Cleanliness and Purity
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Ritual Cleanliness and Purity is an important part of the faith, one should not participate in major rites or even basic worship without first being ritually cleaned or purified. This is particularly important to visiting holy sites or approaching an idol of the gods and what one offers up to the gods as well.
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To begin with, there is a basic concept of Pure and Impure that exists in all religions. It can best be seen with the Hellenic Miasma and the Shinto Kegare. The basic concept seems to be that there are unclean things in this world which can spread this uncleanliness to others akin to say an illness, indeed illness is in fact one of the symptoms of uncleanliness. This uncleanliness is against the gods and thus an unclean person cannot approach the gods, this is not unique to people and certain actions can also cause uncleanliness such as oath-breaking, grave robbing, etc.
In order to clean themselves a person purifies themselves through particular rites, normally involving water from a sacred well or spring or perhaps merely a lake or other natural body. This is what the water wells infront of Shrines in Japan are for. Fire can also be used in these rite, particularly holy fire which is expected to burn away impurities, however it is also possible for an unclean person to spread their uncleanliness to fires in particular circumstances.
A person would ideally clean themselves before entering a shrine or sanctuary to the gods or going to events. It is likely that this was one of the functions of Holy Wells or perhaps the particular events had a place where one could purify themselves.
The Mistletoe rite required a 'Golden Sickle' which is most likely a Bronze sickle in order to function. The Druids had iron and other materials for the sickle so it is also likely that the selection of material was chosen based off of the idea of clean and unclean, Bronze never rusting and therefore being considered superior for the task.
Because of this, it may be that certain materials and items cannot be offered to the gods or used in rites because they were considered unclean. Which should always be considered by Senchus members before offering up any item to the gods or arriving at a rite or ritual.
What is and is not clean and unclean is not clear, apart from a few basic ideas present by Miasma and Kegare and the above passage it is sadly not recorded. However, in the effort of ensuring the proper rites are done and ecological concerns, as offerings are normally left out or thrown into natural enviroments, a list of things the Society will consider unclean is present Below:
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Unclean things:
Breaking Brehon Law; It's the societies religious law
Breaking Taboo: it is also religious defilement (Includes Laws)
Plastics; poses a threat to a sanctuary and sacred animals
Rotting food; brings diseases and is unsafe for consumption
Synthetic Materials: unnatural materials that do not break down and propose a threat to the natural world
Inedible Foods: Foods such as citrus, chocolate and Lollies, which cannot be eaten by animals.
Synthetic Colours: Such as bleach white are not to be used in religious art or clothing.