Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/461

Rh Druids, and their great Tauric festival was held when the sun entered this constellation, a survival of which has come down to us in the festival of May Day,

It has been claimed, says Allen, that the tors of England were the old sites of the Tauric worship of the Druids, and our hot cross buns are the present representatives of the early bull cakes, with the same stellar association tracing back through the ages to Egypt and Phœnicia. According to a Scotch myth the Candlemas Bull is seen rising in the twilight on New Year's eve.

Mrs. Benjamin has written a most interesting monograph on the sun in Taurus which the writer takes the liberty of quoting from, as it reveals much that is enlightening concerning the constellation, and the customs that have survived the ancient worship of this time-honoured star group:

"In all ages of the world the nations have hailed with delight the return of spring and the revivification of nature under the warmth and heat of the sun. This universal festival we know as May Day and it commemorates the entrance of the sun into the constellation Taurus at the vernal equinox 4000 It is still observed in all parts of Great Britain, among us, and in India and Persia.

"The old English 'Morris Dance' is a remnant of this festival time, and Maurice says, 'I have little doubt that May Day or at least the day on which the sun entered Taurus has been immemorially kept as a sacred festival from the creation of the earth and man, and was originally intended as a memorial of that auspicious period and momentous event'."

In the Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Coptic the word for bull means "coming" or "who cometh," and the lucida of the constellation is a first magnitude star called "Aldebaran," which means the "leader."

The Masonic Tau Cross,, is an expressive symbol of the vernal equinox and of immortality. The emblem is found on many of the ancient monuments of Egypt, and