Post by awenyddogamulos on Jan 27, 2015 11:03:47 GMT -6
Conveniently, the ancient Britons compiled all of their philosophical and moral writings into one book which was carefully preserved in the intervening centuries so we know exactly what their spiritual and moral worldview was.
Ha! I make funny joke.
Of course they left dick all for us to work with. What we do have to work with is living folklore and folkways, accounts from contemporary outside observers, and inferences gleaned from the surviving literary and poetic traditions. This, combined with personal gnosis, logic, and gut feelings form the basis of a modern Brythonic polytheist world view. Which means that, like soylent soda, it is going to vary from person to person.
From sources in literature, we can determine with a relative degree of confidence that there were some values and beliefs which remained unchanged across much of the Brythonic world. Some of those values and beliefs are not tenable in our modern world - and I can believe that at the time, there were Britons who objected to them on the same grounds that I do. Slavery and animal sacrifice are no longer necessary for economic stability or religious piety.
VALUES
Hospitality: I could (and probably will) write a whole other article on the importance of hospitality in Celtic cultures. It doesn't just mean "being nice to people who come to visit", it covers a whole host of social responsibilities to the group in general. Taking care of the weak and sick, sharing in times of plenty, fosterage, all kinds of stuff.
Bravery and strength: not necessarily in terms of battle prowess or physical strength, but also the ability to triumph through the use of cleverness and skill, and the strength to perservere in the face of adversity.
Honour and truthfulness: heroic values
Respect and honour for the gods and assorted spirits: because if you don't, bad shit gon' happen to you.
BELIEFS
Cosmogenesis: Like pretty much all Celtic cultures ever, there is no Brythonic creation myth. I don't mean there's no single cohesive over-arching creation myth, I mean that there isn't one. At all. There are smaller genesis myths, for mountains and rivers and species of cattle and things, but as to the world itself, according to the best we can glean from Brythonic myth - it's always just been there.
Fairies: Yep. We believe in fairies. Sorry to tell you. A very healthy fear and respect of otherworldly creatures like fairies, changelings, brownies, nymphs, imps, ghosts, and other spirits is one aspect of Brythonic pagan faith that has never died, but continued unbroken into the present.
The Otherworld and not the Underworld: This article on the concept of sin really nails the basic idea here. There is no Celtic hell. If bad people do bad things, bad consequences happen to them in life. Or maybe not. Who knows? Do good stuff anyway. That isn't to say that the Britons didn't believe in life after death - they very much did. But everyone ended up in pretty much the same place, the Otherworld. This was also the realm of fairy and divinity, and the fabric between this world and the Other is very thin at certain times and in certain places.
The nature of the gods: This is one that is very open to interpretation. Looking at, again, historical sources and the surviving literature leaves us with only hints of the shape of such an integral dogmatic theme. I can only speak to my own beliefs here, based on those hints. The gods are not mortal, but nor are they infallible or necessarily "good". They can be short-sighted and narrow-minded and cruel, but on the whole much wiser and much much much more powerful than us. They reside in the Otherworld but will occasional breach into our world, as we can occasionally reach back to them.
Assorted other things: Faith was a lot more deeply connected with daily life than it is for most people today. We do know a bit about the views that they held in terms of the place of women and non-binary individuals. Women had more status and power than their contemporary Continental counterparts, but were still subject to more rules and restrictions then their own men. And queers were a-ok! Greek scholars commented on the Celtic propensity for recreational homosexuality in the bands of young men who were not yet married. Plus, there's lots of gender-swapping and stuff in the mythology. Pretty groovy, right?
Ha! I make funny joke.
Of course they left dick all for us to work with. What we do have to work with is living folklore and folkways, accounts from contemporary outside observers, and inferences gleaned from the surviving literary and poetic traditions. This, combined with personal gnosis, logic, and gut feelings form the basis of a modern Brythonic polytheist world view. Which means that, like soylent soda, it is going to vary from person to person.
From sources in literature, we can determine with a relative degree of confidence that there were some values and beliefs which remained unchanged across much of the Brythonic world. Some of those values and beliefs are not tenable in our modern world - and I can believe that at the time, there were Britons who objected to them on the same grounds that I do. Slavery and animal sacrifice are no longer necessary for economic stability or religious piety.
VALUES
Hospitality: I could (and probably will) write a whole other article on the importance of hospitality in Celtic cultures. It doesn't just mean "being nice to people who come to visit", it covers a whole host of social responsibilities to the group in general. Taking care of the weak and sick, sharing in times of plenty, fosterage, all kinds of stuff.
Bravery and strength: not necessarily in terms of battle prowess or physical strength, but also the ability to triumph through the use of cleverness and skill, and the strength to perservere in the face of adversity.
Honour and truthfulness: heroic values
Respect and honour for the gods and assorted spirits: because if you don't, bad shit gon' happen to you.
BELIEFS
Cosmogenesis: Like pretty much all Celtic cultures ever, there is no Brythonic creation myth. I don't mean there's no single cohesive over-arching creation myth, I mean that there isn't one. At all. There are smaller genesis myths, for mountains and rivers and species of cattle and things, but as to the world itself, according to the best we can glean from Brythonic myth - it's always just been there.
Fairies: Yep. We believe in fairies. Sorry to tell you. A very healthy fear and respect of otherworldly creatures like fairies, changelings, brownies, nymphs, imps, ghosts, and other spirits is one aspect of Brythonic pagan faith that has never died, but continued unbroken into the present.
The Otherworld and not the Underworld: This article on the concept of sin really nails the basic idea here. There is no Celtic hell. If bad people do bad things, bad consequences happen to them in life. Or maybe not. Who knows? Do good stuff anyway. That isn't to say that the Britons didn't believe in life after death - they very much did. But everyone ended up in pretty much the same place, the Otherworld. This was also the realm of fairy and divinity, and the fabric between this world and the Other is very thin at certain times and in certain places.
The nature of the gods: This is one that is very open to interpretation. Looking at, again, historical sources and the surviving literature leaves us with only hints of the shape of such an integral dogmatic theme. I can only speak to my own beliefs here, based on those hints. The gods are not mortal, but nor are they infallible or necessarily "good". They can be short-sighted and narrow-minded and cruel, but on the whole much wiser and much much much more powerful than us. They reside in the Otherworld but will occasional breach into our world, as we can occasionally reach back to them.
Assorted other things: Faith was a lot more deeply connected with daily life than it is for most people today. We do know a bit about the views that they held in terms of the place of women and non-binary individuals. Women had more status and power than their contemporary Continental counterparts, but were still subject to more rules and restrictions then their own men. And queers were a-ok! Greek scholars commented on the Celtic propensity for recreational homosexuality in the bands of young men who were not yet married. Plus, there's lots of gender-swapping and stuff in the mythology. Pretty groovy, right?