Lesson Twelve ~ Funeral Rites and the Afterlife
A wide variety of different funeral rites were used by the assorted Irish and British tribes, and often the same tribe would change methods several times over the course of the centuries. To cover every piece of archaeological evidence would take far too long, so we will concentrate on just a few examples of different ways in which the old tribes disposed of their dead.
Burials were common. Some tribes made huge mounds in which a great many people were interred ~ they must have had operable doorways at some point to allow new corpses to be added. Several of the British burial mounds continued to be used well into the Anglo-Saxon period. Other tribes placed bodies in individual graves. Most tribes seem to have included grave goods. Some of these items were things that the dead probably used in life, others seem to have been protective amulets, yet others seem to be items made especially for the dead (this can be discerned because some things are made in such a way that they would fall apart if used by the living.) An example of the latter is the case of a pair of shoes covered in fragile gold leaf ~ no good for actually walking, at least not for walking in this world!
Cremations were quite popular at certain points in time. One widespread practice was to burn the body on a pyre of wood (maybe with grave goods ~ it’s hard to know, given that they would be reduced to ashes), and then scoop up the ashes once cool, tip them into a large jar, and bury the jar. Julius Caesar reported on the funeral rites of the Gauls (presumably the upper class ones), saying:
“Their funerals, considering the state of civilisation amongst the Gauls, are magnificent and costly; and they cast into the fire all things, including living creatures, which they suppose to have been dear to them when alive; and, a little before this period, slaves and dependents, who were ascertained to have been beloved by them, were, after the regular funeral rites were completed, burnt together with them.”
As mentioned earlier, there is plenty of evidence for goods placed in graves and mounds for interment funerals. So it’s not unreasonable to suppose that some tribes may have made burnt offerings as well. Had people been thrown on to the funeral pyres on a regular basis, then we would expect some evidence in terms of additional charred bones etc. So far no real evidence of this has transpired. There are no references from other contemporary writers, or in myths, to back up the idea that chucking relatives and servants on funeral pyres was widespread. For a while the Egyptians used to entombed servants with pharaohs, but soon stopped this when it became obvious how wasteful it was. Incinerating servants or widows may have been a brief fad amongst certain Gallic tribes, or it may be that Caesar had misunderstood something that he had heard about secondhand.
Exposure was used by some tribes. This would have involved putting a corpse out in the open air, most likely on top of a high wooden platform. The birds and bugs would eventually strip the bones clean, whereupon they would be gathered up and then buried. Sometimes the bones were interred in their own private hole, sometimes gathered together in a large mound along with the bones of many other people. One Scottish tribe used the waters of a peat bog to preserve two corpses, which were then propped up in a hut and stayed there in a mummified state for several centuries before being buried. Some Andean tribes kept wind-dried corpses of tribal elders in huts, in order to commune with them. Probably something similar happened with the northern tribe.
No outright descriptions of the soul’s passage beyond the grave has survived for modern Druids, the way it has for followers of the Egyptian religion. However, by reading the various myths and accounts, certain features of the Afterlife as it was seen by the old tribes may be ascertained. Wether the modern Druid agrees completely with the old tribes on these matters, or follows their own vision is entirely up to them.
The Irish myths talk of Donn as being the Lord of the Dead, and an island off the coast of Munster near to Dursey Island is called Tech Duinn ~ the House of Donn. Folklore has it that this is where the souls of those dying in Ireland go. Wether they stay there, or if it is more like a waiting room for the next phase, is unclear. Donn was the first member of the Milesians to die ~ in one version of the legend he fell overboard and drowned even before the ship could land. He was buried on Tech Duinn. Many scholars have argued that Donn is actually a much older god who predates the story of the Coming of Mil. An account of this drowning story by a medieval Welsh writer credits Donn with the memorable phrase: “To me, to my house, come you all after death.” This phrase can often be heard spoken at modern Druid funerals.
When writing about the Gallic tribes he had been warring against, Julius Caesar wrote:
“All the Gauls assert that they are descended from the god Dis, and say that this tradition has been handed down by the Druids.”
Dis Pater was the Roman god of death and the underworld, and Caesar clearly had reason to believe that the Gauls considered themselves to be descended from a god of the dead very similar in character or function to the Roman deity. We do not know with any degree of certainty which god the Gauls associated with the dead, but perhaps it was one very similar in nature to Donn. Whilst no myth has survived, it may well be that the Irish considered themselves descendants of Donn or a deity very much like him. Some scholars have speculated that Caesar may have been referring to Cernunnos when he talked about Dis Pater.
Irish traditions tend to envision the Afterlife as being entered through a location which is almost always off to the west (where the sun sets) and usually either an island at sea or a place actually under the water.
The Welsh legends do not specify that Annwn is the land of the dead (it is just described as some magical, Otherworldly place), but many modern Pagans see it as such. This place is ruled over by a number of chieftains, the most prominent of whom is Arawn the huntsman. Annwn is described as a place full of feasting, fighting, rejoicing etc. The hero Pwyll journeyed there and spent a year in the court of Arawn doing most of the same things he would have been doing at his own court in Wales. The Afterlife was often seen as not much different from the current life, though perhaps with more fun and adventure (and a few strange creatures thrown in for good measure.) It was certainly not some ethereal Heaven with angels wafting about on clouds twanging harps.
Whilst the Irish associated the entry to the Afterlife with places at sea, the Welsh tended to think of Annwn (assuming the modern Pagan view that this is the place of the dead is correct) as being underground. There are numerous references tot he dead (especially heroes) sleeping in hollow hills, waiting for the call to return to life. The most famous being King Arthur.
One account speaks of Druids laughing at funerals and crying at baptisms. The reason given was that, at a funeral the soul was reborn into the Afterlife and so the Druids rejoiced at this. At baptisms it was regarded that the baby must have died in the Otherworld in order to be born into this world, and so the Druids wept to mourn its passing from the spirit world.
The image this conveys is of two (at least) worlds, this one and the Otherworld. The soul is born here, inhabits a body and does all the usual things. At some point the body dies, and the soul moves to the Otherworld and inhabits a body there and does whatever it is that people do int hat place (myth suggests that it’s not much different from what people do here.)
Caesar said that the belief in reincarnation was so strong that warriors went fearless into battle, convinced that if they died with honour then they would be reborn into an honourable life elsewhere.
“They wish to inculcate this as one of their leading tenets, that souls do not become extinct, but pass after death from one body to another, and they think that men by this tenet are in a great degree excited to valour, the fear of death being disregarded.”
Many myths contain accounts of people transforming into a whole series of different animals, often before being reborn as another human being. Tuan mac Cairell, for example, dwelt first as a human, then 300 years each as a stag, boar, eagle and salmon, before becoming human again. Assorted similar stories reinforce this claim that Druids believed in transmigration ~ the ability to come back in non-human form. Some Eastern religions feel that people reincarnate as animals if they have failed to learn certain lessons as humans. There is no suggestion of this in Celtic myth, and the soul’s lives in animal form are often filled with magical powers and great insight. Some modern Pagans believe that the soul does not reincarnate as such, but the spirit energy is recycled in much the same way as the corpse is, and continues on as part of the universal pattern.
Valerius Maximus, an early writer, noted that the Celtic belief in the Otherworld was so strong that there was a tradition of being able to repay a debt in the afterlife. A person’s debts did not transfer to their children.
“For it is said that they lend to each other sums that are repayable in the next world, so firmly convinced are they that the souls of men are immortal.”
The fled co-lige was a feast given to honour the dead, and is probably the origin of the Irish wake. The later Welsh Christian tradition of the sin-eater, an outcast who consumed the sins of the deceased by eating a meal (sometimes from a plate placed on the coffin) on behalf of the deceased, may also stem from this practice. Feasting was a major feature of funerals, including food for the dead. It was very common to place offerings of meat, beer, mead etc in the grave or burial mound. Strabo claimed that the ancient Irish actually ate their own dead, but there is no evidence for cannibalism on that scale. After the feast they held the cluiche caintech, or funeral games. There do not appear to be any strong indications as to which games, but we know that Lughnasadh ~ itself traditionally a festival inaugurated to mark the death of the goddess Tailtiu ~ was marked by lots of horse racing, athletics displays and similar sporting events. So possibly the funeral games went along the same lines. Either they were the deceased’s favourite sports, or perhaps some game which symbolised the soul’s journey.
At one point a requiem song, called an ecnaire in Gaelic or a cerdd farwnad in Welsh, would be made by a filidh or bard. Then would follow the elegy, a poem praising the deceased’s life, called a nuall-guba. The recitation of poetry was standard for the rich ~ wether peasants also received such fancy funeral rites, we do not know. Families too poor to hire a fancy bard may well have composed their own elegies. The actual interment was attended with a chorus of people wailing and keening (from the Irish caoine) and rhythmically clapping their hands (lamh-comairt), probably in tune with a slow drum beat. This seems to have been the only sombre moment in the ceremony, and was probably a good release valve for the pent-up grief of the widowed or orphaned. Some sources talk about the graves being marked by stones or wooden posts inscribed with ogam ~ presumably the name of the corpse. There is a popular tradition still of mourners visiting a grave to leave a small pebble. In time ~ at least if the deceased were popular enough to have many visits ~ those stones could build up into quite a mound, called a cairn or a barp.
Some questions for you to think about:
What would you like to leave behind when you shuffle off this mortal coil and become an ex-Druid? Reflect on your hoped-for legacy, both in terms of the achievements and impact on other people, and also of the material goods ~ what do you wish to happen to any Pagan goodies in your possession (swords, books, wands, crystal balls etc)?
What do you feel the Afterlife is like, if you believe in one at all? Do you think all people go to the same place, or are there different afterlives for different people (according to religion, or how they lived their life etc)?
Speaking of which, how does ones life influence ones Afterlife? Does a paedophile find the same Otherworld waiting for them as a surgeon who has saved thousands of lives? Is there any sense of reward or punishment in the world beyond?
Practical exercise:
A codicil can be added to your will, describing the type of funeral you want. So long as your wishes are within the law, the codicil then becomes legally enforceable by whoever you have appointed to organise the event. Plan your own funeral, if you have not already done so. Think about the following issues ~
• Burial, cremation, exposure etc. What would you prefer?
• Do you want a fancy coffin, a plain box, a cardboard coffin, a wicket basket, just a winding sheet?
• What should your corpse be dressed in… a suit/nice frock, Druid robes, a pink tutu, biker leathers etc?
• Are there any grave goods you want placed in your coffin, or added to your funeral pyre?
• What music would you like played at the ceremony?
• Have you a favourite piece of poetry that you would like to be read out (and who do you want to read it)?
• Wreaths, flowers, donations to a charity, or something else?
• How should the mourners dress… all in black, in fancy dress, in rainbow hues etc?
• Do you want a Wake of some description? Open to all and sundry, or just a chosen few?