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Druids
There are small pockets of people today who are practicing Druids. They were a member of a class of priests active in Gaul who were suppressed by the Roman Government between the 1st and 2nd centuries. Very little evidence today exists about the religion and thus little can be said regarding them with assurance. It is known that they held the cultural repository of knowledge in an oral tradition, using poetic verse as a mnemonic device and to ensure the fidelity of the transmission of knowledge over time. Most of what is known about them comes from the Roman writers. Similar to the monks of the Christian era following, they combined the duties of priest, judge, scholar, and teacher.
The core points of the doctrine reported in Roman sources is their belief in metempsychosis, and their practice of human sacrifice. Modern attempts at reconstructing, reinventing or reimagining their practices in the wake of Celtic revivalism are known as Neo-druidism. It was reported that instruction was secret, and was carried on in caves and forests. The lore consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart. Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete the course of study.
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