And Hecate (whose triple form surveys
And guards from rapine the nocturnal path)
Entwined with boughs of Oak her spiral snakes.”—Tighe.
Like the Greeks and Romans, the Scandinavians, in their mythology, traced the origin of mankind from either the Ash or the Oak. By the Teutons and Celts the Oak was invested with a mystical sacred character, and it was connected with the worship of their god Teutates. Among the German people, who consecrated the Oak to the god Thunar, the cultus of the sacred tree lingered for a long time, even after Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, at Geismar, on the Weser, had caused the Oak consecrated to the god of thunder to be uprooted. After the establishment of Christianity, the Oak was long supposed to be the abiding-place of the terrible Northern god, and was, consequently, regarded with superstitious awe. Bishop Otho, of Bamberg, in the year 1128, found at Stettin pagan temples, situate near an Oak and a fountain, which had been objects of worship, and were still regarded with superstitious awe, as being consecrated to a god. As the good bishop could not induce the people to cut down these sacred Oaks, he persuaded them that they were inhabited by evil spirits and demons; and, in course of time, the people who before had prostrated themselves before the trees, shunned them in superstitious dread and terror.
The ancient Britons dedicated the Oak to Taranis, their god of thunder; and the Celts, under the form of an Oak, are by some authorities stated to have worshipped Baal, the god of fire. On the occasion of an auto-da-fé, we are told that fagots of “grey” Oak were always selected. The festival of Baal was kept at Yule (Christmas); and on the anniversary, the Druids are said to have ordained that every fire should be extinguished, and then re-lighted with the sacred fire, which, in their sacerdotal character, they always kept burning. In this rite, it is supposed, may be traced the origin of the Yule-log, the kindling of which, at Christmas-time, is still kept up in England, though in this country the log is often of Ash. Among the Germans, Czechs, Serbs, and Italians, however, the Yule-log is always of Oak.
The Mistletoe which grew on an Oak was regarded by the Druids as the most holy; it was beneath the shade of venerated Oaks that they performed their sacred rites; and when they offered up human sacrifices, the victims, in grim mockery, were crowned with Oak-leaves. The baskets in which they were immolated were composed of Oaken twigs, and the brands with which the sacrificial fires were kindled were cut from Oak-trees. The priests scattered branches of the Oak upon the altars, and after the sacrifice fresh Oak-leaves were cast upon the blood-stained stones.
Alluding to the human sacrifices which polluted the recesses of the Druidic groves of Oak, and caused them to be regarded with shuddering terror, Tighe says:—
“Such groves in night terrific wrapt the gods
Of Gaul, where fostering nymph dared never tread,
Nor sylvan deity; no bird here couched