Page 45 - SYTYGIB Prehistoric Times

FANCY THAT!
The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus claimed that Celtic warriors would chop off their enemies' heads and preserve them in cedar oil to show them off. That sounds TERRIBLE . . . if it was true. Experts believe old Diodorus made up this porky pie to make himself seem civilised. Naughty boy.
What´s that big hollow wicker man for?
According to Julius Caesar, the Celts built wIcKeR MeN (huge figures made of wicker), put people inside them and then – look away now if you get the heebie-jeebies about gory stuff – they set them on fIrE. That is sO not chill! Naughty Celts!
But Caesar never actually saw this happen. He just started it as a horrid rumour so people would like the Romans and hate the Celts. Boooo!
Oh, err, why don´t you pop inside to see for yourself? It has excellent central heating . . .
Do you ever wish . . . you could have more good luck? Maybe you want to ANNIHILATE the opposition at an egg-and-spoon race, or discover you’ll inherit TWENTY GAZILLION pounds next Tuesday?
Well, please don’t try to help the luck along by doing some of the things your ancient ancestors did. They were keen on sacrificing stuff. Sometimes it was objects such as swords and shields, while at other times they sacrificed animals . . . and even pEoPlE!
In many of these cases, the sacrificed people were bopped on the head, poked with sharp things or suffered other ways of not being alive any more.
As horrible as that may seem, for communities who feared bad luck it must have felt like the difference between life and death.
The Romans also claimed the Celts were big on human sacrifice. Caesar wrote that the enslaved workers of important people from Gaul (France) were burned along with the body of their master as part of his funeral. Sounds like it’s much less messy to just keep your fingers crossed for good luck.
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Gods and religion