Tag Archives: celts

Arthurian Legend, Celtic religion

Pick a God, Any God

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God’s teeth? No, that oath came about a thousand years later. By the angel!? Nope, wrong book series. (10 points if you comment and can tell me which one it’s from.) Merlin’s beard! Okay, maybe that one.

It’s tough to say by whom Guinevere and Arthur would have sworn or exactly what sort of faith they may have professed, other than it was likely influenced by both Druidism and Christianity. Of course, I make assumptions in my books to suit my fiction, but in their historical time (approximately 475-530 AD), Celtic religion encompassed a variety of influences, especially those from the Roman Empire, and beliefs varied from tribe to tribe. But here are a few generalizations we can make:

They loved nature – Did you know there were no Celtic churches? That’s because the Celts believed in worshiping in nature, rather than in man-made temples. Oak groves, stone circles and sacred springs were about as close as they got to holy structures, and those shrines usually were tended to or presided over by a Druid. (No, Merlin did not build Stonehenge; neither did the Druids. It was actually built several thousand years before the Arthurian period.) Because of their close association with nature, the Druids were believed to be able to control the weather. There was also some belief the Druids could shape shift into animal form, which was probably derived from the shamanistic practice of wearing the animal skin/horns/feathers in ritual to invoke its power, similar to Native American practice. And no, they didn’t sacrifice people on a mass scale. Possibly a few here and there, but why, when and how is up for debate.

They had a god/goddess for everything – The Celtic connection to nature and their agrarian lifestyle also influenced the way they saw their deities. They loved triple symbolism, so often their deities show up in three-fold form. For example, the Goddess is said go through a whole life cycle each year: maiden (spring), mother (summer and fall) and wise woman (winter). Likewise, the God was said to live through three phases each year: young child (late winter/spring), strong man/lover (summer/early fall), and dying old man (late fall/early winter), who would be reborn on the midwinter solstice along with the sun. (More to come on the Celtic calendar and how their holy days fit in a future post.)

The three aspects of the Celtic goddess: maiden, mother and wise woman

So, with all these options, who you gonna call? (No, not Ghostbusters.) The answer depends on what you need. If you were a Celtic blacksmith, a woman in labor or just in need of some poetic inspiration, you’d invoke the goddess Brigid. Going into battle? Mirthas might be your man. (He’s a Roman god adopted by the Celts during the Roman occupation. There’s even some speculation that he was Arthur’s preferred god.) If a goddess is more your style, call on the Morrigan to aid your fight.

Some deities were specific to a location such as a sacred spring or holy grove (the goddess Coventina was worshiped at a spring near Hadrian’s Wall), while others were tribal deities who date back into the murky past of the pre-Roman Celts. And some were more popular and wide-spread than others, such as the goddesses Airanrhod, Branwen, Blodeuwedd, Rhiannon and Cerridwen, especially beloved in what is now Wales, or the gods Cernunnos (the Horned One), Herne (the Hunter) or Lugh (Lord of Light).

They co-existed with Christians – There’s great debate in the historical community about when Christianity came to Britain (probably sometime around 300-400 AD, but it wouldn’t rise to total prominence for a few hundred more years) and even greater debate among Arthurian scholars as to whether or not Arthur was Christian. (Most stories have him being Christian, but they were written well after Christianity became the dominant religion.) In reality, Guinevere and Arthur’s beliefs could have gone either way because that time period was one of transition where the old ways (Druidism) were dying out, but not completely dead, and the new power (Christianity) was rising, but didn’t quite have a hold. I’d love to tell you how that plays out in my books, but you’ll have to wait to read them to find out.

Celtic religion, Celtic society

Meet the Druids

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Close your eyes and picture a Druid. What do you see? Chances are a white bearded man in a white robe springs to mind, perhaps with a golden sickle and a bough of mistletoe, someone similar to Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, right? That’s what we’ve been conditioned to think of by both “historical” accounts from Roman and Greek contemporaries and Hollywood.

A Druidess by Alexandre Cabanel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In reality, the Druids were a far more diverse group, young and old, including men (who were called Druids) and women (who were called priestesses). They made up the most powerful class of Celtic society. And unlike in some modern religions, they were free to marry, with Druids often marrying priestesses or either one marrying warrior nobles. There were some who voluntarily chose chastity, such as the virgin priestesses who guarded the sacred fire of the Goddess Brigid in Ireland before the coming of Christianity, but they were an exception, rather than the rule.

There were three groups of Druids:

  1. Priests – Led ritual, taught the young, and persevered the religious tradition of the tribe.
  2. Bards – Composed music and poetry that was believed to have a magical effect. A bard’s song was thought to be able to induce sleep, control mood and cause illness or death. The satire of a bard (also known as the Poet’s Curse) permanently ruined a leader’s reputation and so was often used by warring tribes against one another.
  3. Prophets – Divined the future through the reading of patterns in animal entrails,  tracks or flight patterns or  by casting of lots of sacred wood (similar to reading runes). Some also received messages from the gods and goddesses.

The head Druid was called the Archdruid and he was elected by his peers.

Power and Function
The Druids held great power. In Ireland, the Druids chose the King through a shamanistic ritual call The Bull Dream. In the Irish court, no one, including the King, could speak before the court Druid had spoken. The word of a Druid was final, even if a more powerful noble disagreed. If you went against a Druid ruling, he or she could strip you of your rights, barring you from religious ceremony and all tribal matters, rendering you an outlaw without tribe or purpose.

Although exempt from taxes and military service, it was not uncommon for a Druid to accompany an army into battle. A Druid could stop a fight with a single word, even if the local noble or warrior leading the fight disagreed. There was also a custom that solider would always yield his or her weapon to a Druid if they asked for it, even in the middle of a battle.

Becoming a Druid
Almost all Druids were recruited from the nobility. It is believed that training took nearly 20 years for a priest or prophet and 7 – 12 years for a bard (and this in an age when the life span was pretty short – probably no longer than 35-40). It is said that at one time there were 13 Druid colleges (yes, that’s what they called them) or centers of learning in Britain alone. All religious learning was done orally and so the Druids became known for their astounding feats of memorization (which are even more amazing  viewed through our modern, writing-dependant, ADD mindset). But that also meant much of their tradition was lost over time (I’ll go in-depth on their religious beliefs in a future post). It is known that the Druids had a secret written language known only to them called Ogham. Its letter were named for the sacred Celtic trees, but its purpose remains a mystery (theories name it everything from a method of accounting to a secret code for communicating with non-Latin speakers).

But not all who studied with them stayed for the long haul. Many children of nobility were there only to learn from the gifted mathematicians, astrologers and healers among them. It is also probable that they were great linguists, considering there were dozens of tribes at any given time in Britain alone, each with their own language (or at least dialect) and the Druids were known to communicate internationally with one another in Latin and Greek.

Persecution
The Druids underwent severe persecution by the Romans in Britain, because the Romans both feared and were jealous of their judicial power, ability to incite rebellion and religious sway. They routinely attacked Druid centers, cutting down their sacred oak groves and slaughtering the Druids. The most famous attack was on the Isle of Anglesey (then called the Isle of Mona) in 6o AD, which was so brutal that the event became known as the Rape of Mona. Still, the religion perservered until the late sixth century, when Christianity finally took over.

Up next…learn what the Celts believed about religion and the afterlife.

Arthurian Legend, Celtic society

Class in Celtic Society

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Celtic Warriors by Antoine Glédel (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

“It’s good to be the King,” or so says Mel Brooks. But in Celtic society, it was also good to be a Druid, warrior or even highly skilled craftsman. These were the high-ranking classes, the movers and shakers of their tribes and kingdoms. (When I say Celtic, keep in mind there were Celts in continental Europe, too. I’ll try to limit myself to the British Isles and note when I’m referring to a specific people, but a lot of research lumps them all together, so I have to as well.)

In modern America, we’re raised to be individualists, concerned mostly about our own wants, needs and achievements. The Celts were the exact opposite. In their world, loyalty to tribe and clan (and to a lesser degree, kingdom) was everything. While they honored and rewarded individual acts of political and military prowess or extraordinary bravery, in the grand scheme, their family and societal units were the most influential in shaping their mindsets and defining who they were.

There were five major groups in Celtic society. Both men and women could be members of any of these groups.

Boudicea haranguing her troops by Edward Farr (and others) (The national history of England) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

1. Druids – The Druids were the most powerful class in Celtic society. Much more than the ancient equivalent of priests, they also functioned as judges and lawgivers, poets/musicians, healers, teachers and prophets.  They had the power to incite rebellion or stop war with a single word. Their word was law, and if you crossed a Druid, you risked being stripped of your societal status and deemed an outlaw (see#5 below). Free from taxes and able to demand certain types of exorbitant payment for their services, some historians speculate they were even wealthier than the warrior class.
2. Warriors– The most powerful warriors often were also the clan chieftains. The Celts were fearsome fighters, but they didn’t fight in organized units like the Roman army. Because tribal loyalty was more important than battle tactics, if a Celtic general chose to break his war band up into units, he’d have to make sure the unit could survive on its own, in case the members decided to ignore his plans and fight individually. The most popular weapon for a warrior was a spear or javelin, but swords were also common. The Celts fought on horseback, as well as on foot. As in every other culture, to the victors go the spoils, so successful warriors were often very rich.

3. Professionals – The professional class included anyone with specialized skill: blacksmiths, metal workers, genealogists, historians, lawyers and physicians are all frequently mentioned in contemporary Roman, Greek and other accounts of Celtic society. Any one of these professions could include the Druids and warriors, too. If a person proved multi-talented, they were given a special elevated status and often accumulated great power and wealth.

4. Slaves – The Celts owned slaves. There I said it. As uncomfortable as it is to modern sensibilities, it’s true. Slaves were often members of conquered tribes or peoples and frequently were used as currency to pay debts or honor agreements. Female slaves actually had a going rate that fluctuated over time and were the most popular, followed by children. Hey, I never said Celtic society was all rainbows and butterflies.

5. Outlaws – Outlaws are exactly what the word sounds like, people who were “outside of the law.” They lived in wilderness areas between tribes and often functioned as a makeshift sort of police force. But before you go thinking all Robin Hood, keep in mind these were people without a tribe or family in a world where those relationships defined you. In a way, Celtic society was similar to the Quakers or Amish. If you were shunned by society, you no longer existed. But unlike those later societies, the Celts had to do more than say they were sorry to get back in. More on that later.

You may notice there is no separate category for nobility. That is strange to those of us used to a more Medieval mindset, but in the Celtic world, both the Druids and the warriors could be nobles depending on their lineage, function and wealth. The Celts had a rule that any member of honorable society (the first three classes) could be stripped of their legal rights if they failed to execute the legal obligations of their station.

There is much more that can be said about the Druids, warriors and outlaws, so I’ll address each in more detail in future blog posts. Warning: I have fascination with the Druids, so you’re going to get to know them pretty darn well.