Human Sacrifice, What's Up With That?
Jun 14, 2015 10:38:38 GMT -6
Allec, aondeug, and 2 more like this
Post by seamu5 on Jun 14, 2015 10:38:38 GMT -6
Someone on Tumblr was asking if human sacrifice was a real thing Celtic-speaking societies actually took part in. Here is the thread This was my response
"Yes, the Celtic-speaking societies most definitely practiced human sacrifice. We have bog bodies of high status men found in Ireland and England who have been murdered in a highly ritualistic way. Strangled, head bashed in, and throat cut. They often had some sort of food in their stomach like mistletoe.
The main theory was that these sacrifices were tied to kingship and clientship (As far as we can tell the Irish had more of a “Feudal” relationship with their gods). My sources are going to be all Ireland based,since that’s where the majority of my research goes.
Bronze Age: A Little early for “Celtic” society in Ireland, but you can assume that there was some carryover.
Cashel Man
Ralaghan Man (Note: Not an actual human sacrifice, but at least might be linked to them)
Iron Age: Actual “Celtic” era.
Old Croghan Man
Clonycavan Man: Clonycavan Man is super important, because of his imported hair gel showing extensive trading between Iron Age Ireland and Spain. "
Something I thought about while discussing why we know these murders were actual sacrifice was what each death blow might have been tied to. Now I have no evidence to back up my claims, just some ideas I'd like to get written down. I should also add that neither I nor any of the mods of the PCF condone human sacrifice. Just don't be weird guys.
The basic idea of the sacrifice of a bad (failed) king was to renew infertile land and the contract with a sovereign goddess. We know that these men were usually dealt three death blows, but what if these killing blows had a deeper meaning, i.e., being linked to the idea of the three realms.
Bash to the head could be linked to "Talamh" (Earth)
Strangulation would then be "Nem" (Sky)
And finally cutting the throat would release the salty blood from the body, which would be "Muír" (Sea)
Like I said, no evidence to back up my claims, just possible theories. What do you guys think?
"Yes, the Celtic-speaking societies most definitely practiced human sacrifice. We have bog bodies of high status men found in Ireland and England who have been murdered in a highly ritualistic way. Strangled, head bashed in, and throat cut. They often had some sort of food in their stomach like mistletoe.
The main theory was that these sacrifices were tied to kingship and clientship (As far as we can tell the Irish had more of a “Feudal” relationship with their gods). My sources are going to be all Ireland based,since that’s where the majority of my research goes.
Bronze Age: A Little early for “Celtic” society in Ireland, but you can assume that there was some carryover.
Cashel Man
Ralaghan Man (Note: Not an actual human sacrifice, but at least might be linked to them)
Iron Age: Actual “Celtic” era.
Old Croghan Man
Clonycavan Man: Clonycavan Man is super important, because of his imported hair gel showing extensive trading between Iron Age Ireland and Spain. "
Something I thought about while discussing why we know these murders were actual sacrifice was what each death blow might have been tied to. Now I have no evidence to back up my claims, just some ideas I'd like to get written down. I should also add that neither I nor any of the mods of the PCF condone human sacrifice. Just don't be weird guys.
The basic idea of the sacrifice of a bad (failed) king was to renew infertile land and the contract with a sovereign goddess. We know that these men were usually dealt three death blows, but what if these killing blows had a deeper meaning, i.e., being linked to the idea of the three realms.
Bash to the head could be linked to "Talamh" (Earth)
Strangulation would then be "Nem" (Sky)
And finally cutting the throat would release the salty blood from the body, which would be "Muír" (Sea)
Like I said, no evidence to back up my claims, just possible theories. What do you guys think?
