Livonia- the last wisdom of Ancient Celts

About a couple of hundred years ago 70 belts with unbelievably complicated geometrical ornament were found in Lielvarde situated 80 kilometres from Riga. The length of these belts was several metres. Today they are kept in the Riga History Museum together with a number of others found later. Already in the beginning of the century the extraordnary Livonian belts attracted the attention of scientists, but were forgotten soon after that, and copies made following their example were used with national clothes. Actually the belts do not belong to folk costume. From folklore collected from the Latvia territory they are known to have been so-called Scrolls of the Sages that were used by landelders to pass their knowledge to their children during the pre-crusade times. But already then little was left from the real message. There had been the knowledge of the entire universe, of all that we are to know.

More than 20 years have passed since I accidentally found some copies of the photos of the Lielvarde belts. You can imagine my surprise when gluing together the fragments I discovered that on one of the belts there was depicted a geometric scheme of a meditation system known in China. In Far East the same scheme has survived to the present day only in separate sections! In the course of years I have introduced the materials concerning the Livonian belts to a number of scientists from various countries and acquired comparative material both from books as well as museum collecions. The Livonian belts are unique- they have the most complicated known geometric ornament in the whole world. There is nothing alike. There exist only partly coinciding fragments that have been used as talismans or ritual fabrics. They can be found in Far East, Finno-Ugri territories, Scandinavia, and even ancient American cultures.

In recent years several firm beliefs have started to shake in the history of Europe. A new word has replaced ancient Greece and Rome- the Celts.

What do we know about the Celtic culture? Some ten pages from ancient authors and rather vaguely interpreted cultural findings of La Tene and Hallstatt. It was refused ta analyze their contents until only recently, because for more than 2500 years the Celtic view of the world has been feared the most. It is feared because it may prove to be true. The world of computers and dual-system-based thinking models prove this possibility more and more with each day. Not all is that clear in the history of the European nations as the 19^th century linguists tried to confirm. The investigators of ancient cultures set off from tha basis favoured by the dominating ideology in Europe for more than 2000 years. Everything different was destroyed. Was destroyed during the Pyhtagorean days, was destroyed in Middle Ages, was destroyed in the 19^th century. Even today it is not rare when Celtic relics of ancient times are shattered or shut into closed funds of museums. It is true with the early Greek geometric style already (11th-18^th century B.C.), because it is this style that later leads us to the Celtic culture. Surprising similarities may be found between the traditions of the Celts, Navaho Indians and the people of Far East. Even some of the Chinese scholars have given up by now the previous linguistic basis. The basis of a culture is a sign. A sign, a symbol is a more important und uniting force than language. Political speculations gave the 19^th century linguists the invincible power. But it is a sign that unites the higher consciousness of men.

Why did ancient Livonia become the last centre of the Celtic culture? Or had it been that for thousands of years? How far do the recollections of the Northern Sages go back? What were the real migration processes like on the Livonian territory? We deny the changes caused by the Kaali meteorite, the Great Migrations, the Hanseatic League. What about the mysterious year of 534? We can see that the pre-Viking culture possessed a totally different world outlook. Therefore we might presume that the expansion of the state of Rome lead to the moving of certain Celtic groups to Baltic Sea areas. After all, we know about the special mission of the Celts to send groups of their own people with extensive knowledge to other nations. Thus large groups of Celts, up to thousands of people, spread all over Europe. They had their country even on the Turkish territory. At a later period the monks from Irish and Scottish monasteries disseminated their independent ideas. The third, higher, level of it was only allowed to pass on orally. That is one of the reasons why we know so little about the Celtic view of the world. But similar attitude is familiar to us from Tibet, and even from Pythagor. It must also be taken into consideration that the last Egyptian Sages fled to Scottish monasteries from the overcoming Islam. There are many such things not spoken about, because the discovery of certain cultural analogies would harm the authority of dominating ideologies in Europe.

Still what could we read from the Livonian belts? Firstly we find here the Celtic message of two realities. Matematically they could be compared as the decimal and binary system. One is dominated by linear time and measurable space; the other is timeless and eternal based on active and passive state. They are joined together by an intermediate zone „Twilight“. The „miraculous“ coming from there interferes with the formal-logical order of our world. The signs on the Livonian belts are not letters. They are signs that indicate processes. In compliance with the level of understanding, they have different meanings. Single elements may independently hold the key position. Our forefathers bore these signs as family marks through centuries.

Tõnis Vint

Ehituskunst 1995/12