Evening With A Pagan :: essays research papers

An Evening with the PagansA brief history of paganismOver 25,000 years ago, our ancestors crosswise the continentpracticed an ancient form of religion know as paganism. During theNeolithic and Paleolithic time era, our ancestors were in awe of thegreat manifestations of nature. Due to wish of scientific thought, theywere riddled with ignorance and superstition. Everything had a supernaturalexplanation.They associated each naturalistic phenomena with a typeof god, inscribing inanimate objects with life -like characteristics .This practice is referred to as animism. Every element ,be it smash ,rain orthe sun ,was thought to be a god (or goddess) within it.Eventually their gods became an object of worship known as polytheism.Eventually many forms of polytheism evolved to what is known as paganism. new(a) PaganismNow defined as The worship of a god or goddess whose rootsare in pre-Christian Western Europe. Modern paganism is alive and well today. It consists of many sub-divisions .The se 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 onecan cull from including Greek, Norse ,roman etc......Focusing on a Greek Wiccan tradition ,this will be describing the pagan festival of Hectare.The Festival of HecateThe festival of Hecate is celebrated between the tertiary and 4thSaturday of August. (which ever is closest to the new moon)It is in honor of the Greek goddess Hecate. She was first worshippedin ancient Greece -called the triple goddess of magic. She is oftenrepresented in triple form maiden (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. separately attribute correlates with a particular phase of the moon.The waxing moon (maiden),the full moon (mother) and the new moon( crone).The CeremonyUpon arrival at the festival in Georgeto wn Delaware,everyone gathers for the lecture. This is to inculcate 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 processionalWhen 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 body in incense smoke and sprinkling of water.This is a purification process that cleanses the body of negative