. What the world believes, the false and the true, embracing the people of all races and nations, their peculiar teachings, rites, ceremonies, from the earliest pagan times to the present, to which is added an account of what the world believes today, by countries. ne vast regions of ice, situated under the North Pole, theentrance to which was guarded by the dog of darkness, simi-lar to the Grecian Cerberus. Loke, the evil genius, who wasthe cruel enemy of gods and men, with his daughter Hela,the goddess of death; the giantess Angherbode, the mes-senger of evil; the wolf Femis, a monster, drea
. What the world believes, the false and the true, embracing the people of all races and nations, their peculiar teachings, rites, ceremonies, from the earliest pagan times to the present, to which is added an account of what the world believes today, by countries. ne vast regions of ice, situated under the North Pole, theentrance to which was guarded by the dog of darkness, simi-lar to the Grecian Cerberus. Loke, the evil genius, who wasthe cruel enemy of gods and men, with his daughter Hela,the goddess of death; the giantess Angherbode, the mes-senger of evil; the wolf Femis, a monster, dreaded by thegods, as destined to be their destruction, and the equallyformidable serpent, resided in this gloomy abode, which hasbeen described by Gray, in his Descent of Odin. T^ CELTS ATO) DKUIDS. We now come to the religion of the Celts, which was alsothat of the ancient Germans and Gauls. The Celtic priestswere called Druids. All the Celtic nations, like the earlyScythians, performed their religious ceremonies in sacredgroves ; and they regarded the oak and the mistletoe grow-ing upon it with peculiar reverence. Their principal deitieswere—Teulates, the god of war ; Dis, the god of the infernalregions, and the Pluto of after times ; and Andate, the god-. o CD JS5 JZ5© CQ EH <i CO s Q o o © CmO wo a Cm PRIVILEGES OF THE DRUIDS. 93 dess of victory. The god of war was the divinity of the great-est importance; upon his altars human victims were sacri-ficed ; and though criminals were deemed the most accepta-ble offerings, innocent persons were frequently immolated. Druid is derived from the word deru, which in the Celticlanguage signifies an oak : because their usual abode was inwoods. These priests were most highly revered ; they werereferred to in all civil as well as religious matters; and sogreat was their influence in the State, that even kings couldnot ascend the throne without their approbation. They weredivided into four classes—druids, bards, sarronides, and vat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectreligions, bookyear18
