Post by awenyddogamulos on Jan 27, 2015 8:18:18 GMT -6
Welcome to the Brythonic corner of the Polytheist Community Centre! I’m De and I will be your host. All the information contained herein is NOT DOGMATIC EDICT. This information is coming from a biased view of a person who has studied Celtic history, language, and culture in an academic setting prior to converting to Brythonic paganism. Keep that in mind as you read, use your critical thinking skills, and always participate. These pages are in a constant state of improvement and updating.
Let’s start off with the initial problems of definitions. What does the term “Brythonic” mean, and what does in mean in the context of polytheism?
Firstly, the term Brythonic itself is a relatively new term that became popular in Celticist works in the 1870s. Some scholars support replacing it with the term ‘Brittonic’, but given that English doesn’t differentiate between a voiced and unvoiced th sound in written language, they’re basically the same frickin’ word. It is primarily a linguistic categorization rather than one which is strictly geographical or cultural.
Let me back up a little bit.
Way way back many centuries ago in a part of Europe that is now Switzerland-ish, a tribe of people speaking the same language and holding the same cultural attitudes and beliefs suddenly decided that they were total badasses and they were going to start taking over Europe. No, not the Romans. Or the Germans, or the Norse. These were the Celts. And they went everywhere. They didn't always conquer countries – they did sack Rome once, which was pretty cool. A lot of the time they just worked as mercenaries, but their culture and art leeched into every country they touched. There were significant Celtic settlements in Spain and France, and sometime during the Bronze Age they moved across the water into what is now known as the British Isles.
There are two schools of thought on this. One is that this was a no-holds-barred smackdown-style invasion, in which the native inhabitants of the islands were killed, driven out, or absorbed into the conquering proto-Celtic culture. The second school of thought – which I personally ascribe to – is that there was no wave of immigration or invasion but rather a trickle of proto-Celts settling in this already-populated areas and opening them up to trade with the continental Celtic groups, which thereby influenced the greater culture. Think of the USA and Canada. The USA hasn’t (successfully) invaded Canada, and yet their material culture has pretty much subsumed anything distinctly Canadian except a few sketch comedy shows.
It was at this point when a common Celtic language began to branch off into subgroups. The settlements in what would become Ireland developed in the Goidelic or Gaelic languages (the forerunners of modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and the cripple Manx Gaelic). Those on the main island of Britain formed the Brythonic subgroup of languages – what we now know as Welsh, Cornish (extinct), Breton, and Cumbric (really extinct).
Keep in mind that the term ‘Celtic’ is, itself, a linguistic categorization. The native peoples of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland did not consider themselves Celts, nor were they addressed as such in contemporary materials. There is a great quote from Simon James: “Beyond their related speech, the ancient Celts as widely conceived today were no more an ethnic unity than, say, modern Argentinians, French, and Romanians who all speak Romance languages (derived from Latin), but do not see themselves as uniquely related and distinct.”
So then what is “Brythonic polytheism”? Brythonic polytheism refers to the cultural and religious practices of the Brythonic-speaking people of Britain – a group which experienced a long and violent history of conquest and migration and upheaval, so their geographic range extended at one point across the whole of southern Britain and north into the Forth-Clyde area of southern Scotland until you run into the Pictish areas of settlement. Then there was pressure from the Angles on the east, the Gaels to the north and west, and the Romans to the south, so their territory restricted somewhat but oozed over onto the continent to the area now known as Brittany in France, where Breton is the Celtic language spoken to this day.
What does Brythonic polytheism include?
It includes Welsh, Cornish, and Cumbric polytheism – that is, the beliefs and practices of the Celtic-speaking peoples of Britain from the Bronze Age onwards.
What does Brythonic polytheism not include?
It does not include Anglo-Saxon British traditional paganism, British traditional witchcraft (though the two are not mutual exclusive), Gaulish polytheism, or Welsh druidry.
Wait but you said Welsh polytheism . . .
Yeah, okay, I know. The religious elite of Briton tribes were known as druids, we have that evidence through contemporary historical records. And modern polytheists who take on the mantle of druid are more than welcome to it. But when I say “Welsh druidry” I am talking about the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids – and other similar organisations. The modern Druidry movement in Wales is more of a historio-cultural movement than a religious one.
Okay, but this sounds a lot like Gaulish polytheism – I mean, you have most of the same gods . . .
Again, yes. You’re right. That really isn’t a big strip of water. There is a lots of cross-over between Gaulish and Brythonic polytheism, and a lot of that is because there was historical a lot of trade, intermarriage, and cross-migration going on between the two groups. One of the most powerful Celtic tribes, the Belgae, was established on both sides of the English Channel and dominated local culture for centuries in both Gaul and Briton.
For example! Camulos (who is a totally awesome god that everyone should follow because he’s rad) is a tribal war deity who is attested (his name is written on stuff) in sites in what is now modern Germany, France, southern England, northern England, and southern Scotland. DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE TO TALK ABOUT YOUR LORD AND SAVIOUR CAMULOS?
So, like, Stonehenge, yeah?
Um . . . maybe? Fuck, I don’t know. Stonehenge is possibly early Celtic, and if so it would fall under the Brythonic umbrella. I have no doubt that it was later used by the Britons as a centre of worship because hello, that place is awesome and woo-y. But was it built by Celts? Probably not. It’s older than the accepted time frame for Celtic occupation of the area.
What about druids?
UGH stop asking hard questions. This interesting article from 1909 ("British Druidism and the Roman War Policy", The American Historical Review, 1909) is a pile of garbage, but it makes the valid point that there are no contemporary accounts of a religious class known as druids in Britain in the pre-Roman period except for one off-hand remark by Caesar about something he overheard. Then again, the article’s major argument is that the pre-Roman Britons were too stupid to have druids, so pinch of salt here. But I gotta give him that. There aren’t, while druids under the name “druids” are well documented in neighbouring Gaul in the same time period. However, you do have linguistic elements in Brythonic Celtic that resemble the word ‘druid’, so it’s a possibility. Regardless, you can’t argue that there wasn't a religious elite.
Again, the modern Druidry movement is more of a historio-cultural movement than a religious one, and based a lot on the contemporary historian Pliny’s fanciful description of mistletoe-gathering.
Re: Druids and Stonehenge. Unfortunately the ancient Britons did not escape the Victorian plague of the “Celtic Twilight” obsession. This spawned revivals and reimaginings and a whole romantic spin on, especially, the Welsh religious traditions. This makes it difficult for us in the present to sort out historical evidence from Victorian bullshit.
And that does it for our introduction! In separate threads we will be discussing:
And don’t forget to check out our glorious Resources!
Let’s start off with the initial problems of definitions. What does the term “Brythonic” mean, and what does in mean in the context of polytheism?
Firstly, the term Brythonic itself is a relatively new term that became popular in Celticist works in the 1870s. Some scholars support replacing it with the term ‘Brittonic’, but given that English doesn’t differentiate between a voiced and unvoiced th sound in written language, they’re basically the same frickin’ word. It is primarily a linguistic categorization rather than one which is strictly geographical or cultural.
Let me back up a little bit.
Way way back many centuries ago in a part of Europe that is now Switzerland-ish, a tribe of people speaking the same language and holding the same cultural attitudes and beliefs suddenly decided that they were total badasses and they were going to start taking over Europe. No, not the Romans. Or the Germans, or the Norse. These were the Celts. And they went everywhere. They didn't always conquer countries – they did sack Rome once, which was pretty cool. A lot of the time they just worked as mercenaries, but their culture and art leeched into every country they touched. There were significant Celtic settlements in Spain and France, and sometime during the Bronze Age they moved across the water into what is now known as the British Isles.
There are two schools of thought on this. One is that this was a no-holds-barred smackdown-style invasion, in which the native inhabitants of the islands were killed, driven out, or absorbed into the conquering proto-Celtic culture. The second school of thought – which I personally ascribe to – is that there was no wave of immigration or invasion but rather a trickle of proto-Celts settling in this already-populated areas and opening them up to trade with the continental Celtic groups, which thereby influenced the greater culture. Think of the USA and Canada. The USA hasn’t (successfully) invaded Canada, and yet their material culture has pretty much subsumed anything distinctly Canadian except a few sketch comedy shows.
It was at this point when a common Celtic language began to branch off into subgroups. The settlements in what would become Ireland developed in the Goidelic or Gaelic languages (the forerunners of modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and the cripple Manx Gaelic). Those on the main island of Britain formed the Brythonic subgroup of languages – what we now know as Welsh, Cornish (extinct), Breton, and Cumbric (really extinct).
Keep in mind that the term ‘Celtic’ is, itself, a linguistic categorization. The native peoples of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland did not consider themselves Celts, nor were they addressed as such in contemporary materials. There is a great quote from Simon James: “Beyond their related speech, the ancient Celts as widely conceived today were no more an ethnic unity than, say, modern Argentinians, French, and Romanians who all speak Romance languages (derived from Latin), but do not see themselves as uniquely related and distinct.”
So then what is “Brythonic polytheism”? Brythonic polytheism refers to the cultural and religious practices of the Brythonic-speaking people of Britain – a group which experienced a long and violent history of conquest and migration and upheaval, so their geographic range extended at one point across the whole of southern Britain and north into the Forth-Clyde area of southern Scotland until you run into the Pictish areas of settlement. Then there was pressure from the Angles on the east, the Gaels to the north and west, and the Romans to the south, so their territory restricted somewhat but oozed over onto the continent to the area now known as Brittany in France, where Breton is the Celtic language spoken to this day.
What does Brythonic polytheism include?
It includes Welsh, Cornish, and Cumbric polytheism – that is, the beliefs and practices of the Celtic-speaking peoples of Britain from the Bronze Age onwards.
What does Brythonic polytheism not include?
It does not include Anglo-Saxon British traditional paganism, British traditional witchcraft (though the two are not mutual exclusive), Gaulish polytheism, or Welsh druidry.
Wait but you said Welsh polytheism . . .
Yeah, okay, I know. The religious elite of Briton tribes were known as druids, we have that evidence through contemporary historical records. And modern polytheists who take on the mantle of druid are more than welcome to it. But when I say “Welsh druidry” I am talking about the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids – and other similar organisations. The modern Druidry movement in Wales is more of a historio-cultural movement than a religious one.
Okay, but this sounds a lot like Gaulish polytheism – I mean, you have most of the same gods . . .
Again, yes. You’re right. That really isn’t a big strip of water. There is a lots of cross-over between Gaulish and Brythonic polytheism, and a lot of that is because there was historical a lot of trade, intermarriage, and cross-migration going on between the two groups. One of the most powerful Celtic tribes, the Belgae, was established on both sides of the English Channel and dominated local culture for centuries in both Gaul and Briton.
For example! Camulos (who is a totally awesome god that everyone should follow because he’s rad) is a tribal war deity who is attested (his name is written on stuff) in sites in what is now modern Germany, France, southern England, northern England, and southern Scotland. DO YOU HAVE A MINUTE TO TALK ABOUT YOUR LORD AND SAVIOUR CAMULOS?
So, like, Stonehenge, yeah?
Um . . . maybe? Fuck, I don’t know. Stonehenge is possibly early Celtic, and if so it would fall under the Brythonic umbrella. I have no doubt that it was later used by the Britons as a centre of worship because hello, that place is awesome and woo-y. But was it built by Celts? Probably not. It’s older than the accepted time frame for Celtic occupation of the area.
What about druids?
UGH stop asking hard questions. This interesting article from 1909 ("British Druidism and the Roman War Policy", The American Historical Review, 1909) is a pile of garbage, but it makes the valid point that there are no contemporary accounts of a religious class known as druids in Britain in the pre-Roman period except for one off-hand remark by Caesar about something he overheard. Then again, the article’s major argument is that the pre-Roman Britons were too stupid to have druids, so pinch of salt here. But I gotta give him that. There aren’t, while druids under the name “druids” are well documented in neighbouring Gaul in the same time period. However, you do have linguistic elements in Brythonic Celtic that resemble the word ‘druid’, so it’s a possibility. Regardless, you can’t argue that there wasn't a religious elite.
Again, the modern Druidry movement is more of a historio-cultural movement than a religious one, and based a lot on the contemporary historian Pliny’s fanciful description of mistletoe-gathering.
Re: Druids and Stonehenge. Unfortunately the ancient Britons did not escape the Victorian plague of the “Celtic Twilight” obsession. This spawned revivals and reimaginings and a whole romantic spin on, especially, the Welsh religious traditions. This makes it difficult for us in the present to sort out historical evidence from Victorian bullshit.
And that does it for our introduction! In separate threads we will be discussing: