DruidsBook

In the process of writing and researching Druids, it became quickly obvious that most of what we know today about the Celts, and druids in particular, was written by people who didn’t like them.  Julius Caesar, for instance, was not a huge fan of the Celts.  In the sequel to Druids we suggest what might have set Caesar on an eventual course of conquest over the Gauls.  It’s a logical, albeit entirely fictional rationale for Caesar’s quest to eradicate druids.  In reality, he needed a reason to stay out of Rome so he wouldn’t be arrested and charged with crimes against the state.  The Celts were handy.  Largely disorganized and often nomadic, they were a fairly easy target.

The propaganda machines were cranked up (Caesar’s own aggrandizing commentary still serves as an “instructional” document); the legions were dispatched, and the Gauls were crushed, tribe by tribe.  Along the way, the druids were demonized.  That’s hardly surprising given their role in holding Celtic culture together.  Wipe out the educated class of any society and it will collapse.

I recently watched a History Channel production about druids.  They reported that new evidence had been uncovered suggesting that the ancient Celts practiced cannibalism, and they had one site in Wales and a handful of bones to back up the claim.  As I recall, Pliny is also cited as an expert on the topic.  Wow.  If the tribulations of the pioneering Donner party were treated the same way, would that make me a cannibal?  I’m American, after all, and so was the Donner party.  No, I wasn’t trapped and starving in a mountain pass like they were, but we share a heritage.

The Celts had some beliefs we would find uber strange today.  Barb and I tried to put some of that strangeness in perspective in our books.  Only you can determine if we succeeded.  And please, feel free to let us know!  I can only imagine how strange the Celts would think we are.