Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/ Rights: Contemporary Pagan Engagements with the Past (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sites, sacredness, and stories: Interactions of archaeology and contemporary paganism
Folklore, 2003
Folklore has, until very recently, been at the fringes of archaeological research. Post-processual archaeology has promoted plurality in interpretation, however, and archaeology more widely is required to make itself relevant to contemporary society; so, contemporary folkloric practices vis-à-vis archaeological remains are once again receiving attention. In this paper we examine contemporary Pagan understandings of and engagements with 'sacred sites' in England.
Modern Paganism is a new religious movement with a strong attachment to the past. Looking back through time to an often idealised ancient world, Pagans seek inspiration, validation and authorisation for present beliefs and activities as espoused in the familiar catch-cries of “tradition”, “lineage” and “historical authenticity”. A movement that consciously looks to the past and claims to revive the ancient religious practices of pre-Christian Europe, modern Paganism has always been dependent upon academic scholarship—particularly history, archaeology and anthropology—in its project of self-fashioning. Dependant primarily upon late nineteenth and early twentieth century scholarship, Pagans often vociferously reject more recent research, especially when it contradicts earlier findings, perceiving it as threatening to their structure of beliefs and sense of identity. Not only do the results of such scholarship traumatise Pagans—however unwittingly on the scholars’ part—in some cases it rebounds upon the researchers themselves when Pagans seek to traumatise the scholars, the “bearers of bad news”, in return. This paper will present case studies which display the contested nature of the past by highlighting the combative interaction between Pagans and academic researchers at three types of site-as-stage: the text, the archaeological site and the museum, and explain how the performers fail to communicate as a result of speaking different “languages”. The paper will initially focus upon the frequently negative reception, by Witches, of recent historical research on modern Pagan Witchcraft. It will also look at Goddess Worshippers at Catalhoyuk in Turkey, as well as the “new indigene” prevalent in British Druidry and their involvement in the dispute regarding access to and interpretation of archaeological sites and museum objects. The paper will then discuss the infusion into Paganism of hybrid vigour through the activities of the Pagan Studies scholar, a researcher often in the role of participant-observer, who can function as a “go-between”, easing the sense of resentment by Pagans toward the perceived colonisation of their religion by “hackademics”.
BAR Publishing, 2021
This book examines the sometimes fraught interactions and relationships between contemporary Pagan groups and archaeological heritage managers in the first decade and a half of the 21st century. It uses ethnographic field research, conducted by the author between 2008 and 2013, and literature analysis to analyse those interactions. The two key areas examined are access to, interpretation of and preservation of ancient sites, and the archaeological examination, storage and display or reburial of ancient human remains. The book includes a detailed analysis of the reasons presented in the discourse of contestation and the underlying attitudes behind the issues. It concludes with some thoughts on how heritage managers and archaeologists may better manage their interactions with the Pagan community in the future.
Sacred, secular, or sacrilegious? Prehistoric sites, pagans and the Sacred Sites project in Britain
This paper explores issues and tensions developing within today's Britain around prehistoric 'sacred sites' and their appropriation by a wide range of interested or concerned groups. In examining and theorising competing constructions of 'sacredness' and its inscription today, we will draw on examples from well-known and less well-know British prehistoric places, to illustrate how claims and appropriations emerge from spiritual and political processes, and to question how places are themselves agents in the demarcation of their own sacredness. We focus on contemporary pagans as 'new-indigenes' and their engagements with the past and performances of spirituality on the stage of the heritage of Britain, as examined in our 'Sacred Sites, Contested Rites/Rights Project' (www.sacredsites.or.uk), now in its fifth year. From the deposition of votive offerings at West Kennet long barrow and long-running disputes over access to Stonehenge as a 'sacred site', to the display of ritual paraphernalia derived from archaeological contexts (a Thor's hammer pendant, for instance), pagans perform their worldviews and engage with heritage in diverse ways. Pagan reenchantment of the past not only re-places heritage, myth, artefacts, 'cultures' in/out of time, highlighting (im)permanence as a linking theme in our analysis, but also disrupts the fixed and unchanging 'past' imposed onto heritage by much heritage discourse -challenging the permanent to yield, bend and accommodate.
Introduction: Paganism and its others
Religio: revue pro religionistiku
Miroslav vrZal-scott siMpson-Matouš vencálek Growing from roots including 19 th century Romanticism, Romantic Nationalism, and the occult revival, Modern Paganism is a highly diverse movement manifesting in a dazzling range of shapes and forms. Modern Pagans seek to build a valid continuation of ancient traditions and belief systems in the contemporary world, but they do so in various ways. The source material employed by any individual or community can range from meticulous readings in carefully-curated history and archaeology, to inspirations from science fiction and fantasy. Their ultimate goals can be just as varied, with some seeking liberation for their nation and others seeking liberation for their gender or sexuality. Quite often, when faced with such a broad and diverse field, academic questions arise about where the borders of this field should lie. What is properly within the borders of "Modern Paganism" and what should be demarcated as "other" fields? Furthermore, as this diverse, vital, and continually-evolving movement has grown over the past decades, it has found itself entering into interaction with an increasing array of other "others". Every expansion into new territory brings new actors, institutions, and ideas onto its horizon. These "others" may at times be political parties or governments, or they may be entrenched religious organisations that do not welcome competition. And as Modern Paganism becomes more visible to the public eye, we also see representatives of Modern Paganism thrust into new public roles as they react to climate change or war. Sometimes, the "other" may also be academia peeking in to see what Modern Paganism is up to. In 2016, the desire to explore these interactions led to an international conference entitled Paganism and Politics held at the Department for the Study of Religions at Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic. The conference, organised by Matouš Vencálek and Miroslav Vrzal in collaboration with Michael Strmiska, one of the leading contemporary scholars in the field of Pagan Studies, was itself a continuation of a series of conferences Neo
Review of European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages by Ken Dowden
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, 2007
List of illustrations x Acknowledgements xii Foreword xiii How to use this book xvii Authors and events: a time-chart xx 1 Approaching paganism 1 Pagans, so primitive 1 Christian ending 4 Roman government 4 Germanic invaders 8 Beyond the Roman pale Beyond the Byzantine pale Evidence Latin and other languages Greek and Roman windows on barbarian culture 2 Dividing the landscape 25 Location Focus and area Physical features (absolute position) Relative position Ownership: public and private Power The god in the stone? Strength in numbers: tree, stone, spring 3 Focus I: spring, lake, river 39 Spring and well What a spring is Prevalence CONTENTS vi Purity and health What happens at springs and wells Saints, the conversion of the aniconic, and heads Other water Lake River Water worship 4 Focus II: stone and tree 58 Stone What a stone is Feelings about stones Personalising stones Stones and permanence Stone as the object of cult What happens at stones Tree What trees are like Personalising trees Notable trees What happens at trees Pagan tree and Christian objectors 5 Area I: land 78 Hill and mountain What mountains are like Worship on mountains: lightning and fire Shore and island Sea: shore and promontory Islands Cave 6 Area II: growth 89 Meadow Grove What a grove is like Grove and temple-culture The feel of natural groves Grove and garden Groves and barbarians 101 Groves and placenames 104 CONTENTS vii The power of groves Ancient groves Inviolability On the Dusii demons… Divine ownership Inside the grove 7 Technology: statues, shrines and temples Statues The place of statues Impressive statues and Christian destruction Temple, fanum, ecclesia What a temple is The shape of temples Contents and decoration Shrines, vocabulary and placenames Temples in less developed cultures Continuity Instances What are Christians to do with temples or fana? Destroy the fana! Build churches! 8 Christian paganism 149 Christian knowledge Textuality: coming down from Sinai Specificity What pagans do Eating and drinking Dance Particular customs New Year's Day Thursday The moon Laurel Catechism: renouncing what?
Intangible Rites: Heritage Sites, the Reburial Issue, and Modern Pagan Religions in Britain
This paper deals with the emerging conflict over access to prehistoric stone monuments, many of which are world heritage sites, and the disposition of human remains found in or near them, between different stakeholding groups in Britain during the first decade of the 21st century. It addresses the competing claims and heritage discourses of archeologists and heritage managers, on one hand, and those of a small group of modern Pagans, on the other. At its heart is the constructed nature of heritage itself, and the centrality of the imagination to that construction. A version of this paper is published in _Cultural Heritage in Transit_, ed. Deborah Kapchan (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014).
Previous scholarship on Paganism and archaeology has considered Pagan engagements with prehistoric 'sacred sites' as 'new folklore', examining how Pagan meanings are inscribed and constituted. Earlier work has also highlighted the importance of respect, dialogue and working together, to promote understanding and resolve tensions between Pagans and archaeologists. But antagonism endures: the 'Avebury Consultation' on reburial, for instance, resulting from certain Druid calls for the reburial of ancient human remains kept in the Alexander Keiller Museum; and heated exchanges between a group of Druids and archaeologists during excavations of cremated human remains from Aubrey hole 7 at Stonehenge. I focus on the latter case in which a new Pagan folklore of 'the Stonehenge Guardians' has emerged, partly based on archaeologists' recent interpretations of Stonehenge, used by this minority of Pagans in protests against the longterm retention of human remains and to argue for their reburial. I conclude by reiterating how Pagans and archaeologists should and can work together.