NationStates Jolt Archive

I've been doing a lot of research lately, and I've come across many different things in this world that are by far normal. Though the purpose of this post is to seek further knowledge, in the form of opinions, doctrines, and understandings of others that read these things.

Who are the druids, what were their deities, and why did/does the general Christian church doctrines go so hard against them? Also, why do the Wiccan's and neopagans re-write things pertaining to the druids into a wiccan or goddess/moon aspect, instead of the God/sun aspect that it was once centered around?

I've found that druids held the number 3 in great awe, they used it in most of their symbols, and they felt everything could be broken down into 3 aspects. They used the trees and nature to represent the holy and divine, and they study long and hard so that they would never be in the need of books.

They seem to be around the Celtic peoples the most, and yet many of the books I've read seem to treat them as a seperate people from them. Many druid circles didn't have the multitude of gods and goddesses that other regional celts did, and though they did act as mediators, judges, and the such for the celtic people.

I've found that many of them were seekers of knowledge, and that they were open with anything that gave them knowledge. Many of them were open to the coming of christians, and interwove many of the teachings into their ideals, even going as far as starting many of the first churches in Europe, until the Roman Catholic Church came and 'enlightened' them into their way of thinking, mainly by killing and demonizing the druids.

If anyone wants to add their insights, understandings or thoughts on this matter, then it would be nice. I even would love to hear ideals and thoughts against these people, after all every point of view has something to it, and only by understanding both pro and con can a person understand.

A bit on the deal with the number three... three is a number venerated by all ancient Aryan societies, including the Celts, Hindus, and Greeks. In Celtic society people were often divided into three castes - druids, warrior-kings, and peasants. Hinduism originally was divided like this, into the ksatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras, but later the brahman caste was created to justify priestly rule so today Hinduism has four of these castes.

Hell, half of the Christian customs, holidays and saints are of pagan origin. Anything from a previously popular religion either gets stolen or demonized.

A bit on the deal with the number three... three is a number venerated by all ancient Aryan societies, including the Celts, Hindus, and Greeks. In Celtic society people were often divided into three castes - druids, warrior-kings, and peasants. Hinduism originally was divided like this, into the ksatriyas, vaishyas, and shudras, but later the brahman caste was created to justify priestly rule so today Hinduism has four of these castes.

Don't forget Christianity, with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Ghost).

Of course, since Christianity was working hard to convert the pagans, you do realize many of the holidiays mirror pagan holidays? All Hallows Eve = Samhain, Christmas=Saturnalia, etc etc.

i do know that there is a set of circular stones, similar to stonehenge, that was the centre of celtic druids' worship in Anglesea, Wales, and that druids used to congregate there en masse. when the romans came, hundreds of the 'chief' druids met there to discuss how to live with their new masters, but the romans came and slaughtered them all as they ran. i'm not sure (don't quite remember) but i think the druids' families were also killed.
the celts were then without their leaders, and the romans took control easily after that. it was practically the end of the celtic civilisation. shame.


i find anything to do with this really interesting (cheers Slinao), cos my father's side of the family comes from deep in the heart of middle-of-nowhere Wales, and are as close to celtic decendants as you can get nowadays. my mum's family is german, so im a bit of a weird mix.

I read in NewScientest what the deal is with the number 3.

It's the highest number of things a person can recognize without counting. Most alphabets use 3 strokes maximum in their letters.

I read in NewScientest what the deal is with the number 3.

It's the highest number of things a person can recognize without counting. Most alphabets use 3 strokes maximum in their letters.

Quick, how many fingers am I holding up... :D

The druids where the priestly caste of the Celtic peoples; related to the Flamen of Roman culture, the Magi of Zoroastrian Iran, and the Brahmin of India. For some reason the Germanic tribes where an exception to this rule and had female 'priests', from which we get our modern concept of a 'witch'.

The druids where the priestly caste of the Celtic peoples; related to the Flamen of Roman culture, the Magi of Zoroastrian Iran, and the Brahmin of India. For some reason the Germanic tribes where an exception to this rule and had female 'priests', from which we get our modern concept of a 'witch'.

the druid were both male and female. They were a priestly class yes, but they were more of the law bringers and such. Though if they followed the local dieties is still left in question. Most of the eldest surviving books that talked about the druid speak of them worshiping father god and mother earth, but most neo-druids and neo-pagans seem more domenitly worshiping of the goddess, with the god in secondary and submissive postion, many people say its because of male dominated religions the god figure has become something of punishment, pain, and war.

The norse also had female 'priests' as well. There religion was close to the Celtics, but they were more dominated around the waters and such, where the celts focused around the nature. A strong point to this is because the Norse were big on boats and so the ocean played a bigger role in the lives of everyday life, where as the celts were mainly inland, except in the 'british isles' and in those cultures the water played more of a part into the local dieties and priestly roles.

The hard part about researching the druid is due to two major movements. That both saw the druids as targets to bring down to further their own purposes, seeing as the druids were the leaders and the teachers for the celts.

One from the Romans, who demonized them to keep their own forces from becoming sympathetic to the celts during the roman wars with the celts. Also the Romans were bitter about he celts sacking of Rome, on at least 2 different occasions.

The other was the Catholic church. They wanted to be the dominate religion of the world, and upon coming to Europe they found that the druids not only accepted Christianity for the most part and intergrated into their own thinking, but they also organized the first churches as well. They did so in nature, because they felt one must honor god with god's creations and not with mans. The Catholics set down the rules that made it unlawful to worship outside of the churches that were made by man, and made it unlawful for anyone to teach faith without permission from the Pope.

The aspect of 3 came up a lot in the Druid path. They would draw awens, 3 lines / l \ much like that. It represented all 3 elements of the world. Air, Sky, and Earth....also Heavens, Earth, and Waters. They used the Tree to represent the joining of all three things. They divided into 3 major sects, the Bards, Ovates, and Druids.

The Celts had more then 3 divisions of people. They had Kings, warriors, priests, peasants, and landless. The Kings were not just nobles, but warriors as well. If they were maimed or injured too majorly they would lose their royal placement. The warriors were either noble or landless. The nobles would fight to bring honor to their houses and their titles, the landless would fight to gain status, much like the fianna. Priests were the druids and the ovates and the bards.