It is known that the Phoenicians had colonized Britain at least 1000
years B.C., and doubtless they would bring with them their form of
worship, their gods being the sun, the moon, and fire. We may here find
a very early source for the institution of sun-worship in these islands,
if we can believe that such a very partial colonization as was effected
by the Phoenicians could work a religious similarity throughout the
entire island. I think it probable that sun-worship existed before the
Phoenicians came to the island, but they may have elevated its practice.
Following the writer in the _Encyclopedia Metropolitana_, we are told
that in addition to their worship of the sun, the Druids "held sacred
the spirits of their ancestors, paid great honour to mountains, lakes,
and groves. Groves of oak were their temples, and their places of
worship were open to heaven, such as stone circles. They had also a
ceremony of baptism, dipping in the sacred lake, as an initiatory rite,
and had also a sacrament of bread and wine. They paid great reverence to
the egg of the serpent, the seed of the oak, and above all, the
mistletoe that grew upon the oak; and they offered in sacrifice to the
sun and fire, men and animals.
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