Druids
by
Gary Droit
One of my favorite
things is finding out about the life of our ancient ancestors, an extension of
my interest in genealogy and family history. It helps us to understand how
present-day things came to be. Halloween, for instance, is a tradition that
dates back before Christ in Europe where the Druids ruled.
It is believed that the Druids constructed the several-thousand-year-old
circle of huge stones at Stonehenge in the British Isles, providing physical
evidence that they existed 'way back in pre-history.
The Druids were the priests and the law in pre-Roman Europe. They were
there even before the Gaelic people came. When the Celts took over, they
integrated the Druidic religion into their own, and kept the Druids as their
priests and lawgivers, since the Celts were content to be the warrior class.
The Druids were exempt from military service, being holy people.
Very little has come down to us in the way of writings concerning the
Druids. The main reason for this is that the Druids themselves did not allow
the writing of their teachings. Writing was considered a memory aid, and they wanted
their students to develop their memorization skills. It was also believed that
writing something down detracted from its power, demeaning the thing written
down. The other reason for the scarcity of writings concerning the Druids is
that the Roman priests considered such writings to be heresy, and destroyed all
they came across.
The reason we have what knowledge we do have concerning the Druids is
that they did teach people to commit knowledge to memory. This memorized
knowledge has come down to us in the form of the folklore of Ireland and
Scotland! Much of this folklore has now been written down.
I have obtained what I know of the Druids and Celts primarily from the
writings of D.P. MacLeod at Dalriada -
Celtic Heritage Trust, and from Celtic
Heart, and Paddynet.
It should be noted that the Druids and Celts inhabited not only Ireland and
Scotland, but all of Europe. The reason they are known mainly from Ireland and
Scotland is that the Romans did not occupy these lands when they had supposedly
conquered "the world." The Romans eradicated all evidence of Celtic
religion from the regions they did occupy. It is known from the writings of the
Greeks and Romans that, prior to Rome becoming a world power, the Celts had an
alliance with the Greeks! About 400 BC, the Celts actually sacked Rome, a good
reason for the Romans to want to eradicate them.
The languages spoken throughout Europe, with the possible exception of
Italian, are referred to as "Germanic" languages. This reflects the
fact that the Celts were originally from the area of Germany, 'way back before
anyone can reasonably reckon. Say 12,000 BC. Due to the prevalence of red and
blonde hair among the Celts and Germans, and the name of "Dan" being
common (Danmark, Tuatha de Danaan), one could reasonably assume descendance
from the Israelite tribe of Dan. Furthermore, the similarity in pronunciation
of "Eire" and "Ur" produces speculation that the Israelites
and the Celts may be orginally from the same area. Thus are the people of the
world related. In the absence of writing, it is impossible to know the
generation-by-generation genealogy of the human race, but there is much other
evidence which allows us to come up with a general idea.
The Druids were the priestly caste whose duties were somewhat
all-encompassing, in that they were also the teachers, the judges, and the law
of the land. They were in a way the keepers of all knowledge. At the time, the
law was the province of the Gods (We have this same concept yet today when we
think of Christ as our King, to whom we owe sole obedience), and the Druids
could converse with the Gods, discovering their will. The idea of the Druids
being "The Law" is evidenced in France, where the word for
"Law" is Droit, the French pronunciation of Druid. (The
"uid" ending is actually pronounced "uit")
It is recorded in Greek and/or Roman writings that the nobility of those
civilizations often employed Celtic teachers, who drew their learning from
Britain, (Celtic pronunciation is Pretain) which is said to be the ancestral
home of the Druids. Celtic teachers would make pilgrimages there to keep up
with the latest knowledge. Since teaching was the domain of the Druids, it is
likely that these particular Celtic teachers were actually Druids, whose
motivation for travelling so far and wide was most likely to increase their
store of knowledge about the world, and about their potential enemies in
foreign lands. Their pilgrimages to the homeland would have been to inform the
"High Druids" of goings-on at the edges of the world.
When "the world" converted to Christianity, some in the
homeland converted on purpose, and not under duress, becoming priests and
bishops of the "new" religion in order to maintain their status and
control, and to avoid the inquisition which resulted in many of their peers
being exterminated. See "The Coming of Columba" at Dalriada.
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Gary Droit is a (mainly) self-educated
"Renaissance Man", being interested in science, art, anthropology,
literature, Christianity, and most all things. He has been supporting himself
and his family by repairing business machines (NCR corporation 1966-1990) and
computers, building computers, installing and maintaining networks, and doing
web design and graphics. He is presently interested in being a freelance writer.
Email ObieWanKnobe@Earthling.net
Website http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Troy/3054/
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