Druids, and Why We Need Them in 2021

And why the humanities suck

Monday night, my partner and I watched a video on YouTube about Celtic druids and who they really were. He and I have gotten really into YouTube history channels lately, and we initially thought, “Hell yes. Ancient wizards.”

I wasn’t expecting to feel a familiar chill down my spine in the first few moments of the video.

The first thing you learn is that we know little about druids, and almost all of what we know comes from Roman sources.

The problem with this is Rome wanted to do away with the druids. And in the video, a reason given is because druids and Romans disagreed on how land ownership should work. Rome thought a person or state could lay claim to pieces of land, while the druids took a communal approach. Basically, what we know about druids is largely distorted by Roman propaganda and isn’t reliable.

However, we know enough to know they weren’t long white-bearded wizards. In fact, women were druids too. The image we have of a druid is mythical and supernatural, which seems cool today!

The video never says this directly, but they were humanists. They were in charge of passing down stories to make sure they stayed alive. And…