Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts - Rodney Castleden - Страница 206

An Iron Age Celtic tribe living in southern Brittany, along the lower Loire, with its main center at Nantes.

In 56 BC the Namnetes formed an alliance with the Veneti to fight against Julius Caesar’s fleet. The ensuing sea battle was won by the Roman fleet commanded by Decimus Brutus.

An island close to the mouth of the Loire, perhaps the Ile de Noirmoutier, was known as the Women’s Island. No man was allowed to land there. The women living on the island had to sail to the mainland for sex. They had a custom of replacing their temple roof on the same day every year: each woman on the island bringing her own load of materials for the work. If any woman dropped her load, she was torn to pieces by the others, who then carried her limbs around the temple, crying, “Ev-ah!” in a frenzy. If the temple roof was made of reeds, it probably would have needed replacing every year, as described. The Celts were also noted for believing that it was unlucky to drop new materials. Circumambulation, the ritual of walking round a building, was also a common Celtic practice.