332 



Taliesin, Aneurin, Llywarch, Hen, Merddin, &c., who were themselves professed 

 Druids. One of these old poems, the " Chair of Taliesin " ( Kadeir Taliesin* ) furnishes 

 a long list of the apparatus requisite for the due celebration of the feast of the Cerid- 

 wen, and there we find the Mistletoe mentioned as one of the ingredients of the 

 celebrated " Mystical Cauldron " which was always prepared with the most careful 

 and elaborate ceremony. From this Cauldron, Genius, Inspiration, Science, 

 and Immortality, were supposed to be derived. " It pvu-ified the votaries of 

 Druidism for the celebration of certain mystical Rites which commemorated the 

 preservation of mankind in the ark, and the great renovation of nature." I give 

 the passage in the poem, with Mr. Davies' literal translation, and the explanatory 

 note he has appended to it. 



" Dawn ei lif Dofydd 

 Neu pren puraurf fydd 

 Ffrwythlawn ei gynnydd 

 Rei ias berwidydd 

 Oedd uch pair pumwydd." 



(Kadeir Taliesin.) 



" a flood which has the gift of Dovydd, or the. tree of pure gold which becomes of a 

 frqctifying quality, when that Brewer gives it a boiling who presided over the 

 cauldron of the five plants." 



There is no mention made in the poem of any particular tree, from which the 

 Mistletoe was to be gathered, nor of the ceremony requisite for so doing, but there 

 can be little doubt from other authorities, that it must have been from the Oak. 

 " Nor must the admiration of the Gauls for the Mistletoe be unnoticed," says 

 Pliny. " The Druids (thus they call their chief-priests) hold nothing in greater 

 veneration than the Mistletoe, and the tree on which it grows, provided only, 

 that it be the Oak. They select groves of Oak trees, standing by themselves, and 

 perform no sacred ceremonies without green oak foliage. Indeed, they truly 

 believe, that whenever the Mistletoe grows upon the Oak, it has been sent from 

 heaven, and they consider it a sign of a chosen tree, j: But the Mistletoe is very 

 rarely found upon the Oak. When it is discovered, they proceed to collect it with 

 very great devotion and ceremony, and especially on the sixth day of the Moon. 

 This period of the Moon's age, when it has sufficient size without having attained 



■* This poem Mr. Davies thinks from internal evidence, dates '* long before the sixth century, 

 in an age when the Britons were iicquainted with the Romans, but whilst Rome iiseif as yet was 

 Pagan. Not a single Christian idea is introduced : on the contrary, we find an open profession 

 of viorshif>pin^ the Moon, in a general concou7-se of men, and the lore of the Dtuids is declared 

 to be meet tor Sovereign princes." (p. 280.) 



t Note. — " PrenPuraur, the tree of pure gold — the Mistletoe — VirgiTs Aurum frondens. and 

 ramus aureus — which the Arch-Druid gathered with a golden hook. Amongst the extraordinary 

 reported virtues ot this plant, was that mentioned by our Bard, of promoting the increase of the 

 species, or preventing sterility. The names of the Mistletoe in the Welsh language preserve the 

 memoiial of its ancient dignity. It is called /"?•<?« Awyr, the Etht-rial tree; I'rcn Uchclvar, 

 tr e of the high summit ; and has four other names derived from Vchcl, or lofty." (page 280.) 



t Mr. Davies in his Celtic researches say> that " the Apple was the next most sacred tree to 

 the Oak. and that orchards were planted in the vicinity of the sacred groves." (Mr. Lees in 

 Phytologist, 1851, p. 357.) But in his " Botanical Looker Out" it is said that Mistletoe from 

 the Hazel was preferred by the Druids, next to that from the 0.ik, but on what authority I 

 know not. 



