By Jackson Cahn
History has seen the rise and fall of many great civilizations, like the Romans, the Greeks, and the Egyptians, and each of these cultures had their own belief system, religion, mythology, and places of worship. Some of these ancient cultures are relatively well-preserved even today, long after they were destroyed by outsiders or from within. Some were completely wiped out by the growth of new religions, globalization, and the natural ebb and flow of empires, and some cultures aren’t quite either. With the spread of both the Roman Empire, and later Christianity, throughout Europe, many religions were lost to time, but some still exist in the stories we tell today, their heroes, gods, and sacred places shrunken down into ideas and motifs, to fit with the more popular Christian religion and values. Two such religions are Celtic Paganism and Germanic Paganism. Together, the two progenitors of these belief systems would have covered a sizable section of Europe before the Roman Empire and the Church, with the Celts settling throughout the Western to Northwestern regions, and the Norse and Germanic peoples taking Northern Europe. Many of the stories in which we find the remnants of ancient cultures and religions are in the form of fairy and folk tales. While the myths of the Norse and Germanic peoples have been more clearly recorded, and we are all aware of their gods, like Odin or Thor, Norse/Germanic paganism has also found its way into many folk and fairy tales today, just as the beliefs of the Celts have. While it is more common for the analysis of fairy tales to be more forward-looking, focusing on problematic aspects of these tales in today’s society, fairy tales, and the cultural folktales in which many of them are rooted, also open a window into the past, through which we can see how these ancient cultures still exist today. To examine Celtic and Germanic/Norse Paganism in folklore and fairytales, this paper will focus on a cultural folktale from the Irish Celtic tradition and a more well-known authorial tale to explore Germanic/Norse influence.
The Celts
Today we think of the Celts, and Celtic tradition and paganism as inherently tied to the British Isles; as warriors with flaming red hair (think: Cu Chulainn). This was not always the case, however. Millennia Ago, the Celts were a massive variety of tribes that all spoke similar languages, known today as Celtic languages. These tribes took hold of a huge swath of Western Europe. Celtic territory at one point encompassed not only the modern-day British Isles but France and Spain as well, with the Easternmost reaches of their lands being somewhere around modern-day Transylvania. In large part because of the growth of the Roman empire, especially during the reign of Julius Caesar, the Celts’ hold on their land was removed bit by bit, until only the tribes that resided in the British Isles remained. Of the British Isles, the region least susceptible to outside influence was Ireland. Ireland is where we find the richest Celtic tradition today, although Scotland and Wales have their own traditions that are impactful in their own right. To narrow the focus of this essay to a manageable width, I will place my efforts on examining only Irish mythology, folklore, and beliefs.
As the Celts arrived on the shores of Ireland, they encountered the remains of megalithic monuments from more ancient peoples. It is possible that the Celtic tribes invented their race of gods, the Tuatha de Danann, to explain these mysterious structures. In Irish myth, the Milesians (the Celts), sailed to Ireland and defeated the Tuatha de Danann in battle, thus becoming the rulers of Ireland. The gods took revenge on the Milesians, destroying their crops. Finally, a pact was reached between the gods and men, where the gods expected worship and granted gifts and favors, and acting as gods generally do. These deities were given the lower half (the underground), of Ireland as their home, and there they lived, on the other side of an invisible veil that protected them and which they could remove at any time to show themselves to humans. This idea of invisibility is connected to the spiritual and otherworldly nature of the Tuatha de Danann (Conroy 33-37). It was under the hills that the Tuatha de Danann became the rulers of the fairies (Cross and Slover qt. in Conroy 35). Throughout Irish myth and legend, the Tuatha de Danann are sometimes referred to as gods, sometimes as supernatural beings, or spirits of the deathly realm or otherworld. In any case, they are said to have magical abilities and attributes. It is they that the people of Ireland put their spiritual faith in. The gods’ home underground and their invisible cloak are connected to the gods’ power over death and the spirit world, and agriculture.
As Christianity began to overtake Ireland, the Christian monks wrote down the later cycles of Celtic mythology, they altered it to make the magical elements, and characters, less powerful. Because these later cycles of Celtic mythology weren’t as ingrained upon Celtic worshippers, and because they were passed down orally, the monks could edit them however they wanted, so they would often put a Christian spin on everything (Conroy 53-54). Eventually, due to both the efforts of the monks, and the other efforts to convert the Irish people, the Tuatha de Danann were slowly removed from Irish folklore, changed to mere magicians or druids rather than gods, or merged with fairies becoming the “fae folk.” However, in Irish folklore, we still see many instances of the fairies exhibiting the same connection to the spirit world and agriculture, and the same magical displays as were once commonplace long ago, in Irish mythology.
One Irish tale that contains an obvious reference to the Celtic fairies, and also obvious Christian themes, is the tale of “Guleesh”, adapted by fairy tale writer Joseph Jacobs into his compendium of Celtic Fairy Tales. It is important to note that the following analysis is not historical, and does not come from another source, scholarly or otherwise, so it is therefore completely speculatory. It does, however, base its analysis on the previously described Celto-Christian narrative mixing found time and time again throughout Irish history.
The tale starts when Guleesh hears the fairies come out on the night of the Celtic festival of Samhain. It is thought that on the night of Samhain, the barriers between the spirit world and the human world are the thinnest they will be all year. For the Irish characters in many Fairy tales, they see the fairy world only once, or a few times, which shows the separation between the magical and human. These fairies also appear to Guleesh directly after he has spoken aloud about how miserable he is living in Ireland. This could be a liberty taken by the original storyteller for a more entertaining story, which might have ties to the rich Irish bardic tradition of storytelling. They appear around a grass bank that Guleesh is sitting on, as grassy mounds are the home of the fairies, evident in their Gaelic name Aos Sidhe, “the people of the mounds”. The fairies do not appear visibly to Guleesh until he has spoken the magical words he hears the fairies say and has gotten on one of their steeds. This is a reference to the cloak of invisibility the Tuatha de Danann, and all fairies, have around them. Then the fairies and Guleesh travel to France, where the fairies want to steal away the Princess of France. They tell Guleesh that it is unlawful for them to have the princess sitting behind them on their horses, so Guleesh must take her.
When the fae folk, or sheehogues (sidheog) as they are called in the tale, and Guleesh go into the French castle, Guleesh sees before him a bountiful wedding feast, which is likely an instance of the common food fantasies found in many fairy and folk tales. Guleesh then sees the princess and hears from the fairies that she is sad because she does not want to marry her betrothed. This echoes the common “damsel in distress” and forced marriage motifs found throughout many tales. During their invisible stay at the wedding banquet, Guleesh hears that a fae man wants to marry the princess, and is saddened that a “nasty sheehogue” would be marrying her, the sheehogue is also later referred to as a devil. These are very Christian, very diminutive and demonizing, descriptions of the fae folk. Later the sheehogue is described as little, which was a common epithet for the fairies. To carry off the princess, the aforementioned sheehogue throws “something” on the girl which makes her invisible. This seems to be an extension of the magical invisible cloak that all fae folk have.
The most interesting part of this tale happens when all the fairies escape with the princess and arrive back in Ireland. Guleesh, wanting to save the princess from the clutches of the “nasty sheehogue”, declares: “I call and cross you to myself, in the name of God!” (Jacobs 32). This exclamation breaks the spell with which the fairies had created their magical horses, turning them back into the random household objects they were fashioned from. This is a very clear example of a Christian triumph over the “demonic” magic of the fairies. It is important to note here that it is the spoken word that breaks the spell of the fairies. In many literary and oral traditions, many things hold special power- names, times, places, and various artifacts- and here, words. The particular way in which the fairies’ magic is dispelled suggests that their magic is illusory, just smoke and mirrors, without any real substance, and also shows the power of the Lord to destroy this evil magic, an idea likely reappearing throughout Irish folklore in connection to the Christianization of Ireland. Right after this there is another extremely interesting line in this tale: “But they had no power at all to carry off the girl, after Guleesh had consecrated her to himself” (Jacobs 33). Here the incantation of the Lord not only breaks the fairies’ illusion but also takes (some of) their power away. The word “consecrated” here has a particular meaning. It means to make something sacred. In this case, sacred to the Lord, and therefore safe from those who are not associated with Him. Therefore the fairies can not hurt her anymore. After this, however, the “nasty sheehogue” lays a curse on the princess, making it so that she can not speak. It would seem that this kind of thing is as easily fixed as the consecration, but it may be a symbolic curse, corresponding to Guleesh’s spoken words against the fae folk. This somewhat illogical narrative likely has its roots in the ancient Irish bardic storytelling tradition. The fairies, while overpowered by the Christian God, still can lay curses and affect the world in certain ways. Through this simple act, we can see the dual pagan and Christian beliefs of the Irish people.
At the end of the story, to restore speech to the princess, Guleesh overhears the fairies talking about a magical herb. This might be a reference to the forbidden magical knowledge of the druids, which emerged naturally as a result of the deep-rooted Celtic heritage of this tale. The druids were deeply connected to the natural world around them. If the druids had this knowledge, certainly the Tuatha de Danann, and therefore fairies, would have had it.
By examining “Guleesh”, we can see that it contains many Celtic and Christian aspects that combine to form the tale. The tale itself is a piece of folklore and was passed down orally, so it wasn’t subject to the literary Christianization that the Irish monks practiced as much as actual Irish mythology was, but rather organically Christianized by the people who passed it down; expressing the powerful Celtic heritage of the Irish people, but also the supremacy of Christianity. Its themes of the Christian overpowering of the pagan, supernatural, and heathen, are symbolic of the shift from paganism to Christianity throughout Ireland. It may also contain some didactic elements to teach listeners about Celtic superstition- the tale is set during Samhain, or Halloween as we know it now, which ancient Celtic storytellers and Druids would have celebrated as the most magical and spiritual time of the year. “Guleesh” contains various Celtic characters- a host of otherworldly creatures, and an unnamed sheehogue antagonist. This inclusion of unnamed characters echoes the widespread removal of the names of minor characters in many kinds of folklore, which itself could correspond to the shift from an insular myth, to a more widespread legend, and finally to folklore, but not quite to fairy tale. “Guleesh” isn’t a fairy tale, evidenced by its plain ties to a rich Irish tradition and mythology. The name-dropping could also reflect the transition from Celticism to Christianity. The proponents of the latter would likely have deemed that as many remnants of pagan Ireland as possible be destroyed or Christianized.
The Germanic Peoples/The Grimms Brothers
While Germanic/Norse mythology and beliefs still retain a relatively large amount of their pure pagan and mythological status, thanks to one Snorri Sturlusson, their influence on tales by the Grimms brothers is frequently apparent, and they have cemented themselves in the landscape of fairy and folk tales. A particular Grimms tale that exhibits both strong Germanic and Christian undertones, is “Briar Rose”. As with Celtic folklore, the Christianization of the Teutonic peoples was instrumental in creating Germanic fairy tales. While “Briar Rose” is an authorial tale and therefore didn’t appear organically, at least not in the same form as it is in the Grimm’s Fairy Tales, it is still full of a wealth of themes and motifs that stretch back to ancient Germanic paganism, as well as Christianity.
Patrick D. Rogers, the author of a dissertation submitted to Georgetown University, from which this section on Germanic paganism will draw its material, says that “the Grimms then set out to restore tales to their former splendor and illuminate, for their own time, these gems of Germanic wisdom and belief” (Rogers 4). The tale reflects the geographical location, Germanic heritage, and nationalistic pride of the Grimms Brothers, and the beliefs of the people from whom they received these stories. It is somewhat well-known that the Grimms brothers collected and adapted tales from around Germany to help cultivate a strong sense of German identity in their country. “The quest to reclaim artistic expressions of beauty from the ancient Germanic past became a lifelong passion for Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm” (Rogers 7). To help connect to the Germanic origins of their country but also instill their Christian values into their stories, the Grimms brothers gathered folktales and adapted them into their famous collection of works known now as “Grimms Fairy Tales”.
The two tales on which Briar Rose was based were Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile’s versions of “Sleeping Beauty”. A foundational folktale for Perrault and Basile’s versions was called “Perceforest” (Rogers 92). “Perceforest” has its roots in both Christianity and Roman paganism, most notably, although it does contain some Germanic elements as well. The Grimms brothers didn’t emphasize this part of the tale’s origins, as they believed it had deeper Germanic roots and wanted to emphasize those to fit their mission to unite Germany. “Although the Grimm Brothers recognized that the previous compilers of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ tale type had come from French and Italian-speaking cultures, they were convinced that the roots of this tale were Germanic in origin. This was the case because the brothers could trace vital components of this tale back to the myths and sagas of the ancient Teutonic people” (Rogers 93). With the Grimms brothers, we have a unique authorial case. In the tales by Perrault and Basile, they added their personal spin, but the Grimms brothers had a different goal: to create an anthology of distinctly German folklore. While the contemporaries of the Grimms brothers took less mythologically focused liberties with the mythological, cultural, and religious roots of their adaptations, the Grimms sought to find a deeper connection to Germany in their retelling. Because of this, “Briar Rose” can tell us a lot about the ancient beliefs of the Germanic peoples, and how those beliefs were intertwined with Christianity- if only because its authors were deeply interested in creating a work that showcased both of these belief systems and mythologies.
Along with its connection to the mixture of pagan and Christian beliefs, “Briar Rose” also takes narrative cues from the characters in Germanic narratives. One example of this is in the famous German epic, the Nibelungenlied. A side character within the Nibelungenlied is a water fairy who lays down a fateful curse upon an army; a precursor to the spiteful wise woman who curses Briar Rose. By far the most obvious Germanic influence upon the tale is one of the main characters from this epic: Brunhild, a princess. The Norse version of the Neibelungenlied, the Volsung Saga, has its own Brunhild whose story is remarkably similar to Briar Rose’s. Jacob Grimm says as much in his annotations within the Grimm’s Fairy Tales: “Briar Rose, who is put to sleep after being pricked by a spindle, is Brunhilde, put to sleep after being pricked by a thorn- not the one in The Nibelungenlied, but the Old Norse one herself” (Grimms qt. in Rogers 110). Norse Brunhild is a Valkyrie (not the Christianized princess of the Nibelungenlied), and a disobedient daughter of Odin. She is put to sleep by the Allfather with a prick of a thorn. He then encases her in a ring of fire, until a hero is brave enough to walk through fire to wake her up (Rogers 133).
The Grimms’ inspirations for the characters of Briar Rose and the 13th wise woman are obvious with even just a quick comparison between “Briar Rose” and the Niebelungenlied; but just as interesting as the cultural influences and narrative inspiration for “Briar Rose”, are the Teutonic and Christian themes and motifs in the tale itself. Directly at the outset of the tale, we see religious imagery; the frog emerging from the Queen’s (Briar Rose’s mother) bathwater connects to both the biblical creation story and the Germanic myth of Yggdrasil, which spans the nine worlds. At Yggdrasil’s heavenly root, by the well of Urd, sit the three Norns, weavers of fate. Thus, the Queen’s bath in “Briar Rose” connects to fate but also to biblical creation and baptism (Rogers 117).
The frog’s message to the queen, foretelling the birth of the princess, is a purposeful addition by the Grimm brothers, and symbolizes the divine entering into the mortal world to give a revelation; this idea of a divine message or encounter is both Judeo-Christian and Germanic (Rogers 121). Then, we see the 13 wise women perform charms upon Briar Rose to give her many attractive and virtuous attributes. These wise women can be likened to the three Norns. In this case, they are not so much deciding the length of the princess’s life, but the nature of it- except for the 12th and 13th fairies; through the actions of these two, we can see clear evidence of the pagan idea of fate within “Briar Rose”. The 13th wise woman’s curse can be instead looked at as the gift of fate; although fate is not usually welcome, it is always there, as is the uninvited wise woman of the tale. Though the 12th wise woman tries to stop fate, she can only mitigate it; correspondingly, the Germanic people believed that their fate, often connected specifically with their death, was inevitable. Another connection to the Norns is the spinning wheel and the wise woman who sits by it. As the Norns spun and cut the thread of each person’s lifespan, the wise woman by the spindle marked the fateful beginning of the princess’s 100-year sleep (Rogers 125-127).
Along with connections to famous Norse beliefs and characters, there is one particular and well-known Norse myth that shares many similarities with “Briar Rose”: The Death of Balder. The level of connection between the two is striking, with Balder’s death by a mistletoe stab wound, and his light, beauty, and radiance (like Briar Rose’s attributes given to her by the fairies). Here we also see fate come up. First, we see Balder having terrible dreams of his death, which then creates a dilemma of fate for him and his family to try to escape. Balder’s mother, Frigg, travels all around the nine worlds, making every living and non-living thing swear that it will never harm Balder, but she doesn’t ask the mistletoe plant as she thinks it is too small to harm anyone. Loki, the Norse trickster god, then kills Balder with the plant- similar to Briar Rose’s pricked finger by the spinning wheel. Not only was Balder’s death inescapable, but with Balder’s death came Ragnarok, the last battle and end of days (Rogers 135-138). This is very interesting because it parallels “Briar Rose”: as the princess falls asleep, the rest of the castle falls asleep around her, as if they had been ordained to when she did. Briar Rose’s father is comparable to Frigg in this story, as he does much the same thing as her when he burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom to prevent her 100-year sleep. Loki’s jealous act of killing Balder with mistletoe is similar to the angry curse of the 13th fairy as a result of not being invited to the party. Interestingly, like the awakening of the princess at the end of “Briar Rose”, the full story of Balder also involves his resurrection at the end of Ragnarok. For Balder, Ragnarok is not the end but just the end of his time in Hel- his time asleep (Rogers 135-138).
The famous thorn hedge from which we get the tale’s name is another instance of religious metaphor. The thorn hedge is meaningful for both Christians and pagans because of its status as a protector of the sleeping and defenseless (from lustful and treacherous princes), and also because it represents unchangeable fate; no prince can enter before the 100 years are up. It also connects to Yggdrasil, which will protect one man and one woman to repopulate the earth during Ragnarok.
Along with the thorn hedge obviously referencing the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus on the cross, some other Christian narrative points and motifs within “Briar Rose” include the rescuing of Briar Rose by the Prince, which connects to Jesus’s raising of Lazarus. Both the Prince and Jesus exhibit great resolution and bravery. The Prince does so when he says he is not afraid to go through the thorn hedge to get to the princess, and Jesus shows his bravery when he decides to go back to Jerusalem and face the angry and violent crowds there, to raise Lazarus from the dead. The Prince, as a savior, is also a Christlike figure. The Prince’s journey through the thorn hedge also reflects the Passion, Death, and eventual Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rogers 151-160).
Like in the Irish Celtic folktale “Guleesh”, there is a profound idea of the triumph of Christianity over Paganism in “Briar Rose”, although it is more subtle here. The Grimms brothers wanted to connect to their German heritage, but they also needed to make sure they were adding Christian themes and morals into the story. In Briar Rose, we see the pagan idea of fate appear as the spinning wheel that puts Briar Rose in a 100-year sleep, and we see her salvation from this fate with the Christlike figure of the Prince. While the Brunhild with whom Briar Rose shares much of its roots, dies in her own story, and is not resurrected, Briar Rose is brought back, hinting at the Christian idea of resurrection and salvation present throughout the tale (Rogers 160).
The Norse idea of fate in one’s life, and eventual death in Ragnarok, is the old way of thinking, but with the advent of Christianity, comes new life for its followers. The tale of Briar Rose, while it does contain powerful pagan elements and definitely revels in them, represents this defeat of paganism by Christianity, much as the Celtic mythology/folklore does. The Norse idea of fate is a powerful thing, but what is much more powerful is the salvation of God. With the prince mirroring Jesus’s life and resurrection as he walks through the thorns to save Briar Rose, the Grimms Brothers give Christianity the final say on fate. When we look at this tale through a historical lens, we can look at it as an allegory for the changing beliefs of the Germanic people. Followers of the Germanic Paganism might have been seeking more from eternity than to be destroyed in Ragnarok, through Jesus Christ, they can realize that desire and become immortal in heaven (Rogers 160).
By examining “Guleesh”, and “Briar Rose”, we can see evidence of their ancient roots in Germanic/Norse, and Celtic cultures. While fairy tales are often thought to be timeless didactic stories for children, what is just as fascinating and important to realize, is where and when they come from. Each tale we read, while it may not seem like it, is a snapshot of the time and place it was written in. It can tell us many things about the nature of the people and beliefs where and when it was created. More interesting than that even, is that different folk tales show the passage of time with respect to a belief system and a changing religious, and cultural landscape. Through folk and fairy tales we can get a deep and personal understanding of a religious and narrative transition a particular people went through. Through the fairy tales we tell each other to teach and to entertain, we also keep alive the memories of ancient cultures that have long since passed into the recesses of our historical and societal memory.
Works Cited
Conroy, Brian J. Evidence of religious influence on the folk and fairy tales of Ireland, San Jose State University, United States — California, 1992. ProQuest, Link to Source
Jacobs, J. (n.d.). Guleesh. In Celtic Fairy Tales (pp. 24–48). essay. Link to Source
Rogers, Patrick D. Germanic Mythology and Christian Story in the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2016. Link to Source
