The Druids Part 4
The Druids Part Four
"The Gods of the Druids"
by
Sindadraug Rana'
(Greywolf the Wanderer )
greywolf@gator.net
Many are familiar with the Gods in the Druid pantheon that are direct manifestations of nature, such as the Oak Tree and the Ash, but few people know that they actually had a God and a Goddess in their own image. Whether these beings were adopted from other races or not is unknown, but there are some interesting parallels. The rituals to these Gods and Goddesses were recorded by various Bards who witnessed the events. Specific accounts were left by the Bard Aneurin, who was a contemporary of Hengist and Tailiesin (6th. century A.D.) during the decline of Druidism as a great power. He states, however, that it was a very ancient ritual in his day. Either way, the origins of the Deities are unclear. I have some ideas, of course. Keeping this in mind, I shall relate what I have gleaned from the perusal of many countless ancient manuscripts, scrolls, and other ancient accounts.
The God was known as Hu (Hee) Gadarn, or simply "Hu the Mighty". He lived and walked the earth during the time of the great flood (believed to be the same one that Noah saved mankind from, which was a story that the Jewish people stole from the Sumarians. Called the Gilgamesh epic, I have surmised that Gilgamesh, Noah, and Hu the Mighty are probably the same man).
It is not clear from the stories just exactly how Hu saved the ancient Druids from destruction, but it involved some great achievement he performed with his oxen, and according to legends, he did it so well so as to prevent the flood from ever occurring again. At any rate, he somehow collected together and carried the primitive race, and formed them into families and communities. He gave them the first traditional laws for the regulation and government of society. He was eminently distinguished for his regard for justice, equity, and peace. He conducted the several families of the first race to their respective settlements in the various regions, but he had also instructed this race in the art of husbandry prior to their removal and separation.
His rites were celebrated by the Druids at specific lakes, and follows is the "eye witness" account;
" The usual residence of this tauriform god, was in his consecrated cell, or ox-stall, on a rock surrounded with the billows, the rock of the supreme proprietor, the chief place of tranquillity. At a certain season, his festival commences with the adorning of the rock and the cell; then, a solemn proclamation is issued, the bacchanals hasten to the jolly carousal, and, amongst other extravagances, pierce their thighs, so as to cause an effusion of blood. This was at the season of May, or when the song of the cuckoo convinces the appointed dance over the green. Eminent is the virtue of the free course, when this dance is performed; loud is the horn of the lustrator, when the kine move in the evening. And the dance is performed with solemn festivity about the lakes, round which and the sanctuary the priests move sideways, whilst the sanctuary is earnestly invoking the gliding King (The Dragon, Bacchus) before whom the fair one retreats, upon the veil that covers the huge stones. This is also the time of libation, and of slaying the victim. This sanctuary is in the island which had floated on the wide lake, but was now fixed on the margin of the flood. Here, the sacred ox, the Ych Banawg, is stationed before the lake, to draw the shrine through the shallow water to dry ground. There is the retinue of the god, there is the procession, there the eagle waves aloft in the air, marking the path of Granwyn, the solar deity, the pervading and invincible sovereign".
Aneurin also describes an accident, or mystical incident which occurred during the rite;
"In the presence of the blessed ones, before the great assembly, before the occupiers of the holme (the priest's sacred island), when the house (shrine of the god) was recovered from the swamp (drawn out of the shallow water), surrounded with crooked horns and crooked swords, in honor of the mighty king of the plains, the king of open countenance (Bacchus); I saw dark gore (from the frantic gashes of the bacchanals) arising on the stalks of the plants, on the clasp of the chain (of the oxen), on the bunches (ornaments of their collars), on the Sovereign (the god himself), on the bush and the spear (the thyrsus). Ruddy was the sea beach, whilst the circular revolution was performed by the attendants, and the white bands, in graceful extravagance. The assembled train were dancing after the manner, and singing in cadence, with garlands on their brows; loud was the clattering of shields round the ancient cauldron, in frantic mirth; and lively was the countenance of him who, in his prowess, had snatched over the ford that involved ball, which casts it's rays to a distance, the splendid product of the adder, shot forth by serpents."
(Is this a fabled 'Glain', that Druids prize? Me thinks it is..)
Hu was the god of ancient Mona, the accredited seat of the Druids.
Now, the goddess, her identity is less certain. She has at times been the mother, the consort, and the daughter of Hu (kind of a pagan trinity, don't you agree?). She had the names Ked, Ceridwen, Llad, and Awen. She had a daughter who was known as Creirwy, or Llywy. She presides in the same floating sanctuary as Hu. She and him are proprietors of the mystic cauldron. In conjunction with Hu, she has the tittle of ruler of the British tribes, and consequently, the privilege of investing the chief Bard, or priest, with the dominion of Britain, pertains to her and Hu jointly. Her symbol is the sacred boat. As Hu was identified with the sun, she is identified with the moon. He is often depicted as a bull, and she as a cow.
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