The language is a dialect of the Gothic, called Norse, still in use in Iceland. The inscriptions may, therefore, be read with certainty; but they throw very little light on history, being principally epitaphs on tombstones.
Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods
It was a firm belief of the northern nations, that a time would come when all the visible creation, the gods of Valhalla, the inhabitants of earth, men, giants and elves, would be destroyed, together with their habitations.
This fearful day will not be without its forerunners. First will come a triple winter, during which clouds of snow, driven by piercing winds from the four quarters of the heavens, will fall unceasingly on the earth; tempests will sweep the sea, and the sun will impart neither heat nor gladness. Three such winters will pass away without being tempered by a single summer. Three other winters will then follow, during which war and discord will convulse the universe. The solid earth will tremble, the sea will leave its bed, and the heavens will be rent asunder.
During this convulsion of nature, armies will meet in combat, and so great shall be the slaughter, that wolves and eagles will banquet upon the flesh of kings and heroes. The wolf Fenris will now break his bands; the Midgard serpent rise out of the sea, and Loki, released from his chains, will join the enemies of the gods. The Eddas give a wild description of the last great battlefield on which the powers of good and evil shall contend, and on which all alike, whether gods or demons, are doomed to perish. When all are slain, the world will be wrapped in flames, the sun will become dim, the stars will fall from heaven, and time shall be no more.
After this universal destruction, Alfâdur (All-Father) will cause a new heaven and a new earth to rise out of the abyss. This new earth will produce its fruits without labor or care; perpetual spring will reign, and sin and misery will be unknown. In this blissful abode, gods and men are to dwell together in a peace which the powers of evil can never again disturb.
Germany
The Mythology of the Teutonic or Germanic race is neither so picturesque nor so well defined as that of Scandinavia. Odin and other Scandinavian divinities were worshipped by the tribes who dwelt along the borders of the Northern Ocean; in other parts of Germany, Druidism prevailed. The Germans had, however, their own deities and their own superstitions. Tuisco (sometimes written Tuesco or Tuisto) was worshipped by the Saxons as the god of war. The third day of the week takes its name from this divinity.
CHAPTER VIII
CELTIC MYTHOLOGY
DRUIDISM
Ques. From what is the term Druid derived?
Ans. There exists much difference of opinion on this point. The word has been variously deduced from the Saxon, “dry,” a magician, from the German, “druthin,” a master or lord, from the Celtic, “deru,” an oak, etc. The best informed writers now refer it to the compound Celtic word “derouyd,” from “De,” God, and “rouyd,” speaking. It would, therefore, seem to signify those who speak of or for God.
Ques. Where did Druidism prevail?
Ans. In some parts of Germany, in Gaul, and in ancient Britain and Ireland.
Ques. Where did it originate?
Ans. Various theories have been advanced on this subject. Some refer it to the Siva-worshippers of Hindostan, others to the Magi of Persia; but all agree as to its Eastern origin.
Ques. Who is the earliest writer on this subject?
Ans. Julius Cæsar. His account is considered perfectly reliable, although, to render it more intelligible, he gives to the Celtic gods the names of the Greek and Roman divinities whom they resemble.
Ques. What were the principal characteristics of Druidism?
Ans. The belief in one Supreme Being: in the immortality of the soul, and a future state of rewards and punishments. This last doctrine takes with them, as with the Hindoos, the form of metempsychosis. The religion of the Druids was farther characterized by the use of circular temples, open at the top; the worship of fire as the emblem of the sun, and the celebration of the ancient Tauric festival, (held on the first of May, when the sun enters Taurus.)
Ques. What name did the Druids give to the Supreme Being?
Ans. Esus, or Hesus; although this is sometimes mentioned as the appellation of a subordinate divinity. Superior to the Roman Jupiter, or the Zeus of the Greeks, Esus had no parentage; was subject to no fate; he was free and self-existent, and the creation of the world was his own voluntary act. The Druids taught that excepting this Supreme God, all things had a beginning, but that nothing created would ever have an end. Notwithstanding these enlightened ideas, they reverenced many other divinities. The Assyrian Baal was worshipped among the Celts as Bel or Belen. As he represented the sun, the Romans recognized in him their god Apollo. Diodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Cæsar, makes the following statement on the authority of an ancient Greek writer.
“Apollo,” he says, “is worshipped with solemn rites by the inhabitants of a large island, which lies off the coast of Gaul, in the Northern Ocean. This island is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, so named because they live beyond the region of the north wind. The god has there a remarkable temple, circular in form, and a magnificent forest is consecrated to him.” It is generally supposed that the temple alluded to by Diodorus, was the Druidical circle of Stonehenge, of which we shall speak later.
Ques. Who was Teu´tates?
Ans. This name is thought to be derived from “Tut-tat,” signifying “parent of men.” This god was much honored by the Gauls, who attributed to him the invention of letters and poetry. According to the Triads, (Druidical verses,) he “wrote upon stone the arts and the sciences of the world.” In his more beneficent character, the name Gwyon was often given to this divinity. He resembles, both in name and attributes, Thoth, the Mercury of Egypt and Phœnicia. The ancient Gauls had no idols, nor did they ever attempt any visible representation of their deities. When the Romans established their own worship in the country, they endeavored, according to their usual policy, to conciliate the conquered tribes by adopting their gods, and placing their images in the temples which they built. We read that Zenodorus, a famous sculptor, said by some to have been a native of Gaul, executed a statue of Teu´tates which cost forty million sestertia. He spent six years upon this great work.
Camul, the Celtic Mars, Tarann, the god of thunder, and many other divinities of inferior rank, were worshipped in Gaul and Germany.
Ques. How was the Druid priesthood divided?
Ans. Into three orders; the priests, the bards, and the Druids, properly so called.
Ques. What were the duties of the priests?
Ans. They studied the hidden laws of nature and the mysteries of earth and heaven. They offered public and private sacrifices, and obtained a knowledge of the future from the entrails and the blood of victims, or from the flight of birds. They also cured maladies with certain mysterious charms. The bards held a still higher rank: they preserved in their verses the mystic learning of the priests, the traditions of their race, and the great actions of their heroes. No sacrifice was duly offered without their sacred chant; they encouraged the warrior going to the field of combat, and received him on his return with notes of triumph. To live in heroic song was the aspiration of every Celtic warrior, and to the coward or traitor, there was no penalty so terrible as the denunciation of the sacred bards. Music was the only gentle art known to the rude tribes of Gaul and Britain, and they were, perhaps for this reason, the more susceptible to its influence. The character of these minstrels was peculiarly sacred in their eyes, on account of the gifts of prophecy and second sight which they were believed to possess in moments of inspiration.
The verses of the bards were never committed to writing, and a long and painful course of oral instruction was necessary before a candidate could be admitted to take his place in this influential class. According to Cæsar, twenty years was the ordinary novitiate required.
The bards of Gaul seem to have passed away with the religious system to which they belonged; but in the British islands, they continued, although divested of their sacred character, to be a highly esteemed and privileged class. We may judge of their influence in keeping alive the patriotic spirit of the people, from the fact that Edward I. ordered their extermination as the surest means of extinguishing the feeling of nationality among the Welsh tribes. In Ireland and Scotland, the bards gradually passed away with the decline of the feudal system, and the power of the native princes and chieftains whose glory they sung.
Ques. Who were the Druids, properly so called?
Ans. They were priests of the highest order, who remained secluded in caves and grottoes, or in the depths of oak forests, where they were supposed to study the deeper mysteries of nature and religion, and to consult more directly the secret will of the divinity. They were also the teachers of youth.
The Druids must have possessed some knowledge of the motions of the heavenly bodies, since they counted the year by lunations; astronomical instruments have also been found among the druidical remains in Ireland, which prove that they had made a certain progress in this science. Like the Persians, they mingled astrology and divination with their observations of the celestial bodies. The healing art was also practised by the Druids. The effect of their remedies was not, however, attributed to any natural cause, but rather to a mysterious virtue residing in certain plants, and rendered efficacious by the magic rites with which they were gathered.
The mistletoe, when found growing on the oak, was esteemed particularly sacred; it was an antidote against poison, a remedy in all diseases, and a preservative against the machinations of evil spirits. To possess the proper efficacy, it should be gathered in February or March, on the sixth day of the moon. As soon as the mistletoe was found growing on the no less sacred oak, the Druids assembled; a banquet and a sacrifice were prepared, after which a priest in white vestments cut the plant with a golden sickle while two others received it reverently into a white mantle spread beneath. Two milk-white heifers were instantly offered in sacrifice, and the rest of the day was spent in rejoicing. In like manner, the samolus, or marsh-wort, possessed no virtue unless it were sought fasting, and gathered with the left hand, without looking at it. They plucked the helago, or hedge hyssop, barefooted, and without a knife, after ablutions, and offerings of bread and wine. The vervain and other plants had also their distinct ceremonial.
Amber was valued for certain mysterious properties; it was manufactured into beads by the Druids, and these were given as charms to warriors going to battle; such beads are sometimes found in their tombs.
Ques. Were the Druids acquainted with the art of writing?
Ans. They were, at least in Gaul and Ireland. Their alphabet contained seventeen letters, and resembled the characters used by the ancient Pelasgi. It is probable, therefore, that they received it from the early Greek colonists. Writing was employed for ordinary affairs, whether public or private, but the mystic learning of the Druids was handed down by oral tradition only. The few inscriptions they have left are in symbolic writing, which resembles the runes of Scandinavia, and originated in the same manner from the rods and branches of certain plants used in divination. These inscriptions are called in Ireland “ogham;” they are principally straight lines, grouped in different ways.
Ques. Did the Druids exercise any political authority?
Ans. Yes; they were the legislators of the people, and had the right of deciding in all controversies. There was no appeal from their sentence, and those who ventured to resist were excommunicated and outlawed.
The college of Druids was governed by a chief or Arch-druid, chosen by vote from among their number. The elections were eagerly contested, and were often attended with much bloodshed. The Arch-druid held his office for life.
Ques. Who were the Druidesses?
Ans. They were prophetesses or sorceresses, most generally wives or daughters of the Druids, who exercised an unbounded influence over the people. They were supposed to read the future, to conjure tempests, and appease them again at will. The Gallic mariner often went to consult them amid the reefs of the Armorican coast, and trembled with superstitious awe as he saw them gliding like phantoms among the misty crags, waving flaming torches, and mingling their wild chants with the voices of wind and sea. Some of these sorceresses were obliged to assist at nocturnal rites, where, with their bodies painted black, and their hair dishevelled, they joined in a frantic dance, and abandoned themselves to the wildest transports of frenzy. A peculiar rite was practised by the Druidesses who resided in an island at the mouth of the Loire. They were obliged once every year, between sunrise and sunset, to demolish and rebuild the roof of their rustic temple. If any of their number should let fall the least part of the sacred material, her fate was sealed. She was torn to pieces by her companions, amid paroxysms of wild frenzy which recalled to the Greeks the orgies of their own Bacchantes. It is said that no year passed without a victim.
The nine virgin priestesses who dwelt on the island of Sena, an almost inaccessible rock off the promontory of Plogoff, on the coast of Brittany, were regarded with particular veneration, and constituted, perhaps, the highest religious authority among the ancient Gauls. There was a class of Druidesses in Gaul and Germany, who, in addition to practices of sorcery and incantation, presided at fearful rites. Strabo tells us that when the Cimbri had taken prisoners of war, they were offered in sacrifice by these terrible women. The chief Druidess, standing by a rude stone altar, received the victim dragged thither by her companions. She plunged her knife into his heart, and watched carefully to obtain an omen, according as the blood should flow more or less rapidly. This ceremony was repeated with other victims until the augury was deemed decisive. The superstitions with regard to witches and their nocturnal revels, which prevailed so long in Europe, originated, no doubt, from popular traditions concerning these sorceresses.
In Ireland, they do not appear to have played either so terrible or so important a part. We only know that at Tara, certain virgins of royal blood were consecrated to Baal and Samhain, (the moon,) and watched the perpetual fire which burned on their altars. In one of the civil wars so common in the island, a chief of Leinster destroyed this sanctuary and massacred its inmates. The entire country united to punish the perpetrators of this sacrilege; they were put to death, and a perpetual fine was imposed on the province of Leinster.
Ques. What sacrifices were offered by the Druids?
Ans. In time of peace, fruits and cattle; in war, human sacrifices were preferred.
Ques. How were the victims chosen?
Ans. They were generally captives taken in war, slaves or criminals. In some cases, warriors and others devoted themselves voluntarily to the altar, either to propitiate the gods, and obtain victory for their people, or because they were weary of life, and desired to hasten the moment of transmigration. These acts of self-immolation were esteemed exceedingly meritorious. Cæsar supposes Teu´tates to be the same with Dis or Pluto; but in the mythology of the Gauls, there were no infernal regions, and consequently, there was no Pluto. The soul passed into another body, and the transmigration was happy, or the contrary, as the actions performed during its last state of existence had been good or evil.
According to the Druids, death was but the central point of a long life.
Ques. What was the usual mode of sacrifice?
Ans. Victims offered to Baal were always burned. On important occasions, a great number were enclosed in a huge frame of wicker work in which they were consumed together. In offerings to other gods, different rites were observed.
These remarks apply chiefly to Gaul, Germany and Britain. Human sacrifices were rare in Ireland.
Ques. What were the principal festivals of the Druids?
Ans. The Tauric festival, which has been already mentioned, was the most ancient, dating from the time of the Chaldees, or Babylonians. In Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland, the first of May takes its name from this solemnity, being called in Gaelic, Beltane; and in Irish, Beal-Tinne, or the Fire of Baal. The solstices were also celebrated as the chief points in the sun’s annual course. Wherever Druidism prevailed, there was in the centre of each great district or canton, a perpetual fire in honor of Baal. On the feast of the god, this was extinguished, and again lighted, after which all the fires throughout the country were rekindled from this sacred source. This rite was observed with particular solemnity in Ireland. There the Druids assembled around the sacred or “parent fire,” which the Arch-druid extinguished. At this signal every fire disappeared, and, in an incredibly short space of time, darkness settled on the island. The chiefs and princes, together with the assembled people, then assisted in silent awe, while the Druids performed their nocturnal rites. At length the fire was rekindled; torches lighted at the sacred flame were passed from hand to hand, and the country was soon illuminated by the Baal fires which blazed on every hill. The chief scene of these solemnities was Ouisneach, in the centre of the island, but the same rite was performed in many other places.
According to what seems an authentic tradition, it was during such a ceremony that St. Patrick obtained the opportunity of holding a public disputation with the Druids in the presence of the king and chieftains assembled at Tara. It was Easter Eve, and the Saint, who must have been well aware of the penalty of death attached to such an act, commanded his disciples to light the paschal fire at the moment when all around was plunged in darkness. The flame was seen at Tara, and the Druids called loudly for the punishment of the sacrilegious strangers. They were seized and brought before the assembly, but the result was favorable to the missionaries, and from that day may be dated the rapid though peaceful decline of Druidism in Ireland.
The idolatrous rites peculiar to the season of the summer solstice have been long forgotten but the custom of lighting fires upon that day, still prevails. The bonfires of St. John’s Eve (June 21st) recall, at least, one feature of the ancient Druid festival.
Ques. What rites were observed on the first day of November?
Ans. The day was consecrated to the Moon, (called in Ireland Samhain,) and was observed both in Gaul and in the British islands. It would seem that the spirits of the departed were also propitiated at this season, and many curious traditions are connected with its observance.
Before the invasion of Cæsar, Britain was so little known to the ancient Gauls, as to be still a land of mystery. They believed that on every feast of the moon, the souls of those who had died during the year, were obliged to repair thither for judgment.
Connected with this, Procopius relates an Armorican legend of which some traces may yet be found in Brittany. At the foot of the promontory of Plogoff, around the sacred isle of Sena, are scattered rocks on which the sea breaks with an unceasing moan. Thither assemble, on the night of judgment, the spirits of the dead. Faint wailings are heard, and pale phantoms are seen gliding above the waves, which they are not yet spiritual enough to cross without human succor. At the hour of midnight the sailors and fisher men along the coast hear mysterious voices calling at their doors. They rise and find strange barks waiting on the shore. Scarcely have they entered these, when the light craft is weighed down by a ghostly band. The terrified pilot has no need of helm or sail, for the barks are borne westwardly with incredible velocity. When they touch the misty shores of Britain, there is a hollow murmur—the boats ride lightly on the water—the souls are gone.
The superstitious observances which are still practised on November, or All Hallow Eve, in Ireland, Scotland, and some parts of England, are of pagan origin, and seem to be relics of this festival.
Ques. At what period may we fix the decline of Druidism?
Ans. It was suppressed in Gaul by the Roman conquerors, who built temples, and introduced the worship of their own gods, adopting also those of the conquered race. Druidism retired, step by step, before this more classic heathenism, but found a temporary refuge in the German forests and in Armorica. It was suppressed in Britain during the reign of Nero. The persecuted Druids took refuge in the island of Mona or Anglesea, whence they were driven by the Roman troops with great slaughter. They found a last asylum in the island of Iona. Here they maintained a certain influence up to the latter part of the sixth century, when the inhabitants of the island were converted by the preaching of St. Columba, the Apostle of the Highlands. This missionary was a native of Ireland, where Christianity had been established for nearly a century.
Ques. What traces still remain of the ancient Druidical worship?
Ans. Certain monuments, which are called, according to their form, menhirs, dolmens or cromlechs.
Ques. What are the menhirs?
Ans. The word is derived from the old Breton man, stone; and hir, long. They are upright blocks of stone, often terminating in a point; and are for the most part rough and unshapely; the ordinary height is from seven to twelve feet; but in some rare instances, they exceed thirty feet in height. The purpose of these menhirs is not well understood. Where they stand singly, or in groups of two or three, they probably mark a spot rendered memorable by some important event. Similar monuments were common in primitive times, as we learn from Scripture; when the Israelites had crossed the dry bed of the Jordan, Joshua placed twelve stones on the bank, as a remembrance of the miracle. Jacob marked in the same manner the spot on which he had been favored by a celestial vision. In certain places on the Scandinavian peninsula, extensive groups of menhirs occur, scattered irregularly over the plain; these are supposed to mark ancient battle-fields. Where the stones are arranged in a “cromlech” or circular form, there is generally a dolmen in the centre. The dolmen is a large flat stone, placed like a table, upon two others which are set upright. Some of these were evidently altars, as the flat stone on the top is furrowed and slightly inclined to facilitate as it were the flowing of blood. Dolmens are found also in straight lines, forming a sort of covered gallery.
Ques. Where are the most remarkable of these monuments?
Ans. On the continent of Europe, the most extensive series is that of Carnac in Brittany. In the midst of a wide heath, stand rude blocks of gray granite, set on end; they are angular, and show no marks of polish. These menhirs are arranged in eleven lines, forming regular alleys. The blocks numbered formerly about ten thousand; but there are now many gaps in the stony lines, as every house in the vicinity seems to have been built from this convenient quarry.
At Stonehenge, in England, is a large cromlech arranged in two circles and two ovals. There are in all about one hundred and forty stones, of which the smallest are estimated to weigh ten or twelve, and the largest seventy tons. In the centre of the work is a massive slab of fine sandstone, supposed to have been an altar. This cromlech is surrounded by a trench and an earthen embankment. Numerous ancient barrows, or burial mounds, are found in the neighborhood. In Ireland, monuments constructed of stone are sometimes found; but circular earthworks are more common. In this country, as in Brittany, many popular superstitions still attach to these remains of ancient paganism. Almost within our own day, many an Irish peasant has made his scanty harvest still smaller, rather than violate with the plough, the grass-grown “rath,” or Druid circle. Death within the year is the supposed penalty of such an act. In Brittany, malignant dwarfs and night-elves still haunt the deserted cromlech, and have power at certain times, to wreak their malice on the belated traveller. Some of these giant stones are themselves subject to mysterious laws. Once in a hundred years, they are obliged, at the hour of midnight, to pass in weird procession to bathe in the waters of the Northern Ocean.
Then for a few brief moments the stars look down on the riches buried in ancient times beneath the enchanted circle. It is the treasure-seeker’s golden opportunity, but woe to the avaricious wretch who lingers over the spoil. He is crushed by the swift returning stones, and the morning sun finds the grim sentinels silent and motionless as before, bearing no trace of their wild nocturnal march.