Danaan» Danaan - sacred nature

Happy Imbolc/Candlemas

D. — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:46:20 +0000

St. Brigit, Kildare, Ireland 2004

Even in the hardest part of winter the signs of spring approach- tree buds start to swell, and daylight is noticeably longer. Celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere around February 1st as Imbolc (the Feast of Brigit), Oimelc (ewes' milk), Candlemas (Feb. 2nd), St. Brigid's Day, or Groundhog Day, we know that the promise of new growth awaits.

'Brigit, excellent woman, [...]

Rash of horse mane weaving in the UK- pagans?

D. — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:02:24 +0000

There's concern in the United Kingdom in Dorset and surrounding counties about 20 horses that have mysteriously had plaited manes appearing over the last 3 months. This has been happening on nights of high wind and rain, with some owners believing that the wind is driving the horse manes into sorts of plaits or knots. At first some horse owners and the police thought this was [...]

D. — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:25:46 +0000

Have a Happy Solstice & Winter (and/or Summer)!

Seeing white animals

D. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:43:13 +0000

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 [...]

D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:06:35 +0000

Animal sacrifice in the news...

D. — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:07:11 +0000

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 [...]

Cricket sounds

D. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:23:06 +0000

God's Cricket Chorus

(Cricket chirps slowed down results in an angelic chorus very worth listening to. Normal cricket chirps are included over the slowed down chorus.)

Sounds of rain & crickets

Paiwan people of Taiwan- spirit mediums

D. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:35:30 +0000

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 [...]

Interesting anthropology

D. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:09:42 +0000

Sometimes you just come across several interesting articles about what people were doing thousands of years ago -

* 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- [...]

The Staffordshire Hoard

D. — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:29:04 +0000

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 [...]