St. Augustine of Canterbury, as distinguished from his more famous predecessor, may have supposed that however bad the state of religion had become in England that at least the Brits were no longer pagan.
If so, he’d be wrong.
St. Augustine of Canterbury, pray for them:
"Cloudy skies, dense fog and spurts of rain did not seem to dampen the energy of smiling revelers who bobbed and swayed to cheerful beats with arms outstretched and shouts of ‘Feel the solstice!’
"About 19,000 New Agers, present-day druids and partygoers gathered inside and around the ancient circle of towering stones [of Stonehenge] to greet the longest day in the northern hemisphere as the sun struggled to peek out against a smoky gray sky at 4:58 a.m. …
"’This is the nearest thing I’ve got to religion,’ said Ray Meadows, 34, of Bristol, England. The solstice ‘is a way of giving thanks to the earth and the universe.’
"Meadows, wearing a wreath of pink carnations over long pink hair-wrapped braids, identified herself as a fairy of the Tribe of Frog."
"A fairy of the Tribe of Frog"? Just how exactly does one become a Fairy of the Tribe of Frog? Is one born a frog and become a fairy? Is one adopted by a tribe of fairy frogs? Inquiring minds want to know.
I didn’t know tin foil came in so many colors.
I can’t wait to see what this post brings out!
To paraphrase Chesterton-
When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe nothing, they’ll believe anything.
I’m open minded, but I must admit I’ve never heard of a girl named Ray.
I can see her upcoming book: Tribal frog ethics. and the accompanying advertisement: read it before you croak.
Where’s the rolling eyes emoticon when you need it?
I saw a movie on IMAX some years ago about the sun, but half of the movie was devoted to bashing the Catholic Church and the rest was devoted to promoting sun-worshippers. These ‘religions’ have been receiving main-stream support for some time, so it comes as no suprise to me when englishmen start adoring the universe.
There are a number of Greeks who have taken up to worshipping Zeus et al. again. So this doesn’t suprise me very much. But, there is NO historical record of what Stonehenge is or what kind of worship, if any, was done there.
I was born on the Solstice. Should I have magical powers? Will neo-pagans deify me?
I’ve tried to read up on pagan, especially Celtic Solstice customs but the literature is permeated with romantic half-truths, anti-Christian apologetics, and outright myths.
The funniest thing is that Stonehenge predates the druids et al. THEY had no idea who built it. So it’s a bit like someone several hundred years from now coming across one of our modern cathedrals and using it to celebrate Feo, the god of Ugliness. 🙂
You know, the real pagans who once inhabited the Isles would no doubt be just as stupified by all of this silliness as we are.
Furthermore, as anyone who has studied authentic fairy lore from the British Isles knows, fairies don’t wear pink. Red, and sometimes green, but never pink.
To Kevin: it has been suggested by some that there may have been some Celtic customs centering around the solstices and equinoxes, but there is really no evidence of them. We know that the days of November 1st, May 1st, February 1st and August 1st are important in the folk tradition and it is believed that at least some of them go back to pagan festivals. If the ancient Celts observed the solstices and equinoxes at all, it is thought they would have been relatively minor observances.
In any case, Stonehenge is not Celtic. It was built by pre-Celtic inhabitants of Britain, and was ancient when the Celts “arrived.” There is no evidence it was ever used by Celtic people for any religious ritual.
You’re right that there is much nonsense written about things Celtic, especially on the internet. Email me, and I can point you to some reliable books and sources, if you like.
Not long back, there was a campaign by the Welsh to have Stone Henge tranported to Wales. My reaction was: yeah, sure, as long as the Welsh people are prepared to foot the bill.
Now it seems that Stone Henge may pre-date the Celts. Well what d’ya know?
A friend of mine is a Luthern minister. She (I know) was saying that the pagan association at the university she was assigned to was the largest group on campus.
Today was a big day in the “religious” calendar of contemprary humanists, too.
I don’t recall that any of the Christian humanists, who came into being as a counter to the scholastics, ever considered solstices as holy days.
“A fairy of the tribe of Frog?” Would that be like a homosexual from the land of good wine and bad personal hygiene?
What else would you call such a one? A Jacques-strapper? A Nantes-y boy?
Funny, when I realized it was Midsummer’s Day, I thought of hobbits. NOT the Unseelie Court.
Was the Archdruid of Canterbury there, too?
Ray is a dancer in a dance troupe called ‘The Faerys’.
The Faerys are regular performers at a party night in Bristol, UK called Tribe of Frog (http://www.tribeoffrog.com)
Here is a link to a photo of Ray dressed as a Faery dancing at a Tribe of Frog party. http://www.tribeoffrog.co.uk/gallery/april2006/voddies0043?full=1