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Prehistoric stone row - or collapsed modern wall?
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FourWinds
FourWinds
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Re: a whinger writes
Mar 15, 2005, 08:24
>> Sometimes, I think the problem comes of people muddling them up with later religious
>> expressions, like Ireland for instance, an enormous xtian/celtic blend of marvellous
>> stories and folklore

If by later you mean first written down in the 8th century then you're right.

>> - vivid but not really true...sadly.

I would dispute that statement. "Not very accurate and embellished" I would go for, but not true?

Anyway, I am not necessarily refering to the old Tain's or myths, but to contemporary folk custom that certainly is not Xtian and obviously predates Xtianity. How Christian is it to make offerings to trees, or climb hills bearfoot, or ask a well/spring for help? How Christian is it to hold a festival on a hilltop at a prehistoric cairn to ask for a good harvest? Until you look into early Irish Christianity you can't understand what it was about. It was in no way close to the Roman stuff most peopel equate it to. In making this comparison people are guilty of the one thing this thread is trying to avoid - placing modern values on something the know nothing of.

It wasn't all that long ago that people in England left corn dollies in fields at harvest time. Is that a modern Xtian custom? Or does it date back to the very first farmers seeking all the help they could get with this new fangled agriculture thing?

None of these things are sacred to me, but we're not talking about my opinions are we? Or yours for that matter. We're trying to understand the builders of these monuments and their reasons for choosing certain places over others. Otherwsie we might as well describe monuments as "X tons of stone arranged rather nicely" and go and do something else with our time.
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