Down the ages

Early ceremonies, Farming and building,
Co-opting local gods, Northern customs, Revitalising old religions

It’s not easily to define paganism but perhaps the best way of describing it is as a set of beliefs which are based on the natural world and of ancient origin, yet not part of the major world religions of today, such as Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity or Islam.

Early ceremonies

The earliest indications of human beings enacting ceremonies are in the Upper Palaeolithic period (30,000-10,000 BC) where we find the first evidence of burials and signs of ritual activity. The very process of burial indicates some feeling for the dead and probably a set of ideas about what might come after death – a sign that the community had a belief system.

At this time we also find cave art - there were other types of art during that period but those created underground have survived best. Small pieces of stone, bone and antler art from this time demonstrate the early use of symbols – as well as a tendency to admire well-endowed female figurines.

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Farming and building

As people settle down to an agricultural way of life, we see more evidence of religious activity. Remains from the Neolithic period (3,500-2,000 BC) and the Bronze Age (2,000-600 BC) show that the people built monuments. It’s not always easy to work out what their purpose might have been, but some marked graves, others indicated boundaries, and some were ancient devices to show the movement of the sun or moon, measuring the days and seasons. We can only try and reconstruct the beliefs of the people who built such edifices, but they must have shared at least some of the loves and fears of people today, together with a concern for their life-preserving environment.

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Co-opting local gods

By the Iron Age (600 BC-43 AD) ancient religions developed into a plethora of gods and beliefs. The Romans, who arrived in Britain in 43 AD, had learnt that the best way to take power over local populations was to absorb their customs and traditions into the belief systems of the invaders. As a result, under Roman rule, ancient religions survived in a Romanised form, as the people worshipped a variety of indigenous gods alongside those of their conquerors.

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Northern customs

The demise of Roman influence and its replacement with Anglo-Saxon and Viking cultures (about 440-1066) led to a resurgence of pagan worship. These included the Viking sagas, stories of their traditional gods such as Thor and Odin. By 700 the conversion to Christianity of the Anglo-Saxons was well underway, and this was tolerated during the next century by the Vikings. From then on, paganism began to decline.

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Revitalising old religions

It wasn’t until the Victorian period that the old religions came into view again. This time, Britain started to study a romanticised version of paganism - which has led to many of the misconceptions about these ancient beliefs today. However, this new promotion of traditional practices did draw attention to the pre-Christian past.

In the 1950s Gerald Gardner founded the Wicca religion, based on ancient beliefs. Today’s followers of paganism align themselves with a variety of groups and forms of worship. Alongside the traditional paths, the very latest developments include pagan metal music such as Vintersorg from Sweden and Suidakra from Finland, and the emergence of Techno-pagans who follow ancient beliefs while embracing the new technology.

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