Indo-European Mythology 1
1.List and discuss the major primary sources for the mythology of three Indo-European cultures, including their dates of origin and authorship (if known). Discuss any important factors that may cause problems in interpreting these sources, such as the existence of multiple revisions, or the presence of Christian or other outside influences in surviving texts. (minimum 300 words)
Unfortunately conquerors or Christians wrote much of the primary material covering the mythology of the Indo-European peoples.
Modern heathens are indebted to Iceland for much of their mythic material as it was one of the last countries to be Christianized. Even after its conversion the inhabitants had a strong desire to preserve their heritage and past. Snorri Sturluson authored the Prose Edda, a collection of tales and poetic snippets. Snorri employed artistic license and attempted to provide a continuous narrative for his collected bits. To that end he created a Christian-influenced framing tale and placed everything within that framework. In the 17th century a manuscript came to light, which was published as the Poetic Edda and has been translated over and over ever since with varying degrees of skill. And, of course the Landnamabok outlines the settling of Iceland and provides some valuable insights into the rites practiced by early heathens.
Vedic religion was preserved in the collected writings known as the Vedas. Sometime around the sixth century what had been an oral tradition was finally committed to paper. One of the few Indo-European religions whose primary sources were not influenced or altered by Christian transcription, the Vedas reflect a strong Brahmic bias. The Vedas are among the oldest sources we have for any Indo-European religious practices. Our own, admittedly liberal, reconstruction of IE religion relies heavily on and is extrapolated from the Vedas.
Celtic sources have had Christianity spilled all over them. Between conversion, hordes of raiding Norsemen, and conquest by the Normans, one has to read the material with a large shaker of salt handy. From Ireland we may find information from texts such as the Dindshenchas (‘Place Traditions’), the Cõir Anmann. Of greater usefulness is the 12th century Book of Leinster, a manuscript that includes the Lebor Gabãla Érenn (Book of Conquests of Ireland) dealing with the legendary history of the island; as well as the Cath Maige Tuired (Battle of Mag Tuired), which offers good insights in the Irish mythic mindset. These sources were redacted and edited by monks who desired to fit the lore into a string of invasion stories with a Biblical beginning dating to before the Great Flood (Puhvel, 176).
There is also the Book of Dun Cow, which was transcribed around the 11th century, though it was likely a copy of an earlier manuscript. It is a collection of factual events, legendary material, and Christian religious texts. It also includes the tale of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, the longest of the tales comprising the Ulster cycle. Welsh mythology can be found in the Book of Taliesin and the Red Book of Hergest, which is the source for the Mabinogion.
From the 14th and 15th centuries comes the Yellow Book of Lecan comprised of 344 columns of text written in Middle Irish. It contains nearly all the tales of the Ulster cycle including the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which was copied from the earlier Book of the Dun Cow. As the Book of Lecan is such a latecomer to Celtic sources and is derivative and reliant on earlier works, I hesitate to call it a “primary source”.
2.Summarize, then compare and contrast the myths of at least two Indo-European cultures with respect to the following topics (you need not use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for each topic): (minimum 300 words for each)
For the Greeks it all begins with Gaia, the Earth, who gives birth to and then weds Ouranos, Heaven. Gaia and Ouranos are the parents of Kronos who eventually castrates Ouranos. The blood from his severed member falls into the sea, froths, and creates the goddess Aphrodite. Kronos worries that his children will attack him as he attacked his own father. In order to prevent this, he eats them. Zeus, his youngest child, is switched with a swaddled rock, which Kronos swallows instead. In the fullness of time, Zeus comes into his own power and overthrows Kronos (Puhvel, 27).
In both of these tales we see a world begun in blood and violence dealt by the hand of a descendant. While the Greek myth does not have the construction of the cosmos aspect, it does mirror the Norse tale. The theme of youth destroying and replacing the old is one that crops up throughout the IE world and truly in many ways it is the pattern of human life. It follows that the pattern of human life will be expanded in the stories we tell about the genesis of the world.
• tales of divine war
War between the gods is a common element in IE mythology and the tales exhibit commonalities. The lower-ranked gods of fertility and production attempt to overthrow the reigning gods of magic, wisdom, and law. After a battle dragging on to a stalemate, the factions reconcile or compromise, and integrate into a functioning, often tiered, society. Shan Wimm in Heaven, Heroes, and Happiness, obviously working in a tripartite paradigm, outlines several such battles.
The War between the Aesir and the Vanir follows this model. The Aesir, masters of magic and with clear martial superiority, led by Odin, attack the Vanir to gain access to the Vanic abundance. The Vanir defend themselves with verve and ingenuity. They send Gullveig amongst the Aesir to madden them with lust and greed and confound them with witchcraft. Odin attempted to kill Gullveig, repeatedly maiming and burning her, but she continued to be reborn. Unable to gain the upper hand, the Aesir relent and invite the Vanir to feast with them after an exchange of hostages. Njord and Freyr went to the Aesir while Hoenir and Mimir went to the Vanir. (Winn, 62)
Similar to the above was the battle between Indra and the Asvins. Indra, a warrior god, considered the Asvins, deities of healing who mingled freely with humans, unworthy of Soma. In return for a boon, a seer offered a cup of Soma to the Asvins during a royal ceremony. Indra was incensed and attempted to smite them with his thunderbolt but was magically stopped by the seer. The Asvins sent a demon to attack Indra who relented and asked for mercy promising Soma to the Asvins in return. (Winn, 66)
Again we see lower ranked gods aligned against the more elite gods and using trickery or magic to gain the advantage. The end result in both examples is an integrated coexistence achieved through compromise.
However, finding a coherent or consistent idea about the fate of the soul upon death is difficult since there seem to be many options. The Norse Lore tells us that of the battle-slain, Freyja will chose those fallen she wishes to accompany her in her hall and Odin receives the rest. Once in Odin’s hall of Valhalla, the slain will feast and fight to entertain themselves. Those who die of old age or sickness go to Hel’s Hall in the underworld. Of course there are also tales of reincarnation. So not everyone stays dead in Norse belief.
The Celts have an equally diverse set of beliefs about what happens after death. Some tales tell of the soul passing beyond the ninth wave at sea, while others tell of the soul passing through the House of Donn to reach the Otherworld. During the second battle of Mag Turath the dead were revived by means of a magical cauldron.
Both cultures have a strong sense of the continuation of the individual even after death and an equally strong sense of rebirth. The Norse beliefs are better documented than the Celtic, but they certainly mirror each other enough to make some educated assumptions.
3.Explain how each of the following elements of ADF ritual does or does not resonate with elements of two different Indo-European cultures (you need not use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for each element): (minimum 100 words each)
Nerthus is well-known Scandinavian fertility goddess. She was believed to reside on an island in the center of a sacred lake. Once a year an image of the goddess was brought out, washed, and veiled and taken around the surrounding lands in a cart. This negus as the image was called, was not to be seen nor touched by any save the priests who, at the conclusion of the procession, were drowned in the lake. We don’t do anything like this in ADF, though I have led rituals with a negus component. I graciously let the priests involved live on after the rite.
From Celtic lore we learn of Tailtu, who cleared the land, pulling the plough herself, until her heart burst. Because she provided such service to the folk she is closely associated with agriculture. In the Golden Bough Frazer spends a great deal of time outlining how ancient pagans tied the health of the ruler to the health of their land and performed wedding ceremonies connecting their king to the local land/sovereignty goddess.
Within ADF we honor land deities when appropriate. There some Groves who are cultivating relationships with the sovereignty goddesses of the land on which they practice. It is not common in ADF, but it does happen.
Within ADF we honor Deities of the Sea of course, like the deities of the land, when it is appropriate.
Again, like the others, in ADF practice we work with these deities when we feel it is appropriate.
From Celtic tales we learn of the Fomorii, one-armed, one-legged, one-eyed who stood against the gods. Perhaps we should say the gods stood against the Fomorii since according to the chronology of the invasions the Fomorii arrived before the gods. Lugh led the charge against them, destroying Balor, the leader of the Fomorii and his own grandfather.
In ADF rituals there is an optional step during which the Outsiders may be appeased, or bribed, or threatened.
One could say that the spirits of nature are not different than spirits of place. In that group, I have always included the tomten, a Swedish name for house spirits. In Roman religion these spirits are called Lares. The customary way to honor Lares was to place an offering of food or drink someplace in the house. This is also the way to honor tomten--quite the coincidence!
In current ADF practice, there is a regular part of ritual during which the Nature Spirits are honored. Many ADF members include regular offerings to the spirits of the land on which they live and/or the houses in which they live.
Amongst the Romans altars to the ancestors were set up within the home and worshipped at daily. Regular offerings were made and the Ancestors were considered to be a part of the everyday life of the household.
The Celts entertained a host of beliefs about the nature of the Ancestors ranging from their continued existence in the otherworld beyond the House of Donn, to a more nebulous existence beyond the ninth wave, to reincarnation. Some Ancestors stayed dead and accessible in the Otherworld while some, it would seem, returned to a mortal existence.
The Norse are as disparate as the Celts with multiple halls in which the dead may reside and the potential for reincarnation.
Within ADF we have a portion of ritual dedicated to remembering and honoring the Ancestors. Most Groves, regardless of hearth culture, hold a ritual on or around November 1st with a loose theme of honoring the Ancestors.
4. Discuss how the following seven elements of ADF's cosmology are (or are not) reflected in the myths of two different Indo-European cultures. For this question, please use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for the entire question. (Minimum 100 words each)
Upperworld:
In Norse cosmology the Upperworld is held in the branches of Yggdraisil, the World Tree. Housed there, according to Gundarsson, are Muspellheimr, Asgard, and Wan-heim (vanaheim). However, in modern Heathen thought one can find Slight differences as to the relative positions of the nine realms. The Upperworld in general, and Asgard specifically, are reached by crossing a rainbow bridge called Bifrost.
In Celtic sources we find no vertical positioning of realms. There does not seem to be a notion of a realm above our own though there are many references to realms other than our own existing next to ours. Repeatedly we see that the Celts did divide their cosmos into Land, Sea, and Sky. Using such delineation, we can associate Sky with the Upperworld though it is not necessarily the dwelling place of any specific spirits or powers.
Middleworld:
When we refer to the Middleworld we are typically referring to the world in which we mortals dwell. The Norse refer to the Middle Realm as Midgard and it is the realm of men and wights, often visited by the Gods and Jotuns and sometimes described as visible from the Wall of Asgard. It is surrounded by a ring of Ymir’s blood, AKA the sea, and by Jormungandr, a giant serpent. Also included in the Middle Realm are the homes of the Alfar/Light Alfs, and Swart (dark) Alfs.
In a Celtic context we would see the Middle realm as the Land part of Land, Sea, and Sky and specifically the land of Ireland. It is difficult to elaborate much since the next question is about the divisions of this realm.
Divisions Of Middleworld (e.g., 4 Quarters, 3 Triads, 8 Sections):
Both the Norse and the Celts have elaborate divisions of the Middle realm. In Norse tradition the dome of the sky, made from Ymir’s skull, is upheld by dwarves positioned at the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western corners. The middle realm is divided into Midgarth, Alfheim, and Svartalfheim as mentioned above.
The Celts divided Ireland into five sections, oriented to the directions and with a strong center portion. Each section boasted a mythic weapon and heroes with region-specific strengths. One cannot read much Celtic lore without stumbling upon references to the world being divided into land, Sea, and Sky--the land beneath us, the sky above us, and the sea surrounding us.
Nether/Underworld:
To the Norse the Underworld is commonly understood as Hel, realm of dead. Typically the emphasis in the lore is mainly concerned with the journey made by the dead or the living from either the realm of men or gods (Ellis, 85). However, Hilda R. Ellis points out that in Snorri alone does one find a reference to Hel as a “concrete, simple world of the dead stretching below the earth” (Ellis. 86).
The Celts have more of a concept of Otherworld than Underworld. As mentioned in John Adelmann’s article “Ancient Celtic Otherworld” on the ADF website, the House of Donn, TechnDuinn, acts as a milepost for the recently deceased on their way to the Otherworld. Generally the dead were considered to live beyond the ninth wave. There are also references to the islands to the West. I would suggest that this corresponds to the Sea portion of Land, Sea, and Sky.
Fire:
Gundarsson describes one type of sacred space called a Harrow. It is basically an altar on which is kindled a fire. Once made holy by the fire, offerings are made on or around the harrow. In Anders Kaliff’s work he says that the harrow as described by Gundarsson is fully proven and is accepted as part of Scandinavian ancient pagan practice (p. 99). There is also a Scandinavian custom of taking a lighted torch around a piece of land to claim it. Other than these references, there isn’t much documentation of which I am aware, of Norse uses of fire (though Fox’s research probably has some tidbits).
As with the Norse, there is not much we know about Celtic religious uses of Fire. It does not figure prominently in the lore and examples are hard to come by. There are traditions associated with fire, surely. Fox, in his Oak Leaves summation or his fire research, claims that to this day the greatest insult one could offer to an Irish householder is to stamp upon the ashes f the hearth fire. Modern devotees of Brighid have all sorts of Fire traditions, but they rarely cite their sources. Brighid’s flame at Kildare, according to the city website, burned perpetually in pre-Christian times and was later taken over and tended by the nuns of Saint Brighid. When Saint Patrick desired to claim Ireland for Christianity, he kindled a fire on a central hill on the very day that the Druids ritually doused and relit their sacred fires. This was considered a definitive act of claiming and hallowing.
It was suggested that I discuss the Celtic lighting of Midsummer fires, but the research with which I am most familiar places Midsummer fires squarely within Scandinavian tradition. Within ADF we accept Midsummer as either a Norse holiday, though the Dedicant manual does include a blurb about the Welsh observance of the Summer Solstice. Interestingly, in the Cosmology section of the ADF website, there is hardly any mention of Fire within a Celtic context. Our own articles point to Vedic and Norse fire lore, but not to Celtic. Ian Corrigan’s article, “The Worlds and the Kindreds” claims to approach the topic from a distinctly Celtic perspective, and does in fact place the Fire as the center of the four “elements,” however he offers no citation for this arrangement.
Well:
There are plenty of Wells throughout both Norse and Celtic lore. In Norse cosmology the Well of Wyrd is located at the roots of Yggdraisil. This is where the norns sit and spin out the fates of men. There is also the Well of Mimir visited by Odin who was in search of wisdom. The price of that wisdom was his very eye!
In Celtic lore we find Boan. She approached the Well of Conla, which was supposed to be approached only by Nechtan and his cupbearers. The Well was surrounded by nine hazels trees that dropped their nuts into the well to be eaten by the Salmon living in the Well. When Boan came near, the waters rose. Three times she approached and was scared off. The third time she braved the overflow. The waters of the Well rose, and rose, and rose and overflowed the Well spilling into the world, with the wise Salmon, becoming the river Boyne (Rees, 61).
Tree:
Germanic heathens, according to Puhvel, erected pillars as a central part of their holy sites. They called these pillars Irminsul, and saw it as “a universal pillar supporting the whole” (Puhvel, 22). The most obvious Tree image in Norse cosmology, of course, is Yggdraisil, the World Tree that supports all of the Nine Realms. One such pillar, now displayed in the Stuttgart museum, was covered with acorns and oak leaves and was topped by four heads representing the four seasons.
The Celts seemed to have favored groves of trees, open to the sky, called nemetons as places to worship. For this reason it was a fairly widespread custom of early Christians to destroy these sacred groves and revered trees.
5. To what extent do you think we can offer conjectures about Indo-European myths in general? Are the common themes strong enough that the myths seem like variations? Or are the differences so powerful that the themes are less important than the cultural variations? (minimum 300 words)
I am unsure what conjectures about Indo-European myths one might be making. This is a bit of a contextless question. There are certainly common themes. Is that because the myths are variations of one another? Or is it because the Indo-Europeans were a group with similar divine experiences across their various societies? I fall somewhere between hard polytheist and a Joseph Campbell devotee. Ultimately the important question is whether one believes the myths are true or human fabrications? Does one believe in the existence of the Gods or does one believe that the gods are thoughtforms given animus by belief or possibly even constructs and archetypes of our subconscious?
I think it is a foolhardy position to adopt to disregard the common themes of Indo-European mythology. Regardless of whether ones believe the tales to be unique and true or works of generated fiction, the fact that there are commonalities speaks to a unified human experience. Why wouldn’t the exploits of one set of gods be similar to the exploits of a neighboring set of gods? I am willing to bet that the dramas that happen in my daughter's kindergarten class are very similar to dramas happening in another kindergarten class hundreds of miles away. People behave in certain ways. Is it so difficult a leap to accept that gods may also behave in certain ways?
Any student of history can tell you that themes repeat. Terrible things happen to armies attempting to invade Russia, military coups end in dictatorships, and a peasantry brutally taxed for too long will revolt. These are not variations on themes, these are facts and the experiences are as perennial as they are cyclical.
I think it likely that societies cannot form properly without certain types of gods and I think it irrelevant whether the gods create us or we create them. The end result is that we have them, and they have us, and all we can do is enact our little dramas, hopefully with an amount of mindfulness.
Bibliography:
Adelmann, John "Fox". "The Ancient Celtic Otherworld." Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF). ADF, n.d. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <https://www.adf.org/articles/cosmology/otherworld.html>.
Corrigan, Ian. "The Worlds and the Kindreds." Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF). ADF. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <https://www.adf.org/articles/cosmology/worlds-kindreds.html>.
Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse; Syracuse University Press, 1988. Print
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Berkeley; University of California Press, 1973. Print
Ellis, Hilda R. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature. New York; Cambridge University Press. 1943. Print
Gundarsson, Kveldulf. Teutonic Religion. St. Paul; Llewellyn Publications, 1993. Print
"Lighting the Perpetual Flame of Brigid (A brief history of the flame)." County Kildare Community Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <http://kildare.ie/community/notices/perpetual-flame.asp>.
Littleton, Scott. "The Comparative Indo-European Mythology of Georges Dumézil." Journal of the Folklore Institute. Vol. 1.No. 3 (1964): pp. 147-166. Print.
Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore; The John’s Hopkins University Press, 1967. Print.
Rees, Alwyn and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage. New York; Thames & Hudson, Inc., 1978. Print.
Winn, Shan M. M. Heaven, Heroes, and Happiness: The Indo-European Roots of Western Ideology. Lanham, London; University Press of America, 1995. Print.
Unfortunately conquerors or Christians wrote much of the primary material covering the mythology of the Indo-European peoples.
Modern heathens are indebted to Iceland for much of their mythic material as it was one of the last countries to be Christianized. Even after its conversion the inhabitants had a strong desire to preserve their heritage and past. Snorri Sturluson authored the Prose Edda, a collection of tales and poetic snippets. Snorri employed artistic license and attempted to provide a continuous narrative for his collected bits. To that end he created a Christian-influenced framing tale and placed everything within that framework. In the 17th century a manuscript came to light, which was published as the Poetic Edda and has been translated over and over ever since with varying degrees of skill. And, of course the Landnamabok outlines the settling of Iceland and provides some valuable insights into the rites practiced by early heathens.
Vedic religion was preserved in the collected writings known as the Vedas. Sometime around the sixth century what had been an oral tradition was finally committed to paper. One of the few Indo-European religions whose primary sources were not influenced or altered by Christian transcription, the Vedas reflect a strong Brahmic bias. The Vedas are among the oldest sources we have for any Indo-European religious practices. Our own, admittedly liberal, reconstruction of IE religion relies heavily on and is extrapolated from the Vedas.
Celtic sources have had Christianity spilled all over them. Between conversion, hordes of raiding Norsemen, and conquest by the Normans, one has to read the material with a large shaker of salt handy. From Ireland we may find information from texts such as the Dindshenchas (‘Place Traditions’), the Cõir Anmann. Of greater usefulness is the 12th century Book of Leinster, a manuscript that includes the Lebor Gabãla Érenn (Book of Conquests of Ireland) dealing with the legendary history of the island; as well as the Cath Maige Tuired (Battle of Mag Tuired), which offers good insights in the Irish mythic mindset. These sources were redacted and edited by monks who desired to fit the lore into a string of invasion stories with a Biblical beginning dating to before the Great Flood (Puhvel, 176).
There is also the Book of Dun Cow, which was transcribed around the 11th century, though it was likely a copy of an earlier manuscript. It is a collection of factual events, legendary material, and Christian religious texts. It also includes the tale of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, the longest of the tales comprising the Ulster cycle. Welsh mythology can be found in the Book of Taliesin and the Red Book of Hergest, which is the source for the Mabinogion.
From the 14th and 15th centuries comes the Yellow Book of Lecan comprised of 344 columns of text written in Middle Irish. It contains nearly all the tales of the Ulster cycle including the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which was copied from the earlier Book of the Dun Cow. As the Book of Lecan is such a latecomer to Celtic sources and is derivative and reliant on earlier works, I hesitate to call it a “primary source”.
2.Summarize, then compare and contrast the myths of at least two Indo-European cultures with respect to the following topics (you need not use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for each topic): (minimum 300 words for each)
- • tales of creation
For the Greeks it all begins with Gaia, the Earth, who gives birth to and then weds Ouranos, Heaven. Gaia and Ouranos are the parents of Kronos who eventually castrates Ouranos. The blood from his severed member falls into the sea, froths, and creates the goddess Aphrodite. Kronos worries that his children will attack him as he attacked his own father. In order to prevent this, he eats them. Zeus, his youngest child, is switched with a swaddled rock, which Kronos swallows instead. In the fullness of time, Zeus comes into his own power and overthrows Kronos (Puhvel, 27).
In both of these tales we see a world begun in blood and violence dealt by the hand of a descendant. While the Greek myth does not have the construction of the cosmos aspect, it does mirror the Norse tale. The theme of youth destroying and replacing the old is one that crops up throughout the IE world and truly in many ways it is the pattern of human life. It follows that the pattern of human life will be expanded in the stories we tell about the genesis of the world.
• tales of divine war
War between the gods is a common element in IE mythology and the tales exhibit commonalities. The lower-ranked gods of fertility and production attempt to overthrow the reigning gods of magic, wisdom, and law. After a battle dragging on to a stalemate, the factions reconcile or compromise, and integrate into a functioning, often tiered, society. Shan Wimm in Heaven, Heroes, and Happiness, obviously working in a tripartite paradigm, outlines several such battles.
The War between the Aesir and the Vanir follows this model. The Aesir, masters of magic and with clear martial superiority, led by Odin, attack the Vanir to gain access to the Vanic abundance. The Vanir defend themselves with verve and ingenuity. They send Gullveig amongst the Aesir to madden them with lust and greed and confound them with witchcraft. Odin attempted to kill Gullveig, repeatedly maiming and burning her, but she continued to be reborn. Unable to gain the upper hand, the Aesir relent and invite the Vanir to feast with them after an exchange of hostages. Njord and Freyr went to the Aesir while Hoenir and Mimir went to the Vanir. (Winn, 62)
Similar to the above was the battle between Indra and the Asvins. Indra, a warrior god, considered the Asvins, deities of healing who mingled freely with humans, unworthy of Soma. In return for a boon, a seer offered a cup of Soma to the Asvins during a royal ceremony. Indra was incensed and attempted to smite them with his thunderbolt but was magically stopped by the seer. The Asvins sent a demon to attack Indra who relented and asked for mercy promising Soma to the Asvins in return. (Winn, 66)
Again we see lower ranked gods aligned against the more elite gods and using trickery or magic to gain the advantage. The end result in both examples is an integrated coexistence achieved through compromise.
- • tales which describe the fate of the dead
However, finding a coherent or consistent idea about the fate of the soul upon death is difficult since there seem to be many options. The Norse Lore tells us that of the battle-slain, Freyja will chose those fallen she wishes to accompany her in her hall and Odin receives the rest. Once in Odin’s hall of Valhalla, the slain will feast and fight to entertain themselves. Those who die of old age or sickness go to Hel’s Hall in the underworld. Of course there are also tales of reincarnation. So not everyone stays dead in Norse belief.
The Celts have an equally diverse set of beliefs about what happens after death. Some tales tell of the soul passing beyond the ninth wave at sea, while others tell of the soul passing through the House of Donn to reach the Otherworld. During the second battle of Mag Turath the dead were revived by means of a magical cauldron.
Both cultures have a strong sense of the continuation of the individual even after death and an equally strong sense of rebirth. The Norse beliefs are better documented than the Celtic, but they certainly mirror each other enough to make some educated assumptions.
3.Explain how each of the following elements of ADF ritual does or does not resonate with elements of two different Indo-European cultures (you need not use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for each element): (minimum 100 words each)
- • Earth Mother:
Nerthus is well-known Scandinavian fertility goddess. She was believed to reside on an island in the center of a sacred lake. Once a year an image of the goddess was brought out, washed, and veiled and taken around the surrounding lands in a cart. This negus as the image was called, was not to be seen nor touched by any save the priests who, at the conclusion of the procession, were drowned in the lake. We don’t do anything like this in ADF, though I have led rituals with a negus component. I graciously let the priests involved live on after the rite.
- • Deities of Land:
From Celtic lore we learn of Tailtu, who cleared the land, pulling the plough herself, until her heart burst. Because she provided such service to the folk she is closely associated with agriculture. In the Golden Bough Frazer spends a great deal of time outlining how ancient pagans tied the health of the ruler to the health of their land and performed wedding ceremonies connecting their king to the local land/sovereignty goddess.
Within ADF we honor land deities when appropriate. There some Groves who are cultivating relationships with the sovereignty goddesses of the land on which they practice. It is not common in ADF, but it does happen.
- • Deities of Sea:
Within ADF we honor Deities of the Sea of course, like the deities of the land, when it is appropriate.
- • Deities of Sky:
Again, like the others, in ADF practice we work with these deities when we feel it is appropriate.
- • Outsiders:
From Celtic tales we learn of the Fomorii, one-armed, one-legged, one-eyed who stood against the gods. Perhaps we should say the gods stood against the Fomorii since according to the chronology of the invasions the Fomorii arrived before the gods. Lugh led the charge against them, destroying Balor, the leader of the Fomorii and his own grandfather.
In ADF rituals there is an optional step during which the Outsiders may be appeased, or bribed, or threatened.
- • Nature Spirits:
One could say that the spirits of nature are not different than spirits of place. In that group, I have always included the tomten, a Swedish name for house spirits. In Roman religion these spirits are called Lares. The customary way to honor Lares was to place an offering of food or drink someplace in the house. This is also the way to honor tomten--quite the coincidence!
In current ADF practice, there is a regular part of ritual during which the Nature Spirits are honored. Many ADF members include regular offerings to the spirits of the land on which they live and/or the houses in which they live.
- • Ancestors:
Amongst the Romans altars to the ancestors were set up within the home and worshipped at daily. Regular offerings were made and the Ancestors were considered to be a part of the everyday life of the household.
The Celts entertained a host of beliefs about the nature of the Ancestors ranging from their continued existence in the otherworld beyond the House of Donn, to a more nebulous existence beyond the ninth wave, to reincarnation. Some Ancestors stayed dead and accessible in the Otherworld while some, it would seem, returned to a mortal existence.
The Norse are as disparate as the Celts with multiple halls in which the dead may reside and the potential for reincarnation.
Within ADF we have a portion of ritual dedicated to remembering and honoring the Ancestors. Most Groves, regardless of hearth culture, hold a ritual on or around November 1st with a loose theme of honoring the Ancestors.
4. Discuss how the following seven elements of ADF's cosmology are (or are not) reflected in the myths of two different Indo-European cultures. For this question, please use the same two cultures as a basis of comparison for the entire question. (Minimum 100 words each)
Upperworld:
In Norse cosmology the Upperworld is held in the branches of Yggdraisil, the World Tree. Housed there, according to Gundarsson, are Muspellheimr, Asgard, and Wan-heim (vanaheim). However, in modern Heathen thought one can find Slight differences as to the relative positions of the nine realms. The Upperworld in general, and Asgard specifically, are reached by crossing a rainbow bridge called Bifrost.
In Celtic sources we find no vertical positioning of realms. There does not seem to be a notion of a realm above our own though there are many references to realms other than our own existing next to ours. Repeatedly we see that the Celts did divide their cosmos into Land, Sea, and Sky. Using such delineation, we can associate Sky with the Upperworld though it is not necessarily the dwelling place of any specific spirits or powers.
Middleworld:
When we refer to the Middleworld we are typically referring to the world in which we mortals dwell. The Norse refer to the Middle Realm as Midgard and it is the realm of men and wights, often visited by the Gods and Jotuns and sometimes described as visible from the Wall of Asgard. It is surrounded by a ring of Ymir’s blood, AKA the sea, and by Jormungandr, a giant serpent. Also included in the Middle Realm are the homes of the Alfar/Light Alfs, and Swart (dark) Alfs.
In a Celtic context we would see the Middle realm as the Land part of Land, Sea, and Sky and specifically the land of Ireland. It is difficult to elaborate much since the next question is about the divisions of this realm.
Divisions Of Middleworld (e.g., 4 Quarters, 3 Triads, 8 Sections):
Both the Norse and the Celts have elaborate divisions of the Middle realm. In Norse tradition the dome of the sky, made from Ymir’s skull, is upheld by dwarves positioned at the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western corners. The middle realm is divided into Midgarth, Alfheim, and Svartalfheim as mentioned above.
The Celts divided Ireland into five sections, oriented to the directions and with a strong center portion. Each section boasted a mythic weapon and heroes with region-specific strengths. One cannot read much Celtic lore without stumbling upon references to the world being divided into land, Sea, and Sky--the land beneath us, the sky above us, and the sea surrounding us.
Nether/Underworld:
To the Norse the Underworld is commonly understood as Hel, realm of dead. Typically the emphasis in the lore is mainly concerned with the journey made by the dead or the living from either the realm of men or gods (Ellis, 85). However, Hilda R. Ellis points out that in Snorri alone does one find a reference to Hel as a “concrete, simple world of the dead stretching below the earth” (Ellis. 86).
The Celts have more of a concept of Otherworld than Underworld. As mentioned in John Adelmann’s article “Ancient Celtic Otherworld” on the ADF website, the House of Donn, TechnDuinn, acts as a milepost for the recently deceased on their way to the Otherworld. Generally the dead were considered to live beyond the ninth wave. There are also references to the islands to the West. I would suggest that this corresponds to the Sea portion of Land, Sea, and Sky.
Fire:
Gundarsson describes one type of sacred space called a Harrow. It is basically an altar on which is kindled a fire. Once made holy by the fire, offerings are made on or around the harrow. In Anders Kaliff’s work he says that the harrow as described by Gundarsson is fully proven and is accepted as part of Scandinavian ancient pagan practice (p. 99). There is also a Scandinavian custom of taking a lighted torch around a piece of land to claim it. Other than these references, there isn’t much documentation of which I am aware, of Norse uses of fire (though Fox’s research probably has some tidbits).
As with the Norse, there is not much we know about Celtic religious uses of Fire. It does not figure prominently in the lore and examples are hard to come by. There are traditions associated with fire, surely. Fox, in his Oak Leaves summation or his fire research, claims that to this day the greatest insult one could offer to an Irish householder is to stamp upon the ashes f the hearth fire. Modern devotees of Brighid have all sorts of Fire traditions, but they rarely cite their sources. Brighid’s flame at Kildare, according to the city website, burned perpetually in pre-Christian times and was later taken over and tended by the nuns of Saint Brighid. When Saint Patrick desired to claim Ireland for Christianity, he kindled a fire on a central hill on the very day that the Druids ritually doused and relit their sacred fires. This was considered a definitive act of claiming and hallowing.
It was suggested that I discuss the Celtic lighting of Midsummer fires, but the research with which I am most familiar places Midsummer fires squarely within Scandinavian tradition. Within ADF we accept Midsummer as either a Norse holiday, though the Dedicant manual does include a blurb about the Welsh observance of the Summer Solstice. Interestingly, in the Cosmology section of the ADF website, there is hardly any mention of Fire within a Celtic context. Our own articles point to Vedic and Norse fire lore, but not to Celtic. Ian Corrigan’s article, “The Worlds and the Kindreds” claims to approach the topic from a distinctly Celtic perspective, and does in fact place the Fire as the center of the four “elements,” however he offers no citation for this arrangement.
Well:
There are plenty of Wells throughout both Norse and Celtic lore. In Norse cosmology the Well of Wyrd is located at the roots of Yggdraisil. This is where the norns sit and spin out the fates of men. There is also the Well of Mimir visited by Odin who was in search of wisdom. The price of that wisdom was his very eye!
In Celtic lore we find Boan. She approached the Well of Conla, which was supposed to be approached only by Nechtan and his cupbearers. The Well was surrounded by nine hazels trees that dropped their nuts into the well to be eaten by the Salmon living in the Well. When Boan came near, the waters rose. Three times she approached and was scared off. The third time she braved the overflow. The waters of the Well rose, and rose, and rose and overflowed the Well spilling into the world, with the wise Salmon, becoming the river Boyne (Rees, 61).
Tree:
Germanic heathens, according to Puhvel, erected pillars as a central part of their holy sites. They called these pillars Irminsul, and saw it as “a universal pillar supporting the whole” (Puhvel, 22). The most obvious Tree image in Norse cosmology, of course, is Yggdraisil, the World Tree that supports all of the Nine Realms. One such pillar, now displayed in the Stuttgart museum, was covered with acorns and oak leaves and was topped by four heads representing the four seasons.
The Celts seemed to have favored groves of trees, open to the sky, called nemetons as places to worship. For this reason it was a fairly widespread custom of early Christians to destroy these sacred groves and revered trees.
5. To what extent do you think we can offer conjectures about Indo-European myths in general? Are the common themes strong enough that the myths seem like variations? Or are the differences so powerful that the themes are less important than the cultural variations? (minimum 300 words)
I am unsure what conjectures about Indo-European myths one might be making. This is a bit of a contextless question. There are certainly common themes. Is that because the myths are variations of one another? Or is it because the Indo-Europeans were a group with similar divine experiences across their various societies? I fall somewhere between hard polytheist and a Joseph Campbell devotee. Ultimately the important question is whether one believes the myths are true or human fabrications? Does one believe in the existence of the Gods or does one believe that the gods are thoughtforms given animus by belief or possibly even constructs and archetypes of our subconscious?
I think it is a foolhardy position to adopt to disregard the common themes of Indo-European mythology. Regardless of whether ones believe the tales to be unique and true or works of generated fiction, the fact that there are commonalities speaks to a unified human experience. Why wouldn’t the exploits of one set of gods be similar to the exploits of a neighboring set of gods? I am willing to bet that the dramas that happen in my daughter's kindergarten class are very similar to dramas happening in another kindergarten class hundreds of miles away. People behave in certain ways. Is it so difficult a leap to accept that gods may also behave in certain ways?
Any student of history can tell you that themes repeat. Terrible things happen to armies attempting to invade Russia, military coups end in dictatorships, and a peasantry brutally taxed for too long will revolt. These are not variations on themes, these are facts and the experiences are as perennial as they are cyclical.
I think it likely that societies cannot form properly without certain types of gods and I think it irrelevant whether the gods create us or we create them. The end result is that we have them, and they have us, and all we can do is enact our little dramas, hopefully with an amount of mindfulness.
Bibliography:
Adelmann, John "Fox". "The Ancient Celtic Otherworld." Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF). ADF, n.d. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <https://www.adf.org/articles/cosmology/otherworld.html>.
Corrigan, Ian. "The Worlds and the Kindreds." Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF). ADF. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <https://www.adf.org/articles/cosmology/worlds-kindreds.html>.
Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse; Syracuse University Press, 1988. Print
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Berkeley; University of California Press, 1973. Print
Ellis, Hilda R. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature. New York; Cambridge University Press. 1943. Print
Gundarsson, Kveldulf. Teutonic Religion. St. Paul; Llewellyn Publications, 1993. Print
"Lighting the Perpetual Flame of Brigid (A brief history of the flame)." County Kildare Community Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct 2013. <http://kildare.ie/community/notices/perpetual-flame.asp>.
Littleton, Scott. "The Comparative Indo-European Mythology of Georges Dumézil." Journal of the Folklore Institute. Vol. 1.No. 3 (1964): pp. 147-166. Print.
Puhvel, Jaan. Comparative Mythology. Baltimore; The John’s Hopkins University Press, 1967. Print.
Rees, Alwyn and Brinley Rees. Celtic Heritage. New York; Thames & Hudson, Inc., 1978. Print.
Winn, Shan M. M. Heaven, Heroes, and Happiness: The Indo-European Roots of Western Ideology. Lanham, London; University Press of America, 1995. Print.