Druids

There was an article in yesterday's Guardian on the formation of the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) in 1963. Basically, Carleton College, Minnesota, required students to attend six or so 'spiritually good for you' events a term, such as religious services or 'improving' lectures. A group of students hatched a plan to invent their own religion and attempt to get credit for attending its services: "After all, any religion we invent is no more or less true than any other religion".

They settled on being druids, but didn't know anything about them, so called themselves 'reformed druids'. They built an altar in the college's arboretum, called upon the Earth mother, passed around the waters of life (watered-down whiskey, in a clear violation of the college's alcohol policy), and published an open letter to the dean of students asking how the college could call any established religion more valid than any other. They never received an answer, but the religion requirement was abandoned within the year.

Despite being established in jest, some people apparently found the RDNA useful, and it and a 1980s breakaway sect, Ár nDraíocht Féin ('Our Own Magic' according to Google Translate), continue to exist. Hey ho.

>1 Cynfelyn: This is wonderful!
(I call myself a Zen Druid.)

Back in the 1980s when I was trying to select a college, I gave serious consideration to Carleton because I knew the RDNA history!

>1 Cynfelyn: I am pleased to say that Howard Cherniack, the fellow who suggested druidry, is one of my closest friends. He suggested druidry because his parents, both Reform Jews, would tell people who came proselytising that they were druids, to put them off. It worked well.

>4 MaelBrigde: What a wonderful thing. Maybe I should hang a sign stating this in front of my house to keep the Jehovah's Witnesses away.

>5 clamairy: Maybe! Depends on your town. Will it attract unwelcome attention? Pickets? Eggs? Or smiles?

I've heard of a "Reformed Druid Church" from many years ago. The "reformed" part meant they didn't practice human sacrifice.

I have a friend who recently retired as Archdruid for Ár nDraíocht Féin. When he's giving a talk on modern Druidry, he holds up a paper bag and says "This bag contains all the writings of the ancient Druids." He upends it and nothing comes out. Everything we have was written by outsiders like Julius Caesar, and they all had axes to grind, making them unreliable.
Druids: A History by Ronald Hutton is an entertaining, if scholarly, read on the odd uses people have put Druidry to through the ages.

>8 zkemner:

You make it sound like there is an opposition between scholarship and entertainment?

Hutton is a scholar I would trust on this topic, and he is usually quite entertaining.