No group in British history is more shrouded in mystery than the druids. The Greek and Latin sources that discuss them leave more questions than answers.
The druids were the guardians of Celtic culture and tradition. Within Celtic society they performed the roles of historians, religious leaders, judges and medicine-men. All of their knowledge was based on an oral tradition that was passed from one generation to the next in the form of verse. To learn the druidic lore, people would go to one of the special druid learning centres, the most famous of which was based on the island of Anglesey on the north-west tip of Wales. However, since none of the lore was ever committed to writing, it has all been lost to history.
It is safe to assume that much of this lore had to do with the religious beliefs of the Celtic people, which, though it contained entities referred to as "gods", is probably more accurately described as animistic. The Celts worshiped the various forms of nature: plants, animals, and the changing of the seasons. They were a deeply superstitious people and believed that constant sacrifices were needed to keep nature appeased. Although some ancient sources claim the Celts practiced human sacrifice, this cannot be proven one way or the other. The Celts do seem to have believed in some kind of reincarnation.
As the Romans began their conquest of the Celts, they were particularly aggressive in finding and executing the druids as part of a concerted effort to stamp out Celtic culture. As the Romans marched across Gaul, more and more druids fled to the safety of Britain. This is probably one reason why Britain seems to have had a stronger druidic tradition than the continent.
Even in Britain the druids were not safe. Eventually the Romans came, overran the area now known as England and pushed into Wales. The druids made their final stand on the isle of Anglesey, fighting to the bitter end against the Romans.
It is possible, and perhaps even likely, that some druids and druidic lore survived the Roman conquest, and a few ancient sources even mention the druids at later times. But in the main, the Druids and much of the cultural tradition of the Celts was wiped out.
(As a side note: Despite the popular mythology of today, the Druids had virtually nothing to do with the ancient stone circles of Britain. The circles pre-date the druids by thousands of years. It is possible that the druids may have used the circles as meeting places, or places to perform ceremonies, but even this is conjecture. This myth probably arose do to the profusion of standings stones that can be found in Wales and Anglesey.)
