"Amongst the Celts the human head was
venerated above all else, since the head was to the
Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of
life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of
the other-world."
Paul Jacobsthal, Early Celtic Art
The cult of the head
One
aspect of early Celtic religion which tends to be either
ignored or over-emphasised by later writers is their
reverence for the human head.
To
the Celts the human head represented a physical
manifestation of that centre of life, the essence of
being which Christians know as the soul.
The
head was also a prized trophy in battle
The
heads of vanquished enemies were frequently severed and
preserved.
"When their enemies
fall, they cut off their heads and fasten them about the
necks of their horses...and carry them off as booty,
singing a paean over them and striking up a song of
victory, and these first fruits of battle they fasten by
nails upon their houses...The heads of their most
distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar oil and
carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to
strangers, gravely maintaining that in exchange for this
head someone among their ancestors, or the speaker
himself, refused the offer of a great sum of money. And
some men among them, we are told, boast that they have
not accepted an equal weight of gold for the head they
show..." Diordus
Sciculus writing in the 1st Century AD
The
condition and positioning of human skulls discovered
during excavations at Celtic earthworks, including
Stanwick and Bredon Hill, suggests that heads had been
displayed either on the gates or on poles beside the
gates of the hillforts
Human
heads featured prominently on Celtic decorative art,
coinage, sculpture, etc. The 'Green Man' still to be
seen on sale is one example that springs to mind.
" but much more than this it was a
potent symbol of the total religious attitudes of the
Celtic peoples. The head stood for divinity. It was the
supreme conveyer of hospitality, the distributor of the
divine feast. It had powers of prophecy, healing,
fertility, speech, independent movement and
incorruptible life. If was regarded as the essence of
being, the seat of the soul, the symbol of evil-averting
divine power. Its meaning for the early Celtic peoples
is clear throughout their history - it can truly be said
to contain the essence of their religious philosophy and
to be the most distinctive and powerful of all their
cults." - Ann Ross, "Head", Man, Myth
& Magic, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the
Supernatural
The
Christian 'Cult of the Head'
The cult of the head was so deeply
held that Christianity couldn't ignore it, the
reverence for the head was absorbed by the new religion;
indeed it became an important part of the mythology of
early Celtic Christianity.
There are numerous examples among the
Celtic saints of the west of the saint being beheaded
and then carrying their own head for some considerable
distance, before the head is buried at a well, or spring
or other sacred site which is then dedicated to that
saint.
Nectan
at
Hartland
for example.
These Celtic holy places became the
sites of Christian churches as Christianity supplanted
the elder religions.
As the older pagan
beliefs were rationalised into Christianity the cult of
the head was so strongly held that it had to be
integrated as a major feature of the new mythology.