Have a Happy Solstice & Winter (and/or Summer)!
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Archive for the ‘Pagan’ Category http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301531h.html I keep on seeing stories about white animals, and thought I should look up the recent sightings. Like many people I assumed these white or albino animals are pretty rare, and that they have different meanings in various belief systems. Little did I know. There are people positing new significance to these animals. And it turns out that I shared some misconceptions about the rarity of white animals. So down a path- from online videos, science of albinos, white buffaloes, white squirrel colonies, to pagan beliefs- I went. Continue reading →  Sacrifice of a young boar, Greece, 510 BC–500 BC. In ancient times (Greece and Egypt come to mind) ritual slaughter and animal sacrifice was one and the same. And while many religions have changed practice and now have different offerings to diety there still are traditions that perform ritual animal sacrifice. A series of recent news articles about animal sacrifice in the US (about Theodists, Orthodox Jews, Santeria) led me to look into this issue, with some interesting tangents along the way (Tongans in Texas, kashrut and halal dietary laws, and Supreme Court cases). Continue reading →
* 400-600 A.D. & 3150 B.C- Egyptians using medicinal herbs in wine * 30,000 years ago- using flax fibers to make cords in western Asia & related garments depicted on "Venus" figurines * 35,000 to 40,000 years ago- bone and ivory flutes found in Germany- currently the oldest musical instruments found! * 72,000 years ago- using heat to treat stones prior to tool manufacture in southern Africa * 75,000 to 100,000 years ago- the creation of meaningful designs on red ochre in southern Africa Continue reading →
The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found has been discovered in Staffordshire County, England. 1500 objects made from various metals - 5kg of gold and 1.3kg of silver were found, and the quality of the workmanship is superb. It's said that studying this hoard will change what is known about 7th & early 8th century Anglo-Saxon England, including the complicated transition from paganism to Christianity. Continue reading → |
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Copyright © 2012 Danaan - This website is under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License .
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The Paiwan are an indigenous tribe of 70-80,000 in Taiwan. Past generations of Paiwan children went to Christian schools opened by missionaries because there were no schools in their villages, and fewer learned about their native tradition as a result. Faced with a reduction in their traditional shaman/mediums one woman has received government funding to start a class to train new spirit mediums. The teachers, elders in their 70s and 80s, are teaching chants, about their gods, and honoring the ancestors. Read more for articles, ritual videos, and art of the Paiwan people. 
