Grinch Corner

Aren't the Druids a fairly recent invention?

 

There were the original Celtic druids and then there is the modern reimagined druids which started with some Victorian toffs.

 

The original druids fled before the Romans and ended up in remote places like Anglesey. The Romans recognised their power and influence over the natives and set out to kill them all. The old ones knew about the turning of the year and the cycles of seasons and the signs to regulate sowing, harvesting etc and keep their peoples alive and fed as well as plant medicines to heal.

Modern day druids are, at best, an approximation and, given recent archaeological finds, way off the mark.

 

That sums up the status of our society right there! Commerce cashing in, traditions morphed beyond recognition, and consumers having more money than sense. I’ve always said - buy a bar of chocolate if you want some chocolate.

 

Thank you @AuntyRach for clarification, I did not know about know about the 5thJan wise men significance.

 

@AuntyRach, worryingly, even a simple bar of chocolate is in peril. Because the price of cocoa has risen dramatically due to poor harvests, food manufacturers have been looking for cheaper alternatives and have found a way to make fake cocoa in a lab!

is nothing sacred?

 

Ah! Not a pedant, then. Phew, mops brow in huge relief

 

I think all the ancient cultures who measured time by the sun/daylength and moon phases instead of calendars and clocks would have noticed and celebrated when the days started getting longer again. Our modern Christmas/midwinter "traditions" have incorporated bits and pieces from many of them - probably impossible to disentangle them!