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Death and Burial - British Goblins CT028

Celtic Tomes

Release Date: 12/06/2017

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Celtic Tomes

This chapter covers Temples, Altars, Images, Symbols, and the Cult of Weapons of the Ancient Celts.

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Celtic Tomes

The Celtic year was not at first regulated by the solstices and equinoxes, but by some method connected with agriculture or with the seasons.

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Celtic Tomes

The Irish geis, pl. geasa, which may be rendered by Tabu, had two senses. It meant something which must not be done for fear of disastrous consequences, and also an obligation to do something commanded by another.

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Celtic Tomes

The Celts offered human victims on the principle of a life for a life, or to propitiate the gods, or in order to divine the future from the entrails of the victim. We shall examine the Celtic custom of human sacrifice from these points of view first.

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Celtic Tomes

The Celts may have possessed the Heaven and Earth myth, but all trace of it has perished. There are, however, remnants of myths showing how the sky is supported by trees, a mountain, or by pillars.

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Celtic Tomes

Animal worship pure and simple had declined among the Celts of historic times, and animals were now regarded mainly as symbols or attributes of divinities.

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Celtic Tomes

The Celts had their own cult of trees, but they adopted local cults. This chapter also details how the Celts made their sacred places in dark groves, the trees being hung with offerings or with the heads of victims.

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Celtic Tomes

Among the Celts the testimony of contemporary witnesses, inscriptions, votive offerings, and survivals, shows the importance of the cult of waters and of water divinities. This chapter also details the many fairies and folklore creatures associated with water.

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Celtic Tomes

McCulloch talks about animism, where everything was a person and the greater objects of nature were worshiped for themselves alone.

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Celtic Tomes

The custom of burying grave-goods with the dead and other grave customs is the subject of this chapter. McCulloch also talks about the role of fairies and the festival of Samhain.

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More Episodes

Death and Burial

British Goblins: Welsh Folk Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1881)

Book 3 Chapter 7

by

Wirt Sikes

Find out all the customs about food and drinking, especially Beer, by a coffin, how important Salt is, the Sin-Eater (and whether the stories are true or not), the Scapegoat and Welsh funeral possessions. We learn about praying at crossroads where criminals may have been buried. Sikes also tells us about the Grassless Grave and the Parson's Offerings.

  • Death and Burial 1:50
  • The Gwylnos 2:49
  • Beer-Drinking at Welsh Festivals 3:24
  • Food and Drink over the Coffin 3:56
  • Sponge Cakes at Modern Funerals 6:00
  • The Sin-Eater 6:45
  • Welsh Denial that this Custom ever existed 7:48
  • The Testimony concerning it 8:08
  • Plate of Salt on Corpse's Breast 12:07
  • Superstitions regarding Salt 15:05
  • The Scapegoat 17:32
  • The St. Tegla Cock and Hen 18:13
  • Welsh Funeral Processions 19:51
  • Praying at Crossroads 20:29
  • Superstition regarding Criminals' Graves 20:44
  • Hanging and Welsh Prejudice 21:03
  • The Grassless Graves 22:40
  • Parson's Penny, or Offrwm 24:40
  • Old Shows to the Clerk 25:59
  • Arian y Rhaw, or Spade Money 26:32
  • Burials without Coffin 29:06
  • The Sul Coffa 30:07
  • Planting and Strewing Graves with flowers 32:28

Names Used in this Section

All proper names and words in Welsh or other languages are recorded here in the show-notes and we've done our best to get the pronunciations right for you.

 

  • Gwylnos
  • St Tegla
  • Offrwm
  • Arian y Rhaw
  • Sul Coffa
  • Pennant
  • Thomas Myddleton
  • Coranich
  •      'cum mago dolore et clamore cognatorum et propinquorum omnium'
  •      'Claddu y marw ac at y cwrw' (To bury the dead, and to the beer')
  • Cymru Fu
  • Cwrw brwd

 

Giving Food over the Coffin

Pic: Giving Food over the Coffin

 

  • Llancaiach
  • Servis & Humphrey
  • Rev. E. L. Barnwell
  • Malkin
  • John Aubrey
  • Lansdwone Mss.
  • Hereford
  • Rosse
  • 'ipso facto'
  • Dynder (nolens volens)
  • Brecon
  • Llangors
  • Mr. Gwin
  • Bishop White Kennet
  • Amersden, Oxford
  • Ludlow
  • Mr. Matthew Moggridge, Swansea
  • Llandebie
  • Chepstow
  • Mr. Allen, Pembrokeshire
  • Mr. E. A. Freeman
  • Mr. Eugene Schulyer
  • iskatchi
  • Cardiganshire
  • Cardiff
  • Aaron
  • Wrexham & Ruthin, Llandegla
  • Clwyf y Tegla
  • Pater Noster
  • Metellus, conqueror of Macedon
  • Montgomeryshire
  • John Newton
  • Welshpool
  • Defynog, Breconshire
  • Llanrhaiadr-yn-Mochnant
  •       'cyfneseifiaid' (next-of-kin)
  •       'yr hen glochydd'
  •      'cadach deupen
  • Richard Griffith, Trefeglwys
  • Thomas Dinelly
  • Ivan the Harper
  • Williams of Merllyn
  • Richard the Harper
  • Llanfwrog
  • Dafydd y Garreg Wen (David of the White Stone)
  • Toriad y Dydd (the Dawn)
  • Glamorganshire
  • Cymbeline 
  • Milford Haven
  • Fidele


Dafydd y Garreg Wen

Pic: Dafydd y Garreg Wen

British Goblins can be found on Archive.org

You can find out more about Wirt Sikes on Wikipedia.

Try the Celtic Myth Podshow for the Tales and Stories of the Ancient Celts at http://celticmythpodshow.com or on Apple Podcasts.

Our theme music is "Gander at the Pratie Hole" by Sláinte.  You can find their music on the Free Music Archive.