Martin of Braga (circa 520 – circa 580 AD), in addition to mentioning the early Suavs, also made contributions to discussing the religion of the pagans of Hispania. His De correctione rusticorum (“On the correction of rural people”) contains useful hints about the nature of the religious beliefs of those “rustics” who, in addition to the Hispano-Romans, would by then have included the Vandals, Suevi and Alans – all those who flooded the peninsula in the beginning of the fifth century. Because this work was written in Gallaecia – the northwest part of the peninsula – it may be also especially reflective of the religion of the Suevi who then occupied the area.
The below are portions of the missive that relate to the pagan practices of Spain. The translation is that of Hélio Pires.
Part 7
“Then the Devil or his ministers, the demons, which had been brought down from Heaven, seeing men’s ignorance, forgotten of their creator, wondering through the creatures, began manifesting to them in different ways, speaking and influecing them, making them offer them sacrifices in the high hills and in the leafy woods and considered them as gods, calling themsleves names of bandit men, which spent their lives in crimes and evilness. Thus, one called himself Jupiter, which was a magician and had tarnish himself with so many adultery, daring to have as wife his own sister, named Juno, corrupting his daughters Minerva and Venus and vilely dishonouring his grandchildren and all his family. Other demon called himself Mars, which was the instigator of the litigation and of discord. Another named himself Mercury, the inventor of all the theft and all the deceit to which greedy men offer sacrifices, as if he was the god of profit, forming piles of rocks when passing through the crossroads. Another also called himself Saturn, which, living in all his cruelty, devoured even his own children, as soon as they were born. Other pretended to be Venus, which was a woman of ill life.”
Tunc diabolus vel ministri ipsius, daemones, qui de caelo deiecti sunt, videntes ignaros homines dimisso Deo creatore suo, per creaturas errare, coeperunt se illis in diversas formas ostendere et loqui cum eis et expetere ab eis, ut in excelsis montibus et in silvis frondosis sacrificia sibi offerrent et ipsos colerent pro deo, imponentes sibi vocabula sceleratorum hominum, qui in omnibus criminibus et sceleribus suam egerant vitam, ut alius Iovem se esse diceret, qui fuerat magus et in tantis adulteriis incestus ut sororem suam haberet uxorem, quae dicta est Iuno, Minervam et Venerem filias suas corruperit, neptes quoque et omnem parentelam suam turpiter incestaverit. Alius autem daemon Martem se nominavit, qui fuit litigiorum et discordiae commissor. Alius deinde daemon Mercurium se appellare voluit, qui fuit omnis furti et fraudis dolosus inventor; cui homines cupidi quasi deo lucri, in quadriviis transeuntes, iactatis lapidibus acervos petrarum pro sacrificio reddunt. Alius quoque daemon Saturni sibi nomen adscripsit, qui, in omni crudelitate vivens, etiam nascentes suos filios devorabat. Alius etiam daemon Venerem se esse confinxit, quae fuit mulier meretrix. Non solum cum innumerabilibus adulteris, sed etiam cum patre suo Iove et cum fratre suo Marte meretricata est.
Part 8
“Here is what were, in those days, these lost men, whom the ignorant rustic honored for their terrible inventions and whose names were used by demons so that they would worship them as gods, would offer them sacrifices and imitate the actions of those whose names they invoked. Equally, those demons were also capable that temples were built to them, that in them images or statues of bandit men were set and altars erected, in which they would sacrifice them blood, not only of animals, but of humans as well. Besides this, many demons among those that were expelled from Heaven preside to the rivers, the fountains and to the forests and to them in the same way do men, ignorant of God, worship them as they were gods and offer them sacrifices. And in the sea they call them Neptune, in the rivers Lames, in the fountains Nymphs, in the forests Dianes, which are no more than demons and evil spirits damaging and tormenting the infidel men which no not to defend themselves with the sign of the cross. However, they cannot harm without the permission of God, for they have angered God. They [men] do not believe with all their heart in the faith of Christ, but carry their doubts to such a point that they give the name of the demons to each one of the days, saying the day of Mars, of Mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus and of Saturn, whom didn’t make any day, but were terrible and criminal men among the Greeks.”
Ecce quales fuerunt illo tempore isti perditi homines, quos ignorantes rustici per adinventiones suas pessime honorabant, quorum vocabula ideo sibi daemones adposuerunt, ut ipsos quasi deos colerent et sacrificia illis offerrent et ipsorum facta imitarentur, quorum nomina invocabant. Suaserunt etiam illis daemones ut templa illis facerent et imagines vel statuas sceleratorum hominum ibi ponerent et aras illis constituerent, in quibus non solum animalium sed etiam hominum sanguinem illis funderent. Praeter haec autem multi daemones ex illis qui de caelo expulsi sunt aut in mare aut in fluminibus aut in fontibus aut in silvis praesident, quos similiter homines ignorantes deum quasi deos colunt et sacrificant illis. Et in mare quidem Neptunum appellant, in fluminibus Lamias, in fontibus Nymphas, in silvis Dianas, quae omnia maligni daemones et spiritus nequam sunt, qui homines infideles, qui signaculo crucis nesciunt se munire, nocent et vexant. Non tamen sine permissione dei nocent, quia deum habent iratum et non ex toto corde in fide Christi credunt, sed sunt dubii in tantum ut nomina ipsa daemoniorum in singulos dies nominent, et appellent diem Martis et Mercurii et Iovis et Veneris et Saturni, qui nullum diem fecerunt, sed fuerunt homines pessimi et scelerati in gente Graecorum.
Part 9
“When He made Heaven and the Earth, omnipotent God created also the light that, by the distinction of the works of God, manifested it self in seven days. Because, in the first day God made light itself, which as called day. In the second, the firmament of the sky was made. In the third the earth was separated from the sea. In the fourth the Sun, the Moon and the stars were made. In the fifth, the quadrupeds, the birds and the fishes. In the sixth, man was made. To the seventh day, completing all the world and its ornament, God called rest. Indeed light, which was the first among the works of God, manifested seven times by the distinction of the same works, was called week. What alienation isn’t then that men, baptised in the faith of Christ, honours not the day of Sunday in which Christ resurrected and says to honour the day of Jupiter, of Mercury, of Venus and of Saturn, which have no day, but were rather adulterous and iniquos, and died ignominiously in their land! But, as we’ve saying, under the appearance of these names is the worship and honour given by the foolish to the demons.”
Deus autem omnipotens, quando caelum et terram fecit, ipse tunc creavit lucem, quae per distinctionem operum dei septies revoluta est. Nam primo deus lucem fecit, quae appellata est dies; secundo firmamentum caeli factum est; tertio terra a mare divisa est; quarto sol et luna et stellae factae sunt; quinto quadrupedia et volatilia et natatilia; sexto homo plasmatus est; septimo autem die, completo omni mundo et ornamento ipsius, requiem deus appellavit. Una ergo lux, quae prima in operibus dei facta est, per distinctionem operum dei septies revoluta, septimana est appellata. Qualis ergo amentia est ut homo baptizatus in fide Christi diem dominicum, in quo Christus resurrexit, non colat et dicat se diem Iovis colere et Mercurii et Veneris et Saturni, qui nullum diem habent, sed fuerunt adulteri et magi et iniqui et male mortui in provincia sua! Sed, sicut diximus, sub specie nominum istorum ab hominibus stultis veneratio et honor daemonibus exhibetur.
Part 10
“In the same way it was introduced among the ignorant and the rustic that mistake of thinking that the year has its beginning at the Calends of January, which is entirely fake. For, as the Holy Scripture says, the first year of the year was at the equinox of the 25th of March. In fact, this is what one may read: And God divided light from the darkness. As in all strait division there is equalness, so at the 25th of March as many hours has the day, so has the night. And that is why it is false that the beginning of the year is at the Calends of January.”
Similiter et ille error ignorantibus et rusticis subrepit, ut Kalendas Ianuarias putent anni esse initium, quod omnino falsissimum est. Nam, sicut scriptura sancta dicit, VIII Kal. Aprilis in ipso aequinoctio initium primi anni est factum. Nam sic legitur: et divisit deus inter lucem et tenebras. Omnis autem recta divisio aequalitatem habet, sicut et in VIII Kal. Aprilis tantum spatium horarum dies habet quantum et nox. Et ideo falsum est ut Ianuariae Kalendae initium anni sint.
Part 11
“And with what grief must we refer to that foolish error of honoring the day of the clothes moths and of the mice? And is it allowed to say that a Christian worships the mice and the clothes moths instead of God? If they close to these animals the locker or the chest, if they hide from them the bread and the clothes they will spear nothing of what they find. The miserable man believes in these mistakes without any basis, just as he believes that, if he is fed up and joyful in the first day of January, thus he shall kept himself throughout the year. All these observations are from the heathens and inspired by inventions of the demons. But beware he who has not God propitious and sees not in Him the cause of the abundance of bread or the safety of life! Thus you observe the vain superstitions, hidden or in public, and never put an end to these evil sacrifices! And why do they not protect you so that you will be always fed up, safe and joyful? Why, when God is angered, the vain sacrifices do not defend you from the locust, the mice and of many other plagues, which, when He is angered, God sends you?”
Iam quid de illo stultissimo errore cum dolore dicendum est, quia dies tinearum et murium observant et, si dici fas est, homo Christianus pro deo mures et tineas veneratur? Quibus si per tutelam cupelli aut arculae non subducatur aut panis aut pannus, nullo modo pro feriis sibi exhibitis, quod invenerint, parcent. Sine causa autem sibi miser homo istas praefigurationes ipse facit, ut, quasi sicut in introitu anni satur est et laetus ex omnibus, ita illi et in toto anno contingat. Observationes istae omnes paganorum sunt per adinventiones daemonum exquisitae. Sed vae illi homini qui deum non habuerit propitium et ab ipso saturitatem panis et securitatem vitae non habuerit datam! Ecce istas superstitiones vanas aut occulte aut palam facitis, et numquam cessatis ab istis sacrificiis daemonum. Et quare vobis non praestant ut semper saturi sitis et securi et laeti? Quare, quando deus iratus fuerit, non vos defendunt sacrificia vana de locusta, de mure, et de multis aliis tribulationibus, quas vobis deus iratus immittit?
Part 12
“Don’t you clearly understand that the demons lie to you with these practices that you in vain follow, and that they delude you frequently in the auguries to which answer? Indeed, just like the most wise Solomon: Vain are the auguries and the foretellings. And the more men will fear them, the more their heart will weaken. Give them not your heart for many they lead astray. This says the Holly Scripture and thus, in truth, it is, for so many times do the demons persuade the unfortunate men to be aware to the singing of the birds that they end up losing their faith in Christ by these frivolous and vain things and risk themselves to an unfortunate death. God did not allowed men to know the future but, instead, that he would live in fear of Him and of Him expected the government and help for his life. It is exclusive of God to know things before they happen. However, the demons delude the vain men with several arguments until they lead them to offend God and drag with them their souls to hell, like they did in the beginning, for envy, so that man would not enter in the Kingdom of Heaven, from which they, the demons, were expelled.”
Non intellegitis aperte quia mentiuntur vobis daemones in istis observationibus vestris quas vane tenetis, et in auguriis quae adtenditis frequentius vos inludunt? Nam sicut dicit sapientissimus Salomon: divinationes et auguria vana sunt; et quantum timuerit homo in illis, tantum magis fallitur cor eius. Ne dederis in illis cor tuum, quoniam multos scandalizaverunt. Ecce hoc scriptura sancta dicit, et certissime sic est, quia tamdiu infelices homines per avium voces daemonia suadunt, donec per res frivolas et vanas et fidem Christi perdant, et ipsi in interitum mortis suae de improviso incurrant. Non iussit deus hominem futura cognoscere, sed ut, semper in timore illius vivens, ab ipso gubernationem et auxilium vitae suae expeteret. Solius dei est antequam aliquid fiat scire, homines autem vanos daemones diversis argumentis inludunt, donec illos in offensam dei perducant et animas illorum secum pertrahant in infernum, sicut ab initio fecerunt per invidiam suam, ne homo regnum caelorum intraret, de quo illi deiecti sunt.
Part 16
“Here is your bail and confession by God! And why do some of you, that renounced to the Devil and to his angels, his worship and his bad doings, now return again to that evil worshipping? Indeed, to light candles by the rocks, the trees, the fountains and in the crossroads of the paths, what is this if not evil worshipping? To take notice of the fortellings, auguries and of the days of the idols, what is this if not evil worshipping? To take notice of the Volcanes and of the Calends, to garnish to tables, to lay laurel, to enter with the right foot, to shed in the fire place, over the burning timber, food and wine and to throw bread into the fountains, what is this if not Devil worship? The fact that women invoke Minerva at there looms and chose as wedding day the day of Venus [Friday] and to remark in what day one should travel, what is this if not evil worshipping? To make enchantments with herbs to damage and to invoke the names of demons when you do it, what is this if not evil worship? And many other things that that would take time to tell. Here is that you do all these things after Baptism and the renouncing of Satan! Returning to demon worship and to the bad doings of the idols, you have spoken to your word and broke the pact you have made with God. You have abandoned the sign of the cross that you received at Baptism and consider sings of the Devil the little birds, the sneeze and many other things. What’s the reason that to me or to any other sincere Christian the augury doesn’t harm? Because, where the sign of the cross stands, nothing is the sign of the Devil. And why does it harm you? Because you have despised the sign of the cross and fear what you have taken as a sign to you. In the same way, you have forgotten the sacred enchantment, the symbol you received at Baptism, which is I believe in God Omnipotent Father, the dominical prayer, which is our Father thou are in Heaven, and practice evil enchantments and verses. He who, therefore, disdaining the sign of the cross of Christ, takes for him other signs, has lost the sign of the cross he received at Baptism. In the same way, he who practices other enchantments invented by magicians and other evil ones, lost the enchantment of the holy symbol and of the dominical prayer, which he had received in the faith of Christ, trampled at his feet that same faith, because one cannot serve God and the Devil at the same time.”
Ecce qualis cautio et confessio vestra apud deum tenetur! Et quomodo aliqui ex vobis, qui abrenuntiaverunt diabolo et angelis eius et culturis eius et operibus eius malis, modo iterum ad culturas diaboli revertuntur? Nam ad petras et ad arbores et ad fontes et per trivia cereolos incendere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Divinationes et auguria et dies idolorum observare, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Vulcanalia et Kalendas observare, mensas ornare, et lauros ponere, et pedem observare, et fundere in foco super truncum frugem et vinum, et panem in fontem mittere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Mulieres in tela sua Minervam nominare et Veneris diem in nuptias observare et quo die in via exeatur adtendere, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Incantare herbas ad maleficia et invocare nomina daemonum incantando, quid est aliud nisi cultura diaboli? Et alia multa quae longum est dicere. Ecce ista omnia post abrenuntiationem diaboli, post baptismum facitis et, ad culturam daemonum et ad mala idolorum opera redeuntes, fidem vestram transistis et pactum quod fecistis cum deo disrupistis. Dimisistis signum crucis, quod in baptismum accepistis, et alia diaboli signa per avicellos et sternutos et per alia multa adtenditis. Quare mihi aut cuilibet recto Christiano non nocet augurium? Quia, ubi signum crucis praecesserit, nihil est signum diaboli. Quare vobis nocet? Quia signum crucis contemnitis, et illud timetis quod vobis ipsi in signum configitis. Similiter dimisistis incantationem sanctam, id est symbolum quod in baptismum accepistis, quod est Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem, et orationem dominicam, id est Pater noster qui es in caelis, et tenetis diabolicas incantationes et carmina. Quicumque ergo, contempto signo crucis Christi, alia signa aspicit, signum crucis, quod in baptismum accepit, perdidit. Similiter et qui alias incantationes tenet a magis et maleficis adinventas, incantationem sancti symboli et orationis dominicae, quae in fide Christi accepit, amisit et fidem Christi inculcavit, quia non potest et deus simul et diabolus coli.
Part 18
“Therefore we praise you, brothers and dearest sons, that you keep in your mind these precepts, which God has deign to transmit it to you trough us, quite humble and small, and think on how you should save your souls, so that you will not only take care of this present life and of the passing utility of this world, but remember what you promised to believe in the Creed, that is, the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life. If, indeed, you have believed and believe in the resurrection of the flesh and the eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven among God’s angels, just like we have told you, think truly on that and less in the unhappiness of the world. Prepare your life with good doings. Go to the church or to holy places to pray to God. Do not despise but keep with respect the Dominic day [Day of the Lord], by which it’s called Sunday, because the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead in that day. Do not work at Sunday, in the field, in the meadow, in the vine or in other labours considered heavy, unless to satisfy the feeding necessities of the body as it is to prepare food or a long journey. You may travel to nearby places at Sunday, not with evil purposes but with good ones, that is, to got to the holy places, to visit a brother or a friend, to comfort he who is ill, to take an advice to the troubled ones or help to a good cause. This is how the Christian man must honour Sunday. How innocuous and shameful it is that those who are heathens and ignore the faith in Christ, worshipping their evil idols, keep the day of Jupiter or of any other demon and abstain themselves from working when the demons haven’t created nor have any day and we, who worship the true God and believe that the Son of God resurrected from the dead, now keep the badly the day of Resurrection, that is, Sunday! Do not insult the Resurrection of the Lord, but honour it and respect it with reverence, in the name of the hope that we in it keep. For, just like our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, which is our head, resurrected from the dead at the third day, so we, that are his limbs, hope to resurrect in our flesh at the end of the centuries, so that each one will receive the eternal rest or doom, according to the acting it had, with his body, in the present life.”
Rogamus ergo vos, fratres et filii karissimi, ut ista praecepta, quae vobis deus per nos humillimos et exiguos dare dignatur, in memoria teneatis et cogitetis quomodo salvetis animas vestras, ut non solum de praesenti ista vita et de transitoria mundi istius utilitate tractetis, sed illud magis recordetis quod in symbolo vos credere promisistis, id est carnis resurrectionem et vitam aeternam. Si ergo credidistis et creditis quia carnis resurrectio erit et vita aeterna in regno caelorum inter angelos dei, sicut vobis supra iam diximus, inde quam maxime cogitate, et non semper de istius mundi miseria. Praeparate viam vestram in operibus bonis. Frequentate ad deprecandum deum in ecclesia vel per loca sanctorum. Diem dominicum, qui propterea dominicus dicitur, quia filius dei, dominus noster Iesus Christus, in ipso resurrexit a mortuis, nolite contemnere, sed cum reverentia colite. Opus servile, id est agrum, pratum, vineam, vel si qua gravia sunt, non faciatis in die dominico, praeter tantum quod ad necessitatem reficiendi corpusculi pro exquoquendo pertinet cibo et necessitate longinqui itineris. Et in locis proximis licet viam die dominico facere, non tamen pro occasionibus malis, sed magis pro bonis, id est aut ad loca sancta ambulare, aut fratrem vel amicum visitare, vel infirmum consolare, aut tribulanti consilium vel adiutorium pro bona causa portare. Sic ergo decet Christianum hominem diem dominicum venerare. Nam satis iniquum et turpe est ut illi qui pagani sunt et ignorant fidem Christianum, idola daemonum colentes, diem Iovis aut cuiuslibet daemonis colant et ab opere se abstineant, cum certe nullum diem daemonia nec creassent nec habeant. Et nos, qui verum deum adoramus et credimus filium dei resurrexisse a mortuis, diem resurrectionis eius, id est dominicum, minime veneramus! Nolite ergo iniuriam facere resurrectioni dominicae, sed honorate et cum reverentia colite propter spem nostram quam habemus in illam. Nam sicut ille dominus noster Iesus Christus, filius dei, qui est caput nostrum, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ita et nos, qui sumus membra ipsius, resurrecturos nos in carne nostra in fine saeculi speramus, ut unusquisque sive requiem aeternam sive poenam aeternam, sicut in corpore suo in saeculo isto egit, ita recipiat.
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