Evening With A Pagan :: essays research papers

An Evening with the PagansA brief accounting of paganismOver 25,000 years ago, our ancestors across the continentpracticed an superannuated form of religion cognise as paganism. During theNeolithic and Paleolithic sequence era, our ancestors were in awe of thegreat manifestations of nature. Due to lack of scientific thought, theywere riddle with ignorance and superstition. Everything had a supernaturalexplanation.They associated each naturalistic phenomena with a typeof god, inscribing dyspneal objects with life -like characteristics .This practice is referred to as animism. Every element ,be it thunder ,rain orthe sun ,was thought to be a god (or goddess) within it. at last their gods became an object of latria known as polytheism.Eventually galore(postnominal) forms of polytheism evolved to what is known as paganism.Modern PaganismNow defined as The worship of a god or goddess whose rootsare in pre-Christian Hesperian Europe. Modern paganism is alive and well today. It con sists of many sub-divisions .These include Wicca ,druidismSanteria and many others. Wicca focuses on the worship of a god and goddess .In Wicca ,there is a plethora of pantheon of deities that angiotensin-converting enzymecan choose from including Greek, Norse ,roman etc......Focusing on a Greek Wiccan tradition ,this will be describing the pagan feast of Hectare.The Festival of HecateThe festival of Hecate is celebrated between the 3rd and 4thSaturday of August. (which ever is closest to the in the buff moon)It is in honor of the Greek goddess Hecate. She was firstly worshippedin antediluvian Greece -called the triple goddess of magic. She is oftenrepresented in triple form initiative (youth) ,mother (fertility)and crone (the wise woman). In ancient Rome ,she was known as trevia ,the cross road with three paths.Hecate is symbolized by the phases of the moon.Each attribute correlates with a particular phase of the moon.The waxing moon (maiden),the full moon (mother) and the pertly moon( crone).The CeremonyUpon arrival at the festival in Georgetown Delaware,everyone gathers for the lecture. This is to educate the newcomersas to what the ceremony entails. The ceremony is always rehearsedbefore it is performed. After the lecture ,there is a large potluck feast to keep everyone energized for the evenings festivities.The surgical operationionalWhen the sun sets, the processional begins. With everyonein their appropriate magical attire,(consisting of a robe and jewelry)everyone lines up proceeds with the first phase.This is called consecration- each person is consecrated . This is doneby covering the dead body in incense smoke and sprinkling of water.This is a purification process that cleanses the body of negative