Celtic Animism
According to classical sources[
The Sacred Land
The Celts of the ancient world believed that many spirits and divine beings inhabited the world around them, and that humans could establish a rapport with these beings.[2]: 196 The archaeological and the literary record indicate that ritual practice in Celtic societies lacked a clear distinction between the sacred and profane; rituals, offerings, and correct behaviour maintained a balance between gods, spirits and humans, and harnessed supernatural forces for the benefit of the community.[1]
The
The ancient Celts venerated the spirits who inhabited local mountains, forests and springs. Certain animals were seen as messengers of the spirits or gods.[citation needed] In tribal territories, the ground and waters which received the dead were imbued with sanctity and revered by their living relatives.[3]: 24 Sanctuaries were sacred spaces separated from the ordinary world, often in natural locations such as springs, sacred groves, or lakes. Many topographical features were honored as the abodes of powerful spirits or deities, with geographical features named for tutelary deities. Offerings of jewellery, weapons or foodstuffs were placed in offering pits and bodies of water dedicated to these beings. These offerings linked the donor to the place and spirits in a concrete way.[1]
Honouring the Waters
The spirits of watery places were honoured as givers of life and as links between the physical realm and the
In Ireland, the tutelary goddesses
There is abundant evidence for the veneration of water by the Celts and indeed by their Bronze Age forebears. In the
Natural springs were foci for healing cults: Sulis was prayed to as a healer at
Spirits of the Weather and the Skies
In the insular Celtic lands, Lugh is seen as a god of the storms, as are the Cailleachan – Scottish storm hags[8][9] – and the Cailleach herself, who brings the first winter snows to the land by washing her great plaid (Gaelic: féileadh mòr) in the Whirlpool of Coire Bhreacain. This process is said to take three days, during which the roar of the coming tempest is heard as far away as twenty miles (32 km) inland. When she is finished, her plaid is pure white and snow covers the land.[8]
From the early
Sacred Trees
The Celts believed that trees had spirits and
Animals as Omens and Emblems
Among both the Continental and Insular Celts, the behaviour of certain animals and birds were observed for omens,[
Certain creatures were observed to have particular physical and mental qualities and characteristics, and distinctive patterns of behaviour. An animal like a
were seen to be keen-scented, good at hunting, guarding, and healing.Deer (who shed antlers) suggest cycles of growth;[1] in Ireland they are sacred to the goddess Flidais, while in Scotland they are guarded by the Cailleach.[2] Snakes were seen to be emblematic of long (possibly eternal) life, being able to shed their skin and renew themselves. Beavers were seen to be skillful workers in wood. Thus admiration and acknowledgment for a beast's essential nature led easily to reverence of those qualities and abilities which humans did not possess at all or possessed only partially.[2]
The Hunt
Hunting deities, whose role acknowledges the economic importance of animals and the ritual of the hunt, highlight a different relationship to nature. The animal elements in half-human, antlered deities suggest that the forest and its denizens possessed a numinous quality as well as an economic value.[1]
Hunter-gods were venerated among the Continental Celts, and they often seem to have had an ambivalent role as protector both of the hunter and the prey, not unlike the functions of
As with many traditional societies, the hunt was probably hedged about with prohibitions and rituals. The Greek author Arrian, writing in the 2nd century CE, said that the Celts never went hunting without the gods' blessing and that they made payment of domestic animals to the supernatural powers in reparation for their theft of wild creatures from the landscape. Hunting itself may have been perceived as a symbolic, as well as practical, activity in which the spilling of blood led not only to the death of the beast but also to the earth's nourishment and replenishment.[3]: 30
Citations
- ^ ISBN 1-84022-500-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-05030-8.
- ^ ISBN 0-500-28571-3.
- S2CID 162549147.
- ISBN 0-913666-52-1.
- ^ Beck, Noémie (2021). "The River-Goddess in Celtic Traditions: Mother, Healer and Wisdom Purveyor". HAL.
- ^ Mulvihill, Conor (2016-03-29). "How Nature Shaped Celtic Culture in Ireland". Green News Ireland. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
- ^ ISBN 0-85335-162-7.
- ISBN 0-85335-161-9.
- ^ ISBN 0-500-27039-2.