in an article i read....

[WaterRaven]

I was handed an article on Samhain an this is what it said of Druidism:


"The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain. These satanic priests literally controlled people's lilves through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices"


If this sounds like you let me know cause I SWEAR I never heard that before!

[Mairwen]

:rotfl:


The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain

Dunno where people keep getting or got in the first place that Samhain is an evil god of death - especially since Samhain isn't a god to begin with. 8O Maybe because Mabon is a god? Maybe? But if the Druids were Satanists, first I've heard about it ... *chuckle*


"Much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics"

The basketball team?? But seriously, if there was "much death, disease and destruction" come upon the Celts, it was by the people who tried to slaughter and otherwise eradicate all of them and tried to destroy most of their teachings and ways of life. :rolleyes:

[Yvonne Belisle]

Ignorance at it's best.

[evilslinkycat]

Originally scribbled by WaterRaven

"The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain. These satanic priests literally controlled people's lilves through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices"


~shakes head~ Yeah I've heard this line of thought before, and it still amazes me that people buy into it... no wait a minute, I take that back.



~sigh~

[Lavender]

Originally posted by Mairwen
[B...The basketball team?? But seriously, if there was "much death, disease and destruction" come upon the Celts, it was by the people who tried to slaughter and otherwise eradicate all of them and tried to destroy most of their teachings and ways of life. :rolleyes: [/B]

Death & destruction? No, I think it must be the soccer team.

[bansidhe]

ouchies, sounds like something my parents would say. where did you read that WaterRaven? *wants to assure everyone that she is not trying to be that* i hate it when everyone clssifys me as a satanist. its not like i have anything against satanists, each to their own. but i go to a christian skool (not outta choice, believe me) and this is the kinda stuf ive heard since i started. the worst thing is that some people juss accept everything they read and dont actually do the research to see if its right. as i write this, im thinking of approx 85-90% of my teachers. and i agree yvonne, it is basically just ignorance. im still glad WaterRaven came to check it out tho!!! :) see, there are nice, smart people out there!
take care and brightest blessings,
bans. :bubbles:

[Draeconin]

Originally posted by WaterRaven
I was handed an article on Samhain an this is what it said of Druidism:


"The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain. These satanic priests literally controlled people's lilves through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices"


If this sounds like you let me know cause I SWEAR I never heard that before!

The word "satan" merely means "opposer". The word's association as one of the names of the Christian Devil didn't happen until sometime after the 10th century. And since the Druidic religion pre-dated that by over 2000 years... But as opposers they *were* quite good. :)

There is NO god named Samhain, either. There *was* a minor character in one of the myths by that name, but he lasted only a paragraph or two - a brother of one of the gods was tricked into letting a rival god steal his family's prize bull. (Many of the Celtic gods attained godhood through merit - their relatives most often did not.) But there are no "Sam's" of any kind in the Indo-European god list.

There is also no "Celtic god of death". There are Celtic gods of the dead - but that is quite different.

And the druids maintained power through merit. In this area, perhaps the Christian priesthood should hold up a mirror to themselves.

[WaterRaven]

ya can u believe it?!i got that in my history class and my history teacher believed it!! i am very upset taht people hand that out it school! giving people wrong ideas. i am seriously think about taking this to my school board but i dont want to get into aby trouble. this is from the article i am going to post in teh just talk forum.

[Myst]

Originally posted by Mairwen
Dunno where people keep getting or got in the first place that Samhain is an evil god of death - especially since Samhain isn't a god to begin with.

You know where they got the idea that Samhain is an evil god and/or ghost? Ghostbusters.. the cartoon. I swear. I remember the episode. It was a Halloween special, and Samhain (pronounced, btw, Sam-hayne) was a pumpkin headed evil ghost. *giggle*

[Lavender]

Originally posted by Myst


You know where they got the idea that Samhain is an evil god and/or ghost? Ghostbusters.. the cartoon. I swear. I remember the episode. It was a Halloween special, and Samhain (pronounced, btw, Sam-hayne) was a pumpkin headed evil ghost. *giggle*

:lol: Well, if you saw it on Ghostbusters, it MUST be true! :p

[kittiepoetrygod]

Thats one of the easier ones to refute. All you have to do is have the person read it. It's rather not smart, and please ... the person could have at least done some reasearch first.

[Keron]

What a horrible "inference". Whoever wrote this failed history. Badly.

[Maggie]

Originally posted by WaterRaven
I was handed an article on Samhain an this is what it said of Druidism:


"The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain. These satanic priests literally controlled people's lilves through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices"


If this sounds like you let me know cause I SWEAR I never heard that before!

The druids couldn't have been satanists--the concept of Satan is Christian. I first saw the 'god' Samhain on a fundamentalist site in a rant against Halloween, have no idea where they got it from. The druids didn't control the peope--the king did. The druids were simply one part of celtic society. They did hold the laws and advise the king, but they never had the authority of one. Since they were also the healers, it's rather doubtful that death and disease 'came upon the Celtics (?)' by their action. Destruction came by celts warring on each other, the Roman Empire, and finally Christianity put an end to the traditional religion and therefore the druids.......

Regards,

Maggie

[Myst]

Originally posted by Wildchild
Well, if you saw it on Ghostbusters, it MUST be true! :p

Why of COURSE!

I'd file that article under G for garbage and move on happily, WaterRaven :)

[Arak]

"The Druids were satanists who worshipped and served the demonic god of death-Samhain. These satanic priests literally controlled people's lilves through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices"

I see this every year and not to worry! This is by NO means what we as Druids do today! These articles are published by very intolerant Christian groups that are actually the shame of many open-minded Christian groups and they come out every Halloween.


1. To be a Satanist, one would have to believe in Satan. As Satan is a Christian creation and not a deity recognized by our faith, that pretty much excludes any of us as Satanists.

2. There is no such God in the Celtic Pantheon called "Samhain". Samhain is old Gaelic for "Summer's End" Basically the word refers to a season or time frame, not a person, deity or place.

3. As for disease and such, Celtic doctors (Ovates in the Druid class) were among the more advanced in the way of clealiness. The Brehon laws had very strict guidelines regarding cleanliness and the Healer's workplace. Celts were the ones who introduced soap and aeseptic techniques to the Romans and Greeeks who were still using butter on their hands in between patients. Celts were the only ones who washed their hands between patients, thus preventing the spread of disease.

The Druids also took many years of training in a wide variety of healing arts from psychology, herbology and surgery. It was the Christians that abhorred the idea of healing disease as it was "God's will" that disease happened. With the advent of Christianity in Europe came the dark ages and consequently the plague and other diseases that were kept at bay by the Celts.

The Druids and their practises were actually what kept disease away from the people. Washing hands in between patients and such were concepts not seen again used by Doctors until the late 19th Century.

Blessings,
Arak /|\

[Twig]

Originally posted by WaterRaven
ya can u believe it?!i got that in my history class and my history teacher believed it!! i am very upset taht people hand that out it school! giving people wrong ideas. i am seriously think about taking this to my school board but i dont want to get into aby trouble. this is from the article i am going to post in teh just talk forum.

Your history teacher believed it? Hmmmm, :rolleyes: Perhaps you could lead him/her to this forum and we can compare the historical facts? ;)

They would always be welcome here in the spirit of truth and peace.

Twig
:elf: