Celtic Funeral Practices

California Institute of Integral Studies Celtic Funeral Practices

PARW 6548 – Women and World Religions: Historical Perspectives

Philosophy and Religion Department – Women’s Spirituality Ph.D. Program Chicago Manual of Style Formatting 24 September 2011

by Loleta B. Collins

1 A religious ritual can include many different practices, but rituals marking the passage of time are the most important for every religion. Of the rites of passage rituals, the coming of age rituals and the death rituals stand out as a community’s most significant. The religious views held by the Celtic peoples support this view of the importance of death rituals. This paper will provide a short overview of the Celtic religious views and then provide details to explain what can be known about their death rituals. The tradition we call Celtic is in reality, a modern construct. Scholars in the sixteenth century used this term to refer to the numerous tribes that were spread throughout northwestern Europe. These tribes were believed to be connected through similar language, art, culture, and similar religious beliefs. Today we know that the constructed term Celt is incorrect, for many of these tribes shared one or two, but not all, of the characteristics. A more correct term is Late PreRoman Iron Age European but the cumbersomeness of the politically correct term means that most scholars today stick with the word Celt. Of the connections between these tribes, culture was the most consistent. The Celtic culture was essentially a rural, farming community with the bulk of the population engaged as farmers. The communities also held members of the chieftain/warrior class, the artisans, and the religious class.1 The farming masses worked on subsistence level; however, it was for the subsistence of the entire village and not just for the individual family. The farmers were responsible for providing the staple foods for the villagers employed in other areas. In addition to the farming culture, certain religious ideas were also common among the Celts. Since the Celts were a preliterate tradition, we must use archaeology to find out what rituals were associated with the rite of passage of death.

1

Simon James, The World of the Celts, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993, 52-3.

2 Based on archaeology, we can definitely say the Celts had an appreciation for death. There are many examples of Celtic burials, so while we cannot say exactly what happened during the funerals, we can make some solid conclusions. First, death rituals were tied to social rank. Some people had relatively

Figure 1: Detail of the Hallstatt burial

simple burials, only containing a few items as we see with the Hallstatt burial (Figure 1).2 As a person’s societal class increased, so did the elaborate levels of burial. At Marne (Figure 2)3 the burial shows a person obviously wealthy enough to merit the sacrifice of a chariot, an expense akin to being buried with your sports car today.

Figure 2: Detail of Marne Burial

2 3

Barry Cunliff, The Ancient Celts, New York: Penguin, 1997, 28. Ibid., 34.

3 The elaborate nature of the burials only increase. The burial at Hochdorf is of a man who has been deemed a chieftain due to the wealth demonstrated in his burial (see Figure 3).4

Figure 3: Hochdorf

The Hochdorf burial includes a huge cauldron, a funeral wagon, a dining service and an elaborate couch for the deceased to rest on. Two fascinating points among his burial include the number and the burial couch. The number nine which represents the sacred number of three, itself tripled, shows up in the number of place settings for dining as well as the number of drinking horns. The burial couch itself is rather large but it is the casters on the burial couch that are most fascinating: they are in the shape of women, possibly representing goddesses (see Figure 4).5

Figure 4: Detail from Hochdorf

The inclusion of women in Celtic funeral rituals is not limited to artistic representations, however. Women were also known to have elaborate burials in the Celtic world. The most elaborate known woman’s tomb is found at Vix and is said to be owned by the Lady at Vix

4 5

Ibid., 59. Ibid.

4 (Figure 5).6 Like the Hochdorf chieftain, The Lady at Vix was buried with her funeral wagon, an elaborate iron-rimmed vehicle, as well as food service for nine. Her tomb was also replete with jewelry and mirrors of exquisite workmanship.

Figure 5: Rendition of the burial at Vix

Figure 7: Gold Torc from the Vix burial.

Figure 6: Reconstruction of the Funeral Wagon from Vix -

The Hochdorf chieftain’s burial and the burial of the Lady at Vix both show rather flamboyant tombs. However, as is the problem with much of archaeology, multiple theories about the meanings of these burials are possible. One theory is that these tombs are for the final display in the same vein as today’s state funerals. A second theory is that the displays show an

6

Musée du Pays Chātillonnais, 2011, “Trésor de Vix,” www.musee-vix.fr is the source of Figures 5, 6, and 7.

5 Egyptian-like belief in an afterlife; that is, if you do not take it with you, you will not have it in the afterlife. A third possibility is that these burials are indications of worship, or even a fear, of dead ancestors. While we may never know which, if any of these theories are correct, it is quite clear that the Celts had elaborate funeral rituals. These rituals included many worldly goods and they were not limited to only the men of the societies. Archaeology continues to provide new insights into what the rituals actually included but what is clear is that both men and women were honored with rites of passage from this life.

6 References

Cunliff, Barry. The Ancient Celts. New York: Penguin, 1997. James, Simon. The World of the Celts. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993. Musée du Pays Chātillionnais. 2011. “Trésor de Vix.” http://www.musee-vix.fr/fr/.