Book Description

THE Druids boasted a faith which appears to have been as imbued with life as that of any ancient or modern religious system. although little is known generally about it.Although their religion was polytheistic in character the Druids recognized a supremacy among the gods, this Supreme being represented by the sun. Next in point Of rank came the lesser divinities, who were symbolized by the moon and stars, and. in course of time. all the celestial bodies were venerated with divine honors. This characteristic was not more marked in Druidism than in other religions of a like nature where the elements were venerated. The sun as sun was not worshiped. The arch-god was Be'l, whose glory was manifested in the sun, and in singing hymns to the luminous orb they manifested their worship to the Supreme and not to the emblem. paying their adoration to what they regarded as the supreme power and eternal being.It was doubtless this veneration of the celestial bodies which laid the foundation of the knowledge possessed by the Druids of astronomical science. to which Czesar and other writers have borne testimony. They were certainly in possession of sufficient knowledge of the motion of heavenly bodies to enable them to fix definite times for their festivals and religious ceremonies, all of which were regulated by the sun and moon, and to calculate on a thirty-year cycle of lunar years in which the month began at the Sixth day. In common with the Gauls, Teutons, and Jews, they reckoned time from evening to morning