated to have lain in the doctrine of immortality or\nmetempsychosis. Had the Druids been opposed to image-worship, classical\nobservers could not have failed to notice the fact. M. Reinach then\nargues that the Druids caused the erection of the megalithic monuments\nin Gaul, symbols not images. They are thus Druidic, though not Celtic.\nThe monuments argue a powerful priesthood; the Druids were a powerful\npriesthood; therefore the Druids caused the monuments to be built. This\nis not a powerful argument![984]\n\nAs has been seen, some purely Celtic images existed in Gaul. The Gauls,\nwho used nothing but wood for their houses, probably knew little of the\nart of carving stone. They would therefore make most of their images of\nwood--a perishable material. The insular Celts had images, and if, as\nC\u00e6sar maintained, the Druids came from Britain to Gaul, this points at\nleast to a similarity of cult in the two regions. Youthful Gauls who\naspired to Druidic knowledge went to Britain to obtain it. Would the\nDruids of Gaul have permitted this, had they been iconoclasts? No single\ntext shows that the Druids had any antipathy to images, while the Gauls\ncertainly had images of worshipful animals. Further, even if the Druids\nwere priests of a pre-Celtic folk, they must have permitted the making\nof images, since many \"menhir-statues\" exist on French soil, at Aveyron,\nTarn, and elsewhere.[985] The Celts were in constant contact with\nimage-worshipping peoples, and could hardly have failed to be influenced\nby them, even if such a priestly prohibition existed, just as Israel\nsuccumbed to images in spite of divine commands. That they would have\nbeen thus influenced is seen from the number of images of all kinds\ndating from the period after the Roman conquest.\n\nIncidental proofs of the fondness of the Celts for images are found in\necclesiastical writings and in late survivals. The procession of the\nimage of Berecynthia has already been described, and such processions\nwere common in Gaul, and imply a regular folk-custom. S. Martin of Tours\nstopped a funeral procession believing it to be such a pagan rite.[986]\nCouncils and edicts prohibited these processions in Gaul, but a more\neffectual way was to Christianise them. The Rogation tide processions\nwith crucifix and Madonna, and the carrying of S. John's image at the\nMidsummer festivals, were a direct continuation of the older practices.\nImages were often broken by Christian saints in Gaul, as they had been\nover-turned by S. Patrick in Ireland. \"Stiff and deformed\" many of them\nmust have been, if one may judge from the _Groah-goard_ or \"Venus of\nQuinipily,\" for centuries the object of superstitious rites in\nBrittany.[987] With it may be compared the fetich-stone or image of\nwhich an old woman in the island of Inniskea, the guardian of a sacred\nwell, had charge. It was kept wrapped up to hide it from profane eyes,\nbut at certain periods it was brought out for adoration.[988]\n\nThe images and bas-reliefs of the Gallo-Roman period fall mainly into\ntwo classes. In the first class are those representing native\ndivinities, like Esus, Tarvos Trigaranos, Smertullos, Cernunnos, the\nhorned and crouching gods, the god with the hammer, and the god with the\nwheel. Busts and statues of some water-goddesses exist, but more\nnumerous are the representations of Epona. One of these is provided with\na box pedestal in which offerings might be placed. The _Matres_ are\nfrequently figured, usually as three seated figures with baskets of\nfruit or flowers, or with one or more infants, like the Madonna. Images\nof triple-headed gods, supposed to be Cernunnos, have been found, but\nare difficult to place in any category.[989]\n\nTo the images of the second class is usually attached the Roman name of\na god, but generally the native Celtic name is added, but the images\nthemselves are of the traditional Roman type. Among statues and\nstatuettes of bronze, that of Mercury occurs most often. This may point\nto the fact that C\u00e6sar's _simulacra_ of the native Mercury were images,\nand that the old preference for representing this god continued in Roman\ntimes. Small figures of divinities in white clay have been found in\nlarge numbers, and may have been _ex votos_ or images of household\n_lararia_.[990]\n\n\nSYMBOLS.\n\n\nImages of the gods in Gaul can be classified by means of their\nsymbols--the mallet and cup (a symbol of plenty) borne by the god with\nthe hammer, the wheel of the sun-god, the cornucopia and torque carried\nby Cernunnos. Other symbols occur on images, altars, monuments, and\ncoins. These are the swastika and triskele, probably symbols of the\nsun;[991] single or concentric circles, sometimes with rays;[992]\ncrosses; and a curious S figure. The triskele and the circles are\nsometimes found on faces figured on coins. They may therefore have been\ntattoo markings of a symbolic character. The circle and cross are often\nincised on bronze images of Dispater. Much speculation has been aroused\nby the S figure, which occurs on coins, while nine models of this symbol\nhang from a ring carried by the god with the wheel, but the most\nprobable is that which sees in it a thunderbolt.[993] But lacking any\nold text interpreting these various symbols, all explanations of them\nmust be conjectural. Some of them are not purely Celtic, but are of\nworld-wide occurrence.\n\n\nCULT OF WEAPONS.\n\n\nHere some reference may be made to the Celtic cult of weapons. As has\nbeen seen, a hammer is the symbol of one god, and it is not unlikely\nthat a cult of the hammer had preceded that of the god to whom the\nhammer was given as a symbol. Esus is also represented with an axe. We\nneed not repeat what has already been said regarding the primitive and\nuniversal cult of hammer or axe,[994] but it is interesting to notice,\nin connection with other evidence for a Celtic cult of weapons, that\nthere is every reason to believe that the phrase _sub ascia dedicare_,\nwhich occurs in inscriptions on tombs from Gallia Lugdunensis, usually\nwith the figure of an axe incised on the stone, points to the cult of\nthe axe, or of a god whose symbol the axe was.[995] In Irish texts the\npower of speech is attributed to weapons, but, according to the\nChristian scribe, this was because demons spoke from them, for the\npeople worshipped arms in those days.[996] Thus it may have been\nbelieved that spirits tenanted weapons, or that weapons had souls.\nEvidence of the cult itself is found in the fact that on Gaulish coins a\nsword is figured, stuck in the ground, or driving a chariot, or with a\nwarrior dancing before it, or held in the hand of a dancing\nwarrior.[997] The latter are ritual acts, and resemble that described by\nSpenser as performed by Irish warriors in his day, who said prayers or\nincantations before a sword stuck in the earth.[998] Swords were also\naddressed in songs composed by Irish bards, and traditional remains of\nsuch songs are found in Brittany.[999] They represent the chants of the\nancient cult. Oaths were taken by weapons, and the weapons were believed\nto turn against those who lied.[1000] The magical power of weapons,\nespecially of those over which incantations had been said, is frequently\nreferred to in traditional tales and Irish texts.[1001] A reminiscence\nof the cult or of the magical power of weapons may be found in the\nwonderful \"glaives of light\" of Celtic folk-tales, and the similar\nmystical weapon of the Arthurian romances.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[953] Lucan, _Pharsalia_, iii. 399 f.\n\n[954] Dio Cass. lxii. 7; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30.\n\n[955] Strabo, xii. 51. _Drunemeton_ may mean \"great temple\" (D'Arbois,\n_Les Celtes_, 203).\n\n[956] _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 164.\n\n[957] Holder, ii. 712. Cf. \"Indiculus\" in Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ 1739, \"de\nsacris silvarum, quas nimidas (= nemeta) vocant.\"\n\n[958] Livy, xxiii. 24; Polyb. ii. 32.\n\n[959] C\u00e6sar, vi. 13, 17; Diod. Sic. v. 27; Plutarch, _C\u00e6sar_, 26.\n\n[960] See examples in Dom Martin, i. 134 f.; cf. Greg. Tours, _Hist.\nFranc._ i. 30.\n\n[961] See Reinach, \"Les monuments de pierre brute dans le langage et les\ncroyances populaires,\" _Rev. Arch._ 1893, i. 339; Evans, \"The Roll-Right\nStones,\" _Folk-Lore_, vi. 20 f.\n\n[962] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 194; Diod. Sic. ii. 47.\n\n[963] Rh[^y]s, 197.\n\n[964] Joyce, _OCR_ 246; Kennedy, 271.\n\n[965] Lucan, i. 443, iii. 399f.\n\n[966] Cicero, _pro Fonteio_, x. 21; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30. Cf. Pomp. Mela,\niii. 2. 18.\n\n[967] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 284; Cormac, 94. Cf. _IT_ iii. 211, for the\npractice of circumambulating altars.\n\n[968] Max. Tyr. _Dissert._ viii. 8; Lucan, iii. 412f.\n\n[969] _Antient Laws of Ireland_, iv. 142.\n\n[970] _Rev. Arch._ i. pl. iii-v.; Reinach, _RC_ xi. 224, xiii. 190.\n\n[971] Stokes, _Martyr. of Oengus_, 186-187.\n\n[972] See the Twenty-third Canon of Council of Arles, the Twenty-third\nof the Council of Tours, 567, and ch. 65 of the _Capitularia_, 789.\n\n[973] Mabillon, _Acta_, i. 177.\n\n[974] Reinach, _Rev. Arch._ 1893, xxi. 335.\n\n[975] Blanchet, i. 152-153, 386.\n\n[976] Justin, xliii. 5; Strabo, xii. 5. 2; Plutarch, _de Virt. Mul._\nxx.; Livy, v. 41.\n\n[977] Cormac, 94.\n\n[978] Keating, 356. See also Stokes, _Martyr. of Oengus_, 186; _RC_ xii.\n427, \u00a7 15; Joyce, _SH_ 274 f.\n\n[979] _LL_ 213_b_; _Trip. Life_, i. 90, 93.\n\n[980] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 284.\n\n[981] Keating, 49.\n\n[982] Jocelyn, _Vita S. Kentig._ 27, 32, 34; Ailred, _Vita S. Ninian._\n6.\n\n[983] Gildas, \u00a7 4.\n\n[984] For the whole argument see Reinach, _RC_ xiii. 189 f. Bertrand,\n_Rev. Arch._ xv. 345, supports a similar theory, and, according to both\nwriters, Gallo-Roman art was the result of the weakening of Druidic\npower by the Romans.\n\n[985] L'Abb\u00e9 Hermet, Assoc. pour l'avancement des Sciences, _Compte\nRendu_, 1900, ii. 747; _L'Anthropologie_, v. 147.\n\n[986] _Corp. Scrip. Eccl. Lat._ i. 122.\n\n[987] Monnier, 362. The image bears part of an inscription ... LIT...\nand it has been thought that this read ILITHYIA originally. The name is\nin keeping with the rites still in use before the image. This would make\nit date from Roman times. If so, it is a poor specimen of the art of the\nperiod. But it may be an old native image to which later the name of the\nRoman goddess was given.\n\n[988] Roden, _Progress of the Reformation in Ireland_, 51. The image was\nstill existing in 1851.\n\n[989] For figures of most of these, see _Rev. Arch._ vols. xvi., xviii.,\nxix., xxxvi.; _RC_ xvii. 45, xviii. 254, xx. 309, xxii. 159, xxiv. 221;\nBertrand, _passim_; Courcelle-Seneuil, _Les Dieux Gaulois d'apres les\nMonuments Figures_, Paris, 1910.\n\n[990] See Courcelle-Seneuil, _op. cit._; Reinach, _BF passim_,\n_Catalogue Sommaire du Mus\u00e9e des Ant. nat._{4} 115-116.\n\n[991] Reinach, _Catal._ 29, 87; _Rev. Arch._ xvi. 17; Blanchet, i. 169,\n316; Huchet, _L'art gaulois_, ii. 8.\n\n[992] Blanchet, i. 158; Reinach, _BF_ 143, 150, 152.\n\n[993] Blanchet, i. 17; Flouest, _Deux St\u00e8les_ (Append.), Paris, 1885;\nReinach, _BF_ 33.\n\n[994] P. 30, _supra_.\n\n[995] Hirschfeld in _CIL_ xiii. 256.\n\n[996] _RC_ xii. 107; Joyce, _SH_ i. 131.\n\n[997] Blanchet, i. 160 f.; Muret de la Tour, _Catalogue_, 6922, 6941,\netc.\n\n[998] _View of the State of Ireland_, 57.\n\n[999] _RC_ xx. 7; Martin, _\u00c9tudes de la Myth. Celt._ 164.\n\n[1000] _IT_ i. 206; _RC_ ix. 144.\n\n[1001] _CM_ xiii. 168 f.; Miss Hull, 44, 221, 223.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nTHE DRUIDS.\n\n\nPliny thought that the name \"Druid\" was a Greek appellation derived from\nthe Druidic cult of the oak ([Greek: _drus_]).[1002] The word, however,\nis purely Celtic, and its meaning probably implies that, like the\nsorcerer and medicine-man everywhere, the Druid was regarded as \"the\nknowing one.\" It is composed of two parts--_dru_-, regarded by M.\nD'Arbois as an intensive, and _vids_, from _vid_, \"to know,\" or\n\"see.\"[1003] Hence the Druid was \"the very knowing or wise one.\" It is\npossible, however, that _dru_- is connected with the root which gives\nthe word \"oak\" in Celtic speech--Gaulish _deruo_, Irish _dair_, Welsh\n_derw_--and that the oak, occupying a place in the cult, was thus\nbrought into relation with the name of the priesthood. The Gaulish form\nof the name was probably _druis_, the Old Irish was _drai_. The modern\nforms in Irish and Scots Gaelic, _drui_ and _draoi_ mean \"sorcerer.\"\n\nM. D'Arbois and others, accepting C\u00e6sar's dictum that \"the system (of\nDruidism) is thought to have been devised in Britain, and brought thence\ninto Gaul,\" maintain that the Druids were priests of the Goidels in\nBritain, who imposed themselves upon the Gaulish conquerors of the\nGoidels, and that Druidism then passed over into Gaul about 200\nB.C.[1004] But it is hardly likely that, even if the Druids were\naccepted as priests by conquering Gauls in Britain, they should have\naffected the Gauls of Gaul who were outside the reflex influence of the\nconquered Goidels, and should have there obtained that power which they\npossessed. Goidels and Gauls were allied by race and language and\nreligion, and it would be strange if they did not both possess a similar\npriesthood. Moreover, the Goidels had been a continental people, and\nDruidism was presumably flourishing among them then. Why did it not\ninfluence kindred Celtic tribes without Druids, _ex hypothesi_, at that\ntime? Further, if we accept Professor Meyer's theory that no Goidel set\nfoot in Britain until the second century A.D., the Gauls could not have\nreceived the Druidic priesthood from the Goidels.\n\nC\u00e6sar merely says, \"it is thought (_existimatur_) that Druidism came to\nGaul from Britain.\"[1005] It was a pious opinion, perhaps his own, or\none based on the fact that those who wished to perfect themselves in\nDruidic art went to Britain. This may have been because Britain had been\nless open to foreign influences than Gaul, and its Druids, unaffected by\nthese, were thought to be more powerful than those of Gaul. Pliny, on\nthe other hand, seems to think that Druidism passed over into Britain\nfrom Gaul.[1006]\n\nOther writers--Sir John Rh[^y]s, Sir G.L. Gomme, and M. Reinach--support\non different grounds the theory that the Druids were a pre-Celtic\npriesthood, accepted by the Celtic conquerors. Sir John Rh[^y]s thinks\nthat the Druidism of the aborigines of Gaul and Britain made terms with\nthe Celtic conquerors. It was accepted by the Goidels, but not by the\nBrythons. Hence in Britain there were Brythons without Druids,\naborigines under the sway of Druidism, and Goidels who combined Aryan\npolytheism with Druidism. Druidism was also the religion of the\naborigines from the Baltic to Gibraltar, and was accepted by the\nGauls.[1007] But if so, it is difficult to see why the Brythons, akin to\nthem, did not accept it. Our knowledge of Brythonic religion is too\nscanty for us to prove that the Druids had or had not sway over them,\nbut the presumption is that they had. Nor is there any historical\nevidence to show that the Druids were originally a non-Celtic\npriesthood. Everywhere they appear as the supreme and dominant\npriesthood of the Celts, and the priests of a conquered people could\nhardly have obtained such power over the conquerors. The relation of the\nCelts to the Druids is quite different from that of conquerors, who\noccasionally resort to the medicine-men of the conquered folk because\nthey have stronger magic or greater influence with the autochthonous\ngods. The Celts did not resort to the Druids occasionally; _ex\nhypothesi_ they accepted them completely, were dominated by them in\nevery department of life, while their own priests, if they had any,\naccepted this order of things without a murmur. All this is incredible.\nThe picture drawn by C\u00e6sar, Strabo, and others of the Druids and their\nposition among the Celts as judges, choosers of tribal chiefs and kings,\nteachers, as well as ministers of religion, suggests rather that they\nwere a native Celtic priesthood, long established among the people.\n\nSir G.L. Gomme supports the theory that the Druids were a pre-Celtic\npriesthood, because, in his opinion, much of their belief in magic as\nwell as their use of human sacrifice and the redemption of one life by\nanother, is opposed to \"Aryan sentiment.\" Equally opposed to this are\ntheir functions of settling controversies, judging, settling the\nsuccession to property, and arranging boundaries. These views are\nsupported by a comparison of the position of the Druids relatively to\nthe Celts with that of non-Aryan persons in India who render occasional\npriestly services to Hindu village communities.[1008] Whether this\ncomparison of occasional Hindu custom with Celtic usage two thousand\nyears ago is just, may be questioned. As already seen, it was no mere\noccasional service which the Druids rendered to the Celts, and it is\nthis which makes it difficult to credit this theory. Had the Celtic\nhouse-father been priest and judge in his own clan, would he so readily\nhave surrendered his rights to a foreign and conquered priesthood? On\nthe other hand, kings and chiefs among the Celts probably retained some\npriestly functions, derived from the time when the offices of the\npriest-king had not been differentiated. C\u00e6sar's evidence certainly does\nnot support the idea that \"it is only among the rudest of the so-called\nCeltic tribes that we find this superimposing of an apparently official\npriesthood.\" According to him, the power of the Druids was universal in\nGaul, and had their position really corresponded to that of the pariah\npriests of India, occasional priests of Hindu villages, the determined\nhostility of the Roman power to them because they wielded such an\nenormous influence over Celtic thought and life, is inexplainable. If,\nfurther, Aryan sentiment was so opposed to Druidic customs, why did\nAryan Celts so readily accept the Druids? In this case the receiver is\nas bad as the thief. Sir G.L. Gomme clings to the belief that the Aryans\nwere people of a comparatively high civilisation, who had discarded, if\nthey ever possessed, a savage \"past.\" But old beliefs and customs still\nsurvive through growing civilisation, and if the views of Professor\nSergi and others are correct, the Aryans were even less civilised than\nthe peoples whom they conquered.[1009] Shape-shifting, magic, human\nsacrifice, priestly domination, were as much Aryan as non-Aryan, and if\nthe Celts had a comparatively pure religion, why did they so soon allow\nit to be defiled by the puerile superstitions of the Druids?\n\nM. Reinach, as we have seen, thinks that the Celts had no images,\nbecause these were prohibited by their priests. This prohibition was\npre-Celtic in Gaul, since there are no Neolithic images, though there\nare great megalithic structures, suggesting the existence of a great\nreligious aristocracy. This aristocracy imposed itself on the\nCelts.[1010] We have seen that there is no reason for believing that the\nCelts had no images, hence this argument is valueless. M. Reinach then\nargues that the Celts accepted Druidism _en bloc_, as the Romans\naccepted Oriental cults and the Greeks the native Pelasgic cults. But\nneither Romans nor Greeks abandoned their own faith. Were the Celts a\npeople without priests and without religion? We know that they must have\naccepted many local cults, but that they adopted the whole aboriginal\nfaith and its priests _en bloc_ is not credible. M. Reinach also holds\nthat when the Celts appear in history Druidism was in its decline; the\nCelt, or at least the military caste among the Celts, was reasserting\nitself. But the Druids do not appear as a declining body in the pages of\nC\u00e6sar, and their power was still supreme, to judge by the hostility of\nthe Roman Government to them. If the military caste rebelled against\nthem, this does not prove that they were a foreign body. Such a strife\nis seen wherever priest and soldier form separate castes, each desiring\nto rule, as in Egypt.\n\nOther writers argue that we do not find Druids existing in the Danube\nregion, in Cisalpine territory, nor in Transalpine Gaul, \"outside the\nlimits of the region occupied by the Celt\u00e6.\"[1011] This could only have\nweight if any of the classical writers had composed a formal treatise on\nthe Druids, showing exactly the regions where they existed. They merely\ndescribe Druidism as a general Celtic institution, or as they knew it in\nGaul or Britain, and few of them have any personal knowledge of it.\nThere is no reason to believe that Druids did not exist wherever there\nwere Celts. The Druids and Semnotheoi of the Celts and Galat\u00e6 referred\nto _c._ 200 B.C. were apparently priests of other Celts than those of\nGaul, and Celtic groups of Cisalpine Gaul had priests, though these are\nnot formally styled Druids.[1012] The argument _ex silentio_ is here of\nlittle value, since the references to the Druids are so brief, and it\ntells equally against their non-Celtic origin, since we do not hear of\nDruids in Aquitania, a non-Celtic region.[1013]\n\nThe theory of the non-Celtic origin of the Druids assumes that the Celts\nhad no priests, or that these were effaced by the Druids. The Celts had\npriests called _gutuatri_ attached to certain temples, their name\nperhaps meaning \"the speakers,\" those who spoke to the gods.[1014] The\nfunctions of the Druids were much more general, according to this\ntheory, hence M. D'Arbois supposes that, before their intrusion, the\nCelts had no other priests than the _gutuatri_.[1015] But the\nprobability is that they were a Druidic class, ministers of local\nsanctuaries, and related to the Druids as the Levites were to the\npriests of Israel, since the Druids were a composite priesthood with a\nvariety of functions. If the priests and servants of Belenos, described\nby Ausonius and called by him _oedituus Beleni_, were _gutuatri_, then\nthe latter must have been connected with the Druids, since he says they\nwere of Druidic stock.[1016] Lucan's \"priest of the grove\" may have been\na _gutuatros_, and the priests (_sacerdotes_) and other ministers\n(_antistites_) of the Boii may have been Druids properly so called and\n_gutuatri_.[1017] Another class of temple servants may have existed.\nNames beginning with the name of a god and ending in _gnatos_,\n\"accustomed to,\" \"beloved of,\" occur in inscriptions, and may denote\npersons consecrated from their youth to the service of a grove or\ntemple. On the other hand, the names may mean no more than that those\nbearing them were devoted to the cult of one particular god.\n\nOur supposition that the _gutuatri_ were a class of Druids is supported\nby classical evidence, which tends to show that the Druids were a great\ninclusive priesthood with different classes possessing different\nfunctions--priestly, prophetic, magical, medical, legal, and poetical.\nC\u00e6sar attributes these to the Druids as a whole, but in other writers\nthey are in part at least in the hands of different classes. Diodorus\nrefers to the Celtic philosophers and theologians (Druids), diviners,\nand bards, as do also Strabo and Timagenes, Strabo giving the Greek form\nof the native name for the diviners, [Greek: ouateis], the Celtic form\nbeing probably _v\u00e1tis_ (Irish, _f\u00e1ith_).[1018] These may have been also\npoets, since _v\u00e1tis_ means both singer and poet; but in all three\nwriters the bards are a fairly distinct class, who sing the deeds of\nfamous men (so Timagenes). Druid and diviner were also closely\nconnected, since the Druids studied nature and moral philosophy, and the\ndiviners were also students of nature, according to Strabo and\nTimagenes. No sacrifice was complete without a Druid, say Diodorus and\nStrabo, but both speak of the diviners as concerned with sacrifice.\nDruids also prophesied as well as diviners, according to Cicero and\nTacitus.[1019] Finally, Lucan mentions only Druids and bards.[1020]\nDiviners were thus probably a Druidic sub-class, standing midway between\nthe Druids proper and the bards, and partaking of some of the functions\nof both. Pliny speaks of \"Druids and this race of prophets and\ndoctors,\"[1021] and this suggests that some were priests, some diviners,\nwhile some practised an empiric medical science.\n\nOn the whole this agrees with what is met with in Ireland, where the\nDruids, though appearing in the texts mainly as magicians, were also\npriests and teachers. Side by side with them were the _Filid_, \"learned\npoets,\"[1022] composing according to strict rules of art, and higher\nthan the third class, the Bards. The _Filid_, who may also have been\nknown as _F\u00e1thi_, \"prophets,\"[1023] were also diviners according to\nstrict rules of augury, while some of these auguries implied a\nsacrifice. The Druids were also diviners and prophets. When the Druids\nwere overthrown at the coming of Christianity, the _Filid_ remained as a\nlearned class, probably because they had abandoned all pagan practices,\nwhile the Bards were reduced to a comparatively low status. M. D'Arbois\nsupposes that there was rivalry between the Druids and the _Filid_, who\nmade common cause with the Christian missionaries, but this is not\nsupported by evidence. The three classes in Gaul--Druids, _Vates_, and\nBards--thus correspond to the three classes in Ireland--Druids, _F\u00e1thi_\nor _Filid_, and Bards.[1024]\n\nWe may thus conclude that the Druids were a purely Celtic priesthood,\nbelonging both to the Goidelic and Gaulish branches of the Celts. The\nidea that they were not Celtic is sometimes connected with the\nsupposition that Druidism was something superadded to Celtic religion\nfrom without, or that Celtic polytheism was not part of the creed of the\nDruids, but sanctioned by them, while they had a definite theological\nsystem with only a few gods.[1025] These are the ideas of writers who\nsee in the Druids an occult and esoteric priesthood. The Druids had\ngrown up _pari passu_ with the growth of the native religion and magic.\nWhere they had become more civilised, as in the south of Gaul, they may\nhave given up many magical practices, but as a class they were addicted\nto magic, and must have taken part in local cults as well as in those of\nthe greater gods. That they were a philosophic priesthood advocating a\npure religion among polytheists is a baseless theory. Druidism was not a\nformal system outside Celtic religion. It covered the whole ground of\nCeltic religion; in other words, it was that religion itself.\n\nThe Druids are first referred to by pseudo-Aristotle and Sotion in the\nsecond century B.C., the reference being preserved by Diogenes Laertius:\n\"There are among the Celt\u00e6 and Galat\u00e6 those called Druids and\nSemnotheoi.\"[1026] The two words may be synonymous, or they may describe\ntwo classes of priests, or, again, the Druids may have been Celtic, and\nthe Semnotheoi Galatic (? Galatian) priests. C\u00e6sar's account comes next\nin time. Later writers gives the Druids a lofty place and speak vaguely\nof the Druidic philosophy and science. C\u00e6sar also refers to their\nscience, but both he and Strabo speak of their human sacrifices.\nSuetonius describes their religion as cruel and savage, and Mela, who\nspeaks of their learning, regards their human sacrifices as\nsavagery.[1027] Pliny says nothing of the Druids as philosophers, but\nhints at their priestly functions, and connects them with magico-medical\nrites.[1028] These divergent opinions are difficult to account for. But\nas the Romans gained closer acquaintance with the Druids, they found\nless philosophy and more superstition among them. For their cruel rites\nand hostility to Rome, they sought to suppress them, but this they never\nwould have done had the Druids been esoteric philosophers. It has been\nthought that Pliny's phrase, \"Druids and that race of prophets and\ndoctors,\" signifies that, through Roman persecution, the Druids were\nreduced to a kind of medicine-men.[1029] But the phrase rather describes\nthe varied functions of the Druids, as has been seen, nor does it refer\nto the state to which the repressive edict reduced them, but to that in\nwhich it found them. Pliny's information was also limited.\n\nThe vague idea that the Druids were philosophers was repeated\nparrot-like by writer after writer, who regarded barbaric races as\nRousseau and his school looked upon the \"noble savage.\" Roman writers,\nsceptical of a future life, were fascinated by the idea of a barbaric\npriesthood teaching the doctrine of immortality in the wilds of Gaul.\nFor this teaching the poet Lucan sang their praises. The Druids probably\nfirst impressed Greek and Latin observers by their magic, their\norganisation, and the fact that, like many barbaric priesthoods, but\nunlike those of Greece and Rome, they taught certain doctrines. Their\nknowledge was divinely conveyed to them; \"they speak the language of the\ngods;\"[1030] hence it was easy to read anything into this teaching. Thus\nthe Druidic legend rapidly grew. On the other hand, modern writers have\nperhaps exaggerated the force of the classical evidence. When we read of\nDruidic associations we need not regard these as higher than the\norganised priesthoods of barbarians. Their doctrine of metempsychosis,\nif it was really taught, involved no ethical content as in\nPythagoreanism. Their astronomy was probably astrological[1031]; their\nknowledge of nature a series of cosmogonic myths and speculations. If a\ntrue Druidic philosophy and science had existed, it is strange that it\nis always mentioned vaguely and that it exerted no influence upon the\nthought of the time.\n\nClassical sentiment also found a connection between the Druidic and\nPythagorean systems, the Druids being regarded as conforming to the\ndoctrines and rules of the Greek philosopher.[1032] It is not improbable\nthat some Pythagorean doctrines may have reached Gaul, but when we\nexamine the point at which the two systems were supposed to meet,\nnamely, the doctrine of metempsychosis and immortality, upon which the\nwhole idea of this relationship was founded, there is no real\nresemblance. There are Celtic myths regarding the rebirth of gods and\nheroes, but the eschatological teaching was apparently this, that the\nsoul was clothed with a body in the other-world. There was no doctrine\nof a series of rebirths on this earth as a punishment for sin. The\nDruidic teaching of a bodily immortality was mistakenly assumed to be\nthe same as the Pythagorean doctrine of the soul reincarnated in body\nafter body. Other points of resemblance were then discovered. The\norganisation of the Druids was assumed by Ammianus to be a kind of\ncorporate life--_sodaliciis adstricti consortiis_--while the Druidic\nmind was always searching into lofty things,[1033] but those who wrote\nmost fully of the Druids knew nothing of this.\n\nThe Druids, like the priests of all religions, doubtless sought after\nsuch knowledge as was open to them, but this does not imply that they\npossessed a recondite philosophy or a secret theology. They were\ngoverned by the ideas current among all barbaric communities, and they\nwere at once priests, magicians, doctors, and teachers. They would not\nallow their sacred hymns to be written down, but taught them in\nsecret,[1034] as is usual wherever the success of hymn or prayer depends\nupon the right use of the words and the secrecy observed in imparting\nthem to others. Their ritual, as far as is known to us, differs but\nlittle from that of other barbarian folk, and it included human\nsacrifice and divination with the victim's body. They excluded the\nguilty from a share in the cult--the usual punishment meted out to the\ntabu-breaker in all primitive societies.\n\nThe idea that the Druids taught a secret doctrine--monotheism,\npantheism, or the like--is unsupported by evidence. Doubtless they\ncommunicated secrets to the initiated, as is done in barbaric mysteries\neverywhere, but these secrets consist of magic and mythic formul\u00e6, the\nexhibition of _Sacra_, and some teaching about the gods or about moral\nduties. These are kept secret, not because they are abstract doctrines,\nbut because they would lose their value and because the gods would be\nangry if they were made too common. If the Druids taught religious and\nmoral matters secretly, these were probably no more than an extension of\nthe threefold maxim inculcated by them according to Diogenes Laertius:\n\"To worship the gods, to do no evil, and to exercise courage.\"[1035] To\nthis would be added cosmogonic myths and speculations, and magic and\nreligious formul\u00e6. This will become more evident as we examine the\nposition and power of the Druids.\n\nIn Gaul, and to some extent in Ireland, the Druids formed a priestly\ncorporation--a fact which helped classical observers to suppose that\nthey lived together like the Pythagorean communities. While the words of\nAmmianus--_sodaliciis adstricti consortiis_--may imply no more than some\nkind of priestly organisation, M. Bertrand founds on them a theory that\nthe Druids were a kind of monks living a community life, and that Irish\nmonasticism was a transformation of this system.[1036] This is purely\nimaginative. Irish Druids had wives and children, and the Druid\nDiviciacus was a family man, while C\u00e6sar says not a word of community\nlife among the Druids. The hostility of Christianity to the Druids would\nhave prevented any copying of their system, and Irish monasticism was\nmodelled on that of the Continent. Druidic organisation probably denoted\nno more than that the Druids were bound by certain ties, that they were\ngraded in different ranks or according to their functions, and that they\npractised a series of common cults. In Gaul one chief Druid had\nauthority over the others, the position being an elective one.[1037] The\ninsular Druids may have been similarly organised, since we hear of a\nchief Druid, _primus magus_, while the _Filid_ had an _Ard-file_, or\nchief, elected to his office.[1038] The priesthood was not a caste, but\nwas open to those who showed aptitude for it. There was a long\nnovitiate, extending even to twenty years, just as, in Ireland, the\nnovitiate of the _File_ lasted from seven to twelve years.[1039]\n\nThe Druids of Gaul assembled annually in a central spot, and there\nsettled disputes, because they were regarded as the most just of\nmen.[1040] Individual Druids also decided disputes or sat as judges in\ncases of murder. How far it was obligatory to bring causes before them\nis unknown, but those who did not submit to a decision were interdicted\nfrom the sacrifices, and all shunned them. In other words, they were\ntabued. A magico-religious sanction thus enforced the judgments of the\nDruids. In Galatia the twelve tetrarchs had a council of three hundred\nmen, and met in a place called Drunemeton to try cases of murder.[1041]\nWhether it is philologically permissible to connect _Dru_- with the\ncorresponding syllable in \"Druid\" or not, the likeness to the Gaulish\nassembly at a \"consecrated place,\" perhaps a grove (_nemeton_), is\nobvious. We do not know that Irish Druids were judges, but the _Filid_\nexercised judgments, and this may be a relic of their connection with\nthe Druids.[1042]\n\nDiodorus describes the Druids exhorting combatants to peace, and taming\nthem like wild beasts by enchantment.[1043] This suggests interference\nto prevent the devastating power of the blood-feud or of tribal wars.\nThey also appear to have exercised authority in the election of rulers.\nConvictolitanis was elected to the magistracy by the priests in Gaul,\n\"according to the custom of the State.\"[1044] In Ireland, after\npartaking of the flesh of a white bull, probably a sacrificial animal, a\nman lay down to sleep, while four Druids chanted over him \"to render his\nwitness truthful.\" He then saw in a vision the person who should be\nelected king, and what he was doing at the moment.[1045] Possibly the\nDruids used hypnotic suggestion; the medium was apparently clairvoyant.\n\nDio Chrysostom alleges that kings were ministers of the Druids, and\ncould do nothing without them.[1046] This agrees on the whole with the\nwitness of Irish texts. Druids always accompany the king, and have great\ninfluence over him. According to a passage in the _T\u00e1in_, \"the men of\nUlster must not speak before the king, the king must not speak before\nhis Druid,\" and even Conchobar was silent until the Druid Cathbad had\nspoken.[1047] This power, resembling that of many other priesthoods,\nmust have helped to balance that of the warrior class, and it is the\nmore credible when we recall the fact that the Druids claimed to have\nmade the universe.[1048] The priest-kingship may have been an old Celtic\ninstitution, and this would explain why, once the offices were\nseparated, priests had or claimed so much political power.\n\nThat political power must have been enhanced by their position as\nteachers, and it is safe to say that submission to their powers was\ninculcated by them. Both in Gaul and in Ireland they taught others than\nthose who intended to become Druids.[1049] As has been seen, their\nteachings were not written down, but transmitted orally. They taught\nimmortality, believing that thus men would be roused to valour,\nbuttressing patriotism with dogma. They also imparted \"many things\nregarding the stars and their motions, the extent of the universe and\nthe earth, the nature of things, and the power and might of the immortal\ngods.\" Strabo also speaks of their teaching in moral science.[1050] As\nhas been seen, it is easy to exaggerate all this. Their astronomy was\nprobably of a humble kind and mingled with astrology; their natural\nphilosophy a mass of cosmogonic myths and speculations; their theology\nwas rather mythology; their moral philosophy a series of maxims such as\nare found in all barbaric communities. Their medical lore, to judge from\nwhat Pliny says, was largely magical. Some Druids, e.g. in the south of\nGaul, may have had access to classical learning, and C\u00e6sar speaks of the\nuse of Greek characters among them. This could hardly have been general,\nand in any case must have superseded the use of a native script, to\nwhich the use of ogams in Ireland, and perhaps also in Gaul, was\nsupplementary. The Irish Druids may have had written books, for King\nLoegaire desired that S. Patrick's books and those of the Druids should\nbe submitted to the ordeal by water as a test of their owners'\nclaims.[1051]\n\nIn religious affairs the Druids were supreme, since they alone \"knew the\ngods and divinities of heaven.\"[1052] They superintended and arranged\nall rites and attended to \"public and private sacrifices,\" and \"no\nsacrifice was complete without the intervention of a Druid.\"[1053] The\ndark and cruel rites of the Druids struck the Romans with horror, and\nthey form a curious contrast to their alleged \"philosophy.\" They used\ndivination and had regular formul\u00e6 of incantation as well as ritual acts\nby which they looked into the future.[1054] Before all matters of\nimportance, especially before warlike expeditions, their advice was\nsought because they could scan the future.\n\nName-giving and a species of baptism were performed by the Druids or on\ntheir initiative. Many examples of this occur in Irish texts, thus of\nConall Cernach it is said, \"Druids came to baptize the child into\nheathenism, and they sang the heathen baptism (_baithis geintl\u00eddhe_)\nover the little child\", and of Ailill that he was \"baptized in Druidic\nstreams\".[1055] In Welsh story we read that Gwri was \"baptized with the\nbaptism which was usual at that time\".[1056] Similar illustrations are\ncommon at name-giving among many races,[1057] and it is probable that\nthe custom in the Hebrides of the midwife dropping three drops of water\non the child _in Nomine_ and giving it a temporary name, is a survival\nof this practice. The regular baptism takes place later, but this\npreliminary rite keeps off fairies and ensures burial in consecrated\nground, just as the pagan rite was protective and admitted to the tribal\nprivileges.[1058]\n\nIn the burial rites, which in Ireland consisted of a lament, sacrifices,\nand raising a stone inscribed with ogams over the grave, Druids took\npart. The Druid Dergdamsa pronounced a discourse over the Ossianic hero\nMag-neid, buried him with his arms, and chanted a rune. The ogam\ninscription would also be of Druidic composition, and as no sacrifice\nwas complete without the intervention of Druids, they must also have\nassisted at the lavish sacrifices which occurred at Celtic funerals.\n\nPliny's words, \"the Druids and that race of prophets and doctors\",\nsuggest that the medical art may have been in the hands of a special\nclass of Druids though all may have had a smattering of it. It was\nmainly concerned with the use of herbs, and was mixed up with magical\nrites, which may have been regarded as of more importance than the\nactual medicines used.[1059] In Ireland Druids also practised the\nhealing art. Thus when C\u00fachulainn was ill, Emer said, \"If it had been\nFergus, C\u00fachulainn would have taken no rest till he had found a Druid\nable to discover the cause of that illness.\"[1060] But other persons,\nnot referred to as Druids, are mentioned as healers, one of them a\nwoman, perhaps a reminiscence of the time when the art was practised by\nwomen.[1061] These healers may, however, have been attached to the\nDruidic corporation in much the same way as were the bards.\n\nStill more important were the magical powers of the Druids--giving or\nwithholding sunshine or rain, causing storms, making women and cattle\nfruitful, using spells, rhyming to death, exercising shape-shifting and\ninvisibility, and producing a magic sleep, possibly hypnotic. They were\nalso in request as poisoners.[1062] Since the Gauls went to Britain to\nperfect themselves in Druidic science, it is possible that the insular\nDruids were more devoted to magic than those of Gaul, but since the\nlatter are said to have \"tamed the people as wild beasts are tamed\", it\nis obvious that this refers to their powers as magicians rather than to\nany recondite philosophy possessed by them. Yet they were clear-sighted\nenough to use every means by which they might gain political power, and\nsome of them may have been open to the influence of classical learning\neven before the Roman invasion. In the next chapter the magic of the\nDruids will be described in detail.\n\nThe Druids, both in Gaul (at the mistletoe rite) and in Ireland, were\ndressed in white, but Strabo speaks of their scarlet and gold\nembroidered robes, their golden necklets and bracelets.[1063] Again, the\nchief Druid of the king of Erin wore a coloured cloak and had earrings\nof gold, and in another instance a Druid wears a bull's hide and a\nwhite-speckled bird headpiece with fluttering wings.[1064] There was\nalso some special tonsure used by the Druids,[1065] which may have\ndenoted servitude to the gods, as it was customary for a warrior to vow\nhis hair to a divinity if victory was granted him. Similarly the Druid's\nhair would be presented to the gods, and the tonsure would mark their\nminister.\n\nSome writers have tried to draw a distinction between the Druids of Gaul\nand of Ireland, especially in the matter of their priestly\nfunctions.[1066] But, while a few passages in Irish texts do suggest\nthat the Irish Druids were priests taking part in sacrifices, etc.,\nnearly all passages relating to cult or ritual seem to have been\ndeliberately suppressed. Hence the Druids appear rather as magicians--a\nnatural result, since, once the people became Christian, the priestly\ncharacter of the Druids would tend to be lost sight of. Like the Druids\nof Gaul, they were teachers and took part in political affairs, and this\nshows that they were more than mere magicians. In Irish texts the word\n\"Druid\" is somewhat loosely used and is applied to kings and poets,\nperhaps because they had been pupils of the Druids. But it is impossible\nto doubt that the Druids in Ireland fulfilled functions of a public\npriesthood. They appear in connection with all the colonies which came\nto Erin, the annalists regarding the priests or medicine-men of\ndifferent races as Druids, through lack of historic perspective. But one\nfact shows that they were priests of the Celtic religion in Ireland. The\neuhemerised Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann are masters of Druidic lore. Thus both the\ngods and the priests who served them were confused by later writers. The\nopposition of Christian missionaries to the Druids shows that they were\npriests; if they were not, it remains to be discovered what body of men\ndid exercise priestly functions in pagan Ireland. In Ireland their\njudicial functions may have been less important than in Gaul, and they\nmay not have been so strictly organised; but here we are in the region\nof conjecture. They were exempt from military service in Gaul, and many\njoined their ranks on this account, but in Ireland they were \"bonny\nfechters,\" just as in Gaul they occasionally fought like medi\u00e6val\nbishops.[1067] In both countries they were present on the field of\nbattle to perform the necessary religious or magical rites.\n\nSince the Druids were an organised priesthood, with powers of teaching\nand of magic implicitly believed in by the folk, possessing the key of\nthe other-world, and dominating the whole field of religion, it is easy\nto see how much veneration must have been paid them. Connoting this with\nthe influence of the Roman Church in Celtic regions and the power of the\nProtestant minister in the Highlands and in Wales, some have thought\nthat there is an innate tendency in the Celt to be priest-ridden. If\nthis be true, we can only say, \"the people wish to have it so, and the\npriests--pagan, papist, or protestant--bear rule through their means!\"\n\nThus a close examination of the position and functions of the Druids\nexplains away two popular misconceptions. They were not possessed of any\nrecondite and esoteric wisdom. And the culling of mistletoe instead of\nbeing the most important, was but a subordinate part of their functions.\n\nIn Gaul the Roman power broke the sway of the Druids, aided perhaps by\nthe spread of Christianity, but it was Christianity alone which routed\nthem in Ireland and in Britain outside the Roman pale. The Druidic\norganisation, their power in politics and in the administration of\njustice, their patriotism, and also their use of human sacrifice and\nmagic, were all obnoxious to the Roman Government, which opposed them\nmainly on political grounds. Magic and human sacrifice were suppressed\nbecause they were contrary to Roman manners. The first attack was in the\nreign of Augustus, who prohibited Roman citizens from taking part in the\nreligion of the Druids.[1068] Tiberius next interdicted the Druids, but\nthis was probably aimed at their human sacrifices, for the Druids were\nnot suppressed, since they existed still in the reign of Claudius, who\nis said to have abolished _Druidarum religionem dirae\nimmanitatis_.[1069] The earlier legislation was ineffective; that of\nClaudius was more thorough, but it, too, was probably aimed mainly at\nhuman sacrifice and magic, since Aurelius Victor limits it to the\n\"notorious superstitions\" of the Druids.[1070] It did not abolish the\nnative religion, as is proved by the numerous inscriptions to Celtic\ngods, and by the fact that, as Mela informs us, human victims were still\noffered symbolically,[1071] while the Druids were still active some\nyears later. A parallel is found in the British abolition of S[=a]ti in\nIndia, while permitting the native religion to flourish.\n\nProbably more effective was the policy begun by Augustus. Magistrates\nwere inaugurated and acted as judges, thus ousting the Druids, and\nnative deities and native ritual were assimilated to those of Rome.\nCeltic religion was Romanised, and if the Druids retained priestly\nfunctions, it could only be by their becoming Romanised also. Perhaps\nthe new State religion in Gaul simply ignored them. The annual assembly\nof deputies at Lugudunum round the altar of Rome and Augustus had a\nreligious character, and was intended to rival and to supersede the\nannual gathering of the Druids.[1072] The deputies elected a flamen of\nthe province who had surveillance of the cult, and there were also\nflamens for each city. Thus the power of the Druids in politics, law,\nand religion was quietly undermined, while Rome also struck a blow at\ntheir position as teachers by establishing schools throughout\nGaul.[1073]\n\nM. D'Arbois maintains that, as a result of persecution, the Druids\nretired to the depths of the forests, and continued to teach there in\nsecret those who despised the new learning of Rome, basing his opinion\non passages of Lucan and Mela, both writing a little after the\npromulgation of the laws.[1074]. But neither Lucan nor Mela refer to an\nexisting state of things, and do not intend their readers to suppose\nthat the Druids fled to woods and caverns. Lucan speaks of them\n_dwelling_ in woods, i.e. their sacred groves, and resuming their rites\nafter C\u00e6sar's conquest not after the later edicts, and he does not speak\nof the Druids teaching there.[1075] Mela seems to be echoing C\u00e6sar's\naccount of the twenty years' novitiate, but adds to it that the teaching\nwas given in secret, confusing it, however, with that given to others\nthan candidates for the priesthood. Thus he says: \"Docent multa\nnobilissimos gentis clam et diu vicenis annis aut in specu aut in\nabditis saltibus,\"[1076] but there is not the slightest evidence that\nthis secrecy was the result of the edicts. Moreover, the attenuated\nsacrificial rites which he describes were evidently practised quite\nopenly. Probably some Druids continued their teaching in their secret\nand sacred haunts, but it is unlikely that noble Gauls would resort to\nthem when Greco-Roman culture was now open to them in the schools, where\nthey are found receiving instruction in 21 A.D.[1077] Most of the Druids\nprobably succumbed to the new order of things. Some continued the old\nrites in a modified manner as long as they could obtain worshippers.\nOthers, more fanatical, would suffer from the law when they could not\nevade its grasp. Some of these revolted against Rome after Nero's death,\nand it was perhaps to this class that those Druids belonged who\nprophesied the world-empire of the Celts in 70 A.D.[1078] The fact that\nDruids existed at this date shows that the proscription had not been\ncomplete. But the complete Romanising of Gaul took away their\noccupation, though even in the fourth century men still boasted of their\nDruidic descent.[1079]\n\nThe insular Druids opposed the legions in Southern Britain, and in Mona\nin 62 A.D. they made a last stand with the warriors against the Romans,\ngesticulating and praying to the gods. But with the establishment of\nRoman power in Britain their fate must have resembled that of the Druids\nof Gaul. A recrudescence of Druidism is found, however, in the presence\nof _magi_ (Druids) with Vortigern after the Roman withdrawal.[1080]\nOutside the Roman pale the Druids were still rampant and practised their\nrites as before, according to Pliny.[1081] Much later, in the sixth\ncentury, they opposed Christian missionaries in Scotland, just as in\nIreland they opposed S. Patrick and his monks, who combated \"the\nhard-hearted Druids.\" Finally, Christianity was victorious and the\npowers of the Druids passed in large measure to the Christian clergy or\nremained to some extent with the _Filid_.[1082] In popular belief the\nclerics had prevailed less by the persuasive power of the gospel, than\nby successfully rivalling the magic of the Druids.\n\nClassical writers speak of _Dryades_ or \"Druidesses\" in the third\ncentury. One of them predicted his approaching death to Alexander\nSeverus, another promised the empire to Diocletian, others were\nconsulted by Aurelian.[1083] Thus they were divineresses, rather than\npriestesses, and their name may be the result of misconception, unless\nthey assumed it when Druids no longer existed as a class. In Ireland\nthere were divineresses--_ban-filid_ or _ban-f\u00e1thi_, probably a distinct\nclass with prophetic powers. Kings are warned against \"pythonesses\" as\nwell as Druids, and Dr. Joyce thinks these were Druidesses.[1084] S.\nPatrick also armed himself against \"the spells of women\" and of\nDruids.[1085] Women in Ireland had a knowledge of futurity, according to\nSolinus, and the women who took part with the Druids like furies at\nMona, may have been divineresses.[1086] In Ireland it is possible that\nsuch women were called \"Druidesses,\" since the word _ban-drui_ is met\nwith, the women so called being also styled _ban-fili_, while the fact\nthat they belonged to the class of the _Filid_ brings them into\nconnection with the Druids.[1087] But _ban-drui_ may have been applied\nto women with priestly functions, such as certainly existed in\nIreland--e.g. the virgin guardians of sacred fires, to whose functions\nChristian nuns succeeded.[1088] We know also that the British queen\nBoudicca exercised priestly functions, and such priestesses, apart from\nthe _Dryades_, existed among the continental Celts. Inscriptions at\nArles speak of an _antistita deae_, and at Le Prugnon of a _flaminica\nsacerdos_ of the goddess Thucolis.[1089] These were servants of a\ngoddess like the priestess of the Celtic Artemis in Galatia, in whose\nfamily the priesthood was hereditary.[1090] The virgins called\nGallizen\u00e6, who practised divination and magic in the isle of Sena, were\npriestesses of a Gaulish god, and some of the women who were \"possessed\nby Dionysus\" and practised an orgiastic cult on an island in the Loire,\nwere probably of the same kind.[1091] They were priestesses of some\nmagico-religious cult practised by women, like the guardians of the\nsacred fire in Ireland, which was tabu to men. M. Reinach regards the\naccounts of these island priestesses as fictions based on the story of\nCirce's isle, but even if they are garbled, they seem to be based on\nactual observation and are paralleled from other regions.[1092]\n\nThe existence of such priestesses and divineresses over the Celtic area\nis to be explained by our hypothesis that many Celtic divinities were at\nfirst female and served by women, who were possessed of the tribal lore.\nLater, men assumed their functions, and hence arose the great\npriesthoods, but conservatism sporadically retained such female cults\nand priestesses, some goddesses being still served by women--the\nGalatian Artemis, or the goddesses of Gaul, with their female servants.\nTime also brought its revenges, for when paganism passed away, much of\nits folk-ritual and magic remained, practised by wise women or witches,\nwho for generations had as much power over ignorant minds as the\nChristian priesthood. The fact that C\u00e6sar and Tacitus speak of Germanic\nbut not of Celtic priestesses, can hardly, in face of these scattered\nnotices, be taken as a proof that women had no priestly _r\u00f4le_ in Celtic\nreligion. If they had not, that religion would be unique in the world's\nhistory.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1002] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 249.\n\n[1003] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 85, following Thurneysen.\n\n[1004] D'Arbois, _op. cit._ 12 f.; Deloche, _Revue des Deux Mondes_,\nxxxiv. 466; Desjardins, _Geog. de la Gaule Romaine_, ii. 518.\n\n[1005] C\u00e6sar, vi. 13.\n\n[1006] Pliny, _HN_ xxx. 1.\n\n[1007] Rh[^y]s, _CB_{4} 69 f.\n\n[1008] Gomme, _Ethnol. in Folk-lore_, 58, _Village Community_, 104.\n\n[1009] Sergi, _The Mediterranean Race_, 295.\n\n[1010] Reinach, \"L'Art plastique en Gaule et le Druidisme,\" _RC_ xiii.\n189.\n\n[1011] Holmes, _C\u00e6sar's Conquest of Gaul_, 15; Dottin, 270.\n\n[1012] Diog. Laert. i. 1; Livy xxiii. 24.\n\n[1013] Desjardins, _op. cit._ ii. 519; but cf. Holmes, 535.\n\n[1014] _Gutuatros_ is perhaps from _gutu_-, \"voice\" (Holder, i. 2046;\nbut see Loth, _RC_ xxviii. 120). The existence of the _gutuatri_ is\nknown from a few inscriptions (see Holder), and from Hirtius, _de Bell.\nGall._ viii. 38, who mentions a _gutuatros_ put to death by C\u00e6sar.\n\n[1015] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 2 f., _Les Celtes_, 32.\n\n[1016] Ausonius, _Professor._ v. 7, xi. 24.\n\n[1017] Lucan, iii. 424; Livy, xxiii. 24.\n\n[1018] Diod. Sic. v. 31; Strabo, iv. 4. 4; Timagenes _apud_ Amm. Marc.\nxv. 9.\n\n[1019] Cicero, _de Div._ i. 41. 90; Tac. _Hist._ iv. 54.\n\n[1020] _Phars._ i. 449 f.\n\n[1021] _HN_ xxx. i.\n\n[1022] _Filid_, sing. _File_, is from _velo_, \"I see\" (Stokes, _US_\n277).\n\n[1023] _F\u00e1thi_ is cognate with _Vates_.\n\n[1024] In Wales there had been Druids as there were Bards, but all trace\nof the second class is lost. Long after the Druids had passed away, the\nfiction of the _derwydd-vardd_ or Druid-bard was created, and the later\nbards were held to be depositories of a supposititious Druidic\ntheosophy, while they practised the old rites in secret. The late word\n_derwydd_ was probably invented from _derw_, \"oak,\" by some one who knew\nPliny's derivation. See D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 81.\n\n[1025] For these views see Dottin, 295; Holmes, 17; Bertrand, 192-193,\n268-269.\n\n[1026] Diog. Laert. i. proem. 1. For other references see C\u00e6sar, vi. 13,\n14; Strabo, iv. 4. 4; Amm. Marc. xv. 9; Diod. Sic, v. 28; Lucan, i. 460;\nMela, iii. 2.\n\n[1027] Suet. _Claud._ 25; Mela, iii. 2.\n\n[1028] Pliny, xxx. 1.\n\n[1029] D'Arbois, _Les Druides_, 77.\n\n[1030] Diod. Sic. v. 31. 4.\n\n[1031] See Cicero, _de Div._ i. 41.\n\n[1032] Diod. Sic. v. 28; Amm. Marc. xv. 9; Hippolytus, _Refut. H\u00e6r._ i.\n22.\n\n[1033] Amm. Marc. xv. 9.\n\n[1034] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14.\n\n[1035] Diog. Laert. 6. Celtic enthusiasts see in this triple maxim\nsomething akin to the Welsh triads, which they claim to be Druidic!\n\n[1036] Bertrand, 280.\n\n[1037] C\u00e6sar, vi. 13.\n\n[1038] _Trip. Life_, ii. 325, i. 52, ii. 402; _IT_ i. 373; _RC_ xxvi.\n33. The title _rig-file_, \"king poet,\" sometimes occurs.\n\n[1039] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14.\n\n[1040] C\u00e6sar, vi. 13; Strabo, iv. 4. 4.\n\n[1041] Strabo, xii. 5. 2.\n\n[1042] Their judicial powers were taken from them because their speech\nhad become obscure. Perhaps they gave their judgments in archaic\nlanguage.\n\n[1043] Diod. Sic. v. 31. 5.\n\n[1044] C\u00e6sar, vii. 33.\n\n[1045] _IT_ i. 213; D'Arbois, v. 186.\n\n[1046] Dio, _Orat._ xlix.\n\n[1047] _LL_ 93.\n\n[1048] _Ancient Laws of Ireland_, i. 22.\n\n[1049] C\u00e6sar, vi. 13, 14; Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, line 1070 f.; _IT_ i. 325;\n_Arch. Rev._ i. 74; _Trip. Life_, 99; cf. O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 201.\n\n[1050] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14; Strabo, iv. 4. 4.\n\n[1051] _Trip. Life_, 284.\n\n[1052] Lucan, i. 451.\n\n[1053] Diod. v. 31. 4; cf. C\u00e6sar, vi. 13, 16; Strabo, iv. 4. 5.\n\n[1054] See p. 248, _supra_.\n\n[1055] _RC_ xiv. 29; Miss Hull, 4, 23, 141; _IT_ iii. 392, 423; Stokes,\n_F\u00e9lire_, Intro. 23.\n\n[1056] Loth, i. 56.\n\n[1057] See my art. \"Baptism (Ethnic)\" in Hastings' _Encyclop\u00e6dia of\nReligion and Ethics_, ii. 367 f.\n\n[1058] Carmichael, _Carm. Gadel._ i. 115.\n\n[1059] See p. 206, _supra_.\n\n[1060] _IT_ i. 215.\n\n[1061] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 221, 641.\n\n[1062] _RC_ xvi. 34.\n\n[1063] Pliny, _HN_ xvi. 45; _Trip. Life_, ii. 325; Strabo, iv. 275.\n\n[1064] _RC_ xxii. 285; O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 215.\n\n[1065] Reeves' ed. of Adamnan's _Life of S. Col._ 237; Todd, _S.\nPatrick_, 455; Joyce, _SH_ i. 234. For the relation of the Druidic\ntonsure to the peculiar tonsure of the Celtic Church, see Rh[^y]s, _HL_\n213, _CB_{4} 72; Gougaud, _Les Chr\u00e9tient\u00e9s Celtiques_, 198.\n\n[1066] See Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, 88; Joyce, _SH_ i. 239.\n\n[1067] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14, ii. 10.\n\n[1068] Suetonius, _Claud._ 25.\n\n[1069] Pliny _HN_ xxx. 1; Suet. _Claud._ 25.\n\n[1070] _de C\u00e6saribus_, 4, \"famos\u00e6 superstitiones\"; cf. p. 328, _infra_.\n\n[1071] Mela, iii. 2.\n\n[1072] Mommsen, _Rom. Gesch._ v. 94.\n\n[1073] Bloch (Lavisse), _Hist. de France_, i. 2, 176 f., 391 f.; Duruy,\n\"Comment p\u00e9rit l'institution Druidique,\" _Rev. Arch._ xv. 347; de\nCoulanges, \"Comment le Druidisme a disparu,\" _RC_ iv. 44.\n\n[1074] _Les Druides_, 73.\n\n[1075] _Phars._ i. 453, \"Ye Druids, after arms were laid aside, sought\nonce again your barbarous ceremonials.... In remote forests do ye\ninhabit the deep glades.\"\n\n[1076] Mela, iii. 2.\n\n[1077] Tacit. iii. 43.\n\n[1078] Ibid. iv. 54.\n\n[1079] Ausonius, _Prof._ v. 12, xi. 17.\n\n[1080] Nennius, 40. In the Irish version they are called \"Druids.\" See\np. 238, _supra_.\n\n[1081] Pliny, xxx. 1.\n\n[1082] Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._, i. 37. ii. 35, etc.; Reeves' _Adamnan_,\n247 f.; Stokes, _Three Homilies_, 24 f.; _Antient Laws of Ireland_, i.\n15; _RC_ xvii. 142 f.; _IT_ i. 23.\n\n[1083] Lampridius, _Alex. Sev._ 60; Vopiscus, _Numerienus_, 14,\n_Aurelianus_, 44.\n\n[1084] Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 31, 221; cf. Meyer, _Contributions to Irish\nLexicog._ 176 Joyce, _SH_ i. 238.\n\n[1085] _IT_ i. 56.\n\n[1086] Solinus, 35; Tac. _Ann._ xiv. 30.\n\n[1087] _RC_ xv. 326, xvi. 34, 277; Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, 331. In _LL_ 75_b_\nwe hear of \"three Druids and three Druidesses.\"\n\n[1088] See p. 69, _supra_; Keating, 331.\n\n[1089] Jullian, 100; Holder, _s.v._ \"Thucolis.\"\n\n[1090] Plutarch, _Vir. mul._ 20.\n\n[1091] Mela, iii. 6; Strabo, iv. 4. 6.\n\n[1092] Reinach, _RC_ xviii. 1 f. The fact that the rites were called\nDionysiac is no reason for denying the fact that some orgiastic rites\nwere practised. Classical writers usually reported all barbaric rites in\nterms of their own religion. M. D'Arbois (vi. 325) points out that Circe\nwas not a virgin, and had not eight companions.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nMAGIC.\n\n\nThe Celts, like all other races, were devoted to magical practices, many\nof which could be used by any one, though, on the whole, they were in\nthe hands of the Druids, who in many aspects were little higher than the\nshamans of barbaric tribes. But similar magical rites were also\nattributed to the gods, and it is probably for this reason that the\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann and many of the divinities who appear in the\n_Mabinogion_ are described as magicians. Kings are also spoken of as\nwizards, perhaps a reminiscence of the powers of the priest king. But\nsince many of the primitive cults had been in the hands of women, and as\nthese cults implied a large use of magic, they may have been the\nearliest wielders of magic, though, with increasing civilisation, men\ntook their place as magicians. Still side by side with the\nmagic-wielding Druids, there were classes of women who also dealt in\nmagic, as we have seen. Their powers were feared, even by S. Patrick,\nwho classes the \"spells of women\" along with those of Druids, and, in a\nmythic tale, by the father of Connla, who, when the youth was fascinated\nby a goddess, feared that he would be taken by the \"spells of women\"\n(_brichta ban_).[1093] In other tales women perform all such magical\nactions as are elsewhere ascribed to Druids.[1094] And after the Druids\nhad passed away precisely similar actions--power over the weather, the\nuse of incantations and amulets, shape-shifting and invisibility,\netc.--were, and still are in remote Celtic regions, ascribed to witches.\nMuch of the Druidic art, however, was also supposed to be possessed by\nsaints and clerics, both in the past and in recent times. But women\nremained as magicians when the Druids had disappeared, partly because of\nfemale conservatism, partly because, even in pagan times, they had\nworked more or less secretly. At last the Church proscribed them and\npersecuted them.\n\nEach clan, tribe, or kingdom had its Druids, who, in time of war,\nassisted their hosts by magic art. This is reflected back upon the\ngroups of the mythological cycle, each of which has its Druids who play\nno small part in the battles fought. Though Pliny recognises the\npriestly functions of the Druids, he associates them largely with magic,\nand applies the name _magus_ to them.[1095] In Irish ecclesiastical\nliterature, _drui_ is used as the translation of _magus_, e.g. in the\ncase of the Egyptian magicians, while _magi_ is used in Latin lives of\nsaints as the equivalent of the vernacular _druides_.[1096] In the sagas\nand in popular tales _Druidecht_, \"Druidism,\" stands for \"magic,\" and\n_slat an draoichta_, \"rod of Druidism,\" is a magic wand.[1097] The\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann were said to have learned \"Druidism\" from the four\ngreat master Druids of the region whence they had come to Ireland, and\neven now, in popular tales, they are often called \"Druids\" or \"Danann\nDruids.\"[1098] Thus in Ireland at least there is clear evidence of the\ngreat magical power claimed by Druids.\n\nThat power was exercised to a great extent over the elements, some of\nwhich Druids claimed to have created. Thus the Druid Cathbad covered the\nplain over which Deirdre was escaping with \"a great-waved sea.\"[1099]\nDruids also produced blinding snow-storms, or changed day into\nnight--feats ascribed to them even in the Lives of Saints.[1100] Or they\ndischarge \"shower-clouds of fire\" on the opposing hosts, as in the case\nof the Druid Mag Ruith, who made a magic fire, and flying upwards\ntowards it, turned it upon the enemy, whose Druid in vain tried to\ndivert it.[1101] When the Druids of Cormac dried up all the waters in\nthe land, another Druid shot an arrow, and where it fell there issued a\ntorrent of water.[1102] The Druid Mathgen boasted of being able to throw\nmountains on the enemy, and frequently Druids made trees or stones\nappear as armed men, dismaying the opposing host in this way. They could\nalso fill the air with the clash of battle, or with the dread cries of\neldritch things.[1103] Similar powers are ascribed to other persons. The\ndaughters of Calatin raised themselves aloft on an enchanted wind, and\ndiscovered C\u00fachulainn when he was hidden away by Cathbad. Later they\nproduced a magic mist to discomfit the hero.[1104] Such mists occur\nfrequently in the sagas, and in one of them the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann arrived\nin Ireland. The priestesses of Sena could rouse sea and wind by their\nenchantments, and, later, Celtic witches have claimed the same power.\n\nIn folk-survivals the practice of rain-making is connected with sacred\nsprings, and even now in rural France processions to shrines, usually\nconnected with a holy well, are common in time of drought. Thus people\nand priest go to the fountain of Baranton in procession, singing hymns,\nand there pray for rain. The priest then dips his foot in the water, or\nthrows some of it on the rocks.[1105] In other cases the image of a\nsaint is carried to a well and asperged, as divine images formerly were,\nor the waters are beaten or thrown into the air.[1106] Another custom\nwas that a virgin should clean out a sacred well, and formerly she had\nto be nude.[1107] Nudity also forms part of an old ritual used in Gaul.\nIn time of drought the girls of the village followed the youngest virgin\nin a state of nudity to seek the herb _belinuntia_. This she uprooted,\nand was then led to a river and there asperged by the others. In this\ncase the asperging imitated the falling rain, and was meant to produce\nit automatically. While some of these rites suggest the use of magic by\nthe folk themselves, in others the presence of the Christian priest\npoints to the fact that, formerly, a Druid was necessary as the rain\nproducer. In some cases the priest has inherited through long ages the\nrain-making or tempest-quelling powers of the pagan priesthood, and is\noften besought to exercise them.[1108]\n\nCausing invisibility by means of a spell called _feth fiada_, which made\na person unseen or hid him in a magic mist, was also used by the Druids\nas well as by Christian saints. S. Patrick's hymn, called _F\u00e2ed Fiada_,\nwas sung by him when his enemies lay in wait, and caused a glamour in\nthem. The incantation itself, _fith-fath_, is still remembered in\nHighland glens.[1109] In the case of S. Patrick he and his followers\nappeared as deer, and this power of shape-shifting was wielded both by\nDruids and women. The Druid Fer Fidail carried off a maiden by taking\nthe form of a woman, and another Druid deceived C\u00fachulainn by taking the\nform of the fair Niamh.[1110] Other Druids are said to have been able to\ntake any shape that pleased them.[1111] These powers were reflected back\nupon the gods and mythical personages like Taliesin or Amairgen, who\nappear in many forms. The priestesses of Sena could assume the form of\nanimals, and an Irish Circe in the _Rennes Dindsenchas_ called Dalb the\nRough changed three men and their wives into swine by her spells.[1112]\nThis power of transforming others is often described in the sagas. The\nchildren of Lir were changed to swans by their cruel stepmother; Saar,\nthe mother of Oisin, became a fawn through the power of the Druid Fear\nDoirche when she rejected his love; and similarly Tuirrenn, mother of\nOisin's hounds, was transformed into a stag-hound by the fairy mistress\nof her husband Iollann.[1113] In other instances in the sagas, women\nappear as birds.[1114] These transformation tales may be connected with\ntotemism, for when this institution is decaying the current belief in\nshape-shifting is often made use of to explain descent from animals or\nthe tabu against eating certain animals. In some of these Irish\nshape-shifting tales we find this tabu referred to. Thus, when the\nchildren of Lir were turned into swans, it was proclaimed that no one\nshould kill a swan. The reason of an existing tabu seemed to be\nsufficiently explained when it was told that certain human beings had\nbecome swans. It is not impossible that the Druids made use of hypnotic\nsuggestion to persuade others that they had assumed another form, as Red\nIndian shamans have been known to do, or even hallucinated others into\nthe belief that their own form had been changed.\n\nBy a \"drink of oblivion\" Druids and other persons could make one forget\neven the most dearly beloved. Thus C\u00fachulainn was made to forget Fand,\nand his wife Emer to forget her jealousy.[1115] This is a reminiscence\nof potent drinks brewed from herbs which caused hallucinations, e.g.\nthat of the change of shape. In other cases they were of a narcotic\nnature and caused a deep sleep, an instance being the draught given by\nGrainne to Fionn and his men.[1116] Again, the \"Druidic sleep\" is\nsuggestive of hypnotism, practised in distant ages and also by\npresent-day savages. When Bodb suspected his daughter of lying he cast\nher into a \"Druidic sleep,\" in which she revealed her wickedness.[1117]\nIn other cases spells are cast upon persons so that they are\nhallucinated, or are rendered motionless, or, \"by the sleight of hand of\nsoothsayers,\" maidens lose their chastity without knowing it.[1118]\nThese point to knowledge of hypnotic methods of suggestion. Or, again, a\nspectral army is opposed to an enemy's force to whom it is an\nhallucinatory appearance--perhaps an exaggeration of natural hypnotic\npowers.[1119]\n\nDruids also made a \"hedge,\" the _airbe druad_, round an army, perhaps\ncircumambulating it and saying spells so that the attacking force might\nnot break through. If any one could leap this \"hedge,\" the spell was\nbroken, but he lost his life. This was done at the battle of Cul Dremne,\nat which S. Columba was present and aided the heroic leaper with his\nprayers.[1120]\n\nA primitive piece of sympathetic magic used still by savages is recorded\nin the _Rennes Dindsenchas_. In this story one man says spells over his\nspear and hurls it into his opponent's shadow, so that he falls\ndead.[1121] Equally primitive is the Druidic \"sending\" a wisp of straw\nover which the Druid sang spells and flung it into his victim's face, so\nthat he became mad. A similar method is used by the Eskimo _angekok_.\nAll madness was generally ascribed to such a \"sending.\"\n\nSeveral of these instances have shown the use of spells, and the Druid\nwas believed to possess powerful incantations to discomfit an enemy or\nto produce other magical results. A special posture was\nadopted--standing on one leg, with one arm outstretched and one eye\nclosed, perhaps to concentrate the force of the spell,[1122] but the\npower lay mainly in the spoken words, as we have seen in discussing\nCeltic formul\u00e6 of prayer. Such spells were also used by the _Filid_, or\npoets, since most primitive poetry has a magical aspect. Part of the\ntraining of the bard consisted in learning traditional incantations,\nwhich, used with due ritual, produced the magic result.[1123] Some of\nthese incantations have already come before our notice, and probably\nsome of the verses which C\u00e6sar says the Druids would not commit to\nwriting were of the nature of spells.[1124] The virtue of the spell lay\nin the spoken formula, usually introducing the name of a god or spirit,\nlater a saint, in order to procure his intervention, through the power\ninherent in the name. Other charms recount an effect already produced,\nand this, through mimetic magic, is supposed to cause its repetition.\nThe earliest written documents bearing upon the paganism of the insular\nCelts contain an appeal to \"the science of Goibniu\" to preserve butter,\nand another, for magical healing, runs, \"I admire the healing which\nDiancecht left in his family, in order to bring health to those he\nsuccoured.\" These are found in an eighth or ninth century MS., and, with\ntheir appeal to pagan gods, were evidently used in Christian\ntimes.[1125] Most Druidic magic was accompanied by a spell--\ntransformation, invisibility, power over the elements, and the discovery\nof hidden persons or things. In other cases spells were used in medicine\nor for healing wounds. Thus the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann told the Fomorians that\nthey need not oppose them, because their Druids would restore the slain\nto life, and when C\u00fachulainn was wounded we hear less of medicines than\nof incantations used to stanch his blood.[1126] In other cases the Druid\ncould remove barrenness by spells.\n\nThe survival of the belief in spells among modern Celtic peoples is a\nconvincing proof of their use in pagan times, and throws light upon\ntheir nature. In Brittany they are handed down in certain families, and\nare carefully guarded from the knowledge of others. The names of saints\ninstead of the old gods are found in them, but in some cases diseases\nare addressed as personal beings. In the Highlands similar charms are\nfound, and are often handed down from male to female, and from female to\nmale. They are also in common use in Ireland. Besides healing diseases,\nsuch charms are supposed to cause fertility or bring good luck, or even\nto transfer the property of others to the reciter, or, in the case of\ndarker magic, to cause death or disease.[1127] In Ireland, sorcerers\ncould \"rime either a man or beast to death,\" and this recalls the power\nof satire in the mouth of _File_ or Druid. It raised blotches on the\nface of the victim, or even caused his death.[1128] Among primitive\nraces powerful internal emotion affects the body in curious ways, and in\nthis traditional power of the satire or \"rime\" we have probably an\nexaggerated reference to actual fact. In other cases the \"curse of\nsatire\" affected nature, causing seas and rivers to sink back.[1129] The\nsatires made by the bards of Gaul, referred to by Diodorus, may have\nbeen believed to possess similar powers.[1130] Contrariwise, the\n_Filid_, on uttering an unjust judgment, found their faces covered with\nblotches.[1131]\n\nA magical sleep is often caused by music in the sagas, e.g. by the harp\nof Dagda, or by the branch carried by visitants from Elysium.[1132] Many\n\"fairy\" lullabies for producing sleep are even now extant in Ireland and\nthe Highlands.[1133] As music forms a part of all primitive religion,\nits soothing powers would easily be magnified. In orgiastic rites it\ncaused varying emotions until the singer and dancer fell into a deep\nslumber, and the tales of those who joined in a fairy dance and fell\nasleep, awaking to find that many years had passed, are mythic\nextensions of the power of music in such orgiastic cults. The music of\nthe _Filid_ had similar powers to that of Dagda's harp, producing\nlaughter, tears, and a delicious slumber,[1134] and Celtic folk-tales\nabound in similar instances of the magic charm of music.\n\nWe now turn to the use of amulets among the Celts. Some of these were\nsymbolic and intended to bring the wearer under the protection of the\ngod whom they symbolised. As has been seen, a Celtic god had as his\nsymbol a wheel, probably representing the sun, and numerous small wheel\ndiscs made of different materials have been found in Gaul and\nBritain.[1135] These were evidently worn as amulets, while in other\ncases they were offered to river divinities, since many are met with in\nriver beds or fords. Their use as protective amulets is shown by a stele\nrepresenting a person wearing a necklace to which is attached one of\nthese wheels. In Irish texts a Druid is called Mag Ruith, explained as\n_magus rotarum_, because he made his Druidical observations by\nwheels.[1136] This may point to the use of such amulets in Ireland. A\ncurious amulet, connected with the Druids, became famous in Roman times\nand is described by Pliny. This was the \"serpents' egg,\" formed from the\nfoam produced by serpents twining themselves together. The serpents\nthrew the \"egg\" into the air, and he who sought it had to catch it in\nhis cloak before it fell, and flee to a running stream, beyond which the\nserpents, like the witches pursuing Tam o' Shanter, could not follow\nhim. This \"egg\" was believed to cause its owner to obtain access to\nkings or to gain lawsuits, and a Roman citizen was put to death in the\nreign of Claudius for bringing such an amulet into court. Pliny had seen\nthis \"egg.\" It was about the size of an apple, with a cartilaginous skin\ncovered with discs.[1137] Probably it was a fossil echinus, such as has\nbeen found in Gaulish tombs.[1138] Such \"eggs\" were doubtless connected\nwith the cult of the serpent, or some old myth of an egg produced by\nserpents may have been made use of to account for their formation. This\nis the more likely, as rings or beads of glass found in tumuli in Wales,\nCornwall, and the Highlands are called \"serpents' glass\" (_glain\nnaidr_), and are believed to be formed in the same way as the \"egg.\"\nThese, as well as old spindle-whorls called \"adder stones\" in the\nHighlands, are held to have magical virtues, e.g. against the bite of a\nserpent, and are highly prized by their owners.[1139]\n\nPliny speaks also of the Celtic belief in the magical virtues of coral,\neither worn as an amulet or taken in powder as a medicine, while it has\nbeen proved that the Celts during a limited period of their history\nplaced it on weapons and utensils, doubtless as an amulet.[1140] Other\namulets--white marble balls, quartz pebbles, models of the tooth of the\nboar, or pieces of amber, have been found buried with the dead.[1141]\nLittle figures of the boar, the horse, and the bull, with a ring for\nsuspending them to a necklet, were worn as amulets or images of these\ndivine animals, and phallic amulets were also worn, perhaps as a\nprotection against the evil eye.[1142]\n\nA cult of stones was probably connected with the belief in the magical\npower of certain stones, like the _Lia Fail_, which shrieked aloud when\nConn knocked against it. His Druids explained that the number of the\nshrieks equalled the number of his descendants who should be kings of\nErin.[1143] This is an \u00e6tiological myth accounting for the use of this\nfetich-stone at coronations. Other stones, probably the object of a cult\nor possessing magical virtues, were used at the installation of chiefs,\nwho stood on them and vowed to follow in the steps of their\npredecessors, a pair of feet being carved on the stone to represent\nthose of the first chief.[1144] Other stones had more musical\nvirtues--the \"conspicuous stone\" of Elysium from which arose a hundred\nstrains, and the melodious stone of Loch L\u00e1ig. Such beliefs existed into\nChristian times. S. Columba's stone altar floated on the waves, and on\nit a leper had crossed in the wake of the saint's coracle to Erin. But\nthe same stone was that on which, long before, the hero Fionn had\nslipped.[1145]\n\nConnected with the cult of stones are magical observances at fixed rocks\nor boulders, regarded probably as the abode of a spirit. These\nobservances are in origin pre-Celtic, but were practised by the Celts.\nGirls slide down a stone to obtain a lover, pregnant women to obtain an\neasy delivery, or contact with such stones causes barren women to have\nchildren or gives vitality to the feeble. A small offering is usually\nleft on the stone.[1146] Similar rites are practised at megalithic\nmonuments, and here again the custom is obviously pre-Celtic in origin.\nIn this case the spirits of the dead must have been expected to assist\nthe purposes of the rites, or even to incarnate themselves in the\nchildren born as a result of barren women resorting to these\nstones.[1147] Sometimes when the purpose of the stones has been\nforgotten and some other legendary origin attributed to them, the custom\nadapts itself to the legend. In Ireland many dolmens are known, not as\nplaces of sepulture, but as \"Diarmaid and Grainne's beds\"--the places\nwhere these eloping lovers slept. Hence they have powers of fruitfulness\nand are visited by women who desire children. The rite is thus one of\nsympathetic magic.\n\nHoled dolmens or naturally pierced blocks are used for the magical cure\nof sickness both in Brittany and Cornwall, the patient being passed\nthrough the hole.[1148] Similar rites are used with trees, a slit being\noften made in the trunk of a sapling, and a sickly child passed through\nit. The slit is then closed and bound, and if it joins together at the\nend of a certain time, this is a proof that the child will\nrecover.[1149] In these rites the spirit in stone or tree was supposed\nto assist the process of healing, or the disease was transferred to\nthem, or, again, there was the idea of a new birth with consequent\nrenewed life, the act imitating the process of birth. These rites are\nnot confined to Celtic regions, but belong to that universal use of\nmagic in which the Celts freely participated.\n\nSince Christian writers firmly believed in the magical powers of the\nDruids, aided however by the devil, they taught that Christian saints\nhad miraculously overcome them with their own weapons. S. Patrick\ndispelled snow-storms and darkness raised by Druids, or destroyed Druids\nwho had brought down fire from heaven. Similar deeds are attributed to\nS. Columba and others.[1150] The moral victory of the Cross was later\nregarded also as a magical victory. Hence also lives of Celtic saints\nare full of miracles which are simply a reproduction of Druidic\nmagic--controlling the elements, healing, carrying live coals without\nhurt, causing confusion by their curses, producing invisibility or\nshape-shifting, making the ice-cold waters of a river hot by standing in\nthem at their devotions, or walking unscathed through the fiercest\nstorms.[1151] They were soon regarded as more expert magicians than the\nDruids themselves. They may have laid claim to magical powers, or\nperhaps they used a natural shrewdness in such a way as to suggest\nmagic. But all their power they ascribed to Christ. \"Christ is my\nDruid\"--the true miracle-worker, said S. Columba. Yet they were imbued\nwith the superstitions of their own age. Thus S. Columba sent a white\nstone to King Brude at Inverness for the cure of his Druid Broichan, who\ndrank the water poured over it, and was healed.[1152] Soon similar\nvirtues were ascribed to the relics of the saints themselves, and at a\nlater time, when most Scotsmen ceased to believe in the saints, they\nthought that the ministers of the kirk had powers like those of pagan\nDruid and Catholic saint. Ministers were levitated, or shone with a\ncelestial light, or had clairvoyant gifts, or, with dire results, cursed\nthe ungodly or the benighted prelatist. They prophesied, used\ntrance-utterance, and exercised gifts of healing. Angels ministered to\nthem, as when Samuel Rutherford, having fallen into a well when a child,\nwas pulled out by an angel.[1153] The substratum of primitive belief\nsurvives all changes of creed, and the folk impartially attributed\nmagical powers to pagan Druid, Celtic saints, old crones and witches,\nand Presbyterian ministers.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1093] _IT_ i. 56; D'Arbois, v. 387.\n\n[1094] See, e.g., \"The Death of Muirchertach,\" _RC_ xxiii. 394.\n\n[1095] _HN_ xxx. 4, 13.\n\n[1096] Zimmer, _Gloss. Hibern._ 183; Reeves, _Adamnan_, 260.\n\n[1097] Kennedy, 175; cf. _IT_ i. 220.\n\n[1098] See _RC_ xii. 52 f.; D'Arbois, v. 403-404; O'Curry, _MS. Mat._\n505; Kennedy, 75, 196, 258.\n\n[1099] D'Arbois, v. 277.\n\n[1100] Stokes, _Three Middle Irish Homilies_, 24; _IT_ iii. 325.\n\n[1101] _RC_ xii. 83; Miss Hull, 215; D'Arbois, v. 424; O'Curry, _MC_ ii.\n215.\n\n[1102] Keating, 341; O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 271.\n\n[1103] _RC_ xii. 81.\n\n[1104] Miss Hull, 240 f.\n\n[1105] Maury, 14.\n\n[1106] S\u00e9billot, ii. 226 f., i. 101, ii. 225; B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud,\n_Superstitions et Survivances_, iii. 169 f.; _Stat. Account_, viii. 52.\n\n[1107] _Rev. des Trad._ 1893, 613; S\u00e9billot, ii. 224.\n\n[1108] B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, iii. 218 f.; S\u00e9billot, i. 100, 109; _RC_ ii.\n484; Frazer, _Golden Bough_{2}, i. 67.\n\n[1109] D'Arbois, v. 387; _IT_ i. 52; Dixon, _Gairloch_, 165; Carmichael,\n_Carm. Gad._ ii. 25.\n\n[1110] _RC_ xvi. 152; Miss Hull, 243.\n\n[1111] D'Arbois, v. 133; _IT_ ii. 373.\n\n[1112] Mela, iii. 6; _RC_ xv. 471.\n\n[1113] Joyce, _OCR_ 1 f.; Kennedy, 235.\n\n[1114] Bird-women pursued by C\u00fachulainn; D'Arbois, v. 178; for other\ninstances see O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 426; Miss Hull, 82.\n\n[1115] D'Arbois, v. 215.\n\n[1116] Joyce, _OCR_ 279.\n\n[1117] Ibid. 86.\n\n[1118] _RC_ xxiii. 394; Jocelyn, _Vita S. Kent._ c. 1.\n\n[1119] _RC_ xv. 446.\n\n[1120] O'Conor, _Rer. Hib. Scrip._ ii. 142; Stokes, _Lives of Saints_,\nxxviii.\n\n[1121] _RC_ xv. 444.\n\n[1122] See p. 251, _supra_.\n\n[1123] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 240.\n\n[1124] See pp. 248, 304, _supra_; C\u00e6sar, _vi_. 14.\n\n[1125] Zimmer, _Gloss. Hiber._ 271. Other Irish incantations, appealing\nto the saints, are found in the _Codex Regularum_ at Klosternenburg\n(_RC_ ii. 112).\n\n[1126] Leahy, i. 137; Kennedy, 301.\n\n[1127] Sauv\u00e9, _RC_ vi. 67 f.; Carmichael, _Carm. Gadel._, _passim_; _CM_\nxii. 38; Joyce, _SH_ i. 629 f.; Camden, _Britannia_, iv. 488; Scot,\n_Discovery of Witchcraft_, iii. 15.\n\n[1128] For examples see O'Curry, _MS. Met._ 248; D'Arbois, ii. 190; _RC_\nxii. 71, xxiv. 279; Stokes, _TIG_ xxxvi. f.\n\n[1129] Windisch, _T\u00e1in_, line 3467.\n\n[1130] Diod. Sic. v. 31.\n\n[1131] D'Arbois, i. 271.\n\n[1132] _RC_ xii. 109; Nutt-Meyer, i. 2; D'Arbois, v. 445.\n\n[1133] Petrie, _Ancient Music of Ireland_, i. 73; _The Gael_, i. 235\n(fairy lullaby of MacLeod of MacLeod).\n\n[1134] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 255.\n\n[1135] _Arch\u00e6ologia_, xxxix. 509; _Proc. Soc. Ant._ iii. 92; Gaidoz, _Le\nDieu Gaul. du Soleil_, 60 f.\n\n[1136] _IT_ iii. 409; but see Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 215.\n\n[1137] Pliny, _HN_ xxix. 3. 54.\n\n[1138] _Rev. Arch._ i. 227, xxxiii. 283.\n\n[1139] Hoare, _Modern Wiltshire_, 56; Camden, _Britannia_, 815; Hazlitt,\n194; Campbell, _Witchcraft_, 84. In the Highlands spindle-whorls are\nthought to have been perforated by the adder, which then passes through\nthe hole to rid itself of its old skin.\n\n[1140] Pliny, xxxii. 2. 24; Reinach, _RC_ xx. 13 f.\n\n[1141] _Rev. Arch._ i. 227; Greenwell, _British Barrows_, 165; Elton,\n66; Renel, 95f., 194f.\n\n[1142] Reinach, _BF_ 286, 289, 362.\n\n[1143] O'Curry, _MS Mat._ 387. See a paper by Hartland, \"The Voice of\nthe Stone of Destiny,\" _Folk-lore Journal_, xiv. 1903.\n\n[1144] Petrie, _Trans. Royal Irish Acad._ xviii. pt. 2.\n\n[1145] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 393 f.\n\n[1146] S\u00e9billot, i. 334 f.\n\n[1147] Trollope, _Brittany_, ii. 229; B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Superstitions et\nSurvivances_, i. 529 f.; Borlase, _Dolmens of Ireland_, iii. 580, 689,\n841 f.\n\n[1148] _Rev. des Trad._ 1894, 494; B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, i. 529, ii. 367;\nElworthy, _Evil Eye_, 70.\n\n[1149] B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, i. 523; Elworthy, 69, 106; Reinach,\n_L'Anthropologie_, iv. 33.\n\n[1150] Kennedy, 324; Adamnan, _Vita S. Col._ ii. 35.\n\n[1151] Life of S. Fechin of Fore, _RC_ xii. 333; Life of S. Kieran,\nO'Grady, ii. 13; Amra Cholumbchille, _RC_ xx. 41; Life of S. Moling,\n_RC_ xxvii. 293; and other lives _passim_. See also Plummer, _Vit\u00e6\nSanctorum Hiberni\u00e6_.\n\n[1152] Adamnan, ii. 34. This pebble was long preserved, but mysteriously\ndisappeared when the person who sought it was doomed to die.\n\n[1153] Wodrow, _Analecta_, _passim_; Walker, _Six Saints of the\nCovenant_, ed. by Dr. Hay Fleming.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE STATE OF THE DEAD.\n\n\nAmong all the problems with which man has busied himself, none so\nappeals to his hopes and fears as that of the future life. Is there a\nfarther shore, and if so, shall we reach it? Few races, if any, have\ndoubted the existence of a future state, but their conceptions of it\nhave differed greatly. But of all the races of antiquity, outside Egypt,\nthe Celts seem to have cherished the most ardent belief in the world\nbeyond the grave, and to have been preoccupied with its joys. Their\nbelief, so far as we know it, was extremely vivid, and its chief\ncharacteristic was life in the body after death, in another\nregion.[1154] This, coupled with the fact that it was taught as a\ndoctrine by the Druids, made it the admiration of classical onlookers.\nBut besides this belief there was another, derived from the ideas of a\ndistant past, that the dead lived on in the grave--the two conceptions\nbeing connected. And there may also have been a certain degree of belief\nin transmigration. Although the Celts believed that the soul could exist\napart from the body, there seems to be no evidence that they believed in\na future existence of the soul as a shade. This belief is certainly\nfound in some late Welsh poems, where the ghosts are described as\nwandering in the Caledonian forest, but these can hardly be made use of\nas evidence for the old pagan doctrine. The evidence for the latter may\nbe gathered from classical observers, from arch\u00e6ology and from Irish\ntexts.\n\nC\u00e6sar writes: \"The Druids in particular wish to impress this on them\nthat souls do not perish, but pass from one to another (_ab aliis ... ad\nalios_) after death, and by this chiefly they think to incite men to\nvalour, the fear of death being overlooked.\" Later he adds, that at\nfunerals all things which had been dear to the dead man, even living\ncreatures, were thrown on the funeral pyre, and shortly before his time\nslaves and beloved clients were also consumed.[1155] Diodorus says:\n\"Among them the doctrine of Pythagoras prevailed that the souls of men\nwere immortal, and after completing their term of existence they live\nagain, the soul passing into another body. Hence at the burial of the\ndead some threw letters addressed to dead relatives on the funeral pile,\nbelieving that the dead would read them in the next world.\"[1156]\nValerius Maximus writes: \"They would fain make us believe that the souls\nof men are immortal. I would be tempted to call these breeches-wearing\nfolk fools, if their doctrine were not the same as that of the\nmantle-clad Pythagoras.\" He also speaks of money lent which would be\nrepaid in the next world, because men's souls are immortal.[1157] These\npassages are generally taken to mean that the Celts believed simply in\ntransmigration of the Pythagorean type. Possibly all these writers cite\none common original, but C\u00e6sar makes no reference to Pythagoras. A\ncomparison with the Pythagorean doctrine shows that the Celtic belief\ndiffered materially from it. According to the former, men's souls\nentered new bodies, even those of animals, in this world, and as an\nexpiation. There is nothing of this in the Celtic doctrine. The new body\nis not a prison-house of the soul in which it must expiate its former\nsins, and the soul receives it not in this world but in another. The\nreal point of connection was the insistence of both upon immortality,\nthe Druids teaching that it was bodily immortality. Their doctrine no\nmore taught transmigration than does the Christian doctrine of the\nresurrection. Roman writers, aware that Pythagoras taught immortality\n_via_ a series of transmigrations, and that the Druids taught a doctrine\nof bodily immortality, may have thought that the receiving of a new body\nmeant transmigration. Themselves sceptical of a future life or believing\nin a traditional gloomy Hades, they were bound to be struck with the\nvigour of the Celtic doctrine and its effects upon conduct. The only\nthing like it of which they knew was the Pythagorean doctrine. Looked at\nin this light, C\u00e6sar's words need not convey the idea of transmigration,\nand it is possible that he mistranslated some Greek original. Had these\nwriters meant that the Druids taught transmigration, they could hardly\nhave added the passages regarding debts being paid in the other world,\nor letters conveyed there by the dead, or human sacrifices to benefit\nthe dead there. These also preclude the idea of a mere immortality of\nthe soul. The dead Celt continued to be the person he had been, and it\nmay have been that not a new body, but the old body glorified, was\ntenanted by his soul beyond the grave. This bodily immortality in a\nregion where life went on as on this earth, but under happier\nconditions, would then be like the Vedic teaching that the soul, after\nthe burning of the body, went to the heaven of Yama, and there received\nits body complete and glorified. The two conceptions, Hindu and Celtic,\nmay have sprung from early \"Aryan\" belief.\n\nThis Celtic doctrine appears more clearly from what Lucan says of the\nDruidic teaching. \"From you we learn that the bourne of man's existence\nis not the silent halls of Erebus, in another world (or region, _in orbe\nalio_) the spirit animates the members. Death, if your lore be true, is\nbut the centre of a long life.\" For this reason, he adds, the Celtic\nwarrior had no fear of death.[1158] Thus Lucan conceived the Druidic\ndoctrine to be one of bodily immortality in another region. That region\nwas not a gloomy state; rather it resembled the Egyptian Aalu with its\nrich and varied existence. Classical writers, of course, may have known\nof what appears to have been a sporadic Celtic idea, derived from old\nbeliefs, that the soul might take the form of an animal, but this was\nnot the Druidic teaching. Again, if the Gauls, like the Irish, had myths\ntelling of the rebirth of gods or semi-divine beings, these may have\nbeen misinterpreted by those writers and regarded as eschatological. But\nsuch myths do not concern mortals. Other writers, Timagenes, Strabo, and\nMela,[1159] speak only of the immortality of the soul, but their\ntestimony is probably not at variance with that of Lucan, since Mela\nappears to copy C\u00e6sar, and speaks of accounts and debts being passed on\nto the next world.\n\nThis theory of a bodily immortality is supported by the Irish sagas, in\nwhich ghosts, in our sense of the word, do not exist. The dead who\nreturn are not spectres, but are fully clothed upon with a body. Thus,\nwhen C\u00fachulainn returns at the command of S. Patrick, he is described\nexactly as if he were still in the flesh. \"His hair was thick and black\n... in his head his eye gleamed swift and grey.... Blacker than the side\nof a cooking spit each of his two brows, redder than ruby his lips.\" His\nclothes and weapons are fully described, while his chariot and horses\nare equally corporeal.[1160] Similar descriptions of the dead who return\nare not infrequent, e.g. that of Caoilte in the story of Mongan, whom\nevery one believes to be a living warrior, and that of Fergus mac Roich,\nwho reappeared in a beautiful form, adorned with brown hair and clad in\nhis former splendour, and recited the lost story of the _T\u00e1in_.[1161]\nThus the Irish Celts believed that in another world the spirit animated\nthe members. This bodily existence is also suggested in Celtic versions\nof the \"Dead Debtor\" folk-tale cycle. Generally an animal in whose shape\na dead man helps his benefactor is found in other European versions, but\nin the Celtic stories not an animal but the dead man himself appears as\na living person in corporeal form.[1162] Equally substantial and\ncorporeal, eating, drinking, lovemaking, and fighting are the divine\nfolk of the _s\u00edd_ or of Elysium, or the gods as they are represented in\nthe texts. To the Celts, gods, _s\u00edde_, and the dead, all alike had a\nbodily form, which, however, might become invisible, and in other ways\ndiffered from the earthly body.\n\nThe arch\u00e6ological evidence of burial customs among the Celts also bears\nwitness to this belief. Over the whole Celtic area a rich profusion of\ngrave-goods has been found, consisting of weapons, armour, chariots,\nutensils, ornaments, and coins.[1163] Some of the interments undoubtedly\npoint to sacrifice of wife, children, or slaves at the grave. Male and\nfemale skeletons are often in close proximity, in one case the arm of\nthe male encircling the neck of the female. In other cases the remains\nof children are found with these. Or while the lower interment is richly\nprovided with grave-goods, above it lie irregularly several skeletons,\nwithout grave-goods, and often with head separated from the body,\npointing to decapitation, while in one case the arms had been tied\nbehind the back.[1164] All this suggests, taken in connection with\nclassical evidence regarding burial customs, that the future life was\nlife in the body, and that it was a _replica_ of this life, with the\nsame affections, needs, and energies. Certain passages in Irish texts\nalso describe burials, and tell how the dead were interred with\nornaments and weapons, while it was a common custom to bury the dead\nwarrior in his armour, fully armed, and facing the region whence enemies\nmight be expected. Thus he was a perpetual menace to them and prevented\ntheir attack.[1165] Possibly this belief may account for the elevated\nposition of many tumuli. Animals were also sacrificed. Hostages were\nburied alive with Fiachra, according to one text, and the wives of\nheroes sometimes express their desire to be buried along with their dead\nhusbands.[1166]\n\nThe idea that the body as well as the soul was immortal was probably\nlinked on to a very primitive belief regarding the dead, and one shared\nby many peoples, that they lived on in the grave. This conception was\nnever forgotten, even in regions where the theory of a distant land of\nthe dead was evolved, or where the body was consumed by fire before\nburial. It appears from such practices as binding the dead with cords,\nor laying heavy stones or a mound of earth on the grave, probably to\nprevent their egress, or feeding the dead with sacrificial food at the\ngrave, or from the belief that the dead come forth not as spirits, but\nin the body from the grave. This primitive conception, of which the\nbelief in a subterranean world of the dead is an extension, long\nsurvived among various races, e.g. the Scandinavians, who believed in\nthe barrow as the abiding place of the dead, while they also had their\nconception of Hel and Valhalla, or among the Slavs, side by side with\nChristian conceptions.[1167] It also survived among the Celts, though\nanother belief in the _orbis alius_ had arisen. This can be shown from\nmodern and ancient folk-belief and custom.\n\nIn numerous Celtic folk-tales the dead rise in the body, not as ghosts,\nfrom the grave, which is sometimes described as a house in which they\nlive. They perform their ordinary occupations in house or field; they\neat with the living, or avenge themselves upon them; if scourged, blood\nis drawn from their bodies; and, in one curious Breton tale, a dead\nhusband visits his wife in bed and she then has a child by him, because,\nas he said, \"sa compte d'enfants\" was not yet complete.[1168] In other\nstories a corpse becomes animated and speaks or acts in presence of the\nliving, or from the tomb itself when it is disturbed.[1169] The earliest\nliterary example of such a tale is the tenth century \"Adventures of\nNera,\" based on older sources. In this Nera goes to tie a withy to the\nfoot of a man who has been hung. The corpse begs a drink, and then\nforces Nera to carry him to a house, where he kills two sleepers.[1170]\nAll such stories, showing as they do that a corpse is really living,\nmust in essence be of great antiquity. Another common belief, found over\nthe Celtic area, is that the dead rise from the grave, not as ghosts,\nwhen they will, and that they appear _en masse_ on the night of All\nSaints, and join the living.[1171]\n\nAs a result of such beliefs, various customs are found in use,\napparently to permit of the corpse having freedom of movement, contrary\nto the older custom of preventing its egress from the grave. In the west\nof Ireland the feet of the corpse are left free, and the nails are drawn\nfrom the coffin at the grave. In the Hebrides the threads of the shroud\nare cut or the bindings of feet, hands, and face are raised when the\nbody is placed in the coffin, and in Brittany the arms and feet are left\nfree when the corpse is dressed.[1172] The reason is said to be that the\nspirit may have less trouble in getting to the spirit world, but it is\nobvious that a more material view preceded and still underlies this\nlater gloss. Many stories are told illustrating these customs, and the\nearlier belief, Christianised, appears in the tale of a woman who\nhaunted her friends because they had made her grave-clothes so short\nthat the fires of Purgatory burnt her knees.[1173]\n\nEarlier customs recorded among the Celts also point to the existence of\nthis primitive belief influencing actual custom. Nicander says that the\nCelts went by night to the tombs of great men to obtain oracles, so much\ndid they believe that they were still living there.[1174] In Ireland,\noracles were also sought by sleeping on funeral cairns, and it was to\nthe grave of Fergus that two bards resorted in order to obtain from him\nthe lost story of the _T\u00e1in_. We have also seen how, in Ireland, armed\nheroes exerted a sinister influence upon enemies from their graves,\nwhich may thus have been regarded as their homes--a belief also\nunderlying the Welsh story of Bran's head.\n\nWhere was the world of the dead situated? M. Reinach has shown, by a\ncareful comparison of the different uses of the word _orbis_, that\nLucan's words do not necessarily mean \"another world,\" but \"another\nregion,\" i.e. of this world.[1175] If the Celts cherished so firmly the\nbelief that the dead lived on in the grave, a belief in an underworld of\nthe dead was bound in course of time to have been evolved as part of\ntheir creed. To it all graves and tumuli would give access. Classical\nobservers apparently held that the Celtic future state was like their\nown in being an underworld region, since they speak of the dead Celts as\n_inferi_, or as going _ad Manes_, and Plutarch makes Camma speak of\ndescending to her dead husband.[1176] What differentiated it from their\nown gloomy underworld was its exuberant life and immortality. This\naspect of a subterranean land presented no difficulty to the Celt, who\nhad many tales of an underworld or under-water region more beautiful and\nblissful than anything on earth. Such a subterranean world must have\nbeen that of the Celtic Dispater, a god of fertility and growth, the\nroots of things being nourished from his kingdom. From him men had\ndescended,[1177] probably a myth of their coming forth from his\nsubterranean kingdom, and to him they returned after death to a blissful\nlife.\n\nSeveral writers, notably M. D'Arbois, assume that the _orbis alius_ of\nthe dead was the Celtic island Elysium. But that Elysium _never_ appears\nin the tales as a land of the dead. It is a land of gods and deathless\nfolk who are not those who have passed from this world by death. Mortals\nmay reach it by favour, but only while still in life. It might be argued\nthat Elysium was regarded in pagan times as the land of the dead, but\nafter Christian eschatological views prevailed, it became a kind of\nfairyland. But the existing tales give no hint of this, and, after being\ncarefully examined, they show that Elysium had always been a place\ndistinct from that of the departed, though there may have arisen a\ntendency to confuse the two.\n\nIf there was a genuine Celtic belief in an island of the dead, it could\nhave been no more than a local one, else C\u00e6sar would not have spoken as\nhe does of the Celtic Dispater. Such a local belief now exists on the\nBreton coast, but it is mainly concerned with the souls of the\ndrowned.[1178] A similar local belief may explain the story told by\nProcopius, who says that Brittia (Britain), an island lying off the\nmouth of the Rhine, is divided from north to south by a wall beyond\nwhich is a noxious region. This is a distorted reminiscence of the Roman\nwall, which would appear to run in this direction if Ptolemy's map, in\nwhich Scotland lies at right angles to England, had been consulted.\nThither fishermen from the opposite coast are compelled to ferry over at\ndead of night the shades of the dead, unseen to them, but marshalled by\na mysterious leader.[1179] Procopius may have mingled some local belief\nwith the current tradition that Ulysses' island of the shades lay in the\nnorth, or in the west.[1180] In any case his story makes of the gloomy\nland of the shades a very different region from the blissful Elysium of\nthe Celts and from their joyous _orbis alius_, nor is it certain that he\nis referring to a Celtic people.\n\nTraces of the idea of an underworld of the dead exist in Breton\nfolk-belief. The dead must travel across a subterranean ocean, and\nthough there is scarcely any tradition regarding what happens on\nlanding, M. S\u00e9billot thinks that formerly \"there existed in the\nsubterranean world a sort of centralisation of the different states of\nthe dead.\" If so, this must have been founded on pagan belief. The\ninterior of the earth is also believed to be the abode of fabulous\nbeings, of giants, and of fantastic animals, and there is also a\nsubterranean fairy world. In all this we may see a survival of the older\nbelief, modified by Christian teaching, since the Bretons suppose that\npurgatory and hell are beneath the earth and accessible from its\nsurface.[1181]\n\nSome British folk-lore brought to Greece by Demetrius and reported by\nPlutarch might seem to suggest that certain persons--the mighty\ndead--were privileged to pass to the island Elysium. Some islands near\nBritain were called after gods and heroes, and the inhabitants of one of\nthese were regarded as sacrosanct by the Britons, like the priestesses\nof Sena. They were visited by Demetrius, who was told that the storms\nwhich arose during his visit were caused by the passing away of some of\nthe \"mighty\" or of the \"great souls.\" It may have been meant that such\nmighty ones passed to the more distant islands, but this is certainly\nnot stated. In another island, Kronos was imprisoned, watched over by\nBriareus, and guarded by demons.[1182] Plutarch refers to these islands\nin another work, repeating the story of Kronos, and saying that his\nisland is mild and fragrant, that people live there waiting on the god\nwho sometimes appears to them and prevents their departing. Meanwhile\nthey are happy and know no care, spending their time in sacrificing and\nhymn-singing or in studying legends and philosophy.\n\nPlutarch has obviously mingled Celtic Elysium beliefs with the classical\nconception of the Druids.[1183] In Elysium there is no care, and\nfavoured mortals who pass there are generally prevented from returning\nto earth. The reference to Kronos may also be based partly on myths of\nCeltic gods of Elysium, partly on tales of heroes who departed to\nmysterious islands or to the hollow hills where they lie asleep, but\nwhence they will one day return to benefit their people. So Arthur\npassed to Avalon, but in other tales he and his warriors are asleep\nbeneath Craig-y-Ddinas, just as Fionn and his men rest within this or\nthat hill in the Highlands. Similar legends are told of other Celtic\nheroes, and they witness to the belief that great men who had died would\nreturn in the hour of their people's need. In time they were thought not\nto have died at all, but to be merely sleeping and waiting for their\nhour.[1184] The belief is based on the idea that the dead are alive in\ngrave or barrow, or in a spacious land below the earth, or that dead\nwarriors can menace their foes from the tomb.\n\nThus neither in old sagas, nor in _M\u00e4rchen_, nor in popular tradition,\nis the island Elysium a world of the dead. For the most part the pagan\neschatology has been merged in that of Christianity, while the Elysium\nbelief has remained intact and still survives in a whole series of\nbeautiful tales.\n\nThe world of the dead was in all respects a _replica_ of this world, but\nit was happier. In existing Breton and Irish belief--a survival of the\nolder conception of the bodily state of the dead--they resume their\ntools, crafts, and occupations, and they preserve their old feelings.\nHence, when they appear on earth, it is in bodily form and in their\ncustomary dress. Like the pagan Gauls, the Breton remembers unpaid\ndebts, and cannot rest till they are paid, and in Brittany, Ireland, and\nthe Highlands the food and clothes given to the poor after a death, feed\nand clothe the dead in the other world.[1185] If the world of the dead\nwas subterranean,--a theory supported by current folk-belief,[1186]--the\nEarth-goddess or the Earth-god, who had been first the earth itself,\nthen a being living below its surface and causing fertility, could not\nhave become the divinity of the dead until the multitude of single\ngraves or barrows, in each of which the dead lived, had become a wide\nsubterranean region of the dead. This divinity was the source of life\nand growth; hence he or she was regarded as the progenitor of mankind,\nwho had come forth from the underworld and would return there at death.\nIt is not impossible that the Breton conception of Ankou, death\npersonified, is a reminiscence of the Celtic Dispater. He watches over\nall things beyond the grave, and carries off the dead to his kingdom.\nBut if so he has been altered for the worse by medi\u00e6val ideas of \"Death\nthe skeleton\".[1187] He is a grisly god of death, whereas the Celtic Dis\nwas a beneficent god of the dead who enjoyed a happy immortality. They\nwere not cold phantasms, but alive and endowed with corporeal form and\nable to enjoy the things of a better existence, and clad in the\nbeautiful raiment and gaudy ornaments which were loved so much on earth.\nHence Celtic warriors did not fear death, and suicide was extremely\ncommon, while Spanish Celts sang hymns in praise of death, and others\ncelebrated the birth of men with mourning, but their deaths with\njoy.[1188] Lucan's words are thus the truest expression of Celtic\neschatology--\"In another region the spirit animates the members; death,\nif your lore be true, is but the passage to enduring life.\"\n\nThere is no decisive evidence pointing to any theory of moral\nretribution beyond the grave among the pagan Celts. Perhaps, since the\nhope of immortality made warriors face death without a tremor, it may\nhave been held, as many other races have believed, that cowards would\nmiss the bliss of the future state. Again, in some of the Irish\nChristian visions of the other-world and in existing folk-belief,\ncertain characteristics of hell may not be derived from Christian\neschatology, e.g. the sufferings of the dead from cold.[1189] This might\npoint to an old belief in a cold region whither some of the dead were\nbanished. In the _Adventures of S. Columba's Clerics_, hell is reached\nby a bridge over a glen of fire,[1190] and a narrow bridge leading to\nthe other world is a common feature in most mythologies. But here it may\nbe borrowed from Scandinavian sources, or from such Christian writings\nas the _Dialogues_ of S. Gregory the Great.[1191] It might be contended\nthat the Christian doctrine of hell has absorbed an earlier pagan theory\nof retribution, but of this there is now no trace in the sagas or in\nclassical references to the Celtic belief in the future life. Nor is\nthere any reference to a day of judgment, for the passage in which\nLoegaire speaks of the dead buried with their weapons till \"the day of\nErdathe,\" though glossed \"the day of judgment of the Lord,\" does not\nrefer to such a judgment.[1192] If an ethical blindness be attributed to\nthe Celts for their apparent lack of any theory of retribution, it\nshould be remembered that we must not judge a people's ethics wholly by\ntheir views of future punishment. Scandinavians, Greeks, and Semites up\nto a certain stage were as unethical as the Celts in this respect, and\nthe Christian hell, as conceived by many theologians, is far from\nsuggesting an ethical Deity.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1154] Skene, i. 370.\n\n[1155] C\u00e6sar, vi. 14, 19.\n\n[1156] Diod. Sic. v, 28.\n\n[1157] Val. Max. vi. 6. 10.\n\n[1158] _Phars._ i. 455 f.\n\n[1159] Amm. Marc. xv. 9; Strabo, iv. 4; Mela, iii. 2.\n\n[1160] Miss Hull, 275.\n\n[1161] Nutt-Meyer, i. 49; Miss Hull, 293.\n\n[1162] Larminie, 155; Hyde, _Beside the Fire_, 21, 153; _CM_ xiii. 21;\nCampbell, _WHT_, ii. 21; Le Braz{2}, i. p. xii.\n\n[1163] Von Sacken, _Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt_; Greenwell, _British\nBarrows_; _RC_ x. 234; _Antiquary_, xxxvii. 125; Blanchet, ii. 528 f.;\nAnderson, _Scotland in Pagan Times_.\n\n[1164] _L'Anthropologie_, vi. 586; Greenwell, _op. cit._ 119.\n\n[1165] Nutt-Meyer, i. 52; O'Donovan, _Annals_, i. 145, 180; _RC_ xv. 28.\nIn one case the enemy disinter the body of the king of Connaught, and\nrebury it face downwards, and then obtain a victory. This nearly\ncoincides with the dire results following the disinterment of Bran's\nhead (O'Donovan, i. 145; cf. p. 242, _supra_).\n\n[1166] _LU_ 130_a_; _RC_ xxiv. 185; O'Curry, _MC_ i. p. cccxxx;\nCampbell, _WHT_ iii. 62; Leahy, i. 105.\n\n[1167] Vigfusson-Powell, _Corpus Poet. Boreale_, i. 167, 417-418, 420;\nand see my _Childhood of Fiction_, 103 f.\n\n[1168] Larminie, 31; Le Braz{2}, ii. 146, 159, 161, 184, 257 (the _r\u00f4le_\nof the dead husband is usually taken by a _lutin_ or _follet_, Luzel,\n_Veill\u00e9es Bretons_, 79); _Rev. des Trad. Pop._ ii. 267; _Ann. de\nBretagne_, viii. 514.\n\n[1169] Le Braz{2}, i. 313. Cf. also an incident in the _Voyage of\nMaelduin_.\n\n[1170] _RC_ x. 214f. Cf. Kennedy, 162; Le Braz{2}, i. 217, for variants.\n\n[1171] Curtin, _Tales_, 156; see p. 170, _supra_.\n\n[1172] Curtin, _Tales_, 156; Campbell, _Superstitions_, 241;\n_Folk-Lore_, xiii. 60; Le Braz{2}, i. 213.\n\n[1173] _Folk-Lore_, ii. 26; Yeats, _Celtic Twilight_, 166.\n\n[1174] Tertullian, _de Anima_, 21.\n\n[1175] Reinach, _RC_ xxii. 447.\n\n[1176] Val. Max. vi. 6; Mela, iii. 2. 19; Plut. _Virt. mul_ 20.\n\n[1177] See p. 229, _supra_.\n\n[1178] Le Braz{2}, i. p. xxxix. This is only one out of many local\nbeliefs (cf. S\u00e9billot, ii. 149).\n\n[1179] Procop. _De Bello Goth._ vi. 20.\n\n[1180] Claudian, _In Rufin._ i. 123.\n\n[1181] S\u00e9billot, i. 418 f.\n\n[1182] _de Defectu Orac._ 18. An occasional name for Britain in the\n_Mabinogion_ is \"the island of the Mighty\" (Loth, i. 69, _et passim_).\nTo the storm incident and the passing of the mighty, there is a curious\nparallel in Fijian belief. A clap of thunder was explained as \"the noise\nof a spirit, we being near the place in which spirits plunge to enter\nthe other world, and a chief in the neighbourhood having just died\"\n(Williams, _Fiji_, i. 204).\n\n[1183] _de Facie Lun[oe]_, 26.\n\n[1184] See Hartland, _Science of Fairy Tales_, 209; Macdougall, _Folk\nand Hero Tales_, 73, 263; Le Braz{2}, i. p. xxx. Mortals sometimes\npenetrated to the presence of these heroes, who awoke. If the visitor\nhad the courage to tell them that the hour had not yet come, they fell\nasleep again, and he escaped. In Brittany, rocky clefts are believed to\nbe the entrance to the world of the dead, like the cave of Lough Dearg.\nSimilar stories were probably told of these in pagan times, though they\nare now adapted to Christian beliefs in purgatory or hell.\n\n[1185] Le Braz{2}, i. p. xl, ii. 4; Curtin, 10; MacPhail, _Folk-Lore_,\nvi. 170.\n\n[1186] See p. 338, _supra_, and Logan, _Scottish Gael_, ii. 374;\n_Folk-Lore,_ viii. 208, 253.\n\n[1187] Le Braz{2}, i. 96, 127, 136f., and Intro, xlv.\n\n[1188] Philostratus, _Apoll. of Tyana_, v. 4; Val. Max. ii. 6. 12.\n\n[1189] Le Braz{1}, ii. 91; Curtin, _Tales_, 146. The punishment of\nsuffering from ice and snow appears in the _Apocalypse of Paul_ and in\nlater Christian accounts of hell.\n\n[1190] _RC_ xxvi. 153.\n\n[1191] Bk. iv. ch. 36.\n\n[1192] _Erdathe_, according to D'Arbois, means (1) \"the day in which the\ndead will resume his colour,\" from _dath_, \"colour\"; (2) \"the agreeable\nday,\" from _data_, \"agreeable\" (D'Arbois, i. 185; cf. _Les Druides_,\n135).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nREBIRTH AND TRANSMIGRATION.\n\n\nIn Irish sagas, rebirth is asserted only of divinities or heroes, and,\nprobably because this belief was obnoxious to Christian scribes, while\nsome MSS. tell of it in the case of certain heroic personages, in others\nthese same heroes are said to have been born naturally. There is no\ntextual evidence that it was attributed to ordinary mortals, and it is\npossible that, if classical observers did not misunderstand the Celtic\ndoctrine of the future life, their references to rebirth may be based on\nmythical tales regarding gods or heroes. We shall study these tales as\nthey are found in Irish texts.\n\nIn the mythological cycle, as has been seen, Etain, in insect form, fell\ninto a cup of wine. She was swallowed by Etar, and in due time was\nreborn as a child, who was eventually married by Eochaid Airem, but\nrecognized and carried off by her divine spouse Mider. Etain, however,\nhad quite forgotten her former existence as a goddess.[1193]\n\nIn one version of C\u00fachulainn's birth story Dechtire and her women fly\naway as birds, but are discovered at last by her brother Conchobar in a\nstrange house, where Dechtire gives birth to a child, of whom the god\nLug is apparently the father. In another version the birds are not\nDechtire and her women, for she accompanies Conchobar as his charioteer.\nThey arrive at the house, the mistress of which gives birth to a child,\nwhich Dechtire brings up. It dies, and on her return from the burial\nDechtire swallows a small animal when drinking. Lug appears to her by\nnight, and tells her that he was the child, and that now she was with\nchild by him (i.e. he was the animal swallowed by her). When he was born\nhe would be called Setanta, who was later named C\u00fachulainn. C\u00fachulainn,\nin this version, is thus a rebirth of Lug, as well as his father.[1194]\n\nIn the _Tale of the Two Swineherds_, Friuch and Rucht are herds of the\ngods Ochall and Bodb. They quarrel, and their fighting in various animal\nshapes is fully described. Finally they become two worms, which are\nswallowed by two cows; these then give birth to the Whitehorn and to the\nBlack Bull of Cuailgne, the animals which were the cause of the _T\u00e1in._\nThe swineherds were probably themselves gods in the older versions of\nthis tale.[1195]\n\nOther stories relate the rebirth of heroes. Conchobar is variously said\nto be son of Nessa by her husband Cathbad, or by her lover Fachtna. But\nin the latter version an incident is found which points to a third\naccount. Nessa brings Cathbad a draught from a river, but in it are two\nworms which he forces her to swallow. She gives birth to a son, in each\nof whose hands is a worm, and he is called Conchobar, after the name of\nthe river into which he fell soon after his birth. The incident closes\nwith the words, \"It was from these worms that she became pregnant, say\nsome.\"[1196] Possibly the divinity of the river had taken the form of\nthe worms and was reborn as Conchobar. We may compare the story of the\nbirth of Conall Cernach. His mother was childless, until a Druid sang\nspells over a well in which she bathed, and drank of its waters. With\nthe draught she swallowed a worm, \"and the worm was in the hand of the\nboy as he lay in his mother's womb; and he pierced the hand and consumed\nit.\"[1197]\n\nThe personality of Fionn is also connected with the rebirth idea. In one\nstory, Mongan, a seventh-century king, had a dispute with his poet\nregarding the death of the hero Fothad. The Fian Caoilte returns from\nthe dead to prove Mongan right, and he says, \"We were with thee, with\nFionn.\" Mongan bids him be silent, because he did not wish his identity\nwith Fionn to be made known. \"Mongan, however, was Fionn, though he\nwould not let it be told.\"[1198] In another story Mongan is son of\nManannan, who had prophesied of this event. Manannan appeared to the\nwife of Fiachna when he was fighting the Saxons, and told her that\nunless she yielded herself to him her husband would be slain. On hearing\nthis she agreed, and next day the god appeared fighting with Fiachna's\nforces and routed the slain. \"So that this Mongan is a son of Manannan\nmac Lir, though he is called Mongan son of Fiachna.\"[1199] In a third\nversion Manannan makes the bargain with Fiachna, and in his form sleeps\nwith the woman. Simultaneously with Mongan's birth, Fiachna's attendant\nhad a son who became Mongan's servant, and a warrior's wife bears a\ndaughter who became his wife. Manannan took Mongan to the Land of\nPromise and kept him there until he was sixteen.[1200] Many magical\npowers and the faculty of shape-shifting are attributed to Mongan, and\nin some stories he is brought into connection with the _s\u00edd_.[1201]\nProbably a myth told how he went to Elysium instead of dying, for he\ncomes from \"the Land of Living Heart\" to speak with S. Columba, who took\nhim to see heaven. But he would not satisfy the saints' curiosity\nregarding Elysium, and suddenly vanished, probably returning\nthere.[1202]\n\nThis twofold account of Mongan's birth is curious. Perhaps the idea that\nhe was a rebirth of Fionn may have been suggested by the fact that his\nfather was called Fiachna Finn, while it is probable that some old myth\nof a son of Manannan's called Mongan was attached to the personality of\nthe historic Mongan.\n\nAbout the era of Mongan, King Diarmaid had two wives, one of whom was\nbarren. S. Finnen gave her holy water to drink, and she brought forth a\nlamb; then, after a second draught, a trout, and finally, after a third,\nAed Slane, who became high king of Ireland in 594. This is a\nChristianised version of the story of Conall Cernach's birth.[1203]\n\nIn Welsh mythology the story of Taliesin affords an example of rebirth.\nAfter the transformation combat of the goddess Cerridwen and Gwion,\nresembling that of the swine-herds, Gwion becomes a grain of wheat,\nwhich Cerridwen in the form of a hen swallows, with the result that he\nis reborn of her as Taliesin.[1204]\n\nMost of these stories no longer exist in their primitive form, and\nvarious ideas are found in them--conception by magical means, divine\ndescent through the _amour_ of a divinity and a mortal, and rebirth.\n\nAs to the first, the help of magician or priest is often invoked in\nsavage society and even in European folk-custom in case of barrenness.\nPrayers, charms, potions, or food are the means used to induce\nconception, but perhaps at one time these were thought to cause it of\nthemselves. In many tales the swallowing of a seed, fruit, insect, etc.,\nresults in the birth of a hero or heroine, and it is probable that these\nstories embody actual belief in such a possibility. If the stories of\nConall Cernach and Aed Slane are not attenuated instances of rebirth,\nsay, of the divinity of a well, they are examples of this belief. The\ngift of fruitfulness is bestowed by Druid and saint, but in the story of\nConall it is rather the swallowing of the worm than the Druid's\nincantation that causes conception, and is the real _motif_ of the tale.\n\nWhere the rebirth of a divinity occurs as the result of the swallowing\nof a small animal, it is evident that the god has first taken this form.\nThe Celt, believing in conception by swallowing some object, and in\nshape-shifting, combined his information, and so produced a third idea,\nthat a god could take the form of a small animal, which, when swallowed,\nbecame his rebirth.[1205] If, as the visits of barren women to dolmens\nand megalithic monuments suggest, the Celts believed in the possibility\nof the spirit of a dead man entering a woman and being born of her or at\nleast aiding conception,--a belief held by other races,[1206]--this may\nhave given rise to myths regarding the rebirth of gods by human mothers.\nAt all events this latter Celtic belief is paralleled by the American\nIndian myths, e.g. of the Thlinkeet god Yehl who transformed himself now\ninto a pebble, now into a blade of grass, and, being thus swallowed by\nwomen, was reborn.\n\nIn the stories of Etain and of Lud, reborn as Setanta, this idea of\ndivine transformation and rebirth occurs. A similar idea may underlie\nthe tale of Fionn and Mongan. As to the tales of Gwion and the\nSwineherds, the latter the servants of gods, and perhaps themselves\nregarded once as divinities, who in their rebirth as bulls are certainly\ndivine animals, they present some features which require further\nconsideration. The previous transformations in both cases belong to the\nTransformation Combat formula of many _M\u00e4rchen_, and obviously were not\npart of the original form of the myths. In all such _M\u00e4rchen_ the\nantagonists are males, hence the rebirth incident could not form part of\nthem. In the Welsh tale of Gwion and in the corresponding Taliesin poem,\nthe ingenious fusion of the _M\u00e4rchen_ formula with an existing myth of\nrebirth must have taken place at an early date.[1207] This is also true\nof _The Two Swineherds_, but in this case, since the myth told how two\ngods took the form of worms and were reborn of cows, the formula had to\nbe altered. Both remain alive at the end of the combat, contrary to the\nusual formula, because both were males and both were reborn. The fusion\nis skilful, because the reborn personages preserve a remembrance of\ntheir former transformations,[1208] just as Mongan knows of his former\nexistence as Fionn. In other cases there is no such remembrance. Etain\nhad forgotten her former existence, and C\u00fachulainn does not appear to\nknow that he is a rebirth of Lug.\n\nThe relation of Lug to C\u00fachulainn deserves further inquiry. While the\ngod is reborn he is also existing as Lug, just as having been swallowed\nas a worm by Dechtire, he appears in his divine form and tells her he\nwill be born of her. In the _T\u00e1in_ he appears fighting for C\u00fachulainn,\nwhom he there calls his son. There are thus two aspects of the hero's\nrelationship to Lug; in one he is a rebirth of the god, in the other he\nis his son, as indeed he seems to represent himself in _The Wooing of\nEmer_, and as he is called by Laborcham just before his death.[1209] In\none of the birth-stories he is clearly Lug's son by Dechtire. But both\nversions may simply be different aspects of one belief, namely, that a\ngod could be reborn as a mortal and yet continue his divine existence,\nbecause all birth is a kind of rebirth. The men of Ulster sought a wife\nfor C\u00fachulainn, \"knowing that his rebirth would be of himself,\" i.e. his\nson would be himself even while he continued to exist as his father.\nExamples of such a belief occur elsewhere, e.g. in the _Laws_ of Manu,\nwhere the husband is said to be reborn of his wife, and in ancient\nEgypt, where the gods were called \"self-begotten,\" because each was\nfather to the son who was his true image or himself. Likeness implied\nidentity, in primitive belief. Thus the belief in mortal descent from\nthe gods among the Celts may have involved the theory of a divine\navatar. The god became father of a mortal by a woman, and part of\nhimself passed over to the child, who was thus the god himself.\n\nConchobar was also a rebirth of a god, but he was named from the river\nwhence his mother had drawn water containing the worms which she\nswallowed. This may point to a lost version in which he was the son of a\nriver-god by Nessa. This was quite in accordance with Celtic belief, as\nis shown by such names as Dubrogenos, from _dubron_, \"water,\" and\n_genos_, \"born of\"; Divogenos, Divogena, \"son or daughter of a god,\"\npossibly a river-god, since _deivos_ is a frequent river name; and\nRhenogenus, \"son of the Rhine.\"[1210] The persons who first bore these\nnames were believed to have been begotten by divinities. Mongan's\ndescent from Manannan, god of the sea, is made perfectly clear, and the\nWelsh name Morgen = _Morigenos_, \"son of the sea,\" probably points to a\nsimilar tale now lost. Other Celtic names are frequently pregnant with\nmeaning, and tell of a once-existing rich mythology of divine _amours_\nwith mortals. They show descent from deities--Camulogenus (son of\nCamulos), Esugenos (son of Esus), Boduogenus (son of Bodva); or from\ntree-spirits--Dergen (son of the oak), Vernogenus (son of the alder); or\nfrom divine animals--Arthgen (son of the bear), Urogenus (son of the\nurus).[1211] What was once an epithet describing divine filiation became\nlater a personal name. So in Greece names like Apollogenes, Diogenes,\nand Hermogenes, had once been epithets of heroes born of Apollo, Zeus,\nand Hermes.\n\nThus it was a vital Celtic belief that divinities might unite with\nmortals and beget children. Heroes enticed away to Elysium enjoyed the\nlove of its goddesses--C\u00fachulainn that of Fand; Connla, Bran, and Oisin\nthat of unnamed divinities. So, too, the goddess Morrigan offered\nherself to C\u00fachulainn. The Christian Celts of the fifth century retained\nthis belief, though in a somewhat altered form. S. Augustine and others\ndescribe the shaggy demons called _dusii_ by the Gauls, who sought the\ncouches of women in order to gratify their desires.[1212] The _dusii_\nare akin to the _incubi_ and _fauni_, and do not appear to represent the\nhigher gods reduced to the form of demons by Christianity, but rather a\nspecies of lesser divinities, once the object of popular devotion.\n\nThese beliefs are also connected with the Celtic notions of\ntransformation and transmigration--the one signifying the assuming of\nanother shape for a time, the other the passing over of the soul or the\npersonality into another body, perhaps one actually existing, but more\nusually by actual rebirth. As has been seen, this power of\ntransformation was claimed by the Druids and by other persons, or\nattributed to them, and they were not likely to minimise their powers,\nand would probably boast of them on all occasions. Such boasts are put\ninto the mouths of the Irish Amairgen and the Welsh Taliesin. As the\nMilesians were approaching Ireland, Amairgen sang verses which were\nperhaps part of a ritual chant:\n\n  \"I am the wind which blows over the sea,\n   I am the wave of the ocean,\n   I am the bull of seven battles,\n   I am the eagle on the rock...\n   I am a boar for courage,\n   I am a salmon in the water, etc.\"[1213]\n\nProfessor Rh[^y]s points out that some of these verses need not mean\nactual transformation, but mere likeness, through \"a primitive formation\nof predicate without the aid of a particle corresponding to such a word\nas 'like.'\"[1214] Enough, however, remains to show the claim of the\nmagician. Taliesin, in many poems, makes similar claims, and says, \"I\nhave been in a multitude of shapes before I assumed a consistent\nform\"--that of a sword, a tear, a star, an eagle, etc. Then he was\ncreated, without father or mother.[1215] Similar pretensions are common\nto the medicine-man everywhere. But from another point of view they may\nbe mere poetic extravagances such as are common in Celtic poetry.[1216]\nThus C\u00fachulainn says: \"I was a hound strong for combat ... their little\nchampion ... the casket of every secret for the maidens,\" or, in another\nplace, \"I am the bark buffeted from wave to wave ... the ship after the\nlosing of its rudder ... the little apple on the top of the tree that\nlittle thought of its falling.\"[1217] These are metaphoric descriptions\nof a comparatively simple kind. The full-blown bombast appears in the\n_Colloquy of the Two Sages_, where Nede and Fercertne exhaust language\nin describing themselves to each other.[1218] Other Welsh bards besides\nTaliesin make similar boasts to his, and Dr. Skene thinks that their\nclaims \"may have been mere bombast.\"[1219] Still some current belief in\nshape-shifting, or even in rebirth, underlies some of these boastings\nand gives point to them. Amairgen's \"I am\" this or that, suggests the\ninherent power of transformation; Taliesin's \"I have been,\" the actual\ntransformations. Such assertions do not involve \"the powerful\npantheistic doctrine which is at once the glory and error of Irish\nphilosophy,\" as M. D'Arbois claims,[1220] else are savage medicine-men,\nboastful of their shape-shifting powers, philosophic pantheists. The\npoems are merely highly developed forms of primitive beliefs in\nshape-shifting, such as are found among all savages and barbaric folk,\nbut expressed in the boastful language in which the Celt delighted.\n\nHow were the successive shape-shiftings effected? To answer this we\nshall first look at the story of Tuan Mac Caraill, who survived from the\ndays of Partholan to those of S. Finnen. He was a decrepit man at the\ncoming of Nemed, and one night, having lain down to sleep, he awoke as a\nstag, and lived in this form to old age. In the same way he became a\nboar, a hawk, and a salmon, which was caught and eaten by Cairell's\nwife, of whom he was born as Tuan, with a perfect recollection of his\ndifferent forms.[1221]\n\nThis story, the invention of a ninth or tenth century Christian scribe\nto account for the current knowledge of the many invasions of\nIreland,[1222] must have been based on pagan myths of a similar kind,\ninvolving successive transformations and a final rebirth. Such a myth\nmay have been told of Taliesin, recounting his transformations and his\nfinal rebirth, the former being replaced at a later time by the episode\nof the Transformation Combat, involving no great lapse of time. Such a\nseries of successive shapes--of every beast, a dragon, a wolf, a stag, a\nsalmon, a seal, a swan--were ascribed to Mongan and foretold by\nManannan, and Mongan refers to some of them in his colloquy with S.\nColumba--\"when I was a deer ... a salmon ... a seal ... a roving wolf\n... a man.\"[1223] Perhaps the complete story was that of a fabulous hero\nin human form, who assumed different shapes, and was finally reborn. But\nthe transformation of an old man, or an old animal, into new youthful\nand vigorous forms might be regarded as a kind of transmigration--an\nextension of the transformation idea, but involving no metempsychosis,\nno passing of the soul into another body by rebirth. Actual\ntransmigration or rebirth occurs only at the end of the series, and, as\nin the case of Etain, Lug, etc., the pre-existent person is born of a\nwoman after being swallowed by her. Possibly the transformation belief\nhas reacted on the other, and obscured a belief in actual metempsychosis\nas a result of the soul of an ancestor passing into a woman and being\nreborn as her next child. Add to this that the soul is often thought of\nas a tiny animal, and we see how a _point d'appui_ for the more\nmaterialistic belief was afforded. The insect or worms of the rebirth\nstories may have been once forms of the soul. It is easy also to see\nhow, a theory of conception by swallowing various objects being already\nin existence, it might be thought possible that eating a salmon--a\ntransformed man--would cause his rebirth from the eater.\n\nThe Celts may have had no consistent belief on this subject, the general\nidea of the future life being of a different kind. Or perhaps the\nvarious beliefs in transformation, transmigration, rebirth, and\nconception by unusual means, are too inextricably mingled to be\nseparated. The nucleus of the tales seems to be the possibility of\nrebirth, and the belief that the soul was still clad in a bodily form\nafter death and was itself a material thing. But otherwise some of them\nare not distinctively Celtic, and have been influenced by old _M\u00e4rchen_\nformul\u00e6 of successive changes adopted by or forced upon some person, who\nis finally reborn. This formul\u00e6 is already old in the fourteenth century\nB.C. Egyptian story of the _Two Brothers_.\n\nSuch Celtic stories as these may have been known to classical authors,\nand have influenced their statements regarding eschatology. Yet it can\nhardly be said that the tales themselves bear witness to a general\ntransmigration doctrine current among the Celts, since the stories\nconcern divine or heroic personages. Still the belief may have had a\ncertain currency among them, based on primitive theories of soul life.\nEvidence that it existed side by side with the more general doctrines of\nthe future life may be found in old or existing folk-belief. In some\ncases the dead have an animal form, as in the _Voyage of Maelduin_,\nwhere birds on an island are said to be souls, or in the legend of S.\nMaelsuthain, whose pupils appear to him after death as birds.[1224] The\nbird form of the soul after death is still a current belief in the\nHebrides. Butterflies in Ireland, and moths in Cornwall, and in France\nbats or butterflies, are believed to be souls of the dead.[1225] King\nArthur is thought by Cornishmen to have died and to have been changed\ninto the form of a raven, and in medi\u00e6val Wales souls of the wicked\nappear as ravens, in Brittany as black dogs, petrels, or hares, or serve\ntheir term of penitence as cows or bulls, or remain as crows till the\nday of judgment.[1226] Unbaptized infants become birds; drowned sailors\nappear as beasts or birds; and the souls of girls deceived by lovers\nhaunt them as hares.[1227]\n\nThese show that the idea of transmigration may not have been foreign to\nthe Celtic mind, and it may have arisen from the idea that men assumed\ntheir totem animal's shape at death. Some tales of shape-shifting are\nprobably due to totemism, and it is to be noted that in Kerry peasants\nwill not eat hares because they contain the souls of their\ngrandmothers.[1228] On the other hand, some of these survivals may mean\nno more than that the soul itself has already an animal form, in which\nit would naturally be seen after death. In Celtic folk-belief the soul\nis seen leaving the body in sleep as a bee, butterfly, gnat, mouse, or\nmannikin.[1229] Such a belief is found among most savage races, and\nmight easily be mistaken for transmigration, or also assist the\nformation of the idea of transmigration. Though the folk-survivals show\nthat transmigration was not necessarily alleged of all the dead, it may\nhave been a sufficiently vital belief to colour the mythology, as we see\nfrom the existing tales, adulterated though these may have been.\n\nThe general belief has its roots in primitive ideas regarding life and\nits propagation--ideas which some hold to be un-Celtic and un-Aryan. But\nAryans were \"primitive\" at some period of their history, and it would be\ncurious if, while still in a barbarous condition, they had forgotten\ntheir old beliefs. In any case, if they adopted similar beliefs from\nnon-Aryan people, this points to no great superiority on their part.\nSuch beliefs originated the idea of rebirth and transmigration.[1230]\nNevertheless this was not a characteristically Celtic eschatological\nbelief; that we find in the theory that the dead lived on in the body or\nassumed a body in another region, probably underground.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1193] For textual details see Zimmer, _Zeit. f\u00fcr Vergl. Sprach._\nxxviii. 585 f. The tale is obviously archaic. For a translation see\nLeahy, i. 8 f.\n\n[1194] _IT_ i. 134 f.; D'Arbois, v. 22. There is a suggestion in one of\nthe versions of another story, in which Setanta is child of Conchobar\nand his sister Dechtire.\n\n[1195] _IT_ iii. 245; _RC_ xv. 465; Nutt-Meyer, ii. 69.\n\n[1196] Stowe MS. 992, _RC_ vi. 174; _IT_ ii. 210; D'Arbois, v. 3f.\n\n[1197] _IT_ iii. 393. Cf. the story of the wife of Cormac, who was\nbarren till her mother gave her pottage. Then she had a daughter (_RC_\nxxii. 18).\n\n[1198] Nutt-Meyer, i. 45 f., text and translation.\n\n[1199] Ibid. 42 f.\n\n[1200] Ibid. 58. The simultaneous birth formula occurs in many\n_M\u00e4rchen_, though that of the future wife is not common.\n\n[1201] Nutt-Meyer, i. 52, 57, 85, 87.\n\n[1202] _ZCP_ ii. 316 f. Here Mongan comes directly from Elysium, as does\nOisin before meeting S. Patrick.\n\n[1203] _IT_ iii. 345; O'Grady, ii. 88. Cf. Rees, 331.\n\n[1204] Guest, iii. 356 f.; see p. 116, _supra_.\n\n[1205] In some of the tales the small animal still exists independently\nafter the birth, but this is probably not their primitive form.\n\n[1206] See my _Religion: Its Origin and Forms_, 76-77.\n\n[1207] Skene, i. 532. After relating various shapes in which he has\nbeen, the poet adds that he has been a grain which a hen received, and\nthat he rested in her womb as a child. The reference in this early poem\nfrom a fourteenth century MS. shows that the fusion of the _M\u00e4rchen_\nformula with a myth of rebirth was already well known. See also Guest,\niii. 362, for verses in which the transformations during the combat are\nexaggerated.\n\n[1208] Skene, i. 276, 532.\n\n[1209] Miss Hull, 67; D'Arbois, v. 331.\n\n[1210] For various forms of _geno_-, see Holder, i. 2002; Stokes, _US_\n110.\n\n[1211] For all these names see Holder, _s.v._\n\n[1212] S. Aug. _de Civ. Dei_, xv. 23; Isidore, _Orat._ viii. 2. 103.\n_Dusios_ may be connected with Lithuanian _dvaese_, \"spirit,\" and\nperhaps with [Greek: Thehos] (Holder, _s.v._). D'Arbois sees in the\n_dusii_ water-spirits, and compares river-names like Dhuys, Duseva,\nDusius (vi. 182; _RC_ xix. 251). The word may be connected with Irish\n_duis_, glossed \"noble\" (Stokes, _TIG_ 76). The Bretons still believe in\nfairies called _duz_, and our word _dizzy_ may be connected with\n_dusios_, and would then have once signified the madness following on\nthe _amour_, like Greek [Greek: nympholeptos], or \"the inconvenience of\ntheir succubi,\" described by Kirk in his _Secret Commonwealth of the\nElves_.\n\n[1213] _LL_ 12_b_; _TOS_ v. 234.\n\n[1214] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 549.\n\n[1215] Skene, i. 276, 309, etc.\n\n[1216] Sigerson, _Bards of the Gael_, 379.\n\n[1217] Miss Hull, 288; Hyde, _Lit. Hist. of Ireland_, 300.\n\n[1218] _RC_ xxvi. 21.\n\n[1219] Skene, ii. 506.\n\n[1220] D'Arbois, ii. 246, where he also derives Erigena's pantheism from\nCeltic beliefs, such as he supposes to be exemplified by these poems.\n\n[1221] _LU_ 15_a_; D'Arbois, ii. 47 f.; Nutt-Meyer, ii. 294 f.\n\n[1222] Another method of accounting for this knowledge was to imagine a\nlong-lived personage like Fintan who survived for 5000 years. D'Arbois,\nii. ch. 4. Here there was no transformation or rebirth.\n\n[1223] Nutt-Meyer, i. 24; _ZCP_ ii. 316.\n\n[1224] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 78.\n\n[1225] Wood-Martin, _Pagan Ireland_, 140; _Choice Notes_, 61; Monnier,\n143; Maury, 272.\n\n[1226] _Choice Notes_, 69; Rees, 92; Le Braz{2}, ii. 82, 86, 307; _Rev.\ndes Trad. Pop._ xii. 394.\n\n[1227] Le Braz{2}, ii. 80; _Folk-lore Jour._ v. 189.\n\n[1228] _Folk-Lore_, iv. 352.\n\n[1229] Carmichael, _Carm. Gadel._ ii. 334; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ 602; Le\nBraz{2}, i. 179, 191, 200.\n\n[1230] Mr. Nutt, _Voyage of Bran_, derived the origin of the rebirth\nconception from orgiastic cults.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nELYSIUM.\n\n\nThe Celtic conception of Elysium, the product at once of religion,\nmythology, and romantic imagination, is found in a series of Irish and\nWelsh tales. We do not know that a similar conception existed among the\ncontinental Celts, but, considering the likeness of their beliefs in\nother matters to those of the insular Celts, there is a strong\nprobability that it did. There are four typical presentations of the\nElysium conception. In Ireland, while the gods were believed to have\nretired within the hills or _s\u00edd_, it is not unlikely that some of them\nhad always been supposed to live in these or in a subterranean world,\nand it is therefore possible that what may be called the subterranean or\n_s\u00edd_ type of Elysium is old. But other types also appear--that of a\nwestern island Elysium, of a world below the waters, and of a world\nco-extensive with this and entered by a mist.\n\nThe names of the Irish Elysium are sometimes of a general character--Mag\nM\u00f3r, \"the Great Plain\"; Mag Mell, \"the Pleasant Plain\"; T\u00edr n'Aill, \"the\nOther-world\"; Tir na m-Beo, \"the Land of the Living\"; T\u00edr na n-Og, \"the\nLand of Youth\"; and T\u00edr Tairngiri, \"the Land of Promise\"--possibly of\nChristian origin. Local names are T\u00edr fa Tonn, \"Land under Waves\";\nI-Bresail and the Land of Falga, names of the island Elysium. The last\ndenotes the Isle of Man as Elysium, and it may have been so regarded by\nGoidels in Britain at an early time.[1231] To this period may belong the\ntales of C\u00fachulainn's raid on Falga, carried at a later time to Ireland.\nT\u00edr Tairngiri is also identified with the Isle of Man.[1232]\n\nA brief r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the principal Elysium tales is necessary as a\npreliminary to a discussion of the problems which they involve, though\nit can give but little idea of the beauty and romanticism of the tales\nthemselves. These, if not actually composed in pagan times, are based\nupon story-germs current before the coming of Christianity to Ireland.\n\n1. _The s\u00edd Elysium._--In the story of Etain, when Mider discovered her\nin her rebirth, he described the land whither he would carry her, its\nmusic and its fair people, its warm streams, its choice mead and wine.\nThere is eternal youth, and love is blameless. It is within Mider's\n_s\u00edd_, and Etain accompanies him there. In the sequel King Eochaid's\nDruid discovers the _s\u00edd_, which is captured by the king, who then\nregains Etain.[1233] Other tales refer to the _s\u00edd_ in similar terms,\nand describe its treasures, its food and drink better than those of\nearth. It is in most respects similar to the island Elysium, save that\nit is localised on earth.\n\n2. _The island Elysium._--The story of the voyage of Bran is found\nfragmentarily in the eleventh century _LU_, and complete in the\nfourteenth and sixteenth century MSS. It tells how Bran heard mysterious\nmusic when asleep. On waking he found a silver branch with blossoms, and\nnext day there appeared a mysterious woman singing the glory of the land\noverseas, its music, its wonderful tree, its freedom from pain and\ndeath. It is one of thrice fifty islands to the west of Erin, and there\nshe dwells with thousands of \"motley women.\" Before she disappears the\nbranch leaps into her hand. Bran set sail with his comrades and met\nManannan crossing the sea in his chariot. The god told him that the sea\nwas a flowery plain, Mag Mell, and that all around, unseen to Bran, were\npeople playing and drinking \"without sin.\" He bade him sail on to the\nLand of Women. Then the voyagers went on and reached the Isle of Joy,\nwhere one of their number remained behind. At last they came to the Land\nof Women, and we hear of their welcome, the dreamlike lapse of time, the\nfood and drink which had for each the taste he desired. Finally the tale\nrecounts their home-sickness, the warning they received not to set foot\non Erin, how one of their number leaped ashore and turned to ashes, how\nBran from his boat told of his wanderings and then disappeared for\never.[1234]\n\nAnother story tells how Connla was visited by a goddess from Mag Mell.\nHer people dwell in a _s\u00edd_ and are called \"men of the _s\u00edd_.\" She\ninvites him to go to the immortal land, and departs, leaving him an\napple, which supports him for a month without growing less. Then she\nreappears and tells Connla that \"the Ever-Living Ones\" desire him to\njoin them. She bids him come with her to the Land of Joy where there are\nonly women. He steps into her crystal boat and vanishes from his father\nand the Druid who has vainly tried to exercise his spells against\nher.[1235] In this tale there is a confusion between the _s\u00edd_ and the\nisland Elysium.\n\nThe eighteenth century poem of Oisin in T\u00edr na n-Og is probably based on\nold legends, and describes how Niam, daughter of the king of T\u00edr na\nn-Og, placed _geasa_ on Oisin to accompany her to that land of immortal\nyouth and beauty. He mounted on her steed, which plunged forwards across\nthe sea, and brought them to the land where Oisin spent three hundred\nyears before returning to Ireland, and there suffering, as has been\nseen, from the breaking of the tabu not to set foot on the soil of\nErin.[1236]\n\nIn _Serglige Conculaind_, \"C\u00fachulainn's Sickness,\" the goddess Fand,\ndeserted by Manannan, offers herself to the hero if he will help her\nsister's husband Labraid against his enemies in Mag Mell. Labraid lives\nin an island frequented by troops of women, and possessing an\ninexhaustible vat of mead and trees with magic fruit. It is reached with\nmarvellous speed in a boat of bronze. After a preliminary visit by his\ncharioteer Laeg, C\u00fachulainn goes thither, vanquishes Labraid's foes, and\nremains a month with Fand. He returns to Ireland, and now we hear of the\nstruggle for him between his wife Emer and Fand. But Manannan suddenly\nappears, reawakens Fand's love, and she departs with him. The god shakes\nhis cloak between her and C\u00fachulainn to prevent their ever meeting\nagain.[1237] In this story Labraid, Fand, and Liban, Fand's sister,\nthough dwellers on an island Elysium, are called _s\u00edd_-folk. The two\nregions are partially confused, but not wholly, since Manannan is\ndescribed as coming from his own land (Elysium) to woo Fand. Apparently\nLabraid of the Swift Hand on the Sword (who, though called \"chief of the\n_s\u00edde_\", is certainly a war-god) is at enmity with Manannan's hosts, and\nit is these with whom C\u00fachulainn has to fight.[1238]\n\nIn an Ossianic tale several of the Fians were carried off to the Land of\nPromise. After many adventures, Fionn, Diarmaid, and others discover\nthem, and threaten to destroy the land if they are not restored. Its\nking, Avarta, agrees to the restoration, and with fifteen of his men\ncarries the Fians to Erin on one horse. Having reached there, he bids\nthem look at a certain field, and while they are doing so, he and his\nmen disappear.[1239]\n\n3. _Land under Waves._--Fiachna, of the men of the _s\u00edd_, appeared to\nthe men of Connaught, and begged their help against Goll, who had\nabducted his wife. Loegaire and his men dive with Fiachna into Loch\nNaneane, and reach a wonderful land, with marvellous music and where the\nrain is ale. They and the _s\u00edd_-folk attack the fort of Mag Mell and\ndefeat Goll. Each then obtains a woman of the _s\u00edde_, but at the end of\na year they become homesick. They are warned not to descend from\nhorseback in Erin. Arrived among their own people, they describe the\nmarvels of T\u00edr fa Tonn, and then return there, and are no more\nseen.[1240] Here, again, the _s\u00edd_ Elysium and Land under Waves are\nconfused, and the divine tribes are at war, as in the story of\nC\u00fachulainn.\n\nIn a section of the Ossianic tale just cited, Fionn and his men arrive\non an island, where Diarmaid reaches a beautiful country at the bottom\nof a well. This is T\u00edr fa Tonn, and Diarmaid fights its king who has\nusurped his nephew's inheritance, and thus recovers it for him.[1241]\n\n4. _Co-extensive with this world._--An early example of this type is\nfound in the _Adventures of Cormac_. A divine visitant appeared to\nCormac and gave him in exchange for his wife, son, and daughter, his\nbranch of golden apples, which when shaken produced sweetest music,\ndispelling sorrow. After a year Cormac set out to seek his family, and\nas he journeyed encountered a mist in which he discovered a strange\nhouse. Its master and mistress--Manannan and his consort--offered him\nshelter. The god brought in a pig, every quarter of which was cooked in\nthe telling of a true tale, the pig afterwards coming to life again.\nCormac, in his tale, described how he had lost his family, whereupon\nManannan made him sleep, and brought his wife and children in. Later he\nproduced a cup which broke when a lie was told, but became whole again\nwhen a true word was spoken. The god said Cormac's wife had now a new\nhusband, and the cup broke, but was restored when the goddess declared\nthis to be a lie. Next morning all had disappeared, and Cormac and his\nfamily found themselves in his own palace, with cup and branch by their\nside.[1242] Similarly, in _The Champion's Ecstasy_, a mysterious\nhorseman appears out of a mist to Conn and leads him to a palace, where\nhe reveals himself as the god Lug, and where there is a woman called\n\"the Sovereignty of Erin.\" Beside the palace is a golden tree.[1243] In\nthe story of Bran, Mag Mell is said to be all around the hero, though he\nknows it not--an analogous conception to what is found in these tales,\nand another instance is that of the mysterious house entered by\nConchobar and Dechtire.[1244] Mag Mell may thus have been regarded as a\nmysterious district of Erin. This magic mist enclosing a marvellous\ndwelling occurs in many other tales, and it was in a mist that the\nTuatha D\u00e9a came to Ireland.\n\nA certain correspondence to these Irish beliefs is found in Brythonic\nstory, but here the Elysium conception has been influenced by Christian\nideas. Elysium is called _Annwfn_, meaning \"an abyss,\" \"the state of the\ndead,\" \"hell,\" and it is also conceived of as _is elfydd_, \"beneath the\nearth.\"[1245] But in the tales it bears no likeness to these meanings of\nthe word, save in so far as it has been confused by their Christian\nredactors with hell. It is a region on the earth's surface or an over-or\nunder-sea world, in which some of the characteristics of the Irish\nElysium are found--a cauldron, a well of drink sweeter than wine, and\nanimals greatly desired by mortals, while it is of great beauty and its\npeople are not subject to death or disease. Hence the name _Annwfn_ has\nprobably taken the place of some earlier pagan title of Elysium.\n\nIn the tale of Pwyll, the earliest reference to _Annwfn_ occurs. It is\nruled by Arawn, at war with Hafgan. Arawn obtains the help of Pwyll by\nexchanging kingdoms with him for a year, and Pwyll defeats Hafgan. It is\na beautiful land, where merriment and feasting go on continuously, and\nits queen is of great loveliness. It has no subterranean character, and\nis conceived apparently as contiguous to Pwyll's kingdom.[1246] In other\ntales it is the land whence Gwydion and others obtain various\nanimals.[1247] The later folk-conception of the demoniac dogs of Annwfn\nmay be based on an old myth of dogs with which its king hunted. These\nare referred to in the story of Pwyll.[1248]\n\n_Annwfn_ is also the name of a land under waves or over sea, called also\n_Caer Sidi_, \"the revolving castle,\" about which \"are ocean's streams.\"\nIt is \"known to Manawyddan and Pryderi,\" just as the Irish Elysium was\nruled by Manannan.[1249] Another \"Caer of Defence\" is beneath the\nwaves.[1250] Perhaps the two ideas were interchangeable. The people of\nthis land are free from death and disease, and in it is \"an abundant\nwell, sweeter than white wine the drink in it.\" There also is a cauldron\nbelonging to the lord of Annwfn, which was stolen by Arthur and his men.\nSuch a cauldron is the property of people belonging to a water world in\nthe _Mabinogion_.[1251]\n\nThe description of the isle of Avallon (later identified with\nGlastonbury), whither Arthur was carried, completes the likeness to the\nIrish Elysium. No tempest, excess of heat or cold, nor noxious animal\nafflicts it; it is blessed with eternal spring and with fruit and\nflowers growing without labour; it is the land of eternal youth,\nunvisited by death or disease. It has a _regia virgo_ lovelier than her\nlovely attendants; she cured Arthur of his wounds, hence she is the\nMorgen of other tales, and she and her maidens may be identified with\nthe divine women of the Irish isle of women. Morgen is called a _dea\nphantastica_, and she may be compared with Liban, who cured C\u00fachulainn\nof his sickness.[1252]\n\nThe identification of Avallon with Glastonbury is probably post-pagan,\nand the names applied to Glastonbury--Avallon, _Insula Pomonum_, _Insula\nvitrea_--may be primitive names of Elysium. William of Malmesbury\nderives _Insula Pomonum_ in its application to Glastonbury from a native\nname _Insula Avallonioe_, which he connects with the Brythonic _avalla_,\n\"apples,\" because Glastenig found an apple tree there.[1253] The name\nmay thus have been connected with marvellous apple trees, like those of\nthe Irish Elysium. But he also suggests that it may be derived from the\nname of Avalloc, living there with his daughters. Avalloc is evidently\nthe \"Rex Avallon\" (Avallach) to whose palace Arthur was carried and\nhealed by the _regia virgo_.[1254] He may therefore have been a mythic\nlord of Elysium, and his daughters would correspond to the maidens of\nthe isle. William also derives \"Glastonbury\" from the name of an\neponymous founder Glastenig, or from its native name _Ynesuuitron_,\n\"Glass Island.\" This name reappears in Chretien's _Eric_ in the form\n\"l'isle de verre.\" Giraldus explains the name from the glassy waters\naround Glastonbury, but it may be an early name of Elysium.[1255] Glass\nmust have appealed to the imagination of Celt, Teuton, and Slav, for we\nhear of Merlin's glass house, a glass fort discovered by Arthur, a glass\ntower attacked by the Milesians, Etain's glass _grianan_, and a boat of\nglass which conveyed Connla to Elysium. In Teutonic and Slavonic myth\nand _M\u00e4rchen_, glass mountains, on which dwell mysterious personages,\nfrequently occur.\n\nThe origin of the Celtic Elysium belief may be found in universal myths\nof a golden age long ago in some distant Elysian region, where men had\nlived with the gods. Into that region brave mortals might still\npenetrate, though it was lost to mankind as a whole. In some mythologies\nthis Elysium is the land whither men go after death. Possibly the Celtic\nmyth of man's early intercourse with the gods in a lost region took two\nforms. In one it was a joyful subterranean region whither the Celt hoped\nto go after death. In the other it was not recoverable, nor was it the\nland of the dead, but favoured mortals might reach it in life. The\nCeltic Elysium belief, as known through the tales just cited, is always\nof this second kind. We surmise, however, that the land of the dead was\na joyous underworld ruled over by a god of fertility and of the dead,\nand from that region men had originally come forth. The later\nassociation of gods with the _s\u00edd_ was a continuation of this belief,\nbut now the _s\u00edd_ are certainly not a land of the dead, but Elysium pure\nand simple. There must therefore have been at an early period a tendency\nto distinguish between the happy region of the dead, and the distant\nElysium, if the two were ever really connected. The subject is obscure,\nbut it is not impossible that another origin of the Elysium idea may be\nfound in the phenomenon of the setting sun: it suggested to the\ncontinental Celts that far off there was a divine land where the sun-god\nrested. When the Celts reached the coast this divine western land would\nnecessarily be located in a far-off island, seen perhaps on the horizon.\nHence it would also be regarded as connected with the sea-god, Manannan,\nor by whatsoever name he was called. The distant Elysium, whether on\nland or across the sea, was conceived in identical terms, and hence also\nwhenever the hollow hills or _s\u00edd_ were regarded as an abode of the\ngods, they also were described just as Elysium was.\n\nThe idea of a world under the waters is common to many mythologies, and,\ngenerally speaking, it originated in the animistic belief that every\npart of nature has its indwelling spirits. Hence the spirits or gods of\nthe waters were thought of as dwelling below the waters. Tales of\nsupernatural beings appearing out of the waters, the custom of throwing\nofferings therein, the belief that human beings were carried below the\nsurface or could live in the region beneath the waves, are all connected\nwith this animistic idea. Among the Celts this water-world assumed many\naspects of Elysium, and it has names in common with it, e.g. it is\ncalled Mag Mell. Hence in many popular tales it is hardly differentiated\nfrom the island Elysium; oversea and under-waves are often synonymous.\nHence, too, the belief that such water-worlds as I-Bresail, or Welsh\nfairy-lands, or sunken cities off the Breton coast, rise periodically to\nthe surface, and would remain there permanently, like an island Elysium,\nif some mortal would fulfil certain conditions.[1256]\n\nThe Celtic belief in T\u00edr fa Tonn is closely connected with the current\nbelief in submerged towns or lands, found in greatest detail on the\nBreton coast. Here there are many such legends, but most prominent are\nthose which tell how the town of Is was submerged because of the\nwickedness of its people, or of Dahut, its king's daughter, who\nsometimes still seeks the love of mortals. It is occasionally seen below\nthe waves or even on their surface.[1257] Elsewhere in Celtic regions\nsimilar legends are found, and the submersion is the result of a curse,\nof the breaking of a tabu, or of neglect to cover a sacred well.[1258]\nProbably the tradition of actual cataclysms or inroads of the sea, such\nas the Celts encountered on the coasts of Holland, may account for some\nof these legends, which then mingled with myths of the divine\nwater-world.\n\nThe idea that Elysium is co-extensive with this world and hidden in a\nmist is perhaps connected with the belief in the magical powers of the\ngods. As the Druids could raise a mist at will, so too might the gods,\nwho then created a temporary Elysium in it. From such a mist, usually on\na hill, supernatural beings often emerged to meet mortals, and in\n_M\u00e4rchen_ fairyland is sometimes found within a mist.[1259] It was\nalready believed that part of the gods' land was not far off; it was\ninvisibly on or within the hills on whose slopes men saw the mist\nswirling mysteriously. Hence the mist may simply have concealed the\n_s\u00edd_ of the gods. But there may also have been a belief that this world\nwas actually interpenetrated by the divine world, for this is believed\nof fairyland in Welsh and Irish folk-lore. Men may unwittingly interfere\nwith it, or have it suddenly revealed to them, or be carried into it and\nmade invisible.[1260]\n\nIn most of the tales Elysium is a land without grief or death, where\nthere is immortal youth and peace, and every kind of delight. But in\nsome, while the sensuous delights are still the same, the inhabitants\nare at war, invite the aid of mortals to overcome their foes, and are\neven slain in fight. Still in both groups Elysium is a land of gods and\nsupernatural folk whither mortals are invited by favour. It is never the\nworld of the dead; its people are not mortals who have died and gone\nthither. The two conceptions of Elysium as a land of peace and\ndeathlessness, and as a land where war and death may occur, may both be\nprimitive. The latter may have been formed by reflecting back on the\ndivine world the actions of the world of mortals, and it would also be\non a parallel with the conception of the world of the dead where\nwarriors perhaps still fought, since they were buried with their\nweapons. There were also myths of gods warring with each other. But men\nmay also have felt that the gods were not as themselves, that their land\nmust be one of peace and deathlessness. Hence the idea of the peaceful\nElysium, which perhaps found most favour with the people. Mr. Nutt\nthought that the idea of a warlike Elysium may have resulted from\nScandinavian influence acting on existing tales of a peaceful\nElysium,[1261] but we know that old myths of divine wars already\nexisted. Perhaps this conception arose among the Celts as a warlike\npeople, appealing to their warrior instincts, while the peaceful Elysium\nmay have been the product of the Celts as an agricultural folk, for we\nhave seen that the Celt was now a fighter, now a farmer. In its peaceful\naspect Elysium is \"a familiar, cultivated land,\" where the fruits of the\nearth are produced without labour, and where there are no storms or\nexcess of heat or cold--the fancies which would appeal to a toiling,\nagricultural people. There food is produced magically, yet naturally,\nand in agricultural ritual men sought to increase their food supply\nmagically. In the tales this process is, so to speak, heightened.[1262]\n\nSome writers have maintained that Elysium is simply the land of the\ndead, although nothing in the existing tales justifies this\ninterpretation. M. D'Arbois argues for this view, resting his theory\nmainly on a passage in the story of Connla, interpreted by him in a way\nwhich does not give its real meaning.[1263] The words are spoken by the\ngoddess to Connla, and their sense is--\"The Ever-Living Ones invite\nthee. Thou art a champion to Tethra's people. They see thee every day in\nthe assemblies of thy fatherland, among thy familiar loved ones.\"[1264]\nM. D'Arbois assumes that Tethra, a Fomorian, is lord of Elysium, and\nthat after his defeat by the Tuatha D\u00e9a, he, like Kronos, took refuge\nthere, and now reigns as lord of the dead. By translating _ar-dot-chiat_\n(\"they see thee,\" 3rd plur., pres. ind.) as \"on t'y verra,\" he maintains\nthat Connla, by going to Elysium, will be seen among the gatherings of\nhis dead kinsfolk. But the words, \"Thou art a champion to Tethra's\npeople,\" cannot be made to mean that Tethra is a god of the dead. It\nmeans simply that Connla is a mighty warrior, one of those whom Tethra,\na war-god, would have approved. The phrase, \"Tethra's mighty men,\" used\nelsewhere,[1265] is a conventional one for warriors. The rest of the\ngoddess's words imply that the Immortals from afar, or perhaps \"Tethra's\nmighty men,\" i.e. warriors in this world, see Connla in the assemblies\nof his fatherland in Erin, among his familiar friends. Dread death\nawaits _them_, she has just said, but the Immortals desire Connla to\nescape that by coming to Elysium. Her words do not imply that he will\nmeet his dead ancestors there, nor is she in any sense a goddess of\ndeath. If the dead went to Elysium, there would be little need for\ninviting a living person to go there. Had Connla's dead ancestors or\nTethra's people (warriors) been in Elysium, this would contradict the\npicture drawn by the goddess of the land whither she desires him to\ngo--a land of women, not of men. Moreover, the rulers of Elysium are\nalways members of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann or the _s\u00edd_-folk, never a\nFomorian like Tethra.[1266]\n\nM. D'Arbois also assumes that \"Spain\" in Nennius' account of the Irish\ninvasions and in Irish texts means the land of the dead, and that it was\nintroduced in place of some such title as Mag M\u00f3r or Mag Mell by \"the\neuhemerising process of the Irish Christians.\" But in other documents\npenned by Irish Christians these and other pagan titles of Elysium\nremain unchanged. Nor is there the slightest proof that the words used\nby Tuan MacCaraill about the invaders of Ireland, \"They all died,\" were\nrendered in an original text, now lost according to M. D'Arbois, \"They\nset sail for Mag M\u00f3r or Mag Mell,\" a formula in which Nennius saw\nindications of a return to Spain.[1267] Spain, in this hypothetical\ntext, was the Land of the Dead or Elysium, whence the invaders came.\nThis \"lost original\" exists in M. D'Arbois imagination, and there is not\nthe slightest evidence for these alterations. Once, indeed, Tailtiu is\ncalled daughter of Magh M\u00f3r, King of Spain, but here a person, not a\nplace, is spoken of.[1268] Sir John Rh[^y]s accepts the identification\nof Spain with Elysium as the land of the dead, and finds in every\nreference to Spain a reference to the Other-world, which he regards as a\nregion ruled by \"dark divinities.\" But neither the lords of Elysium nor\nthe Celtic Dispater were dark or gloomy deities, and the land of the\ndead was certainly not a land of darkness any more than Elysium. The\nnumerous references to Spain probably point to old traditions regarding\na connection between Spain and Ireland in early times, both commercial\nand social, and it is not impossible that Goidelic invaders did reach\nIreland from Spain.[1269] Early maps and geographers make Ireland and\nSpain contiguous; hence in an Irish tale Ireland is visible from Spain,\nand this geographical error would strengthen existing traditions.[1270]\n\"Spain\" was used vaguely, but it does not appear to have meant Elysium\nor the Land of the Dead. If it did, it is strange that the Tuatha D\u00e9\nDanann are never brought into connection with it.\n\nOne of the most marked characteristics of the Celtic Elysium is its\ndeathlessness. It is \"the land of the living\" or of \"the Ever-Living\nOnes,\" and of eternal youth. Most primitive races believe that death is\nan accident befalling men who are naturally immortal; hence freedom from\nsuch an accident naturally characterises the people of the divine land.\nBut, as in other mythologies, that immortality is more or less dependent\non the eating or drinking of some food or drink of immortality. Manannan\nhad immortal swine, which, killed one day, came alive next day, and with\ntheir flesh he made the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann immortal. Immortality was also\nconferred by the drinking of Goibniu's ale, which, either by itself or\nwith the flesh of swine, formed his immortal feast. The food of Elysium\nwas inexhaustible, and whoever ate it found it to possess that taste\nwhich he preferred. The fruit of certain trees in Elysium was also\nbelieved to confer immortality and other qualities. Laeg saw one hundred\nand fifty trees growing in Mag Mell; their nuts fed three hundred\npeople. The apple given by the goddess to Connla was inexhaustible, and\nhe was still eating it with her when Teigue, son of Cian, visited\nElysium. \"When once they had partaken of it, nor age nor dimness could\naffect them.\"[1271] Apples, crimson nuts, and rowan berries are\nspecifically said to be the food of the gods in the tale of _Diarmaid\nand Grainne_. Through carelessness one of the berries was dropped on\nearth, and from it grew a tree, the berries of which had the effect of\nwine or mead, and three of them eaten by a man of a hundred years made\nhim youthful. It was guarded by a giant.[1272] A similar tree growing on\nearth--a rowan guarded by a dragon, is found in the tale of Fraoch, who\nwas bidden to bring a branch of it to Ailill. Its berries had the virtue\nof nine meals; they healed the wounded, and added a year to a man's\nlife.[1273] At the wells which were the source of Irish rivers were\nsupposed to grow hazel-trees with crimson nuts, which fell into the\nwater and were eaten by salmon.[1274] If these were caught and eaten,\nthe eater obtained wisdom and knowledge. These wells were in Erin, but\nin some instances the well with its hazels and salmon is in the\nOther-world,[1275] and it is obvious that the crimson nuts are the same\nas the food of the gods in _Diarmaid and Grainne_.\n\nWhy should immortality be dependent on the eating of certain foods? Most\nof man's irrational ideas have some reason in them, and probably man's\nknowledge that without food life would come to an end, joined to his\nidea of deathlessness, led him to believe that there was a certain food\nwhich produced immortality just as ordinary food supported life. On it\ngods and deathless beings were fed. Similarly, as water cleansed and\ninvigorated, it was thought that some special kind of water had these\npowers in a marvellous degree. Hence arose the tales of the Fountain of\nYouth and the belief in healing wells. From the knowledge of the\nnourishing power of food, sprang the idea that some food conferred the\nqualities inherent in it, e.g. the flesh of divine animals eaten\nsacramentally, and that gods obtained their immortality from eating or\ndrinking. This idea is widespread. The Babylonian gods had food and\nwater of Life; Egyptian myth spoke of the bread and beer of eternity\nwhich nourished the gods; the Hindus and Iranians knew of the divine\n_soma_ or _haoma_; and in Scandinavian myth the gods renewed their youth\nby tasting Iduna's golden apples.\n\nIn Celtic Elysium tales, the fruit of a tree is most usually the food of\nimmortality. The fruit never diminishes and always satisfies, and it is\nthe food of the gods. When eaten by mortals it confers immortality upon\nthem; in other words, it makes them of like nature to the gods, and this\nis doubtless derived from the widespread idea that the eating of food\ngiven by a stranger makes a man of one kin with him. Hence to eat the\nfood of gods, fairies, or of the dead, binds the mortal to them and he\ncannot leave their land. This might be illustrated from a wide range of\nmyth and folk-belief. When Connla ate the apple he at once desired to go\nto Elysium, and he could not leave it once he was there; he had become\nakin to its people. In the stories of Bran and Oisin, they are not said\nto have eaten such fruit, but the primitive form of the tales may have\ncontained this incident, and this would explain why they could not set\nfoot on earth unscathed, and why Bran and his followers, or, in the tale\nof Fiachna, Loegaire and his men who had drunk the ale of Elysium,\nreturned thither. In other tales, it is true, those who eat food in\nElysium can return to earth--Cormac and C\u00fachulainn; but had we the\nprimitive form of these tales we should probably find that they had\nrefrained from eating. The incident of the fruit given by an immortal to\na mortal may have borrowed something from the wide folk-custom of the\npresentation of an apple as a gage of love or as a part of the marriage\nrite.[1276] Its acceptance denotes willingness to enter upon betrothal\nor marriage. But as in the Roman rite of _confarreatio_ with its savage\nparallels, the underlying idea is probably that which has just been\nconsidered, namely, that the giving and acceptance of food produces the\nbond of kinship.\n\nAs various nuts and fruits were prized in Ireland as food, and were\nperhaps used in some cases to produce an intoxicant,[1277] it is evident\nthat the trees of Elysium were, primarily, a magnified form of earthly\ntrees. But all such trees were doubtless objects of a cult before their\nproduce was generally eaten; they were first sacred or totem-trees, and\ntheir food eaten only occasionally and sacramentally. If so, this would\nexplain why they grew in Elysium and their fruit was the food of the\ngods. For whatever man eats or drinks is generally supposed to have been\nfirst eaten and drunk by the gods, like the _soma_. But, growing in\nElysium, these trees, like the trees of most myths of Elysium, are far\nmore marvellous than any known on earth. They have branches of silver\nand golden apples; they have magical supplies of fruit, they produce\nwonderful music which sometimes causes sleep or oblivion; and birds\nperch in their branches and warble melody \"such that the sick would\nsleep to it.\" It should be noted also that, as Miss Hull points out, in\nsome tales the branch of a divine tree becomes a talisman leading the\nmortal to Elysium; in this resembling the golden bough plucked by \u00c6neas\nbefore visiting the underworld.[1278] This, however, is not the\nfundamental characteristic of the tree, in Irish story. Possibly, as Mr.\nA.B. Cook maintains, the branch giving entrance to Elysium is derived\nfrom the branch borne by early Celtic kings of the wood, while the tree\nis an imaginative form of those which incarnated a vegetation\nspirit.[1279] Be this as it may, it is rather the fruit eaten by the\nmortal which binds him to the Immortal Land.\n\nThe inhabitants of Elysium are not only immortal, but also invisible at\nwill. They make themselves visible to one person only out of many\npresent with him. Connla alone sees the goddess, invisible to his father\nand the Druid. Mananuan is visible to Bran, but there are many near the\nhero whom he does not see; and when the same god comes to Fand, he is\ninvisible to C\u00fachulainn and those with him. So Mider says to Etain, \"We\nbehold, and are not beheld.\"[1280] Occasionally, too, the people of\nElysium have the power of shape-shifting--Fand and Liban appear to\nC\u00fachulainn as birds.\n\nThe hazel of knowledge connects wisdom with the gods' world, and in\nCeltic belief generally civilisation and culture were supposed to have\ncome from the gods. The things of their land were coveted by men, and\noften stolen thence by them. In Welsh and Irish tales, often with\nreference to the Other-world, a magical cauldron has a prominent place.\nDagda possessed such a cauldron and it was inexhaustible, and a vat of\ninexhaustible mead is described in the story of _C\u00fachulain's Sickness_.\nWhatever was put into such cauldrons satisfied all, no matter how\nnumerous they might be.[1281] C\u00fachulainn obtained one from the daughter\nof the king of Scath, and also carried off the king's three cows.[1282]\nIn an analogous story, he stole from C\u00faroi, by the connivance of his\nwife Bl\u00e1thnat, her father Mider's cauldron, three cows, and the woman\nherself. But in another version C\u00fachulainn and C\u00faroi go to Mider's\nstronghold in the Isle of Falga (Elysium), and steal cauldron, cows, and\nBl\u00e1thnat. These were taken from C\u00fachulainn by C\u00faroi; hence his revenge\nas in the previous tale.[1283] Thus the theft was from Elysium. In the\nWelsh poem \"The Spoils of Annwfn,\" Arthur stole a cauldron from Annwfn.\nIts rim was encrusted with pearls, voices issued from it, it was kept\nboiling by the breath of nine maidens, and it would not boil a coward's\nfood.[1284]\n\nAs has been seen from the story of Gwion, he was set to watch a cauldron\nwhich must boil until it yielded \"three drops of the grace of\ninspiration.\" It belonged to Tegid Voel and Cerridwen, divine rulers of\na Land under the Waters.[1285] In the _Mabinogi_ of Branwen, her brother\nBran received a cauldron from two beings, a man and a huge woman, who\ncame from a lake. This cauldron was given by him to the king of Erin,\nand it had the property of restoring to life the slain who were placed\nin it.[1286]\n\nThe three properties of the cauldron--inexhaustibility, inspiration, and\nregeneration--may be summed up in one word, fertility; and it is\nsignificant that the god with whom such a cauldron was associated,\nDagda, was a god of fertility. But we have just seen it associated,\ndirectly or indirectly, with goddesses--Cerridwen, Branwen, the woman\nfrom the lake--and perhaps this may point to an earlier cult of\ngoddesses of fertility, later transferred to gods. In this light the\ncauldron's power of restoring to life is significant, since in early\nbelief life is associated with what is feminine. Woman as the fruitful\nmother suggested that the Earth, which produced and nourished, was also\nfemale. Hence arose the cult of the Earth-mother who was often also a\ngoddess of love as well as of fertility. Cerridwen, in all probability,\nwas a goddess of fertility, and Branwen a goddess of love.[1287] The\ncult of fertility was usually associated with orgiastic and\nindiscriminate love-making, and it is not impossible that the cauldron,\nlike the Hindu _yoni_, was a symbol of fertility.[1288] Again, the\nslaughter and cooking of animals was usually regarded as a sacred act in\nprimitive life. The animals were cooked in enormous cauldrons, which\nwere found as an invariable part of the furniture of every Celtic\nhouse.[1289] The quantities of meat which they contained may have\nsuggested inexhaustibility to people to whom the cauldron was already a\nsymbol of fertility. Thus the symbolic cauldron of a fertility cult was\nmerged with the cauldron used in the religious slaughter and cooking of\nanimal food. The cauldron was also used in ritual. The Cimri slaughtered\nhuman victims over a cauldron and filled it with their blood; victims\nsacrificed to Teutates were suffocated in a vat (_semicupium_); and in\nIreland \"a cauldron of truth\" was used in the ordeal of boiling\nwater.[1290] Like the food of men which was regarded as the food of the\ngods, the cauldron of this world became the marvellous cauldron of the\nOther-world, and as it then became necessary to explain the origin of\nsuch cauldrons on earth, myths arose, telling how they had been stolen\nfrom the divine land by adventurous heroes, C\u00fachulainn, Arthur, etc. In\nother instances, the cauldron is replaced by a magic vessel or cup\nstolen from supernatural beings by heroes of the Fionn saga or of\n_M\u00e4rchen_.[1291] Here, too, it may be noted that the Graal of Arthurian\nromance has affinities with the Celtic cauldron. In the _Conte du Graal_\nof pseudo-Chr\u00e9tien, a cup comes in of itself and serves all present with\nfood. This is a simple conception of the Graal, but in other poems its\nmagical and sacrosanct character is heightened. It supplies the food\nwhich the eater prefers, it gives immortal youth and immunity from\nwounds. In these respects it presents an unmistakable likeness to the\ncauldron of Celtic myth. But, again, it was the vessel in which Christ\nhad instituted the Blessed Sacrament; it contained His Blood; and it had\nbeen given by our Lord to Joseph of Arimathea. Thus in the Graal there\nwas a fusion of the magic cauldron of Celtic paganism and the Sacred\nChalice of Christianity, with the product made mystic and glorious in a\nmost wonderful manner. The story of the Graal became immensely popular,\nand, deepening in ethical, mystical, and romantic import as time went\non, was taken up by one poet after another, who \"used it as a type of\nthe loftiest goal of man's effort.\"[1292]\n\nIn other ways myth told how the gifts of civilisation came from the\ngods' world. When man came to domesticate animals, it was believed in\ncourse of time that the knowledge of domestication or, more usually, the\nanimals themselves had come from the gods, only, in this case, the\nanimals were of a magical, supernatural kind. Such a belief underlies\nthe stories in which C\u00fachulainn steals cows from their divine owners. In\nother instances, heroes who obtain a wife from the _s\u00edd_-folk, obtain\nalso cattle from the _s\u00edd_.[1293] As has been seen the swine given to\nPryderi by Arawn, king of Annwfn, and hitherto unknown to man, are\nstolen from him by Gwydion, Pryderi being son of Pwyll, a temporary king\nof Annwfn, and in all probability both were lords of Elysium. The theft,\nin the original form of the myth, must thus have been from Elysium,\nthough we have a hint in \"The Spoils of Annwfn\" that Gwydion (Gweir) was\nunsuccessful and was imprisoned in Annwfn, to which imprisonment the\nlater blending of Annwfn with hell gave a doleful aspect.[1294] In a\nlate Welsh MS., a white roebuck and a puppy (or, in the _Triads_, a\nbitch, a roebuck, and a lapwing) were stolen by Am\u00e6thon from Annwfn, and\nthe story presents archaic features.[1295] In some of these tales the\nanimals are transferred to earth by a divine or semi-divine being, in\nwhom we may see an early Celtic culture-hero. The tales are attenuated\nforms of older myths which showed how all domestic animals were at first\nthe property of the gods, and an echo of these is still heard in\n_M\u00e4rchen_ describing the theft of cattle from fairyland. In the most\nprimitive form of the tales the theft was doubtless from the underworld\nof gods of fertility, the place whither the dead went. But with the rise\nof myths telling of a distant Elysium, it was inevitable that some tales\nshould connect the animals and the theft with that far-off land. So far\nas the Irish and Welsh tales are concerned, the thefts seem mainly to be\nfrom Elysium.[1296]\n\nLove-making has a large place in the Elysium tales. Goddesses seek the\nlove of mortals, and the mortal desires to visit Elysium because of\ntheir enticements. But the love-making of Elysium is \"without sin,\nwithout crime,\" and this phrase may perhaps suggest the existence of\nritual sex-unions at stated times for magical influence upon the\nfertility of the earth, these unions not being regarded as immoral, even\nwhen they trespassed on customary tribal law. In some of the stories\nElysium is composed of many islands, one of which is the \"island of\nwomen.\"[1297] These women and their queen give their favours to Bran and\nhis men or to Maelduin and his company. Similar \"islands of women\" occur\nin _M\u00e4rchen_, still current among Celtic peoples, and actual islands\nwere or still are called by that name--Eigg and Groagez off the Breton\ncoast.[1298] Similar islands of women are known to Chinese, Japanese,\nand Ainu folk-lore, to Greek mythology (Circe's and Calypso's islands),\nand to ancient Egyptian conceptions of the future life.[1299] They were\nalso known elsewhere,[1300] and we may therefore assume that in\ndescribing such an island as part of Elysium, the Celts were using\nsomething common to universal folk-belief. But it may also owe something\nto actual custom, to the memory of a time when women performed their\nrites in seclusion, a seclusion perhaps recalled in the references to\nthe mysterious nature of the island, its inaccessibility, and its\ndisappearance once the mortal leaves it. To these rites men may have\nbeen admitted by favour, but perhaps to their detriment, because of\ntheir temporary partner's extreme erotic madness. This is the case in\nthe Chinese tales of the island of women, and this, rather than\nhome-sickness, may explain the desire of Bran, Oisin, etc., to leave\nElysium. Celtic women performed orgiastic rites on islands, as has been\nseen.[1301] All this may have originated the belief in an island of\nbeautiful divine women as part of Elysium, while it also heightened its\nsensuous aspect.\n\nBorrowed from the delight which the Celt took in music is the recurring\nreference to the marvellous music which swelled in Elysium. There, as\nthe goddess says to Bran, \"there is nothing rough or harsh, but sweet\nmusic striking on the ear.\" It sounded from birds on every tree, from\nthe branches of trees, from marvellous stones, and from the harps of\ndivine musicians. And this is recalled in the ravishing music which the\nbelated traveller hears as he passes fairy-haunted spots--\"what pipes\nand timbrels, what wild ecstasy!\" The romantic beauty of Elysium is\ndescribed in these Celtic tales in a way unequalled in all other sagas\nor _M\u00e4rchen_, and it is insisted on by those who come to lure mortals\nthere. The beauty of its landscapes--hills, white cliffs, valleys, sea\nand shore, lakes and rivers,--of its trees, its inhabitants, and its\nbirds,--the charm of its summer haze, is obviously the product of the\nimagination of a people keenly alive to natural beauty. The opening\nlines sung by the goddess to Bran strike a note which sounds through all\nCeltic literature:\n\n  \"There is a distant isle, around which sea-horses glisten,\n\n   ...\n\n   A beauty of a wondrous land, whose aspects are lovely,\n   Whose view is a fair country, incomparable in its haze.\n   It is a day of lasting weather, that showers silver on the land;\n   A pure white cliff on the range of the sea,\n   Which from the sun receives its heat.\"\n\nSo Oisin describes it: \"I saw a country all green and full of flowers,\nwith beautiful smooth plains, blue hills, and lakes and waterfalls.\" All\nthis and more than this is the reflection of nature as it is found in\nCeltic regions, and as it was seen by the eye of Celtic dreamers, and\ninterpreted to a poetic race by them.\n\nIn Irish accounts of the _s\u00edd_, Dagda has the supremacy, wrested later\nfrom him by Oengus, but generally each owner of a _s\u00edd_ is its lord. In\nWelsh tradition Arawn is lord of Annwfn, but his claims are contested by\na rival, and other lords of Elysium are known. Manannan, a god of the\nsea, appears to be lord of the Irish island Elysium which is called \"the\nland of Manannan,\" perhaps because it was easy to associate an oversea\nworld \"around which sea-horses glisten\" with a god whose mythic steeds\nwere the waves. But as it lay towards the sunset, and as some of its\naspects may have been suggested by the glories of the setting sun, the\nsun-god Lug was also associated with it, though he hardly takes the\nplace of Manannan.\n\nMost of the aspects of Elysium appear unchanged in later folk-belief,\nbut it has now become fairyland--a place within hills, mounds, or _s\u00edd_,\nof marvellous beauty, with magic properties, and where time lapses as in\na dream. A wonderful oversea land is also found in _M\u00e4rchen_ and\ntradition, and T\u00edr na n-Og is still a living reality to the Celt. There\nis the fountain of youth, healing balsams, life-giving fruits, beautiful\nwomen or fairy folk. It is the true land of heart's desire. In the\neleventh century MSS. from which our knowledge of Elysium is mainly\ndrawn, but which imply a remote antiquity for the materials and ideas of\nthe tales, the _s\u00edd_-world is still the world of divine beings, though\nthese are beginning to assume the traits of fairies. Probably among the\npeople themselves the change had already begun to be made, and the land\nof the gods was simply fairyland. In Wales the same change had taken\nplace, as is seen by Giraldus' account of Elidurus enticed to a\nsubterranean fairyland by two small people.[1302]\n\nSome of the Elysium tales have been influenced by Christian conceptions,\nand in a certain group, the _Imrama_ or \"Voyages,\" Elysium finally\nbecomes the Christian paradise or heaven. But the Elysium conception\nalso reacted on Christian ideas of paradise. In the _Voyage of\nMaelduin_, which bears some resemblance to the story of Bran, the\nChristian influence is still indefinite, but it is more marked in the\n_Voyage of Snedgus and MacRiagla_. One island has become a kind of\nintermediate state, where dwell Enoch and Elijah, and many others\nwaiting for the day of judgment. Another island resembles the Christian\nheaven. But in the _Voyage of Brandan_ the pagan elements have\npractically disappeared; there is an island of hell and an island of\nparadise.[1303] The island conception is the last relic of paganism, but\nnow the voyage is undertaken for the purpose of revenge or penance or\npilgrimage. Another series of tales of visionary journeys to hell or\nheaven are purely Christian, yet the joys of heaven have a sensuous\naspect which recalls those of the pagan Elysium. In one of these, _The\nTidings of Doomsday_,[1304] there are two hells, and besides heaven\nthere is a place for the _boni non valde_, resembling the island of\nEnoch and Elijah in the _Voyage of Snedgus_. The connection of Elysium\nwith the Christian paradise is seen in the title _Tir Tairngiri_, \"The\nLand of Promise,\" which is applied to the heavenly kingdom or the land\nflowing with milk and honey in early glosses, e.g. on Heb. iv. 4, vi.\n15, where Canaan and the _regnum c[oe]lorum_ are called _T\u00edr Tairngiri_,\nand in a gloss to 1 Cor. x. 4, where the heavenly land is called T\u00edr\nTairngiri Innamb\u00e9o, \"The Land of Promise of the Living Ones,\" thus\nlikening it to the \"Land of the Living\" in the story of Connla.\n\nSensuous as many of the aspects of Elysium are, they have yet a\nspiritual aspect which must not be overlooked. The emphasis placed on\nits beauty, its music, its rest and peace, its oblivion, is spiritual\nrather than sensual, while the dwelling of favoured mortals there with\ndivine beings is suggestive of that union with the divine which is the\nessence of all religion. Though men are lured to seek it, they do not\nleave it, or they go back to it after a brief absence, and Laeg says\nthat he would prefer Elysium to the kingship of all Ireland, and his\nwords are echoed by others. And the lure of the goddess often emphasises\nthe freedom from turmoil, grief, and the rude alarms of earthly life.\nThis \"sweet and blessed country\" is described with all the passion of a\npoetical race who dreamed of perfect happiness, and saw in the joy of\nnature's beauty, the love of women, and the thought of unbroken peace\nand harmony, no small part of man's truest life. Favoured mortals had\nreached Elysium, and the hope that he, too, might be so favoured buoyed\nup the Celt as he dreamed over this state, which was so much more\nblissful even than the future state of the dead. Many races have\nimagined a happy Other-world, but no other race has so filled it with\nmagic beauty, or so persistently recurred to it as the Celts. They stood\non the cliffs which faced the west, and as the pageant of sunset passed\nbefore them, or as at midday the light shimmered on the far horizon and\non shadowy islands, they gazed with wistful eyes as if to catch a\nglimpse of Elysium beyond the fountains of the deep and the halls of the\nsetting sun. In all this we see the Celtic version of a primitive and\ninstinctive human belief. Man refuses to think that the misery and\ndisappointment and strife and pain of life must always be his. He hopes\nand believes that there is reserved for him, somewhere and at some time,\neternal happiness and eternal love.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1231] Nutt-Meyer, i. 213.\n\n[1232] Joyce, _OCR_ 431.\n\n[1233] D'Arbois, ii. 311; _IT_ i. 113 f.; O'Curry, _MC_ iii. 190.\n\n[1234] Nutt-Meyer, i. 1 f., text and translation.\n\n[1235] _LU_ 120_a_; Windisch, _Irische Gramm._ 120 f.; D'Arbois, v. 384\nf.; _Gaelic Journal_, ii. 307.\n\n[1236] _TOS_ iv. 234. See also Joyce, _OCR_ 385; Kennedy, 240.\n\n[1237] _LU_ 43 f.; _IT_ i. 205 f.; O'Curry, _Atlantis_, ii., iii.;\nD'Arbois, v. 170; Leahy, i. 60 f.\n\n[1238] \"From Manannan came foes.\"\n\n[1239] Joyce, _OCR_ 223 f.\n\n[1240] O'Grady, ii. 290. In this story the sea is identified with\nFiachna's wife.\n\n[1241] Joyce, _OCR_ 253 f.\n\n[1242] _IT_ iii. 211 f.; D'Arbois, ii. 185.\n\n[1243] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 388.\n\n[1244] A similar idea occurs in many Fian tales.\n\n[1245] Evans, _Welsh Dict. s.v._ \"Annwfn\"; Anwyl, 60; Gaidoz, _ZCP_ i.\n29 f.\n\n[1246] Loth, i. 27 f.; see p. 111, _supra_.\n\n[1247] Pp. 106, 112, _supra_.\n\n[1248] Guest, iii. 75; Loth, i. 29 f.\n\n[1249] Skene, i. 264, 276. Cf. the _Ille tournoiont_ of the Graal\nromances and the revolving houses of _M\u00e4rchen_. A revolving rampart\noccurs in \"Maelduin\" (_RC_ x. 81).\n\n[1250] Skene, i. 285.\n\n[1251] Pp. 103, 116, _supra_.\n\n[1252] Chretien, _Eric_, 1933 f.; Geoffrey, _Vita Merlini_, 41; San\nMarte, _Geoffrey_, 425. Another Irish Liban is called Muirgen, which is\nthe same as Morgen. See Girald. Cambr. _Spec. Eccl._ Rolls Series, iv.\n48.\n\n[1253] William of Malmesbury, _de Ant. Glaston. Eccl._\n\n[1254] San Marte, 425.\n\n[1255] _Op. cit._ iv. 49.\n\n[1256] Joyce, _OCR_ 434; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 170; Hardiman, _Irish Minst._\ni. 367; S\u00e9billot, ii. 56 f.; Girald. Cambr. ii. 12. The underworld is\nsometimes reached through a well (cf. p. 282, _supra_; _TI_ iii. 209).\n\n[1257] _Le Braz_{2}, i. p. xxxix, ii. 37 f.; Albert le Grand, _Vies de\nSaints de Bretagne_, 63.\n\n[1258] A whole class of such Irish legends is called _Tomhadna_,\n\"Inundations.\" A typical instance is that of the town below Lough Neagh,\nalready referred to by Giraldus Cambrensis, _Top. Hib._ ii. 9; cf. a\nWelsh instance in _Itin. Cambr._ i. 2. See Rh[^y]s, _CFL, passim_;\nKennedy, 282; _Rev. des Trad. Pop._ ix. 79.\n\n[1259] _Scott. Celt. Rev._ i. 70; Campbell, _WHT_ Nos. 38, 52; Loth, i.\n38.\n\n[1260] Curtin, _Tales_, 158; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 230.\n\n[1261] Nutt-Meyer, i. 159.\n\n[1262] In the Vedas, Elysium has also a strong agricultural aspect,\nprobably for the same reasons.\n\n[1263] D'Arbois, ii. 119, 192, 385, vi. 197, 219; _RC_ xxvi. 173; _Les\nDruides_, 121.\n\n[1264] For the text see Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 120: \"Totchurethar bii\nbithbi at g\u00e9rait do d\u00e1inib Tethrach. ar-dot-chiat each dia i n-d\u00e1laib\ntathardai eter dugnathu inmaini.\" Dr. Stokes and Sir John Rh[^y]s have\nboth privately confirmed the interpretation given above.\n\n[1265] \"Dialogue of the Sages,\" _RC_ xxvi. 33 f.\n\n[1266] Tethra was husband of the war-goddess Badb, and in one text his\nname is glossed _badb_ (Cormac, _s.v._ \"Tethra\"). The name is also\nglossed _muir_, \"sea,\" by O'Cleary, and the sea is called \"the plain of\nTethra\" (_Arch. Rev._ i. 152). These obscure notices do not necessarily\ndenote that he was ruler of an oversea Elysium.\n\n[1267] Nennius, _Hist. Brit._ \u00a7 13; D'Arbois, ii. 86, 134, 231.\n\n[1268] _LL_ 8_b_; Keating, 126.\n\n[1269] Both art _motifs_ and early burial customs in the two countries\nare similar. See Reinach, _RC_ xxi. 88; _L'Anthropologie_, 1889, 397;\nSiret, _Les Premiere Ages du Metal dans le Sud. Est. de l'Espagne._\n\n[1270] Orosius, i. 2. 71; _LL_ 11_b_.\n\n[1271] D'Arbois, v. 384; O'Grady, ii. 385.\n\n[1272] _TOS_ iii. 119; Joyce, _OCR_ 314. For a folk-tale version see\n_Folk-lore_, vii. 321.\n\n[1273] Leahy, i. 36; Campbell, _LF_ 29; _CM_ xiii. 285; _Dean of\nLismore's Book_, 54.\n\n[1274] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 143; Cormac, 35.\n\n[1275] See p. 187, _supra_; _IT_ iii. 213.\n\n[1276] See Gaidoz, \"La Requisition de l'Amour et la Symbolisme de la\nPomme,\" _Ann. de l'\u00c9cole Pratique des Hautes \u00c9tudes_, 1902; Fraser,\n_Pausanias_, iii. 67.\n\n[1277] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 359.\n\n[1278] \"The Silver Bough in Irish Legend,\" _Folk-Lore_, xii. 431.\n\n[1279] Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 158.\n\n[1280] _IT_ i. 133.\n\n[1281] O'Donovan, _Battle of Mag Rath_, 50; D'Arbois, v. 67; _IT_ i. 96.\nDagda's cauldron came from Murias, probably an oversea world.\n\n[1282] Miss Hull, 244. Scath is here the Other-world, conceived,\nhowever, as a dismal abode.\n\n[1283] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 97, iii. 79; Keating, 284 f.; _RC_ xv. 449.\n\n[1284] Skene, i. 264; cf. _RC_ xxii. 14.\n\n[1285] P. 116, _supra_.\n\n[1286] Guest, iii. 321 f.\n\n[1287] See pp. 103, 117, _supra_.\n\n[1288] For the use of a vessel in ritual as a symbol of deity, see\nCrooke, _Folk-Lore_, viii. 351 f.\n\n[1289] Diod. Sic. v. 28; Athen. iv. 34; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 124; _Antient\nLaws of Ireland_, iv. 327. The cauldrons of Irish houses are said in the\ntexts to be inexhaustible (cf. _RC_ xxiii. 397).\n\n[1290] Strabo, vii. 2. 1; Lucan, Usener's ed., p. 32; _IT_ iii. 210;\n_Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 195 f.\n\n[1291] Curtin, _HTI_ 249, 262.\n\n[1292] See Villemarqu\u00e9, _Contes Pop. des anciens Bretons_, Paris, 1842;\nRh[^y]s, _AL_; and especially Nutt, _Legend of the Holy Grail_, 1888.\n\n[1293] \"Adventures of Nera,\" _RC_ x. 226; _RC_ xvi. 62, 64.\n\n[1294] P. 106, _supra_.\n\n[1295] P. 107, _supra_.\n\n[1296] For parallel myths see _Rig-Veda_, i. 53. 2; Campbell, _Travels\nin South Africa_, i. 306; Johnston, _Uganda Protectorate_, ii. 704; Ling\nRoth, _Natives of Sarawak_, i. 307; and cf. the myth of Prometheus.\n\n[1297] This is found in the stories of Bran, Maelduin, Connla, in Fian\ntales (O'Grady, ii. 228, 238), in the \"Children of Tuirenn,\" and in\nGaelic _M\u00e4rchen_.\n\n[1298] Martin, 277; S\u00e9billot, ii. 76.\n\n[1299] Burton, _Thousand Nights and a Night_, x. 239; Chamberlain, _Aino\nFolk-Tales_, 38; _L'Anthropologie_, v. 507; Maspero, _Hist. anc. des\npeuples de l'Orient_, i. 183. The lust of the women of these islands is\nfatal to their lovers.\n\n[1300] An island near New Guinea is called \"the land of women.\" On it\nmen are allowed to land temporarily, but only the female offspring of\nthe women are allowed to survive (_L' Anthrop._ v. 507). The Indians of\nFlorida had a tradition of an island in a lake inhabited by the fairest\nwomen (Chateaubriand, _Autob._ 1824, ii. 24), and Fijian mythology knows\nof an Elysian island of goddesses, near the land of the gods, to which a\nfew favoured mortals are admitted (Williams, _Fiji_, i. 114).\n\n[1301] P. 274, _supra_. Islands may have been regarded as sacred because\nof such cults, as the folk-lore reported by Plutarch suggests (p. 343,\n_supra_). Celtic saints retained the veneration for islands, and loved\nto dwell on them, and the idea survives in folk-belief. Cf. the\nveneration of Lewismen for the Flannan islands.\n\n[1302] Gir. Camb. _Itin. Camb._ i. 8.\n\n[1303] Translations of some of these _Voyages_ by Stokes are given in\n_RC_, vols. ix. x. and xiv. See also Zimmer, \"Brendan's Meerfahrt,\"\n_Zeits. f\u00fcr Deut. Alt._ xxxiii.; cf. Nutt-Meyer, ch. 4, 8.\n\n[1304] _RC_ iv. 243.\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\nAbnoba, 43.\n\nAdamnan, 72.\n\nAed Abrat, 65.\n\nAed Slane, 351.\n\nAeracura, 37, 44.\n\nAfanc, 190.\n\nAgricultural rites, 3, 4, 57, 80, 107, 140, 227, 237. See Festivals.\n\nAife, 129.\n\nAill\u00e9n, 70.\n\nAine, 70 f.\n\nAitherne, 84.\n\nAlbiorix, 28.\n\nAll Saints' Day, 170.\n\nAll Souls' Day, 170.\n\nAllat, 87, 100.\n\nAlpine race, 8, 12.\n\nAltars, 282 f.\n\nAm\u00e6thon, 107, 384.\n\nAmairgen, 55, 172.\n\nAmbicatus, 19, 222.\n\nAmours with mortals, divine, 128, 159, 348, 350, 355.\n\nAmulets, 30, 327 f., 323.\n\nAncestor worship, 165, 200.\n\nAndarta, 41.\n\nAndrasta, 41, 125.\n\nAnextiomarus, 125.\n\nAnimal gods, anthropomorphic, 34, 92, 106, 139 f., 158, 210, 212, 226.\n\nAnimal worship, 3, 92, 140, 186, 208 f., 260.\n\nAnimals, burial of, 186, 211, 221.\n\nAnimals, descent from, 213, 216 f.\n\nAnimals, domestic, from the gods' land, 37, 384.\n\nAnimals, dressing as, 217, 260.\n\nAnimals, sacramental eating of, 221 f.\n\nAnimals, slaughter of, 382.\n\nAnimals, tabooed, 219.\n\nAnimism, 173, 185.\n\nAnkou, 345.\n\nAnnwfn, 106, 111, 115, 117, 367 f., 381.\n\nAnu, 67 f., 72, 73, 223.\n\nAnwyl, Prof., 41 note, 96.\n\nApollo, 25, 27, 125, 180, 183, 231.\n\nArawn, 111, 368, 384, 387.\n\nArch\u00e6ology, 2.\n\nArduinna, 43.\n\nArianrhod, 104, 105, 106, 109 f.\n\nArtemis, 42, 110, 177, 242.\n\nArtaios, 24, 121.\n\nArthur, 88, 97, 109, 117, 119 f., 211, 242, 344, 369, 381.\n\nArthurian cycle, 119, 383.\n\nArtor, 121.\n\nArvalus, 125.\n\nAstrology, 248.\n\nAugustus, 23, 90.\n\nAuto-suggestion, 254.\n\nAvagddu, 116.\n\nAvallon, 120, 369.\n\n\nBacchus, 274.\n\nBadb, 58, 71, 72, 136, 137, 232.\n\nBadbcatha, 41, 71.\n\nBalor, 31, 35 note, 54, 57, 89, 90.\n\nBanba, 50, 73, 74.\n\n_Banfeinnidi_, 72.\n\n_Bangaisgedaig_, 72.\n\nBaptism, 196 note, 308 f.\n\nBards, 117, 299, 325.\n\nBarintus, 88.\n\nBarrex, 125.\n\nBarri, S., 88.\n\nBear, cult of, 212.\n\nBeddoe, Dr., 12.\n\nBelatucadros, 28, 125.\n\nBelenos, 26, 102, 113, 124, 231, 264, 298.\n\nBelg\u00e6, 9 f.\n\nBeli, 60, 98, 103, 112 f., 124.\n\n_Belinuntia_, 26, 322.\n\nBelinus, 26, 102, 113, 124.\n\nBelisama, 41, 68-69, 125.\n\nBellovesus, 19.\n\nBeltane, 92, 194, 239, 259, 264.\n\nBericynthia, 44, 275.\n\nBertrand, M., 305.\n\n_Bile_, 162, 201.\n\nBile, 54, 60, 103.\n\nBird gods, 108, 205, 247.\n\nBirth, 196, 345.\n\nBlack Annis' Bower, 67.\n\nBlathnat, 84, 109, 381.\n\nBlodeuwedd, 104, 105 f., 108.\n\nBlood, 240, 244.\n\nBlood, Brotherhood, 131, 240.\n\nBoand, 81, 191.\n\nBoar, cult of, 42.\n\nBodb, 83.\n\nBodb Dearg, 64, 78, 86.\n\nBormana, 43.\n\nBorvo, 43, 183.\n\nBoudicca, 72, 125, 161, 219.\n\nBoughs, 265, 270.\n\nBoundary stones, 284.\n\nBraciaca, 28.\n\nBran, 34, 98, 100 f., 107, 111, 117, 160, 242, 363, 379 f.\n\nBranwen, 98, 103 f., 381 f., 385.\n\nBraziers, god of, 76.\n\nBrennius, 102, 112 f.\n\nBrennus, 160.\n\nBres, 53, 54, 58-59.\n\nBrian, 73 f.\n\nBride, S., 69.\n\nBridge, 346.\n\nBridge of Life, 228.\n\nBrigantia, 68, 125.\n\nBrigindo, 68, 275.\n\nBrigit, 41, 58, 68 f., 90, 92.\n\nBrigit, St., 68 f., 88 note, 257.\n\nBroca, 9.\n\nBronze Age, 148.\n\nBrother-sister unions, 106, 113.\n\nBrown Bull, 130.\n\nBrownie, 166, 189, 245.\n\n_Brug_. See _S\u00edd_.\n\nBrythons, 13.\n\nBrythons, gods of, 85, 95 f., 124.\n\nBuanann, 68, 73, 223.\n\nBull, cult of, 38, 140, 189, 208, 243.\n\nBurial rites, 309, 337 f.\n\n\nCaer Sidi, 112, 117, 368.\n\nC\u00e6sar, 22, 29, 219, 223, 233, 283, 294, 334.\n\nCakes, 266.\n\nCalatin, 131 f.\n\nCalendar, 175 f., 252.\n\nCamulos, 28, 125, 149.\n\nCandlemas, 69.\n\nCannibalism, 239, 271.\n\nCaoilte, 61, 142, 152, 336.\n\nCaractacus, 103.\n\nCarman, 167.\n\nCarpenters, god of, 76.\n\nCassiterides, 39.\n\nCassivellaunus, 113.\n\nCastor and Pollux, 136.\n\nCaswallawn, 98, 102, 112-113.\n\nCathbad, 127.\n\nCathubodua, 41, 71.\n\nCaturix, 28.\n\nCauldron, 84, 92, 112, 116, 120, 368, 381.\n\nCelt\u00e6, 8, 9, 15.\n\nCeltiberians, 176, 246.\n\nCeltic and Teutonic religion, 11.\n\nCeltic empire, 18 f.\n\nCeltic origins, 8 f.\n\nCeltic people, types of, 8.\n\nCeltic religion, evolution of, 3 f.\n\nCeltic religion, higher aspects of, 6.\n\nCeltic religion, homogeneity of, 5.\n\nCeltic religion, Roman influence on, 5.\n\nCelts, gods of, 158.\n\nCelts, religiosity of, 2.\n\nCelts, temperament of, 3, 14.\n\nCenn Cruaich, 66, 79 note.\n\nCera, 77.\n\nCernunnos, 29 f., 32, 101, 136, 212, 282.\n\nCerridwen, 116 f., 351, 358 f.\n\nCessair, 50.\n\nCethlenn, 59, 81.\n\nCetnad, 249.\n\nCharms, 172, 356.\n\nChurch and paganism, 6, 7, 48, 80, 115, 132, 152 f., 174 f., 203 f.,\n238, 249, 258, 272, 280, 285, 288-289, 315, 321, 331, 389.\n\nCian, 75, 89.\n\nClairvoyance, 307.\n\nCleena, 70.\n\nClota, 43, 70.\n\nClutoida, 70.\n\nCocidius, 125.\n\nCock, 219.\n\nColumba, S., 17, 66, 88 note, 181, 238, 315, 324, 331-332, 358.\n\nCombats, ritual, 263, 267.\n\nComedov\u00e6, 47.\n\nComyn, M., 143, 151.\n\nConaire, 84, 220, 252, 255.\n\nConall Cernach, 134, 136, 230, 240.\n\nConan, 142.\n\nConception, magical, 351.\n\nConchobar, 127, 132, 160, 182, 232, 254, 349.\n\nConn, 367.\n\nConncrithir, 73.\n\nConnla, 59, 65, 364, 374, 377, 379, 380.\n\nConservatism in belief, 193.\n\nCoral, 329.\n\nCoranians, 114.\n\nCordelia, 99.\n\nCormac, 67, 68, 88, 366.\n\nCorn-spirit, 92, 107, 117, 168, 173, 213, 260, 262, 273 f., 275.\n\nCorotacus, 125.\n\nCosmogony, 227 f.\n\nCouvade, 130, 224.\n\nCrafts, gods of, 93.\n\nCranes, 38.\n\nCraniology, 8 f.\n\nCreation, 230.\n\nCreiddylad, 85, 99, 113.\n\nCreidne, 76, 77.\n\nCreirwy, 116.\n\nCrom Dubh, 80.\n\nCrom Eocha, 79.\n\nCromm Cruaich, 57, 79, 236, 286.\n\nCross, 290.\n\nCross-roads, 174.\n\nCruithne, 17.\n\nC\u00fachulainn, 72, 109, 121, 123, 159, 174, 179, 220, 240, 252, 254, 336,\n349, 355, 357, 365, 369, 381.\n\nC\u00fachulainn saga, 38, 63, 71, 87, 97, 127 f., 145, 204, 207.\n\nCulann, 128.\n\nCulture goddesses, 4, 68 f.\n\nCulture gods and heroes, 4, 58, 92-93, 106, 121, 124 note, 136.\n\nCumal, 125, 142, 145 f., 148 f.\n\nC\u00faroi, 109, 381.\n\nCursing wells, 137.\n\n\nDagda, 44, 61, 64, 65, 72, 74-75, 77 f., 327, 387.\n\nDamona, 43, 215.\n\nDance, ritual, 246, 268, 286.\n\nDanu, 63, 67 f., 92, 103, 223.\n\n_Daoine-sidhe_, 62.\n\nD'Arbois, M., 31, 38, 56, 59, 74, 79, 90, 136, 178, 264, 293, 314, 341,\n357, 374.\n\nDay of Judgment, 347.\n\nDead, condition and cult of, 68, 165 f., 282, 330, 333 f., 340, 344 f.,\n378.\n\nDead Debtor, 337.\n\nDead, land of, and Elysium, 340 f.\n\nDead living in grave, 338-339.\n\nDebility of Ultonians, 71, 129 f., 224.\n\nDechelette, M., 166.\n\nDechtire, 127 f., 348, 354.\n\n_Deiseil_, 193, 237, 271.\n\nDei Terreni, 64.\n\nDemeter, 44, 68, 117, 274.\n\nDemons, 173 f., 188.\n\nDevorgilla, 133.\n\nDiana, 42, 177.\n\nDiancecht, 77, 84, 207, 325.\n\nDiarmaid, 82, 83, 88, 100, 142, 147, 150, 210, 220, 252, 254, 351,\n365-366.\n\n_Dii Casses,_ 39.\n\nDiodorus Siculus, 334.\n\nDionysus, 211.\n\nDioscuri, 136.\n\nDirona, 42, 70.\n\nDirra, 70.\n\nDisablot, 169.\n\nDisir, 169.\n\nDispater, 29 f., 44, 60, 100, 169, 218, 229, 341, 345, 376.\n\nDistortion, 128, 132, 134.\n\nDivination, 235, 247 f., 259, 266, 304.\n\nDivine descent, 351, 354.\n\nDivine kings, 253.\n\nDivineresses, 316.\n\nDiviners, 299.\n\nDivining rod, 248.\n\nDolmens, 283, 330, 352.\n\nDomestication, 210, 214, 225.\n\n_Domin\u00e6_, 47.\n\nDomnu, 57 note, 59, 223.\n\nD\u00f4n, 60, 63, 103, 223.\n\nDonnotaurus, 138, 209.\n\nDragon, 114, 121, 188.\n\nDrink of oblivion, 324.\n\nDruidesses, 250, 316.\n\nDruidic Hedge, 324.\n\nDruidic sending, 325.\n\nDruids, 6, 22, 61, 76, 150, 161 f., 173, 180, 201, 205 f., 235 f., 238,\n246 f., 250, 265, 280-281, 287 f., 293 f., 312.\n\nDruids and Filid, 305 f.\n\nDruids and magic, 310, 319, 325 f.\n\nDruids and medicine, 309.\n\nDruids and monasticism, 305.\n\nDruids and Pythagoras, 303.\n\nDruids and Rome, 312 f.\n\nDruids, classical references to, 301 f.\n\nDruids, dress of, 310 f.\n\nDruids, origin of, 292 f.\n\nDruids, poems of, 2.\n\nDruids, power of, 312.\n\nDruids, teaching of, 307 f., 314, 333.\n\nDruids, varieties of, 298 f.\n\nDrunemeton, 161, 280, 306.\n\nDualism, 57 f., 60 f.\n\nDumias, 25.\n\nDusii, 355.\n\nDwelling of gods. See Gods, abode of.\n\nDylan, 104, 110, 178.\n\n\n_Each uisge_, 188.\n\nEarth and Under-earth, 35, 37, 68.\n\nEarth cults, 3.\n\nEarth divinities, 31, 35, 37, 40, 42, 44 f., 57 note, 65, 67 f., 72, 78,\n92, 110, 162, 169, 227, 229 f., 345.\n\nEclipses, 178.\n\nEcne, 74, 223.\n\nEcstasy, 251.\n\nEgg, serpent's, 211.\n\nElatha, 53, 58, 60.\n\nElcmar, 78, 87.\n\nElements, cult of, 171 f.\n\nElphin, 118.\n\nElves, 66 note.\n\nElysium, 59, 78 f., 84, 87, 102, 106, 115, 116, 120, 163, 201, 229 f.,\n350, 362 f.\n\nElysium, and Paradise, 388 f.\n\nElysium, characteristics of, 373 ff.\n\nElysium, lords of, 387.\n\nElysium, names of, 362.\n\nElysium, origin of, 370 f.\n\nElysium, varieties of, 363 f.\n\nEmer, 128, 129, 135.\n\nEnbarr, 88, 135.\n\nEochaid, 83.\n\nEochaid Ollathair, 78.\n\nEochaid O'Flynn, 64.\n\nEogabail, 70.\n\nEpona, 43, 125, 189, 213 f.\n\nEri, 53.\n\nEridanus, 27.\n\nEriu, 73-74.\n\nEsus, 29, 38, 137, 208, 234, 289.\n\nEtain, 82 f., 223, 348, 363, 380.\n\nEtair, 82.\n\nEthics, 304, 307.\n\nEthne, 31 note, 89.\n\nEuhemerisation, 49 f., 84, 91, 95, 98, 127.\n\nEurosswyd, 100.\n\nEvans, Dr., 200.\n\nEvil eye, 59.\n\nEvnissyen, 98.\n\nExogamy, 222.\n\n_Ex votos_, 195.\n\n\nFachan, 251.\n\nFairies, 43, 45 f., 62, 64 f., 70, 73, 80, 98, 114, 115, 166, 173, 178\nnote, 183, 185 f., 190, 201, 203, 262, 263, 378.\n\nFairyland, 372, 385, 388.\n\n_F\u00e1ith_, 106, 300, 309.\n\nFalga, 84, 87, 381.\n\nFand, 65, 87, 88, 135, 365, 380.\n\nFerdia, 131.\n\nFergus, 142, 336.\n\nFertility cults, 3, 56, 70, 73, 78, 83, 92, 93, 112, 114-115, 276, 330,\n352, 382 f.\n\nFestivals, 4, 181, 256 f.\n\nFestivals of dead, 167.\n\nFetich, 289.\n\nFiachna, 88, 350, 366, 379.\n\nFians, 143, 365.\n\n_Filid_, 248 f., 300, 305 f., 325.\n\n_Findbennach_, 130.\n\nFinnen, S., 351.\n\nFinntain, 50.\n\nFionn, 28, 118, 120-121, 125, 142 f., 179, 220, 254, 344, 350, 365-366.\n\nFionn saga, 83, 97, 111, 120, 142 f.\n\n_Fir Dea_, 63.\n\n_Fir Domnann_, 52 f., 157.\n\n_Fir S\u00edde_, 64, 65.\n\nFirbolgs, 52, 57.\n\nFires, 199 f., 259, 261 f., 265, 268, 270.\n\nFires, sacred, 69.\n\nFish, sacred, 186, 220.\n\nFlann Manistrech, 64.\n\nFlood, 228, 231.\n\nFomorians, 51, 52 f., 55-56, 65, 72, 83, 89, 90, 114, 133, 189, 237,\n251.\n\nFood of immortality, 377 f.\n\nFood as bond of relationship, 379.\n\nForest divinities, 43, 108.\n\nFotla, 73-74.\n\nFoundation sacrifices, 238.\n\nFountains, 171, 174, 181.\n\nFountains of youth, 378, 388.\n\nFraoch, 377.\n\nFriuch, 349.\n\nFrazer, Dr. J.G., 170, 176, 269.\n\nFuamnach, 22.\n\nFuneral sacrifices, 165, 234, 337.\n\nFuture life, 333 f.\n\n\nGalat\u00e6, 18.\n\nGalli, 19.\n\nGallizen\u00e6, 317. See Priestesses.\n\nGalioin, 52, 57.\n\nGarbh mac Stairn, 139.\n\nGargantua, 124 note, 230.\n\nGarman, 167.\n\nGauls, 9, 20.\n\nGavida, 89, 109.\n\n_Geasa_, 128, 132, 134, 144, 150 f., 160, 252 f. See Tabu.\n\nGeoffrey of Monmouth, 102, 112, 119.\n\nGhosts, 66, 67, 166, 169, 262, 281, 284, 330, 336.\n\nGhosts in trees, 202 f.\n\nGildas, 171.\n\nGilla Coemain, 64.\n\nGilv\u00e6thwy, 104.\n\nGlass, 370.\n\nGlastonbury, 115, 121, 369.\n\nGoborchin, 189.\n\nGod of Connaught, 92.\n\nGod of Druidism, 92, 105, 122.\n\nGod of Ulster, 92.\n\nGoddesses and mortals, 355.\n\nGoddesses, pre-eminence of, 93, 124, 183.\n\nGodiva, 276.\n\nGods, abode of, 228 f., 362, 372.\n\nGods, children of, 159.\n\nGods, fertility and civilisation from land of, 100, 106-107, 112, 121,\n380 f., 383.\n\nGods uniting with mortals, 159.\n\nGoibniu, 76, 103, 325.\n\nGoidels, 16, 17, 96.\n\nGoll mac Morna, 142.\n\nGomme, Sir G.L., 181, 295.\n\nGoose, 219.\n\nGovannon, 109 f.\n\nGraal, 383.\n\nGrainne, 150, 254.\n\nGrannos, 26, 42 f., 77, 125, 183.\n\nGregory of Tours, 194, 196, 275.\n\nGroves, 174, 198, 279 f.\n\nGrowth, divinities of, 5, 44, 80, 82, 92, 182.\n\nGruagach, 245.\n\nGuinevere, 123.\n\nGurgiunt, 124.\n\nGutuatri, 298 f.\n\nGwawl, 99, 111.\n\nGweir, 106.\n\nGwion, 117, 351, 381.\n\nGwydion, 104, 105 f., 117, 368, 385.\n\nGwyn, 55, 113, 115.\n\nGwythur, 55.\n\n\nHades, 135.\n\nHafgan, 111, 368.\n\nHallowe'en, 259, 281.\n\nHallstatt, 208, 211.\n\nHallucinations, 323-324.\n\nHammer as divine symbol, 30, 291.\n\nHammer, God with, 30 f., 35, 36 f., 79.\n\nHaoma, 76.\n\nHare, 219.\n\nHarvest, 259, 273.\n\nHead-hunting, 240.\n\nHeads, cult of, 34, 71, 102, 240 f.\n\nHealing plants, 131, 206 f.\n\nHealing ritual, 122, 193 f.\n\nHealing springs, 123, 186.\n\nHearth as altar, 165 f.\n\nHeaven and earth, 227.\n\nHen, 219.\n\nHephaistos, 76.\n\nHeracles, 25, 75, 133.\n\nHeroes in hills, 344.\n\nHills, 66.\n\nHolder, A., 23.\n\nHorned helmets, 217.\n\nHorns, gods with, 32 f.\n\nHorse, 213 f.\n\nHu Gadarm, 124 note.\n\nHyde, Dr., 143-144.\n\nHyperboreans, 18, 27.\n\nHypnotism, 307, 310, 323-324.\n\n\nIberians, 13.\n\nIcauna, 43.\n\nIconoclasm, 287.\n\nIgerna, 120.\n\nImages, 79, 85, 204, 277, 283 f.\n\n_Imbas Forosnai_, 248.\n\nImmortality, 158, 333, 376.\n\nIncantations, 80, 248 f., 254, 297, 325.\n\nIncest, 223 f.\n\nIndech, 54, 58.\n\nInspiration, 116, 118.\n\nInvisibility, 322, 380.\n\nIs, 372.\n\nIuchar, Iucharbar, 63, 73 f.\n\n\nJanus, 34, 100.\n\nJoyce, Dr., 65, 143, 236.\n\nJuno, 47.\n\nJunones, 45.\n\nJullian, 178.\n\nJuppiter, 29.\n\n\nKalevala, 142.\n\nKeane, 9.\n\nKeating, 51, 143.\n\nKei, 122 f.\n\nKeres, 72.\n\nKieva, 99.\n\nKing and fertility, 4, 253.\n\nKings, divine, 160 f., 243.\n\nKings, election of, 306.\n\nKore, 44, 274-275.\n\nKronos, 59.\n\n\nLa T\u00e8ne, 208.\n\nLabraid, 65, 365, 369, 380.\n\nLakes, 181, 194.\n\nLammas, 273.\n\nLand under waves, 371.\n\nLear, 86.\n\nLer, Lir, 49 note, 86, 320.\n\nLia Fail, 329.\n\nLiban, 65, 365.\n\nLibations, 244 f., 247.\n\nLigurians, 13.\n\nLlew, 91, 104, 106.\n\nLludd Llawereint, 85, 99, 102, 113 f., 124.\n\nLlyr, 98 f.\n\nLochlanners, 56, 147.\n\nLodens, 113.\n\nLoegaire, 64, 137, 379.\n\nLonnrot, 142.\n\nLoth, M., 108.\n\nLove, 385.\n\nLucan, 38, 125, 279, 282, 335 f., 345.\n\nLuchtine, 76.\n\nLucian, 75, 125.\n\nLug, 31 note, 35 note, 59, 60, 61, 74, 75, 89 f., 103, 108 f., 128, 131,\n134, 137, 167, 272, 348, 353 f.\n\nLugaid, 132.\n\nLugnasad, 91, 109, 167 f., 272 f.\n\nLugoves, 91.\n\nLugus, 90, 272.\n\nLycanthropy, 216.\n\n\nMabinogion, 2, 95 f.\n\nMabon, 123, 183.\n\nMacBain, Dr., 16, 56, 78.\n\nMacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrainne, 74.\n\nMacha, 71, 129, 137, 241.\n\nMacIneely, 89.\n\nMacPherson, 142, 155 f.\n\nMadonna, 289.\n\nMaelduin, 385.\n\nMaelrubha, S. 243.\n\nMagic, 6, 105, 194, 292, 319.\n\nMagic, agricultural, 260, 265-266, 271, 273, 276 note.\n\nMagico-medical rites, 330 f., 332.\n\nMagonia, 180.\n\nMagtured, 53 f., 84.\n\nMan, origin of, 36, 228.\n\nManannan, 49 note, 64-65, 70, 80, 86 f., 92, 100, 134, 147, 178, 189,\n231, 350 f., 358, 364 f., 380, 387.\n\nManawyddan, 87, 98 f., 100 f., 111, 368.\n\nMannhardt, 269.\n\nMaponos, 27, 123.\n\n_M\u00e4rchen_ formul\u00e6, 77, 82, 83, 89, 95, 107-108, 111, 116, 124, 132, 133,\n143, 148, 152, 187, 337, 353, 384.\n\nMarriage, sacred, 163, 267, 273.\n\nMars, 27 f., 85, 180, 214.\n\nMartin, S., 140, 243, 260.\n\nMartinmas, 259. f.\n\nMath, 104 f.\n\nMatholwych, 98.\n\nMatres, 40, 44 f., 72-73, 125, 169, 183, 214, 285, 289.\n\nMatriarchate, 17, 223.\n\nMatron\u00e6, 46, 123, 183.\n\nMay-day, 114.\n\nMay-queen, 163, 267.\n\nMedb, 130 f.\n\nMedicine, 309 f.\n\nMediterranean race, 9.\n\nMedros, 84, 209.\n\nMegaliths, 202, 297, 330, 352. See Stonehenge.\n\nMen, cults of, 3.\n\nMercury, 24 f., 34, 137, 284 f.\n\nMerlin, 120, 121 f.\n\nMermaids, 190.\n\nMetempsychosis, 303, 348 f.\n\nMeyer, Prof., 16, 294.\n\nMiach, 27.\n\nMider, 82 f., 209, 363, 380-381.\n\nMidsummer, 70, 92, 176, 184, 191, 194, 200, 215, 235, 239, 257, 268 f.\n\nMile, 54.\n\nMilesians, 55, 60, 78.\n\nMinerva, 41, 68, 125.\n\nMiracles, 331, 351.\n\nMistletoe, 162, 176, 199, 205, 243 f., 270.\n\nMithraism, 209.\n\nMoccus, 24, 210.\n\nModranicht, 169.\n\nModron, 123, 183.\n\nMogons, 27, 125, 180.\n\nMongan, 88, 120, 350 f., 358.\n\nMoon, 175 f., 246.\n\nMorgen, 159, 178, 369.\n\nMorrigan, 71, 81, 83, 130-131, 136-137, 159, 172.\n\nMorvran, 116, 118.\n\nMounds, 63, 66.\n\nMountain gods, 39.\n\nMountains, 171 f.\n\nMowat, M., 33, 36.\n\nMuireartach, 56, 179.\n\nMuirne, 148.\n\nMule, 214.\n\nMullo, 214.\n\nMusic, 329, 386.\n\nMythological school, 83, 89, 108, 119, 122, 133 f.\n\n\nName, 246.\n\nName-giving, 308 f.\n\nNantosvelta, 31.\n\nNature divinities and spirits, 48, 93, 171 f.\n\nNeedfire, 199.\n\nNemaind, 58.\n\nNeman, 71.\n\nNemedians, 51 f.\n\n_Nemeton_, 161.\n\nNemetona, 41, 71.\n\nNennius, 119.\n\nNeo-Druidic heresy, 2 note.\n\nNeptune, 85.\n\nNera, 339.\n\nNessa, 128, 349.\n\nN\u00e9t, 28, 58, 71.\n\nNeton, 28.\n\nNew Year, 170, 259, 261.\n\nNight, 256.\n\nNiskas, 185.\n\nNodons, 85, 114, 124, 160.\n\nNorse influence, 99, 127.\n\nNuada, 53 f., 61, 77, 84, 90, 160.\n\nNuada Necht, 85 f.\n\nNudd, 113, 115 f., 124, 160.\n\nNudd Hael, 86.\n\nNudity, 275-276, 322.\n\nNutt, Mr., 103, 373.\n\nNymphs, 43.\n\nNynnyaw, 113.\n\n\nOak, 199.\n\nOaths, 172 f., 292.\n\nO'Curry, 65, 143.\n\nO'Davoren, 91.\n\nOengus, 78, 81, 86, 146, 387.\n\nOghams, 75.\n\nOgma, 54, 74-75.\n\nOgm\u00edos, 25, 75.\n\nOilill Olom, 70.\n\nOisin, 142, 150-151, 152 f., 222, 364, 379, 387.\n\nOmens, 247 f.\n\nOracles, 179, 196.\n\nOran, 238.\n\n_Orbis alius_, 340.\n\nOrbsen, 87.\n\nOrdeals, 196 f., 383.\n\nOrgiastic rites, 80, 261, 265, 386.\n\nOsiris, 66.\n\n\nParadise, 388 f.\n\nPartholan, 51.\n\nPastoral stage, 3, 225, 260.\n\nPatrick, S., 61. 64, 66, 70, 76, 79-80, 132, 151, 152 f., 171, 193, 237,\n242, 249, 251, 286, 315 f., 319.\n\nPeanfahel, 17.\n\nPeisgi, 185.\n\nPenn Cruc, 66.\n\nPennocrucium, 66.\n\nPerambulation, 277.\n\nPersephone, 68, 85.\n\nPicts, 16 f., 217, 220, 222.\n\nPillar of sky, 228.\n\nPlace-names, 16 note, 17, 19, 120, 146, 209, 211.\n\nPlants, 176, 205 f.\n\nPliny, 162, 175, 198, 205 f., 328.\n\nPlutarch, 343.\n\nPluto, 34 f.\n\nPlutus, 35.\n\nPoeninus, 39.\n\nPoetry, divinities of, 68, 75.\n\nPollux, 180.\n\nPolyandry, 74, 223 f.\n\nPolygamy, 17, 224.\n\nPrayer, 245 f.\n\nPre-Celtic cults, 48, 81, 93, 174, 181, 200, 202, 219, 224, 277, 294 f.,\n361.\n\nPriesthood. See Druids.\n\nPriestesses, 69, 180, 192 f., 226, 246, 250, 316, 321.\n\nPriest-kings, 161, 226, 267, 296, 307.\n\nProcopius, 342.\n\nProphecy, 250 f, 300 f.\n\nPryderi, 98 f., 110 f., 112, 368, 385.\n\nPwyll, 110 f., 112, 368, 385.\n\nPythagoras, 303, 334.\n\n\n_Quadrivi\u00e6_, 47.\n\n\nRagnarok, 232.\n\nRain-making, 266, 321 f.\n\nRebirth, 88, 117, 128, 348 f.\n\nReinach, M., 31 note, 38, 137, 211, 287, 297, 317, 340.\n\nRelics, 332.\n\nRetribution, 346.\n\nRhiannon, 98 f., 110 f.\n\nRh[^y]s, Sir J., 15, 16, 24, 55, 60, 68, 78, 82 f., 91, 93, 100, 101 f.,\n103, 106, 108, 122, 135, 183, 219, 282, 294, 356, 376.\n\nRigantona, 111.\n\nRigisama, 28.\n\nRiver divinities, 43, 46, 123, 182, 243, 354.\n\nRivers, cult of, 172, 180 f.\n\nRivers, names of, 182.\n\nRoman and Celtic gods, 22 f., 289 f.\n\nRomans and Druids, 312 f.\n\nRuadan, 58.\n\nRuad-rofhessa, 77.\n\nRucht, 349.\n\nRudiobus, 214.\n\n\nSaar, 150.\n\nSacramental rites, 222, 260, 266, 271.\n\nSacrifice of aged, 242.\n\nSacrifice of animals, 140, 181, 189, 205, 242 f., 260, 265.\n\nSacrifice, foundation, 121, 238 f.\n\nSacrifice, human, 57, 79, 165, 190, 198, 233 f., 261, 265, 269, 304,\n308, 313, 337.\n\nSacrifice to dead, 165 f., 234, 337.\n\nSacrificial offerings, 6, 174, 181, 185, 190, 194, 198, 233 f., 299,\n308.\n\nSacrificial survivals, 244 f.\n\nSaints, 115, 209, 217, 251, 285 f., 288, 331 f., 386 note.\n\nSaints and wells, 193.\n\nSaints' days and pagan festivals, 258.\n\nSalmon of knowledge, 149, 187, 377.\n\nSamhain, 56, 70, 80, 167-168, 170, 222, 256 f., 258 f.\n\nSatire, 326.\n\nSaturn, 47.\n\nScandinavia and Ireland, 148.\n\nScathach, 129, 135.\n\n_Scotti_, 17.\n\nSea, 110, 178.\n\nS\u00e9billot, 342.\n\nSegomo, 214.\n\nSegovesus, 19.\n\nSelvanus, 37.\n\nSemnotheoi, 298, 301.\n\nSequana, 43.\n\nSergi, Prof., 9, 296.\n\nSerpent, 35, 166, 188, 211.\n\nSerpent with ram's head, 34, 44, 166, 211.\n\nSerpent's egg, 328.\n\nSerpent's glass, 328.\n\nSetanta, 349.\n\nShape-shifting, 104, 105, 117, 130, 131, 150, 221, 322 f., 350, 356 f.\n\n_S\u00edd_, 63, 64 note, 65, 78.\n\nSilvanus, 29, 36, 218.\n\nSinend, 187, 191.\n\nSinnan, 43.\n\nSirona, 42.\n\nSkene, Dr., 16, 108.\n\nSlain gods and human victims, 159, 168 f., 199, 226, 235, 239, 262, 269,\n272.\n\nSleep, magic, 327.\n\nSmertullos, 35, 136, 289.\n\nSmiths, god of, 76.\n\nSmiths, magic of, 76.\n\nSolar hero, 133.\n\nSoma, 76.\n\nSoul as animal, 360.\n\nSoul, separable, 140, 162, 270.\n\nSpain, 375.\n\nSpells, 246, 254, 325 f.\n\nSquatting gods, 32 f.\n\nSreng, 84.\n\nStag, 213.\n\nStanna, 42.\n\nStokes, Dr., 16, 56, 71, 77, 222, 264.\n\nStone circles, 281.\n\nStonehenge, 27, 121, 200, 281-282.\n\nStones, cult of, 174, 284, 329.\n\nSualtaim, 128.\n\nSubmerged towns, 231, 372.\n\nSucellos, 30 f.\n\nSuicide, 234, 345.\n\nSul, 41, 69, 125.\n\nSulevi\u00e6, 46.\n\nSun, 178, 268.\n\nSun myths, 83.\n\nSwan-maidens, 82.\n\nSwastika, 290.\n\nSwine, 25, 106, 117, 209 f.\n\nSwineherds, The Two, 349.\n\nSymbols, 290.\n\n\nTabu, 69, 102, 128, 132, 144, 186, 191 f., 210, 219, 252 f., 276, 304,\n306, 323, 372. See _Geasa_.\n\nTadg, 221.\n\n_Taghairm_, 249.\n\nTailtiu, 167, 273, 376.\n\n_T\u00e1in b\u00f3 Cuailgne_, 127, 130 f.\n\nTaliesin, 95, 97, 116, 323, 335, 356, 358.\n\nTaran, 124.\n\nTaranis, 29, 30, 234.\n\nTaranos, 124.\n\n_Tarbh Uisge_, 189.\n\n_Tarvos Trigaranos_, 38, 137, 208, 289.\n\nTattooing, 17, 217.\n\nTegid Voel, 116.\n\n_Teinm Laegha_, 249.\n\n_Tempestarii_, 175, 180.\n\nTemples, 85, 279 f.\n\nTethra, 58-59, 71, 75, 374.\n\nTeutates, 28, 125, 234.\n\nTeyrnon, 111.\n\nThree-headed gods, 32 f.\n\nThumb of knowledge, 149.\n\nThurnam, Dr., 12.\n\n_T\u00edr na n-Og_, 151, 362, 364.\n\nTombs as sacred places, 165.\n\nTonsure, 311.\n\nTorque, 34.\n\nTotatis, 125.\n\nTotemism, 149, 187, 201 f., 216, 323, 360, 379.\n\nToutatis, 28.\n\nTransformation. See Shape-shifting.\n\nTransformation Combat, 353.\n\nTransmigration, 334 f., 348 f., 356, 359 f.\n\nTree cults, 162, 169, 174, 194, 198 f., 208, 265, 269, 331, 379.\n\nTree descent from, 202.\n\nTrees of Elysium, 380.\n\nTrees of Immortality, 377 f.\n\nTriads, 34 f., 39, 95 f., 109, 113-114, 115, 118, 120, 123, 124 note.\n\nTriple goddesses, 44 f.\n\nTristram, 103.\n\nTuan MacCairill, 57, 357, 375.\n\nTuatha D\u00e9 Danann, 49 f., 60, 61, 63 f., 66, 92 f., 146, 158, 168, 173.\n\nTutelar divinities, 40, 45, 73.\n\nTuag, 87.\n\n_Twrch Trwyth_, 108, 119, 211.\n\nTyr, 84.\n\n\nUnderworld, 60, 102, 112, 341.\n\nUrien, 101.\n\n_Urwisg_, 189.\n\nUthyr, 101, 120, 122.\n\n\nValkyries, 72.\n\nVegetation cults, 3, 215.\n\nVegetation gods and spirits, 38, 92, 139, 159, 162 f., 199, 208, 215,\n243, 265, 269.\n\nVenus of Quinipily, 289.\n\nVera, 70.\n\nVesta, 69.\n\n_Vierges noires_, 46.\n\nVintius, 180.\n\n_Virgines_, 47.\n\nViviane, 122.\n\nVortigern, 121, 238, 315.\n\nVosegus, 39.\n\nVotive offerings, 185.\n\nVulcan, 47.\n\n\nWar chants, 246.\n\nWar goddesses, 71, 93.\n\nWar gods, 4, 27 f., 48, 71, 92, 115, 118, 123, 136.\n\nWarrior, ideal, 132, 136.\n\nWarrior, power of dead, 338.\n\nWasher at the Ford, 73.\n\nWater bull, 189.\n\nWater fairies, 70, 73 note, 190.\n\nWater, guardians of, 195.\n\nWater horse, 188.\n\nWater world, 192 note, 371.\n\nWaves, fighting the, 178.\n\nWaves, nine, 179.\n\nWeapons, 291.\n\nWells, 77, 180 f., 184, 191, 193 f., 321, 372.\n\nWells, origin of, 230.\n\nWheel, god with, 29.\n\nWheel symbol, 29, 271, 327.\n\nWhite women, 73.\n\nWind, 180.\n\nWindisch, Prof., 16.\n\nWisdom, 74.\n\nWisdom from eating animal, 149 note.\n\nWolf god, 36, 216, 218.\n\nWitch, 201, 203, 262, 268, 318, 321.\n\nWomen and magic, 319 f.\n\nWomen as first civilisers, 41, 45, 192, 317.\n\nWomen as warriors, 72.\n\nWomen, cults of, 3, 5, 41, 69, 163 f., 225 f., 274 f., 317.\n\nWomen, islands of, 385 f.\n\nWorld catastrophe, 228, 232.\n\nWorld, origin of, 230.\n\nWren, 221.\n\n\nYama, 101.\n\nYear, division of, 256.\n\nYule log, 170, 259.\n\n\nZeus, 66, 84, 199 f.\n\nZimmer, 56, 141, 147.","title":"The Religion of the Ancient Celts","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":130976}