A XVIth century bishop ordered the locals to have their processions go ONLY to the church or local shrine and stop going to the rocks and other gorsedds. But when Christianity became the official religion at the end of the Roman occupation, it was at the cities that the new cult was adopted by the governing elite, the rural inhabitants keeping their pre-Roman/Christian traditions. The continuous bans against pagan superstitions issued by the church around this time are proof of the strong resistance against the new monotheistic faith. The church begins to eventually *assimilate* sacred traditions and places. Crosses on top of rocks, saints that replace the supernatural beings of the wells and forests, and the Virgin Mary being the new name for the ancient divinities, amongst them the Mother Goddess that mysteriously turned up in caves or near wells or certain trees. It was not only the physical appropriation of the monument but also of a sacred space. Portugal in this case still shows five huge antas turned into Christian chapels and another five built next to them. Even the only surviving Neolithic people today, the Basques, on the Spanish/French border, used to have their Goddess named Ma- / Marj-, later taken over by the Christian Ma, the Virgin Mary, the ‘Holy Mother of God’.
The funny thing is, magical beings like the snake (serpent) and the bull (tor-us) keep appearing wherever I go. Even a snake was beautifully carved on a beautiful and tall menhir that stood in the middle of a big dolmen in central Iberia. Ethnologists agree to the various beliefs surrounding the magic of the stones, e.g. fertility, health, love, happiness… Whatever the case, those beliefs are precisely what’ve filled my recent days. “To be born free is nothing, to become free is heavenly”, J.G.Ficht.
Now, my questions:
1) Any examples of snakes carved on, if not neolithic sites, at least on early Christian ones that you know of?
2) I’ve found central pillars quite uncommon (only within half a dozen dolmens) – as they were not used as supports, they must have been the repositories of something sacred?
3) Big granite formations have been part of our early pantheistic faiths until recently – next time you see some huge granite groups, tremble with excitement cos they’re bound to give you more than just an expression of amazement; and there’s bound to be a dozen dolmens around them, I’m sure!
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