Chapter 1

 

                            In the seventh century, students at the monastic schools in Ireland began transcribing the lore and literature onto their illuminated pages.  As in the old oral tradition, in the Middle Ages there was no boundary between history and legend.  The oldest of these stories was the Leabhar Gabhala, or Book of Invasions, and the scholar-monks amplified these myths by tracing their origins back to Adam as was the current Christian practice.  Overall it was an attempt to humanise the early pagan gods and dovetail their country into the mainstream of world history, based on the Old Testament. 

      That summary is far too perfunctory, and we have to question the integrity and veracity of the scribes.  The first men of the Christian Church who came to Ireland in the fifth and sixth centuries came with copies of the great works of learning produced by the early luminaries such as Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and many others. They came to a land at the `edge of the world`, and depending on your belief at the time it was just before the Otherworld or before you dropped over the ends of the earth.  This last true vestige of the Celtic world that had shunned writing down anything that was of importance under their old religion, took to the new religion with its love of the written word so wholeheartedly that it made copies of any subject, sacred or profane¹.  Whilst Europe groped through the Dark Ages, Ireland held and developed the light of civilisation which it would later return to the re-emerging world.  Bede, amongst others commented on the number of  `English nobles and lesser folk`² who studied in Ireland.  These centres of learning made a significant and valuable contribution to society in general and particularly the church in both Britain and Europe.

      As well as the great ecclesiastical histories and chronicles, the fili (poet-historians) were collecting and writing their tales.  Saint Patrick is given credit for incorporating this scholarly class into the Christian fold, with their knowledge and their learning.  In fact so many monasteries sprung up in early Christian Ireland that they could only have been druidical colleges converted to the new faith.  The chief of the Fili³ at that time; in the reign of  Guaire Aidne the king of Connacht (died 659AD); was Sanchan Torpeist who collated fragments of the Tain Bo Cuailgne⁴.  This tradition was continued down through the twelfth century and, in the seventeenth century by the Franciscans in Donegal with their Annala Rioghachta Eireann⁵  followed by Duald McFirbis with his Book of Genealogies and his Ecclesiastical History.  The materials for these compilations of the seventh century; used by later generations; were already in place and the peoples and historic figures were a tradition of an historical type.  Most of the episodes relate to the great seasonal feasts and would have formed part of the oral ceremony, learned and handed down without change for generations.  It is probable that all Celtic Nations had them and that Ireland’s survived because unlike Britain and Gaul they were not Romanised, nor did they greatly feel the effects of the collapse of the Roman Empire.

      The Babylonians, Egyptians, and other ancient peoples start their histories with a `Creation` myth; as do the present Christians.  There is no `Creation` myth handed down by the Celtic Nations for a number of reasons.  Firstly, if there was one,   it would have belonged to the druids and passed on orally only to the initiated.  Secondly, the oldest Celtic literature was written by Christians who were neither privy to the knowledge, nor interested in reporting it. Thirdly; which cancels out the first two reasons; it is more than likely that there was no `Creation` myth.  It is not known when the druids, who were the eventual keepers of the mysteries came into being.  They appear as a Pan-Celtic sect in Roman times so it is assumed that they were a Celtic institution.  It may have been that the highly adaptable early Celts overtook, or formalised, a priestly class already functioning amongst the Neolithic farmers; who formed the majority in the areas that they occupied as a ruling aristocracy.  The Celts never claimed to have built the great Standing Stones.  To have formed such a widespread cohesive force by Roman times indicates that they had been in place for many generations, and therefore had an ancient oral tradition.  An oral tradition is difficult, if not impossible to change as the words and their order become immutable even after the meaning is lost.  This would place the origins of the tradition in an era when the concept of time was different from our linear idea of past, present, and future.  Early man's concept was cyclic - winter, spring, summer, autumn, winter; full moon, half moon, full moon; birth, life, death, birth.  It is quite acceptable then that once the later Christian additions; from Adam to Bile; are removed, what is left is a `Cyclic` myth of a much older tradition than the `Creation` myths. 

      The Celtic literature of Ireland starts with the invasions and colonisation of the island, whilst the pedigree of the people  starts with Adam and the Old Testament down to Bile; father of Milesius.  It is with Bile we come to the Celtic world.  Bile; like Balor; is the God of Death or the Underworld⁶, who came from Spain or the West, both illusions to the Underworld.  This Underworld is not the horrific opposite of heaven handed down to us from Classical times, but a magical world of the living dead.  Caesar tells us that the Celts believed themselves to be descended from the Gods of the Underworld, as we see with Partholon who came from the islands over the vast unsailed oceans of the West.  According to the legend, on arrival in Ireland, the Partholans found an island with one plain, three lakes, and nine rivers.  The topography was added during their reign.  This would appear to be a later overlay by a mind with a linear time concept and a Christian approach not versed in the magic of numbers⁷.

      It is helpful to have an insight into the beliefs of the peoples who formulated the myths of the Leabhar Gabhala.  The idea of a land changed by invasion and conquest is a concept that was held until the 1970s, and it is only the more enlightened historians of the later part of the Twentieth century; assisted by more scientific archaeology and allied sciences; that have realised that the change was more complex.  Peoples moved and integrated with native populations, at times imposing their ways and at others adapting to the indigenous cultures.  Change also occurred without population movement by the transmission of ideas through trade or itinerant artisans.

     The druidic class, which was later absorbed into Christianity, was made up of genealogists, poets, historians, lawyers, philosophers, and wise men.  The tradition they held believed, unlike the Classical world of the Romans, in the existence of a soul⁸ which would live on in another world; hence their easy transition to Christianity.  Their day began at nightfall so it was natural that the soul went to the west with the setting sun; or in the autumn of the year at Samian; to live in a parallel world.  Their land of the Living Dead in the mystical western isles was not a dark place, but a place of light and joy where the Sun god reigned when not in their world.  Re-incarnation in another body was not normal although some did return in other forms, and while others visited the land it was frowned on to reveal this or the secrets of the other world.  This may be an insinuation of a spiritual rebirth or might be an example of inherent collective tribal belief, similar to the glimpse of heaven some say they have experienced when their heart stopped on the operating table.  Generally people were seen originating from these islands and returning in a vague birth and rebirth cycle.

      That other Celtic peoples believed this is verified by Plutarch about 100AD, and probably repeated in the sixth century from his original.  The legend states that on the north coast of Gaul there lived a tribe of mariners, whose duty was to ferry the dead from the Continent to the isles off the western coast of Britain.  On certain nights a mystical voice awakens them, and on going to the shore they find boats; not their own; weighed down to the gunwales with the invisible souls of the dead.  They board, and with the single stroke of the oar reach their destination which is a journey of at least a day and a night in their own sail assisted vessels.  On arrival the invisible passengers land and the boats are seen to rise above the waves, whilst an ethereal voice announces the new arrivals by name.

      There are as many theories as there are scholars about the dates and the movements of peoples into Ireland⁹.  I can see no reason to believe that the movement of people in the dim past was not as complex as it is in the present day, and that each of these theories are in part correct.  Henri Hubert`s History of the Celtic People¹⁰ is probably one of the soundest guides available, although there are more up-to-date books that are Irish in particular.

      The Leabhar Gabhala cites five invasions plus a sixth in the time of the Milesians by the Cruithnig.

                           Partholonians

                           Nemedians

                           Firbolg

                           Tuatha de Dannan

                           Milesians/Goidials

                           and the Cruithnig/Picts

      The Partholonians and the Nemedians can be taken together.  Both arrived from Spain at the feast of Beltane, both are wiped out, and both fight with the Formorians.  The Formorians appear to represent a faint memory of Metholithic man or, later when fighting the Tuatha de Dannan, an early pantheon of gods.  They came from the sea and the air and were driven back by more civilised newcomers.  They are described at the time of Pantholon as savages living on the islands, ill clothed and ill fed.  Metholithic man lived on the coastal areas, catching what food he could with his primitive weapons, long after the Neolithic farmers had cleared some of the forests with their polished stone axes and moved inland.  The Formorians nearly defeated the next invaders, the sons of Nemed, who came from Sythia with a fleet of ships thirty-four strong after a plague had wiped out the Partholonians.  These Nemedians were so harassed by the Formorians; demanding a third of their corn, milk, and their children; that they finally abandoned their lands and left Ireland.  More likely is that intermarriage at their gatherings made them all tribes of related people.

      These two agrarian societies appear to correspond to the waves of Neolithic farmers who moved from Spain and Brittany, from about 3,500BC till 2,000BC.  The hunter-gatherers; Formorians; date from about 4,000BC when the land was mostly covered with hazel and elm.  At the start of the early Bronze Age in Ireland around 2,000BC, archaeology has shown that there was an extensive field system in place indicating that there was a deal of organisation and civilisation.  The field system in Ireland originates from about 3,000BC.  It is the Nemedians that we can credit as the Megalithic peoples who built the great funerary chambers and Standing Stones.  The fact that they appear at the same time of year points to the Beltane recital¹¹.  Beltane; or Beltene - God of the Underworld; is the feast of renewal on the 1st of May.  The early Celts in Britain and Ireland absorbed the Neolithic monuments to their religion and they existed side by side with their woodland groves.  Where the indigenous farmers had worshipped the elements; Sun, Water etc.; the Celts overlaid this with their gods such as Lugh the Sun God.

      The third invasion comes from the Firbolg who have included under the name, the Fir Domnann and the Galians.  Unlike their predecessors they are shown to have descendants.  This would appear to be the movement in the Iron Age, about 500BC, of the Continental Belgae and Brythonic Celts.  The Firbolg (fir-men & bolg-of bags) are the people of the bags and they are traced; by the writers; back to the east, this time from Greece.  Interestingly the Celts did have a close rapport with the civilisation of Greece.  They are called the Firbolg because they wore baggy trousers rather than the kilt of the Goidials.  This was a warlike aristocracy who are credited with the introduction  of  metal weapons and a system of monarchy to Ireland.  Although they arrived as a lordly society, by the time of the ultimate invasion by the Milesians, they were scorned and enslaved.  It is more likely that like the Norman-English later they were absorbed and integrated becoming native Irish.

      Although shown together in the Leabhar Gabhala they probably came in two movements, spreading the Iron Age to Ireland.  The first around 500BC, corresponding to La Tene I coming to Ireland, is the movement of the Brythonic Celts from Britain - the Fir Domnann and the Gallions.  The second about 200BC, La Tene II, would most likely be the Gallic Celts from Gaul - the Firbolg or Belgae.  In Ireland as in Britain the Belgae built crannogs instead of the native round hut with turf roof.

      The invasion of the Firbolg before the Milesians can be explained by the fact that at different times, different groups of Celts would have had the ascendancy and would have put their own slant on history.  The Goidials were fortunate to be the major force at the time that the oral tradition was written down and therefore the Milesians are shown as the final victors.  Tigernmass, for instance, was the king who lived at the time that gold was discovered and was probably; by his name; of the Formorian line but is shown as a Milesian king.  Each Celtic group in kingship would have their name added to the list of kings and adopt their predecessors to their line, so proving their legitimacy.

      The invasion of the Firbolg, rather than showing what Celts were in Ireland before the coming of the Milesians, is a listing of the movement of Celts during the time of the Goidials.  This was therefore not the movement of whole peoples but groups arriving and merging with the native Irish.  They did not, as in Britain, affect the social and racial make-up of the island.  The domain of the Goidials probably covered less than half of the island but their social and political bodies absorbed the newcomers, even to the extent of imposing their language on them. 

      Next comes the fourth invasion of the wholly mythical Tuatha de Dannan or people of the godess Danu.  These invaders; like the Partholonians and Nemedians; arrive at Beltane but, this time they defeat the Formorians six months later at the feast of Samian or Samhain.  Samian; on the 1st November; is the Feast of the Dead, a time when there is no boundary between the living and the dead.  The Land of the Dead is actually the land of the living; a reservoir of souls.  Here the scribes slot the Old Celtic Gods in a human form into their own synchronised history.  Apart from their continual magic-ridden battles for the conquest of Ireland, they are seen to participate in adventures of a romantic and heroic nature.  The Tuatha de Dannan are the gods of the old Celtic Pantheon at their height just before Christianity.  They had two main leaders, Lug and Dagda.  They arrived in Ireland with four gifts, the Lia Fail¹² or coronation stone (which was eventually taken to Scotland); the spear of Lug, which fought by itself; the sword of Nuada, which slew its victims at the first touch; and the cauldron of Dagda, which perpetually refilled itself.  When they landed they burned their boats so that they could not retreat then, wrapping themselves in a black fog, marched inland.  When the Firbolg discover their peril the Tuatha de Dannan challenge them to fight or surrender in the age old manner.  Battle was chosen and in the four day fight at Mag Tured (Plain of Pillars) the Firbolg were utterly defeated.

      The Tuatha de Dannan did not hold the land unopposed, but were constantly being assailed by the Formorians.  These Formorians are another pantheon of gods, supposedly the older indigenous gods.  A second battle took place at Mag Tured, which would appear to be the classic battle of the gods of the Old and New orders.  The Tuatha de Dannan summoned everyone to face the enemy.  The Sorcerers gave a promise to bring the twelve mountains of Ireland on the heads of the opposition.  The Druids would cause "three showers of fire to pour on the faces of the Formorian host".  The healers, Diancecht, with their arts would "make whole the bodies of the slain, provided that their heads had not been cut off or their spinal marrow severed".  The Formorians themselves had powerful magic to aid them, especially that of Balor of the Piercing Eye.  This single eye had never been opened except on a previous battlefield when four men had thrust a big polished handle through the lid and pulled it open.  They died, but with them also countless thousands of others in the venomous fumes that emanated from it.

      In the Battle of Mag Tured, Balor; who was challenged by Lug the bright and fearless one, "opened his baleful eye that he might see the babbler who was conversing with him" and received a sling stone that carried his eye right out through the back of his head.  After slaying as many of them "as blades of grass under the feet of herds"¹³ all the Formorians were beaten back into the sea from where they were never to again emerge.

This Mag Tured would appear to be a gathering spot for religious festivals.  It is probably where the idol Cruagh stood with his twelve pillars; Standing Stones.

      The centre of life and religion in Ireland was the various feasts.  The people, scattered over the land, came together at the feast times for political and judicial assemblies with fairs and games.  There were four main feasts and all of the legends and mythology revolve around them.  Samian (1st Nov) marked the beginning of the year and the end of summer.  Beltane (1st May), the fire festival, marked the beginning of summer.  Between these two main feasts we have, at three monthly intervals, Lugnassad (1st Aug) the marriage feast of Lugh, and Oimelc (1st Feb) which has survived as the feast of Saint Bridget.  Samian was held at Tara and Beltane was also held in Meath, the middle kingdom, while the lesser feasts were held at various places probably due to agrarian reasons.

      There are very few purely Celtic portraits of the gods that have survived.  They are the horned god (Cernunnos), the god with the wheel (Taranis), the god with the hammer(smith?), the three headed god (son of Brigit?), the ram-headed serpent (Segomo), and the matron goddess (Brigit).  The Brythonic Celts from the Danube to Britain had many gods, and they were the same or of the same name.  The Goidials may not have had as many in common but they were important deities¹⁴.  There was Lug the sun god who is shown in Ireland as belonging to both the Formorians and the Tuatha de Dannan, Taranis known as Torna, Gobannitio known as Goibniu the smith god, Aesus known as Eogan, Brigit, and others.  The Gallic Camulos corresponds to the Irish hero Cumhal.  In Irish mythology the gods are represented as men who have lived on earth and retired to death.  This worship of hero-gods suits the dispersed nature of the people in Ireland.  The gods are super-human rather than super-natural and live in the megalithic tombs, which they are bound to by the memory of their deaths.  It is characteristic of the Celts to re-juvenate their gods and place them later, so, closer to the existing human communities.  This is probably why the Tuatha de Dannan appear just before the final arrival of the Milesians in the Leabhar Gabhala.

      Some of the pantheon of the Tuatha de Dannan, and their attributes, are as follows:-

    Dagda, known as Dagda Mor is the father and chief of all the Tuatha de Dannan.  A vast deity also known as Dagda the Good.  He is the god associated with the magic cauldron which can feed an army and replenish itself, also with a magic harp which flies through the air at his command.

    Dana is the daughter of Dagda and mother of the Tuatha de Dannon.  She is connected with fertility and blessings.  Dana is the pan Celtic goddess Brigit.

    Ler or Lir is the ocean, another vast god whose affinity is with the Greek god Oceanus.

    Lug or Lugh is a solar god and also a pan Celtic deity.  He is also the god of the Isles of the Dead by the side of Ethlinn, said to be his mother, and daughter of Balor to the Powers of Darkness.

    Manannan, son of Ler and Lord of the Seas, is the guide for the dead to the Isles of the West, and also for the Lands of Youth.

    Nuada, known as Nuada of the silver hand, is seen by the Cymric (British) tribes as having solar attributes and in Roman times; as Nodens; is depicted with halo, flying spirits, and Tritons.  He should have become king of the Tuatha de Dannan but, because of his deformity was excluded until he got his silver hand from the great healer Diancecht.  Nuada was killed by Balor at the battle of Mag Tured when he opened his eye.  Lug killed Balor and ascended the throne.

    Ogman was the Irish warrior god

    Angus Og (og-the young) was the son of Dagda by Boanna, the River Boyne, and became the Irish god of love.

    Torna is the pan Celtic god Taranis and is depicted with a wheel.  He is the god of lightning and stormy skies.

    The Morrigan embodies all that is perverse and horrible amongst the supernatural powers.  Responsible for setting men at war, it often fights with them, changing into dreadful shapes.  Often seen in the aspect of a crow above the battlefield.

      Despite all their magic, the Tuatha de Dannan could not withstand the final conquerors of Ireland, the sons of Mil.  Arriving in thirty ships at Kenmore Bay in the south-west, the Milesians demanded the customary surrender or battle.  The dispute was, in the Celtic manner, referred not to the king of the invading warriers but to their chief poet-druid; Amergin, one of the nine sons of Milesius.  Amergin justly declared against his own people that they should withdraw "nine waves from the shore" to allow the inhabitants time to prepare.  The Tuatha de Dannan used the postponement by raising up a "druidic wind", which could blow no higher than the ship's mast but scattered and wrecked the fleet, killing five of the brothers.  The remaining four, including Amergin, succeeded in landing.  Two battles were fought, one in the harsh high mountains of the Slieve Mish in Kerry, and the other at Taillten in Meath.  The Tuatha de Dannan were defeated and the Milesian Line became the supreme rulers of Ireland.  Amergin divided the land giving the upper earth to his brothers, and to the Tuatha de Dannan he gave the territories under the earth and the waters including the islands of the sea beyond man’s horizon.  In these places, out of the ken of mortals and now known as the sid, or fairies, they lived splendidly in their glittering palaces.  They could emerge at times, from their caves and mounds, to mix with mortals sowing both good and evil.  From henceforth anyone who was anyone would trace their ancestry back to the three sons of Milesius, namely Heremon, Heber, and Ir.

      The Milesians came as a purely Celtic people and are, in history known as the Goidials or Gaels.  These Goidials are differentiated from their Celtic cousins of Gaul and Britain by their use of the Celtic language.

 

                            "Q" Celtic         Goidelic  ..........   [  Irish

The                                                                          [  Scots                            

Root       <                                                                            

Celtic                                       [    Pictish #

Language            "P" Celtic      [    Gallic  .............[Breton

                                                 [    Brythonic  ..... [  Welsh

                                                                             [  Cornish 

 

The Goidelic Celts are known as "Q" Celts which demonstrates their most notable development of the root Celtic language from the Brythonic/Gallic Celts, who are known as "P" Celts.  The most obvious example of this is the word mac (Goidelic/Irish) and map (Brythonic/Welsh) meaning `son of` - the "q" became "c".  The nearest date that can be applied to this split is sometime in the early Bronze Age¹⁵.

      The weight of evidence points to the fact that the cradle of  the Celtic Nations was around the middle Rhine in what is now Western Germany.  At the time that metal working was spreading over Europe, the early Bronze Age, we find Brythonic Celts in this area with the Goidelic Celts concentrated to the north on the seaboard of  Northern Europe between the mouths of the Rhine and Elbe.  The split had already been made with the older language isolated to the north, whilst the Brythonic Celts are being influenced by others such as the Italici.  Tradition also places the Goidials living on the low coasts of the North Sea and that they left at an early date is attested to by the fact that they left hardly a trace¹⁶. 

      In the first period of the Bronze Age the Goidelic Celts crossed the North Sea and arrived in Britain, mainly at the Firth of Forth, the Humber, and the Thames.  From here they spread northwards and west over a long period.  History shows this mass migration which emptied the lands of the Goidels, but not the reason.  The objective of the move was most likely due to an encroachment of the sea on a coast that altered often.  It does not appear to have been caused by poverty or weakness, and was probably only partial leaving those that remained to be absorbed by their numerically stronger neighbours.

      They did not come in great numbers but their's was a progress of conquest, strong enough to impose the important and the predominant features of their civilisation, which lasted down to the end of the Bronze Age.  In Ireland, indeed, they were sufficiently established to impose their language on the indigenous people and the following invaders of the Iron Age.  These tribes appear to have kept their institutions and customs but were amalgamated into the Goidelic political system as vassal clans or Aithnech-tuatha.  They are grouped together as the Feni of Old Irish which became the Fianna of Middle Irish.  Some names are not in fact tribal names but industrial groupings, such as the Ceardraighe of West Munster who were the smiths.  The rank of the clans was not fixed and on assuming power a particular tribe would justify their use of force by history and legend.  We can place the arrival in Ireland of the Goidials at approximately 1600BC.

      The Leabhar Gabhala lastly places an invasion of the Picts in the time of the reign of the sons of Milesius.  Heremon is credited with driving them out and settling them in Alban (Scotland), but the fact is that they remained and were so numerous in the north that they became a major power.  They were another Celtic people who followed the same route as the Goidelic Celts from the Continent.  The closest that this movement can be dated is the middle of the Bronze Age, around 1000BC. 

      There was no migration of whole peoples.  The largest appear to be the Brigantes, the Menapii, and the Cauci whose settlements covered a large area.  The Dumnonii ranged the coasts, while the Belgic and Gallic bodies probably were of various races that arrived mainly as men in small armies or war bands.  They reached far and Irish tradition is full of their exploits, but unlike Britain, they merged with the mass of the Irish people and were assimilated by the first Goidelic Celtic occupants of the island.

      It is difficult to judge the integrity of the Leabhar Gabhala without making a comparison to another well known book, written from an oral tradition and edited by scribes.  The only obvious example, with terms of reference to most people, would be the Old Testament of the Bible, which starts about 4000BC and records events down to the 4th Century BC.

      The Old Testament had an oral tradition as long as; if not longer than; the Leabhar Gabhala, the format being finalised when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem after their captivity in Babylon about 536BC.  It is not until after they are deported that these various tribes, who became the Israelites, cemented the concept of one male god and that they were his chosen people.  The idea of one god was in evidence before their captivity and although Solomon paid homage to this single god of a minority sect, he allowed his subjects freedom to worship (1 Kings 11:4-10), and he indeed held a belief in the forces of nature. 

      It is only since the 1950s that we have started to regard the Bible as a book of history and legend¹⁷, and that religion was not made up of miracles and dates, but of concepts of faith, morals and values.  The Old Testament starts around 4000BC with Adam and Eve, yet archaeology has shown that the plough and the wheel were already in use by this time¹⁸.  Adam and Eve are in fact the start of a family which eventually became a tribe and finally the Hebrew Nation¹⁹.

      The Bible, which in its present form was written around 900AD by Massoretic scholars from earlier manuscripts of the first century BC onwards²⁰, is similar to the Leabhar Gabhala in that it is an historical document laced with legend; which is in itself a truth of a type.  The old gods are still in evidence although the original basis of creation - a male and a female deity - have been supplanted by the Adam and Eve story.  Greek, Egyptian and other texts show Adam's first consort as Lileth, who came before Eve and left because she felt equal to Adam and not subordinate.  This Lileth is the handmaiden of Maronite and was depicted in early Sumerian relief sculpture, about 2000BC, as a naked winged woman on the back of two lions.  To the Mandaeans of Iraq she was the daughter of the Underworld.  This Maronite is an amalgam of Asherah and Anath, who is god's sister/bride in the royal tradition.  Jehovah²¹, the male god, is the joining of El and He to form a male deity.  In fact the Jewish cult of Cabbala moves on a step and combines all to form a male/female deity.  The Holy of Holies in the Temple of Solomon was a representation of the womb of Ashtorath, who is mentioned several times in the Old Testament as Asherah and was openly worshipped by the Israelites until around the sixth century BC.  Asherah was the wife of El; the principal male deity; with daughter Anath, and son He.

      We must view the Old Testament as a depiction of war and conquest by the Hebrew Nation, and above all the story of a small sect who bring their belief in their single god to the forefront as the dominant religion.  The parallels to the Leabhar Gabhala are quite apparent; although written from a different tradition; and it is interesting that where the Celtic Peoples re-juvinate their gods to bring them closer to the existing communities, the Hebrew language of the first five Books of Moses had no past tense²².  The Hebrew word for day and year were the same, and there was no distinction between what happened yesterday and what happened a hundred years ago.

      The conclusion is that we have in the Leabhar Gabhala a book of as much importance to the descendants of the Celtic Peoples, from an historical point of view, as the Old Testament is to the people of the Hebrew Nation.  The fact that one received a religious cult status in western civilisation whilst the other; by comparison; is only known to a handful, does not detract from the intrinsic source value of the document.  As the historical content of the Bible must be regarded with due care so must that of An Leabhar Gabhala.   

 

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