Roman genocide of Druids
Originally published Sept 5 2020 in my Facebook page.
Today I learned more about the Roman genocide of Indigenous Britannia (modern day Britain).
The Druids were the fiercely patriotic native priesthood, loyal to the soil of Britannia. They traveled freely among all the tribes and were welcome everywhere because they were so respected and held in awe. They would certainly have been inspiring tribes to resist the colonizers, and sharing Indigenous spiritual tools to do so.
The Romans knew they could never control Britannia - and all Britannia's rich resources of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, wood - without eliminating the native priesthood who united the tribes.
The Romans spread stories about the Druids. They said they sacrificed people, were barbaric, were evil, and they must be stopped to protect the people of Britannia. We'll never know if any of those stories about the Druids are true because the Romans wiped them all out and flattened their stronghold on Anglesey. Isn't that convenient for the Romans? They destroyed the entire Druid epistemological heritage because the Druids were forbidden to write down their knowledge and passed everything on orally. Since other Druids in Europe traveled to Britannia to learn, this effectively wiped out the Druids for all Europe for all time.
It hurts to know it.
As a descendant of Mother India who was born on British soil, I have always seen part of my duty as learning the history of my adopted Mother and trying to help her heal. The British empire was evil but Britain's soil is not. Her soil is sacred. I lived in Wales for three years as a student because I wanted to learn more about what Britain was like when she used to be Indigenous.
The truth is that we will probably never know because the Romans committed epistemicide against Indigenous Britannia. Unless those descendants of the Britons rise up and take back their heritage, we will definitely never know.
What we see as Druid today is nonsense 19th century romanticization that was colored by white supremacy and Christian patriarchy.
Descendants of the Britons, pray to your Druid ancestors. Ask them to tell you who you are. Ask them to tell you what you should do. Then do it. That is really the only hope we have of healing Britain. And we must heal Britain. The collective historical trauma of the British is what has caused so much misery to so many people around the world. First the Romans, then the Saxons, then the Vikings, then the Normans. Britain was invaded and colonized four times over and since the very first invasion has not known who they even were. So Britain went and forced their pain onto the whole world. We can't stop this cycle of violence until we get to the root of it.
History didn't begin 500 years ago. Wake up.