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95-580: Hutton & Co. was a sickle , scythe and tool smiths based in Ridgeway, Derbyshire , England . The company was founded by The Hutton family in 1760 and operated out of a number of locations around the village. The most notable workshop was located at High Lane and was known as the Phoenix Works. During the 19th century, much of the grinding was done on the Nether Wheel . The company exported tools around

190-522: A "blade body" of wood or bone. (The majority among the well-documented specimens made later of bronze are smooth-edged.) Nevertheless, teeth have been cut with hand-held chisels into iron, and later steel-bladed sickles for a long time. In many countries on the African continent, Central and South America as well as the Near, Middle and Far East this is still the case in the regions within these large geographies where

285-710: A band of druids, who, with hands uplifted to the sky, poured forth terrible imprecations on the heads of the invaders. He says these "terrified our soldiers who had never seen such a thing before". The courage of the Romans, however, soon overcame such fears, according to the Roman historian; the Britons were put to flight, and the sacred groves of Mona were cut down. Tacitus is also the only primary source that gives accounts of druids in Britain, but portrays them negatively, as ignorant savages. In

380-590: A categorization subsequently adopted by Piggott, divided the Classical accounts of the druids into two groups, distinguished by their approach to the subject as well as their chronological contexts. She calls the first of these groups the "Posidonian" tradition after one of its primary exponents, Posidonious, and notes that it takes a largely critical attitude towards the Iron Age societies of Western Europe that emphasizes their "barbaric" qualities. The second of these two groups

475-535: A chapter about fighting with sickles. It is particularly prevalent in the martial arts of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Indonesia , the native sickle known as celurit or clurit is commonly associated with the Madurese people , used for both fighting and as a domestic tool. A bagging hook , badging hook , fagging hook , reap hook or rip hook , is a large sickle usually with an offset handle so that

570-453: A company in India. The inside of the blade's curve is sharp, so that the user can either draw or swing it against the base of the crop, catching the stems in the curve and slicing them at the same time. The material to be cut may be held in a bunch in the other hand (for example when reaping), held in place by a wooden stick, or left free. When held in a bunch, the sickle action is typically towards

665-406: A druid, for they were the intermediaries between the people and the divinities. He remarked upon the importance of prophets in druidic ritual: These men predict the future by observing the flight and calls of birds and by the sacrifice of holy animals: all orders of society are in their power ... and in very important matters they prepare a human victim, plunging a dagger into his chest; by observing

760-419: A jagged edge. This intricate ‘tooth-like’ design showed a greater degree of design and manufacturing credence than most of the other artifacts that were discovered. Sickle blades found during this time were made of flint , straight and used in more of a sawing motion than with the more modern curved design. Flints from these sickles have been discovered near Mt. Carmel, which suggest the harvesting of grains from

855-541: A number of female druids, often sharing similar prominent cultural and religious roles with their male counterparts. The Irish have several words for female druids, such as bandruí ("woman-druid"), found in tales such as Táin Bó Cúailnge ; Bodhmall , featured in the Fenian Cycle , and one of Fionn mac Cumhaill 's childhood caretakers; and Tlachtga , daughter of the druid Mug Ruith who, according to Irish tradition,

950-539: A prescribed number of years they commence a new life in a new body". In 1928, the folklorist Donald A. Mackenzie speculated that Buddhist missionaries had been sent by the Indian king Ashoka . Caesar noted the druidic doctrine that the original ancestor of the tribe was the god that he referred to as " Dispater ", which means "Father Dis". Diogenes Laertius , in the 3rd century CE, wrote that "Druids make their pronouncements by means of riddles and dark sayings, teaching that

1045-476: A professor of archaeology at Cardiff University, has noted that Suetonius's army would have passed very near the site while travelling to deal with Boudicca , and postulates that the sacrifice may have been connected. A 1996 discovery of a skeleton that was buried with advanced medical and possibly divinatory equipment has, however, been nicknamed the " Druid of Colchester ". An excavated burial in Deal, Kent discovered

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1140-590: A sharpened animal shoulder blade". The artifacts found in present-day Arizona and New Mexico resemble curved tools that were made from the horns of mountain sheep. A similar site discovered sickles made from other material such as the Caddo Sickle, which was made from a deer mandible. Scripture from early natives document the use of these sickles in the cutting of grass. The instruments ranged 13–16 in (330–410 mm) from tip to haft. Several other digs in eastern Arizona uncovered wooden sickles that were shaped in

1235-456: A similar fashion. The handles of the tools help describe how the tool was held in such a way so that the inner portion that contained the cutting surface could also serve as a gathering surface for the grain. Sickles were sharpened by scraping a shape beveled edge with a coarse tool. This action has left marks on artifacts that have been found. The sharpening process was necessary to keep the cutting edge from being dulled after extended use. The edge

1330-510: A simple piece of wood with a hole big enough to slide the blade of Hasiya inside or could be an intricately carved piece of round wood slung around one's waist with a string made of plants (called "hatteuri"). Nowadays though many use cotton, jute or even cloth strings as a replacement of hatteuri which is not easy to find. The genealogy of sickles with serrated edge reaches back to the Stone Age, when individual pieces of flint were first attached to

1425-861: A study of magic widely attributed to Aristotle . Both texts are now lost, but are quoted in the 2nd century CE work Vitae by Diogenes Laërtius . Some say that the study of philosophy originated with the barbarians. In that among the Persians there existed the Magi, and among the Babylonians or Assyrians the Chaldaei, among the Indians the Gymnosophistae, and among the Celts and Gauls men who were called druids and semnothei, as Aristotle relates in his book on magic, and Sotion in

1520-525: A time, until the mid-20th century. The Falci Co. of Italy (established in 1921 as a union of several formerly independent forges) developed its own unique method of industrial scale serrated sickle production in 1965. Their innovations, which included tapered blade cross section (thicker at the back - for strength - gradually thinning towards the edge - for ease of penetration) were later adopted by Europe's largest sickle producer in Spain as well as, more recently,

1615-627: A variety of names. Its close relations in shape and usage are the grass hook and the reap hook. Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. While they were reported to have been literate, they are believed to have been prevented by doctrine from recording their knowledge in written form. Their beliefs and practices are attested in some detail by their contemporaries from other cultures, such as

1710-642: A year before the sickle production branch of Redtenbacher was sold to Ethiopia, they were still making 1.5 million of the serrated sickles per year, predominately for market in Africa and Latin America. There were other enterprises in Austria, of course, who produced the smoothed-edged sickles for centuries. The last of the classical "round" versions were forged until the mid-1980s and machined until 2002. While in Central Europe

1805-729: Is associated with the Hill of Ward , site of prominent festivals held in Tlachtga's honour during the Middle Ages . Biróg , another bandruí of the Tuatha Dé Danann , plays a key role in an Irish folktale where the Fomorian warrior Balor attempts to thwart a prophecy foretelling that he would be killed by his own grandson by imprisoning his only daughter Eithne in the tower of Tory Island , away from any contact with men. Bé Chuille (daughter of

1900-423: Is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons. Due to this passage, despite the fact that Pliny does not indicate the source on which he based this account, some branches of modern Druidry (Neodruids) have adopted the sickle as a ritual tool. Indigenous sickles have been discovered in southwest North America with unique design. There is evidence that Kodiak islanders had for cutting grass "sickles made of

1995-494: Is called Khurpa (or Khoorpa) where the curve is less pronounced, is much heavier and is used to sever branches of trees with leaves (for animal feed), chop meat etc. The famous Nepali Khukuri is also a type of sickle where the curve becomes least visible. Carrying around a sharp and naked Hasiya or Khurpa is unsafe. So Nepalis have traditionally built a cover/holder for it called "Khurpeto" (meaning Khurpa holder in Nepali). It could be

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2090-488: Is no more than that which is due to a bóaire (an ordinary freeman). Another law-text, Uraicecht Becc ('small primer'), gives the druid a place among the dóer-nemed , or professional classes, which depend upon a patron for their status, along with wrights, blacksmiths, and entertainers, as opposed to the fili , who alone enjoyed free nemed -status. While druids featured prominently in many medieval Irish sources, they were far rarer in their Welsh counterparts. Unlike

2185-458: Is seen to be quite highly polished, which in part proves that the instrument was used to cut grass. After collection, the grass was used as material to create matting and bedding. The sickle in general provided the convenience of cutting the grass as well as gathering in one step. In modern times, the sickle is being used in South America as tool to harvest rice. Rice clusters are harvested using

2280-530: Is termed the "Alexandrian" group, being centred on the scholastic traditions of Alexandria , Egypt ; she notes that it took a more sympathetic and idealized attitude toward these foreign peoples. Piggott drew parallels between this categorisation and the ideas of "hard primitivism" and "soft primitivism" identified by historians of ideas A. O. Lovejoy and Franz Boas . One school of thought has suggested that all of these accounts are inherently unreliable, and might be entirely fictional. They have suggested that

2375-629: Is the only ancient author drawing the association between oaks and druids and the intensifying modifier sense of the first element fits better with other similar compounds attested in Old Irish ( suí 'sage, wise man' < *su-wid-s 'good knower', duí 'idiot, fool' < *du-wid-s 'bad knower', ainb 'ignorant' < *an-wid-s 'not-knower'). The two elements go back to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid- "to see". Both Old Irish druí and Middle Welsh dryw could refer to

2470-544: The Historia Augusta , Alexander Severus received a prophecy about his death from a Gallic druidess ( druiada ). The work also has Aurelian questioning druidesses about the fate of his descendants, to which they answered in favor of Claudius II . Flavius Vopiscus is also quoted as recalling a prophecy received by Diocletian from a druidess of the Tungri . The earliest surviving literary evidence of druids emerges from

2565-691: The Celtic Church like the " Táin Bó Cúailnge " (12th century), but also in later Christian legends where they are largely portrayed as sorcerers who opposed the introduction of Christianity by missionaries. In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and neopagan groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, a movement known as Neo-Druidism . Many popular notions about druids, based on misconceptions of 18th-century scholars, have been largely superseded by more recent study. The English word druid derives from

2660-628: The Coligny calendar , with druidic culture. Nonetheless, some archaeologists have attempted to link certain discoveries with written accounts of the druids. The archaeologist Anne Ross linked what she believed to be evidence of human sacrifice in Celtic pagan society (such as the Lindow Man bog body) to the Greco-Roman accounts of human sacrifice being officiated-over by the druids. Miranda Aldhouse-Green –

2755-585: The Roman Empire " and one that required civilizing with Roman rule and values, thus justifying his wars of conquest. Sean Dunham suggested that Caesar had simply taken the Roman religious functions of senators and applied them to the druids. Daphne Nash believed it "not unlikely" that he "greatly exaggerates" both the centralized system of druidic leadership and its connection to Britain. Other historians have accepted that Caesar's account might be more accurate. Norman J. DeWitt surmised that Caesar's description of

2850-494: The wren , possibly connected with an association of that bird with augury in Irish and Welsh tradition (see also Wren Day ). Sources by ancient and medieval writers provide an idea of the religious duties and social roles involved in being a druid. The Greco-Roman and the vernacular Irish sources agree that the druids played an important part in pagan Celtic society. In his description, Julius Caesar wrote that they were one of

2945-415: The " Deal Warrior "– a man who was buried at around 200–150 BCE with a sword and shield, and wearing an almost unique head-band, which is too thin to be part of a leather helmet. The crown is bronze with a broad band around the head, and a thin strip that crosses the top of the head horizontally. Since traces of hair were left on the metal, it must have been worn without any padding beneath it. The form of

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3040-449: The 1st-century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius , and had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century. In about 750 AD, the word druid appears in a poem by Blathmac , who wrote about Jesus , saying that he was "better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage." The druids often appear in both the tales from Irish mythology first written down by monks and nuns of

3135-466: The European Urnfield culture (e.g. Frankleben hoard ), suggesting a symbolic or religious significance attached to the artifact. In archaeological terminology, Bronze Age sickles are classified by the method of attaching the handle. E.g. the knob-sickle (German Knopfsichel ) is so called because of a protruding knob at the base of the blade which apparently served to stabilize the attachment of

3230-568: The Gauls' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body Caesar made similar observations: With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can

3325-505: The German tribes to the east of the Rhine . According to Caesar, many young men were trained to be druids, during which time they had to learn all the associated lore by heart. He also said that their main teaching was "the souls do not perish, but after death pass from one to another". They were concerned with "the stars and their movements, the size of the cosmos and the earth, the world of nature, and

3420-459: The Greco-Roman writers were accurate in their claims. J. Rives remarked that it was "ambiguous" whether druids ever performed such sacrifices, for the Romans and Greeks were known to project what they saw as barbarian traits onto foreign peoples including not only druids but Jews and Christians as well, thereby confirming their own "cultural superiority" in their own minds. Nora Chadwick , an expert in medieval Welsh and Irish literature who believed

3515-628: The Greek historian Strabo , who wrote that their island was forbidden to men, but the women came to the mainland to meet their husbands. Which deities they honored is unknown. According to Pomponius Mela, the Gallizenae acted as both councilors and practitioners of the healing arts: Sena, in the Britannic Sea, opposite the coast of the Osismi, is famous for its oracle of a Gaulish god, whose priestesses, living in

3610-475: The Irish Language defines a druí (which has numerous variant forms, including draoi ) as a magician, wizard, or diviner. In the literature, the druids cast spells and turn people into animals or stones, or curse peoples' crops to be blighted. When druids are portrayed in early Irish sagas and in saints' lives that are set in pre-Christian Ireland, they are usually given high social status. The evidence of

3705-505: The Irish texts, the Welsh term commonly seen as referring to the druids, dryw , was used to refer purely to prophets and not to sorcerers or pagan priests. Historian Ronald Hutton noted that there were two explanations for the use of the term in Wales: the first was that it was a survival from the pre-Christian era, when dryw had been ancient priests; the second was that the Welsh had borrowed

3800-583: The Latin word druidēs (plural), which was considered by ancient Roman writers to come from the native Gaulish word for these figures. Other Roman texts employ the form druidae , while the same term was used by Greek ethnographers as δρυΐδης ( druidēs ). Although no extant Romano-Celtic inscription is known to contain the form, the word is cognate with the later insular Celtic words: Old Irish druí 'druid, sorcerer'; Old Cornish druw ; and Middle Welsh dryw ' seer ; wren '. Based on all available forms,

3895-518: The Middle Ages, after Ireland and Wales were Christianized , druids appear in a number of written sources, mainly tales and stories such as Táin Bó Cúailnge , and in the hagiographies of various saints. These were all written by Christian monks. In Irish-language literature, druids ( draoithe , plural of draoi ) are sorcerers with supernatural powers, who are respected in society, particularly for their ability to do divination . Dictionary of

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3990-508: The Romans and the Greeks. The earliest known references to the druids date to the 4th century BC. The oldest detailed description comes from Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (50s BCE). They were described by other Roman writers such as Cicero , Tacitus , and Pliny the Elder . Following the Roman invasion of Gaul , the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under

4085-499: The accuracy of his accounts by highlighting that while he may have embellished some of his accounts to justify Roman imperial conquest, it was "inherently unlikely" that he constructed a fictional class system for Gaul and Britain, particularly considering that he was accompanied by a number of other Roman senators who would have also been sending reports on the conquest to Rome, and who would have challenged his inclusion of serious falsifications. Other classical writers also commented on

4180-567: The appropriate time at one elevation so that the next elevation could be reaped at the proper time. The sickle provided a more efficient option in collecting the grain and significantly sped up the developments of early agriculture. The sickle remained common in the Bronze Age , both in the Ancient Near East and in Europe . Numerous sickles have been found deposited in hoards in the context of

4275-465: The area about 10,000 years ago. The sickle had a profound impact on the Agricultural Revolution by assisting in the transition to farming and crop based lifestyle. It is now accepted that the use of sickles led directly to the domestication of Near Eastern Wild grasses. Research on domestication rates of wild cereals under primitive cultivation found that the use of the sickle in harvesting

4370-477: The beginning of the Iron Age hundreds of region-specific variants of the sickle have evolved, initially of iron and later steel. This great diversity of sickle types across many cultures can be divided into smooth or serrated blades, both of which can be used for cutting either green grass or mature cereals using slightly different techniques. The serrated blade that originated in prehistoric sickles still dominates in

4465-627: The blade to the handle. The sickle played a prominent role in the Druids' Ritual of oak and mistletoe as described from a single passage in Pliny the Elder 's Natural History : A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and, with a golden sickle, cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, praying to a god to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that

4560-761: The classical world of Greece and Rome. Archaeologist Stuart Piggott compared the attitude of the Classical authors toward the druids as being similar to the relationship that had existed in the 15th and 18th centuries between Europeans and the societies that they were just encountering in other parts of the world, such as the Americas and the South Sea Islands. He highlighted the attitude of " primitivism " in both Early Modern Europeans and Classical authors, owing to their perception that these newly encountered societies had less technological development and were backward in socio-political development. Historian Nora Chadwick , in

4655-687: The course of study. What was taught to druid novices anywhere is conjecture: of the druids' oral literature , not one certifiably ancient verse is known to have survived, even in translation. All instruction was communicated orally, but for ordinary purposes, Caesar reports, the Gauls had a written language in which they used Greek letters. In this he probably draws on earlier writers; by the time of Caesar, Gaulish inscriptions had moved from Greek script to Latin script. Caesar believed that this practice of oral transmission of knowledge and opposition to recording their ideas had dual motivations: wanting to keep druidic knowledge from becoming common, and improving

4750-421: The cutting of grass are sometimes "cranked", meaning they are off-set downwards from the handle, which makes it easier to keep the blade closer to the ground. Sickles used for reaping do not benefit by this feature because cereals are usually not cut as close to the ground surface. Instead, what distinguishes this latter group is their often (though not always) serrated edges. A blade which is used regularly to cut

4845-470: The druids and their practices. Caesar's contemporary, Cicero , noted that he had met a Gallic druid, Divitiacus , of the Aedui tribe. Divitiacus supposedly knew much about the natural world and performed divination through augury . Whether Diviaticus was genuinely a druid can however be disputed, for Caesar also knew this figure, and wrote about him, calling him by the more Gaulish-sounding (and thereby presumably

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4940-535: The druids as being concerned with "divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public, and the interpretation of ritual questions". He said they played an important part in Gaulish society, being one of the two respected classes along with the equites (in Rome the name for members of a privileged class above the common people, but also "horsemen") and that they performed the function of judges. Caesar wrote that

5035-456: The druids recognized the authority of a single leader, who would rule until his death, when a successor would be chosen by vote or through conflict. He remarked that to settle disputes between tribes, they met annually at a sacred place at the borders of the Carnute territory, which is said to be the center of Gaul. They viewed Britain as the centre of druidic study; and that they were not found among

5130-407: The druids to be great philosophers, has also supported the idea that they had not been involved in human sacrifice, and that such accusations were imperialist Roman propaganda. Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor referred to the druids as philosophers, and called their doctrine of the immortality of the soul and metempsychosis (reincarnation), " Pythagorean ": The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among

5225-725: The druids' faculties of memory. Caesar writes that of the Druids "a large number of the young men resort for the purpose of instruction". Due to the privileges afforded to the druids he tells us that "many embrace this profession of their own accord", whereas many others are sent to become druids by their families. Greek and Roman writers frequently made reference to the druids as practitioners of human sacrifice . Caesar says those who had been found guilty of theft or other criminal offences were considered preferable for use as sacrificial victims, but when criminals were in short supply, innocents would be acceptable. A form of sacrifice recorded by Caesar

5320-538: The following centuries, the new rulers of Roman Gaul subsequently introduced measures to wipe-out the druids from that country. According to Pliny the Elder , writing in the 70s CE, it was the emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 CE) who introduced laws which banned not only druidic practices, but also other native soothsayers and healers– a move which Pliny applauded, believing that it would end human sacrifice in Gaul. A somewhat different account of Roman legal attacks upon

5415-537: The future. In the tale of Deirdre of the Sorrows  – the foremost tragic heroine of the Ulster Cycle  – the druid prophesied before the court of Conchobar that Deirdre would grow up to be very beautiful, and that kings and lords would go to war over her, much blood would be shed because of her, and Ulster's three greatest warriors would be forced into exile for her sake. This prophecy, ignored by

5510-531: The gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behavior maintained". Druids play a prominent role in Irish folklore , generally serving lords and kings as high ranking priest-counselors with the gift of prophecy and other assorted mystical abilities – the best example of these possibly being Cathbad . The chief druid in the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster , Cathbad features in several tales, most of which detail his ability to foretell

5605-515: The headdress resembles depictions of Romano-British priests from several centuries later, leading to speculation among archaeologists that the man might have been a religious official– a druid. In the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BCE, the Roman army, led by Julius Caesar , conquered the many tribal chiefdoms of Gaul, and annexed it as a part of the Roman Republic . According to accounts produced in

5700-421: The heavier and straighter billhook used for cutting wood or laying hedges. While the scythe or bagging hook blade was heavy enough to remove young growth instead of, say, shears for clipping a hedge, it was not strong enough to cut woody material for which the stronger, similarly shaped, but longer handled, staff hook was used. Many variations in blade shape were used in different parts of England and known under

5795-526: The highest form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on the stars and their movement, on the extent and geographical distribution of the earth, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion. Diodorus Siculus , writing in 36 BCE, described how the druids followed "the Pythagorean doctrine", that human souls "are immortal, and after

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5890-501: The holiness of perpetual virginity, are said to be nine in number. They call them Gallizenae, and they believe them to be endowed with extraordinary gifts to rouse the sea and the wind by their incantations, to turn themselves into whatsoever animal form they may choose, to cure diseases which among others are incurable, to know what is to come and to foretell it. They are, however, devoted to the service of voyagers only who have set out on no other errand than to consult them. According to

5985-477: The hypothetical proto-Celtic word may be reconstructed as * dru-wid-s (pl. * druwides ), whose original meaning is traditionally taken to be " oak -knower", based upon the association of druids' beliefs with oak trees, which was made by Pliny the Elder , who also suggested that the word is borrowed from the Greek word δρῦς ( drỹs ) 'oak tree' but nowadays it is more often understood as originally meaning 'one with firm knowledge' (ie. 'a great sage'), as Pliny

6080-454: The idea of the druid might have been a fiction created by Classical writers to reinforce the idea of the barbaric "other" who existed beyond the civilized Greco-Roman world, thereby legitimizing the expansion of the Roman Empire into these areas. The earliest record of the druids comes from two Greek texts of c. 300 BCE: a history of philosophy written by Sotion of Alexandria, and

6175-491: The instrument and left to dry in the sun. Called Hasiya (or Aasi), a sickle is very common in Nepal as the most important tool for cutting used in the kitchen and in the fields. Hasiya is used in the kitchen in many villages of Nepal where its used to cut vegetables during food prep. The handle of Hasiya (made of wood) is held pressed by the toe of one's foot and the curve inverted so vegetables can be cut with two hands while rocking

6270-626: The king, came true. The greatest of these mythological druids was Amergin Glúingel , a bard and judge for the Milesians featured in the Mythological Cycle . The Milesians were seeking to overrun the Tuatha Dé Danann and win the land of Ireland but, as they approached, the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to bar their ships from making landfall. Thus Amergin called upon

6365-424: The law-texts, which were first written-down in the 600s and 700s CE, suggests that with the coming of Christianity, the role of the druid in Irish society was rapidly reduced to that of a sorcerer who could be consulted to cast spells or do healing magic, and that his standing declined accordingly. According to the early legal tract Bretha Crólige , the sick-maintenance due to a druid, satirist, and brigand ( díberg )

6460-494: The mid to late 19th century, and was in turn replaced by the scythe , later by the reaping machine and subsequently the swather . It was still used when the corn was bent over or flattened and the mechanical reaper was unable to cut without causing the grain to fall from the ears and wasting the crop. It was also used in lieu of the bean hook or pea hook for cutting field beans and other leguminous crops that were used for fodder and bedding for livestock. Sometimes confused with

6555-539: The more authentic) Diviciacus, but never referred to him as a druid and indeed presented him as a political and military leader. Another classical writer to take up describing the druids not too long afterward was Diodorus Siculus , who published this description in his Bibliotheca historicae in 36 BCE. Alongside the druids, or as he called them, drouidas , who he believed to be philosophers and theologians, he remarked how there were poets and singers in Celtic society, who he called bardous , or bards . Such an idea

6650-572: The power and might of the immortal gods", indicating they were involved with not only such common aspects of religion as theology and cosmology , but also astronomy . Caesar held that they were "administrators" during rituals of human sacrifice , for which criminals were usually used, and that the method was by burning in a wicker man . Though he had first-hand experience of Gaulish people, and therefore likely druids, Caesar's account has been widely criticized by modern historians as inaccurate. One issue raised by such historians as Fustel de Coulanges

6745-761: The reaping of grain and is even found in modern grain-harvesting machines and in some kitchen knives. The development of the sickle in Mesopotamia can be traced back to times that pre-date the Neolithic Era. Large quantities of sickle blades have been excavated in sites surrounding Israel that have been dated to the Epipaleolithic era (18000-8000 BC). Formal digs in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan have unearthed various forms of early sickle blades. The artifacts recovered ranged from 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) in length and possessed

6840-499: The region of the Belgae chiefdom. The excavator of these sites- Jean-Louis Brunaux, interpreted them as areas of human sacrifice in devotion to a war god, although this conclusion was criticized by another archaeologist- Martin Brown, who believed that the corpses might be those of honoured warriors who were buried in the sanctuary, rather than sacrifices. Some historians have questioned whether

6935-529: The role of druids in Gallic society, stating that the druids were held in such respect that if they intervened between two armies they could stop the battle. Diodorus writes of the Druids that they were "philosophers" and "men learned in religious affairs" who are honored. Strabo mentions that their domain was both natural philosophy and moral philosophy , while Ammianus Marcellinus lists them as investigators of "obscure and profound subjects". Pomponius Mela

7030-458: The role of druids in Gaulish society may report an idealized tradition, based on the society of the 2nd century BC, before the pan-Gallic confederation led by the Arverni was smashed in 121 BC, followed by the invasions of Teutones and Cimbri , rather than on the demoralized and disunited Gaul of his own time. John Creighton has speculated that in Britain, the druidic social influence

7125-562: The silica-rich stems of cereal crops acquires a characteristic sickle-gloss , or wear pattern. Like other farming tools, the sickle can be used as an improvised bladed weapon . Examples include the Japanese kusarigama and kama , the Chinese chicken sickles , and the makraka of the Zande people of north central Africa. Paulus Hector Mair , the author of a German Renaissance combat manual also has

7220-466: The smooth-edged sickle—either forged or machined (alternately referred to as "stamped") - has been the only one used (and in many regions the only one known), the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Greece long had fans of both camps. The many small family-owned enterprises in what is now Italy, Portugal and Spain produced sickles in both versions, with the teeth on the serrated models being hand-cut, one at

7315-455: The spirit of Ireland itself, chanting a powerful incantation that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin and, eventually (after successfully making landfall), aiding and dividing the land between his royal brothers in the conquest of Ireland, earning the title Chief Ollam of Ireland . Other such mythological druids were Tadg mac Nuadat of the Fenian Cycle , and Mug Ruith , a powerful blind druid of Munster . Irish mythology has

7410-408: The straw was cut with a scythe. Oats and barley on the other hand were simply scythed. The reason for this is that wheat straw, unlike that of oats or barley, whose softer straw was suitable only for bedding or fodder, was a valuable crop, used for thatching, and subjecting it to the battering of a flail would have rendered it useless for this purpose. The blades of sickle models intended primarily for

7505-506: The term from the Irish, as had the English (who used the terms dry and drycraeft to refer to magicians and magic respectively, most probably influenced by the Irish terms). As the historian Jane Webster stated, "individual druids ... are unlikely to be identified archaeologically". A. P. Fitzpatrick, in examining what he believed to be astral symbolism on late Iron Age swords, has expressed difficulties in relating any material culture, even

7600-575: The traditional village blacksmith remains alive and well. England appears to have been the first to develop the industrial process of serration-making. Then, by 1897, the Redtenbacher Company of Scharnstein, in Austria—at that time the largest scythe maker in the world—designed its own machine for the job, becoming the only Austrian source of serrated sickles. In 1942, its recently acquired sister company Krenhof also began to produce these. In 1970,

7695-444: The twenty-third book of his Succession of Philosophers . Subsequent Greek and Roman texts from the 3rd century BCE refer to " barbarian philosophers", possibly in reference to the Gaulish druids. The earliest extant text that describes druids in detail is Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico , book VI, written in the 50s or 40s BCE. A general who was intent on conquering Gaul and Britain, Caesar described

7790-479: The two most important social groups in the region (alongside the equites , or nobles) and were responsible for organizing worship and sacrifices, divination, and judicial procedure in Gallic, British, and Irish societies. He wrote that they were exempt from military service and from paying taxes , and had the power to excommunicate people from religious festivals, making them social outcasts. Two other classical writers, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo , wrote about

7885-400: The user (left to right for a right-handed user), but when used free the sickle is usually swung the opposite way. Other colloquial/regional names for principally the same tool are: grasshook, swap hook, rip-hook, slash-hook, reaping hook, brishing hook or bagging hook. A serrated sickle was used for harvesting wheat, the ears being held bunched up in the free hand as described above. After this

7980-433: The user's knuckles do not make contact with the ground. The Oxford dictionary gives the definition of the word to bag, or badge, as the cutting of grain by hand. The blade is heavier than that of a normal sickle and always without serrated blades. It is usually about 40 mm (1.6 in) wide with an open crescent shaped blade approx 45 cm (18 in) across. It developed from the sickle in most parts of Britain during

8075-451: The vegetable. Outside of home, Hasiya is used for harvesting. Hasiya have traditionally been made by local blacksmiths in their charcoal foundries that use leather bellows to blow air. Sharpening of the Hasiya is done by rubbing the edges against a smooth rock or taken back to the blacksmith. Sharpening of the Hasiya is generally done during the beginning of the harvesting season. Bigger Hasiya

8170-401: The way his limbs convulse as he falls and the gushing of his blood, they are able to read the future. Archaeological evidence from western Europe has been widely used to support the theory that Iron Age Celts practiced human sacrifice. Mass graves that were found in a ritual context, which date from this period, have been unearthed in Gaul, at both Gournay-sur-Aronde and Ribemont-sur-Ancre in

8265-613: The woodland goddess Flidais , and sometimes described as a sorceress rather than a bandruí) features in a tale from the Metrical Dindshenchas , where she joins three other of the Tuatha Dé to defeat the evil Greek witch Carman . Other bandrúi include Relbeo– a Nemedian druid who appears in The Book of Invasions , where she is described as the daughter of the king of Greece, and the mother of Fergus Lethderg and Alma One-Tooth. Dornoll

8360-483: The world, and its main competitors were the nearby Thomas Staniforth & Co . The business ceased operations in 1988. The company was taken over by Hand Tools of Dronfield . The business then operated as “Sorby Hutton” based in Sheffield , now known as Robert Sorby, named after the first master cutler . This England -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sickle Since

8455-458: Was a bandrúi in Scotland, who normally trained heroes in warfare, particularly Laegaire and Conall ; she was the daughter of Domnall Mildemail. According to classical authors, the Gallizenae (or Gallisenae) were virgin priestesses of the Île de Sein off Pointe du Raz, Finistère , western Brittany . Their existence was first mentioned by the Greek geographer Artemidorus Ephesius and later by

8550-420: Was already in decline by the mid-1st century BCE, in conflict with emergent new power structures embodied in paramount chieftains. Other scholars see the Roman conquest itself as the main reason for the decline of the druid orders. Archaeologist Miranda Aldhouse-Green (2010) asserted that Caesar offered both "our richest textual source" regarding the druids, and "one of the most reliable". She defended

8645-420: Was critical to the people of early Mesopotamia . The relatively narrow growing season in the area and the critical role of grain in the late Neolithic Era promoted a larger investment in the design and manufacture of sickle over other tools. Standardization to an extent was done on the measurements of the sickle so that replacement or repair could be more immediate. It was important that the grain be harvested at

8740-403: Was expanded upon by Strabo , writing in the 20s CE, who declared that amongst the Gauls, there were three types of honoured figures: The Roman writer Tacitus , who was himself a senator and historian, described how when the Roman army, led by Suetonius Paulinus , attacked the island of Mona ( Anglesey ; Welsh : Ynys Môn ), the legionaries were awestruck on landing, by the appearance of

8835-561: Was that while Caesar described the druids as a significant power within Gaulish society, he did not mention them even once in his accounts of his Gaulish conquests. Nor did Aulus Hirtius , who continued Caesar's account of the Gallic Wars after Caesar's death. Hutton believed that Caesar had manipulated the idea of the druids so they would appear both civilized (being learned and pious) and barbaric (performing human sacrifice) to Roman readers, thereby representing both "a society worth including in

8930-422: Was the burning alive of victims in a large wooden effigy , now often known as a wicker man . A differing account came from the 10th-century Commenta Bernensia , which stated that sacrifices to the deities Teutates , Esus , and Taranis were by drowning, hanging, and burning, respectively (see threefold death ). Diodorus Siculus asserts that a sacrifice acceptable to the Celtic gods had to be attended by

9025-465: Was the first author to say that the druids' instruction was secret and took place in caves and forests. Cicero said that he knew a Gaulish druid who "claimed to have that knowledge of nature which the Greeks call physiologia, and he used to make predictions, sometimes by means of augury and sometimes by means of conjecture". Druidic lore consisted of a large number of memorized verses, and Caesar remarked that it could take up to twenty years to complete

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