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The Religion of the Ancient Celts
By J. A. MacCulloch
PREFACE
I. INTRODUCTORY
II. THE CELTIC PEOPLE
III. THE GODS OF GAUL AND THE
CONTINENTAL CELTS
IV. THE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE
V. THE TUATHA DÉ DANANN
VI. THE GODS OF THE BRYTHONS
VII. THE CÚCHULAINN CYCLE
VIII. THE FIONN SAGA
IX. GODS AND MEN
X. THE CULT OF THE DEAD
XI. PRIMITIVE NATURE WORSHIP
XII. RIVER AND WELL WORSHIP
XIII. TREE AND PLANT WORSHIP
XIV. ANIMAL WORSHIP
XV. COSMOGONY
XVI. SACRIFICE, PRAYER, AND
DIVINATION
XVII. TABU
XVIII. FESTIVALS
XIX. ACCESSORIES OF CULT
XX. THE DRUIDS
XXI. MAGIC
XXII. THE STATE OF THE DEAD
XXIII. REBIRTH AND
TRANSMIGRATION
XXIV. ELYSIUM
PREFACE
The scientific study of ancient Celtic religion is a thing of recent growth. As a result of the paucity of materials for such a study, earlier writers indulged in the wildest speculative flights and connected the religion with the distant East, or saw in it the remains of a monotheistic faith or a series of esoteric doctrines veiled under polytheistic cults. With the works of MM. Gaidoz, Bertrand, and D'Arbois de Jubainville in France, as well as by the publication of Irish texts by such scholars as Drs. Windisch and Stokes, a new era may be said to have dawned, and a flood of light was poured upon the scanty remains of Celtic religion. In this country the place of honour among students of that religion belongs to Sir John Rh[^y]s, whose Hibbert Lectures On the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom (1886) was an epoch-making work. Every student of the subject since that time feels the immense debt which he owes to the indefatigable researches and the brilliant suggestions of Sir John Rh[^y]s, and I would be ungrateful if I did not record my indebtedness to him. In his Hibbert Lectures, and in his later masterly work on The Arthurian Legend, however, he took the standpoint of the "mythological" school, and tended to see in the old stories myths of the sun and dawn and the darkness, and in the divinities sun-gods and dawn-goddesses and a host of dark personages of supernatural character. The present writer, studying the subject rather from an anthropological point of view and in the light of modern folk survivals, has found himself in disagreement with Sir John Rh[^y]s on more than one occasion. But he is convinced that Sir John would be the last person to resent this, and that, in spite of his mythological interpretations, his Hibbert Lectures must remain as a source of inspiration to all Celtic students. More recently the studies of M. Salomon Reinach and of M. Dottin, and the valuable little book on Celtic Religion, by Professor Anwyl, have broken fresh ground.1
In this book I have made use of all the available sources, and have endeavoured to study the subject from the comparative point of view and in the light of the anthropological method. I have also interpreted the earlier cults by means of recent folk-survivals over the Celtic area wherever it has seemed legitimate to do so. The results are summarised in the introductory chapter of the work, and students of religion, and especially of Celtic religion, must judge how far they form a true interpretation of the earlier faith of our Celtic forefathers, much of which resembles primitive religion and folk-belief everywhere.
Unfortunately no Celt left an account of his own religion, and we are left to our own interpretations, more or less valid, of the existing materials, and to the light shed on them by the comparative study of religions. As this book was written during a long residence in the Isle of Skye, where the old language of the people still survives, and where the genius loci speaks everywhere of things remote and strange, it may have been easier to attempt to realise the ancient religion there than in a busier or more prosaic place. Yet at every point I have felt how much would have been gained could an old Celt or Druid have revisited his former haunts, and permitted me to question him on a hundred matters which must remain obscure. But this, alas, might not be!
I have to thank Miss Turner and Miss Annie Gilchrist for valuable help rendered in the work of research, and the London Library for obtaining for me several works not already in its possession. Its stores are an invaluable aid to all students working at a distance from libraries.
J.A. MACCULLOCH.
THE RECTORY,
BRIDGE OF ALLAN,
October 1911.
Footnote 1:(return)See also my article "Celts" in Hastings' Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iii.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES THROUGHOUT THIS WORK
(This list is not a Bibliography.)
BRAND: Rev. J. Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. 3 vols. 1870.
BLANCHET: A. Blanchet, Traité des monnaies gauloises. 2 vols. Paris, 1905.
BERTRAND: A. Bertrand, Religion des gaulois. Paris, 1897.
CAMPBELL, WHT: J.F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands. 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1890.
CAMPBELL LF: J.F. Campbell, Leabhar na Feinne. London, 1872.
CAMPBELL, Superstitions: J.G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. 1900.
CAMPBELL, Witchcraft: J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. 1902.
CORMAC: Cormac's Glossary. Tr. by J. O'Donovan. Ed. by W. Stokes. Calcutta, 1868.
COURCELLE—SENEUIL.: J.L. Courcelle-Seneuil, Les dieux gaulois d'après les monuments figurés. Paris, 1910.
CIL: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Berlin, 1863 f.
CM: Celtic Magazine. Inverness, 1875 f.
CURTIN, HTI: J. Curtin, Hero Tales of Ireland. 1894.
CURTIN, Tales: J. Curtin, Tales of the Fairies and Ghost World. 1895.
DALZELL: Sir J.G. Dalzell, Darker Superstitions of Scotland. 1835.
D'ARBOIS: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Cours de litterature celtique. 12 vols. Paris, 1883-1902.
D'ARBOIS Les Celtes: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Celtes. Paris, 1904.
D'ARBOIS Les Druides: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Druides et les dieux celtiques à formes d'animaux. Paris, 1906.
D'ARBOIS PH: H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les premiers habitants de l'Europe. 2 vols. Paris, 1889-1894.
DOM MARTIN: Dom Martin, Le religion des gaulois. 2 vols. Paris, 1727.
DOTTIN: G. Dottin, Manuel pour servir a l'étude de l'antiquité celtique. Paris, 1906.
ELTON: C.I. Elton, Origins of English History. London, 1890.
FRAZER, GB2: J.G. Frazer, Golden Bough2. 3 vols. 1900,
GUEST: Lady Guest, The Mabinogion. 3 vols. Liandovery, 1849.
HAZLITT: W.C. Hazlitt, Faiths and Folk-lore: A Dictionary of National Beliefs, Superstitions, and Popular Customs. 2 vols. 1905.
HOLDER: A. Holder, Altceltischer Sprachschatz. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1891 f.
HULL: Miss E. Hull, The Cuchullin Saga. London, 1898.
IT: See Windisch-Stokes.
JAI: Journal of the Anthropological Institute. London, 1871 f.
JOYCE, OCR: P.W. Joyce, Old Celtic Romances2. London, 1894.
JOYCE, PN: P.W. Joyce, History of Irish Names of Places4. 2 vols. London, 1901.
JOYCE, SH: P.W. Joyce, Social History of Ancient Ireland. 2 vols. London, 1903.
JULLIAN: C. Jullian, Recherches sur la religion gauloise. Bordeaux, 1903.
KEATING: Keating, History of Ireland. Tr. O'Mahony. London, 1866.
KENNEDY: P. Kennedy, Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts. 1866.
LARMINIE: W. Larminie, West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances. 1893.
LEAHY: Leahy, Heroic Romances of Ireland. 2 vols. London, 1905.
LE BRAZ: A. Le Braz, La Legende de la Mort chez les Bretons armoricains. 2 vols. Paris, 1902.
LL: Leabhar Laignech (Book of Leinster), facsimile reprint. London, 1880.
LOTH: Loth, Le Mabinogion. 2 vols. Paris, 1889.
LU: Leabhar na h-Uidhre (Book of the Dun Cow), facsimile reprint. London, 1870.
MACBAIN: A. MacBain, Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language. Inverness, 1896.
MACDOUGALL: Macdougall, Folk and Hero Tales. London, 1891.
MACKINLAY: J.M. Mackinlay, Folk-lore of Scottish Lochs and Springs. Glasgow, 1893.
MARTIN: M. Martin, Description of the Western Islands of Scotland2. London, 1716.
MAURY: A. Maury, Croyances et legendes du Moyen Age. Paris, 1896.
MONNIER: D. Monnier, Traditions populaires comparées. Paris, 1854.
MOORE: A.W. Moore, Folk-lore of the Isle of Man. 1891.
NUTT-MEYER: A. Nutt and K. Meyer, The Voyage of Bran. 2 vols. London, 1895-1897.
O'CURRY MC: E. O'Curry, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish. 4 vols. London, 1873.
O'CURRY MS. Mat: E. O'Curry, MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History. Dublin, 1861.
O'GRADY: S.H. O'Grady, Silva Gadelica. 2 vols. 1892.
REES: Rev. W.J. Rees, Lives of Cambro-British Saints. Llandovery, 1853.
REINACH, BF: S. Reinach, Bronzes Figurés de la Gaule romaine. Paris, 1900.
REINACH, BF Catal. Sommaire: S. Reinach, Catalogue Commaire du Musée des Antinquitée Nationales4. Paris.
REINACH, BF CMR: S. Reinach, Cultes, Mythes, et Religions. 2 vols. Paris, 1905.
RC: Revue Celtique. Paris, 1870 f.
RENEL: C. Renel, Religions de la Gaule. Paris 1906.
RH[^Y]S, AL: Sir John Rh[^y]s, The Arthurian Legend. Oxford, 1891.
RH[^Y]S, CB4: Sir John Rh[^y]s, Celtic Britain4. London, 1908.
RH[^Y]S, CFL: Sir John Rh[^y]s, Celtic Folk-Lore. 2 vols. Oxford, 1901.
RH[^Y]S, HL: Sir John Rh[^y]s, Hibbert Lectures on Celtic Heathendom. London, 1888.
SÉBILLOT: P. Sebillot, La Folk-lore de la France. 4 vols. Paris, 1904 f.
SKENE: W.F. Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales. 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1868.
STOKES, TIG: Whitley Stokes, Three Irish Glossaries. London, 1862.
STOKES, Trip. Life: Whitley Stokes, The Tripartite Life of Patrick. London 1887.
STOKES, US: Whitley Stokes, Urkeltischer Sprachschatz. Göttingen, 1894 (in Fick's Vergleichende Wörterbuch4).
TAYLOR: I. Taylor, Origin of the Aryans. London, n.d.
TSC: Transactions of Society of Cymmrodor.
TOS: Transactions of the Ossianic Society. Dublin 1854-1861.
Trip. Life: See Stokes.
WILDE: Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends and Superstitions of Ireland. 2 vols. 1887.
WINDISCH, Táin: E. Windisch, Die altirische Heldensage Táin Bó Cúalgne. Leipzig, 1905.
WINDISCH-STOKES, IT: E. Windisch and W. Stokes, Irische Texte. Leipzig, 1880 f.
WOOD-MARTIN: Wood-Martin, Elder Faiths of Ireland. 2 vols. London, 1903.
ZCP: Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie. Halle, 1897 f.
