Page:Book Of Halloween(1919).djvu/29

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
 
THE CELTS
11
"And the potent adder-stone

Gender'd 'fore the autumnal moon
When in undulating twine

The foaming snakes prolific join."

Mason: Caractacus.

It was real glass, blown by the Druids themselves. It was supposed to aid the wearer in winning lawsuits and securing the favor of kings.

An animal sacred to the Druids was the cat.

"A slender black cat reclining on a chain of old silver" guarded treasure in the old days. For a long time cats were dreaded by the people because they thought human beings had been changed to that form by evil means.

The chief festivals of the Druids fell on four days, celebrating phases of the sun's career. Fires of sacrifice were lighted especially at spring and midsummer holidays, by exception on November 1st.

May Day and November Day were the more important, the beginning and end of summer, yet neither equinoxes nor solstices.