SECTION II
THE RECORDED FAIRY-FAITH
CHAPTER VII
THE CELTIC DOCTRINE OF RE-BIRTH[357]
‘It seems as if Ossian’s was a premature return. To-day he might find comrades come back from Tir-na-nog for the uplifting of their race. Perhaps to many a young spirit standing up among us Cailte might speak as to Mongan, saying: “I was with thee, with Finn.”’—A. E.
Re-birth and Otherworld—As a Christian doctrine—General historical survey—According to the Barddas MSS.; according to ancient and modern authorities—Reincarnation of the Tuatha De Danann—King Mongan’s re-birth—Etain’s birth—Dermot’s pre-existence—Tuan’s re-birth—Re-birth among Brythons—Arthur as a reincarnate hero—Non-Celtic parallels—Re-birth among modern Celts: in Ireland; in Scotland; in the Isle of Man; in Wales; in Cornwall; in Brittany—Origin and evolution of Celtic Re-birth Doctrine.
Relation with the Otherworld
However much the conception of the Otherworld among the ancient Greeks may have differed from that among the Celts, it was to both peoples alike inseparably connected with their belief in re-birth. Alfred Nutt, who studied this intimate relation more carefully perhaps than any other Celtic folk-lorist, has said of it:—‘In Greek mythology as in Irish, the conception of re-birth proves to be a dominant factor of the same religious system in which Elysium is likewise an essential feature.’ Death, as many initiates have proclaimed in their mystical writings, is but a going to that Otherworld from this world, and Birth a coming back again;[358] and Buddha announced it as his mission to teach men the way to be delivered out of this eternal Circle of Existence.
Historical Survey of the Re-Birth Doctrine