I enjoyed the Fourth of July fireworks display from a Queen Anne rooftop in the company of friends and neighbors, one of whom was planning a trip to Wales for the Royal National Eisteddfod. That's a Welsh festive gathering of the bards, presided over by the ArchDruid and featuring lots of music and poetry. There was further discussion on the Celts and Druids, and I learned there was a local gorsedd of Bards and a Druid priestess - living right here on Queen Anne Hill.
I had done some research on the subject of Druids for a 1993 column on the occasion of Seattle Opera's production of "Norma," whose title character was a Druid priestess. I always assumed the Celtic peoples were confined to Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The fact is that the Celts at the height of their population covered most of Europe. The Druids were their priests, lawyers and administrators, and literally the aristocracy, as far back as 5,000 years before Christ. Only when the Romans and their constantly marching Empire swallowed Europe did the Druid influence wane.
The Druids never wrote their religious philosophy down but passed their traditions through the generations by word of mouth; therefore, there are no historical records to which we can refer. However, we do know certain things about our far-distant ancestors. Interestingly enough, there is a lot of similarity with the American Indian culture.
The Celts worshipped the sun. They were experts at astronomy, the rising of the stars, the phases of the moon and the eclipses of both sun and moon. It has been proved that they were great calendar makers. They were constantly making corrections to accommodate the solar and lunar years.
Their greatest surviving monument is Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, which is really just a gigantic calendar. Although it probably wasn't built by Druids (it is a lot older), it was used by them. And there are several other stone rings in Britain, including one in London on Primrose Hill. All are somewhat aligned to the sun. The great pillars and altar at Stonehenge mark the exact place where the sun was seen to rise 1,500 years ago on midsummer's day. A lesser group of stones mark the sun's lowest point in December.
Besides their knowledge of the heavens, Druids paid special attention to the natural world around them. Both oak trees and mistletoe were sacred to them, and the name Druid - loosely translated - means "Knowledge of the Oak." Many places were sacred to Druids, and the remains of stone circles and altars can be found in these mystic spots all around Britain.
As Rome advanced, the Celtic peoples retreated into Wales, where they developed the deeply poetic traditions of the fifth and later centuries, from which came the Bards and poets that give us the Arthurian legends. These traditions also took root in Ireland.
In the 18th century, there was an effort to gather delegates from Bardic and Druid circles in Wales, Cornwall, Anglesey and the Isle of Man, as well as parts of Scotland, Ireland and Brittany. From this group has descended, in Britain, a modern version of the Druids, which no longer professes any specific religion but adopts a deistic philosophy as a way of working with the natural world.
These modern Druids take their beginnings from Wales, and the musical and poetic contests that have always been part of their culture. The Welsh call these competitions an Eisteddfod, and they have taken place irregularly for centuries. During the reign of Elizabeth I, a committee was appointed to examine bards and grant licenses to wander and make money, but the tradition against written records still was strong and prevents us from knowing too much about this. It would take the Victorians to systemize these gatherings, and in 1860 it was decided to have an Eisteddfod annually. Nowadays, the ArchDruid is responsible for carrying out the ceremony. People come from all over the world to compete and attend and enjoy the celebration of ancient traditions handed down from our Druid ancestors.
Locally, the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Pugetica, Bards of Turtle Island, is an affiliate of the Druid Network. Founded under the auspices of the British Druid Order in April 1997, the Gorsedd of Bards of Caer Pugetia has transformed to become the Mother Grove of the Bards of Turtle Island, meeting in Gorsedd eight times per year. Ninety members in the apparent world currently participate. You may contact the Gorsedd at Caerpugetia1 @hotmail.com or by mail at Bards of Caer Pugetia, 1011 Boren Ave. PMB No. 828, Seattle, WA 98104. And for more information, visit www.druid network.org, where you will learn:
"The aim of the Druid Network is to act as an ethereal framework, making tangible the spirit-web that is the global community of the Druid tradition and other natural philosophies.... The open pages of our Web site are an essential part of the focus of our organization. They offer information, resources, contacts and ideas which we hope will inspire those seeking to learn more about Druidry, not only from words written, but from other people."
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