Celtic religion

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As Celtic religion is from the Celtic studies the sum of the institutions, rites or ceremonies referred to certain, the gods or the deceased dedicated events which at the Celts before Christianity existed. The entirety of the religious and mythical stories of the Celts, however, is summarized in the article Celtic mythology . Since the peoples covered by the term Celts did not develop a uniform culture and politics, neither religion nor mythology of the Celts are a closed unit.

The religious practice of the Celts encompasses the holy place, the holy time, the cultic and magical activities - sacrifice, prayer and mantic (prophecy) - the head cult , dying and remembering the dead, the cult personnel and the ideas on which these customs are based. It is documented somewhat better by reports from ancient authors and, above all, by the large number of archaeological finds than the Celtic world of gods and Celtic mythology. However, since beliefs and the associated rituals can only be determined uncertainly or not at all from found objects and texts written much later, the Celtic religion can also only be partially reconstructed.

Map of Europe with areas marked in green
Distribution of the Celts (dark - early distribution [500 BC], light - maximum expansion [300 BC])

Basics and source search

“Where there are no explicit descriptions of the religious system and its beliefs, or where this system does not manifest itself in literary evidence (as in the Greco-Roman or North Germanic tradition), it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find out from the external manifestations Places of worship, altars, offerings, votive offerings, statues of gods and names of gods - which in turn first need to be interpreted in order to draw conclusions about the essential content and the inner context of the system. "

- Wolfgang Meid

Since there are no written records from early Celtic history, knowledge of the religion of these peoples is limited to the medieval records of island Celtic myths and legends , to reports by ancient Greek and Roman authors, and to the conclusions that can be drawn from archaeological finds. One of the reasons for this “refusal to write” on the part of the cult personnel is seen in the stipulation that the teaching, especially of mythical knowledge, was only allowed to be passed on orally from the teacher to his adepts . This was not so strictly observed by the profane population (see also Ogham script ).

Regarding the island Celtic traditions (traditions) it should be taken into account that they were written much later and under the influence of the Christianization that had already taken place - the authors were predominantly Christian monks. The ancient authors often used the common prejudices of their time against the barbarian peoples and thus came to a distorted picture of the Celtic religion. Often corrective are the results of archeology, which, according to the artefacts, are able to give a more sober picture of the Celtic culture.

Helmut Birkhan names the following sources for research into the Celtic religion, sorted according to their scientific reliability:

Holy place and cult image

Already in pre-Celtic times caves, crevices, bodies of water and other striking landscape points were preferred places of sacrifice. As finds show, these places were continuously used by the Celts, such as the Heidentor near Egesheim ( Tuttlingen district ). The site near La Tène , which gave its name to an important epoch of the Celtic era , is seen as a place of worship and sacrifice according to recent research, as is the Llyn Cerrig Bach lake on the British island of Anglesey for the period from the 2nd to the 1st century BC. In Lucanus there is a detailed description of a sacred grove near Massilia (Marseilles) with altars, roughly hewn images of gods and trees sprinkled with blood sacrifices. Modern research sees this as the classic literary cliché for the archaic character of Celtic customs.

In later times, many of the sacrificial sites were converted into structurally designed places of worship. The Celtic name for a demarcated sacral area, later for an architectural sanctuary, was probably related to nemeton , with the Greek νέμος (forest), the Latin nemus (wood) and the Old Saxon nimid . It was delimited in pre-Roman times by ramparts, ditches and palisade fences, which the ancient authors did not mention, but can be proven by excavating square entrenchments . It cannot be determined whether the Celtic cult area was seen as the place of residence of a god, as in the case of the Greek and Roman temples. That these were only places of sacrifice is more likely to be confirmed by archeology. A later use of Celtic sacred buildings as Christian churches is controversial and, according to the current state of knowledge, has little evidence.

The place of assembly of the Galatian tribes in Asia Minor , drunémeton (Δρυνέμετον), which cannot be precisely located , is also likely to have been a place of worship as it was looked after by druids .

The "Warrior of Hirschlanden", replica of the statue at the site

The cult portraits mentioned in the medieval stories tend to have no religious historical value, as they want to clarify the Christian ideas of a pagan religion that is fixated on idolatry . Archeology found sculptures from the late Hallstatt and early Latène periods , whose models came from the Mediterranean via the Etruscans . Examples are the so-called warrior von Hirschlanden and the prince vom Glauberg (both around 500 BC), although these are hardly sacral statues, but rather ancestral cult . The statue fragments from Entremont and Roquepertuse (see Celtic head cult ), Mšecké Žehrovice (Bohemia) and from the Viereckschanze near Fellbach-Schmiden also come from cult areas. The relief representations on the Gundestrup cauldron are also viewed as anthropomorphic (human-shaped) deities.

In Ireland hardly any cult images have been found that can be assigned with certainty to the pre-Christian period. The Sheela-na-Gig stone sculptures, female figures who aggressively flaunt their vulva , are interpreted as apotropaic (warding off demons and evil). Their occurrence is also only partially associated with the pre-Christian period, as their origins are assumed to be in the medieval French-Spanish border region.

The cauldron has an important role to play in cult and ceremonies (→ see main article Celtic cauldron cult ).

Holy time

According to Birkhan , two calendar and festival systems can be distinguished in the Celticum: a (possibly druidic) moon-sun calendar, which is evidenced by fragments from Gaul , and the more rural annual cycle, divided into the four great festivals Imbolg , Beltane , Lughnasadh and Samhain . Already in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (VI, 18) a peculiarity of the Celtic calendar system is pointed out:

“All Gauls boast of being descended from Dis Pater , […] Therefore, they determine all periods not according to the number of days, but the nights. They calculate the birthdays as well as the beginning of the months and years so that the day follows the night. "

This can still be recognized today by the Cymric word wythnos (week, actually eight nights) and the English fortnight (14 days, actually 14 nights). In modern terms Weih nights , Hallow een (= hallow even ) and Sun evening can also be seen that system.

Calendar of Coligny

A calendar find particularly fruitful for research was that of Coligny ( Département Ain ) in November 1897. Nine other fragments come from finds near Villards-d'Héria ( Département Jura ). However, the Coligny calendar does not name any religious festivals or names of gods; those suspected in some month names are rather doubtful.

In contrast to the lunar-solar calendar from Coligny, the Irish annual cycle with the four festivals mentioned above is based on the solar year. The beginning of the year and, at the same time, the beginning of the winter half-year is traditionally assumed to be Samhain (one and a half months after the autumn equinox ). It is followed by Imbolg (one and a half months after the winter solstice ), the beginning of spring, Beltane (one and a half months after the spring equinox ), the beginning of the summer half-year, and Lughnasadh (one and a half months after the summer solstice ), the beginning of autumn. This shows the direct reference to the rural annual cycle, which at the same time found fixed points of religious customs in these festivals and still finds today in an adapted form, adapted to Christianity.

At Samhain, the Síd (elf hills) were open and people could get in touch with the inhabitants of the Otherworld - a modern equivalent of this is found in the Halloween festival . Fertility rituals took place at Imbolg - the festival is still celebrated today as the day of St. Brigid (Lá ʼle Bríde) . At Beltane, the hearth fires were put out and then re-lit with steel and stone - there are similar fire ceremonies now too (see Easter fire ). At Lughnasadh, the god Lugh and his foster mother Tailtiu , who died that day, were commemorated and contact was made with beings from the Other World at the graves of the deceased - the Christians named the festival Lammas (Angloir).

"As you can see, the solstice days and equinoxes do not play a role here!"

- Helmut Birkhan : Kelten (1997), p. 790.

Cult acts

Prayers and magic spells

Due to the lack of reports from the pre-Christian era, no well-founded statement can be made about the wording of prayers and the posture taken. The old Irish (guidid) and Cymrian (gweddio) words for "pray" already come from the Christian context. The Gallic uediíumi (to be found in an inscription from Larzac uediíumi Maponom , "I ... (?) The Maponos ") is likely to be related to the Cymrian gŵydd ("present") or Irish fíad ("face"). The Irish adraid ("to worship") is already a loan word from the Latin adoro . The often attested posture with arms stretched to the sky does not necessarily have to be a prayer posture; it is reported, for example, by Amergin during his evocation against the Túatha Dé Danann and by the druids of the island of Anglesey when cursing the landing Romans. In mainland Celtic representations, the deity himself is often depicted in this pose (like the alleged " Cernunnos " from Valcamonica and a figure on the Gundestrup cauldron ).

To what extent the multiple spells are to be equated with prayers is disputed in professional circles. Examples of this are Amergin's saying above; also Fíth-fáth (Scottish Gaelic), féth-fíada (Irish, "magic mist "), a spell to transform (into animals) and to make invisible, finally Glám dícenn (Irish, "improvised scream"), anghlod ( Cymrian ) , ritual curse that harms spiritually and physically those against whom it is used.

Difficult to classify is geis , MZ gessi (or geasa ), Irish also airmert , airmit , from ar-bert , the "application", Kymrisch cynnedyf , one or more do's and don'ts for individuals, social groups and tribes, in contrast to the rational legal statute , similar to a taboo . Similar to a curse, a geis is often imposed by one person who knows magic on another, usually to their disadvantage.

The Gutuater's function, which was originally closely related to prayer, is explained in more detail in the section on Cult Personnel / Druids .

Mantic

The mantic (divination, interpretation of the future) was an essential element in all ancient religions. The attempt to find out the will of the gods for the future was the driving force behind it. Only Christianity, with its strict rejection of pagan customs, ended this. Since the medieval written records already adhered to it, the few corresponding passages are to be assessed from this point of view.

Victim review

Naturally, the sacrificial exhibition cannot be clearly separated from the sacrificial ceremonies based on archaeological finds of humans and animals, since it is practically impossible to prove mantic practices on the remains of bones. Here the ancient authors are almost the only source. Diodorus quotes a communication from Poseidonius:

“Then they consecrated a person and struck him down above the diaphragm with a stroke of the sword. From the manner in which the victim falls down, from the twitching of the limbs and from the rush of blood, they prophesy the future by relying on the ancient and proven observation of these signs. "

Pompeius Trogus and Marcus Iunianus Iustinus report in detail on the activity of the sacrificial showers, Tacitus writes of human sacrifices for the purpose of divination among the British Celts. Here, too, sacrifice shows on animals are hardly noted by the classical authors, since they, unlike those on humans, were too familiar from their own religious practice and therefore did not seem worth reporting. In the island Celtic legends, there is no direct reference to mantic victims.

Sign interpretation

The interpretation of signs, such as the prophecy from the flight of birds, astronomical observations and other extraordinary phenomena, is mentioned several times by the ancient authors. Especially the interpretation of the flight of birds in connection with the Celtic migration to the east and south (Pannonia, Balkans, Italy) is a custom that is mentioned again and again by Diodorus, Justinus and Titus Livius . Cicero reports about his client, the Galatian King Deiotaros , that he had done nothing without first having the birds observed and that he had broken off journeys that had already started if there were unfavorable signs. Strabon says that there was a famous raven oracle in a port on the Atlantic coast, and the pseudo-Plutarch also mentions ravens as an auspicious sign when Lugudunum ( Lyon ) was founded. The great knowledge of the Celtic Druids in astronomy is mentioned by all ancient authors, only for Ireland this does not seem to have been true. Polybios (5,78,1) reports about a lunar eclipse during the war between the kings Attalus I and Achaios , whereupon the Celtic mercenaries refused to march on.

Necromancy and Dream Interpretation

Necromancy (necromancy) and dream interpretation are attested in some references, for example with Nikandros von Kolophon on the Celtic custom of sleeping at graves and obtaining future interpretations from the deceased. In the island Celtic legends, resurrected heroes report, such as Fergus mac Róich in the Táin Bó Cuailnge (the "cattle robbery of Cooley "), or several heroes in Acallam na Senórach (the "tale of the ancients") - but this is not about Prophecies, but rather reports from mythical "contemporary witnesses" - about their experiences. A dream revelation is handed down by Justinus after Pompey Trogus: The Celtic prince Catumarandus broke off the siege of Massilia (Marseilles) because of a dream in which a goddess appeared to him and warned against continuing. In the Tecosca Cormaic ("The Teachings of Cormac") and in the Togail Bruidne Da Derga ("The Destruction of the Hall Da Dergas") the trauma oracle with the help of ritual food and the ensuing deep sleep has been handed down from the island celts. Also in the satire Breuddwyd Rhonabwy ("Rhonabwy's Dream") the hero is transferred while sleeping from a dirty inn to the royal court of Arthur , where he looks into the future.

The poets ( filid ) had to learn various fortune-telling practices during their training, including imbas forosna, teinm laída and díchetal do chennaib ("the comprehensive knowledge that illuminates", "opening through a song" and "improvised invocation") are to be brought into connection with dream interpretation. Imbas forosna , Kymrisch awenydd , is a prophecy through animal sacrifice, meat consumption and sleep. The teinm laída and the díchetal do chennaib are similar, but both without animal sacrifice.

Customs of the dead

The Celtic burial customs show a clear continuity in the use of existing necropolises ; sites of the Urnfield culture and the subsequent, older Hallstatt culture have continued to be used by the early Celtic representatives of the late Hallstatt culture without interruption. In the necropolis of Pîtres-La Remise ( Normandy ) this period extends from the late La Tène period to late antiquity, in the Belginum archeology park near Wederath in the Hunsrück from the 4th century BC. Until the end of the 4th century AD

Princely grave of Hochdorf as a reconstruction

The rites at burials are difficult to read from the archaeological finds. Smashed clay vessels (wine amphorae ), weapons and objects of daily life as grave goods, as well as indications of the conservation of the corpse (similar to the embalming of head trophies) indicate a ceremony at the burial. An obviously popular precious as an accompaniment was the fish sauce garum from the Celtiberian province Baetica , which is also in grave a superscript Trevererin ( "Lady of Goeblange - Nospelt ", Luxembourg ) was found. Caesar ( de bello Gallico VI, 19.4.) Reads about cremation and following into the dead:

“Compared to the Gauls way of life, the funerals are splendid and lavish. Everything that they believe was important to the living, they throw into the fire, even living beings, and not long ago servants and servants [...] were burned with them. "

This form of funeral burial with relatives following into death by fire is also described by Poseidonios and Diodorus of Sicily. According to archaeological finds, following into the dead sometimes also took place at earth burials.

In the island Celtic legend, funeral celebrations are also described, for example in the second branch of the Mabinogi , where in Branwen ferch Llŷr ("Branwen, the daughter of Llŷr") is told:

"They made a square grave for her [Branwen] and buried her there on the bank of the Alaw River ."

In terms of religious history, when quoting from the island's Celtic legends, it should be remembered that the authors suppressed pagan rites on the one hand and projected Christian customs back into the past on the other. According to a Central Irish text of the Táin Bó Cuailnge (“The Robbery of Cooley ”) the warrior Etarcomol is solemnly buried and a stone with Ogam script is placed on his grave . The often mentioned lamentations for the dead can be taken as certain, because they were condemned by church authorities up to modern times.

Victim

Acts of sacrifice, i.e. human, animal or material sacrifices, were an essential part of the cult activities. However, it is described very generally by the classical authors and the island Celtic medieval traditions hardly report about it. Depending on the occasion of the sacrificial ceremonies , a distinction should be made between supplication and thanksgiving offerings , atonement offerings , building offerings and the already mentioned following into the dead. Materially, the acts of sacrifice are to be differentiated according to the form of the offerings: people, animals or property.

Human sacrifice

The human sacrifices take in the ethnographic reports of the Greeks and Romans the most space one, but this is not proof of their disproportionate share of the victims as a whole, but only the interest of the authors of a barbaric practice reflects that they themselves were accustomed once. Comments on this can be found from Sopatros of Paphos (4th / 3rd century BC) to Poseidonios to Cicero and Caesar. Caesar writes about this in the Bellum Gallicum (VI, 16: 1-5):

"Wicker man", engraving (18th century)
The modern custom: Wicker man- "celebratory fire" near the Beskids (Jun. 2014)

“All the Gauls are highly religious, and because of this, people who suffer from serious illnesses or are in war and danger offer people as sacrifices or vow to do so, having the sacrifices made by druids [ ...] "

At this point he also mentions the custom of the wicker man , in which a huge statue plaited from rods (immani magnitudine simulacra) is filled with people and set on fire . This dubious report possibly goes back to a passage in Poseidonios, which is also quoted by Strabon (IV, 4,5) and Diodor (V, 32). In the Bernese Lucan Scholien , various sacrificial rites are described for the gods Teutates , Esus and Taranis . Sacrifice by sinking into a bog was apparently common both on the mainland and in the island Celtic area. Examples of this could be the Lindow man from England and the Old Croghan man from Ireland, both of which show clear signs of death, although here, too, a clear distinction between sacrifice and execution is difficult. The sacrifice of the king is discussed in the sacred kingship.

Animal sacrifice

Animal sacrifices are rarely mentioned for the above-mentioned reason, as they were a natural custom at that time, which the ancient authors therefore hardly seemed worth mentioning. The archaeological finds from the Latène period (5th – 1st century BC) are a more abundant source. The Celts mainly sacrificed domestic animals, especially cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs and horses. Many of them were ritually consumed after the sacrifice. A classification of which animals were sacrificed when, in which way and to whom is mostly based on speculation; certain changes can be determined both in the time horizon of the excavations and regionally. In the beginning, sheep and pigs, later sheep, cattle and dogs, were sacrificed in the sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde .

Material sacrifice

The sacrifices are again documented in more detail, the following paragraph can be found in Caesar ( de bello Gallico VI, 17.3-5.):

“When they have decided to fight, they usually vow to him [the god Mars ] the spoils of war. [...] With many tribes you can see mounds built from booty at consecrated sites [...] "

Golden Torques from Vix (Côte-d'Or)

In Suetonius is to read that Caesar had these victims accumulations specifically looting and thereby caused a glut of gold in Italy. Miniature sculptures of the sick body parts made of terracotta or wax were often sacrificed to the healing deities - a custom that is still to be found in Christian pilgrimage sites today. The offerings were mostly made unusable for profane use by smashing, breaking or bending. The fact that metal objects such as weapons (in La Tène, Llyn Cerrig Bach and from waters in southern Britain) as well as the often golden torques (neck rings) make up the majority of the artifacts found is due to the slower rotting compared to cloth, wax and Attributed to food. In his description of a sacrificial ceremony, Gregory von Tours mentions the latter as particularly frequent donations.

Head cult

The fascination with the skull of the Celts, also called skull cult or skull mysticism, can be traced back to religious motives on the one hand: the head stands as pars pro toto for the person who has been defeated or who is to be honored; therefore the storage in cult places such as Entremont or Roquepertuse . On the other hand, headhunting in battle is evidence of the warrior's fighting power, as Diodorus describes:

“They cut off the heads of fallen enemies and hang them by the necks of their horses; but they give the bloody weapons to their servants and let them be carried in as booty amid war cries and chants of triumph. "

The island Celtic myths treat this subject in detail and give the decapitation of the enemy and the preparation of his skull as a trophy wide space. Often only the brain is prepared and stored, as in the legend Cath Étair ("The Battle of Étar") about the head of Mes Gegra . The victorious hero Conall Cernach orders his charioteer:

“So take out the brain. Cut it up with your sword, then mix in lime and form a ball out of it. "

In all of these cases, an apotropaic act to avert disaster and banish the spirit of the dead is to be assumed as an additional intention of the keeper or donor.

The head of the Welsh King Bran the Blessed , who was killed and beheaded in Ireland after the Mabinogion , also serves a similar purpose: his companions bury him in the "White Mountain" (Gwynvryn) , probably the oldest part of the Tower of London , with the Looking east to protect Britain from enemies from the mainland.

Cult personnel

The idea of ​​a differentiated cult personnel among the Celts is well documented by ancient authors, but the archaeological finds are poorer and should be seen more as indirect evidence. This means that the large places of worship found must have required a corresponding cult personnel. Strabon names the three classes of cult officials:

“With all [Gauls] there are three estates that enjoy special prestige, the bards , the fathers and the druids . The bards are singers and poets, the fathers are priests and natural philosophers, and the druids are concerned with natural and moral philosophy. "

The three classes are called Latinized druides (druids), vātes (seers) and bardi (poets, bards). In pre-Christian Ireland the corresponding names are druïd , fáithi and baird , in Wales (Cymrian language) dryw or derwydd , dewin and bard or awenydd .

Druids

Diogenes Laertios (probably 3rd century AD) reports in his work About the life and teachings of famous philosophers ( ancient Greek : φιλοσόφων βίων καὶ δογμάτων συναγωγή) of the theory that philosophy began with the barbarians. He mentions the magicians of the Persians , the Chaldeans of the Babylonians and Assyrians , the gymnosophists of the Indians and the Druids of the Celts. According to Pseudo-Aristotle and Sotion of Alexandria , the druids and their function had been around since the 2nd century BC. Been known. Diodorus of Sicily calls them highly respected theologians and philosophers:

"It is the custom among them [the Celts] not to make a sacrifice without a philosopher, for it is said that one must offer thanksgiving to the gods with the help of persons who are knowledgeable of the divine nature and who speak the same language, as it were."

In four Gallic dedicatory inscriptions from Le Puy-en-Velay ( Haute-Loire department ), Autun and Mâcon (both Saône-et-Loire department ), the chief druid of Gaul bears the title Gutuater ("Father of the Call"). This name is derived from the Indo-European word root * ĝ h u- , gutu- , air. guth ("voice") and -ater , -athir ("father", from the Latin pater with Celtic p- loss). Its original task was probably the invocation of the God to be summoned to be sacrificed. Caesar ( de bello Gallico , VIII, 38.3.) Uses this name for the instigator of the war against the Romans in connection with his execution, possibly referring to his personal name.

In Irish legends, it is said that a warrior was only allowed to speak in the king's hall after the king had spoken before him and three druids had spoken before him. Sualtam , the father of Cú Chulainn , disregards this regulation ( geis ) in a very dangerous situation for Ulster to warn his compatriots and is to be executed immediately. While fleeing from it, he died in a fall.

The druids had their female counterparts in the druids, who have been attested to by tradition since Celtic antiquity and, especially in the Roman imperial period (under the names dryadae and druidas ), are known primarily as seers. Her main task must always have been the mantic. Prophecies of such druidesses for the Roman emperors Alexander Severus , Diocletian and Aurelian are handed down in the compilation Scriptores historiae Augustae , which was supposedly written by six otherwise unknown Roman authors.

Dads

The Vates (" seers ") are fortune tellers who, similar to the druids, had to undergo training with only oral transmission of traditional knowledge. Their tasks overlapped with those of the druids and bards, although according to ancient authors they held a middle position.

Filid

The Filid (“poets” or “bards”) are the third group of the cult personnel, with them, too, there is a division of tasks with the druids and fathers, especially after the removal of druidism by the Christian monks and priests. Like the druids or vates, they could recognize the future ruler through mantic, they possessed extensive knowledge, healing power and magical abilities, such as the power of curse (old Irish glám dícenn ). In the Irish legend Immacallam in dá Thuarad (“The Conversation of the Two Wise Men”), a competition between two filid before the king for the title of the highest poet of Ireland (ollam) is described. The book Auraicept na nÉces ("Guide for the learned poet") is a collection of rules for grammar and metrics that a fili had to master.

Sacred royalty

The Celtic society was strictly hierarchical. Hence, research assumes a religious basis for this system. According to some Celtologists, there was originally a priesthood, which was later divided into secular (king) and spiritual (druid) rulers. In Gaul during Caesar's time, the kingship of the Celtic tribes was largely replaced by the system of government of the Vergobret (elected incumbent), which is why the presumably original sacral kingship ( god-king ) has been handed down mainly in Irish sagas. Since this sacred kingship was the pivotal point of the social order of the tribe, the king was seen as his personification and a flaw in the administration of office or in his person was considered responsible for every calamity that affected his territory. That is why the “justice of the king” ( fír flathemon ) was indispensable. The sacred king received his legitimation in Ireland through a mythical prophecy of the filid , who prophesied him as the new ruler ( tarb-feis , the "bull sleep", the recognition of the new king through a dream in a trance .). Further characteristics were the cry of the stone of Fal (Lia Fáil) and the divergence of the two stones blocc and bluigne in Tara .

An essential point of his inauguration was the " holy wedding " ( Greek ιερός γάμος , Hieròs gámos ; Old Irish banais rígi ). This ceremony symbolized the inauguration of a king through his marriage to a mostly local goddess or to the personification of the country. In Tara, the feis temhra (“wedding feast of Tara”, from indogerm. * H 2 ṷes- “to be present, to sleep with”), also called banais rígi (“wedding feast of the king”), was celebrated in Tara . This could be a symbolic ceremony, the connection with the priestess of the country goddess, with a real queen, but supposedly also with a female animal; only then was the king recognized as such. Cormac mac Airt was chosen to be the High King through his association with Medb , who is seen here as the rulership of Ireland.

"Until Medb slept with him, Cormac was not King of Ireland."

Giraldus Cambrensis writes in 1185 in his Topographia Hibernica about a royal inauguration in Northern Ireland:

“There is a tribe that uses a barbaric and despicable rite to choose their king as follows: After the entire population of that region [North Ulster] has been gathered in one place, a white mare is led into the middle. In front of them the one who is to be raised less to a prince than to a cattle, less to a king than to an outlaw, steps forward in cattle-like fashion before all eyes and also shows himself immoral and senseless as a cattle. […] If all this has been fulfilled - according to the rite, not according to the law, then his kingship and his rule are secured. "

Giraldus, however, imagined the Irish at a very low level of civilization, a “people who live from animals and like animals” (gens ex bestiis solum et bestialiter vivens) , so that this description is seen today as an expression of his contempt for “barbarians” and is rather doubted. A reconstruction of the "Holy Wedding" from the surviving myths should be viewed with great caution in view of the mixing of pagan, Christian and classical traditions.

According to Jan de Vries , the violent killing of the sacred king at the end of his reign was an offering for the prosperity of the country. In Athenaios ( Deipnosophistai VI, 40), Polybius is quoted as reporting the ritual killing of a Celtic ruler whose throat is ceremonially cut at the end of a celebration.

Reception in Neopaganism

The incomplete sources of the Celtic religion favors a speculative and imaginative interpretation in Neopaganism (neo-paganism) and its versions of Celtic Neopaganism , Modern Druidism , the anti- patriarchal Wicca cult and others. Authors such as James Macpherson (“ Ossian ”), Iolo Morganwg (“Barddas”) and, more recently, Robert Graves (“The White Goddess”) or Ingeborg Clarus (“Celtic Myths”) have contributed to this through their works. A classification corresponding to the above-mentioned chapters can also be found in part in the neo-pagan theories.

Modern druids at Stonehenge

Sacred places In the
absence of spectacular Celtic sacred buildings that have been preserved, objects of the Neolithic megalithic culture are used as places for Neo-Pagan, especially Neo-Druid ceremonies ( dolmens , menhirs , stone circles such as Stonehenge or Avebury ) and natural monuments such as the Externsteine in the Teutoburg Forest .

Holy time
The esoteric system of the Celtic annual cycle , the Celtic tree horoscope and the tree calendar developed from the rudimentary documented four main festivals "Samhain", "Imbolg", "Beltane" and "Lughnasadh" as well as interpretations of the "Calendar of Coligny" .

Mantik
The " Coelbren " by Iolo Morganwg as well as the "Druid Tarot" serve among other practices of divination.

Sacrifice
In 1893 William Price from Llantrisant brought a new druid human sacrifice , who burned himself to death in druid costumes he had invented himself together with his little son Iesu Crist. In 1992 the Austrian new druid Stephan D., who belonged to a circle around the milker "Druiden Raborne", tried to sacrifice his 8-month-old son on a "sacrificial stone" in the Waldviertel ( Lower Austria ) by stabbing him (daily newspaper Kurier from November 11, 1992).

Pictures of William Price in his “druid robe” as well as the “sacrificial stone” from the Waldviertel and the local judicial inspection at that time can be seen in the work “Celts - Images of their Culture” .

Cult staff
The Druids are neopaganen Neudruidentum an important factor as the carrier of Zeremoniales and divination. The International Grand Lodge of Druidism takes a different approach , which has nothing to do with the religious duties of the Celtic druids.

See also

Portal: Mythology  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the topic of mythology

literature

Web links

Commons : Celtic Religion  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
  • Helmut Birkhan: Celtic religion . In: Johann Figl (Hrsg.): Handbuch Religionswissenschaft: Religions and their central themes . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, ISBN 3-7022-2508-0 , p. 222 ff . (880 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Ludwig Pauli: Sources on the Celtic religious history . In: Germanische Religionsgeschichte: Sources and source problems (=  supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 5 ). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-11-012872-1 , p. 118 ff . (751 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . Pp. 245 f., 274 f.
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 751.
  3. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 108 ff.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Meid: Celtic religion in the testimony of language. P. 20.
  5. ^ A b Joseph F. Nagy: Celtic Religion. History of Study. P. 1479 ff.
  6. ↑ a b Ray Dunning: The Celts. P. 77.
  7. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 431 f.
  8. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celtic religion. P. 223 f.
  9. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 778 f.
  10. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 145 ff.
  11. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 113 f.
  12. ↑ Marcus Annaeus Lucanus: Pharsalia (bellum civile) , III, 399-413: Lucus erat longo numquam violatus ab aevo, obscurum cingens conexis aera ramis et gelidas old summotis solibus umbras. Hunc non ruriculae Panes nemorumque potentes Silvani Nymphaeque tenet, sed barbara ritu sacra deum; structae diris altaribus arae, omnisque humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor.
  13. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 311.
  14. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 146 f.
  15. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . Pp. 136 f., 248.
  16. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 149 f.
  17. ^ Gaius Iulius Caesar: Commentarii de Bello Gallico VI, 18, 1 f .: "Galli se omnes ab Dite patre prognatos praedicant [...] Ob eam causam spatia omnis temporis non numero dierum, sed noctium finiunt; dies natales et mensum et annorum initia sic observant, ut noctem dies subsequatur. "
  18. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 787 ff.
  19. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . P. 60 f.
  20. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 117 f.
  21. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 124.
  22. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 946 f.
  23. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 144.
  24. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 139.
  25. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 124 ff.
  26. ↑ Diodorus of Sicily: Bibliothéke historiké ( Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική ) 5,31,3.
  27. ↑ Tacitus: Annales , 14.30: Nam cruore captivo adolere aras et hominum fibris consulere deos fas habebant.
  28. ↑ Cicero: De divinatione , 1,15,26: Qui nihil umquam nisi auspicato gerit ...
  29. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 722 f.
  30. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . P. 127.
  31. ↑ Justin : Epitome 43,5,5-7.
  32. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 176 f.
  33. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 931 f.
  34. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 132 f.
  35. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 170, 856.
  36. ↑ Caesar, bG VI, 19.4: Funera sunt pro cultu Gallorum magnifica et sumptuosa; omniaque quaeque vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur in ignem inferunt, etiam animalia, ac paulo supra hanc memoriam servi et clientes, […] una cremabantur.
  37. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. The four branches of the Mabinogi . Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
  38. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 121 f.
  39. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 796 ff.
  40. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 105 f., 906.
  41. ↑ Caesar, BG VI, 16,1–5: “Natio est omnis Gallorum admodum dedita religionibus, atque ob eam causam, qui sunt adfecti gravioribus morbis quique in proeliis periculisque versantur, aut pro victimis homines immolant aut se immolaturos vovent, administrisque ad ea sacrificia druidibus utuntur ... "
  42. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 6 f., 800.
  43. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 110 f.
  44. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 865 f., 863 f.
  45. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 112 f.
  46. ↑ Caesar, bG VI, 17.3–5: "Huic, cum proelio dimicare constituerunt, ea quae bello ceperint, plerumque devovent [...] Multis in civitatibus harum rerum extructos tumulos locis consecratis conspicari licet ..."
  47. ↑ Suetonius: Divus Iulius , 54.2 .: In Gallia fana templaque deum donis referta expilauit, urbes diruit saepius ob praedam quam ob delictum; unde factum, ut auro abundaret ternisque milibus nummum in libras promercale per Italiam prouincurasque diuerunt.
  48. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 907
  49. ^ AP Fitzpatrick: The deposition of Iron Age metalwork in watery contexts in Southern England. In Barry Cunliffe , D. Miles (Ed.): Aspects of the Iron Age in central southern Britain. Oxford University Committee for Archeology, Institute of Archeology, Oxford 1984, p. 178 f.
  50. ^ Gregory of Tours: In gloriam confessorum 2 , p. 179.
  51. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 817 ff.
  52. ^ Diodorus of Sicily: Bibliothéke historiké 5,29.
  53. ↑ Rudolf Thurneysen : The Irish hero and king saga. Verlag Georg Olms, Hildesheim 1980, p. 77. f
  54. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 820 f.
  55. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 153 ff.
  56. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 896 ff.
  57. ↑ Strabo: Geôgraphiká (Γεωγραφικά) 4,4,4.
  58. ↑ Diodorus of Sicily: Bibliothéke historiké 5,31,4f.
  59. ↑ CIL XIII, 1577 adlector?] Ferrariar (um) gutuater praefectus colon (iae) [3] / [3] qui antequam hic quiesco liberos meos [3] / [3] utrosq (ue) vidi Nonn (ium) Ferocem flam ( inem) IIvirum to [
  60. ↑ CIL XIII, 11225 ] Aug (usto) sa [cr (um)] / deo An / vallo Nor / baneius / Thallus / Gutuater / v (otum) s (olvit) l (ibens) m (erito)
  61. ↑ CIL XIII, 11226 ] Aug (usto) sacr (um) / deo Anvallo / C (aius) Secund (us) Vi / talis Appa / Gutuater / d (edit?) / S (ua) p (ecunia) ex voto
  62. ↑ CIL XIII, 2585 C (ai) Sulp (ici) M (arci) fil (ii) Galli omnibus / honoribus apud suos func (ti) / IIvir (i) q (uinquennalis) flaminis Aug (usti) P [3] OGEN (?) / dei Moltini Gutuatri (?) Mart [is] / Ul (toris?) cui ordo quod esset civ [is] / optimus et innocentissimus / statuas publ (icas) ponendas decrev (it)
  63. ↑ Wolfgang Meid : Celtic religion in the testimony of language . P. 24 f.
  64. ↑ Caesar, bG VIII, 38,3: [Caesar] princepem sceleris illias et concitatorem belli gutuatrum ad supplicium depoposcit.
  65. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods - myths - worldview. P. 160.
  66. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 873.
  67. ^ 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. 155.
  68. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. , P. 896 f.
  69. ↑ Hans Peter Schneider: About the "Historia Augusta". GRIN-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-638-84282-2 , limited preview in the Google book search
  70. ↑ Julio Caro Baroja: The witches and their world. Verlag Ernst Klett, 1967; in the biographies cited: Historiae Augustae (ascribed to Aelius Lampridus or Flavius ​​Vopiscus).
  71. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . P. 158 f.
  72. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. , P. 907 f.
  73. ^ Karl Eckermann: Textbook of the history of religion and mythology of the most excellent peoples of antiquity. CA Schwetschke und Sohn, 1848, p. 104, limited preview in the Google book search
  74. ↑ a b Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 165 ff.
  75. ^ A b Joseph F. Nagy: Celtic Religion. History of Study. P. 1491 ff.
  76. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 309.
  77. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 882 f.
  78. ↑ Wolfgang Meid : Celtic religion in the testimony of language . P. 37.
  79. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture. P. 163 f, 195.
  80. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 531.
  81. ↑ Giraldus Cambrensis: Topographia Hibernica 3.25: “[…] gens quaedam, quae barbaro nimis et abonimabili ritu sic sibi regem creare solet. Collecto in unum universo terrae illius populo in medium producitur iumentum candidum. Ad quo sublimandus illege non in principem sed in beluam, non in regem sed exlegem, coram omnibus bestialiter accedens, non minus impudenter quam imprudenter se quoque bestiam profitetur. [...] Quibus ita rite, non recte completis, regnum illius et dominum est confirmatum. "
  82. ↑ Jan de Vries: Celtic religion. Stuttgart 1961, p. 245 ff.
  83. ↑ a b Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 13 f.
  84. ↑ On the problem of the tree circle see Helmut Birkhan: Observations on the mystical image of the Celts, especially in Austria. Presentation at the Celtic Conference in Hallein 2010, p. 7 f.
  85. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Images of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-7001-2814-2 , p. 392 f, images 764, 768, 769.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on January 6, 2012 in this version .