Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Irish Gods.
I ^i
on the Isle. The holy ground is used as a cemetery
; but
the males are buried apart from the females. For some
reason, a wooden image of St. Molos is placed there for
the regard of worshippers.
As is well known, the snake has been associated with
amatory sentiments in nearly all countries, and has for
thousands of years been a favourite form of ornament
with women. Now, opposite this island, once given up to
sexual worship, the limestone coast has been worn into
shapes often tortuous or serpentine. Tradition asserts
that this is the spot where St. Patrick cast the snakes of
Ireland into the sea ;
that is to say, in other words, that
Christianity extirpated the libidinous deities.
Irish literature notices the presence of two religious sects
once existing in the country ;
viz. those who adored fire,
and those who adored water. The first were Baalitcs ; the
second Lirites. The SamJiaisgs were of the one, and
Szvans of the other. O' Kearney, in his observations upon
this peculiarity of the past, incidentally shows the antiquity
of faction fights in Ireland ;
saying, " It is probable
that very violent contentions were once carried on in the
Island by the partizans of the rival religions, who were
accustomed to meet, and decide their quarrels, at the place
set apart for battles." In later and Christian times, when
Ireland had a multitude of independent bishops, under
no ecclesiastical supervision, disputes of a more or less
theological kind are said by the ancient historians to
have been settled by their followers in the same
fashion.
As the population of Ireland is, perhaps, the most
mixed, in racial descent, of any in the world, it is not
surprising that this Island should exhibit a greater variety
of religions, several of which have left their traces in the
traditions and superstitions of out-of-the-way localities.