Which is the stronger case for the origin of the Celts? The Danube region or Iberian peninsula?

[septimus]

@Pleonast

I thought all the old religions of Indo-European cultures were related. So similarities were simply inherited from the root religion.

It’s no surprise that Hindu’s ancient religious texts preserve the PIE religion best, so comparing that with Celtic Druidism was natural given the thread topic.

Yet I wonder if Druidism has preserved some PIE religion features better than some other I-E religions. (This mightn’t be surprising: the Greeks borrowed Aphrodite from the Phoenicians; some of the Roman gods were Etruscan, and so on.) Mallory’s old book lists several, almost uncanny similarities between ancient Hinduism and, specifically, Irish Druidism, one of which I mentioned here two years ago:

@septimus

There were very strong similarities between the early religious rituals of the Hindu Brahmin and the Old Irish Druids. This article is about new Irish Kings bathing with a sacrificed horse and compares it with the traditional Vedic Hindu royal inauguration. And there are other similarities between ancient Indic and Irish religions; as well as relationships to Greek, Roman and Norse religions.

This connection seems odd — Ireland is a long distance from India; the Irish and Indic languages separated about 5500 years ago; the two populations have different Y-chromosome haplogroups. I think these religious parallels may suggest the great dominance of the early Indo-European culture.

If you click the link to post-in-thread you will see that I immediately got two responses deprecating the thesis (“sacrificing animals … is common to a lot of religions”). I followed up with more evidence:

@septimus

Do either of you have a cite for this? I’m certainly not expert on this topic but I’ve done a fair amount of reading and thought there was a scholarly consensus for strong parallels among Indo-European religions.

Of course the details vary. In the ancient Irish royal anointment, the King fornicates with a sacrificial white mare. In the ancient Hindu ritual it is the Queen who fornicates with a white stallion.

The royal Celtic name Epomeduos (< ek’wo-medhu = “horse + mead”) reflects the ceremony, mead being the fermented honey imbibed during the ritual. Was it coincidental parallel development that the Vedic ritual is called Ashvamedha (अश्वमेध), cognate with the Irish name (although AFAIK no fermented honey is involved in the Vedic ritual)?

There are other specific parallels between the functions and rituals of Druids and ancient Brahmins, down to the ceremonial clothing color (white — also in each society the warrior caste wore red).

… but, unsurprisingly, the equation Epomeduos = Ashvamedha was apparently devoid of merit since no support or retraction followed in that thread.

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Of more direct interest to the thread topic would be similarities between ancient Celtic and Italic religions. AFAICT this does not quickly lead to obvious evidence for Italo-Celtic recency. Deity names cognate between Roman and Welsh or Irish include mostly names common to several I-E branches. A possible exception which one source considers to be a cognate pair (but many/most would reject) is “Roman Mars; Irish Morrighan.”

Interestingly, Morrighan is a Goddess of War, contrasting with the male Mars. Celtic Andrasta/Andarta was also a Celtic Goddess of War (or Strength) the above source considers cognate to Hindu’s male Indra.

@Boudica

Let us, therefore, go against [the Romans], trusting boldly to good fortune. Let us show them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule over dogs and wolves. [When Boudica had finished speaking, she employed a species of divination, letting a hare escape from the fold of her dress; and since it ran on what they considered the auspicious side, the whole multitude shouted with pleasure, and Boudica, raising her hand toward heaven, said:] I thank you, Andraste, and call upon you as woman speaking to woman … I beg you for victory and preservation of liberty.