Druidism is commonly spoken of as the religious system of the Gauls and Britons, or of the Celtic peoples. Professor Rhys, however, affirms that the real religion of the Celts was an Aryan Polytheism like that of Italians and Greeks; and that Druidism, in so far as found amongst the Celts of Gaul or Britain, was by them derived probably from pre-Celtic and non-Aryan aborigines (Ivernians, Iberians, Euskarians or Basques, Neolithic men?), and was thus non-Aryan in origin. There is no reason, he says, for holding that Druidism was found amongst the Brythonic races proper, though it was in force amongst the Goidelic (Gaelic) peoples of the British Isles. Cæsar thus describes the character and functions of the Druids: 'They attend to divine worship, perform public and private sacrifices, and expound matters of religion. A great number of youths are gathered round them for the sake of education, and they enjoy the highest honour in that nation; for nearly all public and private quarrels come under their jurisdiction; and when any crime has been committed, when a murder has been perpetrated, when a controversy arises about a legacy or about landmarks, they are the judges too. They fix rewards and punishments; and should any one, whether a private individual or a public man, disobey their decrees, then they exclude him from the sacrifices. This is with them the severest punishment. The persons who are thus laid under interdict are regarded as impious and wicked people; everybody recoils from them, and shuns their society and conversation, lest he should be injured by associating with them. They cannot obtain legal redress when they ask for it, nor are they admitted to any honourable office. All these Druids have one chief, who enjoys the highest authority amongst them. When he dies, he is succeeded by the member of the order who is most prominent amongst the others, if there be any such single individual; if, however, there are several men equally distinguished, the successor is elected by the Druids. Sometimes they even go to war about this supremacy. At a certain time of the year, the Druids assemble on the territory of the Carnutes, which is believed to be the centre of all Gaul, in a sacred place. To that spot are gathered from everywhere all persons that have quarrels, and they abide by their judgments and decrees. It is believed that this institution was founded in Britannia, and thence transplanted into Gaul. Even nowadays, those who wish to become more intimately acquainted with the institution generally go to Britannia for instruction's sake.
'The Druids take no part in warfare; nor do they pay taxes like the rest of the people; they are exempt from military service, and from all public burdens. Attracted by such rewards, many come to be instructed by their own choice, while others are sent by their parents. They are reported to learn in the school a great number of verses, so that some remain there twenty years. They think it an unhallowed thing to commit their lore to writing, though in the other public and private affairs of life they frequently make use of the Greek alphabet. . . . Beyond all things, they are desirous to inspire a belief that men's souls do not perish, but trans-migrate after death from one individual to another; and they hold that people are thereby most strongly urged to bravery, as the fear of death is thus destroyed. Besides, they hold a great many discourses about the stars and their motion, about the size of the world and of various countries, about the nature of things, about the power and might of the immortal gods; and they instruct the youths in these subjects.'
It is easy to comprehend that this powerful priesthood did all it could to uphold the national cause against the Roman conquerors, and urged the people to rebellion; so much so, that the Emperor Claudius found it necessary to interdict formally the practising of Druidical rites, which seem, however, to have continued down to the extinction of paganism. Besides being priests and teachers of religion, the Druids appear also to have been adepts in the magic arts, and were versed in the mysterious powers of animals and plants. The oak-tree was especially sacred among the Druids. In oak-groves they frequently performed their rites, and many have even derived their name from this custom. They also had a special reverence for the mistletoe, when growing on an oak. According to Pliny, a Druid, clothed in white, mounted the tree, and with a knife of gold, cut the mistletoe, which was received by another, standing on the ground, in his white robe. The same author gives a curious account of the 'serpent's egg,' worn as a distinguishing badge by the Druids. It was formed, he says, by the poisonous spittle of a great many serpents twined together. Gathered at moonlight, and afterwards worn in the bosom, it was a mighty talisman. All these particulars refer properly to the Druids of Gaul, but Cæsar's testimony leaves no doubt that the Druidism of Britain was essentially the same. According to Whitley Stokes, the Druids never were in Ireland a hierarchy or separate class, as they are said to have been in Britain; but merely a species of wizards, enchanters, or sorcerers.
In all the countries anciently inhabited by Celts, there are found rude structures of stone, one of the most common forms of which is the so-called Dolmen (q.v.). The older archaeologists—e.g. Stukeley—assumed that these were Druidical altars, but there is no proof that such was their destination or origin: similar structures are found in Scandinavia and other parts of the Continent. The same doubts prevail as to the larger monuments of this kind—the supposed Druidical temples of Carnac in Brittany, and of Stonehenge (q.v.; and see STANDING STONES). Speaking more generally, the historians and archaeologists of the present day do not profess to know nearly so much about the Druids as did those who wrote concerning them in a previous generation. See Professor Rhys's Celtic Heathendom (1888).