Druidism

Religion of the Celtic peoples of the pre-Christian British Isles and Gaul. The word is derived from the Greek drus (‘oak’), a tree regarded by the Druids as sacred. One of the Druids' chief rites was the cutting of mistletoe from the oak with a golden sickle. They taught the immortality of the soul and a reincarnation doctrine, and were expert in astronomy. The Druids are thought to have offered human sacrifices.

Druidism was stamped out in Gaul and most of Britain after the Roman conquest. They existed in Scotland and Ireland until the coming of the Christian missionaries. What are often termed Druidic monuments – cromlechs and stone circles – are of Neolithic origin, although they may later have been used for religious purposes by the Druids.

Druidism was stamped out in Gaul after the Roman conquest.