Research Items

Abstract

Heathen Baptism in Early Britain. A communication from Miss Eleanor Hull in Folklore (vol. 43, pt. 4) brings together evidence from various sources bearing on the existence of baptism as a pre-Christian rite in Britain. The fact that it is found in Wales, where Scandinavian influence was small, seems to point to the fact that it had an independent origin in these islands and was not introduced by Norse or Danes. Among the Scandinavian races, pre-Christian baptism, as the sprinkling of the child with water which accompanied the bestowal of a name, was an integral part of the Asa creed. It established a bond between baptiser and baptised, sometimes constituting the latter the heir of the former. The Norse practised lay baptism without religious ceremony; but in Ireland a regular rite, at which Druids officiated, was carried out. Aillil Olum, who succeeded to the throne of Munster early in the third century, was baptised by the Druid who foretold the marriage of his father Eoghan and by his prognostication fixed the propitious day of the marriage. The ‘heathen baptism’ is also mentioned in the Irish version of “The Travels of Sir John Mandeville” in connexion with the circumcision of Isaac and Ishmael. The tales of the Mabinogion give several instances of heathen baptism, as for example in “Pwyll, Prince of Dyved” and in “Math, Son of Mathonwy”. Scottish folktales give fewer examples; but in the story of “The Knight of the Red Shield” the knight, it is prophesied, shall be unbaptised “until he shall come to an island and strike a crag of stone on a man”. In the Fenian tales baptism is taken as a matter of course by the heroes; and it is considered by Dr. J. A. MacCullock that the Scottish custom of dropping three drops of water on the forehead of a child immediately after birth is a relic of the rite of pagan baptism.