|
|
From about 600
BC up to about the time of the birth of Christ, groups of invaders
arrived in Ireland. These tall, fair-haired people came from the
region around the Rhine and Danube rivers on the mainland of Europe,
they were driven west by the advance of the Romans who called them
Galli. Armed with iron swords they soon conquered the other peoples
already in the country. Their language was an old form of what is
now Irish.
The Celts were farmers
who grew cereals and flax. They also spent much of their time tending
large herds of cattle and sheep. They are said to have worn tunics
or tight-fitting breeches and loose cloaks fastened with small iron
brooches. Little is known of how the ordinary people lived, but
Celtic kings dwelt in houses fortified by banks of earth, or in
lake dwellings called crannog's
Little is known about Celtic religious beliefs.
The Celts probably believed in a life after death, references in
writings from the early Christian period refers to the Celtic Tir
na nOg (land of youth) Roman's writing in Britain presented gruesome
descriptions of Celtic sacrificial rituals, although these may have
been embellished for propaganda reasons. The Celts appeared to have
a reverence for nature, endowing certain places and objects with
mystical significance, the oak tree appears to have been especially
important to them, something the early Christian evangelists quickly
turned to their advantage when choosing sites for their churches.
The progression of the seasons were marked and celebrated at the
festivals of Imbloc, Samhain, Their priests, called druids, also
served as teachers, judges and advisors to the Kings.
The Celts divided the country into about
150 small communities called Tuatha. A king, called a Ri Tuatha,
ruled over each Tuath. Sometimes a number of these kings recognized
one of their number as an Árd Ri 'over king' and paid tribute
to him. In the same way, a number of over kings formed a kind of
federation under a king of one of the five provinces into which
the country was divided. When Roman power in England was waning
the Irish Celts made raids on England's western sea board for booty
and slaves, it was probably one such raid in which St
Patrick was carried off.
It is thought that at one time the Romans
were poised to invade Ireland, but a revolt by one of its German
legions stationed in Galloway caused them to postpone and finally
cancel it.
|
