What is Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism

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Revision History

Version 1.0 : 2002-05-30

An interesting point was raised on a mailing list. The person, a great craftsman, said, that he knew what Celtic Reconstructionalism wasn't but did not know what it was. So as a result of that comment I have come to write this small text in order to try to illustrate what I think it is to be a Celtic Reconstructionalist pagan / heathen. Of course, this is built up from my opinions, and observations and not everyone that is a CR may agree with them.

Strong Sense Of Community

Community is the most important part of being a Celt. Those that are part of your group are more than just like minded individuals, they become your brothers and sisters. Lending assistance when needed becomes second nature.

Some groups are able to live this community quite strongly, and are building small villages, all self funded. Others unfortunately suffer from our modern living structures and have to travel to visit each other, but their sense of brotherhood is not dimished.

The idea of community goes beyond the close-knit group that makes up a Tuath, interaction with other CR groups, and related groups (Asatru for instance) is enjoyed and encouraged. This shown in most CR groups having a general policy of 'open rituals', that allows anyone to attend (whilst obviously following certain rules of etiquette). Ritual is not a closed circle, designed for the initiated, but a family and community affair where the Gods are honoured for the benefit of everyone.

Being hospitable to everyone, offering food and a bed when needed is a mix of altruism, concern for the divine and an announcement of wealth. Being able to provide food and a bed for a stranger in need shows compassion for mankind, but it helps reassert the strength of the Tuath, and if the Tuath is strong, the Land benefits sympathetically. And one never knows whether it is Manannan or the Morrighan that is visiting your house.

Language

Most of us have grown up speaking English, but within the CR idealology is the need to learn the native languages of the Celtic people. It is felt that to truely understand a culture, you have to understand their language. This becomes even truer, when you consider the vast wealth of lore, mythology and poetry available in the native languages.

Of course, there is divisions, some groups feel that learning Old Irish is more vital, as it gives a direct connection to the lore, whereas some groups feel that learning the Celtic langauge of a living Celtic nation is more product, such as Gaelic, Irish or Welsh. The groups all hold an ideal of being able to perform all litany in the Celtic languages.

As an example, I am learning Gaelic (Gàidhlig, or Scottish-Gaelic), which does not let me read the older texts (well, not much at least), however, it gives me access to a wealth of folklore and poetry from Scotland. As I become more fluent in Gaelic, I will start learning Old Irish, so that I can read the original texts myself.

Ritual

Ritual in CR groups are broken into two types. Daily rituals (often private) and communal rituals. Both of these provide problems as we have no direct records of any rituals performed by the pre-Christian celtic peoples. The few rituals documented by the Romans appear to be very biased, and inaccurate. And the Christian scribes that recorded the mythologies of the Irish people appeared not to be inclined to be very truthful at all.

Private, daily rituals however have a life-line. Through the folk practices that have been documented during the last few hundred years in such works as the Carmina Gadelica, The Secret Commonwealth and more recently A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World. Although these practices exist within a christian culture, the essense of the ritual practices can be extracted with research and a touch of intuitition. Infact many documented practices have little or no reference to any parts of christianity, so using them is easier still.

Communial rituals however, are a thorny problem. We have descriptions of bloody massacres from Julius Caesar's the Gallic Wars, and broad hints at rituals in the medieval literature. So, we become a little stuck. We can discover the signicant aspects of various ritual times, by once again, looking at folk practices. Although from these we have more problem, the folk practices are enacted by villages full of people, rather than a close knit Tuath. It is here we have to do some intellectual leaping, and look to the closest cousins of the celtic people, the Germanics. We are now saved, through using Asatru as spring board, we can build a communal ritual structure. The sumbels and blots are good foundations for Celtic ritual structure, and by overlaying the themes that each festival produces, a ritual can be enacted.

General

It should also realised that a distinction has to be held between historically based practices (one we have sufficient evidence for) and inspired practices (ones that we have little or no direct evidence for). By not creating and recognizing the distinction, a CR would fall into the same trap many neo-pagan writers fall into, and futher mislead those would would read anything they contribute.

Not everyone is born to be a priest, not everyone wants to. They just want to live their life and honour the Gods. Public rituals are generally lead by the clergy (Draoi) or the chieften (Ceann or Righ), whilst the Tuath themselves participate, swear oaths and make their offerings. A Tuath has both spiritual and secular functions, so not everyone need to be highly fluent in the spiritual aspect. This is contrary to contemporary paganism.