The Religion of the Ancient Celts

ived, apart from inscriptions, from the Mabinogion, which, though found in a fourtee

ehind the personages of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Britonum and of the Arthurian cycle, though here great caution is required. The divinities have become heroes and heroines, kings and princesses, and if some of the episodes are based on ancient myths, they are treated

l borrowings, to that interchange of M?rchen and mythical données which has everywhere occurred. Many incidents have no Irish parallels, and most of the characters are entirely different in name from Irish divinities. Hence any theory which would account for the likenesses, must also account for the differences, and must explain why, if the Mabinogion is due to Irish Goidels, there should have been few or no borrowings in Welsh literature from the popular Cúchulainn and Ossianic sagas,333 and why, at a time when Brythonic elements were uppermost, such care should have been taken to preserve Goidelic myths. If the tales emanated from native Welsh Goidels, the explanation might be that they, the kindred of the Irish Goidels, must have had a certain community with them in divine names and myths, while others of their gods, more local in character, would differ in name. Or if they are Brythonic, the likenesses might be accounted for by an early community in myth and cult among the common ancestors of Brythons and Goidels.334 But as the date of the composition of the Mabinogion is comparatively late, at a time when Brythons had overrun these Goidelic districts, more probably the tales contain a m

tated in the cauldron, but Evnissyen, at the cost of his life, destroys it. Bran is slain, and by his directions his head is cut off and carried first to Harlech, then to Gwales, where it will entertain its bearers for eighty years. At the end of that time it is to be taken to London and buried. Branwen, departing with the bearers, dies of a broken heart at Anglesey, and meanwhile Caswallyn, son of Beli, seizes the kingdom.338 Two of the bearers of the head are Manawyddan and Pryderi, whose fortunes we follow in the Mabinogi of the former. Pryderi gives his mother Rhiannon to Manawyd

rrowed from Norsemen who occupied both sides of the Irish Sea in the ninth and tenth century, and then naturalised by furnishing it with Celtic characters. But into this framework many native elements were set, and we may therefore scrutinise the story for Celtic mythical elements utilised by its redactor, wh

of Ler.342 But the confusion may be accidental, nor is it certain that Nodons or Lludd was a sea-god. Llyr's prison was that of Eurosswyd,343 whose wife he may have abducted and hence suffered imprisonment. In the Black Book of Caermarthen Bran is called son of Y Werydd or "Ocean," according to M. Loth's interpretation of the name, which would thus point to Llyr's position as a sea-god. But this is contested by Professor Rh[^y]s who makes Ywerit wife of Llyr, the name being in his view a form of th

he is akin to Manannan, the teacher of Diarmaid. Incidents of his career are reflected in the Triads, and his union with Rhiannon may point to an old myth in which they were from the first a divine pair, parents of Pryderi. This would give point to his deliverance of Pryderi and Rhiannon from the hostile magician.347 Rhiannon resembles the Irish Elysium go

ch he, like Yama, who first crossed the rapid waters to the land of death, is the ruler.352 But Bran is not a "dark" god in the sense implied here. Cernunnos is god of a happy underworld, and there is nothing dark or evil in him or in Bran and his congeners. Professor Rh[^y]s's "dark" divinities are sometimes, in his view, "light" gods, but they cannot be both. The Celtic lords of the dead had no "dark" character, and as gods of fertility they were, so to speak, in league with the sun-god, the slayer of Bran, according to Professor Rh[^y]s's ingenious theory. And although to distracted Irish secretaries Ireland may be Hades, its introduction into this Mabinogi merely points to the interpretation of a mythico-historic connection between Wales and Ireland. Thus if Bran is Cernunnos, this is because he is a lord of the underworld of fertility, the counterpart of which is the distant Elysium, to which Bran seems rather to belong. Thus, in presence of his head, time passes as a dream in feasting and joy. This is a true Elysian note, and the tabued door of the story is also suggestive

goddess of fertility. But the connection is not clear in the story, though in some earlier myth the cauldron may have been her property. As Brangwaine, she reappears in romance, giving a love-potion to Tristram-perhaps a reminisce

gods are Govannon (= Goibniu) and possibly Llew (= Lug). Gwydion as a culture-god corresponds to Ogma. In the Triads Beli is called father of Arianrhod,363 and assuming that this Arianrhod is identical with the daughter of D?n, Professor Rh[^y]s regards Beli as husband of D?n. But the identification is far from

vely into deer, swine, and wolves. Restored to human form, Gwydion proposes that Arianrhod should be Math's foot-holder, but Math by a magic test discovers that she is not a virgin. She bears two sons, Dylan, fostered by Math, and another whom Gwydion nurtures and for whom he afterwards by a trick obtains a name from Arianrhod, who had sworn never to name him. The name is Llew Llaw Gyffes, "Lion of the Sure Hand." By magic, Math and Gwydion form a wife for Llew out of flowers.

agic and metamorphosis of Britain.368 More important are his traits of goodness to the suffering, and justice with no trace of vengeance to the wrong-doer. Whether these are derived from his character as a god or from the Celtic kingly ide

while cognate words are Irish fáith, "a prophet" or "poet," German wuth, "rage," and the name of Odinn.370 The name is suggestive of the ecstasy of inspiration producing prophetic and poetic utterance. In the Mabinogion he is a mighty bard, and in a poem, he, under the name of Gweir, is imprisoned in the Other-world, and there becomes a bard, thus receiving inspiration from the gods' land.371 He is the ideal fáith-diviner, prophet, and poet, and thus the god of those professing these arts. Strabo describes how the Celtic vates (fáith) was also a philosopher, and this character is given in a poem to Seon (probably = Gwydion), whose artists are poets and magicians.372 But he is also a culture-god, bringing swine to men from the gods' land. For though Pryderi is described as a mortal who has himself received the swine from Annwfn (Elysium),

ns of a time when such unions, perhaps only in royal houses, were permissible. Instances occur in Irish tales, and Arthur was also his sister's lover.376 In later belief Gwydion was associated with the stars; and the Milky Way was called Caer Gwydion.

ne who made waste places fruitful, or possibly as an anthropomorphic corn divinity. But elsewhere his taking a roebuck and a whelp, and in a Triad, a lapwing from Arawn, king of Annwfn, led to the battle of Godeu, in which he fought Arawn, aided by Gwydion, who vanquished one of Arawn's warriors, Bran, by discovering his name.381 Am?thon, who brings useful animals

a reference to Llew's disguises.383 Professor Rh[^y]s, for reasons not held convincing by M. Loth, holds that Llew, "lion," was a misapprehension for his true name Lleu, interpreted by him "light."384 This meaning he also gives to Lug, equating Lug and Llew, and regarding both as sun-gods. He also equates Llaw Gyffes, "steady or strong hand," with Lug's epithet Lám fada, "long hand," suggesting that gyffes may have meant "long," although it was Llew's steadiness of hand in shooting which earned him the title.385 Again, Llew's rapid growth need not make him the sun, for this was a privilege of many heroes who had no connection with the sun. Llew's unfortunate matrimonial affairs ar

sterility!388 Does this point to the scorching of vegetation by the summer sun? The mythologists have not made use of this incident. On the whole the evidence for Llew as a sun-god is not convincing. The strongest reason for identifying him with Lug rests on the fact that both have uncles who are smiths and have similar names-Govannon and Gavida (Goibniu). Like Am?thon, Govannon, the artificer

's dawn," is mentioned in a Taliesin poem, and she was later associated with the constellation Corona Borealis.392 Possibly her real name was forgotten, and that of Arianrhod derived from a place-name, "Caer Arianrhod," associated with her. The interpretation which makes her a dawn goddess, mother of light, Lleu, and darkness, Dylan, is far from obvious.393 Dylan, after his baptism, rushed into the sea, the nature of which became his. No wave ever broke under him; he swam like a fish; and hence was called Dylan Eil Ton or "son of the wave." Govannon, his uncle, slew him, an incident interpreted as the defeat of darkness, which "hies away to lurk in the sea." Dylan,

hristian Hades. Pwyll now agrees with Rhiannon,396 who appears mysteriously on a magic hillock, and whom he captures, to rid her of an unwelcome suitor Gwawl. He imprisons him in a magical bag, and Rhiannon weds Pwyll. The story thus resolves itself into the formula of the Fairy Bride, but it paves the way for the vengeance taken on Pryderi and Rhiannon by Gwawl's friend Llwyt. Rhiannon has a son who is stolen as

her magic birds whose song charmed Bran's companions for seven years, and of her marriage to Manawyddan-an old myth in which Manawyddan may have been Pryderi's father, while possibly in some other myth Pryderi may have been child of Rigantona and Teyrnon

e result of misunderstanding. A poem speaks of the magic cauldron of Pen Annwfn, i.e. Pwyll, and this points to a myth explaining his connection with Annwfn in a different way from the account in the Mabinogi. The poem also tells how Gweir was imprisoned in Caer Sidi (=Annwfn) "through the messenger of Pwyll and Pryderi."400 They are thus lords of Annwfn, whose swine Gweir (Gwydion) tries to steal. Elsewhere Cae

or Heli and Belinus are one and the same, and both represent the earlier god Belenos. Caswellawn becomes Cassivellaunus, opponent of C?sar, but in the Mabinogi he is hostile to the race of Llyr, and this may be connected with whatever underlies Geoffrey's account of the hostility of Belinus and Brennius (=Bran, son of Llyr), perhaps, like the enmity of the race of D[^o]n to Pryderi, a reminiscen

ars the title "war king," we may see a glimpse of his divine character, that of a god of war, invisibly leading on armies to battle, and as such embodied in gr

over them water in which certain insects given him by Levelys have been bruised. The second is a shriek on May-eve which makes land and water barren, and is caused by a dragon which attacks the dragon of the land. These Lludd captures and imprisons at Dinas Emreis, where they afterwards cause trouble to Vortigern at the building of his castle. The third is that of the disappearance of a year's supply of food by a magician, who lulls every one to sleep and who is captured by Lludd. Though the Coranians appear in the Triads as a hostile tribe,412 they may have been a supernatural folk, since their name is perhaps derived from còr, "dwarf," and they are now regarded as mischievous fairies.413 They may thus be analogous to the Fomo

halt receive a reproof from Gwyn," said one of them, and soon after Collen was summoned to meet the king of Annwfn on Glastonbury Tor. He climbed the hill with a flask of holy water, and saw on its top a splendid castle, with crowds of beautiful and youthful folk, while the air resounded with music. He was brought to Gwyn, who politely offered him food, but "I will not eat of the leaves of the tree," cried the saint; and when he was asked to admire the dresses of the crowd, all he would say was that the red signified burning, the blue coldness. Then he threw the holy water over them, an

ut Cerridwen and Taliesin of which its compiler made use, following an old tradition already stereotyped in one of the poems in the M?rchen formula of the Transformation Combat.419 But the mythical fragments are also mingled with traditions regarding the sixth century poet Taliesin. The older saga was perhaps developed in a district south of the Dyfi estuary.420 In Lake Tegid dwell Tegid Voel, Cerridwen, and their children-the fair maiden Creirwy, Morvran, and the ugly Avagddu. To give Avagddu knowledge, his mother p

references to her connection with poetry show that she may have been worshipped by bards, her cauldron being the source of their inspiration.423 Her anger at Gwion may point to some form of the Celtic myth of the theft of the elements of culture from the gods' land. But the cauldron was first of all associated with a fertility cult,424 and Cerridwen must therefore once have been a goddess of fertility,

formations and rebirths of the gods, recounts in highly inflated language his own numerous forms and rebirths.427 His claims resemble those of the Shaman who has the entree of the spirit-world and can transform himself at will. Taliesin's rebirth is connected with his acquiring of inspiration. These incidents appear separately in the story of Fionn, who acquired his inspiration by an accident, and was also said to have been reborn as Mongan. They are myths common to various branches of the Celtic people, and applied in different combinations to outstanding gods or heroes.428 The Taliesin poems show that there m

row," is described in Kulhwych as so ugly and terrible that no one would strike him at the battle of Camlan. He may have been a war-god,

ld gods, the romantic presentment of them in the cycle itself is so largely imaginative, that nothing certain can be gained from it for the understanding of the old mythology, much less the old religion. Incidents which are the common stock of real life as well as of romance are interpreted mythologically, and it is never quite obvious why the slaying

given her husband's shape. Arthur conquers many hosts as well as giants, and his court is the resort of all valorous persons. But he is at last wounded by his wife's seducer, and carried to the Isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds, and nothing more is ever heard of him.432 Some of these incidents occur also in the stories of Fionn and Mongan, and those of the mysterious begetting of a wonder child and his final disappearance into fairyland are local forms of a tale common to all branches of the Celts.433 This was fitted to the history of the local god or hero Arthur, giving rise to the local saga, to which was afterwards added events from the life of the historic Arthur. This complex saga must then have acquired a wider fame long before the romantic cycle took its place, as is suggested by the purely Welsh tales of Kulhwych and the Dream

ised as a hero. If the earlier form of his name was Artor, "a ploughman," but perhaps with a wider significance, and having an equivalent in Artaius, a Gaulish god equated with Mercury,436 he may have been a god of agriculture who became a war-god. But he was also regarded as a culture-hero, stealing a cauldron and also swine from the gods' land, the last incident euhemerised into the tale

stones for the cure of sickness or wounds, probably points to some ritual for healing in connection with these megaliths. Finally, we hear of his transformation of the lovelorn Uther and of his confidant Ulfin, as well as of himself.438 Here he appears as little more than an ideal magician, possibly an old god, like the Irish "god of Druidism," to whose legend had been attached a story of supernatural conception. Professor Rh[^y]s regards him as a Celtic Zeus or as the sun, because late legends tell of his disappearance in a glass house into the sea. The glass house is the expanse of light travelling with the sun (Merlin), while the Lady of the Lake who comes daily to solace Merlin in his enchanted prison is a dawn-goddess. Stonehenge was probably a temple of this Celtic Zeus "whose lat

ing to him in Kulhwych: "His breath lasted nine days and nine nights under water. He could remain without sleep for the same period. No physician could heal a wound inflicted by his sword. When he pleased he could make himself as tall as the tallest tree in the wood. And when it rained hardest, whatever he carried remained dry above and below his hand to the distance of a handbreadth, so great was his

river-goddess and probably one of the mother-goddesses as her name implies. In the Triads Mabon is one of the three eminent prisoners of Prydein. To obtain his help in hunting the magic boar his prison must be found, and this is done by animals, in accordance with a M?rchen formula

unctions, dimly as these are perceived. They are associated with Elysium, they are lords of fertility and growth, of the sea, of the arts of culture and of war. The prominent position of certain goddesses may point to what has already

ions also mention Epona, the horse-goddess; Brigantia, perhaps a form of Brigit; Belisama (the Mersey in Ptolemy),451 a goddess in Gaulish inscriptions. Others refer to the group goddesses, the Matres. Some gods are equated with Mars-Camulos, known also on the Continent and perhaps the same as Cumal, father of Fionn; Belatucadros, "comely in slaughter"; Cocidius, Corotiacus, Barrex, and Totatis (perhaps Lucan's Teutates). Others are

TIES WITH SIMILAR NAMES IN

names found i

. BRITA

arus Ane

Anoniredi, "c

b B

elinus

ama B

rigantia

an Bren

ann

amulos

nu

na

iu Go

os Gr

r

Lleu (?) L

Maponos

an Man

es M

Medr

Matro

n Ne

Ne

Nodons

Ll?d

a O

nus S

n Ta

Tutatis

as been translated into English by Lady Guest, and more critically, into French, by Loth. Many of the

nt accessory in Irish tales; the regeneration of the warriors, also found in the story of Mag-tured, though no cauld

n) Anwyl, ZCP i. 27

ids, Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynne

) Skene, i. 45; Meye

rt, and Conchobar as Knychur in Kulhwych (Loth, i. 202). A poem of Taliesin has

RC x. 356; John, op. cit.

t Ysppadden in Kulhwych resemb

ng of the two legends [of D?n and Taliesin] may have ari

thinks that the Llyr family may be pre

) Loth, i. 97 f.; La

n) See Nutt, Folk-l

, i. 298, ii. 243-244; Geo

oth, i. 224, 265, ii. 2

Skene, i. 81; Rh[^y]s,

iads, Loth, ii. 293; Nut

return) Hist.

345:(retu

:(return) Sk

eturn) See Nutt

:(return) Sk

oth, i. 208, 280; see a

The raven is rather the bird of prey c

:(return) Sk

hese theories see Rh[^y]s,

3:(return)

4:(return)

return) Loth,

gate was called after Belinus, and that his ashes were preserved in th

aradawc saga may have become min

58:(return

:(return) So

eturn) Folk-lor

return) Lady G

but she is distinctly called sister of Math (Loth, i.

:(return) Lo

) See p. 60, supra,

Lady Guest, iii. 255

this Mabinogi see Loth,

:(return) Sk

29, 257; and for other references

(return) Sken

urn) Loth, ii. 29

:(return) Sk

HL 270. Skene, i. 430, 537, giv

:(return) Sk

:(return) Lo

(return) Sken

(return) See

Guest, iii. 255; Morri

HL 283 f. See also Gri

9:(return)

:(return) St

an Arch?ol. i. 168; Skene, i

on the discovery of his separable soul, as is usual. The earliest form of this M?rchen is the

eturn) Skene, i

(return) HL 4

return) HL 237

386:(retu

7:(return)

:(return) Lo

9:(return)

(return) Sken

:(return) Lo

kene, ii. 159; Rh[^y]s,

return) Rh[^y]

. 282, 288, 310, 543, ii. 145;

rn) Loth, i. 27 f.

daughter of Heveidd Hen or "the

in Fionn tales a mysterious hand snatche

(return) Anwy

:(return) Lo

:(return) Sk

1:(return)

2:(return)

3:(return)

) Hist. Brit. ii. 11

return) Cf. An

78. Some phrases seem to connect Beli with the s

urn) Loth, ii. 20

urn) Geoffrey, Br

^y]s, HL 125 f.; Loth, i.

n) See Loth, i. 269

:(return) Lo

(return) Loth

s, HL 606. Cf. the Breton fa

(return) Geof

rn) Loth, i. 253-2

:(return) Gu

17:(return

return) Loth,

rn) See p. 353, in

(return) Anwy

(return) Gues

(return) Sken

(return) Ibid

(return) See

it. i. 698, ii.; Thomas, Revue de l

6, 278, 281-282, 286-287. His "chair" besto

ene, i. 264, 376 f., 309

aliesin are examples of the M?rchen formula of a hero e

) Loth, i. 209, ii.

return) Nenniu

(return) Anwy

eturn) Geoffrey

return) Nutt-M

(return) See

(return) Loth

L, 39 f. Others derive the name

urn) Loth. ii. 24

, i. 478), Myrddin is called "the man who speaks from the grave"-a conception famili

rn) Rh[^y]s, HL, 1

return) Geoffr

:(return) Sk

. 131, infra. From this description Elton

Loth, i. 269. Rh[^y]s, AL 59, thinks Me

:(return) Ho

) Loth i. 250, 260 f

Skene, i. 363, ii. 4

. The monster avanc was drawn by him from the lake which had burst and caused the flood (see p. 231, infra). Perhaps Hu is an old culture-god of some tribes, but the Triads referring to

be the French legendary Gargantua, perhaps an old go

8:(return)

return) Dio Ca

n) Solinus, xxii. 1

:(return) Pt

urn) For all thes