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were adorned with horns. Roman altars, or coins, are 
scarcely ever without them. Moses' altar had four horns. 
Pictures of ancient gods and heroes were commonly adorned 
with horns. In fact, horns were an ensign or mark of power 
and dignity. Medals of Serapis, Isis, Jupiter Amnion, and 
Bacchus have horns. Clem. Alex, states that Alexander 
wore horns as a token of Divine extraction. Eusebius states 
that Astarte wore bull's horns as an ensign of royalty. 
There can be no doubt from this, that the bull or heifer, and, 
in after times, the ram, were emblems of deity — most pro- 
bably of the sun. The origin of this is not difficult to 
conceive. The words of Virgil supply a cue, viz., "Aperit 
cum cornibus annum Taurus." We have already stated that 
the Gaelic for May is "first month," that the first of May 
was the Bealtane, and that the other great festival was on 
the first of November. These were, of old, the vernal and 
autumnal equinoxes. Years gone by (which must be calcu- 
lated by the precession of the equinoxes), the sun entered 
the sign Taurus, at the vernal equinox : hence the bull 
became an emblem of the sun. So again, when the equinox 
ceased to be in Taurus, and took place in Aries, the equinoc- 
tial festival was changed from May to April — hence the ram 
also became a symbol of the sun. We have remains of these 
festivals in Britain. The May-pole (perhaps originally a grove 
or phallus), with its garlands and ribbons (the hangings for 
the grove) ; the May queen (originally the queen of heaven), 
witb the dances and rejoicings — these are remains of bull- 
worship. So also the sport of making "April fools" is the 
remains of the ram. And these are by no means confined 
to Britain. The Rev. Mr. Maurice, in his Antiquities of 
India, has shown that the May festival was an ancient one 
in India, Egypt, and Phenicia, In India it is now celebrated 
in honour of Bhavani, " Venus Generatrix," a personification 
of vernal nature. A May-pole is erected, decorated with 
