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 were
