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"Cetal" - song, spell; "Cantalon" - pillar
The erased and seemingly mechanical form of these various techniques should not prevent us from recognizing an intellectual and religious basis in them: the judges who in Senhus Mor put the Philid on the same rank as the king or bishop were not mistaken in this. All such formulas were usually sung: "cetal, air-chetal, forchetal, dichetal" - this is how spells were denoted with or without an amplifying prefix. From this same Western Indo-European basis, the Breton language forms its outdated name "lesson": Kentel, while Latin retained the verb "cantabo" - "to sing." Icavos oppianionos ienru Brigindonae can-taton, says a Gallic inscription from Oxei. As already shown, the word "cantholon" does not mean a pillar, as Vandry believed, but ratherby analogy, it was attached to a commemorative stele in honor of a religious ceremony, during which a hymn was sung. [358 - Ch.-J. Guyonvarc'h, Ogam, XI, 288-293.] As far as denominations are concerned, Philid bears one such name that can be compared with the word for song: cainte, “Satirist.” [359 - See, for example, Leinster Book, 120c, 45, in spite of the "Glossary of Cormac" (Stokes, 31), which produces this word from lat. canis - dog].canis - dog].canis - dog].
The Gaulish "cantalon" is possibly also associated with the funeral lamentation performed by the philid on behalf of everyone at the hero's funeral, and which, with a firmly established cult, should be repeated on every anniversary. Such a custom existed, at least in Ireland: at the end of The Destruction of the House of Da Hawk (§ 65), Philid Amorgen undertakes to mourn Kor-mak Koinlongas, who died in battle, and the same thing happens after the death of Conle, son of Cú Chulainn: “Then they made a funeral lamentation, made a grave and a stele, and until the expiration of three days, not a single calf was allowed near the cows in Ulster. [360 - Ogam, IX, 121.]
The Osanian memorial poem on Kairpre's death certainly contains an appeal to the ogam - the keeper of the memory of the deceased hero: “Ogam, carved in stone, heroes fell around him, wounded to death. If Finn, the warrior, is alive, the memory of the ogam will live long. [361 - Windisch, Ir. Texte, I, 158.]
The druid personally observed the funeral rite: when, after the unfortunate battle, King Munster was buried: “The Druid of Dergdams made a grave for Mog Nade; he buried him with his weapon; with his spear, with his club and with his helmet.”[362 - Cath Maighe Lena, ed. K. Jackson, p. fourteen.]
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One unique passage relating to the description of the ceremonial funeral of a brother of one of the high kings of Ireland even contains a formal prescription very close to the data of the Gaulish texts [363 - See present. ed. pp. 108-109.]: “Let his grave be dug, let him make funeral lamentation over him, let his flocks be slaughtered”. [364 - Windisch, op. cit, I, 122.]
Before burial, the body was washed in the river - this was a ritual procedure, since the word "fothrucad" for it, [365 - Sanas Chormaic, ed. Meyer, 49.] was as much about the healing bath as it was about the washing of the dead body. Then, at the end of the burial, there followed mourning and a word of praise for the deceased, on the spot composed by the druid. [366 - The Death of Muirchertach, Rev. celt, 23, 424-425.]
The most significant burial ceremony was carried out at the end: it was a "cluithi cainteach", or "funeral games": "They buried the son of King Ulster, dug his grave, put a stone, and the heroes of Ulster performed funeral games on it." [367 - Cath Finntraga, ed. Meyer, 28.]
The games, on occasion, were followed by other procedures of a less entertaining nature: “When he reached a place called Forrach at Ui McKnais in Mead, Fiahra died of his wounds. A grave was dug for him, a stone was laid, funeral games were performed on it, and his name was written in Ogamic script. The hostages he brought from the South were buried alive around his grave, so that Munster's people would always bear this shame on themselves and be defeated. And each person said: smallpox, smallpox (?), When he was buried alive. “This is for“uch (?) They dug these graves,”they all said. "Let their name be" Forrah "- said the druid …". [368 - Rev. celt, 24, 184.]
The grounds for such cruel executions were simple; strictly speaking, they were not the execution of the sentence: human surrender to the earth was not considered as retribution - however, the very concept of retribution is alien to the Celtic religion - but only as a means of restoring mystical balance: “It is impossible to propitiate the immortal gods, they believe, without giving up human life in exchange for a person's life … "- notes Caesar. [369 - Cm. present ed. p. 107.] We understand, by virtue of what cosmological necessity the druid was forced to take part in such ceremonies: being the master of the elements and, at the same time, the leader of the sacrifice, he was an indispensable mediator in relations between people and gods.
Druid's Intervention
Sometimes, in the most difficult situations, the Druid community intervened in state affairs for the sake of protecting interests that were threatened by the interests of the state or even their own interests: “Then they (Karman and her sons) went to Ireland in order to harm the people of Tuatha de Dunnan and destroy all the bread on the island (Ireland). The Tuatha de Dannan did not like this. Ay, son of Ollam, of their poets, Cridenbel of their satirists, Lug Laebach of their druids, and Be Quille ("hazel's wife") of their witches, gathered together, went out to sing a spell against them; they did not leave them until they forced their three sons to go back to sea. The same left Karman, the fairy goddess, their mother, hostages and gave all seven objects that they possessed, as a guarantee that they would not return to Ireland any more while the sea was around her.[370 - Rev. celt, 15, 311. See present. ed. pp. 195-196 about the Karman festival, which is part of the Luhnazad festival.]
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
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