-making of Elysium is "without sin,
without crime," and this phrase may perhaps suggest the existence of
ritual sex-unions at stated times for magical influence upon the
fertility of the earth, these unions not being regarded as immoral, even
when they trespassed on customary tribal law. In some of the stories
Elysium is composed of many islands, one of which is the "island of
women."[1297] These women and their queen give their favours to Bran and
his men or to Maelduin and his company. Similar "islands of women" occur
in _Maerchen_, still current among Celtic peoples, and actual islands
were or still are called by that name--Eigg and Groagez off the Breton
coast.[1298] Similar islands of women are known to Chinese, Japanese,
and Ainu folk-lore, to Greek mythology (Circe's and Calypso's islands),
and to ancient Egyptian conceptions of the future life.[1299] They were
also known elsewhere,[1300] and we may therefore assume that in
describing such an island as part of Elysium, the Celts were using
something common to universal folk-belief. But it may also owe something
to actual custom, to the memory of a time when women performed their
rites in seclusion, a seclusion perhaps recalled in the references to
the mysterious nature of the island, its inaccessibility, and its
disappearance once the mortal leaves it. To these rites men may have
been admitted by favour, but perhaps to their detriment, because of
their temporary partner's extreme erotic madness. This is the case in
the Chinese tales of the island of women, and this, rather than
home-sickness, may explain the desire of Bran, Oisin, etc., to leave
Elysium. Celtic women performed orgiastic rites on islands, as has been
seen.[1301] All this may have originated the belief in an island of
beautiful divine women as part of Elysium, while it also heightened its
sensuous aspect.

Borrowed from the delight which the Celt took in music is the recurring
reference to the marvellous music which swelled in Elysium. There, as
the goddess says to Bran, "there is nothing rough or harsh, but sweet
music striking on the ear." It sounded from birds on every tree, from
the branches of trees, from marvellous stones, and from the harps of
divine musicians. And this is recalled in the ravishing music which the
belated traveller hears as he passes fairy-haunted spots--"what pipes
and timbrels, what wild ecstasy!" The romantic beauty of Elysium is
described in these Celtic tales in a way u