Who Were the Druids?

The ancient Celtic languages of the British Isles were oral languages. In other words, they had no written language, therefore, we know only what their enemies said of them – namely the Romans, so, regretfully, we know very little about the history of this piece of the world, and we know even less about the ancient Druids. Today, the very name conjures up ideas of mysticism, magic and the occult.

Two years ago I had the opportunity to visit Stonehenge in Great Britain with a friend while on vacation. We were not allowed to get very close. So many visitors over the decades had taken its toll on the monument and the curators were working to conserve the landmark. However, one day a year, June 21, the summer solstice, the ropes are taken down and people can get up close and personal.

This is also a time for the strange folk wearing hooded robes and chanting in monosyllables to show up. This has become the modern day view of Druidism.

We now know that Stonehenge is no more mystical than any other observatory. That’s what it is. It accurately calculates the lunar and solar calendar (“Mindsteps to the Cosmos,” by Gerald S. Hawkins). It’s still a mystery as to how it was built and who built it, but we know its purpose. It’s a calendar.

All we really know of the Druids is what the Romans tell us, “Strabo, Diodorus, Posidonius and Julius Caesar, who portray them as overseeing bloody religious rituals.” (http://skepdic.com/druids.html)

In fact, it’s the Romans who claim the Druids committed human sacrifice – and that gave them permission to round them up by the hundreds and put them to death wherever they found them. More likely, they needed to get rid of the Druids because they were the only force who had a chance to unite all the fractious Breton tribes into a united front that could threaten the Roman invaders.

Of course, I cannot find this reference, but I did read an article some years ago about burnt remains in known Druidic alters. No human remains were found. However, they did find remains of cattle, goats, sheep and pigeons. That pretty much sums up what everyone else in the ancient world was sacrificing. Even in the Book of Leviticus, the various sacrifices are of cattle, goats, sheep and doves.

Now here’s the interesting part – what little is known or surmised by scholars – the Bretons had a Caste system society: the priestly caste, the warrior caste, the merchant caste and the farmer caste. The Celtic society was free enough that you could move from one caste to another, based on birth, rank or ambition. You find this same caste system in India, however, unlike the Celts, in India, once born into a caste, you cannot get out of it for love or money. They have one other caste, “untouchables.” But I find the similarities interesting – even if I don’t understand it all. These countries are so far apart – and the Middle East lies in between.

But, I digress.

We do know the Druids had three levels, or orders. To keep it simple because different scholars give them different names, I’ve distilled it down to the following:

The Bard – keepers of histories, traditions, poetry and genealogies.
The Priest – overseer of sacrifices & festivals and foretells the future.
The Druid – Lawyer, judge and philosopher.

Druidic education could take up to twenty years. They studied medicine, astronomy, folk histories, religious rituals, genealogies and we don’t know what else. As Judges they handled disputes between individuals, crimes - including man-slaughter, boundary disagreements, inheritances and so forth. And it was all by memorization.

The importance of a knowledge of astronomy cannot be overstated. You had to know the calendar in order to know when to have certain festivals. The Druidic or Celtic calendar was lunar and sometimes difficult to calculate. Every three years an additional 30 days had to be added to adapt to the solar calendar. Everything was determined by a calendar, which it was the Druids responsibility to maintain.

Interestingly enough, all these descriptions of what a Druid is and does pretty well fits in with what a Levitical Priest does. When the Tribes of Israel were brought out of Egypt and eventually settled in Canaan, the tribe of Levi had no landed inheritance. They were given cities instead, scattered throughout the lands. What was their function? Only a handful in Jerusalem actually performed the sacrifices. So what did the rest do? They studied the Law of Moses. They were judges, surgeons, healers, lawyers and astronomers. The Lord had prescribed many festivals and in order to properly observe them, you had to know the calendar. By the way, the Hebrew calendar is lunar.

So, were the Druids actually Levitical Priests? There is no evidence that they were, but by studying them and what they did we do find a similarity between them and the priestly practices found in many cultures from the Middle East. Hmmm.

It was something I just found interesting.

Next: What a Little Plow Can Tell Us.

(Information about Druids taken from: “The Celtic World,” by Barry Cunliffe, McGraw-Hill publishers. “Ancient Costumes of Great Britain and Ireland,” by Charles Hamilton Smith, Arch Cape Press publishers. And, Wickipedia.com.)