IRISH ETHNO-BOTANY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Out of the shades of history and from the babel of tradition 

 we must collect the fragments that will serve to build the 

 Ethno -Botany of the Celts. 



The religion of early Ireland consisted largely of nature 

 worship. 



The primitive Celt sought everywhere for An Ti Ta (He 

 who is). As a follower of the Druids, he worshipped groves, 

 and held in veneration the oak and the mistletoe. The moun- 

 tains, rivers and seas claimed his attention, and were objects 

 which called forth his greater Naturism. These again he 

 peopled with Naiads, Dryads, Fauns and Fairies. His pan- 

 theon extended " to the seas around and to the skies above." 



These pagans were not barbarians, and Christianity crys- 

 talised rapidly out of the flux. The Druids taught them the 

 immortality and transmigration of the soul, but animism 

 mainly formed their naive, philosophy. The religion of the 

 country, then, was an indefinite mysticism, and with nature- 

 worship as the dominant devotion, the transition to Chris- 

 tianity was accomplished with ease. 



These pagan " listeners in the woods " had actually blazed 

 the trail for their more dogmatic yet very similar followers. 

 The first Irish Christians lived their lives and loved their 

 Coitfvoe i\& nX)Aome (Lord of Folk) at the feet of nature. 

 St. Columban, like his predecessors, sensed the Sabbath of 

 the woods and fields, and tells us that his profession was " to 

 be always on the alert to find God in nature." 



