Celtic Paganism

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Celtic Paganism
By Katherine Esteve, Emily Wright, Juhi
Kapadia, Lucy Yuan, and Kathy Guo
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Celtic Paganism

• Polytheistic Religion
• A lot like Norse Paganism
• Followed by Celts during the Iron Age
• Also known as Celtic Polytheism

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• Geographic Origin
• Celtic paganism originated in Northern Europe and
  Western Europe
• Modern practices of Celtic paganism can be found
  in the United States, Britain, but also in
  Scandinavia, Slavic Europe, and Latin Europe

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Celtic Beliefs
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Beliefs

• Celts gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits and
  vegetables during Samhain
• Lit bonfires in honor of the dead and to help the
  dead on their journey.
• Ghosts, Fairies and demons

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The Ovates

• Worked with death and regeneration (sacrifices)
• Native healers of the Celts
• Conversed with ancestors and prophesized the
  future
• All creation has its own spiritual force and
  holds the wisdom of nature

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The Druids

• Professional class in Celtic society
• Led rituals in surrounded by sacred trees
• Trees were believed to have
• a strong spiritual presence
• Fuel for heat, cooking, building materials and
  weaponry
• understand all energies
• (plants, stars, moons, gravity)

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Shamanism

• Trees connect the lower, middle and upper world
• The upper world
• consists of the stars and
• the gods while humans
• live in the middle

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Lug

• God of Sun and Light
• Celtic equivalent to Roman god Mercury
• Had variations to his name such as Lugh or Lleu

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Nodens

• He was one of the Gods of healing, the sea and
  hunting

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Morrigan

• A war goddess, forerunner of the Arthurian Morgan
  La Fey
• Also the Goddess of Victory
• Morrigan traid which includes her sisters Badb
  and Macha

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Epona

• Goddess of Horses
• Usually portrayed riding a mare or a foal
• Associated with Celtic horsemanship

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Danu

• Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother
• Mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann
• She was the mother of the Triple Goddess

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Dis Pater

• Originally a god of death and the underworld, but
  later chief god of the gauls
• The Gauls believed that Dis Pater was the
  ancestor of all Gauls

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Brighid

• Also known as Brigit
• She is the goddess of healing and craftsmanship,
  especially metalwork
• Also a patron of learning and poetry

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Major festivals/holidays
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Imbolc

• February 1 1st full moon in Aquarius
• Time of cleansing and newborn lambs
• Festival of Lights, marks beginning of spring
• Ceremonies involve water, candles pledges and
  planting a hope or a seed, making candles
• Candles are lit , Yule greens are burnt to send
  winter on its way
• Evolved into Ground Hogs Day

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Beltane

• May 1 1st full moon in Taurus
• A fertility festival with offerings to nature
  celebrates new life in all its forms
• time when the Goddess and the God are united in
  sacred marriage, symbolically fertilizes the
  animals and crops for the coming year
• Bonfires of sacred wood are lit in honor of the
  Celtic god Beli
• Evolved into May Day

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Lughnassadh

• August 1 1st full moon in Leo
• harvest festival in honor of god Lughs wedding
  to mother earth
• Celebrates the beginning of harvest season, the
  decline of summer to winter
• Time to dismiss regrets, farewells, and prepare
  for winter
• Ceremonies involve breads, grains and harvest
  corn dolls

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Samhain

• October 31 ending of the Celtic year
• Night the old God died, and time when the Crone
  Goddess would go into mourning for her lost son ?
  temporary darkness
• aka Feast of the Dead/Ancestor Night

• Feasts are made in remembrance of dead ancestors
• A time for settling problems, throwing out old
  ideas and influences
• Evolved into Halloween

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Rituals
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Background

• Celtic religion was strictly oral and as such,
  there is very little written history
• Sacred texts and teachings were memorized by
  heart

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Human Sacrifice

• Early Celts preformed human sacrifices to make
  lands fertile
• Over time, this ritual was replaced with spells

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Daily Rites

• Prayers or rituals performed in the morning and
  evening
• Preformed to strengthen the bonds between them
  and the gods

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Burial and Afterlife

• People were buried with food, weapons, and
  ornaments
• Funerals were intended to be celebrations of the
  deceaseds life rather than a time of mourning
• Sometimes placed in burial mounds

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Newgrange Burial Mound
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Burial and Afterlife

• Believed that the soul was immortal and death was
  a passing from one world to another
• Druids believed in Transmigration of the soul
• Belief in the Otherworld a realm of fairy
  folk and other supernatural beings

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• Why were Druids so important?
• A. Druids were integrated within society
• B. Druids were the upper social class that
  directed kings and queens
• C. Druids worked with nature and nature was
  extremely important to Celtic society

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• Who was the mother of the Tuatha Dé Danann?
• A. Morrigan
• B. Epona
• C. Danu
• D. Brighid

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• Which festival celebrates the coming of Spring?
• Imbolc
• Beltane
• Yule
• Samhain

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Which God/Goddess was important to horsemanship?

1. Epona
2. Danu
3. Lug
4. Morrigan

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Why is there still so much speculation around
Celtic Paganism?

1. No one actually researched Celtic Paganism
2. The gods erased all the information
3. The Celtic people erased all the information
4. Much of the history about Celtic Paganism was
   told orally so some information may not be
   accurate.

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Sources

• http//gorddcymru.org/atlanta/holidays/index.htm
• https//pantherfile.uwm.edu/barnold/www/lectures/h
  olloween.html
• http//www.taracelebrations.org/
• http//www.gaolnaofa.com/articles/daily-rites/
• http//www.scns.com/earthen/other/seanachaidh/godc
  elt.html

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• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_polytheismBur
  ial_and_afterlife
• http//www.ancientspiral.com/Celt.htm
• http//www.liafail.org/mids.html
• http//druidry.org/modules.php?opmodloadnamePag
  Edfileindextopic_id1page_id184
• http//www.britannia.com/wonder/michell2.html
• http//www.unc.edu/reddeer/god_dess_es/celtic.htm
  l

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• http//www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/celtic.htmhttp/
  /spells-witchcraft.org/pictures-of-greek-gods-and-
  goddesses.html
• http//paganwiccan.about.com/od/celticdeities/tp/C
  elticDeities.htm