Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

Sim- Worship.
i q -
People used to be out early on Easter Sunday to see the
sun dance in honour of the Resurrection.
The sun and moon, according to the CJironicles of St.
Coluniba, were to be seen on an altar of glass in the
temple of the Tuath-de-Danaan, in Tyrconnal. For
centuries, an Irish oath was accompanied with the hand
on forehead, and the eyes turned to the sun. The round
mounds, or Raths, enclosing the round dwelling, related
to early sun-worship ;
the same may be said of the tradition
that the battle of Ventry, between the Fenians and their
foes, lasted 366 days.
Hecateus mentions the Hyperboreans of an island north
of Gaul worshipping the sun. Diodorus speaivs of the
island's idolatry, saying, "The citizens are given up to
music, harping, and chanting in honour of the sun." In
Walker's Bards, we read of the Feast of Samhuin, or the
moon, in the temple of Tiachta. "The moon," says
jMonier Williams, the great Vedas authority, "is but a
form of the sun."
The circular dance in honour of the sun was derived
from the East. Lucian says "it consisted of a dance
imitating this god" (the sun). The priests of Baal indulged
in it. A Druid song has this account—" Ruddy
was the sea-beach while the circular revolution was performed
by the attendants, and the white bands in graceful
extravagance."
An ancient sculpture at Glendalough represents the
long-haired Apollo, or Sun, attended by his doves.
These
were sun-images in Erin. In 2 Chron. xiv. 5, we read of
Asa putting "away out of all cities of Judah the high
places and the images"; or sun-images of the Revised
Version.
At the Lucaid-lamJi-fada, or festival of lo\'e, from
Aug. I to Aug. 16, games were held in honour of the sun