Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

CHAPTER II: THE RELIGION OF THE CELTS 53puzzle to antiquarians. The guess may perhaps be hazarded thatthey are diagrams or plans of a megalithic sepulchre. The centralhollow represents the actual burial-place. The circles are thestanding stones, fosses, and ramparts which often surrounded it;and the line or duct drawn from the centre outwards represents thesubterranean approach to the sepulchre. The apparent “avenue”intention of the duct is clearly brought out in the varieties givenbelow, which I take from Simpson. As the sepulchre was alsoa holy place or shrine, the occurrence of a representation of itamong other carvings of a sacred character is natural enough;it would seem symbolically to indicate that the place was holyground. How far this suggestion might apply to the Mexicanexample I am unable to say.Varieties of Cup-and-ring MarkingsThe Tumulus at New GrangeOne of the most important and richly sculptured of Europeanmegalithic monuments is the great chambered tumulus of NewGrange, on the northern bank of the Boyne, in Ireland. Thistumulus, and the others which occur in its neighbourhood, appearin ancient Irish mythical literature in two different characters, theunion of which is significant. They are regarded on the one handas the dwelling-places of the Sidhe (pronounced Shee), or FairyFolk, who represent, probably, the deities of the ancient Irish,and they are also, traditionally, the burial-places of the CelticHigh Kings of pagan Ireland. The story of the burial of KingCormac, who was supposed to have heard of the Christian faithlong before it was actually preached in Ireland by St. Patrick andwho ordered that he should not be buried at the royal cemeteryby the Boyne, on account of its pagan associations, points to theview that this place was the centre of a pagan cult involving morethan merely the interment of royal personages in its precincts.[69]