Yet at every point I have felt how much would have been gained could an old Celt or Druid have revisited his former haunts, and permitted me to question him on a hundred matters which must remain obscure. But this, alas, might not be!

I have to thank Miss Turner and Miss Annie Gilchrist for valuable help rendered in the work of research, and the London Library for obtaining for me several works not already in its possession. Its stores are an invaluable aid to all students working at a distance from libraries.

J.A. MACCULLOCH.

THE RECTORY, BRIDGE OF ALLAN, _October_ 1911.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See also my article "Celts" in Hastings' _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, vol. iii.

[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Throughout this book, some characters are used which are not part of the Latin-1 character set used in this e-book. The string "[^y]" is used to represent a lower-case "Y" with a circumflex mark on top of it, "[=a]" is used to represent a lower-case "A" with a line on top of it, and "[oe]" is used to represent the "oe"-ligature. Numbers in braces such as "{3}" are used to represent the superscription of numbers, which was used in the book to give edition numbers to books.]



CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. INTRODUCTORY 1 II. THE CELTIC PEOPLE 8 III. THE GODS OF GAUL AND THE CONTINENTAL CELTS 22 IV. THE IRISH MYTHOLOGICAL CYCLE 49 V. THE TUATHA DE DANANN 63 VI. THE GODS OF THE BRYTHONS 95 VII. THE CUCHULAINN CYCLE 127 VIII. THE FIONN SAGA 142 IX. GODS AND MEN 158 X. THE CULT OF THE DEAD 165 XI. PRIMITIVE NATURE WORSHIP 171 XII. RIVER AND WELL WORSHIP 181 XIII. TREE AND PLANT WORSHIP 198 XIV. ANIMAL WORSHIP 208 XV. COSMOGONY 227 XVI. SACRIFICE, PRAYER, AND DIVINATION 233 XVII. TABU 252 XVIII. FESTIVALS 256 XIX. ACCESSORIES OF CULT 279 XX. THE DRUIDS 293 XXI. MAGIC 319 XXII. THE STATE OF THE DEAD 333 XXIII. REBIRTH AND TRANSMIGRATION 348 XXIV. ELYSIUM 362



LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES THROUGHOUT THIS WORK

(_This list is not a Bibliography._)

BRAND: Rev. J. Brand, _Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain._ 3 vols. 1870.

BLANCHET: A. Blanchet, _Traite des monnaies gauloises._ 2 vols. Paris, 1905.

BERTRAND: A. Bertrand, _Religion des gaulois._ Paris, 1897.

CAMPBELL, _WHT_: J.F. Campbell, _Popular Tales of the West Highlands.