History of the Druids The fullest account of the druids and their religion is that given by Julius Caesar in his history of his wars in Gaul in 59-51 BC. Caesar is insistent that druidism originated in Britain, although there is no necessity to believe that all the features of the religion as it was practised in Gaul were present in Britain. Interpreting druidism is difficult, for the druids refused to commit anything about their beliefs and rituals to writing, and modern inquirers are obliged to rely on the accounts of the classical authors who have a tendency to concentrate upon the ghoulish, the bizarre and the malign. Later evidence in the early literature of Wales, and more particularly in that of Ireland, can be useful, although what has been preserved went through a process of selection and modification by Christian scribes. The essence of druidism seems to have been a kind of pantheism, and links have been discerned between it and some aspects of Hinduisim. The names of some 400 gods are known, most of whom seem to have had a very localised cult. The correct performance of ritual was central to the religion, and the prescribed pattern of ceremonies presumably constituted the greater part of the 20-year training undertaken by a apprentice druid. Human sacrifice was practised. When the druids of Anglesey were attacked by the Romans in AD 61, their altars, according to Tacitus, 'were drenched with the blood of prisoners'. As the Romans considered druidism to be a nationalistic religion underpinning British resistance to the Empire, they were determined to suppress it. In the 18th century, with the growing interest in natural religion and in 'the noble savage', druidism captured the imagination of the European intelligentsia. In Wales, the Welsh poetic tradition was believed to have been inherited from the druids, and Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg) succeeded in 1820 in grafting druidical ceremonies of his own devising upon the cultural festival, the eisteddfod, an association which has lasted until today. Knowledge was one of the highly-prized possessions of Celtic society and was taught by one of the highest classes of society which consisted of the Druid priesthood, the Vates or Uates, who performed magic and divination, and the Bards. There were also female prophetesses, who were priestesses of particular Goddesses. These were called Veledas or Ueledas among the Gauls and by titles such as Banfili, female seer, among the Irish. Veledas often occupied sacred grooves or caves, similar to those of their Greek sisters at the Oracle of Delphi. The Druids, Vates and Bards were teachers, historians, astronomers and poets. They controlled the legal system, acted as judges and supervised executions. Each Druid was required to learn by heart the whole of their law, teaching, poetry, story, myth, religious observance, astronomy, astrology, genealogy and tribal history. This could take up to 20 years. The Druids also had a fearsome reputation for magic. They were believed to have the ability to raise storms, winds and mists, and to make the Sun stand still in its course. They could divine the secret names of the Gods of their enemies and call these out in battle to make the opposing tribes tremble with fear. In the middle of a war, they could command the opposing factions to lay down their arms. More than 2,000 years ago, in the area we know now as Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, Druid priests capitalized upon such fears by nurturing the belief that evil spirits were responsible for bringing about the advent of cold weather and shorter hours of daylight. To placate the spirits, the priests initiated a festival honoring Samhain, the lord of the dead. The festival was on Oct. 31, the day before the beginning of the Celtic new year. This "new year's eve" celebration gradually grew to ominous proportions. The priests ordered the people to extinguish all hearth fires and to gather around huge bonfires on hilltops. The fires were intended to frighten away the evil spirits and to honor the souls of people who had died during the past year. Religious rituals performed around the bonfires were followed by processions back into the villages, where embers from the large fires were used to reignite the hearth fires in each home. The notion then developed that the souls of sinful persons, as well as all other evil spirits, were at large in the community during that night. To discourage these mysterious entities from acts of retribution, sacrifices were thrown into the bonfires. At first, the sacrifices were domesticated animals. Horses were popular because they were believed to be sacred to the Sun God, who needed attention because he was punishing the people by giving them fewer hours of daylight. Thank You for sharing this Ghostmist*