The Religion of the Ancient Celts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 445 pages of information about The Religion of the Ancient Celts.

The Religion of the Ancient Celts eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 445 pages of information about The Religion of the Ancient Celts.

Some of the personages bear similar names to the Irish divinities, and in some cases there is a certain similarity of incidents to those of the Irish tales.[329] Are, then, the gods dimly revealed in Welsh literature as much Goidelic as Brythonic?  Analysing the incidents of the Mabinogion, Professor Anwyl has shown that they have an entirely local character, and are mainly associated with the districts of Dyfed and Gwent, of Anglesey, and of Gwynedd, of which Pryderi, Branwen, and Gwydion are respectively the heroic characters.[330] These are the districts where a strong Goidelic element prevailed, whether these Goidels were the original inhabitants of Britain, driven there by Brythons,[331] or tribes who had settled there from Ireland,[332] or perhaps a mixture of both.  In any case they had been conquered by Brythons and had become Brythonic in speech from the fifth century onwards.  On account of this Goidelic element, it has been claimed that the personages of the Mabinogion are purely Goidelic.  But examination proves that only a few are directly parallel in name with Irish divinities, and while here there are fundamental likenesses, the incidents with Irish parallels may be due to mere superficial borrowings, to that interchange of Maerchen and mythical donnees which has everywhere occurred.  Many incidents have no Irish parallels, and most of the characters are entirely different in name from Irish divinities.  Hence any theory which would account for the likenesses, must also account for the differences, and must explain why, if the Mabinogion is due to Irish Goidels, there should have been few or no borrowings in Welsh literature from the popular Cuchulainn and Ossianic sagas,[333] and why, at a time when Brythonic elements were uppermost, such care should have been taken to preserve Goidelic myths.  If the tales emanated from native Welsh Goidels, the explanation might be that they, the kindred of the Irish Goidels, must have had a certain community with them in divine names and myths, while others of their gods, more local in character, would differ in name.  Or if they are Brythonic, the likenesses might be accounted for by an early community in myth and cult among the common ancestors of Brythons and Goidels.[334] But as the date of the composition of the Mabinogion is comparatively late, at a time when Brythons had overrun these Goidelic districts, more probably the tales contain a mingling of Goidelic (Irish or Welsh) and Brythonic divinities, though some of these may be survivals of the common Celtic heritage.[335] Celtic divinities were mainly of a local, tribal character.  Hence some would be local Goidelic divinities, others, classed with these, local Brythonic divinities.  This would explain the absence of divinities and heroes of other local Brythonic groups, e.g.  Arthur, from the Mabinogion.  But with the growing importance of these, they attracted to their legend

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The Religion of the Ancient Celts from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.