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What did the Celts think happened when we die?
What did the Celts think happened when we die?
This section explores the sacred cosmology encoded in our logo—especially the role of Crom Cruach (say it: Krum CROO-ukh; also seen as Crom Crúaich, Cenn Cruach, or Cenn Crúaich in older Irish texts). Crom means bent or crooked and Cruach means mound, stack, or heap. His colloquial names as “bent one of the broken hills," and “wizened old one of the mist," capture his essence, and he is one of the oldest of the old gods in Celtic lore (although some dispute his very existence, other oral tradition depicts him as a supernatural elemental deity of duality [life and death, day and night]). Even though Crom is sometimes called a “chthonic" (say it KTHAW-nik, meaning “related to the underworld or underground") fertility god of the Celts, this isn't exactly right because Crom wasn't only connected to the underworld — he ruled the gates between all worlds and times, not just what was underground, and it wasn't a dark or shadowy place either.
Our logo symbolically integrates folklore, clan oral history, archaeological references, and scholarly analysis of Irish mythology, historical records, and embedded symbolism.
THE OTHERWORLD & THE SIDHE PORTALS
THE OTHERWORLD & THE SIDHE PORTALS
The Otherworld is not the underworld of punishment so often associated with cthonic (underworld) deities (gods) like Hades ruled by the god of the same name. The Otherworld was ruled principally by Crom (say it KRUM), arguably the Oldest of the Irish Old Gods, but it wasn't UNDER the earth, although the entrances to this world were. Thus in the oldest sources, it is Crom who is the god of the Celtic Otherworld principally — not the Balor (say it BAH-lar, like “baa-lar") or In Dagda (say it in [meaning the] DAHG-da [meaning good god] together meaning the good god) of much later Irish mythology which evolved in a more palatable form because of the anti-Druidic (Celtic priest religion) Catholic monastic (relating to monks) bias against the old religion of the Goidelic Celts.
In the Greek Odyssey and Iliad, the two oldest pieces of Greek literature, there is only reference to the Elysian Fields within Hades where the great warriors and heroes went after they died—but Hades was the place both the righteous (those who lived upright moral lives) and unrighteous alike went.
These epic poems were originally sang by Greek rhapsodies who played the lyre (a musical instrument similar to a harp) and sang the verses to song in rhymes. They were first written down in the archaic Greek language originating in the Phonetic Alphabet (from the seafaring African trading civilization of Phoenicia) by the most well known Greek author: Homer.
But originally, there was no place of punishment for wrongdoing after death, or place of reward for living a moral life either.
The afterlife to the ancient Irish Celts is Tír na nÓg (say it TEER nah NOHG), or otherwise most commonly popularly known as Mag Mell (say it MAG MELL), the land of apple trees and eternal youth — a shining, silvery, shimmering, supernatural, and magical world where both the good and bad go after death. There, they wait for reincarnation (being born again in a new body to live another life) from Donn's Island (see Samhain Gods, Goddesses, and Queens👈).
People could reach this Otherworld through burial mounds, sacred springs, caves, bridges, and hills. These special gateways are called sidhes (say it SHEE). Crom (say it KRUM), then, is the lord of the gates between worlds. Samhain (say it SOW-win or SAH-win) and Beltaine (say it BYAL-tin-eh, “eh” like “meh”) were the two great liminal fire festivals (meaning they mark the turning point between the dark and light halves of the year). They were like the two poles around which the year turned.
At these times, the Aos sí (say it EES SHEE — “ees” like “geese,” “shee” like “she”) — the fairy folk or fae, spirits, and the dead — could pass through sidhe portals into our world. People lit bonfires, wore masks, and gave offerings to avoid being possessed or tricked.
Crom, as a god of transitions, ruled both the sidhes and these special times. His power is strongest at Samhain. But at Beltaine, his influence returns when Eithne (say it ETH-nuh, in later folklore and the surviving Crom Dubh [say it KROHM DOO] traditions, Lugh’s mother is captured by Crom instead of Lugh) — the seed of light — returns to Lugh.
How the Irish Celtic Afterlife Echoed Other Ancient Cultures
How the Irish Celtic Afterlife Echoed Other Ancient Cultures
The ancient Goidelic (say it GOY-del-ik) Celtic Irish view of the afterlife was like early ideas in other ancient cultures.
The Ancient Greeks
The Ancient Greeks
For example, it was similar to the archaic Greek concept before the Hellenic Period (after Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BCE until Cleopatra’s fall in 30 BCE):
In Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad (before the 600s BCE, around the time of the Buddha), Elysium was only an island paradise where war heroes and demigods went. Hades was one big, shadowy place where all souls went, regardless of good or bad deeds — gloomy, joyless, and full of ghostly shadows of the once-living people there.
By Hesiod’s Theogony (about 700 BCE), Tartarus became a prison for the Titans.
By the Classical Period (400s–300s BCE), Tantalus and Sisyphus were punished in Tartarus. In Pindar’s Odes and Plato’s writings, Elysium became a place of reward, and Tartarus a place of punishment.
The Orphic mystery religion and Pythagorean philosophy believed in metempsychosis (say it meh-TEMP-sy-KOH-sis), or soul migration into new bodies, as punishment or purification (as discussed by Plato in Phaedo, The Republic, and The Phaedrus).
The Ancient Hebrews (Jews)
The Ancient Hebrews (Jews)
It was also similar to the ancient Jewish ideas:
Sheol (say it SHEE-ohl) was a shadowy place where all dead went — not a place of punishment.
Gehenna (say it geh-HEN-nuh) was originally the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, known for child sacrifices and as a trash-burning place. Later, it became a metaphor for punishment or “hell" during the Second Temple period (500 BCE–70 CE) for Jews and also influenced early Christian writings, but originally was just a real place associated with God's wrath for child sacrifice and idol worship.
Abraham’s Bosom (say it AY-bruh-ham’s BOO-zum) is not in the Old Testament. It appeared in later Jewish stories and early Christian texts as a comforting resting place for the righteous dead, contrasting with torment areas.
At no point did most Jews or Christians believe in reincarnation, though some Gnostic sects of Christians influenced by Greek mystery religions did.
The Ancient Egyptians
The Ancient Egyptians
It was also similar to early Egyptian views:
During the Old Kingdom (now called the Pre- and Early-Dynastic Period), according to the Pyramid Texts, only pharaohs joined Ra in the sky after death. Common people lived in a dark shadow world.
By the Middle Kingdom, the afterlife opened up to scribes, priests, and artisans (skilled craftsmen) through the Coffin Texts and the spread of mummification to non-nobles. Anubis, the jackal-headed god, appeared as judge.
By the New Kingdom, Anubis weighed hearts against the feather of Ma’at (truth and cosmic [universal] order) leading to eternal reward or destruction. If the heart was too heavy, it was eaten by Ammit/Ammut (say it AH-mit, a monster with a crocodile head, lion forequarters/front half, and hippopotamus hindquarters/back end), ending their chance for afterlife.
Egyptians did not believe in reincarnation. Instead, they believed the ba (soul) and ka (spirit) reunited after death.
Shared Ancient Commonality
Shared Ancient Commonality
These ancient cultures originally didn’t have “heaven" or "hell" but developed those ideas over time as societies grew. Scholars think this helped rulers keep order in bigger communities. Kings (often astronomer-priests) used religious control, claiming to rule both in life and in the afterlife.
How the Irish Celtic Afterlife Differed
How the Irish Celtic Afterlife Differed
The Irish Celts were different and their view was also very different.
Their afterlife ideas were unique among Indo-European peoples and even different from other Celtic groups in Europe. In the oldest Irish folklore and oral tradition, there was one Otherworld, not in the sky above or below the ground. Instead, it was seen as a western island beyond the sea or an invisible realm overlapping ours — like another dimension.
Unlike gloomy Greek or Jewish underworlds, this Otherworld was bright and joyful, almost like everyone went to heaven regardless of how they lived! It's not a shadow realm underground, but a desirable place for all where all go to be reunited with departed ancestors and where there is only pleasure and no lack. It's the land of plenty.
The Celtic Otherworld is variously described as:
Tír na nÓg (say it TEER nah NOHG) — the Land of Youth
Mag Mell (say it MAG MELL) — the Plain of Delight
Tír Tairngire (say it TEER TARng-ih-reh) — the Land of Promise
Tír na mBeo (say it TEER nah MYO) — the Land of the Living
Tech Duinn (say it TEK DOO-in) — the House of Donn (Place for the Dead)
And the realm in which we live to the ancient Celts was:
Bith (say it bih) — our world
The ancient Goidelic (say it GOY-del-ik) Celts believed in reincarnation (being born again in a new body to live another life), returning in new bodies for more lifetimes. Since they had no written language, scholars in the 1800s and 1900s CE/AD (19th & 20th centuries) pieced together their beliefs using:
Linguistics (studying languages and names on artifacts)
Archaeology (studying ancient graves, tools, offerings)
Anthropology (living with and learning from cultures)
Folklore studies (comparing old stories and analyzing symbols)
History (using old records and comparing historic records to literature, etc)
The continental European Gallic (say it GAL-ik) or Gaulish Celts (from France and Spain) later absorbed Greek and Roman ideas about good and bad afterlives from the Elysian Fields and Tartarus, and Greco-Roman Catholic Christianity through Jesus of Nazareth's teachings of heaven and hell. Unlike them, Irish Celts did not divide the afterlife into:
Albios or Albion (say it AL-bee-us or AL-bee-un) — a bright "white land" beyond the sea (later linked to the British Isles)
Bitus or Bitnos (say it BEE-tus or BEE-t-nos) — our world
Dubnos (say it DOOB-nos) — a dark underworld
Until the Medieval Period (between the fall of Rome in 476 CE and the 1300s Renaissance), Irish Celts kept this bright, unified Otherworld.
Later, under Christian influence (Saint Patrick’s mission), they adopted ideas closer to Roman Catholic heaven and hell. They began using:
Albion to replace Tír na nÓg and others (now the Otherworld was conditional, and envisioned above the sky, like heaven)
Bitus/Bitnos for a new underworld (the name for our world was transferred to the underground place below the earth, like hell)
Bith (say it BIH with the t silent) for our world
Isarnos (say it EE-sar-nos; possibly meaning “iron" or a cold northern place — maybe even reflecting Norse cultural influence (see The Invaders under Irish Origins)
THE TWELVE STONES AND THE CIRCLE OF TIME
THE TWELVE STONES AND THE CIRCLE OF TIME
The logo is modeled after the Killycluggin Stone Circle, where a carved stone head—believed to be Crom—stood among twelve megaliths (according to lore, but it appears from the archaeology of the encircling stones destroyed by Saint Patrick's cult).
The twelve stones echo the solar calendar, wheel of the year, and pre-Celtic cosmograms. Crom sits at the center—not as tyrant, but as axis. The still point around which time, harvest, life, and death turn.
At Samhain, the year’s end, sacrifices and bonfires honored him. At Beltaine (say it BYAL-tin-eh), people celebrated for the light to return, but in the fall they made offerings to Crom to ensure it did.
Crom’s cycle was never evil—it was necessary.
**DISCLAIMER: COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION THROUGH ORAL TRADITION & MYTH**
The following text mixes archaeology (the study of old things), folk beliefs, and myths from different cultures with old clan stories passed down by word of mouth. Some gods, like Crom, Dagda, and Balor, are thought to be different versions of the same ancient god, remembered in different ways by different groups. These ideas are based on seasonal traditions, place names, and stories still told today by families and communities.
Sources:
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