Look, I disagree with pretty much everything the institutional church teaches — as even a casual perusal of my blog should make clear — and yet when I watch stuff like this I can’t help but feel inspired:
There’s something there. They’re doing ritual right. And I think modern Pagans could learn a lot from those traditions, which is why I’ll never agree with the Sam Websters. I’m not saying to go out and directly emulate that (though you could certainly do a hell of a lot worse) but there’s a feeling that this stuff generates and I think that feeling is vital for true religion. And honestly — I don’t get that feeling from most Pagan rituals today, which is why I don’t have much to do with them.
I have to agree. Unfortunately, few “pagans” (or however you want to label/classify/define folks) take the time to truly investigate other faiths, Christianity most of all. They want to pigeonhole others and then decry those same people when those folks pigeonhole them. And they talk about “karma”. Wretches.
That is, quite possibly, the most annoying thing about pagans. At least I’m consistent in my misanthropy. :D
Yeah, this is the kind of thing I was talking about a while back when I said that if Wicca was actually like S. M. Stirling described it in the “Dies the Fire” books I never would have left…
Good *public* ritual is good theatre, plain and simple. It doesn’t always have to be “high church” to be spiritually effective and emotionally powerful, but it does have to be carefully planned and well executed. I’ve attended a few good public pagan rituals, but certainly not many. (ADF tends to do it well, in my limited experience of three different Groves…)
Couldn’t agree with you more. Although I can do a passable job leading public ritual it’s not really where my strengths lie. My most powerful and intense ritual experiences have all been private or among very small groups.
Yes. There is both organization and passion here that’s frequently lacking in public Pagan worship.
Sadly true. And it’s not just a matter of numbers.
It looks like mostly pre-Christian pagan practices layered on top of folk Christianity. Substitute the god statues they are carrying with other gods and it probably looked pretty much the same. Well maybe not the self-flagellation, but offering blood to your god is pretty common if we read history correctly. Nice videos though.
That self-flagellation video is from the Philippines. And whilst I think it can get pretty crazy (especially the live crucifixion), I think it can be awesome, too. In some parts of the country, they bury their bloodied garments in the fields for a good harvest.
Makes perfect sense to me. The blood is the life and all.
Personally what I love most about folk Catholicism is its craziness.
That’s one of the things that appeals to me most about it. Conversely, it’s why I’m so indifferent about most contemporary pagan worship which comes off as little more than watered down Protestantism.
Oh, I have some nice photos for you…going to dig in my archives….
And here’s one from my hometown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1udgBVWYpE
Amazing!