A druid was a member of the priestly class among the Celtic peoples of Gaul, Britain, Galicia, Ireland, and possibly elsewhere during the Iron Age. Very little is known about the ancient druids. They left no written accounts of themselves and the only evidence is a few descriptions left by Greek, Roman and various scattered authors and artists, as well as stories created by later medieval Irish writers. While archaeological evidence has been uncovered pertaining to the religious practices of the Iron Age people, 'not one single artefact or image has been unearthed that can undoubtedly be connected with the ancient Druids.'
Various recurring themes emerge in a number of the Greco-Roman accounts of the druids, including that they performed human sacrifice, believed in a form of reincarnation, and held a high position in Gaulish society. Next to nothing is known about their cultic practice, except for the ritual of oak and mistletoe as described by Pliny the Elder.
The earliest known reference to the druids dates to 200 BCE, although the oldest actual description comes from the Roman military general Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallice (50s BCE). Later Greco-Roman writers also described the druids, including Cicero,Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, druidism was suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and it had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century.
In about 750 CE the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac, who wrote about Jesus, saying that he was '…better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage.' The druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the Táin Bó Cúailnge, where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity.
In the anime Origins, druids appear to be a form of nature spirits that help the forests ofthe world to grow after a world wide disaster causes the moon to explode and civilisation to revert back to times of trading and no technology. The druids control the amount of water taken from the forest to give to the villagers.
Modern Day Druids:
[[image is of neo-druid symbol]]
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidry by many adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment. Many forms of modern Druidry are Neopagan religions, whereas some are instead seen as philosophies that are not necessarily religious in nature. Originating in Britain during the 18th century, Druidry was originally a cultural movement, only gaining religious or spiritual connotations in the 19th century.
The core principle of Druidry is respect and veneration of nature, and as such it often involves participation in the environmental movement. Another prominent belief amongst modern Druids is the veneration of ancestors, particularly those who belonged to prehistoric societies.In the first half of the twentieth century, modern Druids developed fraternal organizations modeled on Freemasonry that employed the romantic figure of the British Druids and Bards as symbols of indigenous British spirituality. Some of these groups were purely fraternal and cultural, creating traditions from the national imagination of Britain. Others merged with contemporary movements such as the physical culture movement and naturism. Since the 1980s some modern druid groups have adopted similar methodologies to those of Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism in an effort to create a more historically accurate practice.
