CHAPTER XXIV.
ELYSIUM.
The Celtic conception of Elysium, the product at once of religion,
mythology, and romantic imagination, is found in a series of Irish and
Welsh tales. We do not know that a similar conception existed among the
continental Celts, but, considering the likeness of their beliefs in
other matters to those of the insular Celts, there is a strong
probability that it did. There are four typical presentations of the
Elysium conception. In Ireland, while the gods were believed to have
retired within the hills or _sid_, it is not unlikely that some of them
had always been supposed to live in these or in a subterranean world,
and it is therefore possible that what may be called the subterranean or
_sid_ type of Elysium is old. But other types also appear--that of a
western island Elysium, of a world below the waters, and of a world
co-extensive with this and entered by a mist.
The names of the Irish Elysium are sometimes of a general character--Mag
Mor, "the Great Plain"; Mag Mell, "the Pleasant Plain"; Tir n'Aill, "the
Other-world"; Tir na m-Beo, "the Land of the Living"; Tir na n-Og, "the
Land of Youth"; and Tir Tairngiri, "the Land of Promise"--possibly of
Christian origin. Local names are Tir fa Tonn, "Land under Waves";
I-Bresail and the Land of Falga, names of the island Elysium. The last
denotes the Isle of Man as Elysium, and it may have been so regarded by
Goidels in Britain at an early time.[1231] To this period may belong the
tales of Cuchulainn's raid on Falga, carried at a later time to Ireland.
Tir Tairngiri is also identified with the Isle of Man.[1232]
A brief resume of the principal Elysium tales is necessary as a
preliminary to a discussion of the problems which they involve, though
it can give but little idea of the beauty and romanticism of the tales
themselves. These, if not actually composed in pagan times, are based
upon story-germs current before the coming of Christianity to Ireland.
1. _The sid Elysium._--In the story of Etain, when Mider discovered her
in her rebirth, he described the land whither he would carry her, its
music and its fair people, its warm streams, its choice mead and wine.
There is eternal youth, and love is blameless. It is within Mider's
_sid_, and Etain accompanies him there. In the sequel King Eochaid's
Druid discovers the _sid_, which is captured by the king, who then
regains Etain.[1233] Other tales refer to the _sid_ in similar terms,
and describe its treasures, its food and drink better than those of
earth. It is in most respects similar to the island Elysium, save that
it is localised on earth.
2. _The island Elysium._--The story of the voyage of Bran is found
fragmentarily in the eleventh century _LU_, and complete in the
fourteenth and sixteenth century MSS. It tells how Bran heard mysterious
music when asleep. On waking he found a silver branch with blossoms, and
next day there appeared a mysterious woman singing the glory of the land
overseas, its music, its wonderful tree, its freedom from pain and
death. It is one of thrice fifty islands to the west of Erin, and there
she dwells with thousands of "motley women." Before she disappears the
branch leaps into her hand. Bran set sail with his comrades and met
Manannan crossing the sea in his chariot. The god told him that the sea
was a flowery plain, Mag Mell, and that all around, unseen to Bran, were
people playing and drinking "without sin." He bade him sail on to the
Land of Women. Then the voyagers went on and reached the Isle of Joy,
where one of their number remained behind. At last they came to the Land
of Women, and we hear of their welcome, the dreamlike lapse of time, the
food and drink which had for each the taste he desired. Finally the tale
recounts their home-sickness, the warning they received not to set foot
on Erin, how one of their number leaped ashore and turned to ashes, how
Bran from his boat told of his wanderings and then disappeared for
ever.[1234]
Another story tells how Connla was visited by a goddess from Mag Mell.
Her people dwell in a _sid_ and are called "men of the _sid_." She
invites him to go to the immortal land, and departs, leaving him an
apple, which supports him for a month without growing less. Then she
reappears and tells Connla that "the Ever-Living Ones" desire him to
join them. She bids him come with her to the Land of Joy where there are
only women. He steps into her crystal boat and vanishes from his father
and the Druid who has vainly tried to exercise his spells against
her.[1235] In this tale there is a confusion between the _sid_ and the
island Elysium.
The eighteenth century poem of Oisin in Tir na n-Og is probably based on
old legends, and describes how Niam, daughter of the king of Tir na
n-Og, placed _geasa_ on Oisin to accompany her to that land of immortal
youth and beauty. He mounted on her steed, which plunged forwards across
the sea, and brought them to the land where Oisin spent three hundred
years before returning to Ireland, and there suffering, as has been
seen, from the breaking of the tabu not to set foot on the soil of
Erin.[1236]
In _Serglige Conculaind_, "Cuchulainn's Sickness," the goddess Fand,
deserted by Manannan, offers herself to the hero if he will help her
sister's husband Labraid against his enemies in Mag Mell. Labraid lives
in an island frequented by troops of women, and possessing an
inexhaustible vat of mead and trees with magic fruit. It is reached with
marvellous speed in a boat of bronze. After a preliminary visit by his
charioteer Laeg, Cuchulainn goes thither, vanquishes Labraid's foes, and
remains a month with Fand. He returns to Ireland, and now we hear of the
struggle for him between his wife Emer and Fand. But Manannan suddenly
appears, reawakens Fand's love, and she departs with him. The god shakes
his cloak between her and Cuchulainn to prevent their ever meeting
again.[1237] In this story Labraid, Fand, and Liban, Fand's sister,
though dwellers on an island Elysium, are called _sid_-folk. The two
regions are partially confused, but not wholly, since Manannan is
described as coming from his own land (Elysium) to woo Fand. Apparently
Labraid of the Swift Hand on the Sword (who, though called "chief of the
_side_", is certainly a war-god) is at enmity with Manannan's hosts, and
it is these with whom Cuchulainn has to fight.[1238]
In an Ossianic tale several of the Fians were carried off to the Land of
Promise. After many adventures, Fionn, Diarmaid, and others discover
them, and threaten to destroy the land if they are not restored. Its
king, Avarta, agrees to the restoration, and with fifteen of his men
carries the Fians to Erin on one horse. Having reached there, he bids
them look at a certain field, and while they are doing so, he and his
men disappear.[1239]
3. _Land under Waves._--Fiachna, of the men of the _sid_, appeared to
the men of Connaught, and begged their help against Goll, who had
abducted his wife. Loegaire and his men dive with Fiachna into Loch
Naneane, and reach a wonderful land, with marvellous music and where the
rain is ale. They and the _sid_-folk attack the fort of Mag Mell and
defeat Goll. Each then obtains a woman of the _side_, but at the end of
a year they become homesick. They are warned not to descend from
horseback in Erin. Arrived among their own people, they describe the
marvels of Tir fa Tonn, and then return there, and are no more
seen.[1240] Here, again, the _sid_ Elysium and Land under Waves are
confused, and the divine tribes are at war, as in the story of
Cuchulainn.
In a section of the Ossianic tale just cited, Fionn and his men arrive
on an island, where Diarmaid reaches a beautiful country at the bottom
of a well. This is Tir fa Tonn, and Diarmaid fights its king who has
usurped his nephew's inheritance, and thus recovers it for him.[1241]
4. _Co-extensive with this world._--An early example of this type is
found in the _Adventures of Cormac_. A divine visitant appeared to
Cormac and gave him in exchange for his wife, son, and daughter, his
branch of golden apples, which when shaken produced sweetest music,
dispelling sorrow. After a year Cormac set out to seek his family, and
as he journeyed encountered a mist in which he discovered a strange
house. Its master and mistress--Manannan and his consort--offered him
shelter. The god brought in a pig, every quarter of which was cooked in
the telling of a true tale, the pig afterwards coming to life again.
Cormac, in his tale, described how he had lost his family, whereupon
Manannan made him sleep, and brought his wife and children in. Later he
produced a cup which broke when a lie was told, but became whole again
when a true word was spoken. The god said Cormac's wife had now a new
husband, and the cup broke, but was restored when the goddess declared
this to be a lie. Next morning all had disappeared, and Cormac and his
family found themselves in his own palace, with cup and branch by their
side.[1242] Similarly, in _The Champion's Ecstasy_, a mysterious
horseman appears out of a mist to Conn and leads him to a palace, where
he reveals himself as the god Lug, and where there is a woman called
"the Sovereignty of Erin." Beside the palace is a golden tree.[1243] In
the story of Bran, Mag Mell is said to be all around the hero, though he
knows it not--an analogous conception to what is found in these tales,
and another instance is that of the mysterious house entered by
Conchobar and Dechtire.[1244] Mag Mell may thus have been regarded as a
mysterious district of Erin. This magic mist enclosing a marvellous
dwelling occurs in many other tales, and it was in a mist that the
Tuatha Dea came to Ireland.
A certain correspondence to these Irish beliefs is found in Brythonic
story, but here the Elysium conception has been influenced by Christian
ideas. Elysium is called _Annwfn_, meaning "an abyss," "the state of the
dead," "hell," and it is also conceived of as _is elfydd_, "beneath the
earth."[1245] But in the tales it bears no likeness to these meanings of
the word, save in so far as it has been confused by their Christian
redactors with hell. It is a region on the earth's surface or an over-or
under-sea world, in which some of the characteristics of the Irish
Elysium are found--a cauldron, a well of drink sweeter than wine, and
animals greatly desired by mortals, while it is of great beauty and its
people are not subject to death or disease. Hence the name _Annwfn_ has
probably taken the place of some earlier pagan title of Elysium.
In the tale of Pwyll, the earliest reference to _Annwfn_ occurs. It is
ruled by Arawn, at war with Hafgan. Arawn obtains the help of Pwyll by
exchanging kingdoms with him for a year, and Pwyll defeats Hafgan. It is
a beautiful land, where merriment and feasting go on continuously, and
its queen is of great loveliness. It has no subterranean character, and
is conceived apparently as contiguous to Pwyll's kingdom.[1246] In other
tales it is the land whence Gwydion and others obtain various
animals.[1247] The later folk-conception of the demoniac dogs of Annwfn
may be based on an old myth of dogs with which its king hunted. These
are referred to in the story of Pwyll.[1248]
_Annwfn_ is also the name of a land under waves or over sea, called also
_Caer Sidi_, "the revolving castle," about which "are ocean's streams."
It is "known to Manawyddan and Pryderi," just as the Irish Elysium was
ruled by Manannan.[1249] Another "Caer of Defence" is beneath the
waves.[1250] Perhaps the two ideas were interchangeable. The people of
this land are free from death and disease, and in it is "an abundant
well, sweeter than white wine the drink in it." There also is a cauldron
belonging to the lord of Annwfn, which was stolen by Arthur and his men.
Such a cauldron is the property of people belonging to a water world in
the _Mabinogion_.[1251]
The description of the isle of Avallon (later identified with
Glastonbury), whither Arthur was carried, completes the likeness to the
Irish Elysium. No tempest, excess of heat or cold, nor noxious animal
afflicts it; it is blessed with eternal spring and with fruit and
flowers growing without labour; it is the land of eternal youth,
unvisited by death or disease. It has a _regia virgo_ lovelier than her
lovely attendants; she cured Arthur of his wounds, hence she is the
Morgen of other tales, and she and her maidens may be identified with
the divine women of the Irish isle of women. Morgen is called a _dea
phantastica_, and she may be compared with Liban, who cured Cuchulainn
of his sickness.[1252]
The identification of Avallon with Glastonbury is probably post-pagan,
and the names applied to Glastonbury--Avallon, _Insula Pomonum_, _Insula
vitrea_--may be primitive names of Elysium. William of Malmesbury
derives _Insula Pomonum_ in its application to Glastonbury from a native
name _Insula Avallonioe_, which he connects with the Brythonic _avalla_,
"apples," because Glastenig found an apple tree there.[1253] The name
may thus have been connected with marvellous apple trees, like those of
the Irish Elysium. But he also suggests that it may be derived from the
name of Avalloc, living there with his daughters. Avalloc is evidently
the "Rex Avallon" (Avallach) to whose palace Arthur was carried and
healed by the _regia virgo_.[1254] He may therefore have been a mythic
lord of Elysium, and his daughters would correspond to the maidens of
the isle. William also derives "Glastonbury" from the name of an
eponymous founder Glastenig, or from its native name _Ynesuuitron_,
"Glass Island." This name reappears in Chretien's _Eric_ in the form
"l'isle de verre." Giraldus explains the name from the glassy waters
around Glastonbury, but it may be an early name of Elysium.[1255] Glass
must have appealed to the imagination of Celt, Teuton, and Slav, for we
hear of Merlin's glass house, a glass fort discovered by Arthur, a glass
tower attacked by the Milesians, Etain's glass _grianan_, and a boat of
glass which conveyed Connla to Elysium. In Teutonic and Slavonic myth
and _Maerchen_, glass mountains, on which dwell mysterious personages,
frequently occur.
The origin of the Celtic Elysium belief may be found in universal myths
of a golden age long ago in some distant Elysian region, where men had
lived with the gods. Into that region brave mortals might still
penetrate, though it was lost to mankind as a whole. In some mythologies
this Elysium is the land whither men go after death. Possibly the Celtic
myth of man's early intercourse with the gods in a lost region took two
forms. In one it was a joyful subterranean region whither the Celt hoped
to go after death. In the other it was not recoverable, nor was it the
land of the dead, but favoured mortals might reach it in life. The
Celtic Elysium belief, as known through the tales just cited, is always
of this second kind. We surmise, however, that the land of the dead was
a joyous underworld ruled over by a god of fertility and of the dead,
and from that region men had originally come forth. The later
association of gods with the _sid_ was a continuation of this belief,
but now the _sid_ are certainly not a land of the dead, but Elysium pure
and simple. There must therefore have been at an early period a tendency
to distinguish between the happy region of the dead, and the distant
Elysium, if the two were ever really connected. The subject is obscure,
but it is not impossible that another origin of the Elysium idea may be
found in the phenomenon of the setting sun: it suggested to the
continental Celts that far off there was a divine land where the sun-god
rested. When the Celts reached the coast this divine western land would
necessarily be located in a far-off island, seen perhaps on the horizon.
Hence it would also be regarded as connected with the sea-god, Manannan,
or by whatsoever name he was called. The distant Elysium, whether on
land or across the sea, was conceived in identical terms, and hence also
whenever the hollow hills or _sid_ were regarded as an abode of the
gods, they also were described just as Elysium was.
The idea of a world under the waters is common to many mythologies, and,
generally speaking, it originated in the animistic belief that every
part of nature has its indwelling spirits. Hence the spirits or gods of
the waters were thought of as dwelling below the waters. Tales of
supernatural beings appearing out of the waters, the custom of throwing
offerings therein, the belief that human beings were carried below the
surface or could live in the region beneath the waves, are all connected
with this animistic idea. Among the Celts this water-world assumed many
aspects of Elysium, and it has names in common with it, e.g. it is
called Mag Mell. Hence in many popular tales it is hardly differentiated
from the island Elysium; oversea and under-waves are often synonymous.
Hence, too, the belief that such water-worlds as I-Bresail, or Welsh
fairy-lands, or sunken cities off the Breton coast, rise periodically to
the surface, and would remain there permanently, like an island Elysium,
if some mortal would fulfil certain conditions.[1256]
The Celtic belief in Tir fa Tonn is closely connected with the current
belief in submerged towns or lands, found in greatest detail on the
Breton coast. Here there are many such legends, but most prominent are
those which tell how the town of Is was submerged because of the
wickedness of its people, or of Dahut, its king's daughter, who
sometimes still seeks the love of mortals. It is occasionally seen below
the waves or even on their surface.[1257] Elsewhere in Celtic regions
similar legends are found, and the submersion is the result of a curse,
of the breaking of a tabu, or of neglect to cover a sacred well.[1258]
Probably the tradition of actual cataclysms or inroads of the sea, such
as the Celts encountered on the coasts of Holland, may account for some
of these legends, which then mingled with myths of the divine
water-world.
The idea that Elysium is co-extensive with this world and hidden in a
mist is perhaps connected with the belief in the magical powers of the
gods. As the Druids could raise a mist at will, so too might the gods,
who then created a temporary Elysium in it. From such a mist, usually on
a hill, supernatural beings often emerged to meet mortals, and in
_Maerchen_ fairyland is sometimes found within a mist.[1259] It was
already believed that part of the gods' land was not far off; it was
invisibly on or within the hills on whose slopes men saw the mist
swirling mysteriously. Hence the mist may simply have concealed the
_sid_ of the gods. But there may also have been a belief that this world
was actually interpenetrated by the divine world, for this is believed
of fairyland in Welsh and Irish folk-lore. Men may unwittingly interfere
with it, or have it suddenly revealed to them, or be carried into it and
made invisible.[1260]
In most of the tales Elysium is a land without grief or death, where
there is immortal youth and peace, and every kind of delight. But in
some, while the sensuous delights are still the same, the inhabitants
are at war, invite the aid of mortals to overcome their foes, and are
even slain in fight. Still in both groups Elysium is a land of gods and
supernatural folk whither mortals are invited by favour. It is never the
world of the dead; its people are not mortals who have died and gone
thither. The two conceptions of Elysium as a land of peace and
deathlessness, and as a land where war and death may occur, may both be
primitive. The latter may have been formed by reflecting back on the
divine world the actions of the world of mortals, and it would also be
on a parallel with the conception of the world of the dead where
warriors perhaps still fought, since they were buried with their
weapons. There were also myths of gods warring with each other. But men
may also have felt that the gods were not as themselves, that their land
must be one of peace and deathlessness. Hence the idea of the peaceful
Elysium, which perhaps found most favour with the people. Mr. Nutt
thought that the idea of a warlike Elysium may have resulted from
Scandinavian influence acting on existing tales of a peaceful
Elysium,[1261] but we know that old myths of divine wars already
existed. Perhaps this conception arose among the Celts as a warlike
people, appealing to their warrior instincts, while the peaceful Elysium
may have been the product of the Celts as an agricultural folk, for we
have seen that the Celt was now a fighter, now a farmer. In its peaceful
aspect Elysium is "a familiar, cultivated land," where the fruits of the
earth are produced without labour, and where there are no storms or
excess of heat or cold--the fancies which would appeal to a toiling,
agricultural people. There food is produced magically, yet naturally,
and in agricultural ritual men sought to increase their food supply
magically. In the tales this process is, so to speak, heightened.[1262]
Some writers have maintained that Elysium is simply the land of the
dead, although nothing in the existing tales justifies this
interpretation. M. D'Arbois argues for this view, resting his theory
mainly on a passage in the story of Connla, interpreted by him in a way
which does not give its real meaning.[1263] The words are spoken by the
goddess to Connla, and their sense is--"The Ever-Living Ones invite
thee. Thou art a champion to Tethra's people. They see thee every day in
the assemblies of thy fatherland, among thy familiar loved ones."[1264]
M. D'Arbois assumes that Tethra, a Fomorian, is lord of Elysium, and
that after his defeat by the Tuatha Dea, he, like Kronos, took refuge
there, and now reigns as lord of the dead. By translating _ar-dot-chiat_
("they see thee," 3rd plur., pres. ind.) as "on t'y verra," he maintains
that Connla, by going to Elysium, will be seen among the gatherings of
his dead kinsfolk. But the words, "Thou art a champion to Tethra's
people," cannot be made to mean that Tethra is a god of the dead. It
means simply that Connla is a mighty warrior, one of those whom Tethra,
a war-god, would have approved. The phrase, "Tethra's mighty men," used
elsewhere,[1265] is a conventional one for warriors. The rest of the
goddess's words imply that the Immortals from afar, or perhaps "Tethra's
mighty men," i.e. warriors in this world, see Connla in the assemblies
of his fatherland in Erin, among his familiar friends. Dread death
awaits _them_, she has just said, but the Immortals desire Connla to
escape that by coming to Elysium. Her words do not imply that he will
meet his dead ancestors there, nor is she in any sense a goddess of
death. If the dead went to Elysium, there would be little need for
inviting a living person to go there. Had Connla's dead ancestors or
Tethra's people (warriors) been in Elysium, this would contradict the
picture drawn by the goddess of the land whither she desires him to
go--a land of women, not of men. Moreover, the rulers of Elysium are
always members of the Tuatha De Danann or the _sid_-folk, never a
Fomorian like Tethra.[1266]
M. D'Arbois also assumes that "Spain" in Nennius' account of the Irish
invasions and in Irish texts means the land of the dead, and that it was
introduced in place of some such title as Mag Mor or Mag Mell by "the
euhemerising process of the Irish Christians." But in other documents
penned by Irish Christians these and other pagan titles of Elysium
remain unchanged. Nor is there the slightest proof that the words used
by Tuan MacCaraill about the invaders of Ireland, "They all died," were
rendered in an original text, now lost according to M. D'Arbois, "They
set sail for Mag Mor or Mag Mell," a formula in which Nennius saw
indications of a return to Spain.[1267] Spain, in this hypothetical
text, was the Land of the Dead or Elysium, whence the invaders came.
This "lost original" exists in M. D'Arbois imagination, and there is not
the slightest evidence for these alterations. Once, indeed, Tailtiu is
called daughter of Magh Mor, King of Spain, but here a person, not a
place, is spoken of.[1268] Sir John Rh[^y]s accepts the identification
of Spain with Elysium as the land of the dead, and finds in every
reference to Spain a reference to the Other-world, which he regards as a
region ruled by "dark divinities." But neither the lords of Elysium nor
the Celtic Dispater were dark or gloomy deities, and the land of the
dead was certainly not a land of darkness any more than Elysium. The
numerous references to Spain probably point to old traditions regarding
a connection between Spain and Ireland in early times, both commercial
and social, and it is not impossible that Goidelic invaders did reach
Ireland from Spain.[1269] Early maps and geographers make Ireland and
Spain contiguous; hence in an Irish tale Ireland is visible from Spain,
and this geographical error would strengthen existing traditions.[1270]
"Spain" was used vaguely, but it does not appear to have meant Elysium
or the Land of the Dead. If it did, it is strange that the Tuatha De
Danann are never brought into connection with it.
One of the most marked characteristics of the Celtic Elysium is its
deathlessness. It is "the land of the living" or of "the Ever-Living
Ones," and of eternal youth. Most primitive races believe that death is
an accident befalling men who are naturally immortal; hence freedom from
such an accident naturally characterises the people of the divine land.
But, as in other mythologies, that immortality is more or less dependent
on the eating or drinking of some food or drink of immortality. Manannan
had immortal swine, which, killed one day, came alive next day, and with
their flesh he made the Tuatha De Danann immortal. Immortality was also
conferred by the drinking of Goibniu's ale, which, either by itself or
with the flesh of swine, formed his immortal feast. The food of Elysium
was inexhaustible, and whoever ate it found it to possess that taste
which he preferred. The fruit of certain trees in Elysium was also
believed to confer immortality and other qualities. Laeg saw one hundred
and fifty trees growing in Mag Mell; their nuts fed three hundred
people. The apple given by the goddess to Connla was inexhaustible, and
he was still eating it with her when Teigue, son of Cian, visited
Elysium. "When once they had partaken of it, nor age nor dimness could
affect them."[1271] Apples, crimson nuts, and rowan berries are
specifically said to be the food of the gods in the tale of _Diarmaid
and Grainne_. Through carelessness one of the berries was dropped on
earth, and from it grew a tree, the berries of which had the effect of
wine or mead, and three of them eaten by a man of a hundred years made
him youthful. It was guarded by a giant.[1272] A similar tree growing on
earth--a rowan guarded by a dragon, is found in the tale of Fraoch, who
was bidden to bring a branch of it to Ailill. Its berries had the virtue
of nine meals; they healed the wounded, and added a year to a man's
life.[1273] At the wells which were the source of Irish rivers were
supposed to grow hazel-trees with crimson nuts, which fell into the
water and were eaten by salmon.[1274] If these were caught and eaten,
the eater obtained wisdom and knowledge. These wells were in Erin, but
in some instances the well with its hazels and salmon is in the
Other-world,[1275] and it is obvious that the crimson nuts are the same
as the food of the gods in _Diarmaid and Grainne_.
Why should immortality be dependent on the eating of certain foods? Most
of man's irrational ideas have some reason in them, and probably man's
knowledge that without food life would come to an end, joined to his
idea of deathlessness, led him to believe that there was a certain food
which produced immortality just as ordinary food supported life. On it
gods and deathless beings were fed. Similarly, as water cleansed and
invigorated, it was thought that some special kind of water had these
powers in a marvellous degree. Hence arose the tales of the Fountain of
Youth and the belief in healing wells. From the knowledge of the
nourishing power of food, sprang the idea that some food conferred the
qualities inherent in it, e.g. the flesh of divine animals eaten
sacramentally, and that gods obtained their immortality from eating or
drinking. This idea is widespread. The Babylonian gods had food and
water of Life; Egyptian myth spoke of the bread and beer of eternity
which nourished the gods; the Hindus and Iranians knew of the divine
_soma_ or _haoma_; and in Scandinavian myth the gods renewed their youth
by tasting Iduna's golden apples.
In Celtic Elysium tales, the fruit of a tree is most usually the food of
immortality. The fruit never diminishes and always satisfies, and it is
the food of the gods. When eaten by mortals it confers immortality upon
them; in other words, it makes them of like nature to the gods, and this
is doubtless derived from the widespread idea that the eating of food
given by a stranger makes a man of one kin with him. Hence to eat the
food of gods, fairies, or of the dead, binds the mortal to them and he
cannot leave their land. This might be illustrated from a wide range of
myth and folk-belief. When Connla ate the apple he at once desired to go
to Elysium, and he could not leave it once he was there; he had become
akin to its people. In the stories of Bran and Oisin, they are not said
to have eaten such fruit, but the primitive form of the tales may have
contained this incident, and this would explain why they could not set
foot on earth unscathed, and why Bran and his followers, or, in the tale
of Fiachna, Loegaire and his men who had drunk the ale of Elysium,
returned thither. In other tales, it is true, those who eat food in
Elysium can return to earth--Cormac and Cuchulainn; but had we the
primitive form of these tales we should probably find that they had
refrained from eating. The incident of the fruit given by an immortal to
a mortal may have borrowed something from the wide folk-custom of the
presentation of an apple as a gage of love or as a part of the marriage
rite.[1276] Its acceptance denotes willingness to enter upon betrothal
or marriage. But as in the Roman rite of _confarreatio_ with its savage
parallels, the underlying idea is probably that which has just been
considered, namely, that the giving and acceptance of food produces the
bond of kinship.
As various nuts and fruits were prized in Ireland as food, and were
perhaps used in some cases to produce an intoxicant,[1277] it is evident
that the trees of Elysium were, primarily, a magnified form of earthly
trees. But all such trees were doubtless objects of a cult before their
produce was generally eaten; they were first sacred or totem-trees, and
their food eaten only occasionally and sacramentally. If so, this would
explain why they grew in Elysium and their fruit was the food of the
gods. For whatever man eats or drinks is generally supposed to have been
first eaten and drunk by the gods, like the _soma_. But, growing in
Elysium, these trees, like the trees of most myths of Elysium, are far
more marvellous than any known on earth. They have branches of silver
and golden apples; they have magical supplies of fruit, they produce
wonderful music which sometimes causes sleep or oblivion; and birds
perch in their branches and warble melody "such that the sick would
sleep to it." It should be noted also that, as Miss Hull points out, in
some tales the branch of a divine tree becomes a talisman leading the
mortal to Elysium; in this resembling the golden bough plucked by AEneas
before visiting the underworld.[1278] This, however, is not the
fundamental characteristic of the tree, in Irish story. Possibly, as Mr.
A.B. Cook maintains, the branch giving entrance to Elysium is derived
from the branch borne by early Celtic kings of the wood, while the tree
is an imaginative form of those which incarnated a vegetation
spirit.[1279] Be this as it may, it is rather the fruit eaten by the
mortal which binds him to the Immortal Land.
The inhabitants of Elysium are not only immortal, but also invisible at
will. They make themselves visible to one person only out of many
present with him. Connla alone sees the goddess, invisible to his father
and the Druid. Mananuan is visible to Bran, but there are many near the
hero whom he does not see; and when the same god comes to Fand, he is
invisible to Cuchulainn and those with him. So Mider says to Etain, "We
behold, and are not beheld."[1280] Occasionally, too, the people of
Elysium have the power of shape-shifting--Fand and Liban appear to
Cuchulainn as birds.
The hazel of knowledge connects wisdom with the gods' world, and in
Celtic belief generally civilisation and culture were supposed to have
come from the gods. The things of their land were coveted by men, and
often stolen thence by them. In Welsh and Irish tales, often with
reference to the Other-world, a magical cauldron has a prominent place.
Dagda possessed such a cauldron and it was inexhaustible, and a vat of
inexhaustible mead is described in the story of _Cuchulain's Sickness_.
Whatever was put into such cauldrons satisfied all, no matter how
numerous they might be.[1281] Cuchulainn obtained one from the daughter
of the king of Scath, and also carried off the king's three cows.[1282]
In an analogous story, he stole from Curoi, by the connivance of his
wife Blathnat, her father Mider's cauldron, three cows, and the woman
herself. But in another version Cuchulainn and Curoi go to Mider's
stronghold in the Isle of Falga (Elysium), and steal cauldron, cows, and
Blathnat. These were taken from Cuchulainn by Curoi; hence his revenge
as in the previous tale.[1283] Thus the theft was from Elysium. In the
Welsh poem "The Spoils of Annwfn," Arthur stole a cauldron from Annwfn.
Its rim was encrusted with pearls, voices issued from it, it was kept
boiling by the breath of nine maidens, and it would not boil a coward's
food.[1284]
As has been seen from the story of Gwion, he was set to watch a cauldron
which must boil until it yielded "three drops of the grace of
inspiration." It belonged to Tegid Voel and Cerridwen, divine rulers of
a Land under the Waters.[1285] In the _Mabinogi_ of Branwen, her brother
Bran received a cauldron from two beings, a man and a huge woman, who
came from a lake. This cauldron was given by him to the king of Erin,
and it had the property of restoring to life the slain who were placed
in it.[1286]
The three properties of the cauldron--inexhaustibility, inspiration, and
regeneration--may be summed up in one word, fertility; and it is
significant that the god with whom such a cauldron was associated,
Dagda, was a god of fertility. But we have just seen it associated,
directly or indirectly, with goddesses--Cerridwen, Branwen, the woman
from the lake--and perhaps this may point to an earlier cult of
goddesses of fertility, later transferred to gods. In this light the
cauldron's power of restoring to life is significant, since in early
belief life is associated with what is feminine. Woman as the fruitful
mother suggested that the Earth, which produced and nourished, was also
female. Hence arose the cult of the Earth-mother who was often also a
goddess of love as well as of fertility. Cerridwen, in all probability,
was a goddess of fertility, and Branwen a goddess of love.[1287] The
cult of fertility was usually associated with orgiastic and
indiscriminate love-making, and it is not impossible that the cauldron,
like the Hindu _yoni_, was a symbol of fertility.[1288] Again, the
slaughter and cooking of animals was usually regarded as a sacred act in
primitive life. The animals were cooked in enormous cauldrons, which
were found as an invariable part of the furniture of every Celtic
house.[1289] The quantities of meat which they contained may have
suggested inexhaustibility to people to whom the cauldron was already a
symbol of fertility. Thus the symbolic cauldron of a fertility cult was
merged with the cauldron used in the religious slaughter and cooking of
animal food. The cauldron was also used in ritual. The Cimri slaughtered
human victims over a cauldron and filled it with their blood; victims
sacrificed to Teutates were suffocated in a vat (_semicupium_); and in
Ireland "a cauldron of truth" was used in the ordeal of boiling
water.[1290] Like the food of men which was regarded as the food of the
gods, the cauldron of this world became the marvellous cauldron of the
Other-world, and as it then became necessary to explain the origin of
such cauldrons on earth, myths arose, telling how they had been stolen
from the divine land by adventurous heroes, Cuchulainn, Arthur, etc. In
other instances, the cauldron is replaced by a magic vessel or cup
stolen from supernatural beings by heroes of the Fionn saga or of
_Maerchen_.[1291] Here, too, it may be noted that the Graal of Arthurian
romance has affinities with the Celtic cauldron. In the _Conte du Graal_
of pseudo-Chretien, a cup comes in of itself and serves all present with
food. This is a simple conception of the Graal, but in other poems its
magical and sacrosanct character is heightened. It supplies the food
which the eater prefers, it gives immortal youth and immunity from
wounds. In these respects it presents an unmistakable likeness to the
cauldron of Celtic myth. But, again, it was the vessel in which Christ
had instituted the Blessed Sacrament; it contained His Blood; and it had
been given by our Lord to Joseph of Arimathea. Thus in the Graal there
was a fusion of the magic cauldron of Celtic paganism and the Sacred
Chalice of Christianity, with the product made mystic and glorious in a
most wonderful manner. The story of the Graal became immensely popular,
and, deepening in ethical, mystical, and romantic import as time went
on, was taken up by one poet after another, who "used it as a type of
the loftiest goal of man's effort."[1292]
In other ways myth told how the gifts of civilisation came from the
gods' world. When man came to domesticate animals, it was believed in
course of time that the knowledge of domestication or, more usually, the
animals themselves had come from the gods, only, in this case, the
animals were of a magical, supernatural kind. Such a belief underlies
the stories in which Cuchulainn steals cows from their divine owners. In
other instances, heroes who obtain a wife from the _sid_-folk, obtain
also cattle from the _sid_.[1293] As has been seen the swine given to
Pryderi by Arawn, king of Annwfn, and hitherto unknown to man, are
stolen from him by Gwydion, Pryderi being son of Pwyll, a temporary king
of Annwfn, and in all probability both were lords of Elysium. The theft,
in the original form of the myth, must thus have been from Elysium,
though we have a hint in "The Spoils of Annwfn" that Gwydion (Gweir) was
unsuccessful and was imprisoned in Annwfn, to which imprisonment the
later blending of Annwfn with hell gave a doleful aspect.[1294] In a
late Welsh MS., a white roebuck and a puppy (or, in the _Triads_, a
bitch, a roebuck, and a lapwing) were stolen by Amaethon from Annwfn, and
the story presents archaic features.[1295] In some of these tales the
animals are transferred to earth by a divine or semi-divine being, in
whom we may see an early Celtic culture-hero. The tales are attenuated
forms of older myths which showed how all domestic animals were at first
the property of the gods, and an echo of these is still heard in
_Maerchen_ describing the theft of cattle from fairyland. In the most
primitive form of the tales the theft was doubtless from the underworld
of gods of fertility, the place whither the dead went. But with the rise
of myths telling of a distant Elysium, it was inevitable that some tales
should connect the animals and the theft with that far-off land. So far
as the Irish and Welsh tales are concerned, the thefts seem mainly to be
from Elysium.[1296]
Love-making has a large place in the Elysium tales. Goddesses seek the
love of mortals, and the mortal desires to visit Elysium because of
their enticements. But the love-making of Elysium is "without sin,
without crime," and this phrase may perhaps suggest the existence of
ritual sex-unions at stated times for magical influence upon the
fertility of the earth, these unions not being regarded as immoral, even
when they trespassed on customary tribal law. In some of the stories
Elysium is composed of many islands, one of which is the "island of
women."[1297] These women and their queen give their favours to Bran and
his men or to Maelduin and his company. Similar "islands of women" occur
in _Maerchen_, still current among Celtic peoples, and actual islands
were or still are called by that name--Eigg and Groagez off the Breton
coast.[1298] Similar islands of women are known to Chinese, Japanese,
and Ainu folk-lore, to Greek mythology (Circe's and Calypso's islands),
and to ancient Egyptian conceptions of the future life.[1299] They were
also known elsewhere,[1300] and we may therefore assume that in
describing such an island as part of Elysium, the Celts were using
something common to universal folk-belief. But it may also owe something
to actual custom, to the memory of a time when women performed their
rites in seclusion, a seclusion perhaps recalled in the references to
the mysterious nature of the island, its inaccessibility, and its
disappearance once the mortal leaves it. To these rites men may have
been admitted by favour, but perhaps to their detriment, because of
their temporary partner's extreme erotic madness. This is the case in
the Chinese tales of the island of women, and this, rather than
home-sickness, may explain the desire of Bran, Oisin, etc., to leave
Elysium. Celtic women performed orgiastic rites on islands, as has been
seen.[1301] All this may have originated the belief in an island of
beautiful divine women as part of Elysium, while it also heightened its
sensuous aspect.
Borrowed from the delight which the Celt took in music is the recurring
reference to the marvellous music which swelled in Elysium. There, as
the goddess says to Bran, "there is nothing rough or harsh, but sweet
music striking on the ear." It sounded from birds on every tree, from
the branches of trees, from marvellous stones, and from the harps of
divine musicians. And this is recalled in the ravishing music which the
belated traveller hears as he passes fairy-haunted spots--"what pipes
and timbrels, what wild ecstasy!" The romantic beauty of Elysium is
described in these Celtic tales in a way unequalled in all other sagas
or _Maerchen_, and it is insisted on by those who come to lure mortals
there. The beauty of its landscapes--hills, white cliffs, valleys, sea
and shore, lakes and rivers,--of its trees, its inhabitants, and its
birds,--the charm of its summer haze, is obviously the product of the
imagination of a people keenly alive to natural beauty. The opening
lines sung by the goddess to Bran strike a note which sounds through all
Celtic literature:
"There is a distant isle, around which sea-horses glisten,
...
A beauty of a wondrous land, whose aspects are lovely,
Whose view is a fair country, incomparable in its haze.
It is a day of lasting weather, that showers silver on the land;
A pure white cliff on the range of the sea,
Which from the sun receives its heat."
So Oisin describes it: "I saw a country all green and full of flowers,
with beautiful smooth plains, blue hills, and lakes and waterfalls." All
this and more than this is the reflection of nature as it is found in
Celtic regions, and as it was seen by the eye of Celtic dreamers, and
interpreted to a poetic race by them.
In Irish accounts of the _sid_, Dagda has the supremacy, wrested later
from him by Oengus, but generally each owner of a _sid_ is its lord. In
Welsh tradition Arawn is lord of Annwfn, but his claims are contested by
a rival, and other lords of Elysium are known. Manannan, a god of the
sea, appears to be lord of the Irish island Elysium which is called "the
land of Manannan," perhaps because it was easy to associate an oversea
world "around which sea-horses glisten" with a god whose mythic steeds
were the waves. But as it lay towards the sunset, and as some of its
aspects may have been suggested by the glories of the setting sun, the
sun-god Lug was also associated with it, though he hardly takes the
place of Manannan.
Most of the aspects of Elysium appear unchanged in later folk-belief,
but it has now become fairyland--a place within hills, mounds, or _sid_,
of marvellous beauty, with magic properties, and where time lapses as in
a dream. A wonderful oversea land is also found in _Maerchen_ and
tradition, and Tir na n-Og is still a living reality to the Celt. There
is the fountain of youth, healing balsams, life-giving fruits, beautiful
women or fairy folk. It is the true land of heart's desire. In the
eleventh century MSS. from which our knowledge of Elysium is mainly
drawn, but which imply a remote antiquity for the materials and ideas of
the tales, the _sid_-world is still the world of divine beings, though
these are beginning to assume the traits of fairies. Probably among the
people themselves the change had already begun to be made, and the land
of the gods was simply fairyland. In Wales the same change had taken
place, as is seen by Giraldus' account of Elidurus enticed to a
subterranean fairyland by two small people.[1302]
Some of the Elysium tales have been influenced by Christian conceptions,
and in a certain group, the _Imrama_ or "Voyages," Elysium finally
becomes the Christian paradise or heaven. But the Elysium conception
also reacted on Christian ideas of paradise. In the _Voyage of
Maelduin_, which bears some resemblance to the story of Bran, the
Christian influence is still indefinite, but it is more marked in the
_Voyage of Snedgus and MacRiagla_. One island has become a kind of
intermediate state, where dwell Enoch and Elijah, and many others
waiting for the day of judgment. Another island resembles the Christian
heaven. But in the _Voyage of Brandan_ the pagan elements have
practically disappeared; there is an island of hell and an island of
paradise.[1303] The island conception is the last relic of paganism, but
now the voyage is undertaken for the purpose of revenge or penance or
pilgrimage. Another series of tales of visionary journeys to hell or
heaven are purely Christian, yet the joys of heaven have a sensuous
aspect which recalls those of the pagan Elysium. In one of these, _The
Tidings of Doomsday_,[1304] there are two hells, and besides heaven
there is a place for the _boni non valde_, resembling the island of
Enoch and Elijah in the _Voyage of Snedgus_. The connection of Elysium
with the Christian paradise is seen in the title _Tir Tairngiri_, "The
Land of Promise," which is applied to the heavenly kingdom or the land
flowing with milk and honey in early glosses, e.g. on Heb. iv. 4, vi.
15, where Canaan and the _regnum c[oe]lorum_ are called _Tir Tairngiri_,
and in a gloss to 1 Cor. x. 4, where the heavenly land is called Tir
Tairngiri Innambeo, "The Land of Promise of the Living Ones," thus
likening it to the "Land of the Living" in the story of Connla.
Sensuous as many of the aspects of Elysium are, they have yet a
spiritual aspect which must not be overlooked. The emphasis placed on
its beauty, its music, its rest and peace, its oblivion, is spiritual
rather than sensual, while the dwelling of favoured mortals there with
divine beings is suggestive of that union with the divine which is the
essence of all religion. Though men are lured to seek it, they do not
leave it, or they go back to it after a brief absence, and Laeg says
that he would prefer Elysium to the kingship of all Ireland, and his
words are echoed by others. And the lure of the goddess often emphasises
the freedom from turmoil, grief, and the rude alarms of earthly life.
This "sweet and blessed country" is described with all the passion of a
poetical race who dreamed of perfect happiness, and saw in the joy of
nature's beauty, the love of women, and the thought of unbroken peace
and harmony, no small part of man's truest life. Favoured mortals had
reached Elysium, and the hope that he, too, might be so favoured buoyed
up the Celt as he dreamed over this state, which was so much more
blissful even than the future state of the dead. Many races have
imagined a happy Other-world, but no other race has so filled it with
magic beauty, or so persistently recurred to it as the Celts. They stood
on the cliffs which faced the west, and as the pageant of sunset passed
before them, or as at midday the light shimmered on the far horizon and
on shadowy islands, they gazed with wistful eyes as if to catch a
glimpse of Elysium beyond the fountains of the deep and the halls of the
setting sun. In all this we see the Celtic version of a primitive and
instinctive human belief. Man refuses to think that the misery and
disappointment and strife and pain of life must always be his. He hopes
and believes that there is reserved for him, somewhere and at some time,
eternal happiness and eternal love.
FOOTNOTES:
[1231] Nutt-Meyer, i. 213.
[1232] Joyce, _OCR_ 431.
[1233] D'Arbois, ii. 311; _IT_ i. 113 f.; O'Curry, _MC_ iii. 190.
[1234] Nutt-Meyer, i. 1 f., text and translation.
[1235] _LU_ 120_a_; Windisch, _Irische Gramm._ 120 f.; D'Arbois, v. 384
f.; _Gaelic Journal_, ii. 307.
[1236] _TOS_ iv. 234. See also Joyce, _OCR_ 385; Kennedy, 240.
[1237] _LU_ 43 f.; _IT_ i. 205 f.; O'Curry, _Atlantis_, ii., iii.;
D'Arbois, v. 170; Leahy, i. 60 f.
[1238] "From Manannan came foes."
[1239] Joyce, _OCR_ 223 f.
[1240] O'Grady, ii. 290. In this story the sea is identified with
Fiachna's wife.
[1241] Joyce, _OCR_ 253 f.
[1242] _IT_ iii. 211 f.; D'Arbois, ii. 185.
[1243] O'Curry, _MS. Mat._ 388.
[1244] A similar idea occurs in many Fian tales.
[1245] Evans, _Welsh Dict. s.v._ "Annwfn"; Anwyl, 60; Gaidoz, _ZCP_ i.
29 f.
[1246] Loth, i. 27 f.; see p. 111, _supra_.
[1247] Pp. 106, 112, _supra_.
[1248] Guest, iii. 75; Loth, i. 29 f.
[1249] Skene, i. 264, 276. Cf. the _Ille tournoiont_ of the Graal
romances and the revolving houses of _Maerchen_. A revolving rampart
occurs in "Maelduin" (_RC_ x. 81).
[1250] Skene, i. 285.
[1251] Pp. 103, 116, _supra_.
[1252] Chretien, _Eric_, 1933 f.; Geoffrey, _Vita Merlini_, 41; San
Marte, _Geoffrey_, 425. Another Irish Liban is called Muirgen, which is
the same as Morgen. See Girald. Cambr. _Spec. Eccl._ Rolls Series, iv.
48.
[1253] William of Malmesbury, _de Ant. Glaston. Eccl._
[1254] San Marte, 425.
[1255] _Op. cit._ iv. 49.
[1256] Joyce, _OCR_ 434; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 170; Hardiman, _Irish Minst._
i. 367; Sebillot, ii. 56 f.; Girald. Cambr. ii. 12. The underworld is
sometimes reached through a well (cf. p. 282, _supra_; _TI_ iii. 209).
[1257] _Le Braz_{2}, i. p. xxxix, ii. 37 f.; Albert le Grand, _Vies de
Saints de Bretagne_, 63.
[1258] A whole class of such Irish legends is called _Tomhadna_,
"Inundations." A typical instance is that of the town below Lough Neagh,
already referred to by Giraldus Cambrensis, _Top. Hib._ ii. 9; cf. a
Welsh instance in _Itin. Cambr._ i. 2. See Rh[^y]s, _CFL, passim_;
Kennedy, 282; _Rev. des Trad. Pop._ ix. 79.
[1259] _Scott. Celt. Rev._ i. 70; Campbell, _WHT_ Nos. 38, 52; Loth, i.
38.
[1260] Curtin, _Tales_, 158; Rh[^y]s, _CFL_ i. 230.
[1261] Nutt-Meyer, i. 159.
[1262] In the Vedas, Elysium has also a strong agricultural aspect,
probably for the same reasons.
[1263] D'Arbois, ii. 119, 192, 385, vi. 197, 219; _RC_ xxvi. 173; _Les
Druides_, 121.
[1264] For the text see Windisch, _Ir. Gram._ 120: "Totchurethar bii
bithbi at gerait do dainib Tethrach. ar-dot-chiat each dia i n-dalaib
tathardai eter dugnathu inmaini." Dr. Stokes and Sir John Rh[^y]s have
both privately confirmed the interpretation given above.
[1265] "Dialogue of the Sages," _RC_ xxvi. 33 f.
[1266] Tethra was husband of the war-goddess Badb, and in one text his
name is glossed _badb_ (Cormac, _s.v._ "Tethra"). The name is also
glossed _muir_, "sea," by O'Cleary, and the sea is called "the plain of
Tethra" (_Arch. Rev._ i. 152). These obscure notices do not necessarily
denote that he was ruler of an oversea Elysium.
[1267] Nennius, _Hist. Brit._ Sec. 13; D'Arbois, ii. 86, 134, 231.
[1268] _LL_ 8_b_; Keating, 126.
[1269] Both art _motifs_ and early burial customs in the two countries
are similar. See Reinach, _RC_ xxi. 88; _L'Anthropologie_, 1889, 397;
Siret, _Les Premiere Ages du Metal dans le Sud. Est. de l'Espagne._
[1270] Orosius, i. 2. 71; _LL_ 11_b_.
[1271] D'Arbois, v. 384; O'Grady, ii. 385.
[1272] _TOS_ iii. 119; Joyce, _OCR_ 314. For a folk-tale version see
_Folk-lore_, vii. 321.
[1273] Leahy, i. 36; Campbell, _LF_ 29; _CM_ xiii. 285; _Dean of
Lismore's Book_, 54.
[1274] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 143; Cormac, 35.
[1275] See p. 187, _supra_; _IT_ iii. 213.
[1276] See Gaidoz, "La Requisition de l'Amour et la Symbolisme de la
Pomme," _Ann. de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes_, 1902; Fraser,
_Pausanias_, iii. 67.
[1277] Rh[^y]s, _HL_ 359.
[1278] "The Silver Bough in Irish Legend," _Folk-Lore_, xii. 431.
[1279] Cook, _Folk-Lore_, xvii. 158.
[1280] _IT_ i. 133.
[1281] O'Donovan, _Battle of Mag Rath_, 50; D'Arbois, v. 67; _IT_ i. 96.
Dagda's cauldron came from Murias, probably an oversea world.
[1282] Miss Hull, 244. Scath is here the Other-world, conceived,
however, as a dismal abode.
[1283] O'Curry, _MC_ ii. 97, iii. 79; Keating, 284 f.; _RC_ xv. 449.
[1284] Skene, i. 264; cf. _RC_ xxii. 14.
[1285] P. 116, _supra_.
[1286] Guest, iii. 321 f.
[1287] See pp. 103, 117, _supra_.
[1288] For the use of a vessel in ritual as a symbol of deity, see
Crooke, _Folk-Lore_, viii. 351 f.
[1289] Diod. Sic. v. 28; Athen. iv. 34; Joyce, _SH_ ii. 124; _Antient
Laws of Ireland_, iv. 327. The cauldrons of Irish houses are said in the
texts to be inexhaustible (cf. _RC_ xxiii. 397).
[1290] Strabo, vii. 2. 1; Lucan, Usener's ed., p. 32; _IT_ iii. 210;
_Antient Laws of Ireland_, i. 195 f.
[1291] Curtin, _HTI_ 249, 262.
[1292] See Villemarque, _Contes Pop. des anciens Bretons_, Paris, 1842;
Rh[^y]s, _AL_; and especially Nutt, _Legend of the Holy Grail_, 1888.
[1293] "Adventures of Nera," _RC_ x. 226; _RC_ xvi. 62, 64.
[1294] P. 106, _supra_.
[1295] P. 107, _supra_.
[1296] For parallel myths see _Rig-Veda_, i. 53. 2; Campbell, _Travels
in South Africa_, i. 306; Johnston, _Uganda Protectorate_, ii. 704; Ling
Roth, _Natives of Sarawak_, i. 307; and cf. the myth of Prometheus.
[1297] This is found in the stories of Bran, Maelduin, Connla, in Fian
tales (O'Grady, ii. 228, 238), in the "Children of Tuirenn," and in
Gaelic _Maerchen_.
[1298] Martin, 277; Sebillot, ii. 76.
[1299] Burton, _Thousand Nights and a Night_, x. 239; Chamberlain, _Aino
Folk-Tales_, 38; _L'Anthropologie_, v. 507; Maspero, _Hist. anc. des
peuples de l'Orient_, i. 183. The lust of the women of these islands is
fatal to their lovers.
[1300] An island near New Guinea is called "the land of women." On it
men are allowed to land temporarily, but only the female offspring of
the women are allowed to survive (_L' Anthrop._ v. 507). The Indians of
Florida had a tradition of an island in a lake inhabited by the fairest
women (Chateaubriand, _Autob._ 1824, ii. 24), and Fijian mythology knows
of an Elysian island of goddesses, near the land of the gods, to which a
few favoured mortals are admitted (Williams, _Fiji_, i. 114).
[1301] P. 274, _supra_. Islands may have been regarded as sacred because
of such cults, as the folk-lore reported by Plutarch suggests (p. 343,
_supra_). Celtic saints retained the veneration for islands, and loved
to dwell on them, and the idea survives in folk-belief. Cf. the
veneration of Lewismen for the Flannan islands.
[1302] Gir. Camb. _Itin. Camb._ i. 8.
[1303] Translations of some of these _Voyages_ by Stokes are given in
_RC_, vols. ix. x. and xiv. See also Zimmer, "Brendan's Meerfahrt,"
_Zeits. fuer Deut. Alt._ xxxiii.; cf. Nutt-Meyer, ch. 4, 8.
[1304] _RC_ iv. 243.
INDEX
Abnoba, 43.
Adamnan, 72.
Aed Abrat, 65.
Aed Slane, 351.
Aeracura, 37, 44.
Afanc, 190.
Agricultural rites, 3, 4, 57, 80, 107, 140, 227, 237. See Festivals.
Aife, 129.
Aillen, 70.
Aine, 70 f.
Aitherne, 84.
Albiorix, 28.
All Saints' Day, 170.
All Souls' Day, 170.
Allat, 87, 100.
Alpine race, 8, 12.
Altars, 282 f.
Amaethon, 107, 384.
Amairgen, 55, 172.
Ambicatus, 19, 222.
Amours with mortals, divine, 128, 159, 348, 350, 355.
Amulets, 30, 327 f., 323.
Ancestor worship, 165, 200.
Andarta, 41.
Andrasta, 41, 125.
Anextiomarus, 125.
Animal gods, anthropomorphic, 34, 92, 106, 139 f., 158, 210, 212, 226.
Animal worship, 3, 92, 140, 186, 208 f., 260.
Animals, burial of, 186, 211, 221.
Animals, descent from, 213, 216 f.
Animals, domestic, from the gods' land, 37, 384.
Animals, dressing as, 217, 260.
Animals, sacramental eating of, 221 f.
Animals, slaughter of, 382.
Animals, tabooed, 219.
Animism, 173, 185.
Ankou, 345.
Annwfn, 106, 111, 115, 117, 367 f., 381.
Anu, 67 f., 72, 73, 223.
Anwyl, Prof., 41 note, 96.
Apollo, 25, 27, 125, 180, 183, 231.
Arawn, 111, 368, 384, 387.
Archaeology, 2.
Arduinna, 43.
Arianrhod, 104, 105, 106, 109 f.
Artemis, 42, 110, 177, 242.
Artaios, 24, 121.
Arthur, 88, 97, 109, 117, 119 f., 211, 242, 344, 369, 381.
Arthurian cycle, 119, 383.
Artor, 121.
Arvalus, 125.
Astrology, 248.
Augustus, 23, 90.
Auto-suggestion, 254.
Avagddu, 116.
Avallon, 120, 369.
Bacchus, 274.
Badb, 58, 71, 72, 136, 137, 232.
Badbcatha, 41, 71.
Balor, 31, 35 note, 54, 57, 89, 90.
Banba, 50, 73, 74.
_Banfeinnidi_, 72.
_Bangaisgedaig_, 72.
Baptism, 196 note, 308 f.
Bards, 117, 299, 325.
Barintus, 88.
Barrex, 125.
Barri, S., 88.
Bear, cult of, 212.
Beddoe, Dr., 12.
Belatucadros, 28, 125.
Belenos, 26, 102, 113, 124, 231, 264, 298.
Belgae, 9 f.
Beli, 60, 98, 103, 112 f., 124.
_Belinuntia_, 26, 322.
Belinus, 26, 102, 113, 124.
Belisama, 41, 68-69, 125.
Bellovesus, 19.
Beltane, 92, 194, 239, 259, 264.
Bericynthia, 44, 275.
Bertrand, M., 305.
_Bile_, 162, 201.
Bile, 54, 60, 103.
Bird gods, 108, 205, 247.
Birth, 196, 345.
Black Annis' Bower, 67.
Blathnat, 84, 109, 381.
Blodeuwedd, 104, 105 f., 108.
Blood, 240, 244.
Blood, Brotherhood, 131, 240.
Boand, 81, 191.
Boar, cult of, 42.
Bodb, 83.
Bodb Dearg, 64, 78, 86.
Bormana, 43.
Borvo, 43, 183.
Boudicca, 72, 125, 161, 219.
Boughs, 265, 270.
Boundary stones, 284.
Braciaca, 28.
Bran, 34, 98, 100 f., 107, 111, 117, 160, 242, 363, 379 f.
Branwen, 98, 103 f., 381 f., 385.
Braziers, god of, 76.
Brennius, 102, 112 f.
Brennus, 160.
Bres, 53, 54, 58-59.
Brian, 73 f.
Bride, S., 69.
Bridge, 346.
Bridge of Life, 228.
Brigantia, 68, 125.
Brigindo, 68, 275.
Brigit, 41, 58, 68 f., 90, 92.
Brigit, St., 68 f., 88 note, 257.
Broca, 9.
Bronze Age, 148.
Brother-sister unions, 106, 113.
Brown Bull, 130.
Brownie, 166, 189, 245.
_Brug_. See _Sid_.
Brythons, 13.
Brythons, gods of, 85, 95 f., 124.
Buanann, 68, 73, 223.
Bull, cult of, 38, 140, 189, 208, 243.
Burial rites, 309, 337 f.
Caer Sidi, 112, 117, 368.
Caesar, 22, 29, 219, 223, 233, 283, 294, 334.
Cakes, 266.
Calatin, 131 f.
Calendar, 175 f., 252.
Camulos, 28, 125, 149.
Candlemas, 69.
Cannibalism, 239, 271.
Caoilte, 61, 142, 152, 336.
Caractacus, 103.
Carman, 167.
Carpenters, god of, 76.
Cassiterides, 39.
Cassivellaunus, 113.
Castor and Pollux, 136.
Caswallawn, 98, 102, 112-113.
Cathbad, 127.
Cathubodua, 41, 71.
Caturix, 28.
Cauldron, 84, 92, 112, 116, 120, 368, 381.
Celtae, 8, 9, 15.
Celtiberians, 176, 246.
Celtic and Teutonic religion, 11.
Celtic empire, 18 f.
Celtic origins, 8 f.
Celtic people, types of, 8.
Celtic religion, evolution of, 3 f.
Celtic religion, higher aspects of, 6.
Celtic religion, homogeneity of, 5.
Celtic religion, Roman influence on, 5.
Celts, gods of, 158.
Celts, religiosity of, 2.
Celts, temperament of, 3, 14.
Cenn Cruaich, 66, 79 note.
Cera, 77.
Cernunnos, 29 f., 32, 101, 136, 212, 282.
Cerridwen, 116 f., 351, 358 f.
Cessair, 50.
Cethlenn, 59, 81.
Cetnad, 249.
Charms, 172, 356.
Church and paganism, 6, 7, 48, 80, 115, 132, 152 f., 174 f., 203 f.,
238, 249, 258, 272, 280, 285, 288-289, 315, 321, 331, 389.
Cian, 75, 89.
Clairvoyance, 307.
Cleena, 70.
Clota, 43, 70.
Clutoida, 70.
Cocidius, 125.
Cock, 219.
Columba, S., 17, 66, 88 note, 181, 238, 315, 324, 331-332, 358.
Combats, ritual, 263, 267.
Comedovae, 47.
Comyn, M., 143, 151.
Conaire, 84, 220, 252, 255.
Conall Cernach, 134, 136, 230, 240.
Conan, 142.
Conception, magical, 351.
Conchobar, 127, 132, 160, 182, 232, 254, 349.
Conn, 367.
Conncrithir, 73.
Connla, 59, 65, 364, 374, 377, 379, 380.
Conservatism in belief, 193.
Coral, 329.
Coranians, 114.
Cordelia, 99.
Cormac, 67, 68, 88, 366.
Corn-spirit, 92, 107, 117, 168, 173, 213, 260, 262, 273 f., 275.
Corotacus, 125.
Cosmogony, 227 f.
Couvade, 130, 224.
Crafts, gods of, 93.
Cranes, 38.
Craniology, 8 f.
Creation, 230.
Creiddylad, 85, 99, 113.
Creidne, 76, 77.
Creirwy, 116.
Crom Dubh, 80.
Crom Eocha, 79.
Cromm Cruaich, 57, 79, 236, 286.
Cross, 290.
Cross-roads, 174.
Cruithne, 17.
Cuchulainn, 72, 109, 121, 123, 159, 174, 179, 220, 240, 252, 254, 336,
349, 355, 357, 365, 369, 381.
Cuchulainn saga, 38, 63, 71, 87, 97, 127 f., 145, 204, 207.
Culann, 128.
Culture goddesses, 4, 68 f.
Culture gods and heroes, 4, 58, 92-93, 106, 121, 124 note, 136.
Cumal, 125, 142, 145 f., 148 f.
Curoi, 109, 381.
Cursing wells, 137.
Dagda, 44, 61, 64, 65, 72, 74-75, 77 f., 327, 387.
Damona, 43, 215.
Dance, ritual, 246, 268, 286.
Danu, 63, 67 f., 92, 103, 223.
_Daoine-sidhe_, 62.
D'Arbois, M., 31, 38, 56, 59, 74, 79, 90, 136, 178, 264, 293, 314, 341,
357, 374.
Day of Judgment, 347.
Dead, condition and cult of, 68, 165 f., 282, 330, 333 f., 340, 344 f.,
378.
Dead Debtor, 337.
Dead, land of, and Elysium, 340 f.
Dead living in grave, 338-339.
Debility of Ultonians, 71, 129 f., 224.
Dechelette, M., 166.
Dechtire, 127 f., 348, 354.
_Deiseil_, 193, 237, 271.
Dei Terreni, 64.
Demeter, 44, 68, 117, 274.
Demons, 173 f., 188.
Devorgilla, 133.
Diana, 42, 177.
Diancecht, 77, 84, 207, 325.
Diarmaid, 82, 83, 88, 100, 142, 147, 150, 210, 220, 252, 254, 351,
365-366.
_Dii Casses,_ 39.
Diodorus Siculus, 334.
Dionysus, 211.
Dioscuri, 136.
Dirona, 42, 70.
Dirra, 70.
Disablot, 169.
Disir, 169.
Dispater, 29 f., 44, 60, 100, 169, 218, 229, 341, 345, 376.
Distortion, 128, 132, 134.
Divination, 235, 247 f., 259, 266, 304.
Divine descent, 351, 354.
Divine kings, 253.
Divineresses, 316.
Diviners, 299.
Divining rod, 248.
Dolmens, 283, 330, 352.
Domestication, 210, 214, 225.
_Dominae_, 47.
Domnu, 57 note, 59, 223.
Don, 60, 63, 103, 223.
Donnotaurus, 138, 209.
Dragon, 114, 121, 188.
Drink of oblivion, 324.
Druidesses, 250, 316.
Druidic Hedge, 324.
Druidic sending, 325.
Druids, 6, 22, 61, 76, 150, 161 f., 173, 180, 201, 205 f., 235 f., 238,
246 f., 250, 265, 280-281, 287 f., 293 f., 312.
Druids and Filid, 305 f.
Druids and magic, 310, 319, 325 f.
Druids and medicine, 309.
Druids and monasticism, 305.
Druids and Pythagoras, 303.
Druids and Rome, 312 f.
Druids, classical references to, 301 f.
Druids, dress of, 310 f.
Druids, origin of, 292 f.
Druids, poems of, 2.
Druids, power of, 312.
Druids, teaching of, 307 f., 314, 333.
Druids, varieties of, 298 f.
Drunemeton, 161, 280, 306.
Dualism, 57 f., 60 f.
Dumias, 25.
Dusii, 355.
Dwelling of gods. See Gods, abode of.
Dylan, 104, 110, 178.
_Each uisge_, 188.
Earth and Under-earth, 35, 37, 68.
Earth cults, 3.
Earth divinities, 31, 35, 37, 40, 42, 44 f., 57 note, 65, 67 f., 72, 78,
92, 110, 162, 169, 227, 229 f., 345.
Eclipses, 178.
Ecne, 74, 223.
Ecstasy, 251.
Egg, serpent's, 211.
Elatha, 53, 58, 60.
Elcmar, 78, 87.
Elements, cult of, 171 f.
Elphin, 118.
Elves, 66 note.
Elysium, 59, 78 f., 84, 87, 102, 106, 115, 116, 120, 163, 201, 229 f.,
350, 362 f.
Elysium, and Paradise, 388 f.
Elysium, characteristics of, 373 ff.
Elysium, lords of, 387.
Elysium, names of, 362.
Elysium, origin of, 370 f.
Elysium, varieties of, 363 f.
Emer, 128, 129, 135.
Enbarr, 88, 135.
Eochaid, 83.
Eochaid Ollathair, 78.
Eochaid O'Flynn, 64.
Eogabail, 70.
Epona, 43, 125, 189, 213 f.
Eri, 53.
Eridanus, 27.
Eriu, 73-74.
Esus, 29, 38, 137, 208, 234, 289.
Etain, 82 f., 223, 348, 363, 380.
Etair, 82.
Ethics, 304, 307.
Ethne, 31 note, 89.
Euhemerisation, 49 f., 84, 91, 95, 98, 127.
Eurosswyd, 100.
Evans, Dr., 200.
Evil eye, 59.
Evnissyen, 98.
Exogamy, 222.
_Ex votos_, 195.
Fachan, 251.
Fairies, 43, 45 f., 62, 64 f., 70, 73, 80, 98, 114, 115, 166, 173, 178
note, 183, 185 f., 190, 201, 203, 262, 263, 378.
Fairyland, 372, 385, 388.
_Faith_, 106, 300, 309.
Falga, 84, 87, 381.
Fand, 65, 87, 88, 135, 365, 380.
Ferdia, 131.
Fergus, 142, 336.
Fertility cults, 3, 56, 70, 73, 78, 83, 92, 93, 112, 114-115, 276, 330,
352, 382 f.
Festivals, 4, 181, 256 f.
Festivals of dead, 167.
Fetich, 289.
Fiachna, 88, 350, 366, 379.
Fians, 143, 365.
_Filid_, 248 f., 300, 305 f., 325.
_Findbennach_, 130.
Finnen, S., 351.
Finntain, 50.
Fionn, 28, 118, 120-121, 125, 142 f., 179, 220, 254, 344, 350, 365-366.
Fionn saga, 83, 97, 111, 120, 142 f.
_Fir Dea_, 63.
_Fir Domnann_, 52 f., 157.
_Fir Side_, 64, 65.
Firbolgs, 52, 57.
Fires, 199 f., 259, 261 f., 265, 268, 270.
Fires, sacred, 69.
Fish, sacred, 186, 220.
Flann Manistrech, 64.
Flood, 228, 231.
Fomorians, 51, 52 f., 55-56, 65, 72, 83, 89, 90, 114, 133, 189, 237,
251.
Food of immortality, 377 f.
Food as bond of relationship, 379.
Forest divinities, 43, 108.
Fotla, 73-74.
Foundation sacrifices, 238.
Fountains, 171, 174, 181.
Fountains of youth, 378, 388.
Fraoch, 377.
Friuch, 349.
Frazer, Dr. J.G., 170, 176, 269.
Fuamnach, 22.
Funeral sacrifices, 165, 234, 337.
Future life, 333 f.
Galatae, 18.
Galli, 19.
Gallizenae, 317. See Priestesses.
Galioin, 52, 57.
Garbh mac Stairn, 139.
Gargantua, 124 note, 230.
Garman, 167.
Gauls, 9, 20.
Gavida, 89, 109.
_Geasa_, 128, 132, 134, 144, 150 f., 160, 252 f. See Tabu.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 102, 112, 119.
Ghosts, 66, 67, 166, 169, 262, 281, 284, 330, 336.
Ghosts in trees, 202 f.
Gildas, 171.
Gilla Coemain, 64.
Gilvaethwy, 104.
Glass, 370.
Glastonbury, 115, 121, 369.
Goborchin, 189.
God of Connaught, 92.
God of Druidism, 92, 105, 122.
God of Ulster, 92.
Goddesses and mortals, 355.
Goddesses, pre-eminence of, 93, 124, 183.
Godiva, 276.
Gods, abode of, 228 f., 362, 372.
Gods, children of, 159.
Gods, fertility and civilisation from land of, 100, 106-107, 112, 121,
380 f., 383.
Gods uniting with mortals, 159.
Goibniu, 76, 103, 325.
Goidels, 16, 17, 96.
Goll mac Morna, 142.
Gomme, Sir G.L., 181, 295.
Goose, 219.
Govannon, 109 f.
Graal, 383.
Grainne, 150, 254.
Grannos, 26, 42 f., 77, 125, 183.
Gregory of Tours, 194, 196, 275.
Groves, 174, 198, 279 f.
Growth, divinities of, 5, 44, 80, 82, 92, 182.
Gruagach, 245.
Guinevere, 123.
Gurgiunt, 124.
Gutuatri, 298 f.
Gwawl, 99, 111.
Gweir, 106.
Gwion, 117, 351, 381.
Gwydion, 104, 105 f., 117, 368, 385.
Gwyn, 55, 113, 115.
Gwythur, 55.
Hades, 135.
Hafgan, 111, 368.
Hallowe'en, 259, 281.
Hallstatt, 208, 211.
Hallucinations, 323-324.
Hammer as divine symbol, 30, 291.
Hammer, God with, 30 f., 35, 36 f., 79.
Haoma, 76.
Hare, 219.
Harvest, 259, 273.
Head-hunting, 240.
Heads, cult of, 34, 71, 102, 240 f.
Healing plants, 131, 206 f.
Healing ritual, 122, 193 f.
Healing springs, 123, 186.
Hearth as altar, 165 f.
Heaven and earth, 227.
Hen, 219.
Hephaistos, 76.
Heracles, 25, 75, 133.
Heroes in hills, 344.
Hills, 66.
Holder, A., 23.
Horned helmets, 217.
Horns, gods with, 32 f.
Horse, 213 f.
Hu Gadarm, 124 note.
Hyde, Dr., 143-144.
Hyperboreans, 18, 27.
Hypnotism, 307, 310, 323-324.
Iberians, 13.
Icauna, 43.
Iconoclasm, 287.
Igerna, 120.
Images, 79, 85, 204, 277, 283 f.
_Imbas Forosnai_, 248.
Immortality, 158, 333, 376.
Incantations, 80, 248 f., 254, 297, 325.
Incest, 223 f.
Indech, 54, 58.
Inspiration, 116, 118.
Invisibility, 322, 380.
Is, 372.
Iuchar, Iucharbar, 63, 73 f.
Janus, 34, 100.
Joyce, Dr., 65, 143, 236.
Juno, 47.
Junones, 45.
Jullian, 178.
Juppiter, 29.
Kalevala, 142.
Keane, 9.
Keating, 51, 143.
Kei, 122 f.
Keres, 72.
Kieva, 99.
King and fertility, 4, 253.
Kings, divine, 160 f., 243.
Kings, election of, 306.
Kore, 44, 274-275.
Kronos, 59.
La Tene, 208.
Labraid, 65, 365, 369, 380.
Lakes, 181, 194.
Lammas, 273.
Land under waves, 371.
Lear, 86.
Ler, Lir, 49 note, 86, 320.
Lia Fail, 329.
Liban, 65, 365.
Libations, 244 f., 247.
Ligurians, 13.
Llew, 91, 104, 106.
Lludd Llawereint, 85, 99, 102, 113 f., 124.
Llyr, 98 f.
Lochlanners, 56, 147.
Lodens, 113.
Loegaire, 64, 137, 379.
Lonnrot, 142.
Loth, M., 108.
Love, 385.
Lucan, 38, 125, 279, 282, 335 f., 345.
Luchtine, 76.
Lucian, 75, 125.
Lug, 31 note, 35 note, 59, 60, 61, 74, 75, 89 f., 103, 108 f., 128, 131,
134, 137, 167, 272, 348, 353 f.
Lugaid, 132.
Lugnasad, 91, 109, 167 f., 272 f.
Lugoves, 91.
Lugus, 90, 272.
Lycanthropy, 216.
Mabinogion, 2, 95 f.
Mabon, 123, 183.
MacBain, Dr., 16, 56, 78.
MacCuill, MacCecht, and MacGrainne, 74.
Macha, 71, 129, 137, 241.
MacIneely, 89.
MacPherson, 142, 155 f.
Madonna, 289.
Maelduin, 385.
Maelrubha, S. 243.
Magic, 6, 105, 194, 292, 319.
Magic, agricultural, 260, 265-266, 271, 273, 276 note.
Magico-medical rites, 330 f., 332.
Magonia, 180.
Magtured, 53 f., 84.
Man, origin of, 36, 228.
Manannan, 49 note, 64-65, 70, 80, 86 f., 92, 100, 134, 147, 178, 189,
231, 350 f., 358, 364 f., 380, 387.
Manawyddan, 87, 98 f., 100 f., 111, 368.
Mannhardt, 269.
Maponos, 27, 123.
_Maerchen_ formulae, 77, 82, 83, 89, 95, 107-108, 111, 116, 124, 132, 133,
143, 148, 152, 187, 337, 353, 384.
Marriage, sacred, 163, 267, 273.
Mars, 27 f., 85, 180, 214.
Martin, S., 140, 243, 260.
Martinmas, 259. f.
Math, 104 f.
Matholwych, 98.
Matres, 40, 44 f., 72-73, 125, 169, 183, 214, 285, 289.
Matriarchate, 17, 223.
Matronae, 46, 123, 183.
May-day, 114.
May-queen, 163, 267.
Medb, 130 f.
Medicine, 309 f.
Mediterranean race, 9.
Medros, 84, 209.
Megaliths, 202, 297, 330, 352. See Stonehenge.
Men, cults of, 3.
Mercury, 24 f., 34, 137, 284 f.
Merlin, 120, 121 f.
Mermaids, 190.
Metempsychosis, 303, 348 f.
Meyer, Prof., 16, 294.
Miach, 27.
Mider, 82 f., 209, 363, 380-381.
Midsummer, 70, 92, 176, 184, 191, 194, 200, 215, 235, 239, 257, 268 f.
Mile, 54.
Milesians, 55, 60, 78.
Minerva, 41, 68, 125.
Miracles, 331, 351.
Mistletoe, 162, 176, 199, 205, 243 f., 270.
Mithraism, 209.
Moccus, 24, 210.
Modranicht, 169.
Modron, 123, 183.
Mogons, 27, 125, 180.
Mongan, 88, 120, 350 f., 358.
Moon, 175 f., 246.
Morgen, 159, 178, 369.
Morrigan, 71, 81, 83, 130-131, 136-137, 159, 172.
Morvran, 116, 118.
Mounds, 63, 66.
Mountain gods, 39.
Mountains, 171 f.
Mowat, M., 33, 36.
Muireartach, 56, 179.
Muirne, 148.
Mule, 214.
Mullo, 214.
Music, 329, 386.
Mythological school, 83, 89, 108, 119, 122, 133 f.
Name, 246.
Name-giving, 308 f.
Nantosvelta, 31.
Nature divinities and spirits, 48, 93, 171 f.
Needfire, 199.
Nemaind, 58.
Neman, 71.
Nemedians, 51 f.
_Nemeton_, 161.
Nemetona, 41, 71.
Nennius, 119.
Neo-Druidic heresy, 2 note.
Neptune, 85.
Nera, 339.
Nessa, 128, 349.
Net, 28, 58, 71.
Neton, 28.
New Year, 170, 259, 261.
Night, 256.
Niskas, 185.
Nodons, 85, 114, 124, 160.
Norse influence, 99, 127.
Nuada, 53 f., 61, 77, 84, 90, 160.
Nuada Necht, 85 f.
Nudd, 113, 115 f., 124, 160.
Nudd Hael, 86.
Nudity, 275-276, 322.
Nutt, Mr., 103, 373.
Nymphs, 43.
Nynnyaw, 113.
Oak, 199.
Oaths, 172 f., 292.
O'Curry, 65, 143.
O'Davoren, 91.
Oengus, 78, 81, 86, 146, 387.
Oghams, 75.
Ogma, 54, 74-75.
Ogmios, 25, 75.
Oilill Olom, 70.
Oisin, 142, 150-151, 152 f., 222, 364, 379, 387.
Omens, 247 f.
Oracles, 179, 196.
Oran, 238.
_Orbis alius_, 340.
Orbsen, 87.
Ordeals, 196 f., 383.
Orgiastic rites, 80, 261, 265, 386.
Osiris, 66.
Paradise, 388 f.
Partholan, 51.
Pastoral stage, 3, 225, 260.
Patrick, S., 61. 64, 66, 70, 76, 79-80, 132, 151, 152 f., 171, 193, 237,
242, 249, 251, 286, 315 f., 319.
Peanfahel, 17.
Peisgi, 185.
Penn Cruc, 66.
Pennocrucium, 66.
Perambulation, 277.
Persephone, 68, 85.
Picts, 16 f., 217, 220, 222.
Pillar of sky, 228.
Place-names, 16 note, 17, 19, 120, 146, 209, 211.
Plants, 176, 205 f.
Pliny, 162, 175, 198, 205 f., 328.
Plutarch, 343.
Pluto, 34 f.
Plutus, 35.
Poeninus, 39.
Poetry, divinities of, 68, 75.
Pollux, 180.
Polyandry, 74, 223 f.
Polygamy, 17, 224.
Prayer, 245 f.
Pre-Celtic cults, 48, 81, 93, 174, 181, 200, 202, 219, 224, 277, 294 f.,
361.
Priesthood. See Druids.
Priestesses, 69, 180, 192 f., 226, 246, 250, 316, 321.
Priest-kings, 161, 226, 267, 296, 307.
Procopius, 342.
Prophecy, 250 f, 300 f.
Pryderi, 98 f., 110 f., 112, 368, 385.
Pwyll, 110 f., 112, 368, 385.
Pythagoras, 303, 334.
_Quadriviae_, 47.
Ragnarok, 232.
Rain-making, 266, 321 f.
Rebirth, 88, 117, 128, 348 f.
Reinach, M., 31 note, 38, 137, 211, 287, 297, 317, 340.
Relics, 332.
Retribution, 346.
Rhiannon, 98 f., 110 f.
Rh[^y]s, Sir J., 15, 16, 24, 55, 60, 68, 78, 82 f., 91, 93, 100, 101 f.,
103, 106, 108, 122, 135, 183, 219, 282, 294, 356, 376.
Rigantona, 111.
Rigisama, 28.
River divinities, 43, 46, 123, 182, 243, 354.
Rivers, cult of, 172, 180 f.
Rivers, names of, 182.
Roman and Celtic gods, 22 f., 289 f.
Romans and Druids, 312 f.
Ruadan, 58.
Ruad-rofhessa, 77.
Rucht, 349.
Rudiobus, 214.
Saar, 150.
Sacramental rites, 222, 260, 266, 271.
Sacrifice of aged, 242.
Sacrifice of animals, 140, 181, 189, 205, 242 f., 260, 265.
Sacrifice, foundation, 121, 238 f.
Sacrifice, human, 57, 79, 165, 190, 198, 233 f., 261, 265, 269, 304,
308, 313, 337.
Sacrifice to dead, 165 f., 234, 337.
Sacrificial offerings, 6, 174, 181, 185, 190, 194, 198, 233 f., 299,
308.
Sacrificial survivals, 244 f.
Saints, 115, 209, 217, 251, 285 f., 288, 331 f., 386 note.
Saints and wells, 193.
Saints' days and pagan festivals, 258.
Salmon of knowledge, 149, 187, 377.
Samhain, 56, 70, 80, 167-168, 170, 222, 256 f., 258 f.
Satire, 326.
Saturn, 47.
Scandinavia and Ireland, 148.
Scathach, 129, 135.
_Scotti_, 17.
Sea, 110, 178.
Sebillot, 342.
Segomo, 214.
Segovesus, 19.
Selvanus, 37.
Semnotheoi, 298, 301.
Sequana, 43.
Sergi, Prof., 9, 296.
Serpent, 35, 166, 188, 211.
Serpent with ram's head, 34, 44, 166, 211.
Serpent's egg, 328.
Serpent's glass, 328.
Setanta, 349.
Shape-shifting, 104, 105, 117, 130, 131, 150, 221, 322 f., 350, 356 f.
_Sid_, 63, 64 note, 65, 78.
Silvanus, 29, 36, 218.
Sinend, 187, 191.
Sinnan, 43.
Sirona, 42.
Skene, Dr., 16, 108.
Slain gods and human victims, 159, 168 f., 199, 226, 235, 239, 262, 269,
272.
Sleep, magic, 327.
Smertullos, 35, 136, 289.
Smiths, god of, 76.
Smiths, magic of, 76.
Solar hero, 133.
Soma, 76.
Soul as animal, 360.
Soul, separable, 140, 162, 270.
Spain, 375.
Spells, 246, 254, 325 f.
Squatting gods, 32 f.
Sreng, 84.
Stag, 213.
Stanna, 42.
Stokes, Dr., 16, 56, 71, 77, 222, 264.
Stone circles, 281.
Stonehenge, 27, 121, 200, 281-282.
Stones, cult of, 174, 284, 329.
Sualtaim, 128.
Submerged towns, 231, 372.
Sucellos, 30 f.
Suicide, 234, 345.
Sul, 41, 69, 125.
Suleviae, 46.
Sun, 178, 268.
Sun myths, 83.
Swan-maidens, 82.
Swastika, 290.
Swine, 25, 106, 117, 209 f.
Swineherds, The Two, 349.
Symbols, 290.
Tabu, 69, 102, 128, 132, 144, 186, 191 f., 210, 219, 252 f., 276, 304,
306, 323, 372. See _Geasa_.
Tadg, 221.
_Taghairm_, 249.
Tailtiu, 167, 273, 376.
_Tain bo Cuailgne_, 127, 130 f.
Taliesin, 95, 97, 116, 323, 335, 356, 358.
Taran, 124.
Taranis, 29, 30, 234.
Taranos, 124.
_Tarbh Uisge_, 189.
_Tarvos Trigaranos_, 38, 137, 208, 289.
Tattooing, 17, 217.
Tegid Voel, 116.
_Teinm Laegha_, 249.
_Tempestarii_, 175, 180.
Temples, 85, 279 f.
Tethra, 58-59, 71, 75, 374.
Teutates, 28, 125, 234.
Teyrnon, 111.
Three-headed gods, 32 f.
Thumb of knowledge, 149.
Thurnam, Dr., 12.
_Tir na n-Og_, 151, 362, 364.
Tombs as sacred places, 165.
Tonsure, 311.
Torque, 34.
Totatis, 125.
Totemism, 149, 187, 201 f., 216, 323, 360, 379.
Toutatis, 28.
Transformation. See Shape-shifting.
Transformation Combat, 353.
Transmigration, 334 f., 348 f., 356, 359 f.
Tree cults, 162, 169, 174, 194, 198 f., 208, 265, 269, 331, 379.
Tree descent from, 202.
Trees of Elysium, 380.
Trees of Immortality, 377 f.
Triads, 34 f., 39, 95 f., 109, 113-114, 115, 118, 120, 123, 124 note.
Triple goddesses, 44 f.
Tristram, 103.
Tuan MacCairill, 57, 357, 375.
Tuatha De Danann, 49 f., 60, 61, 63 f., 66, 92 f., 146, 158, 168, 173.
Tutelar divinities, 40, 45, 73.
Tuag, 87.
_Twrch Trwyth_, 108, 119, 211.
Tyr, 84.
Underworld, 60, 102, 112, 341.
Urien, 101.
_Urwisg_, 189.
Uthyr, 101, 120, 122.
Valkyries, 72.
Vegetation cults, 3, 215.
Vegetation gods and spirits, 38, 92, 139, 159, 162 f., 199, 208, 215,
243, 265, 269.
Venus of Quinipily, 289.
Vera, 70.
Vesta, 69.
_Vierges noires_, 46.
Vintius, 180.
_Virgines_, 47.
Viviane, 122.
Vortigern, 121, 238, 315.
Vosegus, 39.
Votive offerings, 185.
Vulcan, 47.
War chants, 246.
War goddesses, 71, 93.
War gods, 4, 27 f., 48, 71, 92, 115, 118, 123, 136.
Warrior, ideal, 132, 136.
Warrior, power of dead, 338.
Washer at the Ford, 73.
Water bull, 189.
Water fairies, 70, 73 note, 190.
Water, guardians of, 195.
Water horse, 188.
Water world, 192 note, 371.
Waves, fighting the, 178.
Waves, nine, 179.
Weapons, 291.
Wells, 77, 180 f., 184, 191, 193 f., 321, 372.
Wells, origin of, 230.
Wheel, god with, 29.
Wheel symbol, 29, 271, 327.
White women, 73.
Wind, 180.
Windisch, Prof., 16.
Wisdom, 74.
Wisdom from eating animal, 149 note.
Wolf god, 36, 216, 218.
Witch, 201, 203, 262, 268, 318, 321.
Women and magic, 319 f.
Women as first civilisers, 41, 45, 192, 317.
Women as warriors, 72.
Women, cults of, 3, 5, 41, 69, 163 f., 225 f., 274 f., 317.
Women, islands of, 385 f.
World catastrophe, 228, 232.
World, origin of, 230.
Wren, 221.
Yama, 101.
Year, division of, 256.
Yule log, 170, 259.
Zeus, 66, 84, 199 f.
Zimmer, 56, 141, 147.
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