The word Pagan gets bantied about by many and is a very misunderstood term. Hopefully, this will shed some light on the subject.
Paganism
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"Pagan" and "Heathen" redirect here. For other usages, see Pagan (disambiguation) and Heathen (disambiguation)
Mayan priests dancing around fire at a ceremony. The Maya folk religion is considered to be pagan under all definitions of the word.
Followers of Romuva, a Lithuanian Neopagan faith, practice a ritual around a fire.
Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller, rustic")[1] is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world. The term has various different meanings, though, from a Western perspective, it has modern connotations of a faith that has polytheistic,[2] spiritualist, animistic or shamanic practices, such as a folk religion, historical polytheistic or neopagan religion.
The term has been defined broadly, to encompass all of the religions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.[2] The group so defined includes most of the Eastern religions, Native American religions and mythologies, as well as non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytism and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice.[3]
The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Western monotheists,[4] comparable to heathen, and infidel, mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, ethnologists avoid the term "paganism," with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, pantheism, or animism; however others criticise the use of these terms, claiming that these are only aspects that different faiths may share and do not denote the religions themselves.
Since the later 20th century, "Pagan" or "Paganism" has become widely used as a self-designation by adherents of Neopaganism.[5] As such, various modern scholars have begun to apply the term to three separate groups of faiths: Historical Polytheism (such as Celtic polytheism and Norse paganism), Folk/ethnic/Indigenous religions (such as Chinese folk religion and African traditional religion), and Neo-paganism (such as Wicca and Germanic Neopaganism).
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Etymology
o 1.1 Pagan
o 1.2 Heathen
* 2 Terminology
* 3 Classifications
* 4 Historical polytheism
* 5 Contemporary ethnic religion
o 5.1 Africa
o 5.2 Australian and Oceanic
o 5.3 Eurasia
o 5.4 Central America
* 6 Pagan survivals in folklore
* 7 Romanticism
* 8 Neopaganism
* 9 Demographics
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 References
* 13 Further reading
* 14 External links
[edit] Etymology
[edit] Pagan
The term pagan is from the Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning "rural", "rustic" or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager."[6] The semantic development of post-classical Latin paganus in the sense "non-Christian, heathen" is unclear. The dating of this sense is controversial, but the 4th century seems most plausible. An earlier example has been suggested in Tertullian De Corona Militis xi, "Apud hunc [sc. Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis," but here the word paganus may be interpreted in the sense "civilian" rather than "heathen". There are three main explanations of the development:
* (i) The older sense of classical Latin pāgānus is "of the country, rustic" (also as noun). It has been argued that the transferred use reflects the fact that the ancient idolatry lingered on in the rural villages and hamlets after Christianity had been generally accepted in the towns and cities of the Roman Empire; cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "Ex locorum agrestium compitis et pagis pagani vocantur." From its earliest beginnings, Christianity spread much more quickly in major urban areas (like Antioch, Alexandria, Corinth, Rome) than in the countryside (in fact, the early church was almost entirely urban), and soon the word for "country dweller" became synonymous with someone who was "not a Christian," giving rise to the modern meaning of "Pagan." This may, in part, have had to do with the closeness to nature of rural people, who may have been more resistant to the new ideas of Christianity than those who lived in major urban centers and were cut off from the cycles of nature and the forms of spirituality associated with them. However, it may have also resulted from early Christian missionaries focusing their efforts within major population centers (e.g., St. Paul), rather than throughout an expansive, yet sparsely populated, countryside (hence, the Latin term suggesting "uneducated country folk") until a bit later on.
* (ii) The more common meaning of classical Latin pāgānus is "civilian, non-militant" (adjective and noun). Christians called themselves mīlitēs, "enrolled soldiers" of Christ, members of his militant church, and applied to non-Christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were "not enrolled in the army".
* (iii) The sense "heathen" arose from an interpretation of paganus as denoting a person who was outside a particular group or community, hence "not of the city" or "rural"; cf. Orosius Histories 1. Prol. "ui alieni a civitate dei..pagani vocantur." See C. Mohrmann, Vigiliae Christianae 6 (1952) 9ff.
-- Oxford English Dictionary, (online) 2nd Edition (1989)
Another fine point may be put upon this. Although in a general sense, 'pagus' refers to countryside and all of the above are true, there is a more specific Roman usage. The Roman city had not only physical walls and boundaries, but a spiritual boundary called the pomerium. This term is very ancient and derives from post (beyond) and murem (the wall). The wall in question is not a physical wall, but an imaginary sacred boundary denoted by stone cippi, or stakes marked as such. The pomerium began as a furrow plowed by Romulus on the Palatine Hill, and gradually expanded in fits and leaps as Rome itself expanded. However, not all real estate owned by the people and the state of Rome was within the pomerium or sacred city. For example, the Aventine Hill remained outside the pomerium for centuries, and contained the famous Temple of Diana, dedicated to the worship of deities not native to Rome but belonging to the Latin and Italian merchants who passed through the increasingly important commercial center that was Rome. Land belonging to the city of Rome, but not within the pomerium, was referred to as pagus. Thus, it undoubtedly was a term of disdain for some to use in referring to foreigners. Since the Christian god above all refused to make any accommodation with the deities native to Rome, the Christian god was utterly revulsive to patriotic and religious Romans. In fact, Christians were referred to as atheists for their lack of respect for the imperial and city cults, and their insistence on worshiping only one vague and powerless deity whose earthly incarnation perished as a common crucified criminal. It must have seemed a supreme irony, therefore, that when the Christians became the only authorized religion in the final days of the Western Empire, it was their turn to refer to their enemies as pagans--not only rustics, but those whose deities were not permitted within the (now no longer meaningful) pomerium.
The post-classical Latin paganismus gave rise to both paganism and to its synonym paynimry.[7] Paynimry may be used of paganism, its practises, and pagans,[8] as well as for the domain or realm of pagans.[9]
"Peasant" is a cognate, via Old French paisent. [10]
In their distant origins, these usages derived from pagus, "province, countryside", cognate to Greek πάγος "rocky hill", and, even earlier, "something stuck in the ground", as a landmark: the Proto-Indo-European root *pag- means "fixed" and is also the source of the words page, pale (stake), and pole, as well as pact and peace.
While pagan is attested in English from the 14th century, there is no evidence that the term paganism was in use in English before the 17th century. The OED instances Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776): "The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of paganism." The term was not a neologism, however, as paganismus was already used by Augustine.[11]
Less than twenty years after the last vestiges of paganism were crushed with great severity by the emperor Theodosius I[12] Rome was seized by Alaric in 410. This led to murmuring that the gods of paganism had taken greater care of the city than that of the Christian God, inspiring St Augustine to write The City of God, alternative title "De Civitate Dei contra Paganos: The City of God against the Pagans", in which he claimed that whilst the great 'city of Man' had fallen, Christians were ultimately citizens of the 'city of God.'[13]
[edit] Heathen
Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish", (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn). Historically, the term was probably influenced by Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath", appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas' bible as "gentile woman," (translating the "Hellene" in Mark 7:26). This translation probably influenced by Latin paganus, "country dweller", or it was chosen because of its similarity to the Greek ethne, "gentile". It has even been suggested that Gothic haiþi is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.
[edit] Terminology
Both "pagan" and "heathen" have historically been used as a pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to indicate a disbeliever in their religion. Although, in modern times it is not always used as a pejorative. "Paganism" frequently refers to the religions of classical antiquity, most notably Greek mythology or Roman religion, and can be used neutrally or admiringly by those who refer to those complexes of belief. However, until the rise of Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western civilization, "Paganism" was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox beliefs falling outside the established political framework of the Christian Church. "Pagan" came to be equated with a Christianized sense of "epicurian" to signify a person who is sensual, materialistic, self-indulgent, unconcerned with the future and uninterested in sophisticated religion. The word was usually used in this worldly and stereotypical sense, particularly among those who were drawing attention to what they perceived as being the limitations of paganism, for example, as when G. K. Chesterton wrote: "The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else." In sharp contrast Swinburne the poet would comment on this same theme: "Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death."[14]
Christianity itself has been perceived at times as a form of paganism by followers of the other Abrahamic religions[15][16]because of, for example, the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the celebration of pagan feast days,[17] and other practices[18] – through a process described as "baptising"[19]or "christianization". Even between Christians there have been similar charges of paganism levelled, especially by Protestants,[20][21] towards the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches for their veneration of the saints and images.
"Heathen" (Old English hæðen) is a translation of Paganus. The Germanic tribes were distributed over Eastern and Central Europe by the 5th century, and their dialects ceased to be mutually intelligible from around that time. Christianization of the Germanic peoples took place from the 4th (Goths) to the 6th (Anglo-Saxons, Franks) or 8th (Alamanni, Saxons) centuries on the continent, from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia and later still in Lithuania.[22]
[edit] Classifications
Pagan subdivisions coined by Isaac Bonewits[23]
* Paleopaganism: A retronym coined to contrast with "Neopaganism", denoting a Pagan culture that has not been disrupted by other cultures. The term applies to Hinduism, Shinto, pre-Migration period Germanic paganism as described by Tacitus, Celtic polytheism as described by Julius Caesar, and the Greek and Roman religion.
* Mesopaganism: A group, which is, or has been, significantly influenced by monotheistic, dualistic, or nontheistic worldviews, but has been able to maintain an independence of religious practices. This group includes aboriginal Americans as well as Australian aboriginals, Viking Age Norse paganism. Influences include: Freemasonry[citation needed], Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Spiritualism, and the many Afro-Diasporic faiths like Haitian Vodou, and Santería. Isaac Bonewits includes British Traditional Wicca in this subdivision.
* Neopaganism: A movement by modern people to revive nature-worshipping, pre-Christian religions, or other nature-based spiritual paths. This definition may include anything on a sliding scale from Reconstructionism at one end to non-reconstructionist groups such as Neo-druidism and Wicca at the other.
