The Ancient Druids
The ancient Druid religion was created within Celtic society at around 500 B.C.
The religion itself was manifested through observations of the natural world. These
observations of nature led to the philosophical, spiritual, and ritual base of the Druid
religion.
The ancient Celtic people populated Gaul and the British Isles from 900 B.C. to
700 C.E.(1,2,5). These were a people of nature. At the height of their society at around
300 B.C. there were hundreds of independent Celtic tribes. Each tribe had fixed borders
but held the forest and agricultural land as common ground. Some of the land was
worked in common for the sick and the poor (5).
The social structure was based on democratic idealism. Every person had his or
her place in the tribe and officials were elected yearly. The majority of tribal business
was conducted at annual assemblies where land disputes were decided, petty criminals
were tried and officials were elected (2,5).
The common link between all the tribes was the Druid priesthood. The Druid
priests had authority over every tribal chief and could move wherever they wanted. They
were the arbitrators between the tribes. Their purpose was to preserve the common
culture, religion, history, laws, scholarship and science of the Celtic people
A Druid would begin training at age 5 and continue for 20 years. He or she would
be taught in a large group by a few Druid teachers and would be educated in astrology,
magic, and in the powers of plants and animals. All of the instruction was oral and
hands-on (1,2,3,4). The training was also very physically demanding. A Druid had to
master and understand his or her body because it was the soul's link to nature and life.
It is b...
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At day time games would be played while at night the serious rituals were performed.
Today there some misconceptions about the Druid rituals that took place in
ancient times. It is not known for sure whether or not the Druids had human sacrifices. If
they did have human sacrifices, it was an offering to nature by the person being
sacrificed. No one was forced to be sacrificed. The Druids did not worship any evil
spirits but the whole of dark and light that is the universe.
Druidism was driven underground as Christianity moved into Western Europe.
Much of Druidism was incorporated into the Christianity of the British Isles. But by 700
C.E. Druidism was almost completely gone. The only reason we know as much as we do
about the Druids is because of Christian monks who documented them. It is from their
writings that we know the ways of the ancient Druids.
Sometimes, those practicing the Aztec religion sacrificed just one person. At other times, hundreds or even thousands of captives were sacrificed at a time. Each Aztec sacrifice, however took place the same way. The captive or captives were taken to a pyramid or temple and placed on an altar. The Aztec priest then made an incision in the ribcage of the captive and removed the living heart. The heart was then burned and ...
Read those last few words again. As said in the popular children’s show Sesame Street, “one of these things is not like the other”. The integration of human sacrifice into Aztec culture was not nearly as subtle as written above, though: The most important Aztec deity in their whole religion, Huitzilopochtli, was the sun god. According to Aztec creation myths, Huitzilopochtli required a great deal of power to raise the sun every morning and keep the night from overpowering for too long. This strength was drawn from regular consumption of human blood and heart.
The Aztecs believed they owed the gods everything for creating them and the world around them, therefore the gods needed to be fed or nourished daily. To honor their gods and show their gratitude they performed human sacrifices by offering hearts and blood. In doing so, they believed human sacrifices would ensure their existence to the world, and in turn help them in their after life. Aztecs also saw these rituals as a way to send a political message to control their own citizens and instill fear in their foreign neighbors. These sacrifices were performed by a specialized priest at the great temple, the Huey Teocalli, at the very top of the pyramid for all to witness. The heart was cut out while the victim was still alive. The still beating heart would then be burned in offering to the chosen god. Afterward, the body was thrown down the stairs of the pyramid where the head was then cut off and placed on a skull rack, known as a Tzompantli, displayed for all to see. (Ancient History
Sacrifice within the social context can be transgressed into two aspects, one relating to the offender, and the other being the offended one, God. “If individuals entered a state incongruent with good relations with God, they had to undergo rites to restore them to a normative status” (Davies, 1985;155). Thus the sacrifice encompassed this social dimension. The part played by God in the social ...
... sacrifice and ritual of purification. They were therefore banned from the temples and had to perform the rituals by themselves.
The animal sacrifices were classified as burnt, trespass, sin and peace offerings. The animal that was to be offered had to be of the highest quality and depending on the wealth of the offerer, it could be an animal of the herd (ram, bullock), of the livestock (sheep or goat) or of the birds (turtledoves or pigeons). It was brought by the offerer to the altar in the Tabernacle. There the offerer put his hand on the head of the animal, ...
Because the most reliable resources of evidence on Druidism, their own written scripts, cannot be found we can only make assumptions and Julius Caesar also spoke of this when stating “the Druids think it is not right to entrust their teachings to written script, though they use the Greek alphabet in almost all other matters, including public and private accounts.” (1) The real reasons for this are also unknown, but according to Julius Caesar, two assumptions can be made, “It seems to me that this (not writing their teachings down) is for two reasons. They do not want their teachings to be available to the general public and they also do not want those who are studying to rely more on writing than on their memories.”(1) However, despite the lack of reliable information, we can assume that Druids were ancient priests, who led Celtic Britain and other European regions into nature-based rituals. Among the ancient Celts, Druids were members of the highly respected ‘professional’ class, where the spiritual life of the Druids and their society’s religious life was incorporated. Among the Druids were doctors, judges, philosophers, priests, seers and other intellectuals of their culture who possessed the knowledge, both religious and philosophical. The meaning and the origins of the word “Druid” is not clearly known. In Old Irish, ‘drui’ was the singular form of ‘Druid’, and through the scholar Rudol Turneysen, a Druid was understood as a person with great knowledge. This was because, Turneysen derived the prefix ‘dru’ and ‘vid’ from old Irish, which meant ‘through’ and ‘know’. Other early classical writers had different ideas, such as Pliny, who related to ‘drus’ from the Greek word for ‘oak’ and through the word “Druid” became to mean a ...
civilizations. Some were effective such as certain herbs or condoms. Others were toxic such as
These offerings were made for the gods, temple consecration, the rise of a new leader and during natural disturbances such as drought and disease. They used animals like deer, dogs, jaguars and birds as offering. They cut the bird’s head of an...
The Maya religion required a highly complicated method of worship that demanded bloodletting and sacrificial rituals that were often fulfilled by the kings and queens. These efforts were necessary because it was believed to "feed" the gods. It was the sacred duty and responsibility of the ruler to often feed the gods with their own blood. The believed their rulers had the power to pass in and out body to the spirit world and acted as messengers to the celestial world.[109]
Human sacrifice was also practiced by the Natchez, to the extent that when a Chief died, often his close relatives would willfully be slain to join him. However, sometimes others from the tribe were chosen. Occasionally, the Stinkards would offer their children as human sacrifices in order to obtain a higher ranking in the tribe.
The Mayan gods were related to nature, but they had human characteristics. There was a hierarchy of gods and not all of the gods were good, so human sacrifice was practice to placate the plethora of gods. The Mayans also played games on a ball court and the losers were sacrificed to the gods. The game had religious meaning and is believed to have symbolized the struggle between light and dark with the ball symbolizing the sun.
meaningless rites and rituals - which also included sacrifices - from the minds of many people.
To send their king out to sea with treasure on a ship lit on fire, to send him to the afterlife in water and fire…it gives the impression to be more Pagan based upon my research of the religion. When things became bleak, “…sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods, made...
McKay, J/P/, Hill, B.D., Buckler, J., Ebrey, P.B., Beck, R.B., Crowston, C.H., & Wiesner-Hanks, M.E. (2008). A History of World Societies, Volume A: From Antiquity to 1500. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's