Celtic otherworld

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The other world , even the other world , other world , another country is, in the Celtic mythology of existent on another level Location of different mystical creatures and mythical people. The Otherworld is located right next to the familiar world of humans in hills, on islands and at the bottom of lakes and the sea. Access, e.g. B. through cave entrances is only possible for normal mortals under certain conditions - with or without the consent of the Otherworld residents.

The name

The Latin term for another world is orbis alius . It is used by the Roman poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39-65) in his epic De bello civili to paraphrase the doctrine of the Druids of the transmigration of souls, also reported by Caesar :

"[...] Vobis auctoribus umbrae non tacitas Erebi sedes Ditisque profundi pallida regna petunt: regit idem spiritus artus orbe alio ."

"According to your testimony, the shadows do not go to the silent abode of Erebus and to the pale realm of Dis : the same breath rules the members in another world ."

The medieval Celtic literature of the monks in the British Isles gives the term "otherworldly" the meaning.

Otherworld and other ideas of the hereafter

This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

An essential difference between the Celtic Otherworld and the mythological conceptions of the afterlife that surround it in time and space is that it can not only be entered and left by the "gods" and their "helpers", but that this is also possible for people - be it in the course of their life in this world or afterwards.

In the Germanic ( Valhalla ), Greco-Roman ( Elysion and underworld ), Christian ( heaven and hell ) and other time- or place-related ideas of the afterlife, the dead are held there forever. However, rare visits by the living ( Odysseus , Orpheus ) are mentioned.

On the other hand, the Celtic conception of a realm of the dead accessible to everyone after death or even assigned forever is just as foreign as the idea of ​​a reward or punishment in the hereafter. It was believed that transitions into other forms of existence within the world of this world, subject to certain cycles and sequences, were the rule, whereby trees and other plants also played an important role.

The mention of the other world in Celtic myths is much more frequent and more important than in the mythologies of neighboring cultures. Here a lively contact between everything earthly and the mythical is emphasized. In Celtic there is hardly the usual separation between humans, heroes, ancestors and gods and also not between this and the other world.

According to Celtic ideas, there are not only threshold locations where a transition or a connection between the worlds is possible. In addition, they come particularly close to each other at certain threshold times at cyclical intervals, which brings with it both opportunities and dangers. The most important of the year marked the Celtic high festivals such as Samhain . On the one hand one could unintentionally get into the otherworld, on the other hand inhabitants of the otherworld ( fairies , elves , goblins , revenants etc.) appear in this world and cause damage or bring blessings.

The ancient notion of the Otherworld is presumably incorporated into the concept of the Other World of European fairy tales through the Celtic legends and stories, handed down through the Middle Ages . Up to our time, the idea of ​​the afterlife has remained a motif especially in folk tales (e.g. Frau Holle , the mountain of glass in the " Seven Ravens " [see below at Caer Loyw ], and much more).

Localizations

In island Celtic traditions, islands that are actually present, easily visible from the land and easily accessible from the land are sometimes viewed as the Other World. The island of Avalon ( kymr . Ynys Avallach , from the Latin insula avallonis ) is seen in the offshore island of Bardsey Island (Ynys Enlli in Cardigan Bay ) to the west of the headland of Pwllheli . The name is derived from abalos (apple), which means "apple island" - a cover word for the other world.

In the Cymric (Welsh) poem Preiddeu Annwfn ("The Robbery of Annwfn") the Otherworld is equated with the Isle of Wight or with Lundy Island (about 30 km off the coast of Devonshire ). However, this attempt at localization is rejected by some Celtologists . In the epic mentioned, a specifically described war trip is interpreted as a journey to the Other World.

In the British Arthurian legend this other land is called Gorre , from which Lancelot brings back Queen Guinevere, who had been kidnapped there . Gorre is identified with Glastonbury Tor Hill in Somerset .

The druid Manannán Mac Alloit, a member of Túatha Dé Danann ("Children of the Eagle Goddess"), lives in the Irish story Tochmarc Luaine ocus aided Athirni ("The advertisement for Luaine and Athirne's death") on the "Apple Island" Emain Ablach . Emain Ablach is an island, far away in the western ocean, but it is not associated with any real place (see also Immram Brain , "Bran's Seafaring").

Prokopios of Caesarea († 562 AD) reports of a tribe on the coast of Gaul , whose task it is said to have been to bring the souls of the dead to the island of the dead. This place is given across the English Channel in Northern Britain.

“On the coast opposite Britain there are a large number of villages whose inhabitants make their living from fishing, agriculture, and shipping to Britain. […] Do not pay any tribute, they claim that the same is remitted to them, in view of a service that I describe below. For those people claim to have to take care of the passage of the souls one after the other. […] In an hour they row over to Britain, while in their own ships they barely get over in one night and one day. "

In the immediately preceding section, Prokopios refers to a place north of Hadrian's Wall .

More places in the otherworld

  • Andomhain (ir.), Annwn (kymr., Also Annwf [y] m or Annwvyn ), "Un-deep", name of an empire within the earth or below the sea, ruled by Arawn and Hafgan . From there the pigs come from the otherworld to the earthly world.
  • Brí Léith (ir.), "Hill of horror", near Ardagh, County Longford , residence of Midir , the prince of the elves and ruler of an afterlife.
  • Bruig Maic ind Óic (ir.), "Residence of Aengus mac Óc" in New Grange , County Meath .
  • Caer Loyw ("Glossy castle", "Glass Castle"), Gloucester , a witch's residence in the underworld, in whose dungeon Mabon has to endure terrible torments.
  • Crúachain (ir.), Crevices in the earth near Rathcroghan , County Roscommon , from which the beings of the Otherworld emerge at Samuin. The entrances and exits are the hill Relignaree and the crevices Uaigh na gCat ("Cave of Cats" - cats are also underworld animals !). In this cave in Connacht , Nera, a Medb servant, learns ofthe impending doom of their empire (see Echtrae Nerai and Fled Bricrenn ).
  • Hy Breasil , the "land of Bresal", the "best of all places", a distant, paradisiacal land on the other side of the sea, dominated by Bresal Etarlam. In Lebor Gabala Eirenn it is called the "island of the hereafter".
  • Insula vitrea (lat.), Ynys wydrin (kymr.), "Glass island" in the Arthurian legend .
  • Lochlann (ir.), Llychlynn (kymr.), "Lake country", originally mythical underwater world and home of the Formori .
  • Mag Mell (ir.), "Plane of Joy", distant, paradisiacal land beyond the sea, ruled by Manannan , the god of the sea and guide into the hereafter. For another version, see the next chapter under Goll mac Duilb .
  • Mag Mór (ir.), "Great Plain", name of the mystical Ireland, ruled by Midir. Also a real level in Ireland.
  • Síd al Femen (ir.), "Elven hill beyond Femen", near Slievenamon , County Tipperary , residence of Bodb Derg .
  • Tír na nÓg (ir.), Otherworld place where the hero Oisín liveswith his wife Niamh and where Oscar is conceived.
  • Tír Tairngiri (ir.), "Land of Promise", a paradisiacal world beyond the homes of the people. Although the myth could have pre-Christian origins, the name is a literal translation of the church Latin terra repromissionis , which means either Israel or the Christian " Garden of Eden ".

Further attempts at localization can also be found in the following chapter "Celtic death deities".

The supposedly Old Celtic term Flathinnis (for Elysion ) was actually a construct of the 18th century and does not appear in the ancient traditions.

Celtic death deities

Three gods of death in particular were already regarded as rulers of the Otherworld in Celtic Ireland: Donn , Goll mac Duilb and Tigernmas .

After the defeat of the Túatha Dé Danann against the Milesians (the "sons of Míl ", the last and probably Celtic wave of immigration to Ireland) they withdrew to the Elven Hills ( Irish sídhe ). Donn , a son of Dagda or Mìl, lives in the "Mountain of the Dead" Cnoc Fírinne ( County Limerick ) according to New Irish legends . According to a more traditional tradition, his seat is on Tech nDuinn ("House of Donn", one of the island Dursey offshore smaller island in County Cork ).

The one-eyed Goll mac Duilb (one-eyed stigma of evil, but also of magic) is King of Mag Mell (“Land of Joy”) in the legend of the “Adventure of Laeghaire Mac Crimhthainn” , again one of the many aliases for the other World. Here, as in Lancelot's adventure, the myth of the woman stolen from the otherworld and brought back is told.

Tigernmas ("the lordly") is a descendant of the Míl, according to another tradition a member of the Fomori . As king he introduced mining (“ chthonic deity ”) in Ireland and is therefore considered the god of death and wealth, comparable to the Greek Hades or the Roman Pluto . His own day of death is Samhain , the eve of November 1st.

At Samuin, the gates to the underworld in the fairy hills open. The god of death and guardian of the underworld sun , Cromm Cruach , awaits the sacrifice of the firstborn of animals and even humans. On this day, the "underground", the otherworld residents, visit the people and they in turn can also penetrate the fairy hills.

Caesar reports from Gaul that all Gauls claim to be descended from the father and death god Dispater ("rich father"). The reason for the amalgamation of the father and death gods is to be sought in the Druidic doctrine of the migration of souls, where death is at the same time the beginning of a new life. Dispater is sometimes equated with Taranis or Teutates .

The Dagda is also very often seen in this double function.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ C. Iulius Caesar, De Bello Gallico , VI / 14
  2. ^ M. Annaeus Lucanus, De bello civili , I / 455 ff.
  3. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 838 f.
  4. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 489 f.
  5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 523.
  6. ↑ P. Sims-Williams: Some Celtic Otherworld Terms. In: Celtic Language 1990, pp. 68 f.
  7. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 556 f.
  8. ↑ a b c Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 560 f.
  9. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 681.
  10. ^ Prokopios of Caesarea: De bello gothico. Edited and supplemented by A. Heine and A. Schaefer, Essen, Chapter IV, 20, p. 227 after the translation by D. Costa
  11. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 843.
  12. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 739.
  13. ↑ a b Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 86 f.
  14. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 295.
  15. ↑ Lebor Gabála Érenn , German "Book of the Takeovers of Ireland", "Book of the Lands"; Irish Leabhar Gabhála Éireann .
  16. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 314.
  17. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 91.
  18. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 549 f.