Previous Part: Druid's Place in Society
It will not be difficult for us to select a specialization. It was the performance of the sacrifice and the engagement in theology, according to Diodorus of Siculus, that first of all distinguished the “philosophers” from the “soothsayers”: “It is customary among them that no one makes a sacrifice without the help of a philosopher; for they consider themselves obligated to resort to the mediation of these people, who know the nature of the gods and can speak, so to speak, in their language, in order to bring them grateful sacrifices and obtain their favors. They turn to these philosophers and these poets, entrusting their needs, not only in peacetime, but also, and especially, during wars. " [186 - Diod, V, 31.]
Diodorus confuses diviners and bards when he speaks of "lyric poets called bards" "who praise some and ridicule others"; but this confusion, easily correctable, is irrelevant. [187 - The Greek author ascribes to the bards the prerogatives of vates (phylids - diviners).]
Name of the sacrifice
For their part, the Irish, who converted to Christianity, removed from their legends all mention of offerings to the gods. The name of the sacrificial offering, however, remained in the Celtic language, and, apparently, this is a very ancient word. This word still retains its pagan meaning, which can be found in the dictionary of Saint-Gaul [188 - Glose de Saint. Gall; 56, at 7.] (56, at 7): “id nomen dolestur chorthon bis ocedpartiab dodeib” is the name of a vase with a rounded base used to make sacrifices to the gods. [189 - Thesaurus Paleohibernicus ", I, 109.]" id-part "," idbart "or" edpart "remains in the Christian vocabulary, you should never be too demanding when dealing with Irish spelling: idpaire choirp Crist translates as" sacra Eucharistia mysteria "- the" sacrament of the sacrament "in Latin Biographies (111, 12),while one Gaulish manuscript of Ovid's Art of Love in the 9th century renders the Latin dative muneri-bus [190 - Nominative singular munus, one of whose meanings is sacrifice, offering.] to the Irish di aperthou; [191 - d'Arbois, "Soigz", I, 154.] "idpart, aperth", Breton "aberz" goes back to "ate-berta", where "ate-" is an amplifying prefix, and "-berta" is a participle from a root meaning “to carry.” [192 - See Ogam, XII, p. 197-200 and 448.] This is one of the rare reliable traces of the designation of a sacrifice, with the sacrifice of a horse, the full name of which we do not know, - the Gallic monk Gyro Cambrian testifies to it in the XII century in Ulster, and it suggests the existence of ritual practice "Zoogamy", distantly reminiscent of the ashwamedha of India. [193 - See M. L. Sjoestedt, op. cit, XIV-XV.] Irish di aperthou; [191 - d'Arbois, "Soigz", I, 154.] "idpart, aperth", Breton "aberz" goes back to "ate-berta", where "ate-" is an amplifying prefix, and "-berta" is a participle from a root meaning “to carry.” [192 - See Ogam, XII, p. 197-200 and 448.] This is one of the rare reliable traces of the designation of a sacrifice, with the sacrifice of a horse, the full name of which we do not know, - the Gallic monk Gyro Cambrian testifies to it in the XII century in Ulster, and it suggests the existence of ritual practice "Zoogamy", distantly reminiscent of the ashwamedha of India. [193 - See M. L. Sjoestedt, op. cit, XIV-XV.] Irish di aperthou; [191 - d'Arbois, "Soigz", I, 154.] "idpart, aperth", Breton "aberz" goes back to "ate-berta", where "ate-" is an amplifying prefix, and "-berta" is a participle from a root meaning “to carry.” [192 - See Ogam, XII, p. 197-200 and 448.] This is one of the rare reliable traces of the designation of a sacrifice, with the sacrifice of a horse, the full name of which we do not know, - the Gallic monk Gyro Cambrian testifies to it in the XII century in Ulster, and it suggests the existence of ritual practice "Zoogamy", distantly reminiscent of the ashwamedha of India. [193 - See M. L. Sjoestedt, op. cit, XIV-XV.][192 - See Ogam, XII, p. 197-200 and 448.] This is one of the rare reliable traces of the designation of a sacrifice, with the sacrifice of a horse, the full name of which we do not know, - the Gallic monk Gyro Cambrian testifies to it in the XII century in Ulster, and it suggests the existence of ritual practice "Zoogamy", distantly reminiscent of the ashwamedha of India. [193 - See M. L. Sjoestedt, op. cit, XIV-XV.][192 - See Ogam, XII, p. 197-200 and 448.] This is one of the rare reliable traces of the designation of a sacrifice, with the sacrifice of a horse, the full name of which we do not know, - the Gallic monk Gyro Cambrian testifies to it in the XII century in Ulster, and it suggests the existence of ritual practice "Zoogamy", distantly reminiscent of the ashwamedha of India. [193 - See M. L. Sjoestedt, op. cit, XIV-XV.]
Promotional video:
Sacrifice
In Ireland, we do not find certain traces of human sacrifice, which so often are blamed for the Druids. Even if sacrifices were made on the great island similar to those that, according to Caesar, [194 - Caes, B. G, VI, 16.] took place in Gaul, Christianization completely erased their traces in our sources, as noted by this d 'Arbois de Jubainville: “The sacrifices, the performance of which was the main function of the Druids, were incompatible with the Christian cult.” [195 - D'Arbois de Jubainville. Cours de littefature celtique. Paris, 1883-1902. T. IP 158.]
In any case, the idea of a druid offering a human sacrifice on a dolmen is purely a figment of the imagination. [196 - One single Irish text, Courtise de Becuma, gives a very brief reference to the "human sacrifice", see Eriu, III, 154 ff. in ch. III.]
It is probably Saint Patrick that we owe the extreme paucity of our knowledge of Irish paganism: "He did not allow them to make any offerings that served as sacrifices to the devil," says about the Filid corporation, [197 - Windisch, op. cit, I, 122.] and an Irish monk adds: “We honor Saint Patrick, the chief apostle of Ireland. Wonderful is his glorious name, this fire with which the peoples are baptized. He fought with the druids with a firm heart. He crushed the haughty, finding the help of the bright heavens, and cleansed Ireland, with its green plains, from the great people. " [198 - Thesaurus Paleohilernicuss, II, 322.]
This passage is more of an exercise in rhetorical style than any kind of message, since the Druids did not disappear so quickly: during the reign of the High King Domnall Ua Neill (Irish Domnall ua Néill - King of Ayleh (943-980), The High King of Ireland (956-980) the Druids still existed and even used all their means of divination, against which St. Patrick rebelled during his lifetime. [199 - O'Curry, Manners and Customs, II, 135.]
In the main episode, marking the triumph of Christianity over the "bloody cult", we are not talking about the druids: “It was there that the royal idol of Ireland was located, namely - Crom Cruach, [200 -“The Blood Circle,”see Ogam, XI, 287, 288, and also: Micheal 6 Duigeannain, On the Medieval sources for the legend of Cenn (Crom) Croich of Mag Sleclit, - in “Feilsgrebinn Eoin Mic Neilb, Dublin, 1940. P. 296 sqq.] Around which stood twelve stone idols: it was made of gold and was revered as a deity by all the peoples who settled in Ireland before the arrival of Patrick. They brought him the firstborn from each offspring of cattle and the first offspring from each clan. It was here that Tigernmas, the son of Follah, king of Ireland, came to honor him during the festival of Samhain, [201 - See below, ch. IV, pp. 196-198.] With the men and women of Ireland. They all fell prostrate before Crom Cruach,bruising their foreheads, cartilages in their noses, knees and elbows so badly that three-quarters of all the people of Ireland died from such prostrations. This is where the name “The Plain of the Falling prostrate.” [202 - Rev. celt, XVI, 35-36.]
Caesar's message, at first glance, seems more objective: "The entire Gaulish people are very committed to their rituals," he says before giving the only evidence we have that points to the connection between "human sacrifice" and druidic priesthood: "People amazed serious illnesses, as well as those who spend their lives in war and other dangers, make or take a vow to make human sacrifices; druids are in charge of this. It is the Gauls who think that the immortal gods can be propitiated only by sacrificing Human life for human life. They even have social sacrifices of their fellow tribesmen. Some tribes use for this purpose huge stuffed animals, made of rods, whose members they fill with living people; they set them on fire from below, and people burn in flames. But,in their opinion, it is even more pleasing to the immortal gods to sacrifice those caught in theft, robbery or other serious crime; and when such people are not enough, then they resort to sacrificing even the innocent.”[203 - Caes, B. G, VI, 16. - Per. MM Pokrovsky.]
Should Nennius' message be trusted about the advice the Breton druids gave Vortigern as Breton rule in Great Britain was coming to an end? To ensure the reliability of the defensive strength of the fortress of Dinas Emris, it was necessary to sprinkle its stones with the blood of a young man born of an unknown father. But such a Jesus among the legalists, the young man who later became the magician Merlin, was supposed to confuse the Druids and avoid the cruel fate that awaited him. [204 - Historia Brittonum, III, 30-31.]
The same story is told in the collection of Irish legends called "The Courtship de Vesite": the wife of Labride (one of the leaders of the Tuatha de Danann [205 - Or "the tribes of the goddess Danu", a mythological race that, according to Irish tradition, inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the Goidels, and then fled from them, hiding in the underworld and sea world of pagan gods. A whole cycle of myths has developed around this name Tuatha De Danann.]
Bekuma, guilty of a love affair with Gaillard, one of the sons of the sea god Manannan [206 - The divine dignity of Manannan, the sea god, was questioned in vain in: J. Vendryes, Et. celt., VI, p. 239 ff] was sentenced to be burned alive at the stake. Her judges, showing condescension, decided to be content with her exile and, having put her in a boat, sent her out to sea. She managed to reach Houth Hill (Etar), where she met King Konn of the Hundred Battles, who was widowed after the death of his wife Etne. Thanks to her beauty, Bekuma achieved that he married her, but this entailed various disasters: the land refused to bear fruit, the herds did not give milk. The druids, whom they turned to for advice, explain that in order to eliminate the consequences of the crime committed by the king's wife,the son of the virgin should be sacrificed and the blood of the gates and the land of Tara should be sprinkled on him. Conn eventually finds a suitable young man on one island and, with the help of cunning, lures him to Tara. But at the very moment when the sacrifice was to be performed, a cow appears, and, heeding the pleas of the young man's mother, he is replaced by an animal. [207 - "Book of Fermoys, fol. 89, and O'Curry, "Mahners", - "Intr.", P. 333-334 and II, 222.]222.]222.]
As you can see, the Irish and Gaulish narratives are very similar, and it is difficult to separate history from mythology. However, concerns of this kind were completely alien to the Celts, and if we want to avoid useless disputes, it would probably be wiser to recognize as a misunderstanding the remarks of the classical authors - Caesar, Strabo, Diodorus and others - about the meaning or even the real possibility of such a sacrifice: [208 - See Ogam, VII, 33 sqq.] It takes a lot of firmness to resist the exaggerations and errors of ancient compilers; in fact, the conception of Gaul and Britain by a contemporary of Caesar and Augustus was not much different from the conception of Africa by a man of the Middle Ages, and the most ridiculous stories were in circulation.
The Celtic funeral rite gives more solid grounds for talking about human sacrifice: "funera sunt magnifica et somptuosa" - "the funeral is magnificent and expensive," Caesar notes: [209 - Caes., BG, VI, 19.] on the fire in Gaul, as in Homeric Greece, [210 - Il., XXIII, 166-176.] various property, livestock and, in some cases, people loved by the deceased were laid. Pomponius Mela confirms this practice and adds that human sacrifices could be voluntary: “Before, settling accounts and paying debts were postponed until arriving in the Other World, and there were people who of their own free will threw themselves into the funeral pyres of their loved ones, as if they wanted to continue living together with them.”[211 - Pomp. Mela, III, 2.]
We should not forget about those Gauls who, according to Posidinius, [212 - Athen., IV, 40.] put their heads under the sword, distributing the gold and silver received in payment to their friends: “Some at the solemn gathering of all the people, having received silver or gold, or some number of vessels with wine and solemnly witnessing the gift, distributed it among relatives or friends, then lay down on the shield, and the one standing next to them cut their throats with a blow of the sword.
D'Arbois [213 - D'Arbois de Jubainville H. Cours, VI, 52, 53.] recognizes in this the euhemerization of the mythological theme - the theme of the green knight of the Arthurian cycle of novels and the Irish epic (of the Cuchulainn and Cou Roy cycles). [214 - Cm. Ananda Coomaraswami, "Sir Gawein and the Green Knighb," Speculum, XIX, 1944, p. 104 sqq.]
Celtic Druids. Book by Françoise Leroux
Next Part: Druid, Diviner and Judge