Celtic Creation Myth and Culture

Celtic Creation Myth and Culture

The Beginning

Myth

Character List

In the beginning, there was a great void. It produced the god and goddess, Donn and Danu. They fell in love and became inseparable... literally.

Danu - Mother Goddess and lover of Donn

Donn - God of the Otherworld and the Creator of the skies, clouds, sun, moon, stones, and wind

Briain - One of the sons of Danu and Donn, who chopped Donn (his father) into nine pieces

Finn - Brother of Donn and priest

Entertainment

Explaining the Unexplainable

Celtic Map

As a people, they loved to drink and feast. They liked to engage in competitive brawls and waging war.

They had a large trading network with the Romans, which included salt, grain, and horses. In return they would receive luxury goods such as wine.

Donn and Finn

The majority of Celtic people lived by the sea, notably in England, Scotland, and Ireland. This contributed to their theme of the ocean with Danu's tears and Donn's bloods.

The oak tree is the most common tree in the southern and central forests of present-day England, which could explain why Donn became an oak tree.

Two red acorns fell to the earth, and Danu realized that one of them was Donn. She then wept, and her tears soaked into the ground, helping the seeds to grow. One seed became a great oak, a reincarnation of Donn. The other seed became a priest, Donn's brother, Finn. Donn saw Danu in the sky, and streched his branches out to dry her tears with his leaves.

Briain

Eventually, Donn and Danu bore children, but these children became trapped between their interlocked parents. Realizing that his siblings would not survive in these conditions, Briain cut up his father into nine pieces, with his mother's approval.

Mankind

There were three classes in the tribe:

1. Warrior upper-class (led by a king)

2. druids (priests, judges, and educators)

3. the commoners (slaves and freemen)

Tribes

Social Structure

Donn, as the great oak tree, grew many berries, that were nurtured by the waters of heaven. They fell to the ground and became the first humans.

The Celtic people were divided into tribes, which were all connected through language, religion, and culture. Each tribe was ruled by a king or queen.

Man's Downfall

Since these people could not die, they became lazy, and began to rot from the inside.

Women in Celtic Culture

Women had the same rights as men, and were well-respected. They were allowed to vote, own property, and divorce their husbands.

When Donn asked Finn for advice, Finn told him that people needed to be able to die so there could be renewal in the world. However, Donn disagreed and fought with him until Finn was killed. Donn's heart burts apart from the pain of seeing his brother dead and the parts renewed the world.

The Death of Finn

Waters of Heaven

Culture

Danu, horrified by what she had seen began to cry, creating a great flood that washed all of her children away to Earth. Danu became known as the "Waters of Heaven."

The Natural World

Religion

They believed that the world was divided into a trinity, and this later influenced the Christian Holy Trinity. This included sky, sea, and land.

Fate of Donn

Donn's nine parts were also washed away in the flood, and his head became the sky, his brain the clouds, his mind the moon, is bones the stones, and his breath the wind. Then, Donn's blood and Danu's tears became the seas.

Danu, the goddess of heaven.

This represents the three realms, the land, sea, and sky

Celtic Triple Spiral

The responsibility of achieving salvation rested on the people alone, meaning that their goal was to reach the Otherworld.

They were a polytheistic culture (ex: Donn and Danu), and they admired their priests because they were their spiritual leaders, teachers, and judges.

They buried their dead with riches, weapons, clothes, and food, things that they thought necessary for the Otherworld.

Creation of the Otherworld

When Donn died, the oak tree grew three roots that burrowed deep into the ground and created the Otherworld. This is where people go after they die. Donn, the god of the Otherworld, and Danu, the goddess of heaven, continue to love each other to this day, even though they are separated by the earth.