The ‘new religion’ is a blast from the past

According to this intriguing article in The Guardian, paganism is the new national religion:

Paganism is casting its spell over more people now than ever before in the modern age. There are said to be a quarter of a million practising pagans in this country, double the number of a decade ago.

That would make them more numerous than Buddhists (of which there are 144,500, according to the 2001 census) and almost as numerous as Jews (259,000) – and it doesn’t even allow for the growing tribe of unofficial, instinctive pagans such as my friend Cath, who planned to celebrate the summer solstice in the early hours yesterday by “going out into the garden at dawn and just tuning in”.

This is in the news, of course, because 30,000+ turned up to watch the solstice sun rise at Stonehenge. Is it Paganism if you just want to go and party with some hippies? Well, maybe:

All you have to believe to be a pagan, according to the Pagan Federation, is that each of us has the right to follow our own path (as long as it harms no-one else); that the higher power (or powers) exists; and that nature is to be venerated. If you asked everyone in Britain if they agreed with those three statements, millions would put their hands up.

Of course, a definition like that is so broad that is pretty much overlaps with any Judeo-Christian faiths (the only sticking points might be “everyone can follow their own path” (sorry, proselytizers) and “nature is to be venerated” — strong word, venerated).

At any rate, the article’s worth a read. The author, Cole Morton, is apparently writing a book on the “soul of England,” which sounds rather stuffy, but if it’s anything like the article, I might watch for it.

…

Missed solstice? Not to worry. Amy mentioned to me that she found it odd there was no Christian celebration to mark the longest day. Not that there should be, but part of converting the pagans (the first time around) was taking the existing festivals and giving them Christian rationales. That’s part of the reason that Easter is celebrated so close to the vernal equinox, and that Christmas is celebrated near the winter solstice. But what about the summer solstice? Or the autumnal equinox?

Well, I can’t speak to the autumnal equinox, but I have a few months to nail that down with some research. (UPDATE: It’s Michaelmas. D’oh!) The summer solstice, or midusmmer, though, did in fact get transitioned over to have a Christian sheen — the festival of St. John the Baptist. Although it doesn’t completely match up with the solstice, neither does Christmas.

So why don’t we celebrate it? Well, in some places it is celebrated — Quebec, for example, has it’s provincial (properly called it’s “national”) holiday on St-Jean-Baptiste, which is June 24.

But the real traditional festival is St. John’s Eve, the night before, of course. So gear up to celebrate a little St. John’s Eve tomorrow night!

What? You don’t know how to celebrate St. John’s Eve? Drat that Henry VIII and his Reformation!

Anyway, it’s simple: just light a bonfire. Preferably a big one. Tend it late into the night. You can jump over it, if you like, that’s supposed to cleanse you. If you’re a farmer, walk around your fields with a flaming torch to cleanse them, too.

You can take some St. John’s Wort, too, why not!

I did some searching, and big bonfires are still the thing in places like Scandinavia and New Orleans. Let’s revive this great tradition!