There is quite a lot of religion in Bound by an Oath because in the fifth century religion was a big deal. For a few centuries the ancient religion of the Celts, which for ease of expression I am calling Druidism, existed alongside Roman paganism, Roman Christianity, and Celtic Christianity. All those varieties of belief interacted with and shaped each other.
But there is also a lot of religion in the book because I am an ordained Episcopal priest and religion is my gig!
In writing about the early Anglo-Saxon era, I wanted to present a more positive version of Druidism than what has been presented on TV shows about the Celts and the Vikings, and in history books. The dark creepiness of human sacrifice is repellent to me. (I know some people love it!) But there is absolutely no hard proof of how the Druids worshipped, or what they believed. So perhaps there was a lighter, brighter side to their religion, as well.
When I hear archeologists speculating on what Druids believed, it makes me smile. Years ago, I read a children’s book* where some archeologists of the distant future were digging up artifacts of the twentieth century. They found a plastic toilet seat and speculated that it had been used as some kind of ritual ornament and worn around the neck. Need I say more?
So, with very little to go by, I researched very old rituals that are still practiced in some parts of Britain today and let my imagination work with those. Hence in Bound by an Oath you will find references to seasonal liturgies of the Druids such as the festival of Mabon at the Autumnal equinox, and some Roman religious practices such as making offerings at the sacred springs in Vagniacis. And of course I wrote about Christian rituals which I know intimately, but which I was able to treat with some creativity since it was so long ago.
There might be some validity in some of these religious anecdotes, or they might all just be plastic toilet seats, but I hope you will find them entertaining!
(* Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay, 1979)
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