The Celts

1. The Celts The Last Ancient Pagan Peoples

2. Who Were the Celts? • The Celts were a semi-nomadic people of Indo-European descent. • One reason we don’t have a lot of record of them is because they were constantly fighting amongst themselves. • The first Celts were thought to have lived in Austria and Germany. • Digs have unearthed graves there dating to about 700 BCE • The Celts don’t move to Britain and Ireland until about 350 BCE • The Celts were a loose nation of tribes lead by warlord kings.

3. Celtic Beliefs • There are no Celtic “churches.” Rather, these people believed that their gods were living in the natural world around them. • In Celtic religious society, the Druids ranked highest, followed by the Bards, who kept oral tradition. • The symbol of the Druid is the serpent or snake, which symbolized wisdom. • When St. Patrick comes to Ireland, he does not rid the land of snakes – he rids it of the Druids. • There is no holy book associated with the Celts. They were non-literate, and therefore what we know of them is through oral tradition.

4. Celtic History • Celtic traditions were not written down until the 11th and 12th centuries. • This means a Christian monk would have transcribed the tales, not an actual Celtic Druid. They would all be dead by now. • Stonehenge is NOT a Druidic creation! It actually pre-dates the Celtic arrival to the British Isles by about 2,000 years. The Druids then took over the site for themselves!

5. Death and Dying • Evidence in Celtic graves suggest a belief in the afterlife. Corpses were often buried with food and weapons. • The Druids practiced human sacrifice. They would strangle the victim, then sever the jugular. After draining the blood from the victim, they would attempt to divine the future by staring into a bowl of blood. • This is one reason they might have so readily accepted Christianity. The sacrifice of Jesus closely relates to their own belief systems. • Sometimes, the Celts would bury the dead with golden coins meant to represent the sun to provide the dead with light in the afterlife.

6. Holidays • Many current holiday traditions stem from ancient Celtic traditions. • The use of the colors red and green stem from the Celtic use of the holly plant, which remains red and green all year, even when winter is at its darkest. • The symbols of chicks and bunnies at Easter come from the fertility symbols the Celts used during their Beltane (May Day) celebrations.

7. Halloween • Halloween is actually the Celtic New Year, known as Samhain. • During this time of year, the veil between the living and the dead thins, and it’s believed spirits roam the earth. • Halloween costumes were meant to confuse the spirits so they would not recognize the living from the dead. • The Christians created All Soul’s Day in response to this custom.

8. The Gods and Goddesses • Because so little survived regarding Celtic lore, it is difficult to piece together who was in their pantheon. • There is a god named Cernunnos, who has the hooves of a goat and the horns of a stag. He is known as the “Horned One” and eventually becomes equated with the Christian devil. • There is an unnamed goddess who is shown in three parts: a young maiden, a mother and an old woman, supposedly representing the three phases of life

9. Brigid • Irish goddess of fertility and war • Presides over fire, blacksmiths, poetry and wisdom • Became confused with St. Brigid (450-523 CE) who put out her eyes to prevent an arranged marriage • Both Brigid and St. Brigid are said to be keepers of a healing fire which purifies the spirit

10. Works Cited • Davis, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About Mythology. New York: Harper, 2006. • Gill, Elaine and David Everett. Celtic Pilgrimages: Sites, Seasons and Saints. London: Blanford, 1997. • MacCana, Proinsias. Celtic Mythology. New York: Hamlyn Publishing, 1970.