When is a Celt…

… Not a Celt?

A fine article of this title by Joanna Hautin-Mayer just crossed my path (via the Naked Woad Warrior‘s blog). It’s a harsh-but-fair look at the level of pseudohistorical invention punted as fact by some neopagan writers. Informative and fun – take for example this gentle dig at the claims made in “Witta: An Irish Pagan Tradition” by Edain McCoy. After noting Ms. McCoy’s claims that the potato as an ancient Irish symbol (having somehow not been aware it was imported from Peru in the 16-17th Centuries!) she also points out this gem:

McCoy goes on to claim that “the famous epic poem Carmina Burana was a manuscript found in an Italian monastery which clearly glorifies the Mother Goddess”(p.4). What exactly this statement has to do with anything, I cannot determine. But in fact, Carmina Burana is the name given to a collection of bawdy drinking songs in Latin probably written down in the tenth or eleventh centuries, the manuscript of which was found in a Bavarian monastery. If pieces such as “It’s my firm intention in a barroom to die” are to be considered as hymns to the Goddess, then all country music must be pagan.

Ouch!

Have a read, tho’ it be longish.

3 thoughts on “When is a Celt…”

  1. Hehe, glad you liked it Cat 🙂 It’s a little tough, but sometimes it seems that this is the only way to get anywhere with certain hard-headed individualists who prefer their opinions to historical fact 😉

  2. Thanks for the link to “Celts,” it’s not too surprising although you’d think the authors might cover themselves as some do by stating the information was channeled. Makes it difficult if you’re a followup researcher. Particularly if you’re not on the same channel. Also appreciated the insights regarding head-hunting. I’d been reading about the Scots officialdom putting a bounty on heads of members of the MacGregor clan and thought it a bit barbaric, but I see it was just a more modern manifestation of an ancient tradition. i mean, not just something dreamed up on the spot to make life difficult for the MacGregors.

  3. I’m not sure, but it seems to me that the Pagan God’s of yore weren’t, singly or as a group, as much of a bunch of bittunsky’s, as loners like Yahweh, or whatever the other 8 billions names are, of the one true God. And, though there might have been plenty of conceptions back then, none of them were exactly immaculate.Those God’s weren’t up there in some heavenly paradise, 6-degree’s of seperation away from the common folk. HELL NO!Sometimes, it seemed, the only way to seperate them from the common folk, was with a crow-bar and a bucketful of cold water.And if I was a politician, I would proudly tell people that I was a Pagan, and that everyone should convert to Paganism, which should then become the national religion. Think of all of the additional paid holidays you’ll get folks. And a flexible one for you own personal favorite God! Vote for me!!!

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