Читать книгу 366 Celt: A Year and A Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore - Carl McColman - Страница 27

Just as the eighteenth century druid revival began in a pub, another humorous chapter in the history of the druids dates to 1960s North America. At Carleton College in Minnesota, students were required to attend chapel regularly—unless they were participants in the regular religious ceremonies of a non-Christian religion. So in 1963 a group of clever students organized a “druid grove,” mainly so that they could skip chapel and hang out in the woods. The college, perhaps sensitive to the satirical nature of this assembly, dropped the chapel requirements shortly thereafter—but the druids found that their organization thrived, no longer as a form of ironic protest but as a genuine (if somewhat anarchic) spiritual movement. This organization, known as the Reformed Druids of North America, eventually inspired other, more earnest druid groups, such as the Henge of Keltria or Ár nDraíocht Féin. Meanwhile, across the ocean, British druids were undergoing a similar process of transformation from the secular fraternal groups of old, to younger, hipper, more pagan-identified communities that characterize the new face of druidry for tomorrow.

And so the druids continue their process of reinvention. What will the future hold?