Lesson Eleven ~ Creating Healthy Communities

These days the various generations of a family tend to live far apart. Many children may only see their grandparents or aunts and uncles at holidays, if even then. In ancient times tribes were far more close-knit. Whilst some relatives may have been off at war, on mercantile trips, at sea etc, the majority of families would have lived cheek by jowl. An average-sized roundhouse might have contained three or more generations of the same family, including aunts, uncles etc.

Though obviously no statistics have survived, it is most likely that infant mortality was high, as it is in most rural societies living without all our modern technology. Female mortality, during childbirth, is also likely to have been fairly high. So only a comparatively small number of people would have made it to old age. There is, however, a fair amount of evidence to suggest that the elderly were well-regarded by the younger generations. The modern habit of dumping granny in an Old Folks Home was unknown back then.

The Brehon laws required a certain degree of basic care, even specifying the minimum number of times that elderly relatives should be provided with baths and other essential needs. The minimum requirement towards a geriatric relative was ~

“When you become old your family must provide you with one oatcake a day, plus a container of sour milk. They must bathe you every twentieth night and wash your head every Saturday. Seventeen sticks of firewood is the allotment for keeping you warm.”

Most elderly relatives would have lived with their wider families, and so would not require separate feeding or firewood. This law was largely for those few people who lived by themselves, and had relatives visit them. Clearly the provision of one oatcake a day was in addition to whatever food they provided for themselves (otherwise they would have starved to death if that was their sole daily intake!)

Many modern Pagan books, particularly those with a Wiccan bent, often feature a Croning Ritual to mark a woman’s transition through the menopause. Plenty also add an Elderhood Ritual for men of a similar age. There are no surviving records of what the ancient Celts did (if they did anything at all) at this stage in a person’s life. There may have been elaborate rites, or a simple feast to mark the event, though it’s possible that some tribes may not have considered it particularly important. We just don’t know. However, there is nothing to stop a modern day Druid from inventing their own ritual to mark entry into elderhood. There is a goddess popular throughout the Gaelic-speaking countries called An Chailleach, whose name translates as “the Grandmother”, or “Old Woman”. She is a goddess powerful enough to shape mountains and transform summer into winter, which suggests the elderly were not conceived of as ineffectual or relegated to powerless roles in ancient society.

Those whose frailty prevented them from contributing much physically would still have been turned to as sources of great wisdom, having had a lifetime of exercising their talents and acquiring knowledge. Their knowledge could still help to shape the world around them.
The law also expected people to exercise a duty of care towards each other, regardless of age. A person who witnessed a crime taking place and did not try to stop it or help in anyway could be charged with forcsiu, which meant “over-looking” ~ in other words, standing round and doing bugger all. This same law was applied to people who gave shelter or support to runaway criminals. Over-looking is also referred to as one of the five-fold crimes (more on this in a future lesson), namely: “The crime of the eye, by watching while an evil deed is taking place.”

 
Tolerance of somebody else’s crime was considered socially irresponsible, and reflects the early Irish (and presumably British) view that justice in the widest sense was something everyone had to make happen ~ or be held accountable for not doing so.

People who were found guilty of GBH were required to pay othrus ~ which means sick maintenance. Until their victim recovered from their injuries, the attacker had to pay money towards the medical bills and compensate for lost earnings. If the injury caused a permanent disability, then the attacker would have to pay crolige bais, an on-going financial support that would last for the remainder of the victim’s life. Cynics have suggested that it would have been cheaper just to polish the victim off entirely, and indeed some attackers may have taken just that approach!
Each tribal chieftain had a legal duty to collect sufficient tax money to pay for a public hospital, known as a tigh-eiridinn, or House of Nursing. This was probably the earliest recorded form of National Health Service. Everyone in a tribe was entitled to a free minimum level of medical care, in exchange for having paid their taxes. The old laws were quite specific about how these hospitals were to be run ~ and include a lot of ideas that have only recently been reintroduced. The laws stated that hospitals should be well ventilated, should have clean running water, should be kept clean and tidy at all times, that visitors should behave calmly and quietly. An example of a law relating to doctors runs:

“The doctor shall build his house over a running stream. His house must not be slovenly or smeared with the tracks of snails. It must have four doors that open out so the patients may be seen from every side at all times.”

The importance of some buildings having multiple doors recurs in a number of myths, such as Da Derga’s hostelry having seven doors. It may be that there was some metaphysical symbolism underlying the need for many entrances, as well as the apparent practical reason of visitors being able to see in that is given in the quote. After Christianity became dominant in Britain, many people believed that washing too often was unnatural and dangerous. Whilst several Welsh saints were considered a little obsessive with their urge to stand in rivers, others saints ~ perhaps most notable Martin of Tours, who destroyed many Pagan shrines in Gaul ~ were so pungent that even fellow monastics avoided them! Several influential saints considered bathing to be a form of vanity, and so sinful. Queen Elizabeth I notoriously only took one bath a month, and was considered very fastidious for doing it as often as she did.

Florence Nightingale had to campaign for years to encourage hospitals to have trained nurses, rather than underpaid drunks to look after the patients. It took ages for her to convince doctors that opening the windows to let in fresh air was actually good for people.

The extent of medical knowledge amongst the old tribes is still being discovered. Recent archaeological discoveries in Colchester revealed a set of surgical tools whose design was so good that their modern counterparts have hardly changed at all.

There are legends of surgical achievements, such as when Nuada lost his hand in battle and the god Diancecht made him an artificial arm of silver. Later the god’s son, Miach, found a way to re-attach the original severed limb. Miach also implanted a cat’s eye into the empty socket of a man who had lost an eye ~ with rather bizarre results. It seems profoundly unlikely that the old tribes would have had the technology to actually carry out limb re- attachment, cybernetics or cross-species implants. However, the fact that they could dream up the possibility of doing it many centuries before such things were even remotely possible is, in itself, intriguing.
As well as curing illness, the old tribes made moves towards what these days is called “social inclusion” ~ ensuring that people with medical problems were included in society, and given the means to contribute, rather than just being dumped in a corner. One example of this is Hand Ogam, a system for communicating with mute people. Various points on the hand stand for different letters and, by touching parts of the hand, messages can be spelt out. In a tribal society, where food may often have been quite scarce, it was important that everyone be encouraged to contribute as much as they could. Such societies could not afford to carry people who did not contribute, wether due to illness or selfishness. In the latter case, lazy or selfish people were considered fair game. One law stated:

“The selfish man, who thinks only of his cows and his fields, and not of his fellow human beings, may be insulted without risking a blush fine.”

The Celtic response to illness and disability was an ambiguous one. The rules about who could become and remain a chieftain were very strict, and any kind of physical blemish could disbar someone from office. This included things that would seem fairly trivial by modern standards. One myth recounts how a very bad king, Bres, was cursed by a poet he had mistreated. The curse caused Bres to erupt in boils all over his body, which was enough for him to be legally forced to abdicate. When Nuada, one of the chieftains of the Tuatha de Danann, lost his hand in battle, he was also forced to pass on the throne to another.
The laws prohibiting disfigured or disabled people from office seem to have applied almost entirely to the role of Ri, or monarch. The most likely origin of this was the requirement that chieftains lead their warriors into battle ~ a task that would clearly have been risky for the blind or one-legged! The extension of this need for health may have developed to include a bar against people with skin complaints and other minor ailments for all sorts of reasons, some sensible and some not. There are several accounts of blind bards, so clearly these sorts of medical conditions were not considered a bar to religious vocations. In Welsh legend blind Morda helped prepare Ceridwen’s potions.
Various laws existed to protect people who, in this modern age, would be classed as having a mental illness or being mentally disabled. It was even considered illegal to take the piss out of someone because of their disability. Taunting someone could result in a fine. Some historians have tried to portray the ancient Insular Celts as a brutal warrior society, full of blood-crazed thugs who slit the throats of the weak and dependent. Hopefully this lesson has shown that this was simply not true. Far from being a bunch of intolerant yobs, the ancient tribes bent over backwards to provide support and care for the sick, the frail and the disabled.

Some questions for you to think about:

Which people in your life have a duty towards you? This might be family members, people whose work requires them to do certain things for you, friends, or anyone at all. Can you think of examples of what sort of duties are owed towards you?

To whom do you have a duty? As above, it could be all sorts of people, or pets, places, precious objects you have a care for etc.

What steps could Society take towards changing the behaviour of those who fail to meet their duties?

Practical Exercise:

If you do not already do so, spend some time helping out a frail or unwell relative, friend or (if that is not an option) stranger via a charity. What you do is up to you ~ anything from just spending time with them, to doing their shopping or gardening or more personal care. The amount of time you spend is, again, down to you. It could be just the odd hour, or you might decide to make this an ongoing commitment.

If you are too frail/unwell yourself to help another, then spend the time trying to deepen the relationship with whoever provides you with care ~ get to know more about them, their opinions, life experiences, hopes, fears etc.