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hotaire

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Re: Pagan Christianity?

Oct 05, 2009, 00:18

I agree with Branwen (4th Oct.) in that St. Patrick's banishing snakes from Ireland was metaphorical, and means that he really banished the Druids.

We have the same metaphor in other areas. St. Hilda, for example, is said to have turned all the snakes in the Whitby area to stone (and for centuries, ammonites, of which there are hundreds on the beach between Whitby and Ravenscar, were held up as evidence of her act). A similar legend is attached to the misty St. Keyna, of whom we know little except that Keynsham (Somerset) is named after him/her. However, anyone who knows the North York Moors cannot for a moment take the Hilda story literally - we've a very sizeable population of adders here to this day! Metaphorical - yes.

One last - hopefully helpful - point, Branwen. The Northumbrian Priests' Law, written circa 1023 in York, banishes several pagan practices. Item 54 bans any "sanctuary round a stone or a tree or a well". Item 15 bans priests from consecrating the host "in a wooden chalice". Both these might well be c.11th references to the oak. What do you think?

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Re: Pagan Christianity? (Branwen)

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