are actually men or women dressed up as animals. There is some evidence from Ireland that early bards wore a costume of bird-feathers,29 and transmogrification plays a significant part in the mythology of both Wales and Ireland.30 A second characteristic of original Celtic religion was its orality. It is probably inevitable that a primal religion, rooted in a particular people and locality, will shun the written word since this may seem to compromise the privileged position of the priestly caste