| Not all of what is modern is bad nor wrongly conceived. Take,
for instance, the expression "a level playing field," meaning that in any contest or comparison
one of the protagonists should not be hamstrung from the outset. (That the moral and rational
necessity of establishing a 'level playing field,' particularly in scholarly research, is rather
rarely applied in most situations is an entirely different matter.) When approaching the
subject of the ancient Celts three words need to be defused at the outset. Those are 'pagan,'
'heathen,' and 'barbarian.' Historian Stuart Piggott, a learned researcher, cheapens his otherwise informative
book, THE DRUIDS, by the constant use of 'pagan' and 'barbarian' in describing the Celts and
their Druidic priests. Clearly Piggot deeply and emotionally dislikes his ancient ancestors and
believes that Western man has successfully 'reinvented himself'... and he further believes that
any study of our ancient ancestors should only be made with that 'fact' in mind. |
| The first definition of 'pagan' is HEATHEN, the second, "an
uncivilized or irreligious person." In looking up 'heathen' one finds, "1: an unconverted member
of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible: PAGAN 2: an uncivilized
or irreligious person." It would appear, then, that a pagan is a heathen... who is defined as a pagan!
Looking under 'Bible' one finds "1: the sacred scriptures of the Christians comprising the Old
Testament and the New Testament 2: the sacred scriptures of Judaism or some other
religion (emphasis added)... 5: a publication that is preëminent in authoritativeness."
It is clear that 'pagan' and 'heathen' only have meaning in the context of believing in something
different from what the surrounding majority believes. It is further clear that a
people who do not have a written bible, who forbid their religious thoughts to be reduced
to written form, are automatically 'pagans' and 'heathen!' By this reasoning words, books,
and God are co-equivalents... |
| One can only leave the pagan state if one "converts"
- sincerely changes his views, his innermost thoughts - to conform to a specific majority-authorized
scheme. And that depends on where one lives. A Christian in an Arab country is considered
an 'infidel' by the people there. He would only become a 'true believer' if he left
Christianity and became a Muslim. An Arab in a Buddhist country is, I suspect, even worse
than that. He would have to convert to Buddhism to be recognized as other than a heathen.
Clearly, then, the terms 'pagan' and 'heathen' have no objective meaning and should not be
used to demean an entire people, particularly the Celts who lived their religion every hour
of every day. |
| The situation is quite similar with this opprobrious term
'barbarian'... the dictionary gives us "1: of or pertaining to a land, culture, or people alien
and usually believed to be inferior to one's own 2: lacking refinement, learning, or artistic
or literary culture." But before applying this term to any people or culture one would have to
define very clearly what is meant by "inferior." It cannot be denied that some cultures and
peoples are not distinguished by their accomplishments. But such is not the case with the Celts,
nor with the People of the North - the Alba-Boreans - in general. Some of the finest art known
to exist apparently was produced by proto-Celts 30 millennia ago in the cave drawings,
and the Celts have, from the earliest times, evidenced exceptional skill in metal-working.
Moreover, their system of laws and social organization were far in advance of what we have now
by any enlightened measure. |
| (At times, however, the term 'barbarian' becomes a clue
in researching history. For instance, the Egyptians considered the Hittites, an ancient
Indo-European people who appeared in Anatolia (Turkey) in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC
and whose origins are not "officially known," as barbarians who, nevertheless, were
able administrators of the region under their control. This description only
fits well some Celtic band from the region of the Danube which invaded from the north and set up
their southern kingdom. (As we are learning, the Celts - and the Alba-Boreans in general - were
long-distance travelers, explorers, and conquerors.) This plausible assumption then solves
another mystery of history, how the knowledge of iron-making first came to ancient Europe. The
Celts were the first Europeans to gain this ability... seemingly from the Hittites. The
inference has been dinned into us by the New Romans that iron-making Hittites were an
indigenous people of the Middle East. Once it is clear that the Hittites
were of Celtic origins, then it also becomes clear that iron-making is a thoroughly Celtic
development passed from the Celtic Hittites to the European Celts.) |
| However, there is some justification of the term 'barbarian'
being applied to the Celts since their eating habits were neither prissy nor
mincing, and they did cut off and keep the heads of foes fallen in battle... a practice which,
it appears, had for them deep religious and spiritual connotations. They also practiced in a very
limited fashion human sacrifice as did all other societies of those times... and with the
victims very often offering themselves voluntarily. But, if 'barbarian,' the Celts were
certainly the most inventive such of all time (the iron-shod wheel, for example) and the
most socially conscious as well (complex yet workable systems of education, justice, etc.). If
we investigate honestly, all our present-day and 'modern civilized' nations are far more barbaric
than ever were the Celts in ancient times. Modern nations dissemble their immoral acts - successfully
lying to the citizens, in other words - whereas a cardinal element of the Celtic code was truth-telling. |
| One further exceptionally important point must be noted and emphasized
in reconstructing the story of the Celts... none of the writings about the ancient
Celts written in those ancient times were written by the Celts themselves. Rather, they
were written largely by Roman historians... and, of course, Rome was the implacable foe of
the Celtic 'barbarians.' Thus we are constantly forced to search for the truth in the rubble
of much propaganda written to satisfy Roman readers. Keeping these facts in mind, we are now
ready to begin our investigation into the minds of our ancient ancestors fully in keeping with
the concept of 'a level playing field.' So once again we ask, "The Celts, what were they like?" |
