Druids: The Iron Rulers of the Celts

fertility. The second festival (May 1) honored the Druids themselves and also was associated with fertility. Its name: Beltaine. The patron was Belenos, whose name can be found on coins, frescoes, and elsewhere in the scant Celtic records that survive. The third festival, Lugnasa, lasted a full week and culminated in a feast on August 1 to honor the god Lug. This was the god Belenos under another name, and this festival, too, was concerned with fertility. The last festival of the year was the most solemn: Samain. It happened on October 31 and commemorated the creation of the world.

Most of all, the Druids were the heads of the religion. They alone could approach the gods. (This served also to keep the religious practices in the hands of the Druids, not the people.) The gods were many, as in Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions. The Celts worshipped a blacksmith god, a god of oratory, and an antlered god. This was last was a symbol of fertility and was represented by a stag, a boar, or a bull. The Celts worshipped goddesses as well, many of them represented by birds. (The raven was the companion of the goddess of war.) In addition, each tribe had its own select god that it believed was in charge of that tribe’s welfare.

Druidic religious rites were so secretive because the Druids shared those secrets with only a select few. Even Druids who had been practicing for years did not know the innermost secrets of the order. That the head Druids kept it this way and mistrusted written records are the primary reasons we today know so little for sure about the Druidic rites.

It can be seen clearly that the Celts had many gods but not one head god. Like the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians, the Celts preferred their religion in small doses and spread through many realms. Whether they ever thought to worship just one god is not the point. Rather, the point is that they revered the gods they did worship and kept their customs holy, even in the fact of fierce oppression.

It can also be seen clearly how the Druids kept their grip on Celtic society. Each tribe had a leader, yes, and sometimes this leader was not a Druid. But each tribe also a had a patron god. In order to worship this god properly, the people had to go to the Druids. Ignoring the god to spite the Druids was risky business indeed. The Druids also created the calendar and told the people when the festivals were. Since all festivals

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