Sacred groves [Widescreen]

Episode number 3 of Series “The Celts”.
The third in a six part series that discusses the history and legends of the Celtic people of Early Europe through to the year 2000, this time with a focus on the Celts of Great Britain, Ireland and Wales and the ancient pagan religion of Druidism and its translation into the present day. The program discusses the fertility rights, rituals and burial rights that formed a large part of Celtic folk tradition and their mythology about the world after death with a focus on archaeological findings of riches and human remains in burial mounds as well as in peat bogs throughout Wales. The foundation of our present day Halloween in the ancient Celtic Feast of the Dead, where the earthly and supernatural world were said to intersect with nightmarish possibilities, is given as a striking example of a softened contemporary translation of ancient folklore. To this end a study is also made of the present day translation of Celtic religion, seen as a fairly removed version of the powerful Druidism of ancient times where, firmly routed in an engagement with nature, Druids were trained for twenty years to take their position in the highest priestly caste of the three orders and where great importance was placed on poetic Bards, sacrifice and no less than 200 gods and goddesses. The Druids’ fearful appearance to the Romans is also detailed, along with the stories of Druid rebellion against Roman invasion, let down in the end by lack of organisation against the most disciplined army of the world at that time and resulting in many elements of Druidism being banned or encapsulated in Catholicism.