78 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
announced the coming of the period by a general proclamation, when all 
the people collected in the woods between Chartres and Dreux. 
The ceremonies commenced with a solemn procession, headed by a choir 
of bards, whose chief business it was to sing hymns during the sacrifices ; 
then came those who had to slay the victims, and the soothsayers. At a 
little distance followed two white oxen, the victims for the day. A herald 
marched behind them, dressed ina white garment, with a winged helmet 
upon his head, and holding in his hand a branch of verbena, around which 
‘two serpents twined, giving it the appearance of a caduceus; to him were 
confided the novices or those young men who were prepared for initiation, 
and who walked behind their guide. Then came the three oldest Druids, 
one carrying the bread about to be offered on the altar, another a vessel 
filled with water, and the third an ivory hand fastened to a staff, the symbol — 
of justice. The high priest, with the rest of the Druids, closed the proces- 
sion, and the nobles and. people brought up the rear. When they had 
arrived at the foot of the oak upon which the mistletoe grew they halted, 
and the high priest made a short prayer, burned the bread, and then 
poured the water upon the fire. The morsels of the bread and portions of 
the water left in the jar were then divided among the bystanders. After 
that, the high priest ascended the tree and severed the misletoe from it 
with a knife shaped like a sickle, and threw it down on the outspread gar- 
ment of one of the Druids, who fora short time held the sacred plant 
aloft so that all could see it, and then deposited it upon the altar, where 
every one was permitted to examine the precious boon. After the high 
priest had descended from the tree he again made a short prayer, and 
terminated the ceremonies of the search by sacrificing the two white oxen. 
The mistletoe was then handed to the Druids of lower rank, who in the 
course of the day distributed small pieces of it among the people as a new- 
year’s gift. It is difficult to determine what may have been the meaning 
of this ceremony, or its allusion. It has been the subject of much inquiry and 
a great deal of research, but nothing definite has as yet been ascertained. 
A late French mythologian thinks that he has discovered a solution in 
the myth of the death of Laldwr, mentioned in the Scandinavian mythology. 
He says: “The religion of the Druids was not confined to the Gauls, it 
was also introduced among the Germans, Britons, and Scandinavians, and 
after it had been already extinguished in Gaul, Germany, and Britain, it 
was still preserved in the north as late as the twelfth century. During this 
period they collected in the Edda all the dogmas, customs, and rules, pre- 
viously only transmitted by oral lessons. Now, the myth of Baldur’s death, 
found in the Edda, offers a solution to this problem. For the search after 
the mistletoe and its subsequent destruction are intended to deprive the god 
of darkness (Loke) of the means to kill the god of light (the sun). And the 
distribution of small pieces of the mistletoe was to provide pious souls with 
amulets to protect them against the wicked temptations of Loke.” 
Others say that the mistletoe was considered a medicinal plant of great 
virtue, and a decoction was made of it, which was a powerful antidote 
against poison, and imparted fecundity to every living being. 
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