Here we are now between Lughnasa and Samhain - names of old Celtic festivals which still have a resonance today, showing how some of our traditions that go back into the mists of Irish prehistory continue to have a relevance in our lives. We Irish are fortunate in that, of all the Gaelic or Brythonic literatures, ours is the one richest in information about the world of the Celtic gods, generously written down by monks interested in preserving ancient lore many centuries after their own monotheism had replaced the heathen deities. It is this record in old Irish manuscripts, combined with the relevant remarks of Greeks and Romans who had come in contact with continental Celts, that provide Daithi O hOgain with the basis for his latest book, the main theme of which is circumscribed in its sub-title, "Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland".
Newgrange is surely the greatest proof that the sun was the most honoured god of Stone Age folk, and this book ponders about the sun's life-giving symbolism as a male agent entering and impregnating the womb-like structure of the passage-grave, and speculates on its light releasing the spirits of the dead into a new existence.
At least some of the beliefs - and also the sites - of the Stone Age were incorporated into the religious life of the later, pagan Celtic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland, who also believed so strongly in a bright and beautiful life after death that they were prepared to lend the equivalent of money to be paid back in the Afterlife - without, however, having any clear understanding of a connection between deities and Afterlife. As O hOgain makes clear, their main deity was the good god Lugh (whence Lughnasa), whose Irish manifestation was part of a much wider international scene. His devotees were the druids. They healed, and mediated between the Other World and ours, and the treatment of Irish druidry is one of the strong points of this book, which neatly summarises what we know about the subject while at the same time indulging in a deal of inevitable speculation.
The cover picture of the three-faced Iron Age head from Corleck in Co Cavan is well chosen, as its two visible faces encapsulate the frequent ambiguity of names and natures of the characters that people the pagan pantheon, while at the same time leaving a dark side which we cannot see. The author rounds off the volume with a discussion about early Irish kingship and its royal sites, such as Tara, as well as the interface of pagan and Christian religion - both worthwhile topics even if they occasionally burst the bounds of the subtitle.
O hOgain's attractive interplay of archaeology and folklore, both Irish and international, as well as Gaelic and classical literature, provides a very readable and stimulating overview that needed to be written and that will keep its place on the bookshelf for many years to come.
Dr Peter Harbison's latest book, The Golden Age of Irish Art, has just been published by Thames and Hudson