Those German pagans...

This entry provides more historic context to the blog entry It's just below the surface.

Scratch the surface of a German and you find a pagan who loves trees, being in the woods and mountains and who loves processions that take place in the dark by torchlight. Hunting has its own rituals associated with honoring the game. When a house is built, the first roof support erected is decorated with a branch from an evergreen tree. A German is very close to his pagan roots.

More stories about the pagan Germans:

One conversion story of the Germanic tribes goes roughly as follows: the English missionary Boniface was trying to convince some Germanic tribesmen of the power of his Christian god. He chopped down a venerable old oak that was known locally as Thor’s tree and as old Boniface was chopping, a wind came and blew the tree down. Boniface was not struck by Thor’s lightning, so the tribesmen were impressed and accepted the new faith. Here we see the symbolic importance of trees to the early Germans. Germanic or Scandinavian mythology includes the existence of a tree at the center of the world, Yggdrasil.

Today, in many small villages, there are linden trees hundreds of years old, lovingly protected and propped up as their branches grow to shelter a surface area many times the size of the trunk. Throughout the centuries into recent times, some of these trees have been used as village meeting points, and it is said that it was forbidden to tell a falsehood when meeting under the tree. The branches supported platforms built around the trunk for dances.

The list of ancient rites that have been revived goes on: Walpurgisnacht, where people go to a local rocky hill, the Walberla (which, 2000 years ago, was inhabited by Celtic people), and build bonfires on the eve of May 1 (compare Lughnasa in the Celtic tradition). The official story is that Saint Walburga, after converting the local witches and pagans, graciously allowed them to celebrate one of their pagan festivals per year, and they picked the bonfire festival on the eve of May 1. May 1st just happens to be Walburga's feast day. The Wikipedia article is at this link: Walpurgis Night

The Fosaleggn-Jagd (Jagd means hunt), a local name for the ritual of driving out the winter, is held around Ash Wednesday, where men dressed in straw (Strohbären, straw bears) parade through town followed by men who follow them, cracking whips. They are followed by other townspeople dressed in traditional costume, to a central place where a huge bonfire is lit and the straw costumes are thrown into the fire. It’s a way of making way for spring, simultaneously driving out winter, cleaning out the old flooring and ending the winter stagnation. Pictures in this German newspaper article: Now spring can come.

The Johannisfeuer or Midsummer festival involves building a giant bonfire around June 24, the feast of St. John (Johannis) and burning the effigy of a witch placed atop the huge pile of wood. The Church participates in this one, with priests leading the procession to the hill where the fire will be set, carrying the "witch" in tow. These sinister overtones seem to have originated in the days of the witch persecutions in the 16th and 17th centuries. I like to think that burning a witch was not part of the pagan midsummer solstice celebration. A brief description is found on Wikipedia: Midsummer in Germany

The custom of the Maibaum is also an obvious holdover, but it is so commonly practiced it is accepted as a natural part of the summer festival in every town. See the blog entry on Maypole customs.

The list goes on. It's good to live in an area that cherishes its centuries-old traditions, whatever their origins.