Celts

DRUIDS, SEERS AND POETS

DRUIDISM
The figure of the druid is a romantic myth, that of the priest with a white
tunic and white beard, magician and assistant to kings. Merlin, the wizard of the King
Arthur saga, has elements of the early Celtic druid; He is also a figure that has taken
over literature, as in the case of the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R.
Tolkien, and who appears in popular culture as the druid from the French comic Asterix.
Even today, in the British Isles there are orders of druids, pagan priests who try to
recover perate and maintain ancient Celtic traditions. Immortalized in classical sources
and Irish folklore, often overly imaginative Mind, their true tasks were obscured by the
romantic myths and false conceptions of more recent centuries.
But Druidism is for the most part a mis terio that has been partially revealed
by the tex of Latin writers and archaeology. Unfortunately, his wisdom has almost been
lost. However, archaeological evidence and anti These texts offer enough information
to reach an accurate approximation of who the Celtic priests were and what functions
they fulfilled.
Druids were highly regarded as intellectuals. tuals, judges, diviners,
astronomers and mediators between gods and human beings. They were not the only
priests that existed in the Celtic world; There were other sacred men and seers such as
the Vates, who Strabo describes as “diviners and philosophers.” natural sophos” and
who belonged to the class of “people of the arts” or aes damages , and could cross
tribal borders without the permission of the chiefs. They did not preserve their wisdom
in writing and passed their knowledge from one generation to another as see you are
memorized. Thus, many of their secrets died with them. According to Julius Caesar,
the Druids were a high intertribal brotherhood organized mind, which met annually to
confer and elect the Chief Druid. The meeting nion took place in a sacred place,
probably mind a clearing in the forest.
The word druid (in Irish drui ; in Welsh, derwydd) comes from the name of
the oak: dervo in Gaulish, daur in Irish, derw in Welsh. The words for forest and
wisdom are very similar: in Irish fid and fios mean respectively. tively “trees” and
“knowledge”; In Welsh, gwydd and gwyddon mean “trees” and “wise man,”

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respectively. The druid can be thought of as a forest connoisseur or a forest sage. He
was a seer of great wisdom whose proximity to nature placed him in the place of one
who walks among the worlds of humanity. nity and the invisible worlds. The origin of
the drui disism is British and from there it spread to the conti nent. There were no
druids in Italy, Spain or the Danube, but they did exist in the British Isles, Gaul and
Ireland.
Most druids were men in their thirties, recruited from the aristocracy. This
upper-class origin, along with the secrecy surrounding the druidic orders, gave them a
self-respect. redoubled ity. The function of the druid was to fulfill what is understood as
a shamanic role in three of the tribe. He was the mediator, the knower, the repository of
wisdom. The druids studied sciences such as cosmology and physiology, but they were
not abstract philosophers. His wisdom had to have practical applications in everyday
life; for example, to determine the proper day for spring planting, the legal precedents
of a lawsuit, the nature of the gods, or the pro clinical diagnosis for a wound. Some
druids specialized in certain branches of wisdom. They became judges, prophets,
teachers, poets, satirists, and military strategists, as well as advisors to kings, but it
was highly unlikely that a single person would perform all of these functions. tions at
the same time. The oldest form of tribal leadership is embodied in the druid, a
leadership that is more spiritual than temporal. Although the king was the declared
leader of his people, the one who truly ruled He was simply the druid, because his word
was law.
The druids were integrated into society and daily life, they did not lead
ascetic lives, nor were they isolated from the people. Along with other priests, poets
and bards, they were responsible sabers of sustaining the sense of identity and conti
nuity in each community; They were the guardians of the tribe's traditions and
administered tribal law. They also kept the calendar, accommodates They celebrated
festivals and named favorable days for doing business or sacrifices, or dangerous days
where nothing important should be done. As privileged members of an educated class,
this They have been exempt from military activities and taxes cough. However, they
were heavily involved in politics and diplomacy, and took part in declarations. war
rations, in negotiations with people enemies and finally in the signing of peace.
In their legal role, they were called upon to mediate disagreements and
administer justice to criminals. They had great power over the community and the
authority to excommunicate an individual, pro forbidding him to attend sacrifices and
other religious ceremonies, thus taking away his religious and legal status . As doctors,
they used healing herbs and also officiated at rituals and requests for health from the
gods; This is attested to by small models of human organs carved in wood, which are

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found rum in Gaul. They used healing waters and also performed rudimentary
surgeries. They have met brought trepanned human skulls; Druids used this method to
treat head wounds za and perhaps also for psychological disorders.
Its most specific activities consisted of teaching and preparing novices for
initiation into the druidic orders, with classes in divination, astronomical studies and
healing, as well as techniques for interceding with the gods for the good of the
community. The novices had to memorize a large number of verses, laws, history,
magical formulas and other traditions; it took them up to twenty It took them years to
complete their studies, therefore, training began in childhood. The teaching method
was oral instruction; Long lists and correspondences were learned by heart, and these
theoretical teachings were complemented with practical knowledge. Examples of this
day pedagogical logo are almost not preserved, except in ancient ballads that belong to
Celtic folklore such as “The Druid and the Child”, which Hersat de Villemarque
collected in his anthology Relatos popu lares de Brittany , published in the mid-19th
century. It contains a sort of recapitulation in twelve questions and answers of Celtic
doctrines. cas on cosmogony, medicine, chronology gy, etc.; The true meaning of the
doctrines expounded is mysterious and has not been able to be elucidated. given. This
is a fragment of the extensive text:
The druid. — Slowly, son of the druid, slow down cio. What do you want me
to sing to you?
The child.—Sing me the series of number one, until I learn it.
The Druid.—There is no series of number one: the unique Necessity,
Death, mother of Pain;
nothing before, nothing after. Slow down, son, what do you want me to sing
to you?
The child: Sing me the series of number two, until I learn it.
The Druid.—Two oxen pull a shell. They are going to expire. It is wonderful!
There is no series of number one: the unique Necessity, Death, mother of Pain; nothing
before, nothing after. Slow down, son, what do you want me to sing to you?
The child.—Sing me the series of number three, until I learn it.
The Druid.—There are three parts in the world, three beginnings and three
ends, both for man and for the oak. Three kingdoms full of golden fruits, bright flowers
and laughing children. two good yes they pull a shell. They are going to expire. It is
wonderful! There is no series of number one: the unique Necessity, Death, mother of
Pain; nothing before, nothing after. Slow down, son, what do you want me to sing to
you?
Etc.

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 Some classical authors point out that the drui They preached the belief in
the immortality of the soul, which passed from one body to another after death.
Diodorus of Sicily writes that among the Celts the doctrine prevailed that the soul, After
death, a new life begins with another body. The new life is a continuation of the current
one, with its inequalities and its particular social ties. The slaves and favorites of a
dead king or chief were burned on his grave along with the horses that had pulled his
chariot, since in the afterlife they would continue to serve him. cios. They were also
buried with their weapons, that they were going to need them, as warriors that they
were. The Celtic-Druidic doctrine of the immortality of the soul did not conceive of the
afterlife as a compen sation for those who have suffered even as a punishment go, but
as a continuation on another plane of life on this earth.

THE PEOPLE OF THE ARTS AES DANA

In addition to the druids, the class of people of the arts was completed with
the vates or seers, whose mission was to prophesy, observe the signs of nature and
offer sacrifices accompanying their superiors. Divination was taken from the song or
flight of birds, and they offered predictions about the favorable or unfavorable character
of the days or premonitions associated with the conception of children. Not much else
is known about them; There are more references, however, about the class of poets or
fili.
The poet's main power was that of the word. He was free to compose a
satire if he had suffered grievances or insults, and this ability was greatly feared. da,
because they could take away the honor and dignity of a chief or king after his verses
had been sung. Since the main function of the poet was to promote honor through
praise, or to recite songs of wisdom and narrate ancestral stories that result They were
in tribal honor, their words were listened to attentively and their satires were feared.
The poet was powerful, he could cause magical changes in the landscape or in the
animals, leaving them sterile; His words could raise blisters on the faces of his enemies
if they created a particular satire. sadly hurtful. Like the druids and the vates, they had
divinatory powers.
The Welsh poet calls his work cerdd dafed, "the art of language." The Irish
word cerdd designates art, poetry and also the craftsman, the goldsmith, the poet. In
the idea of a professional class Among the poets of the Celtic world, whether they be
the IDF or the Ios-bards, the idea of due reward and gain is present from the
beginning. gives for talent.

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 In The Celtic Literatures you can read Jean Marx talking about them: Irish
has been related dés fili with the Welsh gweled, which means to see. And it has been
sought to find in the Welsh derwydd the Welsh form of druid, the root found in the Latin
video, "I see." Often in old poetry Yes, the poet begins the poem saying "I have seen."
He is a seer who sees and sings, and his singing has a form in which art is recognized.
Members of the druid and poet classes used three divinatory methods, which have
been partially preserved. Two of them were banned by Saint Patrick because they
invoked God. You are pagans. Although there are very few examples of these
methods, they can be classified into three: inilms forosna, teinm laida and dichetal di
chennaib.
The first means "inspiration of the masters", it consisted in the fact that the
druid or poet ate the meat of certain animals and after some invo ritual cations he fell
into a dream during which he received the desired omen; It was practiced in a dark
room, with the palms of the hand over the eyes, crossed in front of the face.
The teinm laida or "breaking down the poem" is practiced tiba putting his
thumb in his mouth; With this gesture, the poet already knew, by intuition, what there
was to know. It was preceded by ritual invocations with a technique that consisted of
poetically conjugating or analyzing a given situation until an answer was sensed.
Dichetal di chennaib or "fingertip composition" was an almost unknown
method. do, of which hardly anything more than the name is preserved. Some texts say
that it would be about the poet's ability to touch someone with his staff, or to pick up an
object and, after a ritual invocation, discover the history of that person. na or of that
object, but this description is very vague and probably inaccurate.
There are texts that preserve, however, the method of training of poets.
They had to complete very arduous studies, which lasted at least twelve years, and
completed seven grades. In the first year, elementary or preparatory, the poet's
apprentice studied elementary grammar and learned twenty stories. In the second
year, I studied the ogham in depth (see section at the end of the chapter lo), began to
study philosophy and poetry, and learned ten more stories by heart. In the third year I
delved into the same program, with more stories and ogham, and studied the principles
of assonant versification. In the fourth year I learned the Breta Nemed or "law of
privileges", and more poems and stories. In the fifth year, I examined the applications
of grammar and delved deeper into previous studies. In the sixth year he learned the
secret language of the poets, and forty-eight more poems. In the seventh, eighth and
ninth years No, the poet was called anrúth or "noble torrent", because from him flowed
a torrent of pleasant praises and he received another of riches in return; He learned the

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compilations of the masters, the styles of poetic composition, prosody, glosses and
mastered one hundred and seventy-five stories.

In the tenth, eleventh and twelfth years he established himself as an

rocamh or doctor; This category had three degrees: eces (man of knowledge), fili or
poet and rocamh. In addition, it further refined more poetics and composition, I learned
a hundred poems but, one hundred and twenty speeches and he mastered three
hundred and fifty stories.
The poetry schools were directed by a teacher and his assistants, who
were joined by visiting poets who functioned as examiners. dores of the novices. A
large part of the studies God were memoristic; and to reinforce the memory ria and
avoid unnecessary distractions, he studies te lived in extremely frugal conditions. In
descriptions of later bardic schools, a large part of the studies are said to have been
carried out They were in total darkness.
The poets or fili maintained close contacts with the Other World (see
chapter IV), which is clear when observing the attributes of their position, among which
the musical branch they carried stands out. The main poet or olivamh had the right to
carry a golden branch, the anruth carried a silver one, and the poets of the lower
categories carried a bronze branch. They had bells that tinkled when the poet rode,
and rang when when he entered a room. According to mythical stories, in the Other
World there is an always fertile tree from which poets feed, a symbol related to the
vitality of creation and the poetic tradition that is constantly renewed from generation to
generation, passing from master to disciple.

THE GOOD PEOPLE OR FAIRIES

The best-known creatures of the Celtic magical universe are the good
people or fairies. Although these beings exist in popular myths around the world, in the
Celtic universe they have a unique relevance; Their stories are innumerable, and the
description of their attributes, origins and particu larities is detailed and thorough. The
fairies apa pray even in literature; Perhaps the most famous piece that has them as
protagonists is A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, with Oberon
and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, and Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, the trickster
fairy.
The English word fairies is the most appropriate to refer to creatures,
because it has both genders and cannot be translated by the Spanish fairy, which
refers to a non-human being, specifically female. Fairy designates all types of spirit,

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with human appearance or not. Therefore, it would be incomplete to talk about the
kingdom of fairies or elves; fairies is more specific and comprehensive. “Fairy” has its
origin in the word fatum which means “destiny”, and the English names are derived
from it/«); and fairy, in addition to the adjective fairy that includes everything related to
magical beings.
Each entity, family or clan has a definition specific tion: fairies are the
feminine entities girls, both evil or “black fairies”, as well as naiads, undines,
mermaids, banshees or glaistigs (vampire fairies). Male beings are divided into elves,
genies, ogres, giants, and each has many varieties. In Ireland, where fairies are in full
activity, they are called daoine sidh or sidhe.
According to historians, fairies have existed since ancient days and may
be a remnant of Ireland's ancient magical settlers, the Tuatha de Dannan. The realm
of Faerie has its own hierarchies, kings, queens and chiefs, who meet in special
places called raths. Fairy people are friendly to humans if they are respected, and not
attacked or molested. ta. When angry they have the power to use defensive weapons,
such as spells or throwing paralytic darts. zantes. The group of evil fairies is called the
Lianhan Sidhe.
Another common name for fairies is “good people.” This expression is a
kind of blessing, a kindness, because among the Celtic peoples this is what they call
everything that they fear could cause harm. Fairies are intelligent and caring, and
their bodies are light and changeable. They can appear They appear or disappear at
will and are best seen at twilight. Some feed on liquor spirituous animals, and others
eat like humans, although more coarsely. If you pay attention, you can hear them
cooking, hammering and doing work. bass of all kinds inside small coli where they
normally live.
They live underground places, called “coli Some of the fairies are the
mounds in cemeteries, for example, or sidh which is the Irish Gaelic term for the
entrance to burial mounds. They also live in dolmens or fortified castles on the hills;
these, fortifi Ancient Celtic cations located on hills (or their ruins, are considered
residences of the fairies.
Many fairies are gentle with humans and help them with household
chores.
Some have the habit of entering houses and putting the dishes in order, for
example, or arranging give the objects that humans left undone glados. These
servants belong to the clan of brownies, beings just under one meter tall, with dark
clothing and complexion. They speak little, or with whistles, and although they live
much longer than humans, they They suddenly die, or at least disappear.

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 Their houses are said to be spacious and beautiful, and cannot be seen by
the lay eye. It enlightened They mine with light that comes from lamps and perpetual
fires that do not need fuel.
If any human manages to put into practice a spell that allows him to
access knowledge ment of some of the secrets of the fairies, they strike them
painlessly, as with a breath of wind, and deprive them of vision or render them mute.
However, there are ways to scare them away: nothing terrifies them as much as steel,
and it also scares them when the person confronting them wears their clothes
backwards.
Fairies can also be dangerous: some practice kidnapping human beings
and leaving in the place of the kidnapped person a kind of double or false image
called changeling, derived from the English verb change. It is also called Thus are the
small beings that fairies or elves leave behind in place of the babies or children that
they steal. Robert Kirk, fairie scholar , wrote be in The Secret Community: There are
still women who tell how they were kidnapped when they were in labor to serve as
nannies for the fairies' children, while in their place they gave a lasting and voracious
image of them, which pretended to devour the food while, cunningly, making it reach
its place and, later, abandoning its carcass, as if it had expired from a natural death.
Goblins can be classified into many species. The most famous is the
leprechaun, an Irish leprechaun from the region of Leinster, near the capi such,
Dublin. The poet William Butler Yeats wrote in The Celtic Twilight: The leprechaun
makes sap I cough continuously and it is very delicious. Many treasures, buried in
ancient wars, belong to him. The fairy shoemaker is gray-skinned, between eight and
two feet tall, usually bald, and has a long white beard. When working, he can be seen
wearing a leather apron. He gets very irritated with humans if they want to take his
gold. When the leprechaun leaves his tasks as a tailor, dressmaker and shoemaker,
he likes to have fun. tirse; In this regard he is known as cluricaun, and is always
drunk. He frightens travelers and the inhabitants of houses, makes many mischiefs
and rides domestic animals, making them run until they are exhausted.
Tanganos or tanterobogus live in England terra and Scotland, and are
more dangerous; they steal, rom pen and are specialists in exchanging children for
other beings of their species. Like most fairies, they guard treasures in the hills. They
are small, very ugly and powerful. Pixies also like to drink alcohol a lot and change
their shape: they can appear small and semi-naked or of normal size, but the
characteristic that remains is that the head is always too big for the body; They have
long and pointed ears, they wear earrings and pendants, their mouth is large and
their nose is wide and prominent. They also hide gold.

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 The mining sprites, who excavate the earth, build walls to protect
themselves and have the magical power to cause gusts of wind that drive away those
who bother them, are called knockers in Scotland, korreds in Ireland and os ananos
galegos in Galicia. They also take the form of nocturnal birds when they want to
disappear and live inside large holes in rocks or in mines, where they build their
homes. They have very dark skin, and they use picks and shovels.
The quiet folk, or silent people, are the quietest of the goblin clans. They
tend to protect ger certain human beings they like, give them gold or favors, and often
help women during childbirth. like the may estuary, are owners of great fortunes in
gold and precious stones, but they also know the Healing pieties of plants and
stones. They are black ros, bakers and weavers, and they teach these arts to their
protégés.
Fairies are physiognomically very different. tes, although in reality it is not
possible to establish specific characteristics about fairies in general. According to
William Butler Yeats: Fairies are not always small. Everything is capricious about
them, even the size. They seem to take whatever size and shape they please. Your
main occupations They want to celebrate, fight and make love, and also play the most
beautiful music.
A common name for the fairy is korrigan (especially in Britain) or
koridgwen (in Wales). These magical feminine beings predict the future and know the
art of curing serious illnesses through spells that they only teach to their friends. In an
instant they can move from one end of the world to the other and take the form of any
animal they wish. Se Jas is found near springs and lakes, especially near dolmens,
where they live. They often appear combing their long blonde hair. They measure less
than one meter and their shape, very beautiful and proportionate, is weightless,
delicate and diaphanous. As their only adornment they wear a white veil around their
bodies.
They are seen at night, when their beauty appears in all its splendor.
During the day they prefer to hide, because in the light they appear with white hair, red
eyes and wrinkled faces. Also hidden so mines of gold and diamonds, and they can be
movie thick; If someone sees them combing their hair or taking care of their treasures,
they may die or suffer misfortune in their life. Fairies have a soft spot for human
children and often steal them.
Aquatic fairies are called morgans and often concoct mirages to lose or
mislead sailors. A particularly feared fairy is the banshee: it is heard at night,
especially in Manda and Scotland, but also in Wales and Brittany. It announces,
outside the houses or at the bottom of the windows, the death of a member of families

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of pure Celtic blood. His scream or cry bears the name bre of keening, and although it
is almost never possible to see it, it is believed that it has the appearance of a little old
woman.
Below are some fairy tales taken from popular stories from the Celtic
world, where these fantastic beings appear in various aspects, both harmful and
helpful; tam The description of a fairy according to an anonymous Irish text from the
9th century is also included.

Gaelic literature

The Gaelic language of Ireland—one of the languages of the Celtic group—

was transcribed into the Latin alphabet by the first Christians of the 5th century. be
with few Gaelic manuscripts were useful; the oldest, from the 7th and 9th centuries.
The exterminating invasions of the Vikings, at the end of the 9th century and
especially in the 10th century, destroyed not only manuscripts, but the structure of
Irish pastoral society. The stories that have been saved cannot be dated with se
security, and the well-dated ones are later than the chronological limit that I have
drawn. Ancient tales, but constantly retold since the 11th century, confuse the
historian and the anthologist. In any case, Ireland was the first Christian country to
use its vernacular language—Gaelic—for literary purposes; and within that literature,
the stories were written in prose. They have been grouped into cycles, according to
their themes. The Ulster Cycle; its subject is the heroic age before the
Christianization of Ireland; transmitted orally, the pri Mere manuscripts begin in the
7th or 8th century but those we preserve have been reworked in later centuries; Its
epic core is The Robbery of Ga Cooley Swim (Táin Bó Cúalnge); It is about the theft
of Cooley's bull; The heroes of this cycle are Conchobar, king of Ulster, Cú Chulain,
Fergus. The cycle of Finn Mac Ctimhaill and his son Ossian; the oldest manuscript is
from the late 11th or early 12th century. The mythological cycle; It is made up of
stories that come from the past but enter literature in a period later than the one we
are dealing with. The mythology of the Celts, even more than the Germanic one, was
confi gured by the religions of the Empire of Rome, first the pagan, then the Christian.
Ireland was Christianized after the mission of Saint Patrick (17th century). v) and
around 600 a peculiar and brilliant Celtic and Christian culture had already emerged
tiana which, in turn, becomes regions of Scotland. Fortunately, the imagination of the
Irish and Welsh did not allow religious objections to blind the sources of the art of
storytelling. In Celtic tales the ancient gods become heroes: they lose their divine

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traits but maintain their prodigious nature. The distortion of reality reaches unheard of
extremes. It's both laughable and scary. The greatest glory of those Irish—much
exaggerated by the romantics and symbolists of the last century—is to have
pretended a world of fairies, magicians and adventurers who travel to paradisiacal
islands or explore the underground of death.

In previous chapters we have seen, and in later chapters we will see, that the
motives of the other world—flights to paradise, descents to hell, trips to happy islands
or inside hollow mountains, countries under the waves or behind the fog, sacred
bridges , etc.—appeared with literature itself, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece,
Rome, India, China. But among the Celts the motifs acquired distinctive notes: for
example, the afterworld is in the West and is happy with its underground and
underwater creatures. The terrestrial paradise inhabits a race of beautiful beings,
always young and smiling: they are the Living; men are the Dead. There are also
monsters, giants, haohlceros. The motif of the inrarn or journey to wonderful islands
of the blessed is Abundant in the literature of Ireland. I already talked about Navigatio
Sancti Brendani. Also in Gaelic there was a Voyage of Bran (s. vm?). Bran
(Brandano) falls asleep to the sound of sweet music. When he wakes up he sees a
silver branch with white buds. A strangely dressed woman sings. The theme of his
song is the happiness of an island supported by four columns. Brandano leaves in
search of that island. Their journey is fantastic: there is a Country-under-the-waves,
where everything is beauty and pleasure; There is an Island-of-Laughter, an Island-
of-Women... Re They come: a man who lands on the island of Ireland—he had been
warned not to do so—instantly turns into a pile of dust, as if he had been there for
hundreds of years. In view of that, Brandano walks away and is not heard from again.

In the Voyage of Maél Dúin (8th or 9th century) the hero builds a boat and sets
out in search of his father's murderers. After several adventures, he and his crew
arrive at many islands, each one more wonderful. In one of them, for example, they
see from the boat how a beast runs with the speed of the wind along the round shore,
until it climbs a hill in the middle and there it lies down with its head down and its legs
up. On the outside the skin remains motionless, but on the inside the flesh and bones
rotate like a mill. Suddenly, the other way around: the flesh and bones become
immobilized and the skin is the one that begins to spin dizzyingly. And, in a sudden
change, the lower half of the body rests still and the upper half swirls. On another
island a very beautiful maiden appears to them, blonde as gold and you see tida in

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white, who gives them food and drink; But when the men suggest that she sleep with
them, they fall asleep and wake up in the boat: the island and the maiden have
disappeared. They sail through a sea of clouds and, from above, they contemplate a
splendid city far below. It's an enchanting world ted, with crystal palaces, rotating
walls, talking birds, fruits and liquors to order, dazzling women, ready to bathe
travelers; and so on.

In the Voyage of Uí Corra (11th century) travelers row across the sea when a
flock of birds appears to them. One of them—red but with three stripes on her chest
that radiate like sunlight—landes on the boat and tells them that she is the soul of an
Irish nun.

—Are we sailing towards Hell? —asks a sailor.

No, but that flock of souls are the souls of sinners, persecuted by demons.
Those three splendid stripes that she wears on her chest are a pre mine for three
good deeds she did with her husband, despite having deceived him; If I had not
deceived him, all his plumage would be of that beautiful color. Navigators arrive at a
bright island because of the green of its grass, because of the polychrome of its
flowers. An old man playing the harp interrupts their sweet caution to advise them to
continue their journey without stopping there. Later a monster emerges from the
waters, looks at them and sinks again without harming them...
Another abundant motif is that of visions: a dead person is resurrected and
tells the portents he saw in the other world. Plato had given us the vision of Er;
Cicero, Scipio's dream; the Bible, the journey of Elijah in a chariot of fire: the
Irish will give, among others, the Vision of Adamnán (s. ix). Adamnán's soul detaches
from his body and, led by his Guardian Angel, visits heaven and hell.
The fertile imagination of the Celts embellishes reality with magical dimensions.
Faced with so much wealth, I don't know what to choose and I commit the injustice of
leaving this section of my warehouse poorer than others. I will summarize a few
stories. First, a famous one, although more typical of primitive rural society than of
Irish fantasy: that of Deirdre, a femme fatale—like Helen of Troy—who belongs to the
heroic cycle of Ulster, “The Exile of the Children of Usnech” ( s. vin or ix). Then I will
summarize another more inventive story.

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
The Celtic gods are difficult to classify. There was never a universal
pantheon that could be compared to that of the major Greco-Roman gods. In fact, it is

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possible that universally worshiped Celtic deities never existed, perhaps due to the
history and origins of this people. It is impossible to treat Celtic mythology in the same
way as Greek mythology.
Irish Celtic mythology
The ancient Irish had a series of myths equivalent to the Greek mythical
ages.
1. The first of these ages corresponds to the Partolón emigration.
Partolón's race is similar to Hesiod's Silver Age in that you characterize them as men
lacking in wit. They were the first to fight against the Formoré. Partolón's race ends in
the same way as the men of Hesiod's Silver Age. Victims of a plague unleashed by
divine wrath. He was banished from his former homeland, probably the Iberian
Peninsula.
2. The second of these ages is that of the Nemed, also emigrated from
Iberia. Similar to the Bronze Age Hesiod died fighting against the tower of King Connan
of the Foromé. This end of Nemed's race is comparable to the end of Hesiod's Bronze
race who died fighting at the gates of Thebes or in the siege of Troy.
3. The Tutha of Dannan corresponds to the Golden Age of Hesiod. Unlike
the race of Partolón and Nemed, these beings who will be the opposite face of the
Foromé came from heaven. They receive their name from the goddess Dana, mother
of Brian, Iuchar and Uar, three gods who represent poetic inspiration. They represent
light, life.
The order of Hesiod's ages is as follows in Celtic mythology:
1. Silver
2. Bronze
3. Gold.
The Foromés: according to Christian accounts, they were looters from the
North. But they were beings that according to the stories were already established on
the island. They were the gods of death. They subjugated the Nemed race from which
they demanded the lives of two-thirds of the children born every year. His myth gave
rise to the sacrifice of children. When Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland, there was only
the cult of worshiping the gods of death without blood sacrifice. The Foromé were
defeated in the battle of Mag Tured along with the Fir Bolg, an allied race of the
Foromé and descendant of Nemed. Some medieval chroniclers claim that there were
two battles of Mag Tured, in the first the Fir Bolg were defeated and in the second the
Foromés.

THE CELTIC DIVINITIES

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 Most pre-Christian Irish divinities are related to the myth of the Tuatha de
Dannan.
 Dagda: He was the most important god, king of the Tuatha De Dannan,
and was known as "the good god." He was a cunning old man who, despite his simple
appearance, possessed great wisdom. He had many abilities and attributes. He took
care of the weather and the crops, and his harp summoned the seasons. As a god of
war and healing, his main attribute was his staff, which could kill with a blow from one
end and restore life with a blow from the other. He was the guardian of the "Great
Cauldron". They represented him as a paunchy old man, with a big appetite and ugly.
As king of the gods he had great power and authority, and it was he who
distributed among the Tuatha De Dannan the underground palaces where men could
not enter. His own palace was called Brug na Boinne, because it was on the banks of
the river of the same name. The royal cemetery was located there.
Dagda was famous for his exploits. The myth goes that Oengus, his son,
went to ask for the hand of Etain, the daughter of a giant, with whom he was in love.
They replied that he could marry her if he cut down the forests of the twelve fields of
the young woman's father. Dagda performed this task in a single night, as a wedding
gift.
 Lugh: He was the son of Cian, of the Tuatha De Dannan, and of Ethlinn
of the Fomorians. His name meant "he who shines." Lugh Lámhfada was called "Lugh,
the long-armed", solar god and master of all trades. He was the protector of heroes,
father of Cuchulainn.
He was worshiped at the Lughnasadh festival, celebrated on August 1,
during which business was conducted, contracts were signed, and feasting was held.
He was represented as a handsome, athletic and refined young man, and his cult
spread to the continent.
He appears in mythology when he goes to Tara's court to offer his services.
The guardian asked him what his trade was and he answered blacksmith, artist, hero,
harpist, poet, sorcerer and doctor. As the king had never met a man who had so many
skills combined, he allowed him to enter the court of Tara, and Lugh came to lead the
battle of the Tuatha De Dannan against the Fomorians.
Lugh is considered the ideal of human kings, because he is cultured and
refined, and brave in battle. His wife is the sovereignty of Ireland.
 Cernunnos: He was the god of night and death, and his horns
represented the crescent of the Moon. It symbolized strength, power and perenniality.
 Aine Daughter of the Danaan Owell, she was the goddess of love and
passion. It is said that Ailill Olum, king of Munster, fell in love with her and was killed by

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her magical arts. Later, Ainé fell in love with Fitzgerald, with whom she had children.
 Brigit: She was a very popular goddess, in Irish called Dana or Donand.
She was the daughter of Dagda, king of the Tuatha De Dannan, and was considered a
goddess of literature. She was the mother of three gods named Brian, Lucharba and
Luchair, who were the gods of artistic and literary inspiration. These three gods had in
common a son named Ecne, which meant science or poetry. When Christianity arrived
in Ireland, she was converted into Saint Brigid.
 Dana or Danu She was considered the mother of the Tuatha De
Dannan, the most important gods of the Celtic pantheon. Its origin was related to the
Danube River: its drought, overflow or pollution could lead to death to the people who
lived on its banks. Dana was sometimes called Ainu or Aine, and became a solar
divinity, worshiped in many still existing temples. He also personified the eternal spirit
of the tuath or tribe.
 Morrigan: She was a goddess with many names: Macha, Nemain, Dea
and Badb; and many aspects: battle, victory, sexuality, fertility, sovereignty and
destruction.
Morrigan symbolized the extreme of sexual desire and anger; the desire to
kill and destroy, he enjoyed creating chaos, panic and terror. She was a lover of the
first kings and helped the Tuatha De Dannan win the battles of Mag Tuired.
They called her “the ghost queen” because she was able to change shape.
She could appear as a young and beautiful woman, as an old woman, as a crow or any
other creature. That ability to change symbolized that sometimes chaos, an accident, a
crisis is necessary to produce change. The destruction caused by the Morrigan could
serve to throw off old habits and start over.
He loved Cuchulainn because he was the best warrior and the one who
caused the most deaths. Legend has it that when Cuchulainn rejected his love, she
took him to his death and descended on him in the form of a raven.
But Morrigan was not evil, but symbolized the ability to harm and hurt
others, present in every human being.
The idea of a triple goddess is repeated later in the Morrigan (Macha,
Nemain and Badb) and much later in Christianity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). It is
noteworthy that in this last case the gender is inverted: they are no longer goddesses,
but gods, reflecting the change from a matriarchal to a patriarchal society, with women
losing their active creative role, relegated to a passive and admirable role, but devoid of
sexuality.

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 IRISH LEGENDS

Selkie: there is no absolute consensus about selkies: there are those who
think that without the souls of those drowned in the sea and those who see them as
fallen angels, that instead of falling to earth like the elves, they fell into the sea. This
second assumption would place them in the world of fairies and elves. They
correspond to the north of Ireland and Scotland. Their appearance is always the same:
when they are seals, they have no particularity; But when they abandon their seal skin,
they have matte skin, black hair and eyes, and a singular beauty. Male Selkies are
great seducers and have relationships with human women. These unions result in dark
children who are usually claimed by their parents after seven years. From these mixed
lineages some Scottish clans emerge. Selkie females, on the other hand, can live for a
long time with men and even form a family, but they always feel the call of the sea.
Jack O' Lantern: this legend is a precursor to our old misery. It is the
explanation that the Irish give to will-o'-the-wisps (bad light). In the US, Jack O' Lantern
gave rise to the pumpkins of the Halloween party.
The Banshee: is a being that announces the death of a family member at
the foot of the home window. It is a privilege of pure-blood Celtic families. Ban = see
woman and she sidhe = fairy).
Pooka: is an elf who usually talks to humans and lives solitary. He is a
benefactor.
Chageling: is the name given to the creatures that replace children
kidnapped by elves in Ireland.

Bibliography

Sainero, Ramón. The great Celtic myths and their influence on literature.
Barcelona: Edicomunicación, 1998.

Cardona, Francesc Ll. European mythology and legends. Barcelona:

Edicomunicación, 1999.

Enriquez, Mariana. Celtic mythology. Buenos Aires: Gradifco, 2007.

Anderson Imbert, Enrique. The first stories in the world. Marymar: Buenos

Aires, 1977.

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