Again, all that depends on where you draw the line between religion and just ordinary folk tradition.
and their witch burnings
You had, what, one witch trial? We had hundreds. Normally, if there was anything at all to the accusations, it wasn't that they'd prayed to the old Gods (which were long gone by the 17th century) but that they were Christian heretics (hence the accusations of communing with Satan) or that they used folk medicine or the like. It was Christians burning Christians, as much as present-day neopagans like to claim them for their own. Same with the wicker man and similar traditions, inasmuch as they existed before the 20th century brought them back; those are rituals that may at some point have had pagan roots, but I'd be very surprised if they were part of consciously pagan celebrations post-Christianity. I mean, Europeans spent most of the time between 600AD and 1800 or so killing each other in millions over slight disagreements on exactly how Jesus said "do unto others", anyone caught praying to Odin or Minerva or Toutatis would quickly have been, um, persuaded to stop doing that. That said, history is never a clean slate, and part of the reason Christianity became the most successful franchise in history is because it easily adapts to include some non-Christian overtones as long as you didn't overdo it - the Mexican Catholics till celebrate the Day of the Dead, we still venerate Santa Claus whose look is borrowed from creatures who started out as Germanic house gods, became house and forest spirits in the middle ages and fairytale creatures after that...
Which is all to say that modern-day religion and tradition and ritual is an incredibly rich and complex weave of a lot of stuff that has come before, and we don't typically know the reason we do half the things we do. :)
I think that's, like, the tenth time you've recommended Harvest Home to me, I'll really have to find it one of these days. It sounds like something I'd like. It doesn't seem to be easily available, though.
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Date: 2019-07-15 09:43 am (UTC)and their witch burnings
You had, what, one witch trial? We had hundreds. Normally, if there was anything at all to the accusations, it wasn't that they'd prayed to the old Gods (which were long gone by the 17th century) but that they were Christian heretics (hence the accusations of communing with Satan) or that they used folk medicine or the like. It was Christians burning Christians, as much as present-day neopagans like to claim them for their own. Same with the wicker man and similar traditions, inasmuch as they existed before the 20th century brought them back; those are rituals that may at some point have had pagan roots, but I'd be very surprised if they were part of consciously pagan celebrations post-Christianity. I mean, Europeans spent most of the time between 600AD and 1800 or so killing each other in millions over slight disagreements on exactly how Jesus said "do unto others", anyone caught praying to Odin or Minerva or Toutatis would quickly have been, um, persuaded to stop doing that. That said, history is never a clean slate, and part of the reason Christianity became the most successful franchise in history is because it easily adapts to include some non-Christian overtones as long as you didn't overdo it - the Mexican Catholics till celebrate the Day of the Dead, we still venerate Santa Claus whose look is borrowed from creatures who started out as Germanic house gods, became house and forest spirits in the middle ages and fairytale creatures after that...
Which is all to say that modern-day religion and tradition and ritual is an incredibly rich and complex weave of a lot of stuff that has come before, and we don't typically know the reason we do half the things we do. :)
I think that's, like, the tenth time you've recommended Harvest Home to me, I'll really have to find it one of these days. It sounds like something I'd like. It doesn't seem to be easily available, though.