C. 600, and dedicated it to the goddess
_Stranoe_. This, however, could not affect the inhabitants of Britain,
at least not until the Roman invasion, and this influence did not reach
our northern counties. There can be little doubt, I think, that the
great festival of the Romans, the Saturnalia, held in honour of
_Saturn_, the father of the gods, and which lasting seven days,
including the winter solstice, was introduced into this country, and in
course of time became identified with the Druidical festival of the
natives. Other elements conspired to modify the ancient druidical
festival. After the Romans withdrew their armies from the island at the
commencement of the fifth century, other invaders took their place.
Saxons, Jutes, Angles, and Normans occupied large tracts of the country;
but as these were mostly all sun-worshippers, their festivals and
ceremonies would, for the most part, coincide with the native usages,
and whatever peculiarities they might bring with them in the matter of
formulas, would take root in the localities where they were settled, and
eventually the indigenous and introduced formulas would coalesce.
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