Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Children of Incest
A Folktale of the Dobunni
Long ago, in the dawn of days, the Great Mother in her fruitfulness brought forth First Man and First Woman, since when have twins been accounted by our people, the Dobunni, a sign of bounty and good luck; and these were the first man and woman in all the world.
In her turn, First Woman too brought forth, like her mother, and in her fruitfulness she too brought forth twins, a boy and a girl.
Again in her fruitfulness she brought forth twins, and these too were a boy and a girl.
Again and again in her fruitfulness she brought forth, seven pairs of twins in all, each pair a boy and a girl.
When it came time for their children to marry, First Man and First Woman broke up the pairs of twins, so as to avoid incest. The boy of the first pair they wed to the girl of the seventh pair, and so on.
But the fourth pair fell in love, and incestuously wed one another.
And that's where the Catuvellauni come from.
Versions of this story are told far and wide across the Indo-European diaspora, invariably to the disadvantage of the rival tribe of the teller. This is the version that might have been told by the Dobunni, the original—so say some—Celtic tribe of witches, who dwelt about 2000 years ago in the Cotswolds and Severn basin of what is now England.
The larger and more powerful Catuvellauni, the “cats of war,” who lived to the north and east of the Dobunni territory, were their hereditary enemies and chief rivals.
Above:
Dobunni silver stater, circa 100 BCE
Comments
-
Please login first in order for you to submit comments
