page_title: History of popular religion in Scotland
section_title: Pre-Christian religion
hierarchical_section_title: History of popular religion in Scotland / Pre-Christian religion
caption_attribution_description: English: == Original upload log == This image is a derivative work of the following images: :Image:Detail_of_antlered_figure_on_the_Gundestrup_Cauldron.jpg licensed with Cc-by-sa-3.0, GFDL 2008-05-29T19:16:13Z Bloodofox 1000x759 (1009760 Bytes) {{Information |Description={{en|1=Detail of antlered figure holding a serpent and a torc, flanked by animals (including a stag), depicted on the cauldron found at Gundestrup, Himmerland, Jutland, Denmark. The Gundestrup cauld I attempted to upload with derivativeFX, but the server connection was reset, and then the Wikimedia Commons manual upload form didn't allow me to copy in this handy auto-generated info, so I'm uploading it here instead. Easier upload form!
context_page_description: The history of popular religion in Scotland includes all forms of h the formal theology and structures of institutional religion, between the earliest times of human occupation of what is now Scotland and the present day. Very little is known about religion in Scotland before the arrival of Christianity. It is generally presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism and there is evidence of the worship of spirits and wells. The Christianisation of Scotland was carried out by Irish-Scots missionaries, and to a lesser extent those from Rome and England, from the sixth century. Elements of paganism survived into the Christian era. Most early evidence of religious practice is heavily biased towards monastic life. Priests carried out baptisms, masses and burials, prayed for the dead and offered sermons. The church dictated in moral and legal matters and impinged on other elements of everyday life through its rules on fasting, diet, the slaughter of animals and rules on purity and ritual cleansing. One of the main features of Medieval Scotland was the Cult of Saints, with shrines devoted to local and national figures, including St Andrew, and the establishment of pilgrimage routes.
context_section_description: Very little is known about religion in Scotland before the arrival of Christianity. The lack of native written sources among the Picts means that it can only be judged from parallels elsewhere, occasional surviving archaeological evidence and hostile accounts of later Christian writers. It is generally presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism. The names of more than two hundred Celtic deities have been noted, some of which, like Lugh, The Dagda and The Morrigan, come from later Irish mythology, whilst others, like Teutatis, Taranis and Cernunnos, come from evidence from Gaul. The Celtic pagans constructed temples and shrines to venerate these gods, something they did through votive offerings and performing sacrifices, possibly including human sacrifice. According to Greek and Roman accounts, in Gaul, Britain and Ireland, there was a priestly caste of "magico-religious specialists" known as the druids, although very little is definitely known about them. Irish legends about the origin of the Picts and stories from the life of St. Ninian, associate the Picts with druids. The Picts are also associated in Christian writing with "demon" worship and one story concerning St. Columba has him exorcising a demon from a well in Pictland, suggesting that the worship of well spirits was a feature of Pictish paganism. Roman mentions of the worship of the Goddess Minerva at wells, and a Pictish stone associated with a well near Dunvegan Castle on Skye, have been taken to support this case.
caption: The "Cernunnos" type antlered figure on the Gundestrup Cauldron found in Denmark
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