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Paganism New and Old

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    Paganism New and Old

    From what little i understand of Paganism, it encompasses very diverse practices. Maybe that's its strength. However, many practices seem to draw on ancient ideas and mythologies and deities and such.

    But there was a big gap between those ancient practices and modern life, both in time and in culture, so i'm wondering in what sense the various neoPagan traditions draw from the old when there seems to be such a large break in continuity.

    #2
    Re: Paganism New and Old

    Pagans have always been around. It's not as if there weren't any pagans before neo-pagans popped up everywhere. That's how paganism survived, because pagans move traditions on to the next generation. I'm not an historian, so I don't know how much of the 'old' has survived over time. Traditions often survive, but I think all traditions evolve over time. So the way a neo-pagan performs a ritual or spell or celebrates a sabbath might be way different than pagans did it centuries ago.

    Practicing any form of paganism has been illegal for a long time in most parts of the world, so pagans practiced in secret. That's probably why we don't know a lot about the way they practiced their religions between, as you call it, the old and new pagan times.

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      #3
      Re: Paganism New and Old

      Thanks. So do we know if it was transmitted via oral tradition? Was it passed down via family lines? Are there any classic texts? How much simply got incorporated into Christian traditions to the point it lost any core meaning? Perhaps archaeologists have any insight into these questions?

      How important do Pagans today regard such connections to the past?

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        #4
        Re: Paganism New and Old

        Originally posted by prometheus View Post
        So do we know if it was transmitted via oral tradition? Was it passed down via family lines? Are there any classic texts?
        I'm really not sure XD Probably a combination of all of the above. Telling stories was an important part of passing down information. I know archeoligists have found old manuscripts with pagan spells and rituals on them, but those are rare findings.

        Originally posted by prometheus View Post
        How much simply got incorporated into Christian traditions to the point it lost any core meaning? Perhaps archaeologists have any insight into these questions?
        To understand that, we need to know what the core meaning was of the pagan rituals. Take Halloween/Samhain for example. The core meaning of this celebration is/was to commemorate our ancestors. The Christian version of this is called All Soul's Day and Christians commemorate their lost loved ones. In this case the meaning of the celebration survived. However, compare Yule with Christmas and you'll see they are very different. Christianity has adopted a lot of pagan traditions, but simply gave their own meaning to them.

        I like how paganism and Christianity somewhat merged together. Compare pagan sabbaths and practices with Christian celebrations and practices and you'll see they're not so different.

        Originally posted by prometheus View Post
        How important do Pagans today regard such connections to the past?
        I can't speak for all pagans, so I'll just answer this one for me. I do think these connections to the past are important. If our ancestors hadn't continued with pagan traditions I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't have found paganism, which has brought me so much comfort, strength and joy in my life. So every year with Samhain I welcome and thank our ancestors for passing on their knowledge.
        Last edited by Eleanor; 12 Aug 2018, 00:37.

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          #5
          Re: Paganism New and Old

          Originally posted by Eleanor View Post
          Pagans have always been around. It's not as if there weren't any pagans before neo-pagans popped up everywhere. That's how paganism survived, because pagans move traditions on to the next generation. I'm not an historian, so I don't know how much of the 'old' has survived over time. Traditions often survive, but I think all traditions evolve over time. So the way a neo-pagan performs a ritual or spell or celebrates a sabbath might be way different than pagans did it centuries ago.
          This is correct. Pagans needed to hide during Medieval Times but did not disappear totally. It is ready to handle futurism in a very innovative fashion - details will be revealed to you if you stay alive and follow the movement long enough.

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