est element of
Hallowe'en; the Celtic day of "summer's end" was a time when
spirits, mostly evil, were abroad; the gods whom Christ dethroned
joined the ill-omened throng; the Church festivals of All Saints'
and All Souls' coming at the same time of year--the first of
November--contributed the idea of the return of the dead; and the
Teutonic May Eve assemblage of witches brought its hags and their
attendant beasts to help celebrate the night of October 31st.

CHAPTER II

THE CELTS: THEIR RELIGION AND FESTIVALS

The first reference to Great Britain in European annals of which we
know was the statement in the fifth century B. C. of the Greek
historian Herodotus, that Ph[oe]nician sailors went to the British
Isles for tin. He called them the "Tin Islands." The people with
whom these sailors traded must have been Celts, for they were the
first inhabitants of Britain who worked in metal instead of stone.

The Druids were priests of the Celts centuries before Christ came.
There is a tradition in Ireland that they first arrived there in
270 B. C., seven hundred years before St. Patrick. The account of
them written by Julius Caesar half a century before Christ speaks
mainly of the Celts of Gaul, dividing them into two ruling classes
who kept the people almost in a state of slavery; the knights, who
waged war, and the Druids who had charge of worship and sacrifices,
and were in addition physicians, historians, teachers, scientists,
and judges.

Caesar says that this cult originated in Britain, and was
transferred to Gaul. Gaul and Britain had one religion and one
language, and might even have one king, so that what Caesar wrote of
Gallic Druids must have been true of British.

The Celts worshipped spirits of forest and stream, and feared the
powers of evil, as did the Greeks and all other early races. Very
much of their primitive belief has been kept, so that to Scotch,
Irish, and Welsh peasantry brooks, hills, dales, and rocks abound
in tiny supernatural beings, who may work them good or evil, lead
them astray by flickering lights, or charm them into seven years'
servitude unless they are bribed to show favor.

The name "Druid" is derived from the Celtic word "druidh," meaning
"sage," connected with the Greek word for oak, "drus,"

"The rapid oak-tree--
Before him heaven and earth quake:
Stout door-keeper against the foe.
In every land his name is mine."

TALIESIN: _Battle of the