Introduction
This religion had mythology, beliefs, rituals, and priesthoods. The religion was polytheistic, which is much better than monotheism. Religion of the Celts was influenced by the Romans. This religion lasted from 500 BCE to 500 CE This religion was recreated in modern times; it's called Druidry. It had a significant impact on witchcraft.
Mythology
The various Celtic tribes had a lot of the same ideas, but there was regional diversity. Each tribe had there own deities, even though they had some in common. The Romans wrote about Celtic mythology and it was written about in the Middle Ages. Celtic writing may have been destroyed by the Romans.
The Irish believed in Tuatha De Danann. That was their pantheon. Dagda was a leader of the Tuatha De Danann. He was powerful and carried a club. There was a triple goddess named The Morrigan. She was the goddess of fate and war. She is similar to Ares and Athena. She is 3 sisters: Badb, Macha, and Nemain. Badh is a crow that frightens enemies combatants and initiates combat. Macha rules horses, land, fertility, and war. Nemain ruled over the violence of war. Lugh was one of the most important Irish gods. He was a master of art and craftsman. He had a spear of lightning and a sling stone. Lugus was the Celtic god Lugh is based on. Brigid controls poetry, wisdom, healing, protection, animals, and crafting metals. St. Brigid is based on her and so is Maman Brigid of Haitian Vodou. There was many other deities as well.
King Arthur is a part of Welsh mythology and related peoples' mythologies. They believed in giant birds and a sea monster. They called fairies Tylwyth Teg. They believed in brownies and hell hounds as well. There were lake maidens, that sometimes married men. They remind me of nymphs.
Scottish mythology has some similarities with Irish mythology. It deals with natural cycles. They had a great mother goddess named Cailleach. She is the queen of winter and the mother of the deities. She made hills and mountains; she can freeze the ground and fights the spring. Kelpies are water spirits that can take human form. Sometimes they look like a horse.
There were were other celtic tribes with their own mythology, but less is known.
Beliefs
They believed in the afterlife, reincarnation, and the immortality of the soul. They believed in a place that is similar to heaven called the Land of the Living. They were polytheists as while as pantheists. Everything in nature had a spirit in it. There deities change function depending on the situation. The spirit world is close to the physical world. There was no original sin in their religion. They loved nature and saw beauty in it.
Rituals
They had 4 major holidays for 4 seasons. They had minor ones as well. Imbolc is the start of spring. They had a feast of the goddess Brigid on this holiday. Now it's the feast of St. Brigid. Beltane was celebrated on May 1. Bonfires was made and the fire was brought to homes. The fire protect the people and the cattle. Rituals were done to appease the fairies. Lughnasadh, this holiday is the start of the fall. It is named after Lugh. People would celebrate the deceased during this time. People would feast and court each other. People played sports as well, similar to the Olympic games. This holiday is still celebrated today! Samhain was on 10/31. It was the start of winter. This is when the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds become the thinnest. So, celts would wear scary masks to scare the fairies. People would trick or treat @ this time. This is the mother of Halloween. Divination was done during this time and apples and nuts were used 4 it.
They had death rituals. The would cremate the deceased and put their ashes in an urn. Later they buried people. People were buried with possession. Such as: jewelry, swords, chariots, etc. They were buried in mounds and rocks were put around the mound to keep away negative spirits.
During the rite of passage a person had to go in the woods and find certain items. It was done by both genders, but males did it more. It was to make a warrior out of someone. They believed the child would be empowered by a deity. Once the quest was over the child became a adult.
They had their own marriage ceremony. They would do a handfasting ceremony. 13 different colored ribbons were tied between the husband and wife hand. Each color means something. This ritual was done by a druid. It is believed this where the phrase tying the knot comes from.
Human and animal sacrifice was practiced. Animals were sacrificed when offerings were given to deities. Different animals symbolized different deities. They sacrificed slaves and prisoners of war. They sacrificed humans for good luck. They believed the head contained great power. So, warriors would put the head of their enemies on poles outside their hut.
Priesthood
They were known as the Druids and it was open to both genders. They weren't only priests they were also judges, teachers, prophets, magicians, doctors, diviners, historians, singers, poets, etc. They were specialized shamans. They were @ the top of caste system. It came in to being over 2,400 years ago. Druids did rituals @ Stonehenge. But it was built b4 they got there. Julius Caesar believed druidism started in the British Isles. They had to remember a bunch of verses of their faith. JC thought it took them 20 years to remember them. The Druids were wiped out by Christianity.
Poly vs Mono(theism)
Polytheism is the belief that many deities exist. Monotheism is the belief that only one deity exist, which is insane. Why would there be such a great diversity in nature, but not in divinity? Doesn't creation reflect the creator? Polytheism predates monotheism by over 10,000 years!!!! Monotheism is great for imperialism. It is popular today because of Arabs and Europeans conquered the world. Polytheism would create a more peaceful world. Modern day monotheism is a deconstruction polytheism. The deities of various peoples became angels and demons, possibly Jinn. So monotheists are polytheist in amnesia. The hig god the of the Arabs was Allah. He became the only god of Islam. Hebrews were polytheists, you can read about it in old testament. Later on the Yahweh cult took over and the Hebrews become monotheists. A lot of polytheists were also pantheists. They believed we all were connected spiritually. Polytheism is the ancient future.
Roman Influences
Celtic tribes were conquered by the Romans. After that the Celts mixed their religion with the Romans religion. Druids had a big influence on Celtic chiefs, so the Romans tried to wipe them out. The Rs invaded Anglesey twice because they thought it was the home base of the druids. That caused the druids to lose a lot of power, but they still had some influence. The Celtic and Roman religion had a lot in common, because they were both Indo-European. The Romans introduced Christ-insanity to the Celts. One of the most god awful religions.
Longevity
The Celtic religion lasted 4 a millennium or more. It was common throughout Western Europe. The religion kept being practiced even after the Rs killed a lot of druids. Germanic tribes conquered the Celts after the Romans. The religion died out because of Christianity.
Druidry
This is the modern day version of the druids. They teach singing, shamanism, and intuition. Most of them are pantheists and polytheists. Some of them may even be monotheists. The spirit world is called otherworld. Souls reincarnate in different forms. Druids have 3 goals: widom, creativity, and love. Life is one big web of mutual dependence and interconnection. You reap what you sow. This organization has 7 gifts: philosophy, connect with nature, healing, rites of passage, experience the multidimensional reality, magick, and self development.
Impact on Witchcraft
Celtic Wicca is based on the religion of the Celts, 2 a degree. Celtic ideas are added to wiccan rituals. I believe knot magick used by witches are from Celts. Fairies are spiritual entities from Celtic mythology that are used by witches. Land spirits were important to Celts, witches work with them as well.
Conclusion
The Celts had a rich mythology. They had sweet beliefs and rituals. Polytheism is far better than monotheism. @ least when it comes to Abrahamic religions. Romans suppressed their religion and killed their priests. They existed for over 1,000 years. Druidry is the modern day version of the ancient druids. Celtic religion had a big impact on witchcraft.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_mythology
https://www.gaelicmatters.com/celtic-religion.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc
https://celticpolytheism.weebly.com/rituals.html
http://theancientcelticreligion.weebly.com/-festivals--rituals.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid
https://druidry.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest_of_Anglesey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Wicca
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