Pagans
Is paganism a living tradition with roots deep in prehistory or just a collection of superstitions, magic tricks and witches' spells? Pagans explores the origins, history and beliefs of Europe's ancient religions.
Sexy Beasts - Looks back to a time before sex was taboo, when humans saw themselves as an integral part of the natural world. Through history and prehistory, the representations of the ancient gods and traditions followed by pagans have been marred by propaganda from other religious groups eager to rein in those they defined as wild barbarians. In truth, the word pagan is a Roman term meaning 'country folk', and the general concept of paganism is of oneness with nature and a quest to fully understand the world around us.
Magic Moments - Today magic is used as a form of entertainment. It still thrills us to see an apparently impossible phenomenon happen before our eyes. Reaching back through to prehistoric times, the pagan magicians, who could conjure material from nothing or predict the future, would almost certainly have been held in the highest regard.
Band of Brothers - According to Roman records, the Iron Age Celtic peoples of Britain consisted of war-like tribes - but this could well be propaganda of the age. In 43 AD, as now, invaders found ways of justifying their subjugation of the native people whose country they colonized and whose land they took. Whatever the reality, the image of rough, heavy-drinking hooligans and evil barbarians is what we have been left with.
Sacred Landscape - A strong pagan belief is that the natural world is embedded in all of us. One method of defining the landscape is by building monuments. The construction of tombs at the boundaries of territory illustrates to outsiders that the area is rightfully yours, since it belonged to your ancestors. A succession of ritual monuments known throughout prehistoric Europe, from wooden trackways to henges (stone or wooden circles), suggest the strong influence of altering the landscape as a way of defining territory within the pagan belief system.
Haha I’m with Rachel... does anybody know where I can find this series? I’ve searched all over but can’t locate it anywhere. It’s like it’s banned in the USA (which I wouldn’t doubt with dip currently at the helm).
@Tina
Sorry but I just needed to say this STFU!!
It's like you are only picking out the bits of information that people give you that you think you can argue a point on and its really irritating.
If you are a Christian and have such a strong opinion against Pagan beliefs, why are you even watching this documentary? Because you clearly aren't looking to be enlightened or have any interest in changing your closed minded way of thinking.
Nobody is trying to force you to change religions so why are you getting so angry and defensive.
People are actually trying to help you understand.
You're making yourself look stupid and acting like a bit of a dick.
tobias macrobie, with all do respect:
PAGANUS
Of or pertaining to the countryside, rural, rustic.
(by extension) rustic, unlearned
(substantive) villager, countryman
(substantive) civilian
(substantive, Ecclesiastical Latin) heathen, pagan
how can pagan mean not christian, when judaism came before christianism...are you trying to say that muslims are pagans???
that is an insult.
The description reveals an inaccuracy. Pagan was not a Roman word for country folk - they have this confused with Heathen (of the heath, the barren country, outlanders, despots) a term originally used by hebrews to insult christians. Pagan is simply a term that means "not christian", to include islaam, buddhism, jewish, etc etc. ALL pagans. So.. take this doc with a grain of salt, there is likely not much accuracy in detail, and I doubt much evidence for the sensationalism it portrays in the titles.
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@Tina
I think you're part of the biggest cult of all! Who are you to judge Pagans based on people you know? I am a Pagan, I don't sleep with my son, or my cat! I don't summon the devil, and the horned one isn't the devil he is the Sun God! He is born on Yule and dies on Samhain which is pronounced Sew-in and the cycle repeats every year. We are nature loving, and we believe in unity, not dividing. And just to be clear, I have watched many documentaries over the years and the only thing I have seen is a book with stories in it when it comes to your religion. There are paintings on walls and many witness accounts for Paganism and many religions before Christianity, but only a book of yours and then the cult followers.... So before you start saying that my religion worships the devil maybe you should look at your own! Because I don't believe in your devil therefore I cannot worship him, but YOU believe in him, which means you worship him every time you claim he's the reason for murders and pagans. Just saying....
P Yang you said that buddhist are not terrorists,,, so tell me isn't Burma is a buddhist country???? Why they killed thousands of muslims there in Burma????
just dont put to much thought on what the christians say. they are among the most devious of religions, more power hungry than caring, most do not even oblige to what their bible tells them to. Not to mention they separated us from the rest of the world.
I say watch all three parts before you start posting!
While RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM takes the blame, it is two different words that explains our ills, "CORPORATE GREED"
1. I found this documentary to be very boring.
2. Tina, satanist my dear, are christians trash, being that satan is a christian being or character. All modern religions seperate people from each other and nature which is bad for Earth as a whole. Our disconnection from nature has lead us down a path leading to extinction. It is the reason so many are depressed. I am not going to attack you or call you names, you are just misinformed and brain washed
I recognise that we are still living in a time where we are lied to, cohered and manipulated by christians, who also burned many thousands alive for non compliance to their wants. Also, we are now killing many more animals for food, and on many occasions, slaughtering is not done in honour or with any regard for the animals, at all. If we are to blindly forget the atrocities committed by the christians, it puts a perspective on this documentary that practices documented here was indeed acceptable then, despite the fact that it is not acceptable today.
You must see this as the Pagans saw this all those years ago... Before sex was a perversion it was a mystical thing where two connect... I'm not saying I approve of having sex with animals but then it was ok. Honestly I disapprove more of the slaughtering of the poor horse then having sex with it...
Modern day Brits are still shagging sheep, not brave enough for horses anymore : ) Certain African tribes still have sex with monkeys as a ritual, Middle easterners are well known for their "goat love" and I recall reading a story while living in China about a man sodomizing a moon bear in captivity. Crazy people are everywhere. Just look inside your local prison to see how depraved sex can become!!
All religions make their competitors look like savages. It was done then and it is done now. Nothing changes just the players!!
P.S. Tina, you are a nut :-)
They keep showing the mushroom but refuse to talk about it-
Add psychedelics to this and you have the full picture
@ Achems Razor
Agreed. I've always thought that religious stories had their roots in reality. People of those times would retell these incidents but would inject metaphysical interpretations of why these things happened. It was the way people perceived the world back then.
When the ice ages ended it was a time of great climactic changes. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and incredible floods would have terrified everyone. It would seem logical that stories of such calamitous events would have been passed down from generation to generation. It would also explain why so many ancient cultures relate stories of great floods. Some people did survive and the people of one culture called him Noah. It doesn't mean he put all the animals in a great ship and that God gave us rainbows to remind us that he would never send floods again. However, I'm sure that the survivors would have had quite the stories to tell their grandchildren and we now still read about them today, although so distorted that the truth of those events are hidden behind exaggerations and mythology.
@jack 1952
Perhaps, but no real evidence such a person/the man existed.
Christ is a deity to the religious, but saying that he is a deity still does not make it real, that is just a supernatural supposition, to give the religious their empetus.
@ Achems Razor
That Christ was a deity; no. That Christ was a man; probably. He appeared to a charismatic individual and when the political aspirations of his followers were dashed because of his death, these followers created a new destiny for him and themselves. They couldn't let go of their faith in him even when he died. The power of cult leaders can be very strong. His apostles may have felt lost after his death until they found a way to continue in the life that they had become accustomed to.
I'm surprised more people aren't commenting on the quality of the doc itself. I thought it was a crock. It's very short on information. Whoever made it obviously had a decent budget, but they seem to have wasted most of it on ridiculous video loops of animations and re-enactments. And when it comes to historical insight surely there are more knowledgeable people to be talking to than that crazy couple that moved out into the woods inspired by some pagan "sagas". I'm getting to the point where i can barely make it through these bigger budget docs, like BBC, Discovery, History Channel, etc make because they are so short on the one thing you would expect them to give you: information. Spare me all the cheesy video tricks and just interview the chomsky's and dawkins' of the field (or better yet the Jacques Fresco's of the field if he exists) and maybe i'd actually walk away knowing a little more than i did when i started watching it. Instead i'm left a little irritated that they wasted no telling how much money on this when there are people out there making great docs and having to do it with no budget.
@Tina:
How can I be anti-christ, when there was no christ, just the latest in a long line of deities.
All religion stems from one cloth, just the christians in USA seem the most predominate.
"All religion" is the scourge of mankind. Is that better?
@Achems Razor
Why do you only attack Christians it's because you're an anti-Christ. Why don't you attack Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, Scientology, Jews. etc... while you're at it; they're organized religions also.
@Scott Henthorn:
At least one thing that I agree with you on..."Christians have been some of the most resistant to technological innovations infiltrating every space of our lives,"
Thank goodness no more burning at the stake, we would not even have these computers, so we can write back and forth. EH?
This is very poorly done.
Can’t say there was anything like conclusive information about much of anything.
But that is not the point of this kind of presentation. It is just a framework for anti-Christian propaganda. Un-sourced claims. Broad generalizations. Easy vilifications.
Early and ME Christians were not “removed from the earth”. 90 +% of the world was agriculturally based in those times. A first century Christian knew that milk came from a cow, not the supermarket. To blame Christianity for the current distance most of us have from the source of our food and other goods is fundamentally anachronistic. Technology not religion has distanced us from the earth. Christians have been some of the most resistant to technological innovations infiltrating every space in our lives, for which we get called ignorant.
So give it to us coming and going I guess. We separated man from the earth and we are standing in the way of the progression of that distancing. The general rule is, if there is something wrong you can probably find a way to blame the Christians.
@Vilewoman
Ha, Ha you say one man; but the video showed a whole tribe of people getting together.
What world are you living in how do you know your daughter will be with only one man; today it's common to sleep with multiples at the same time and with different sexes and yes they do drugs and drink. My friends who have teen daughters are in denial like you are, boys don't want to marry them so they have a kid to try and hook one. Just don't be shocked if it happens to you.
And don't blame Christ for the troubles of the world cause God stopped intervening along time ago; it's humans who are screwing everything up and then complaining or taking it out on this and that.
The image of paganism has been tarnished over centuries, and this doc with its condescending "hang on, give 'em the benefit of doubt" overtone does more disservice to the truth than shed much light ... for starters, you can't club diametrically opposite practices and bunch them ... putting together the horse slaughter/bestiality and nature worship and calling the set 'paganism' is like saying "the devil was worshipped, and so was jesus ... and that's 'christianity' for the uninitiated .."