The Celts

1
The Celts

• The Last Ancient Pagan Peoples

2
Who Were the Celts?

• The Celts were a semi-nomadic people of
  Indo-European descent.
• One reason we dont have a lot of record of them
  is because they were constantly fighting amongst
  themselves.
• The first Celts were thought to have lived in
  Austria and Germany.
• Digs have unearthed graves there dating to about
  700 BCE
• The Celts dont move to Britain and Ireland until
  about 350 BCE
• The Celts were a loose nation of tribes lead by
  warlord kings.

3
Celtic Beliefs

• There are no Celtic churches. Rather, these
  people believed that their gods were living in
  the natural world around them.
• In Celtic religious society, the Druids ranked
  highest, followed by the Bards, who kept oral
  tradition.
• The symbol of the Druid is the serpent or snake,
  which symbolized wisdom.
• When St. Patrick comes to Ireland, he does not
  rid the land of snakes he rids it of the
  Druids.
• There is no holy book associated with the Celts.
  They were non-literate, and therefore what we
  know of them is through oral tradition.

4
Celtic History

• Celtic traditions were not written down until the
  11th and 12th centuries.
• This means a Christian monk would have
  transcribed the tales, not an actual Celtic
  Druid. They would all be dead by now.

• Stonehenge is NOT a Druidic creation! It
  actually pre-dates the Celtic arrival to the
  British Isles by about 2,000 years. The Druids
  then took over the site for themselves!

5
Death and Dying

• Evidence in Celtic graves suggest a belief in the
  afterlife. Corpses were often buried with food
  and weapons.
• The Druids practiced human sacrifice. They would
  strangle the victim, then sever the jugular.
  After draining the blood from the victim, they
  would attempt to divine the future by staring
  into a bowl of blood.
• This is one reason they might have so readily
  accepted Christianity. The sacrifice of Jesus
  closely relates to their own belief systems.
• Sometimes, the Celts would bury the dead with
  golden coins meant to represent the sun to
  provide the dead with light in the afterlife.

6
Holidays

• Many current holiday traditions stem from ancient
  Celtic traditions.
• The use of the colors red and green stem from the
  Celtic use of the holly plant, which remains red
  and green all year, even when winter is at its
  darkest.
• The symbols of chicks and bunnies at Easter come
  from the fertility symbols the Celts used during
  their Beltane (May Day) celebrations.

7
Halloween

• Halloween is actually the Celtic New Year, known
  as Samhain.
• During this time of year, the veil between the
  living and the dead thins, and its believed
  spirits roam the earth.
• Halloween costumes were meant to confuse the
  spirits so they would not recognize the living
  from the dead.
• The Christians created All Souls Day in response
  to this custom.

8
The Gods and Goddesses

• Because so little survived regarding Celtic lore,
  it is difficult to piece together who was in
  their pantheon.
• There is a god named Cernunnos, who has the
  hooves of a goat and the horns of a stag. He is
  known as the Horned One and eventually becomes
  equated with the Christian devil.
• There is an unnamed goddess who is shown in three
  parts a young maiden, a mother and an old woman,
  supposedly representing the three phases of life

9
Brigid

• Irish goddess of fertility and war
• Presides over fire, blacksmiths, poetry and
  wisdom
• Became confused with St. Brigid (450-523 CE) who
  put out her eyes to prevent an arranged marriage
• Both Brigid and St. Brigid are said to be keepers
  of a healing fire which purifies the spirit

10
Works Cited

• Davis, Kenneth C. Dont Know Much About
  Mythology. New York Harper, 2006.
• Gill, Elaine and David Everett. Celtic
  Pilgrimages Sites, Seasons and Saints. London
  Blanford, 1997.
• MacCana, Proinsias. Celtic Mythology. New York
  Hamlyn Publishing, 1970.