Bulfinch’s Mythology · Chapter
Druids explained
This chapter describes the Druids, the priestly class of the ancient Celtic nations in Gaul, Britain, and Germany.
What happens
This chapter describes the Druids, the priestly class of the ancient Celtic nations in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. It details their roles as priests, magistrates, scholars, and physicians; their worship of a supreme deity (Be'al) identified with the sun; their sacred stone circles and altars; their festivals (Beltane and Samh'in); their use of mistletoe; their ethical teachings preserved in Welsh Triads; their oral tradition and the role of Bards; and their persecution by the Romans and later by Edward I, as well as their eventual displacement by Christianity under St. Columba.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Transmission and Education
The Druids preserved their doctrine, history, and poetry through oral tradition and taught the youth about the stars, the world, and the gods. The Bards served as oral historians and genealogists, passing down heroic tales.
Mortality and Immortality
The Druids believed in a supreme deity associated with the sun and fire, and their rituals, including sacrifices and the use of mistletoe as a 'heal-all,' reflect concerns with life, death, and divine favor.
Key passages
“The Druids were the teachers of morality as well as of religion. Of their ethical teaching a valuable specimen is preserved in the Triads of the Welsh Bards, and from this we may gather that their views of moral rectitude were on the whole just, and that they held and inculcated many very noble and valuable principles of conduct.”
The Druids taught both morality and religion, and their ethical principles, recorded in the Welsh Triads, show they promoted just and noble conduct.
Highlights the moral and educational role of the Druids.
“The Druidical system was at its height at the time of the Roman invasion under Julius Caesar. Against the Druids, as their chief enemies, these conquerors of the world directed their unsparing fury.”
The Druidic system peaked during Julius Caesar's Roman invasion, and the Romans relentlessly attacked the Druids as their primary foes.
Describes the historical conflict between the Romans and the Druids.