Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [136]
As one famous newspaper’s slogan suggests, “Inquiring minds want to know.” And inquiring minds have been wondering for centuries—did ancient Celtic religion have anything to do with the megalithic monument called Stonehenge?
Located in southwestern England—not too far from the waters of Bath—Stonehenge is one of the world’s most recognizable sites and inspiration for many theories, both serious and pseudoscientific. It has attracted the curious, the superstitious, and the scientific for hundreds of years, yet remains shrouded in mystery. Were these huge stones—weighing tons and moved from hundreds of miles away—set in a circle on an open landscape as an ancient calendar or “clock” that helped primitive Britons measure the seasons? Or were they another landing pad for alien visitors who needed a terrestrial parking spot? Or was Merlin, the famed magician from the legend of Arthur, behind the Stonehenge mystery?
That last idea, introduced by the early “historian” Geoffrey of Monmouth, had Merlin magically construct the monument as the “Giant’s Dance” to commemorate a battle victory. It is an idea that ties in with one popular theory in New Age circles—that Stonehenge was some sort of gigantic altar where the Druid priests made sacrifices, since Merlin had “Druid priest” written all over him. It is certainly conceivable that Druids found Stonehenge to be a prime spot for their own worship ceremonies—though what those ceremonies were remains a matter of conjecture. We don’t have a neat set of hieroglyphics describing a Druid-led dawntime observance of the summer solstice with the first rays of the sun breaking through the gaps between these giant stone plinths. Or an etching of a ceremony on a midsummer day with the famed “Heel Stone” of Stonehenge casting a long phallic shadow into the center of the stone ring, in a symbolic “Midsummer Marriage” of Father Sky coupling with Mother Earth.
Lacking solid, authoritative evidence of Stonehenge’s original purpose, people will keep speculating. As they do, it is important to keep one fact in mind: according to most authorities, Stonehenge existed long before the Celts arrived in Britain. Once arrived, Celtic Druids may have appropriated Stonehenge for their religious ceremonies. But they most likely didn’t build it. According to recent archaeological findings, this ancient monument was erected in three main phases that may date back to around 3300 BCE and continued for nearly two thousand years, until about 1500 BCE. The monument’s famous ring of large stones is thought to have been built between 1800 and 1700 BCE, but the Celts probably did not arrive in the British Isles until 350 BCE. And while some may argue for a much earlier date of around 700 BCE, that is still centuries removed from the construction of Stonehenge.
WHO’S WHO OF THE CELTIC GODS
This list is divided into two parts. Part I comprises the chief gods as they would have been known to early Celts in Europe before they fell to the Romans and Druidism was suppressed. Part II focuses on the chief gods and mythical characters of the Irish Celts, as preserved in the later written collections.
Part I: Early Celtic Gods Worshipped Across Europe
Belenus The Celtic god of agriculture, Belenus also represents the life-giving and healing power of the sun and was associated with Apollo by the Romans, who created their own “Apollo Belenus.” The great festival of Belenus, called Beltane (“bright, or goodly, fire”), was celebrated on May 1 of the Roman calendar with bonfires lit to rekindle the earth’s warmth. Animals were led past these fires to be purified and protected against disease, and some scholars believe that this practice may have been connected to the nursery rhyme line about “the cow jumping over the moon.”
Cernunnos (pronounced Kur-noo-nohs) Called the “horned one,” Cernunnos (his Latin name, given by the Romans) is among the most ancient of the Celtic gods and his origins are linked with the horned figures depicted in the Paleolithic or Stone Age European