Ancient Celtic religion
Ancient Celtic religion, commonly known as Celtic paganism,[1][2][3] was the religion of the ancient Celtic peoples of Europe. Because there are no extant native records of their beliefs, evidence about their religion is gleaned from archaeology, Greco-Roman accounts (some of them hostile and probably not well-informed), and literature from the early Christian period.[4] Celtic paganism was one of a larger group of polytheistic Indo-European religions of Iron Age Europe.
While the specific deities worshipped varied by region and over time, underlying this were broad similarities[5] in both deities[6] and "a basic religious homogeneity" among the Celtic peoples.[7] Widely worshipped Celtic gods include: Lugus, Toutatis, Taranis, Cernunnos, Epona, Maponos, Belenos, Ogmios, and Sucellos.[6][4] Sacred springs were often associated with Celtic healing deities.[8] Triplicity is a common theme, with a number of deities seen as threefold, for example the Three Mothers.
The druids were the priests of Celtic religion, but little is definitively known about them.[9] Greco-Roman writers said the Celts held ceremonies in sacred groves and other natural shrines, called nemetons, while some Celtic peoples also built temples or ritual enclosures.[6] Celtic peoples often made votive offerings which would be deposited in water and wetlands, or in ritual shafts and wells.[6] There is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals, almost always livestock or working animals.[10] There is also some evidence that ancient Celts sacrificed humans and, though possibly imperial propaganda, some Greco-Roman sources claim the Gauls sacrificed criminals by burning them in a wicker man.[11]
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
Celtic paganism, as practiced by the ancient Celts, is a descendant of Proto-Celtic paganism, itself derived from Proto-Indo-European paganism. Many deities in Celtic mythologies have cognates in other Indo-European mythologies, such as Celtic Brigantia with Roman Aurora, Vedic Ushas, and Norse Aurvandill; Welsh Arianrhod with Greek Selene, Baltic Mėnuo, and Slavic Myesyats; and Irish Danu with Hindu Danu and the namesake of multiple hydronyms such as the Danube, Don, and Dnieper.[12]
Legacy[edit]
After the Roman Empire's conquest of Gaul (58–51 BCE) and southern Britain (43 CE), Celtic religion there underwent some Romanisation, resulting in a syncretic Gallo-Roman religion with deities such as Lenus Mars, Apollo Grannus, and Telesphorus.
The Gauls gradually converted to Christianity from the third century onward. After the end of Roman rule in Britain (c. 410 CE), Celtic paganism began to be replaced by Anglo-Saxon paganism over much of what became England. The Celtic populations of Britain and Ireland gradually converted to Christianity from the fifth century onward. However, Celtic paganism left a legacy in many of the Celtic nations, influenced mythology and in the 20th century served as the basis for a new religious movement, Celtic neopaganism.
Some figures from medieval Irish mythology are believed to be versions of earlier deities. According to Miranda Aldhouse-Green, the Celts were also animists, believing that every part of the natural world had a spirit.[4]