Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race - Knowledge Rush

72 Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race[90]the Celts as we know them in history, from the break-up of theMid-European Celtic empire onwards, formed a singular blendof Aryan with non-Aryan characteristics, that we shall arrive at atrue understanding of their contribution to European history andtheir influence in European culture.The Five Factors in Ancient Celtic CultureTo sum up the conclusions indicated: we can, I think,distinguish five distinct factors in the religious and intellectualculture of Celtic lands as we find them prior to the influx ofclassical or of Christian influences. First, we have before usa mass of popular superstitions and of magical observances,including human sacrifice. These varied more or less from placeto place, centring as they did largely on local features which wereregarded as embodiments or vehicles of divine or of diabolicpower. Secondly, there was certainly in existence a thoughtfuland philosophic creed, having as its central object of worshipthe Sun, as an emblem of divine power and constancy, and asits central doctrine the immortality of the soul. Thirdly, therewas a worship of personified deities, Æsus, Teutates, Lugh, andothers, conceived as representing natural forces, or as guardiansof social laws. Fourthly, the Romans were deeply impressed withthe existence among the Druids of a body of teaching of a quasiscientificnature about natural phenomena and the constitutionof the universe, of the details of which we unfortunately knowpractically nothing. Lastly, we have to note the prevalence of asacerdotal organisation, which administered the whole system ofreligious and of secular learning and literature, 72 which carefullyconfined this learning to a privileged caste, and which, byvirtue of its intellectual supremacy and of the atmosphere ofreligious awe with which it was surrounded, became the sovranpower, social, political, and religious, in every Celtic country. Ihave spoken of these elements as distinct, and we can, indeed,72 The fili, or professional poets, it must be remembered, were a branch of theDruidic order.