July 28, 2009

• part one on Brigit and the Pruyn       --------    parts from Wiki for "The Prydyn

  
  

  

  

  The Aberlemno Serpent Stone, Class I Pictish stone

  The Picts were a confederation of tribes living in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from before the Roman conquest of Britain until the 10th century. They lived to the north of the Forth and Clyde rivers, and spoke the extinct Pictish language, thought to have been related to the Brythonic languages spoken by the Britons to the south. They are assumed to have been the descendants of the Caledonii and other tribes named by Roman historians or found on the world map of Ptolemy. Pictland, also known as Pictavia, gradually absorbed the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. Alba expanded absorbing British and Bernician territory and by the 11th century the Pictish identity had become subsumed under a new term for this amalgamation of North British peoples: the "Scots".

  Archaeology gives some impression of the society of the Picts. Although very little in the way of Pictish writing has survived, Pictish history since the late 6th century is known from a variety of sources, including Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, saints' lives such as that of Columba by Adomnán, and various Irish annals. Although the popular impression of the Picts may be one of an obscure, mysterious people, this is far from being the case. When compared with the generality of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Pictish history and society are well attested.^[1]

     ....  possible that Haitian Voodo is partially influenced by survivals of Celtic polytheism.^[5] Maman Brigitte is worshipped as the Lady of the Cemetery; her colors are purple, violet and black. She is the wife of Baron Samedi, and characterised as a hard working, hard cursing woman who can swear a blue streak and enjoys a special drink made of rum laced with 21 hot peppers. People suspected of faking a possession by her may be asked to drink her special rum or rub hot peppers on their genitals, which she occasionally does. Those who are not truly possessed are soon identified.

  Brigid and Saint Brigid

  Stories and symbology that survive in the persona of Saint Brigid may be related. St. Brigid was associated with perpetual, sacred flames, such as the one maintained by 19 nuns at her sanctuary in Kildare, Ireland. The sacred flame at Kildare was said by Giraldus Cambrensis and other chroniclers to have been surrounded by a hedge, which no man could cross. Men who attempted to cross the hedge were said to have been cursed to go insane, die, and/or to have had their "lower leg" wither.

  The tradition of female priestesses tending sacred, naturally-occurring "eternal flames" is a feature of ancient Indo-European pre-Christian spirituality. Other examples include the Roman goddess Vesta, and other hearth-goddesses, such as Hestia.

  Brighid was also connected to holy wells, at Kildare and many other sites in the Celtic

   

  lands. Well dressing, the tying of clooties to the trees next to healing wells, and other methods of petitioning or honoring Brighid still take place in some of the Celtic lands and the diaspora.

  Julius Caesar’s comments on Celtic religion and their significance

  Golden Celtic wheel with symbols, Balesme, Haute-Marne. Musée d'Archéologie Nationale.

  The classic entry about the Celtic gods of Gaul is the section in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de bello Gallico (52–51 BC; The Gallic War). In this he names the five principal gods worshipped in Gaul (according to the practice of his time, he gives the names of the closest equivalent Roman gods) and describes their roles. Mercury was the most venerated of all the deities and numerous representations of him were to be discovered. Mercury was seen as the originator of all the arts (and is often taken to refer to Lugus for this reason), the supporter of adventurers and of traders, and the mightiest power concerning trade and profit. Next the Gauls revered Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. Among these divinities the Celts are described as holding roughly equal views as did other populations: Apollo dispels sickness, Minerva encourages skills, Jupiter governs the skies, and Mars influences warfare. In addition to these five, he mentions that the Gauls traced their ancestry to Dis Pater.

  The problem with Caesar’s ‘equivalent’ Roman gods

     God of Etang-sur-Arroux, a possible depiction of Cernunnos. He wears a torc at the neck and on the chest. Two snakes with ram heads encircle him at the waist. Two cavities at the top of his head are probably designed to receive deer horns. Two small human faces at the back of his head indicate that he is tricephalic. Musée d'Archéologie Nationale.

  Typical for a Roman of his day, however, Caesar does not refer to these gods by their Celtic names but by the names of the Roman gods with which he equated them, a process that brings significant confusion to the task of identifying these Gaulish gods with their native names in the insular mythologies. He also presents a tidy schema which equates deity and role in a manner that is quite unfamiliar to the colloquial literature handed down. Still, despite the restrictions, his short list is a helpful and precise observation. Caesar's remarks contrast with the iconography in implying rather dissimilar~~~~~~(to be continured; this is from our beloved WIKI)

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