The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1875: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and Material Interests of the Celt at Home and AbroadVarious
History
The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1875: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad
"In what manner and with what rites the Druids worshipped their deity,
there is now no means of ascertaining with minute accuracy. There is
reason to believe that they attached importance to the ceremony of going
thrice round their sacred circle, from east to west, following the
course of the sun, by which it is supposed they intended to express
their entire conformity to the will and order of the Supreme Being, and
their desire that all might go well with them according to that order.
It may be noticed, as an illustration of the tenacity of popular usages
and religious rites, how they abide with a people, generation after
generation, in spite of changes of the most important kind, nay, after
the very opinions out of which they have risen have been repudiated;
that even to the present day certain movements are considered of good
omen when they follow the course of the sun, and that in some of the
remote parts of the country the practice is still retained of seeking
good fortune by going thrice round some supposed sacred object from east
to west."
But still more remarkable than the fact which Doctor Alexander has
stated, is the vitality of the ancient Druidic chants, which still
survive on the popular tongue for nearly two thousand years after their
worship has disappeared, and after the meaning of these strange snatches
and fragments of song has been all but irretrievably lost, and almost
wholly unsuspected. Stonehenge, or the _Coir-mhor_, on Salisbury Plain,
is the grandest remaining monument of the Druids in the British Isles.
Everybody has heard of this mysterious relic, though few know that many
other Druidical circles of minor importance are scattered over various
parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In Scotland they are especially
numerous. One but little known, and not mentioned by the Duke of Argyll
in his book on the remarkable island of which he is the proprietor, is
situated between the ruins of the cathedral of Iona and the sea shore,
and is well worthy of a visit from the thousands of tourists who
annually make the voyage round the noble Isle of Mull, on purpose to
visit Iona and Staffa. There is another Druidic circle on the mainland
of Mull, and a large and more remarkable one at Lochnell, near Oban, in
Argyllshire, which promises to become as celebrated as Stonehenge
itself, combining as it does not only the mystic circle, but a
representation, clearly defined, of the mysterious serpent, the worship
of which entered so largely into all the Oriental religions of remote
antiquity. There are other circles in Lewis and the various islands of
the Hebrides, and as far north as Orkney and Shetland. It was, as we
learn from various authorities, the practice of the Druidical priests
and bards to march in procession round the inner circle of their rude
temples, chanting religious hymns in honour of the sunrise, the noon, or
the sunset; hymns which have not been wholly lost to posterity, though
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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