Druids

Although since Christian times Druids have been identified as wizards and soothsayers, in pre-Christian Celtic society they formed an intellectual class comprising philosophers, judges, educators, historians, doctors, seers, astronomers and astrologers. The earliest surviving classical references to Druids date to the 2nd century B.C.

The word "Druidae" is of Celtic origin. The Roman writer Pliney the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus) believed it to be a derivative of the Greek word "drus", meaning "an oak." "Dru-wid" combines the word roots "oak" and "knowledge". "Wid" means "to know" or "to see". The oak was an important sacred tree to the Druids. In the Celtic social system, Druid was a title given to learned men and women possessing ""oak knowledge" or "oak wisdom".

The Druids emerged from the ancient Celtic Tribes, at a time when the people had to live close to nature to survive. In the deep woods the Druids would gather. Bringing together their mysticism and philosophy, their insight and learning. Their spirit emerged from the tides of the sea, the light of the sun, the wind in the Oak and the cry of the deer. They created an institution that inspired, frightened and uplifted their people.

Druid filled the roles of judge, doctor, diviner, mage, mystic, and clerical scholar. They were the religious leaders of their culture. To become a Druid, students assembled in large groups for instruction and training, for a period of up to twenty years. The myths describe Druids who were capable of many magical powers such as divination and prophesy, control of the weather, healing levitation and shape changing themselves into the forms of animals. Their education was so rigorous that at the end of it they were virtually walking encyclopedias. A good word to describe them would be "priests" but the Druids didn't minister to any congregations as priests do. They had a clientele, like a lawyer, a consultant, or a mystic would have. Caesar and his historians never referred to them a priest, but perhaps they could not recognize them as priests since the Roman priesthood was primarily made up of teachers and judges while the Druids appeared to have both legal and magical powers and responsibilities.

Some scholars have argued that the Druids originally belonged to a pre-Celtic population in Britain and Ireland. From there they spread to Gaul (now France). These scholars note that there is no trace of Druidism among Celts elsewhere in areas such as Italy, Spain or Turkey. Others, however, believe that Druids were an Indigenous Celtic sect to be found among all Celtic peoples, but were known by other names.

With a revival of interest in the Druids in later times the question of what they looked like has been largely a matter of imagination. Early representations tended to show them dressed in a vaguely classical type of dress. Aylett Sammes, in his Britannia Antiqua Illustrata (1676) shows a Druid barefoot dressed in a knee-length tunic and a hooded cloak. He holds a staffing one hand and in the other a hood and sprig of mistletoe. A bag or scrip hangs from his belt. Sammes' drawing was subsequently copied and modified by William Stukeley who shortened the beard of the Druid, removed the mistletoe, and placed an axe-head in his belt.

The main sources we have on what Druids did are the teachings and writings of Roman historians, the data that archeological remains can provide and mythological literature recorded by monks in the eighth through twelfth centuries.

Archeology is an excellent resource for the study of Celtic history. Scientists have uncovered the remains of offerings to the Gods in lake bottoms, bogs and "votive pits". "Votive pits" are narrow holes dug deep in the ground in which votive offerings are buried. These pits tell us about Celtic religion. There are also the remains of Celtic fortresses, habitations, temples jewelry and tools. These remains speak of what life was like, what their technological capability was, what food they ate, what crafts and trades they practiced, what products they made and traded, and where they traveled and how they got there. These facts about Celtic social life are an important element for understanding Druidism because it is necessary to understand the whole culture in which Druidism was situated. The Celtic nations were Alba (Scotland), Breizh (Brittany), Cymru (Wales), Eire (Ireland), Kernow (Cornwall) and Mannin (Man).

The Roman historians are another important source, though they wrote on the Celts from their own point of view. Julius Caesar, for example, was in the process of conquering Gaul and would therefore have written a highly prejudiced account of the Celts. Posidonius was trying to fit the Druids into his own Stoic philosophy. There is also an attempt to cast the old Celts in the role of the innocent and wise noble savage, uncorrupted by civilization and close to nature, as in the case of the writer Tacitus. Romans are usually understood as "hostile" witnesses but they are the only eyewitnesses we have.

The Romans were often impressed by the Druids' grasp of mathematical and astronomical skill. One Roman author, Diogenes, placed the Druids on a list of the ancients world's wisest philosophers; a list which included the Magi of Persia, The Chaldeans (the priesthood of the Babylonians) and the Gymnosophists (a Hindu sect which preceded the Yogis), all of whom were selected for their skill in mathematics, physics, logic an philosophy.

One of the problems with studying Druidism academically is that the Druids were the subject of a number of persecutions and conquests, not only by the Romans but also by Norsemen, Normans, Saxons, and Christians. Much Druidic wisdom was censored, evolved into something unrecognizable or just plain lost. It is true, however, that the Romans never invaded Ireland, so that country became a haven for Druidic learning for a while. The earliest Celtic literature was found in Ireland. It was composed by the fili, professional class and churchmen. The fili, a priestly order that was responsible for the performances of all rites and ceremonies, cultivated Irish literature. The arrival of Christianity led to the end of their priestly duties, but they were still responsible for the transmission of the oral tradition to manuscript. The Christian scholars were not hostile to the Celtic culture, and because of that, there are extensive recordings of the Irish oral culture. One of the reasons that we know so little of the druid's practices is because they did not believe in the written word to teach. "Caesar thought that the druids favored oral learning for two reasons: "first, because they were unwilling that their system of training