The Celts were a widespread group of Indo-European tribes that were united by a common language and culture. They likely originated on the southern steppes of Russia and then spread throughout Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Asia Minor. Their language – with the exception of Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian and Basque – formed the basis of all European languages. There were two groups of Celts: Continental Celts and Insular Celts (particularly those in the British Isles).
The pre-Christian Celts in particular were a sophisticated society during the height of the Roman Empire. Despite Roman rhetoric on their barbarity, with regards to the role of women – always an indicator of how advanced a society is –, there is no question that they enjoyed many more rights and privileges than their Roman and Greek counterparts. This is especially true in Irish Celtic society where Brehon civil law upheld their rights.
Celtic women could own property, divorce their husbands, and were often engaged in the political, intellectual, spiritual and judicial aspects of their communities. As wives, they were not segregated in their homes, as were Greek women, and had greater freedom of movement than Roman matrons. Although they were still subject to their husbands’ authority, since the Celts were a warrior culture, this was balanced by a right to equal justice.
Celtic Goddesses and Warrior-Queens
The pre-Christian Celtic goddesses held equal or greater power than the gods, in some respects due to the creative aspect of women’s biology. The Irish triune (meaning three) goddesses – Macha, the Corrigan and Babd, were originally goddesses of war, although Macha’s evolution in Irish mythology gradually changed with the encroachment of Christianity from a creation goddess to a goddess of war and finally to a dispossessed mortal mother forced to run a race by her husband while pregnant, giving birth to twins at the finish line, from which she pronounced a curse on male authority.
Other goddesses of note are Brigantia and Epona, British goddesses of war and of horses, respectively; Brigid, Irish goddess of healing, poetry and smiths, and Maeve, goddess of war who is ritually married (through the priestess) to the new king in order to legitimize his reign; Arduinna, Gaulish goddess of Childbirth and Justice; Branwen, Welsh goddess of the Sea, the Moon and of Love; and Mari, Goddess of Rain, Drought and Justice to the Basque (northern Spain) Celts.
Celtic women were powerful queens as well. The most famous warrior-queen was Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni on the southeast coast of Britain, who led a rebellion against the Governor Suetonius and by extension the Emperor Nero in 60/61 C.E. She succeeded in uniting several tribes and these laid waste to modern-day Colchester, Saint-Albans and London, where she was vanquished at the Battle of Watling Street. She poisoned herself to avoid capture.
Another famous queen was the Irish ruler Macha Mong Ruadh (Macha of the Red Hair) who ruled all of Ireland from377-331 B.C. Irish Celtic mythology recounts the story of Queen Mebd of Connaught and her army, led by the famous hero Cuchulainn (who was trained by the renowned female warrior, Scathach), to do battle with Ulster’s king over a prize bull.
Druidesses, Priestesses and Saints
Women in various Celtic cultures could be judges, mediators, priestesses and even druids. The druids formed the intellectual and spiritual class of Celts who sometimes held greater influence than the kings they served. Highly educated, druids meted out justice, arbitrated political alliances, and had the gift of prophecy. One famous oracle was Veleda, a Celtic woman who lived among the Germanic tribes and who arbitrated between two Roman factions on either side of the Rhine around 69-79 C.E. during Vespasian's rule as Roman emperor.
St-Brigid (451-475 C.E), a patron saint of Ireland, was the daughter of king Dagda. She was trained as a druid/priestess to the goddess Brigid in early life before converting to Christianity. She eventually founded, and lived the rest of her life, in a convent in Kildare. Her transformation from priestess to her cloistered life as St-Brigid, whether historically accurate or not, serves as a powerful symbol of women’s increasingly restricted lives in a patriarchal Christian world.
SourcesBeresford Ellis, Peter, The Druids, Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996.
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Sylvie Nantais - My love of words began by the age of three. I hung around my siblings and learned to read before I even began school. I started writing ...
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