The Celts

The Celts were a population of warriors, and at the same time they were guided by a deep spirituality. They came from a land close to the sources of the Danub river, their dominion spread over Central Europe, the British Isles and Spain.

Their golden age was in the 5th and 4th century b. C., when the greatest conquers took place. From 300 b.C. the Celtic political cohesion and military power began to decline, making the Roman invasion easy: at the beginning of the Christian era the Gauls and the Britons were under the Roman rule.

Ireland was never conquered nor visited by the Roman army: the Celtic civilization and traditions could survive there, unaltered, until the spreading of the evangelization.


The Megalithic Population and the Celts


Before the rising of the Celtic civilization, the western part of Europe was inhabited by a mysterious population, called "Megalithic population". They built the stone funeral buildings, such as dolmens, menhirs, stone circles, passage graves (like Newgrange, in the Boyne valley, Ireland), which can be found from Scandinavia to Gibraltar, on the Spanish coasts, in Greece, on the Northern coasts of Africa, even in Arabia, India and Japan.

This population seems to be of north-African origin; they entered Europe through the Strait of Gibraltar. The decorations engraved on the stones of Newgrange, in Ireland, seem to confirm this theory. The grave was later considered by the Celts as the dwelling of the Sidhe, or the Fairy People, and it was chosen as the burial place of the kings of Ireland. The most recurring symbol on the stones of Newgrange is the spiral, a very common symbolic decoration on almost every megalithic building.

A symbol of particular interest can be observed at Newgrange: the "boat with the sun".




The boat with the sun


A lot of similar images can be found on megalithic buildings in Bretagne, Sweden, etc., but the most interesting similarity is the image of the boat with the sun in Egypt, representing the boat shipping the dead to the next world.




Boat (Bretagne)



Boat (Sweden)



Egyptian boat


Since Newgrange had a funeral function, the meaning of the symbol seems to be the same, giving evidence to the theory of the African origin of the Megalithic Population.

The belief in the immortality of the soul, acquired thanks to the contact with the Megalithic Population (which the Celts conquered, mixing with them), became the main feature of Celtic Druidism. The deep faith in the next world gained the priestly caste of Druids a great power. Druidic schools were crowded, in spite of the strict rules pupils had to respect. Students were taught arts and science, the moving of stars, the size of universe, the power of gods.




Myths


Mythological Cycle of the Origins of Ireland


Partholan: The Celts considered themselves as descendants from the god of death, and they believed that they came from the land of the dead, which was not a dark and terrible place, but a very luminous and happy land, which they called "land of the living people" or "land of the happy dead". The founder of Ireland, Partholan, came from this place.


The Fomori: they were gigantic, hideous, violent and cruel creatures, representing evil powers. Partholan, the founder of Ireland had to fight against them, and sent them away to the Northern Sea, but they occasionally came back and frightened the country.


The Nemed population: these people and Partholan had the same origin. They came to Ireland after the dead of Partholan’s people due to a disease. They had to fight against the Fomori, but they were defeated; only thirty people survived, and they left Ireland in despair.


The Tùatha Dè Danann: also called Danu’s people, mythological settlers of Ireland. Their name means "the people of the god whose mother is Danu". Danu is sometimes called Brigit, a vey popular goddess in celtic Ireland. They came to Ireland from the sky, carrying two objects, the Danann’s treasure: the Stone of Fate, on which the kings of Ireland were crowned, and a magic sword. They ruled over Ireland until the arrival of the Sons of Miled. They had a great number of gods, which will be described later. The Danann had divine characteristics, and they were considered as protectors of arts and science.


The people of Miled’s sons: they came to Ireland when it was governed by the Danann, on the first of May, the day dedicated to Beltenè, the god who gives and takes life. They defeated the Danann, who remained in Ireland, wrapped in a veil which gave them invisibility and could be worn and taken off whenever they liked. Ireland was since inhabited by two populations: the human one, and the supernatural one, the Danann, who could not be seen by men, unless they wanted to be seen and to cooperate with them. The Danann were later called People of Sidhe. They represent the Celts’ love for science, poetry, music.




Gods and mythological heroes


Dagda Mor: father of the Danann. He is a warrior and a musician, he has a harp which flies to him when he calls it.


Angus Og: Dagda’s son, he is the Irish god of love. His kisses had the shape of four birds, which inspired love to young people with their singing.


Lugh: the son of Kian, the god who represents the sun in the whole Celtic world. Lugh is the god of light.


Balor: king of the Fomori, he is also one of the gods of darkness and evil.


Goddess Danu: Dagda Mor’s daughter, she gave birth to the father god of the Danann. She is the goddess of fertility and fruitfulness.


Morrigan: goddess of war and violence, she liked causing hatred and fighting among men, assuming terrible looks. She often appeared as a crow.



Morrigan



Erinn (or Erin): poetic name of Ireland, it comes from the name of goddess Eriu, wife of Mac Grené, Dagda Mor’s grandson and descendant from the sun.


Cuchulain: one of the bravest Celtic heroes, leader of Ulster. He has divine origins: his father is Lugh, god of light. His name means "Cullan’s dog". Cullan had a fierce dog, which protected his house. Cuchulain was attacked by the dog and killed it. To amend, he convinced Cullan to give him one of the killed dog’s puppies and he trained it to defend Cullan’s home. He also offered Cullan his protection . His generosity was publicly praised and he was nicknamed Cuchulain, or "Cullan’s dog".


Skatha: warrior woman, she trained the young fighters, Cuchulain was trained by her.


Tara: hill where all the mythological kings of Ireland dwelled.


Finn mac Cumhal and the Fianna of Erin: Finn is the hero of the Ossianic cycle, he is the leader of the Fianna, a military stock, which prevented foreigners from invading Ireland. His ancestors were Danann.


Oisin (or Ossian):Finn’s son, he is a poet, as well as a warrior. He is the author of the Ossianic Cycle, which deals with his father and the Fianna.


Oscar: Oisin’s son, the greatest Fianna warrior.




Druidism and religion

The Druids


The Celtic word was dru-vis or druvid, from dru= very e wis= wise. Druids were therefore protectors of knowledge, and they played a relevant role in the whole people’s life. They were priests, magicians, physicians, depositories of the laws.

The term "druid" generally refers to the priestly class of the Celts, but within this class a lot of different tasks can be actually found. In Ireland, together with the Druids, holders of the supreme knowledge, we can find the file, poets who knew and preserved the ballads, which were orally transmitted. Some of them had the task of memorizing the laws and repeating them during the trials.

Many years of hard studying were required to become a druid, and only the best students could aim at the title. It was not a closed caste. Druids were involved in the life of the whole community, but the supreme druid was an important king’s alley. Druids cannot become kings, being in charge of the spiritual life, but the king had to keep their opinion into account and had to show respect to them.


Magic


The Celts considered both this world and the next one as part of the reality. They considered themselves as descendants of the god of the next world, a happy and luminous place. Their reality consisted of gods, heroes and common men. Nature played a very important role, it was a sort of magical alley of man, and an important element in the magic practice.


Oak was the holy tree, and an oak-wood was a sacred place. Mistletoe, growing on oaks without roots in the ground, was considered as a gift that the gods sent from the sky, and had magic and healing properties. It had to be reaped without letting it fall to the ground and without cutting it with any iron tools.

Yew was another sacred tree, from which druids made wands used during the magic rituals.

Hazel tree was the tree of knowledge, by eating its fruits a man could increase his knowledge. According to a legend, there was a little lake by a wood of hazel-trees, inhabited by five salmons, which fed only on the hazel-nuts from the wood. They were the salmons of knowledge, and by eating one of them, Finn mac Cumhal acquired a great knowledge.


Apple is the fruit of immortality, when it’s cut in half, it shows the five points star, symbol of the sun.


Water symbolizes fertility and purity, it is a purifying and healing element. There are a lot of legends dealing with holy and healing sources. The sea is one of the borders between the real world and the next one. Druids can control the waves.


Druids are also lords of the fire, which has great ritual properties, as a purifying element, source of light, which overcomes darkness and evil, and source of heat.




The time


Druids had also the task of studying the moving of stars, calculating the calendar and deciding the best time for the activities in the fields.

Celts divided the year into two seasons: the season of the dark months, and the season of the luminous months: winter (which began on Samain) and summer (which began on Beltane). The year started during the dark season, with the sacred celebration of Samain, a real new year’s day, taking place on the present november 1st.

The Celts thought that during this celebration the real world and the next one came into contact, and reality and supernatural mixed together, making the strangest things possible. The celebration started three nights before november 1st, and it closed three nights after that day. No kind of violence or fighting was allowed during this period. The trial weddings established in summer which had failed the test of time and were not a happy union, could be dissolved.

The feast celebrated the end of a natural and productive cycle, the temporary "death" of nature, which was preparing to face a new cycle. The feast survives nowadays with the still "pagan" feast of Halloween, and with the religious cult of the dead, which preserves the Celtic idea of the contact with the next world.


The opposite of Samain is Beltane, which, on May 1st, celebrates the mild and luminous season. Fires were lit at night, and this tradition is still alive nowadays, with the fires lit to celebrate the patron saints during the popular feasts.


There were also two celebrations in between: Imbolc, three months after Samain, on February 1st, which celebrated the return of milk to the sheep, and the end of the worst part of winter; and Lugnasad, on August 1st, celebrating the god of light, Lugh and the reaping of fruits. During this feast commercial trades and weddings were carried out.


The "infinite knot"

The Celtic religion seems to be polytheistic, but the numerous gods were actually different aspects of a divine spirit, which spreads through the whole universe. The spirit is responsible for the flowing harmony of the universe. Human life is only the central part of a longer existence. The spirit permeates the whole nature, which the Celts perceived as a friend, something similar to them, sharing the same spirit. Reality is therefore a plot of infinite existing elements, both living and inanimate, such as stones, water and fire. All these elements are linked by the common spirit, which exists in everything. The graphic representations, which can be found in great number in a variety of decorations, are the "infinite knot" and the "spiral"(recurring everywhere, also turned into a Triskell), to symbolize the never ending evolution of the universe.



Infinite knot



Triskell



Triple spiral