The True Celtic Race

 Ancient History 

 Golden Age Downfall

Ireland

Society

Language

Religion

Arte

Celtic religion

The Celts never wrote their stories, only a few Latin authors tell something about them. The Celts were not organized into a nation; they lived in groups of tribes, so their beliefs were never homogeneous.

They believed that spirits can live in the body of animals or in sacred places. Their stories are like dreams with cruel actions and metamorphoses.

The Celts had many gods:

1. Lugus, who the Romans associated with Mercury and the Greeks with Apollo. He was the master of all trades and he was associated with Kingship. His holiday, the festival of light, is still celebrated in a few parts of Ireland.

2. Cernunnos is a god with horns, he had shamanistic powers.

3. Epona was a goddess and she was celebrated all over Celtic Europe

4. Brigit

5. Kerridwen

The Celts had also divine-animals. The goddesses had often a lot of aspects (for example, Morrigan, the Great Queen, has three aspects which represent death-prophecy, battle-panic, and death-in battle).

The relationship of the divine and the other world was very important in Celtic religion. In fact, the few Celtic words that survive in English are often place-names. The Druids believed in the transmigration of the soul. The Celts had another world, where there was neither sickness, nor old age, nor death. This world had various names: “Land of the Living” or “Land of the Young”-

In Celtic myths, the hero follows a beautiful young woman, who sings to him from the other word.

He doesn’t always return  or if he returns, he discovers that he has been away so long, that his world has changed and his companions have died. Many fantastic adventures survive in Irish and Welsh literatures, for example, stories associated with King Arthur and his Knights.

Even though the Romans have won the Celts, their own tradition and culture remain and have a great influence even today.

Many stories about the Search for Holy Grail and King Arthur are associated with Christian and Celtic elements.

(Anna Chiara Vigo, 3^B internaz)