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Page 44
Concerning the name Druid, the writer in the _Encyclopedia
Metropolitana_ says, "The name Druid is derived from _deru_, an oak."
The Druids were an order of priests; they were divided into three
classes, resembling the Persian magi. The first class were the Druids
proper; they were the highest nobility, to whom was entrusted all
religious rites and education. The second class were the bards; they
were principally employed in public instruction, which was given in
verse. The third class was called _Euvates_; whose office it was to
deliver the responses of the oracles, and to attend the people who
consulted them. The knowledge of astronomy and computation of time
possessed by the Druids was of a high order, and, no doubt, was the form
of worship imported from Chaldea.
It is known that the Phoenicians had colonized Britain at least 1000
years B.C., and doubtless they would bring with them their form of
worship, their gods being the sun, the moon, and fire. We may here find
a very early source for the institution of sun-worship in these islands,
if we can believe that such a very partial colonization as was effected
by the Phoenicians could work a religious similarity throughout the
entire island. I think it probable that sun-worship existed before the
Phoenicians came to the island, but they may have elevated its practice.
Following the writer in the _Encyclopedia Metropolitana_, we are told
that in addition to their worship of the sun, the Druids "held sacred
the spirits of their ancestors, paid great honour to mountains, lakes,
and groves. Groves of oak were their temples, and their places of
worship were open to heaven, such as stone circles. They had also a
ceremony of baptism, dipping in the sacred lake, as an initiatory rite,
and had also a sacrament of bread and wine. They paid great reverence to
the egg of the serpent, the seed of the oak, and above all, the
mistletoe that grew upon the oak; and they offered in sacrifice to the
sun and fire, men and animals."
Many of the localities where their worship was observed in this country
can still be identified through the names which these places still bear.
One or two are here given, because they refer to sun-worship:--
Grenach (in Perthshire), means _Field of the Sun_.
Greenan (a stream in Perthshire), means _River of the Sun_.
Balgreen (a town in Perthshire and other counties), means _Town of the
Sun_.
Grian chnox (Greenock), means _Knoll of the Sun_.
Granton, means _Sun's Fire_.
Premising, therefore, that sun-worship and Druidical customs form the
original base of all our old national festivals, we will now direct
attention to the great festival of
_YULE._
The term _Yule_ was the name given to the festival of the winter
solstice by our northern invaders, and means _the Festival of the Sun_.
One of the names by which the Scandinavians designated the sun was
_Julvatter_, meaning _Yule-father_ or _Sun-father_. In Saxon the
festival was called _Gehul_, meaning _Sun-feast_. In Danish it is
_Juul_; in Swedish _Oel_. Chambers supposes that the name is from a root
word meaning _wheel_. We have no trace of the name by which the Druids
knew this feast. The Rev. Mr. Smiddy in his book on _Druidism in
Ireland_, says, "Their great feast was that called in the Irish tongue
_Nuadhulig_, meaning _new all heal_, or new mistletoe. When the day came
the priests assembled outside the town, and the people gathered shouting
_all heal_. Then began a solemn procession into the forests in search of
the mistletoe growing on the favourite oak. When found, the priests
ascended the tree, and cut down the divine plant with a golden knife,
which was secured below upon a linen cloth of spotless white; two white
bulls were then conducted to the spot for the occasion, and there
sacrificed to the sun god. The plant was then brought home with shouts
of joy, mingled with prayers and hymns, and then followed a general
religious feast, and afterwards scenes of boisterous merriment, to which
all were admitted."
From other accounts of this sun feast at the winter solstice in this
country, we are given to understand that besides white bulls there were
also human victims offered in sacrifice. The mistletoe gathered was
divided among the people, who hung the sprays over their doorways as a
protection from evil influences, and as a propitiation to the sylvan
deities, and to form sheltering places for those fairy beings during the
frosts. The day after the sacrifices was kept as a day of rejoicing,
neighbours visited each other with gifts, and with expressions of good
will.
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