The Religion of the Ancient Celts

Description

First published in Great Britain by T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street, Edinburgh 1911. This edition first published by Constable and Company Limited 1991. Paperback edition 1992. This classic study (first published in 1911) and long out of print is now reissued as part of a series of books of Celtic interest. The records of the ancient Celtic religion are scanty: from the Irish Celts there is some written material found mainly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; from Wales there is the classic document 'Mabinogion'. Valuable hints are supplied hy early classical documents but more important are the existing folk customs which preserve so much of the old cults. Celtic burial mounds yield their testimony to ancient beliefs and customs: the cult of the dead; river and well worship; tree and plant worship; Druidic rites of rebirth and transmigration. In this truly masterly and extremely readable study J. A. MacCulloch tries to rebuild Celtic paganism and to guess at its inner spirit. He portrays the Celt as a seeker after God, linking himself hy strong ties to the unseen and eager to conquer the unknown hy religious rite and magic art. The earliest aspect of his religion was the cult of nature spirits and of life manifested in nature. How far the Celts cultivated religion in our sense of the term or had a vision of monotheism must remain unknown. Hut a people whose spiritual influence has been so great must have had glimpses of these things. I. INTRODUCTORY 1 II. THE CELTIC PEOPLE 8 III. THE GODS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS 22 IV. THE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 49 V. THE TUATHA DÉ DANANN 63 VI. THE GODS OF THE BRYTHONS 95 VII. THE CÚCHULAINN CYCLE 127 VIII. THE FIONN SAGA 142 IX. GODS AND MEN 168 X. THE CULT OF THE DEAD 165 XI. PRIMITIVE NATURE WORSHIP 171 XII. RIVER AND WELL WORSHIP 181 XIII. TREE AND PLANT WORSHIP 198 XIV. ANIMAL WORSHIP 208 XV. COSMOGONY 227 XVI. SACRIFICE, PRAYER, AND DIVINATION 233 XVII. TABU 252 XVIII. FESTIVALS 256 XIX. ACCESSORIES OF CULT 279 XX. THE DRUIDS 293 XXI. MAGIC 319 XXII. THE STATE OF THE DEAD 333 XXIII. REBIRTH AND TRANSMIGRATION 348 XXIV. ELYSIUM 362 INDEX 391