What happened to the Druids?

Answer 1

They are still here, just wandering among the non-believers. They have integrated into society and cross married to the point that they may become extinct.

Answer 2

They faded away, unfortunately.

Rome's invasion into Gaul and England certainly damaged their power base - the assault on the Island of Mona killed many Druids, male and female, which no doubt was a serious loss. Add in that the Romans formally banned the Druids, due to their resistence to Roman rule....

That said, Rome's hand never reached Ireland or Scotland, so the Druids did survive the Empire's attempts. The next blow came from the Christians, who staged a cultural and political invasion. It was, for the most part, fairly bloodless - there was some skirmishing, but no real "war", per se. And, unlike the horror stories that Dr. Zoom Zoom references, there doesn't seem to have been much threat to the Christians - there were no Christian martyrs recorded for that time, in Ireland. If anything, the records show more hostility towards to Druids, with St. Patrick striking down Druids, tearing apart sacred groves and standing stones....

Some remnants of Druid belief passed into folklore, and were preserved through the ages, but more the most part, they were lost to the mists of time.

Answer 3

The last stand of the druids was on the isle of Mona--Angelsey in Wales. The Romans killed them and burned the sacred groves. Due to the druid's power over the tribes and ability to flame rebellion, they were considered too dangerous to let live (generally the Romans were tolerant of beliefs/gods other to their own--as long as the authority of Rome wasn't threatened.)
The bogman (preserved body)found in Lindow Moss in '84 may have been a druid. He was a highborn man with no signs of wear to his hands who was given to the underworld gods as a 'triple' sacrifice (he was garotted, bludgeoned and drowned.) He died at around the time of the Roman invasion so maybe was given as a powerful gift in order to seek help from the gods.
The order of druids reformed in the 1700's,with William Stukeley believing they were the founders of Stonehenge (of course Stonehenge was built several thousand years before.) the new order believed in a very different version of druidism to the original druids--it was a 'men only' type of old boys club really. They even tried to say that the druids were into some kind of monotheism, so they weren't truly pagans and knew about the 'true god' all along!
Modern day druids do exist; they go to Stonehenge every year although most now know that it is a far older monument. I believe they look upon it as a symbol of ancient Britain and an older religion. The modern druids are both sexes and have no problems describing themselves as pagans. Some wear the 'traditional ' white robes, others just general 'old world' clothing--cloaks,long robes,celtic jewellery etc. In ancient times a druid needed to study the lore of his people for 20 years before becoming a druid__I doubt if any modern druids study so long, but you can take courses in druidism.

Answer 4

I read that in Roman times, the Druid priests all lived on a certain island and that the Romans went and killed off the whole island. Since the Druids did not write their secrets down, the Romans did away with all knowledge in a single sweep.

Answer 5

Greetings!

"Druid" was a term for a Gifted and Intellectual class among the various Celtic Cultures.

Indeed, that "class" still exists, in a classless society.

The Romans did not destroy Celtic Culture, or their Druids, in Ireland, Scotland, and various pockets of Continental Celts in Europe, Asia, etc.

The Roman Church came through later, and did force local Folks to adopt their ways, at least outwardly- but we have seen that the great Holy-Days, and other customs still exist despite the best efforts of the Witch Burners, the Book Burners, the Grove and Temple Burners.

Read the available Histories of Ancient Ireland, and you will find that Druids were Blacksmiths, Teachers, Artists, Poets, Diviners, Judges, Warriors, and Kings-they are the "Aes Dana" to the Tuatha DeDanan, the "Gifted Ones". Just Folk.

There are Druids still among us, no matter what the people who know little to nothing about it might say.

Druids did, and still do, communicate with one another, and the idea of "Secret Societies" is not limited to any one group, Culture, or Religion, but by their very nature, are "Secret".

So, "What Happened?" It`s still "Happening".

/!\

Answer 6

The Druids were a sect that followed ancient celtic traditions and believed in Earth magic. They were also in their extreme into human sacrifice they belived that blood had significant power. In some case they ingested menstrual blood - yukk! - They practiced what is today known as paganism.
What happened to them..........you can blame the Romans. As the druids were Welsh (as I am) and from ancient Briton, they could not survive the roman influence post christianity.
Many traditions that Rome could not stamp out were simply blended into new traditions. EG Yule Fest. the celelbration of the Winter solstice, they would cut a tree that was evergreen (fir/pine) and make offerings to the spirit of the yule.. (the origins of the Christmas tree), they would also celebrate the start of the new year at April 1st - near the spring solstice. When the Romans created January 1st they made fools of those who still celebrated in April (April Fool!!!)
Many traditions were converted in this way.
As the Druids held significant power over the celtic tribes, it wasn't long before the Romans killed them off.
In Victorian times a Dr from Llantrisant in South Wales, called Dr Price, named himself Arch Druid, he adopted some of the traditional rituals held them in ancient stone circles that are everywhere in Wales, and became known as quite an eccentric.
He was a man before his time, and when his son died, he built a funeral pyre and burned the body of his son. This created quite a stir locally, but became the first Cremation in modern Britain.
In other ways Druid traditions were restored through the Welsh music festival called the Eisteddfod, there is much information on this subject. I'm not an expert, but hope you find this interesting.

Answer 7

They were mostly wiped out by the Romans. There still are some Druids, but The spread of Christianity forced them to leave their land, or be killed, or converted (whichever worst). The Druids were ruled by men and women equally, and they were raped by the Romans to bring them back down to the size that Christians want women to be at.

Answer 8

They are reorganizing in Britain. I forgot the official name of the group, but they are bringing back the Druid Order. This is not sarcasm or a joke. They are trying to put back together all the historical pieces to bring it back in an authentic way. it is a pagan/ wiccan organization.

Answer 9

Scholars aren't even sure what the druids were. The old view that they were some sort of pagan priesthood is loosing ground in academic circles. Most of what people think about the druids comes from later Roman and Christian accounts that are of dubious authority. It is more likely that they were judges who officiated at religious ceremonies and arbitrated disputes. In any case, they disappeared when Britain and Gaul embraced Roman culture in the early centuries of the modern era.

And the idea that paganism went 'underground' and survived to the modern day is ridiculous. That theory was first propagated in the late 19th century, and has since been discredited many times over.

And the disappearance of the druids had nothing to do with Christianity. They disappeared in the face of Pagan Roman occupation long before the widespread presence of Christianity.

Answer 10

What do you mean what happened to the druids? They were just fine last I checked. Matter of fact, I hardly ever see one of my friends because she's always with *them*.

Answer 11

Neodruids and various Neopagans would have us think Christian soldiers went marauding from one Celtic village to the next, brandishing swords spouting "Accept Christianity or die, Druids!". The answers above are evident enough that most people don't study their history. The truth is, another group of Pagans, the Romans, had dealt Druidism it’s death blow centuries before. The invasion of England by the Romans itself must have greatly shaken the faith of the Celtic people of the power of the Druids. The spells and curses the Druids threw on the Romans didn’t work, and this alone no doubt caused them to loose faith in the Druids. The Romans did indeed allow Druidism to exist, but they greatly weakened it. As already mentioned, they didn’t like the barbaric practices of Druidism, so they greatly curtailed it and introduced their own Roman gods like Zeus and Hercules. Hercules became quite popular in Ancient Britain, and a hill with the image of Hercules (known as "The Rude Man") can been seen carved into a chalk hill in England to this day. When Christianity came along, the Celts were outgrowing Druidism, and neither it nor Roman paganism could compete with Christianity. Christians did not cause mass executions of Druids, but instead allowed them to live as free men. The same cannot be said of the Druids. The Druids did indeed kill Christians en mass during Christianity’s first attempts to come to the British Isles. The Christian Church aimed their missionary efforts at the kings of the British Isles. If they were successful in converting a king, this could also mean the kingdom would follow, in a sort of domino effect. But it might also mean the Pagan subjects would rise up and kill the king. Such was the case on more than one occasion. You won’t read about the slaughter of Christians by Druids in most modern books on Wicca or Neodruidism because the authors of such books want to white wash the subject.

Druidism had no real promise of a happy after life, while Christianity promises eternal life. Christianity was a simple religion, compared to Roman and Celtic Paganism with their hundreds of gods and goddesses. Christianity also brought about a much more civilized way of living, despite what Neopagans think. Husbands had to treat their wives better. Despite what modern day Neopagan and feminist authors write, women actually had more freedom and more rights when Christianity came along. Masters had to treat their servants and slaves humanely. It was just plain better, begorrah! Druidism couldn’t compete, and the Celts started to convert.

Neodruids seem to blame Christianity solely for the demise of Druidism. Druidism was already in decline when Christianity came along thanks to another group of Pagans, the Romans as already mentioned. In fact, a good bit of what we know about the Druids and the Celts is because Christians decided to put it into writing. When an expedition of Christian missionaries arrived in England under the guidance of St. Augustine in 497 A.D., they found that the Christian church was already established there!`

http://usminc.org/druids.html