Celtic Mythologie

Celtic Mythology

The Celtic people have mystified anthropologists and historians for generations. They were a non literate culture whose history and literature was preserved through oraltradition. The only written records of their civilization are the texts left by classical authors, the first of which appear circa 500 BCE.  These accounts, inaccurate as they may be, are important in thatthey demonstrate that the Celts came into cultural contact, and sometimes competition, with the Greeks as well as the Romans.
In recent years, modern archeology has been successful in reconstructingan echo of the "voice" of the ancient Celts. Facets of Celtic society, economy, and religion completely ignored by Classical texts have been brought to light. The classical image of Celtic lifedescribes barbaric men and women dressed in animal skins in primitive villages, people who worshipped strange deities and whose lives were consumed in blood feuds.  Because of the authority of theclassical authors, these ancient misconceptions were pervasive.
From the beautiful, enchanting music of the fairy harp to the sacred singing of the choirs of angels, Celtic literature, especially that ofearly medieval Ireland, has many references to a spiritual or supernatural dimension of music. Referred to as the Celtic Otherworld, music is often featured prominently in this sacred dimension.There are many examples of fairy harpers, the songs of mermaids, the power of the saint's bell, the singing of angels in Heaven, musical trees, and so on.
The enchanting, alluring music of the CelticOtherworld is portrayed as being heard from a dimension not of this world, that is, as something beyond ordinary reality and one's normal, everyday life experience here on earth. In some cases,beautiful, ethereal music is heard, yet no musicians are seen, for example the haunting, ghostly music heard from an empty monastery at the moment of birth or death of a saint. In others, a mortal may be...