Religion

Pre-Christian

Druidism

Festivals

Pre-Christian [Miscellaneous]

The beliefs of Stone Age Man
Hunter-gatherers of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) from around 10,000 years ago, observed rituals associated with spirits in nature, the migrations and fertility of animals hunted for food, and the seasonal bounty of fruits, fungi, birds' eggs, hazel nuts and edible roots.

Neolithic worship
Farmers of the New Stone Age (Neolithic) from around 5000 BC built chambered tombs of large stones (megaliths) to house the bones and spirits of venerated ancestors who watched over people, crops and flocks. Standing stones (tall and slender or buxomly rounded) were part of 'male' and 'female' elements in fertility cults. Medicine men (shamans) and wise-women spoke with the spirit world.

Worship in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age communities, from around 3000 BC, revered divine priest-kings. These priest-kings, like Egyptian pharaohs, communicated with the gods. Bronze Age temples were circular earthwork enclosures (henges) and circles or rows of standing stones aligned to the sun or moon.

Druid worship
Celtic deities, from around 1000 BC, controlled key features of Iron Age life, such as warfare, metalworking, healing and poetry. Druid priests offered precious gifts and seasonal sacrifices to the demanding goddesses Anu and Brigid beneath mistletoe-shrouded oak trees or in sacred waters.

The Norse Gods
The lives of Scandinavian settlers, from around AD 800, were controlled by three weird hags (the Norns) and by powerful deities including Odin, Frigg, Thor, Tyr, Loki and Balder. Norse gods dwelt in a realm called Valhalla. Viking warriors who fell in battle joined their gods in an eternity of feasting and fighting.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

If a book listed in the bibliography below is available from the Highland Libraries it will be indicated by a book icon -

Dyer, James
Ancient Britain

Ritchie, Graham
Argyll and the Western Isles

Stewart, R. J.
Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses

Armit,I.
Celtic Scotland

MacKillop, James
Dictionary of Celtic Mythology

Mellars, Paul
Excavations on Oronsay

Barclay, Gordon
Farmers, Temples and Tombs

Mackinlay, James M
Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs

Burl, Aubrey
From Carnac to Callanish

Feachem, Richard
Guide to Prehistoric Scotland

Sutherland, Elizabeth
In Search of the Picts

Ritchie, Anna
Invaders of Scotland

Cunliffe, B.
Iron age Britain

Anderson, Marjorie O.
Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland

Rolleston, T. W.
Myths and legends of the Celtic race

Ashmore, Patrick
Neolithic and Bronze Age Scotland

Piggott, Stuart
Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles

Ritchie, Anna
Picts

Foster, Sally M.
Picts, Gaels and Scots

Campbell, J. F.
Popular Tales of the West Highlands

Darvill, T. C.
Prehistoric Britain

MacSween, Ann
Prehistoric Scotland

Wickham-Jones, Caroline R.
Rhum

Bord, Janet
Sacred Waters

Crawford, Barbara E.
Scandinavian Scotland

Scandinavian Settlement in Northern Britain

Edwards, Kevin
Scotland

Ritchie, Graham
Scotland, Archaeology and Early History

Wickham-Jones, C. R
Scotland's First Settlers

Oram, Richard
Scottish Prehistory

Hingley, Richard
Settlement and Sacrifice

Laing, Lloyd
The Archaeology of Late Celtic Britain and Ireland

Dillon, Myles
The Celtic Realms

Chadwick, N.
The Celts

Henshall, A. S
The Chambered Tombs of Scotland

The Dark Ages in the Highlands

Evans, John G
The Environment of Early Man in the British Isles

Frazer, James George
The Golden Bough

Close-Brooks, Joanna
The Highlands

Watson, William John
The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland

Small, Alan
The Picts

Laing, Lloyd
The Picts and the Scots

The Problem of the Picts

Owen, O. A.
The Sea Road

Lacaille, Armand Donald
The Stone Age in Scotland

Jackson, Anthony
The Symbol Stones of Scotland

Ritchie, Anna
Viking Scotland

Magnusson, Magnus
Vikings

Graham-Campbell, James
Vikings in Scotland

Finlayson, Bill
Wild Harvesters

Ruggles, Clive
Archaeoastronomy
1998

Pearson, Michael Parker
Bronze Age Britain
1993

Ross, Anne
Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts
1970

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Exploring Scotland's Heritage (Series)

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Inventories
Argyll, 1971, 1975, 1980; Caithness, 1911; Sutherland, 1911; Western Isles and Skye, 1928

Smith, C.
Late Stone Age Hunters of the British Isles
1992

Fox,C
Life and Death in the Bronze Age
1959

Thom, A
Megalithic Sites in Britain

Wymer, J
Mesolithic Britain
1991

Palmer, S.
Mesolithic Cultures of Britain
1977

Turville-Peter, G
Myth and Religion of the North
1960

Guerber, H. A.
Myths of the Norsemen
1919

Burl, Aubrey
Prehistoric Astronomy and Ritual
1983

Burl, Aubrey
Rites of the Gods
1981

Beckensall, Stan
Rock Carvings of Northern Britain
1986

Wood, John Edwin
Sun, Moon and Standing Stones
1978

Clarke, D.V. (and others)
Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge
1985

Piggott, Stuart
The Druids
1975

Pollard, Tony
The Early Prehistory of Scotland

Simmons, Ian and Tooley, Michael
The Environment in British Prehistory
1981

Bonsall, C. (ed)
The Mesolithic in Europe
1985

Cole,S
The Neolithic Revolution
1970

Cole, S
The Neolithic Revolution
1970

Bronsted, Johannes
The Vikings
1960

Ehrenberg, Margaret
Women in Prehistory
1989

Markale, Jean
Women of the Celts
1975

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