The Boar in Celtic Culture

You can watch the video about this subject in here: [The Boar in Celtic Culture]


There are many mythological accounts concerning boars in a variety of cultures throughout the world. Boar hunt, and all its process – from tracking the animal, chasing it and delivering the final blow at the end – as always been a very ritualistic activity, greatly linked to initiation rites, tests of manhood, strength and an exercise to prepare for war. 
Hercules chased and captured a ferocious and gigantic boar; the goddess Artemis sent a boar to Calydon to ravage, lay waste, create chaos in that region because Oeneus, the king of the city, forgot about the yearly sacrificial rituals to the gods; in Norse mythology we have Gullinbursti – the god Freyr’s mount - a boar; In Hindu mythology, the boar Varaha is the third of the ten avatars of Vishnu and under that form Vishnu defeated the demon Hiranyaksha. Well, it’s not my intention to give you a list of mythological accounts about the boar, I just want you to understand that this was an animal of great importance in many cultures, but let’s focus on the Celtic culture. 

Through archaeology we know our ancestors started the process of domesticating animals during the beginning of the Neolithic period. Of course they domesticated animals before this period, but the Neolithic marks a time when Man’s actions greatly changed the behaviour and the physical appearances of animals. Changes in the animals eating habits, changings in the habitats, inter-breading to enhance certain features of an animal – the earliest genetic changes – well, a variety of factors which contributed to change the physical appearances of animals. Boars were domesticated and we have transformed them into pigs, and for millions of years, in general to us there as always been this idea that boars were just wild pigs and pigs were domesticated wild pigs. So there was no great difference between the two. However, to the Celts, a pig was a pig and a boar was a completely different creature. In the Celtic languages there are different words for a pig and for a boar, I mean, the Celts didn’t just refer to boars as wild pigs. The Celts did not identify the two animals as being from the same species. For instance, he word for Boar in ancient Irish and Gaelic-Scottish is “torc”, in Welsh is “baedd gwyllt” and in Cornish “bath”, this shows us the singularity of the boar in the Celtic cultures.  

Both the bear and the boar were considered to be the most fearsome creatures of the forests in pre-Christian times and throughout the early middle ages. The Celts highly respected and admired the capacity the boar had to defend itself when the creature felt threatened. So the boar became a symbol of courage and bravery, and also ferocity in battle. To the Celts and also among the Anglo-Saxons, the boar assumes the zoomorphic figuration of the Ideal Warrior, which is why the figure of the boar appears in decorations of weapons and in the equipment of warriors, most prominent in helmets and shields.  

When the Celts went to war, one of the most characteristic objects they would take with them was the Carnyx, those long bronze trumpets, with an animal head from where the sound would come, and most of the heads were representations of a boar’s head, of course there were other 
animal representations such as serpents, but the boar was the most used representation for these wind instruments. The boar being an animal linked to courage, bravery and ferocity in battle, it’s really interesting to see this very creature represented in these objects emitting a battle chant from the depths - frightening. 

The boar is also associated with certain Celtic deities, such as Vitiris, a Celtic god who was worshipped in the British Isles, a very popular deity amongst young warriors and even roman warriors who adopted this god. And the god Mogons also associated with the boar and Moccus a deity from Gaul, worshipped by boar-hunters. The goddess Arduinna, also from Gaul, a goddess from a specific forest in ancient Gaul, and she is associated with hunt and the boar, she even rides a boar. And in ancient Lusitania, the cult of the god Endovélico involved sacrificing boars, and also pigs. So the boar was one of the main animals used in the cult of a variety of Celtic deities. And we have other spiritual/religious references to the boar, such as some of the warriors from ancient Celtic Scotland wore wild boar skins, or even a Celtic tribe from northern Britain, whose name was Orci which means “tribe of the boars”. And then a wondrous variety of statuettes and figurines of boars, and boars represented in coins. The boar was one of the most represented animals, second only to the horse. 

In conclusion, the boar is one of the most representative animals of the Celtic culture, as a symbol associated with war, but above all, courage and bravery, ferocity in battle, and in a variety of folktales and Celtic legends, even the ones about King Arthur, the boar is also associated with magic and the other world, in Celtic mythology, especially in Welsh mythology, the boar can speak with humans and the creature is able to lead people into the world of the spirits, linking the animal to initiation rites; rites of passage. 

The Bear - Symbology During the Middle-Ages

You can watch the video about this subject in here: [The Bear - Symbology During the Middle-Ages]

When people ask you “what animal is the king of all animals?” the first creature to come to mind is the lion. But in truth, before the church imposed the lion as the king of all the animals, the bear was the real king, at least in the European continent. The bear was the symbol of power, strength and majesty.

It is possible that our ancestors during prehistoric times already worshiped bears. We can find bear skulls aligned in niches in caves, and they weren’t placed in there at random. There might have been an early bear cult, and unlike the image we grow up with, of people living in caves, our ancestors actually built houses made of huge animal bones and tusks, tree-trunks and animal skins, so those caves with beautiful paintings, were in fact out ancestors’ first temples. But let's not go back so much in history.

Anyway, we can find traces of the utmost respect, even fear and also admiration our ancestors had for these creatures, in folktales, changed by time and the different political and social realities throughout history, and of course, changed by new faiths. We can also see it in sacred places, christianised, but were once the places of pagan deities and with the new faith became the dwelling places of saints and Christian mythological accounts. For instance, the Celts worshiped a goddess which was represented with a bear on her side or in front of her. The bear goddess called Artio, and the name has a lot of similarities with Arthur, who in turn is also a name connected with bears. This was a primitive deity, linked to the fertilizing force of the earth, in a time when gods had not yet been anthropomorphized and were still represented as animals.

There were certain early Cristian accounts that show the importance the bear had to the pagans, and as such, the devil often took the form of a bear to come and terrorized the monks. The king of animals was turned against those who admired it, by demonizing the poor animal. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, the bear often has a negative symbology, and you can see that in the Old Testament.

When the missionaries began their process of evangelization through Europe, they encountered a variety of pagan deities, many of which were either associated with bears, or were bears themselves. To the Germanic and Celtic populations of Europe, the bear was the animal associated with royalty, so it isn't a coincidence that the most famous legendary king, Arthur, was also associated with the bear. It’s interesting to see that the bear, well, the she-bear, was connected to the warrior goddess Brigid, of whom the Celtic kings were sons of, making them little bear cubs. So there was the necessity to christianise this goddess, and so Saint Brigid was born, and later, this pagan goddess, now christianised, was associated with a real abbess of Kildare named Brigid, who died more or less in the year of 525 of our era.

To the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, the bear was connected to the warrior spirit, personified by the god Thor. It appears that in certain Germanic groups, one of the imposed trials to the young warriors, was the solitary bear hunt. Although it hasn't been proven yet if these initiation rites were real or just mythical. Anyway, what is real is that the strength and the ferocity of the bear was an inspiration to the Germanic and Scandinavian warriors.

Many ancient cities throughout Europe still have the representation of the bear in their coat-of-arms. The survival evidences of the bear being the king of animals before the church replaced the symbolic functions of the bear for the lion. The lion was an exotic animal, and by the time it replaced the bear, sometime in the year 1000, the lion didn't belong to the European Fauna so this almost mythical creature during medieval times was easily adopted. But to this day some cities such as Bern in Switzerland and Berlin in Germany, to name a few, still have the bear in their coat-of-arms.

It's not a coincidence that during the reign of Charlemagne a lot of bears were hunted almost till extinction, because of the cult the Germanic peoples had and the pagan gods associated with the animal, and of course taking down loads of sacred trees. We all know about the forest devastation held by Charlemagne and his nobles, but we don't often hear about the bear-hunt.

To the church, during medieval times, the bear was the personification of evil, ferocity and chaos, because the creature lived in the dense, almost unreachable, forests. The forests were the dwelling places of the pagans (in truth the forests were the places the pagans considered to be sacred, once, but now it was their refuge from the horrible acts of forced cristianization). But the bear started to enter in the christian mythology in another way. It became the symbol of the divine dominating chaos, because the only ones who could contact with these terrible creatures and turn them into docile animals, were the hermits; those who would seek the most inhospitable places to live in solitude, for spiritual reasons. Only through their faith, and the connection with the divine and the power of god, could they do such a thing, turning a ferocious beast into a docile companion. Thus the bear became the symbol of the victory of the divine over chaos, and we can actually see this representation in the story of Saint Columbanus and his many encounters with bears, and befriending them.

The bear was also associated with the Devil, and a symbol of the many vices and sins condemned by the church. There were many accounts of bears being the evil creatures of chaos, to the point that they became the creatures that would kidnap young beautiful maidens and would rape them. And we can still see this in many folktales; the bear being the "bad guy" in the story. This actually might be the beginning of the creation of the story of "The Beauty and the Beast", highly infantilized and softened by Disney, and thank the gods for that because no child would want to hear about the real account.

So, in conclusion, the fight of the church against the bear, was a symbolic, and in some cases a very real way to free territories from their pagan past and convert them to Christianity and order over chaos. Unfortunately, the bear had a very negative connotation during the middle-ages, but at the same time, the symbolism the bear had during pagan times, somehow prevailed till nowadays, and I'm sure all of us remember the childhood stories of the she-bear being a kind and caring mother, and it isn't a coincidence that many children to this day still sleep with their teddy-bear.

A Celtic Chieftain's Grave

To this day the celts are still a strong subject which awakens the interest of many. Although with each passing year we are coming to the conclusion that the celts were not a people but merely a culture withdly spread, and that in fact the "celts" are thousands of different peoples who have adopted "celtic" cultural, political and religious similarities, it's still a fascinating subject. The more we dig the past, the better we can understand how our ancestors lived, and when it comes to study a culture which left nothing writen behind, and the only records are from outsiders or from people who lived long after the culture they are trying to discribe was already the stuff of legend, it's always difficult to comprehend the true nature of bygone population who shared a certain traditional background. Fortunately, archaeology has given us new insights on how the "celts" conducted their lives, what were their traditions, political and religious consciousness and, of course, their daily activities.

At the end of the 70's of the last century, a celtic burial chamber was found near Hochdorf an der Enz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. A richly furnished chieftain's burial mound dating back to, more or less, year 530 BC. The interred subject in this grave, laid out upon a lavishly decorated 9 ft (275 cm) bronze couch on wheels, was about 40 years old and unusually tall for a person of the Iron Age (being a bit over 6ft tall (182 cm)). Judging by the objects found in the grave, this man had probably been a chieftain.

I've said this before, and here it goes again, we archaeologists spend a lot of time with the dead, it's true. The dead (well, their resting places) provide us with a lot of information about the societies of the past especially the votive objects which are, most of the time, what people gave much importance to. The graves of people who were highly respected and revered by the community of their time, are always the ones with a lot of artefacts, and these give us a lot of clues in how the societies of the time functioned.

The well-preserved funerary objects of this grave provided a lot of knowledge into the world of the rulers of these societies during the late Iron Age. This chieftain had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck which is clearly a symbol of power and strength; amber jewelry which have always been a "must-have" material, due to its rarety, since the Paleolithic; a gold-plated dagger made of bronze and iron, that we must not forget that this was the age of metals and such weapons had no use in war but were merely symbols of power and prestige; a bracelet on his right arm, a nail clipper, a comb, fishing hooks, a flat cone-shaped hat made of birch bark adorned with circle patterns and punched decorations, arrows, a razor knife, and thin embossed gold plaques were on his now-disintegrated shoes. At this man's feet was a large bronze cauldron, filled with honeyed-mead. The entrance to the burial mound was facing north, and the mound itself was surrounded by a stone ring and oak posts. The east side of the tomb contained an iron-plated, wooden, four-wheeled wagon holding a set of bronze dishes – along with the drinking horns found on the walls, enough to serve nine people. The one reserved for the host was delicately decorated with gold, the tip being adorned with beads made of bones. 

Nearby the burial mound, a museum dedicated to the grave was built, and fortunately enough during the construction of museum the foundations of an ancient Celtic village were found - probably the one to which the chieftain belonged to.

A tiny list of pagan death-deities

The Deities of different cultures have always had their importance amongst the populace. We find many archaeological artifacts since pre-history till the early medieval ages (where in some places the old gods were still worshiped) of deities linked to fertility; the so called smithing gods linked to atmospheric changes and the power of natural forces of the sky and their influence over the earth. But such artefacts representing the fertility deities are linked to the common folk, whose work was agro-pastoral.

People worship the deities more closed to them and to their needs and professional affairs. So it is only obvious that common folk would worship fertility gods and deities related with farming, sexuality, protection and so on, because that was what they needed. Warriors would worship war deities, violent deities, bloodthirsty deities, etc. So what about the death deities? Well, the elites administering communities have the power over religion, and they are the ones who make the rules and administrate the social-religious cults. Linked to religion comes death of course, and all the cults, myths and ideias around death. People would only need to have contact with such deities, when a member of their community or family would die, or even themselves. But those whose affairs in society were constantly related with death, such as priests and priestesses, were the ones to worship the death deities.

As such, it is natural to see that the most famous deities are linked to death, because those are the deities worshiped by the elites of each ancient societies, therefore their representations and names come in all forms because only the wealthiest have the means to registrate, either in written form, in architecture and artefacts, the deities they worship.

That is why, till this day, we know more about death deities than any other deities; even if we only hear the name, we know it and we link it automatically with a deity, whilst other names of other deities are less familiar to us. So here is a tiny list of pagan death deities that you have certainly heard about:

Celtic

Cichol - Leader of the Formorians, a race of semi-divine creatures. A being who preceded the gods of Celtic lore. 

Mannanan - Technically a sea deity but is also associated with the veil between the living and afterlife.

Donn - Lord of the dead in Celtic lore.

Morrígan - Associated with battle, strife, and sovereignty. Most frequently seen on the battle-fields in a form of a crow or raven, seeking the dead.

There are many celtic deities associated with death, for the celts were a variety of peoples with similarities in their warrior-culture. They were constantly in conflict amongst themselves and with others, for the basis of their religious ideas was to achieve glory, honour and to become heroes, by their deeds in battle, the control of the art of war and their warrior skills.

Egyptian

Anubis - Guardian of the dead, mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion.

Osiris - Lord of the Underworld.

Nephthys - Anubis’ mother, and sister of Osiris, was also a guardian of the dead. She was believed to also escort dead souls to Osiris.

Seker - A falcon god of the Memphite necropolis who was known as a patron of the living, as well as a god of the dead. He is known to be closely tied to Osiris.

Greek

Hades - King of Underworld. (of course)

Persephone - Queen of the Underworld, wife of Hades and goddess of spring growth.

Hecate - Goddess of magic, night, moon, ghosts, necromancy and crossroads.

Thanatos - Spirit of death and mortality.

Macaria - Daughter of Hades, goddess of the blessed death.

Melinoe - Daughter of Persephone and Hades (or Zeus disguised as Hades), 
goddess of the restless undead, (ghosts etc.).

Angelos - A daughter of Zeus and Hera who became an underworld goddess.

Erebus - The primeval god of darkness, his mists encircled the underworld and filled the hollows of the earth

Keres - Goddesses of violent death, sisters of Thanatos.

Styx - Goddess of the river Styx (the river the dead have to cross), a river that formed a boundary between Earth and the Underworld. 

Erinyes - Chthonic deities of vengeance

Norse

Odin - God of many things, including death. 

Hel - Goddess of the dead, presides over a realm also called Hel or Helheim. 

Freyja - Goddess of fertility, magic and also death. Part of the fallen in battle don't go to Valhalla but to Fólkvangr, the Halls of Freyja.

The scandinavian cultures have a similarity with the celtic one. In the case of Odin, you might think that he is associated with magic and all the cult around that. In truth, Odin was the god of war and death, and not many people worshiped this deity; in fact, the cult of Odin was made by chieftains, specific priests and warriors. The cult of Odin was very violent, therefore not many people worshiped him. With the coming of christianity into scandinavian ground, the worship of the Norse pagan gods was prohibited, but since Odin had had a major importance in the warrior-society of old, his cult was maintained in hiding and he became almost the only old god to be worshiped. This is why all the witchcraft practices also became linked to him and the story of Freyja teaching him magic, spells and all those sort of things, was created. Odin was never a god of magic but a god or war and death.

Finnish

Tuoni - The god of the Tuonela (Underworld).

Roman

Dis Pater - God of the underworld

Mania - Goddess of death

Mors - Personification of death

Orcus - Punisher of broken oaths; usually folded in with Pluto

Pluto - Ruler of the underworld

In the case of the romans, the most famous deities are not linked with death but with the imperial cult. The cult of the emperor and his figure representing power, righteousness, divine love and law,  was much more important during the roman empire (obviously).

Slavic

Morena - Associated with seasonal rites based on the idea of death and rebirth of nature.

Chernobog - The name means "black god". It may be associated with death, although there isn't a very strong association with it or anything else. There are historical sources - christian ones - that interpret him as a malicious god. However, for the Slavs this deity may never had that connotation and wasn't seen as evil.

Peklenc - The lord of the underground and a divine judge.

Veles - Associated with water and the underworld.

Lusitanian and Celtiberian

Cariocecus - God of war and also associated with sacrifices, both of animals and people, which may also be linked to death.

Durius - The god of the river of that same name (nowadays called Douro). There were many river deities, and it is possible that they were linked to death due to the deposition of the peoples' ashes, after funeral rites, on important rivers, including offerings of weapons.

Trebaruna - Goddess associated with home, families, protection, battles, animal sacrifices and possibly death due to the two last associations.

The Home of the Celts

Even nowadays with the turning of the century, the Celts do not cease to amaze us, and we are still digging up the truth about these European peoples who shared a similar culture, beliefs and traditions. For the last century, historians believed that the homeland of the Celtic-speaking peoples lay in central Europe, thus, from there they spread across the European continent in several waves of migration. Spreading their language, culture, traditions and way of living to almost every corner of ancient European landmass. It is told that the Celts originated during the late bronze and early iron ages, in communities of southern Germany and northern Austria, and such knowledge became the default reading of early Celtic and indeed early European history.

However, we often encounter problems in these so called historical facts. Amongst the professional academic cerclis, this theory is suspected to be wrong, and many state that it is wrong indeed, and for decades they know about it.

The homelands of the Celtic-speaking peoples were never in central Europe it seems. They were in the one place where Celtic-speakers have always been known to exist and where some still do exist, the north-western and western Europe. The modern nations and territories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, England, Brittany, western France, Spain and Portugal form the historic heartland of the Celts and their ancient place of origin. It was thought that the Celts came from Nowadays Germany and Austria into the western lands, but in truth they originated in the Atlantic regions, went to central Europe and then their migrations in mass started from there and came back (some never left) to the Atlantic regions, to their ancestral lands.

The BBC has news on a new three-year project to trace the origins of the Celtic peoples, including an interview with Professor John Koch, who points out the failure of the old theories to explain the origin of the Celtic-speaking nations. Even myself, I have been studying about European cultures for the past 8 years, not only the Norse as you might think when reading my blog, but also the Celts. Amongst my colleagues of History and Archaeology, we too have found a lot of evidence that strongly supports this theory.

The Lusitanian Language

The Lusitanians might be the most mysterious European people and culture of antiquity, but with time and the evolution of the social sciences working together, Archaeology, History, Anthropology, Genetics and so on, we are always a step closer to know the truth about these people.

Nowadays like most European countries, Portugal and the Portuguese people are a mixture of cultures and genes, it is the European country with the most invasions of different cultures through time, beginning at the end of the lower paleolithic and beginning of the middle paleolithic a 300.000 years ago with the homo sapiens till today with globalization increasing. The Portuguese people are a mixture of Middle eastern, North African, Iberian, Celtic, Germanic, Scandinavian, Hellenic, Latin genes and so on but to this day there are still people that have more genes of one single group than another, the Portuguese can go from the latin look, black haired, dark brown eyes and brunette skin to the blonde and redhead with pale skin and light eyes. However, Portugal started its history as a nation with the Lusitanians, a mysterious people that came into Portugal and settled, being one of the most powerful early nations of all Europe, starting from the North and Center of Portugal and quickly spreading even into modern Spain. What history, archaeology and genetics show us nowadays, is that these Lusitanians were in fact of Celtic origin and also Germanic, however, as they spread so much, some Lusitanian tribes had greek genes because of the central costal Hellenic colonies, also Iberian when they came into contact with the Eastern and Central natives of modern Spain and much later Northern African genes when they invaded Southern Portugal. The North of Portugal to this day remained very much Germanic and Celtic along with the people of Galicia from Northwestern modern Spain.
To this day when speaking of the first origins of the Portuguese, people will automatically speak of the Lusitanians, a great culture that started around 1500B.C. , people of Celtic and Germanic origins that created the first Nation of Portugal uniting as many tribes as they could. It is interesting to see that one of the latest genetic research shows that the Irish have more than 90% of DNA similarities with the Portuguese and northwestern Spanish people, and in some areas it goes to 100%, these similarities are also shown in France, Germany and the southern parts of Scandinavia.

When we hear about the Lusitanians, the name itself doesn't sound very much like a Celtic one or Germanic even, that's because that was the name given to them by the Romans when they invaded the Iberian Peninsula, and after they conquered the Lusitanians, after thousands of battles and very much trouble but at the end won by bribing, the Latin language replaced the Lusitanian one and all the other Celtic and Germanic languages spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. 
Language is the main theme of this post, the Lusitanian language, and by the end of this post you will see the differences between the Lusitanian language and the Latin one, and as much as I did, you will wonder how would Portugal look like today if the Romans never invaded it and Portugal remained a Celtic/Germanic country.

The Lusitanians are actually the Leukuire or Leukuir, the people of light and their language was the ancient Leukaeg to the modern Leukantu or Leukaeke and the form of writing was called Leukanturi. Their country Lusitânia, was called Leukitanea, the land of light.
Now let's see a few words in Lusitanian, such as "Trebopala" which means Protector of the Community, or the word "Uelgasaliant", which is a kind of greeting like "welcome" which today in Portuguese is "Bem-vindo" and in Spanish "Bienvenido".
For instance, "bänd aiwizas" which means "Forever", in Portuguese "Para Sempre" and Spanish "Para siempre".
The word "Tuouta" for "Homeland".

These are some examples of the language that doesn't sound anything like Latin.

There are also the names of the Lusitanian deities, more than 1000 gods and goddesses, which doesn't sound at all Latin, however with time some of them gained a Latin name because the Romans adopted some of the Lusitanian gods. For example we have Trebaruna, it comes from the celtic word "Trebo" meaning "home" and the word "runa" meaning mystery and/or secret, the goddess of magic, death, war and also a protectress of homes and families. Nantosuelta, Sucellos and Epona, exactly the same deities of the Celtic pantheon. Vabusoa or Borus, later Borvo a healing deity associated with bubbling spring water, which the Romans called Bormanicus, equated with Apollo. Durius, the god of the river with the same name which is today's river Douro. Laepo, Laho, Lucubo, Runesocesius (a name already romanized, there isn't any source yet of its name in Lusitanian but cleary comes from the celtic words runa and gaiso, the name of this deity means "The Mysterious One of the Spear".

Well the list goes on and honestly I would love to learn more about the Lusitanian language, or the Leukaeke/Leukantu. I wonder how would the language of the Portuguese people would be like today if the Romans had not brought their language, how would the country be if the Celtic and the Germanic peoples stood there, well some did to this day, there are still many living decendents of the Celts and the Germanic peoples and also Scandinavian ones, I am one of those, but there aren't enough to call this Nation a Celtic or Germanic one, of both.

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The roads of the Celts

On an old post I have written, I believe it was in 2012, I talked about the possibility that the Celts might have been the first to make a network of roads for comercial purposes and to link important settlements all over Europe, before the Romans made their own roads on top of the already existing ones of the Celts. As you might know, when the Celts started to spread all over Europe, 1000 years before they came to Irland and the others countries of Great Britain, the first place they have settled was the Iberian Peninsula, today Portugal and Spain, and they have settled mostly in the Northern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, but mostly in Northern Portugal and Galicia and Central Portugal between two great rivers, Durius ( today's Douro ) and Tagus ( today's Tejo ), and that area was exactly where the tribe of Celts later called Lusitanians by the Romans, have settled and thus the history of Portugal and their national symbols were born. Because the Iberian Peninsula was so important for many cultures, not just the many tribes of Celts, but also to the Greek and the Phoenicians, so trading routes were needed that led to the main land and the eastern parts of Europe to pass through the many regions where the Celts had settlements, because during this time trading was mostly done by sea and little was taken to areas further inland. So the Celts made those road networks that linked the important Hellenic and Semitic Ports to their own settlements all the way from the Iberian Peninsula as far as the Swiss mountains* and beyond probably to nowadays Czech Republic.

By the time the Romans emerged and started their campaigns across Europe, they already knew where to go and which places where the most important for the Celts and especially to the Lusitanians ( the greatest power in the Iberian Peninsula at the time, the most likely to resist and drive the Romans back ) because of the already existing roads, they followed the paths and easily conquered the lands, after that, they built their own roads on top of the already existing ones, as we can see in the case of the the Via Heraklea, an ancient route that runs a thousand miles in a straight line from the tip of the Iberian Peninsula to the Alps, and this also happened in other countries, including the ones in Great Britain, or at least, the parts where the romans could get.

My theory wasn't far from the truth, because it seems that the straight Roman roads has been exposed by a new book which claims that these extraordinary engineering feats were in fact the work of the Celts. The findings of Graham Robb bring a new enlightenment to this subject and places into question two millennia of thinking about Iron Age Britain and Europe and the stereotyped image of Celts as barbarous, superstitious tribes.
In truth, Druids and other Celt’s scientific and spiritual leaders, have been some of the most intellectually advanced personalities of their time, it is said that they have developed the straight roads in the 4th Century BC, hundreds of years before the Italian armies marched across Europe.
The first theory was around the Via Heraklea, when it was realised that it was plotted along the solstice lines through several Celtic settlements, mapping the positioning of hundreds of other towns and cities in France, Britain and Ireland and found that the Celt’s had organised them to mirror the paths of their Sun God, created a network straight of tracks following the solstice lines across the continent. This suggests that the Druids possessed map-making skills that historians believed were discovered centuries later. Unfortunately as you may know, their scientific and mathematical achievements have been long forgotten as there is no written evidence and their history has been replaced the stereotypes of them as wood-dwelling wildmen, it is a real pity that in the Celtic society it was a rule not to write any document that contained any history of this people, and all kind of knowledge was passed through the teachings trough language, in order to keep all practices within the community and not reasing others, which leaves the entire history of the Celts, shrouded in mystery and that is why nowadays it is hard to believe that such people did amazing and extremely sophisticated things. 


*It is important to emphasize these routes between the Iberian Peninsula and in the Swiss Alps, as the Celtic tribe with more power in ancient Iberia, was the tribe of the Lusitanians who were the first European people to form a nation by uniting with other Celtic tribes, and it is thought that the origin of the Portuguese, in this case the Lusitanians, was in the Helvetic Alps in Switzerland, the site chosen by the Celts in their early migrations.

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The Lusitanian people and Culture

Those who know me, are aware that i'm a practitioner of the Northern-Pagan Traditions, the spiritual paths of my ancestors from my mother side, both Germanic and Nordic, however, from my father side, there is a mixture of both Germanic and Celtic blood and also Lusitanian blood, so i feel the need to write in here who the Lusitanian people really were, in honor of those people who are my ancestors also. I am a walking cocktail of European bloodlines, with Nordic blood, Celtic blood, Lusitanian blood, some drops of Germanic blood and possibly some Latin blood. But enough about me, lets start our History lesson.

The Lusitanians were a group of people from a Celtic tribe which came to the Iberian Peninsula along with other Celtic tribes when the Celts started their migrations around 3000 B.C.
The Celts origins are where Czech Republic and Germany are today, and they started a huge migration in all directions in Europe, one of the first places they settled, was in the Iberian Peninsula where the countries of Portugal and Spain are today, many tribes of Celts came there, one of those were the Lusitanians, some Archaeologists and Historians think they where the Celtic tribes who came from the Helvetic mountains in modern Switzerland.
The Iberian Peninsula had its inhabitants along the coast of Spain from the east side, they were called Iberians, and the South of Portugal was inhabited by Phoenicians and people from northern Africa and from Carthage, along the coastline to the west by the Atlantic ocean to the modern capital of Portugal ( Lisbon ) it was inhabited by Greek colonies, so the center of Portugal all the way to the north and most parts in the north of spain, were in this time, almost empty. So it was easy for the Celts to settled in those parts, and they took the lands with no problems, what is today Galicia, northern Spain, all the way to its center and northern Portugal till Lisbon, was Celtic territory. The Iberian Peninsula had a very fertile soil, not only for agriculture but it was also rich in ore, all kinds of metals, and the Celts were very good in working those metals, this was the Bronze age, and now they had access to such a huge quantity of metals, they had everything they wished for, their wealth increased, and they prospered. Of all the Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula, only one grew in such a way, that they formed the first nation in Europe ( The Romans did not existed yet ), they were called Lusitanians, and they had the largest Celtic territory of all, all Center of Portugal and parts of Spain was theirs, they had the best lands for agriculture and they worked the metals like no one, the tools, weapons and objects they made were so beautiful and well crafted, that it was coveted by all Europeans and people from all over the place in Europe, from North, East and South, came to Lusitânia, to exchange and buy the things the Lusitanians crafted. These Celts and the other Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula, were the first people to literally make trade routes, the first to make roads, unlike it was said for so much time, that the Romans were the first to build roads, the Celts made them before, the Romans just re-built roads on top of the already existing ones. The Lusitanian people were the strongest and most powerful people in the Iberian Peninsula, they had the most fertile lands, thousands of cattle, the best weapons and the largest villages, towns and strongholds. The Romans gave them this name, Lusitans/Lusitanians, from the word Luso, which was a Roman god, thought to duel in those parts and the Lusitanians were his children. However, the Lusitanians were Celts and they worshiped Celtic deities obviously, their language was the Leukaeke, a Celtic dialect, unfortunately, like the Cornish language of Wales, the Leukaeke was completely lost, 1500 years earlier than the Cornish, the last words of Leukaeke were spoken in the V century A.D. although many people are trying to bring it back in a modern way, the neo-lusitanian language called Leukantú, notice that this language is not similar in any way to the Portuguese language. The Lusitanians called their land, Leukitanea, the land of light, so probably these names came from their celtic tribe name.
These Celts were much feared and also respected and time passed and they lived wealthy, happy, joyful and increasing their lands, they even went to Great Britain with other Celts, when they started their migrations to those lands, but most of the Lusitanians went to Irland, so many people in Irland are related with the Lusitanians. But the Romans were growing in numbers and in strength and they had a nation of their own and soon they started conquer other lands in Europe, increasing their empire. The wealth and power of the Lusitanians soon came to the Romans' ears, and their lands were so rich in everyway, that the Romans really wanted them, it would increase their wealth, because the Celtic Lusitanians had a lot of gold also, strategic lands to plan invasions into other countries, extremely fertile soils, because they were also a possible threat to the Empire and because the very lands of the Lusitanian people were thought to be divine, made by the gods, a place where the gods could rest.. and that turned to be true, because when the Romans took those lands, they add the Lusitanian gods to their list of gods, these Celtic-Lusitanian gods were much feared and respected and also too powerful and great.
The lands of the Lusitânia covered much of what Portugal is today and a part of Spain. Now you may be thinking, why the Portuguese and Spanish people share the same language base of the French and the Italian, ( the Latin ) if they were Celts, with a Celtic and Germanic language? Well that is simple, those were the first countries to be conquered by the Romans, and the people of those places stood too long, under the Roman influence, the Romans had time to build a lot of cities, impose their culture, building their temples, making their own trade routes, and the native people of those countries, were either slaughtered or became romans and adopted the latin as their main language as an easy way to exchange and trade products with the Romans and survive. So the latin became the main language, and when the christian faith came, latin was still the main language for many centuries.
In Portugal today, most of that Celtic anf Germanic heritage was lost, and the Lusitanian spirit and their gods are now hidden throughout the beautiful landscape, even knowing that other germanic tribes came and settled, the Wandalns the Swabians, the Visigoths, the Vikings and so on, but the christian faith was too powerful, and brought down all of them.. This is a pity, for Portugal was forged by great cultures and has an extremely rich cultural past. All those cultures fought to survive and to maintain their gods, their beliefs, their way of living, people often talk about what christians did in other countries of Europe, bringing down ancient pagan temples, forests, slaughtering everyone, trying to wipe out those ancient pagan European beliefs, but the Iberian Peninsula suffered greatly with that and amazing cultures almost disappeared. Today, some people are trying to bring all of that, back, awaking the old gods, its hard to pick anything to start, for the romans and christians did a great job in cleaning those beliefs, but i hope, with my contribution and the contribution of such others, we might bring it all back again. There are still some many Germanic and Celtic descendants in Portugal, who have no clue of their ancestry...

In other posts, i will talk about the daily lives of the Lusitanian people, heroes, their gods and their culture, from spiritual beliefs to rituals and sacrifices, to the language and form of writing.

 If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Lughnasadh / Lammas - 1st of August

Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh is the gaelic/irish term which means, the commemoration or festival to the god Lugh, but also a festival of the August month. In Scotland, the term for this festivity, is also called Lammas.

This is the time for the first harvest, a season which was celebrated all around the world by this time in the Northern Hemisphere.

Like candlemas, this is also a festivity of the sun and of the light, to celebrate the warm weather that helps in the agricultural works, and because the light of the sun gives happiness and joy after the cold days of winter time.

At the first days of February, the first seeds are thrown into the fertile soils, and in August when the first harvest comes, the wheat reflects the bright golden colors of the sun. So Lughnasadh as the name indicates, was also a festival to the god Lugh, the god of Light and of fire in the Celtic pantheon. In ancient Lusitania and to the other Celtic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula, this god was known as Lugus, the god of music, metallurgy, poetry, dance, etc.

The next harvest comes at the end of October with the festivity of Samhain.

For the ancient pagan tribes of the European people, harvesting was the main source of food production, so it was important to succeed when it comes to planting and harvesting, in the end, the effort and hard work would bear its "fruit", and the family and tribe could live and survive for another year, another winter, with health, joy, and above all else, knowing that their hard work helped so many, all the efforts paied off. So this is also a time to celebrate with the family and the importance each member has in keeping all safe and sound.

For my next post, that will go to the Northern pagan traditions lable, i will talk about the same festiviry, but in the northern countries of  Europe, Freyfaxi and the story behind it.

Curiosity: In old Lusitania

For those of you who dont know where Lusitania is or was, i will help you with that:


Lusitania was the country where the Lusitanian people lived, in the Iberian peninsula in the continent of Europe, where today exists the modern countrys of Spain and Portugal.
The Portuguese people and some of the spanish people, are decendents from the Lusitans, often people think about the Lusitans, as Iberians or Celtiberians, but in truth, the Lusitanian people were Celts. The Celts start their expansion over the European territories something like 1200 B.C./B.C.E. and that was the year when they first arrived to the Iberian peninsula, 200 years before they went to Great Britain. There were a lot of Celtic tribes in Spain and Portugal, and each tribe settled in a place, one of those tribes of Celts, were the Lusitans, or the Lusitanian peoples. Probably their name wasn't that, because the Romans called them Lusus/Lusos, probably they had an other name, a Celtic one. These tribe had the biggest part of Central Portugal and they became the most powerful people in the Iberian peninsula. They were no longer a Celtic Tribe, now they were a nation. They conquered most of Portugal exept the North that belonged to their other Celtic brothers, and conquered a large territory of Spain. Today we know that their language was of germanic source, it was found in archaeological discoveries, that they wrote in the celtic language called Ogham and also in the Runic Alphabet, not with the runes we know today, but with the first symbols where the runes came from, called ur-runes.


We have all heard about the Druids, but before the Druid's time, the Lusitanian people had already a spiritual guide, elders in each Lusitanian tribe, called Endre, in plural, Endres. These men and probably women, were something between a shaman and a druid, they were teachers of philosophy, anatomy, spiritualism, science etc. and they knew how to work with the neolithic monuments such as Dolmens, henges, sacred mounds, menhirs etc.


So this is very important to know, because most people think that the Lusitanian people were just Iberians, but in fact they were Celts, and the Celtiberians were the mixture with other Celts from the Central Iberian peninsula, with the Iberian people that were the native folk from the Cost line of Spain to the East and Northeast.

Also a very curious thing, when the Celts arrived in Irland, they have not passed through england to get there, they came by sea from the Iberian peninsula, some Celts, some Iberians and many Lusitans. So many people in Irland, have the same ancestry as the Portuguese people.

If you need more information or if you want to check my works, take a look at my Facebook page and make a like at --> www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Birch Tree - 24th December to 20 January

The Birch Tree is a small tree that rarely exceeds 25 meters, and it can live to 50 years. In Europe it grows below 2,000 feet of altitude. It is a tree that remotes to an ancestral time, of more then 30 million years of existence.
This tree represents ( in druidic lore ) the renewal and rebirth. In the woods, this is the first tree to gain leaves, to rebirth and to renew its green appearance after the Winter. It is also the first tree to grow again in places where it has been a great burning or a place where the trees have all been chopped down.
It is belived that these were the first trees to grown after the great glacial age.
The origins of its name, birch , comes from the indo-european languages, linking to the words Brightness and shining.
However, it is a possibility that the name comes from the Anglo-Saxon term, beorgan, which means "to protect" or "shelter".
That is why it is said, in a dark forest, it is the birch tree that always show us the way out.

This tree is sacred to the Norse god Thor but especialy to the Welsh goddess Blodeuwedd, and to other goddesses such as Freya, Frigga and Ceridwen.

In the Druid Calendar, the first month, that goes from 24th of December till 20th of January, is called beth - the birch moon. In Portugal, this tree is called Betúla.

There is an ancient habit, to give to the newly married folk, small branches of birch tree in order to ensure the fertility.
In certain places in Europe, farmers used to plant these trees around the house, as a protection against lightning, and the juice extracted from leaves, prevents worms from appearing in the cheese.

The wood of the birch tree is one of the tradicional timber used in the Beltane fire festival.

Celtic Birth Signs

Note: The Photo was taken by MissLoony


Because i know many like to know their signs in zodiac, not just the common ones but others from other religions and points of view, people tend to follow that or just because they have curiosity or because it is fun. So i will give you here your celtic signs in trees, because as you well know or should know, nature is important, we must honor it and respect its powers, and most of the religions before the coming of christianity, expecialy in europe, there is always a representation of nature in our lifes, how we came from it, and how it empowers us. The works of the divine beings ofthen express themselves in nature.

Celtic Birth sign for 24 Dec - 20 Jan.
Represents:
Pure Vitality
Healing
New Starts & Beginings
Tree: Birch


Celtic Birth sign for 21 Jan - 17 Feb.
Represents:
Protective flame
Insight, Psychic powers
Healing success
Creative Inspiration
Tree : Rowan

Celtic Birth sign for18 Feb - 17 March.
Represents:
Balancing
Bridge between worlds i.e. inner & outer worlds linked.
Guardian of Peace
Tree : Ash

Celtic Birth sign for 18 March - 14 April.
Represents:
Divination
Steadfast to true principles
Tenacious & determined
Has Spiritual Protection during disputes.
Tree : Alder

Celtic Birth sign for15 April -12 May.
Represents:
Intuition
Imagination
Visionary
Harmony
Tree : Willow

Celtic Birth sign for 13 May - 9 June.
Represents: Cleansing
Happiness
Prosperity
Guardian
Tree : Hawthorn

eltic Birth sign for 10 June - 7 July.
Represents:
Courage, strength & endurance
Inner spiritual strength
Health
Door to mysteries
Tree : Oak

eltic Birth sign for 8 July - 4 August.
Represents:
Balance & justice
Clear vision & Courage
Dream Magic Protection
Also Unconditional Love
Tree : Holly Tree

Celtic Birth sign for 5 Aug - 1 Sept.
Represents:
Creative wisdom
Intuition
Individuality
Pure & concentrated essence
Tree : Hazel

Celtic Birth sign for 2 Sept - 29 Sept
Represents:
Inspired knowledge
Inner key in problems
Liberation
Tree : Vine

Celtic Birth sign for 30 Sept - 27 Oct
Represents:
Transformational development
Focus on true goals
Tree : Ivy

Celtic Birth sign for 28 Oct-24 Nov
Represents:
Growth & good health
Harmony between realms
Purpose & unity in will
Adapt, Modify
Tree : Reed - Hidden roots to all life

Celtic Birth sign for 25 Nov - 22 Dec
Represents:
Eternal revolutionary change
Regeneration
Balanced and mature outlook
Tree : Elder

Note2: This was scheduled to this day.

If you need more information or if you want to check my works, take a look at my Facebook page and make a like at --> www.facebook.com/ArithHarger