Page 16 - Celtic Beasts Sampler

the emergence of the human race. So, they may literally be our

pro-human relatives.

As human history unfolded. shamans and other mediums between

this world and the spirit world may have realised that certain animals

appeared consistently to be associated with specific aspects of life. Thus,

did pigs begin to be connected with the Underworld and salmon and

eels with Wisdom. This may be why certain animals wore divined at

first and then later came to be associated with specific divinities.
Sometimes. through the language of Christian iconographic symbolism

the divinized animal reappeared after having shapeshifted into the

constant companion and/or the metaphoric symbol of the saint. This is

how St. Anthony the Abbot acquired his pig companion and became

patron of gravediggers.

To give a more extended example tenth-century Byzantine
missionaries working in the Kiev area blended the fourth century bishop

and martyr, at, Blaise (Vlasios) of Sebaste, with the ancient god Volos.

who had been worshipped there both as lord of wild animals (especially

bears), cattle, and wealth and as a guardian of the entrance to the

Underworld. As part of this syncretism,, they incorporated into the

legend of “St. Vlas” an episode where he hid in a cave and became a
protector of the forest animals. When devotion to Blaise was carried to

Europe, he was also blended with the Celtic deity Cernunnos - likewise a

lord of the forest animals and guardian of the entrance to the Under-

world. The chthonic function of these old gods was blended into

Christian experience when chapels to Blaise were erected in places which

had previously been considered entrances to the Underworld by the
earlier Celtic inhabitants. To further stress the point. the feast of Blaise

was linked with those of St. Brigid and Candlemas. which. in Rome.

absorbed the old pagan festival of Lupercalia - with Bt. Brigid, our Lady

of Candlemas. and St. Blaise replacing Proserpina / Persephone, Ceres /

Demeter. and Pluto / Hades. Then this triduum of feasts absorbed the

ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc another celebration of Spring's return

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