Echtrai
Newbie
Away indefinitely (I'll probably be back, I always come back) - feel free to leave me a message
Posts: 26
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Religion: Gaelic Polytheism
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Post by Echtrai on Jan 29, 2015 3:03:14 GMT -6
What a weird thread title, I'm sorry, I'm just not sure how else to describe this. This is a thread for people who are living in the opposite hemisphere than the origin of their respective polytheism, and for people whose practices are significantly affected by this fact. For me, I'm a Gaelic Polytheist, which is based in the beliefs and culture of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. I'm living roughly 19,000 km away from that region, in New Zealand. This significantly impacts my practice because the festival days observed in Gaelic Polytheism revolve around the seasons, celebrating things like lambing, planting, and harvesting. So while some neopagan groups down here celebrate their holidays by calendar date to match their northern hemisphere counterparts, I have to turn my calendar on its head. For example, while my friends and fellow practitioners are getting ready for Imbolc this weekend, I'm prepping instead for Lughnasa.  It's a bit alienating, and I imagine the experience is shared by others who don't share a hemisphere with their religion's point of origin. So this thread is to get together, talk about our respective traditions and how we've adapted them to our seasons, as well as how to deal with the disconnect felt between oneself and other practitioners. So this is a discussion thread, a sharing thread, a support thread ... whatever you need it to be! |
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Post by TheModernSouthernPolytheist on Feb 3, 2015 21:14:49 GMT -6
I have to say I'm a bit surprised that holidays aren't flipped for NeoPagans down your way I mean, I could get keeping Yule at the same time as Christmas because of the overarching cultural themes, though I guess that would throw off the stories for the wheel of the year, but still.
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Echtrai
Newbie
Away indefinitely (I'll probably be back, I always come back) - feel free to leave me a message
Posts: 26
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Religion: Gaelic Polytheism
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Post by Echtrai on Feb 3, 2015 22:59:16 GMT -6
Yeah, I was really surprised as well - and certainly some neopagans flip the holidays, but some don't. Although if they follow the names of the holidays in Gardner's BoS on Sacred-Texts, that would mean their "November Eve" day would either have to be actually in May or their November Eve would be different from a northern hemisphere practitioner's November Eve. So I guess in some respects it's for consistency, perhaps? But for me it just doesn't make any sense at all because our festivals are so tied up in seasons. Why the heck would I be celebrating lambing and the coming of spring when for me it's end of summer? It's actually hilarious to me, some people down here will actually celebrate a "midwinter christmas" in July as well as the one on December 25! I guess they feel a bit of the disconnect between celebrating something in summer when all the media for it talks about winter and snow, haha, so they have two. Here's a Wikipedia article on "Christmas in July that talks about it a little! |
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veritywhitethorn
Junior Member
Posts: 60
Pronouns: She/her
Religion: Celtic polytheist
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Post by veritywhitethorn on Feb 28, 2015 5:27:37 GMT -6
Ooh another Southern Hemisphere pagan! Hello! (I'm in Australia)
I feel very disconnected a lot of the time too, I try to celebrate the pagan holidays at the right time seasonally but it's kind of hard to get into the mood when you're the only one in the household...? And because of family we do Christmas in December (occasionally we do Christmas in July just as an excuse to have Christmas oudding twice a year, lol), Easter in April, etc. I absolutely out my foot down about Halloween in October though. Frickin ridiculous in the Southern Hemisphere when it's all warm and springy (well, kind of), grrrrrr. Samhain/calan gaeaf on April 30 and that's it!
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Echtrai
Newbie
Away indefinitely (I'll probably be back, I always come back) - feel free to leave me a message
Posts: 26
Pronouns: they/them/theirs
Religion: Gaelic Polytheism
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Post by Echtrai on Mar 2, 2015 2:02:42 GMT -6
Ahhh hello hello! Nice to meet you. I only moved down here recently, so I'm still seeing how the whole year feels - I've heard references to Christmas in July, should be interesting to experience! I have a larger, closer family down here so I'm hoping soon when I do festival celebrations I can invite more people over for a feast, even if I'm not precisely honest about the reasoning.
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Post by hildeburh on Oct 8, 2015 3:33:01 GMT -6
I am a Heathen, English by birth now a proud Australian citizen. For reconstructionist Heathens the question of adjusting or not adjusting a ritual calendar according to hemispheres is a non issue, because we don't have a universal ritual calendar. Our ritual devotions are based not only on our lore but also on our local environment, our community and our kin; so they differ from Heathen to Heathen.
Our world view reflects that of the Germanic tribes in that there was never a pan Germanic religion but rather many folkways, the cults within those folkways were focused locally on kin, tribe and land. Universalising ritual dates disconnects us with the land and can render our devotions meaningless.
Better, I think, to be alienated from neopagans you have never met and never will than from your own kin, land and community.
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Post by hildeburh on Oct 8, 2015 3:52:31 GMT -6
I have to say I'm a bit surprised that holidays aren't flipped for NeoPagans down your way I mean, I could get keeping Yule at the same time as Christmas because of the overarching cultural themes, though I guess that would throw off the stories for the wheel of the year, but still. I'm probably completely missing the point here but as Yule was a pre Chistian mid winter celebration of Heathen origin and Christmas is a Christian festival what overarching cultural themes are you suggesting connects them? |
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