Who were the druids?

Answer 1

The druids were the priests of the Celtic people who lived in Britain before the Romans came. It is thought that these people arrived in Britain in 500 B.C., when Stonehenge was itself a thousand years old. The druids worshipped trees such as oak and the rowan, and especially the mistletoe, which was supposed to hold the life of the tree when in winter the tree appeared to die. It is doubtful whether the druids used Stonehenge as a temple as modern druids do today on Midsummer's day. They preferred woods and other leafy places to worship in, and this made it extremely hard for the conquering Romans to find them and stamp out their religion. In fact they were never completely wiped out, the Romans deciding that it was better to tolerate them than to attempt the impossible task of getting rid of them altogether. Some of the druids' beliefs were similar to those of modern religions. They believed, for example, that the soul was immortal, and that on the death of the body, the soul passed to another body. But the method of entering their priesthood was very different from modern practices. Very strenuous feats had to be performed - for example, the candidate had to compose a long and complicated poem while standing up to his nose in icy water, as well as a whole series of other rites. We don't know how many druids there were at the time, but there are by no means as many today, despite a revival of interest in their cult.

Answer 2

In Celtic polytheism the word druid denotes the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies, which existed through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. Druidic practices were part of the culture of all the tribal peoples called "Keltoi" and "Galatai" by Greeks and "Celtae" and "Galli" by Romans, which evolved into modern English "Celtic" and "Gaulish". They combined the duties of priest, arbitrator, healer, scholar, and magistrate.

The Druids were polytheists, but also deified elements of nature, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, looking to them for "signs and seasons". They also venerated other natural elements, such as the oak, certain groves, tops of hills, streams, lakes and even plants, most of all, mistletoe. As such, they were not only polytheists, but also exhibited a certain degree of animism. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with the sun and cleansing.

Their calendar year was governed by the lunar, solar, and vegetative cycles. Archaeological evidence suggests that ceremonies were conducted to celebrate the two solstices and two equinoxes every year. These festivals would have been governed by the position and motions of the Sun alone. In addition to these, four holidays were celebrated according to the lunar and vegetative cycles. These include Imbolc (Imbolg) to denote the first signs of spring, Beltane (Beltain) to recognize the fullness of life after spring, Lughnassah to celebrate the power of the Solar deity Lugh, and Samhain to recognize the lowering of the barrier between the world of the living and that of the dead. The timing for these latter four festivals would have been determined by the presence of a full moon and the signs of life implied by the above. Imbolg would thus be celebrated at a full moon roughly halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, Beltane between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice, Lughnassah between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox, and Samhain between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. This is contrary to popular "New Age" beliefs about Druidism that celebrate a given holiday according to the Julian calendar, which of course did not exist at the time of the formulation of these holidays. In modern times, Imbolg has been transformed into Groundhog Day, elements of Beltane have been absorbed into Easter, and Samhain has become Halloween (or All Hallows' Eve or All Saint's Day).

Modern attempts at reconstructing or reinventing Druidism are called Neo-druidism.

Answer 3

Dru·id [dr id]
n
1. history priest in ancient Celtic religion: a priest in an ancient religion practiced in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul until the people of those areas were converted to Christianity.
2. religion modern follower of ancient Celtic religion: somebody who worships the forces of nature by means of meditation, prayer, and celebration of the Earth, seen as a modern-day representative of the ancient Celtic religion.

[Mid-16th century. Directly or via French from Latin druides “druids,” of prehistoric Celtic origin. Probably from an Indo-European compound, “tree, strength,” (the ancestor of English tree and true) and “seer.”]

Answer 4

They were the holy men and women of the ancient Britons.