Celtic Myth and Religion: A Study of Traditional Belief, with Newly Translated Prayers, Poems and Songs

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Celtic mythologyand religion, encompassing numerous aspects of ritual and belief.Topics include the presence of the Celtic Otherworld and itsinhabitants, cosmology and sacred cycles, wisdom texts,mythological symbolism, folklore and legends, and an appreciationof the natural world. Evidence is drawn from the archaeology ofsacred sites, ethnographic accounts of the ancient Celts and theirbeliefs, medieval manuscripts, poetic and visionary literature, andearly modern accounts of folk healers and seers. New translationsof poems, prayers, inscriptions and songs from the early period(Gaulish, Old Irish and Middle Welsh) as well as the folkloretradition (Modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Bretonand Manx) complement the text. Information of this kind has neverbefore been collected as a compendium of the indigenous wisdom ofthe Celtic-speaking peoples, whose traditions have endured invarious forms for almost three thousand years.