Celtic Sacred Texts

Quite a lot of modern British Paganism is based around the Celts and their Gods. Most Pagans know the names of quite a few of the Celtic deities, but it is surprising how few know which texts we get our heritage from! To be honest, the Celtic sacred texts are not easily accessible, and there are so many of them that it does take a while to get acquainted with them, especially if one is accustomed to the Christian religion where there is just one single sacred text! It is also difficult for many modern Pagans to see the Celtic sacred texts as sacred in themselves, because, unlike books such as the Qur'an and Bible, they do not give absolute rules for living ethically. Instead, they recount the stories of heroes, heroines, and deities, and tell of how the civilization that was around at the time came to be, and how people lived then. In this way, the Celtic sacred texts are very much like the Greek myths and legends. Because of this, the Celtic sacred texts can be interpreted by the individual into something more meaningful, a bit like a fable or parable. For instance, the story of Creiddylad and Gwythyr can be interpreted as an allegory for the union of the Sun God with the Earth at Beltane.

There are four major Welsh texts from which we get our present knowledge of Celtic Gods: The Black Book of Caermarthen, which contains poems attributed to Myrddin (Merlin); the Book of Aneurin, full of poems attributed to the bard Aneurin; the Book of Taliesin, attributed to the bard Taliesin, and telling of his life, and finally, the Red Book of Hergest. One of the most well-known of the Celtic sacred texts is the Mabinogion, a Welsh 12th century collection of myths and legends, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century, which can be found originally contained in the Red Book of Hergest, alongside poems attributed to Llywarch Hen. In the Mabinogion itself we have most of the important legends and myths, including a few which mention King Arthur and his Knights in a more Pagan context than the currently accepted version of his tales. We are also given accounts of Pwyll, Prince of Dyved, and how he won the Goddess Rhiannon as his wife; Bran, and his sister Branwen; Arianrhod and her brother-lover Gwydion, and how their son Llew Llaw Gyffes overcame his mother's curses, only to have his wife, Bloduewedd betray him with another man; and Gilvaethwy and how his love of Goewin caused a huge battle between Math ap Mathonwy and Pryderi. The stories are too vast and complicated to include here, but all are beautifully written. The Gods and Goddesses in this book, as in nearly all other Celtic sacred texts, appear as wholly mortal or as half-mortal, but this is mostly due to the fact that the stories were recorded by Christian monks, who had no idea that they were actually putting together a mish-mash of Welsh Pagan myths.

The earliest Irish manuscript, currently in possession of the Irish Academy, is called the Book of the Dun Cow, due to the legend that it was originally written on the hide of a favourite animal belonging to one St Ciaran. This manuscript dates from around the 12th century, and contains, amongst other curious miscellanies as was common for such texts, a complete account of the epic called the Tain Bo Cuailgne, which translates into 'Cattle Raid of Cooley', and has often been called the Irish Iliad. In the Tain Bo Cauilgne, we receive most of the stories of the hero Cuchulainn, and some stories about the Goddess Medb/Maeve, who causes the Cattle Raid itself. According to this text, Medb, queen of Connaught, wants to find the Donn Cauilgne, the brown bull of Ulster, because her own husband, Ailill, owned the White-horned bull of Connaught, despite the fact that this great bull was born into Medb's herds. Out of jealousy, she does everything she can to attain the Donn Cauilgne, and because there was a curse upon the warriors of Ulster, the land where the Donn Cauilgne was held, which made them unfit to fight, Medb saw her chance and attacked. There was one person however, still fit to fight because the curse had not affected him: Cuchulainn. This man single-handedly held off Medb's forces for weeks, until he was killed, the Donn Cauilgne taken, and forced to fight an epic battle with the White Horned bull. The White Horned bull was torn to pieces by Donn Cauilgne, but Donn Cauilgne later returned to Ulster and died. In this text we see the epitome of a warrior-hero in Cuchulainn, who, like the Berserkers of the Norse warriors, went into a state of battle frenzy when faced with battle. Even to death, Cuchulainn was a true warrior, tying himself to a stone in order to stay standing, right up until he drew his last breath. The Tain Bo Cauilgne, despite it's rather pathetic beginnings (who wants to fight battles over a cow?!), is a wonderful story overall, showing the competition between Cuchulainn and Medb all the way through. One can liken Cuchulainn to Achilles of Greek legend, or Jason and his Argonauts, such is his heroism.

Also in the Book of the Dun Cow is to be found the 'Voyage of Mael Duin', an account of a wondrous and quite unbelievable voyage. The story goes that a warrior called Ailill, whilst on a journey through another country raped a nun, who bore a son who she name Mael Duin. She sent Mael Duin to her friend, a queen of that territory, who reared Mael Duin as her own. Mael Duin, when he grew up, found out who his father was, and found out that he was slain by raiders from Leix, so he decided to avenge his father's slaying. However, he could only reach Leix by sea, and was told by a druid that he must take only 17 men to accompany him: no more, no less. His 3 foster brothers however, tricked him into taking them on board as well, an act which all were punished for. On the voyage, the company did find the island where Ailil's slayer was, but they were unable to land, and were instead blown out to sea, where they encountered 33 other islands, upon which they had many adventures. These islands had strange names which tell us of what was on the island itself, such as the Island of the Ants and the Island of the Black Mourners.

Another Irish text, again 12th century, is the Book of Leinster, said to have been compiled by the Bishop of Kildare, Fionn Man Gorman, which contains more of Cuchulainn's deeds which supplement those in the Tain Bo Cauilgne. From the 14th century we have the Book of Ballymote and Yellow Book of Lecan. In the Book of Leinster we encounter Cathbad the Druid, who foretold the fate of Deirdre of the Sorrows when she was still in her mother's womb. This text also tells the story of how Deirdre, who was due to be married to an old man, King Conchobar, falls in love with a man called Naoise, and runs off with him instead. Conchobar finds out, pursues them, and eventually Naoise has to face him. Tragically, Naoise and his two brothers are executed, and leave Deirdre to escape marriage to Conchobar only by death.

There are also two more named manuscripts, the Book of Lecan (Different to the Yellow Book of Lecan mentioned above) and the Book of Lismore, which give roughly the same accounts as the previous books, but including additional stories. There are many more smaller texts from Ireland, one of the most important being the account of the Battle of Magh Tuireadh (Moytura), which tells of the battle between the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fomorii. In the Battle of Magh Tuireadh we are told of the Sun God, Lugh Lamfada, his predecessor, Nuada of the Silver Hand, and the treachery of Bres the Beautiful. Here, we also encounter the story of Dianchect and Midach, his son. In this story, Dianchect, a master physician, found out that his son, Midach, had excelled him at his craft by managing to rejoin Nuada's dismembered hand to his arm. Dianchect struck Midach on the head with his sword lightly, but Midach managed to heal himself easily. Angered, Dianchect struck him again, harder, this time the wound going down to the bone. Midach healed himself easily from this as well, which angered Dianchecht even more. He struck Midach a third time, so that the wound went down to the membrane of the brain, but still Midach healed this easily. The fourth and final stroke of Diancecht's sword cut Midach's brain in two however, and Midach could not heal his wound, and died. After he was buried, from his grave sprung 365 herbs and flowers, each one with healing properties, and growing in the shape of a human body, with each herb or flower growing in the place of the body it would heal. Airmid, Midach's sister, found them, and carefully picked and arranged them on her mantle according to their properties, but her father saw this, guessed what had happened, and, in a jealous rage, overturned the cloak and mixed up the plants so that they were indistinguishable. It is said that if this hadn't happened, man would now know every cure for every illness, but as it is, Airmid is destined to reincarnate until she has remembered all the properties of each plant that grew on her brother's grave.

The Scottish texts, sadly, are not as individual as the Welsh or Irish ones, and do not do much except corroborate the Irish Cuchulainn sagas, though one text does introduce us to the hero Fionn MacCuill, and his warriors the Fianna. This text is known as the Fenian Cycle, and dates from around the 12th century, telling also of Diarmuid and Grania, and how Grania was supposed to marry Fionn against her will, but eloped instead with Diarmuid, thus causing Diarmuid to be rejected and hunted down by his former kin. In the end, this grew too much for Diarmuid, who gave Grania up to Fionn, and was allowed back by his clan.

Although all these texts were written between the 12th and 16th centuries, it is clear that they refer to much older stories. The earliest copies we have of them, which have been copied from previous books now non-extant, have marginal notes which point the reader to other now non-extant texts which date from around the 9th and 10th century. It is common also for the recorded stories to be hundreds of years older than their first recording, so from this we can estimate that the stories themselves originate somewhere between the 5th and 7th century. The fact that quite a few of the stories include concepts and practices common to the Celts who were still Pagan around the 5th-7th century adds to this theory.

Ultimately, the Celtic sacred texts are beautiful stories and poems, and one can take them at their face value, or ascribe deeper meaning to them depending on one's beliefs. Personally I feel they work well either way, and provide us with a rich cultural history which we can be proud of.