1.
Northern Hemisphere
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The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earths North pole. Due to the Earths axial tilt, winter in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice to the March Equinox, the dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year. Its surface is 60. 7% water, compared with 80. 9% water in the case of the Southern Hemisphere, the Arctic is the region north of the Arctic Circle. Its climate is characterized by cold winters and cool summers, precipitation mostly comes in the form of snow. The Arctic experiences some days in summer when the Sun never sets, the duration of these phases varies from one day for locations right on the Arctic Circle to several months near the North Pole, which is the middle of the Northern Hemisphere. Between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer lies the Northern Temperate Zone, the changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather, tropical regions are generally hot all year round and tend to experience a rainy season during the summer months, and a dry season during the winter months. In the Northern Hemisphere, objects moving across or above the surface of the Earth tend to turn to the right because of the coriolis effect, as a result, large-scale horizontal flows of air or water tend to form clockwise-turning gyres. These are best seen in circulation patterns in the North Atlantic. For the same reason, flows of air down toward the surface of the Earth tend to spread across the surface in a clockwise pattern. Thus, clockwise air circulation is characteristic of high pressure weather cells in the Northern Hemisphere, conversely, air rising from the northern surface of the Earth tends to draw air toward it in a counterclockwise pattern. Hurricanes and tropical storms spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, the shadow of a sundial moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Moon appears inverted compared to a view from the Southern Hemisphere, the North Pole faces away from the galactic center of the Milky Way. The Northern Hemisphere is home to approximately 6.57 billion people which is around 90% of the total human population of 7.3 billion people
2.
Southern Hemisphere
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The Southern Hemisphere is the half sphere of Earth which is south of the equator. It contains all or parts of five continents, four oceans and its surface is 80. 9% water, compared with 60. 7% water in the case of the Northern Hemisphere, and it contains 32. 7% of Earths land. Due to the tilt of Earths rotation relative to the Sun, September 22 or 23 is the vernal equinox and March 20 or 21 is the autumnal equinox. The South Pole is in the middle of the southern hemispherical region, Southern Hemisphere climates tend to be slightly milder than those at similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, except in the Antarctic which is colder than the Arctic. This is because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean and much land, water heats up. In the Southern Hemisphere the sun passes from east to west through the north, sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise throughout the day and sundials have the hours increasing in the anticlockwise direction. Cyclones and tropical storms spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere due to the Coriolis effect, the southern temperate zone, a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic. Forests in the Southern Hemisphere have special features which set apart from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Both Chile and Australia share, for example, unique species or Nothofagus. The eucalyptus is native to Australia but is now planted in Southern Africa and Latin America for pulp production and, increasingly. Approximately 800,000,000 humans live in the Southern Hemisphere and this is due to the fact that there is significantly less land in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere. Africa Antarctica Asia Australia South America Zealandia Media related to Southern Hemisphere at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Season
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A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology and hours of daylight. Seasons result from the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. During May, June, and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the hemisphere in November, December. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the months which increases the solar flux. However, due to lag, June, July, and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January. In temperate and subpolar regions, four calendar-based seasons are recognized, spring, summer, autumn or fall. Ecologists often use a model for temperate climate regions, prevernal, vernal, estival, serotinal, autumnal. Many tropical regions have two seasons, the rainy, wet, or monsoon season and the dry season, some have a third cool, mild, or harmattan season. Seasons often held special significance for agrarian societies, whose lives revolved around planting and harvest times, in some parts of the world, some other seasons capture the timing of important ecological events such as hurricane season, tornado season, and wildfire season. The most historically important of these are the three seasons—flood, growth, and low water—which were previously defined by the annual flooding of the Nile in Egypt. The seasons result from the Earths axis of rotation being tilted with respect to its orbital plane by an angle of approximately 23.5 degrees, regardless of the time of year, the northern and southern hemispheres always experience opposite seasons. This is because during summer or winter, one part of the planet is directly exposed to the rays of the Sun than the other. For approximately half of the year, the northern hemisphere tips toward the Sun, for the other half of the year, the same happens, but in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern, with the maximum around December 21. The two instants when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator are the equinoxes. Also at that moment, both the North Pole and the South Pole of the Earth are just on the terminator, and hence day and night are equally divided between the northern and southern hemispheres. Around the March equinox, the northern hemisphere will be experiencing spring as the hours of daylight increase, the effect of axial tilt is observable as the change in day length and altitude of the Sun at noon during a year. Between this effect and the daylight hours, the axial tilt of the Earth accounts for most of the seasonal variation in climate in both hemispheres
4.
Festival
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A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect of that community and its religion or traditions. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, next to religion and folklore, a significant origin is agricultural. Food is such a resource that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn, such as Halloween in the northern hemisphere, Festivals often serve to fulfill specific communal purposes, especially in regard to commemoration or thanksgiving. The celebrations offer a sense of belonging for religious, social, or geographical groups and they may also provide entertainment, which was particularly important to local communities before the advent of mass-produced entertainment. In Ancient Greece and Rome, festivals such as the Saturnalia were closely associated with social organisation, in modern times, festivals may be attended by strangers such as tourists, who are attracted to some of the more eccentric or historical ones. The word festival was used as an adjective from the late fourteenth century. In Middle English, a festival dai was a religious holiday and its first recorded used as a noun was in 1589. Feast first came into usage as a noun circa 1200, the term feast is also used in common secular parlance as a synonym for any large or elaborate meal. When used as in the meaning of a festival, most often refers to a religious rather than a film or art festival. In the Philippines and many other former Spanish colonies, the Spanish word fiesta is used to denote a religious feast to honor a patron saint. Many festivals have religious origins and entwine cultural and religious significance in traditional activities, the most important religious festivals such as Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, and Eid al-Adha serve to mark out the year. Others, such as harvest festivals, celebrate seasonal change, events of historical significance, such as important military victories or other nation-building events also provide the impetus for a festival. An early example is the established by Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses III celebrating his victory over the Libyans. In many countries, royal holidays commemorate dynastic events just as agricultural holidays are about harvests, there are numerous types of festivals in the world and most countries celebrate important events or traditions with traditional cultural events and activities. Most culminate in the consumption of specially prepared food and they bring people together, Festivals are also strongly associated with national holidays. Lists of national festivals are published to make participation easier, among many religions, a feast is a set of celebrations in honour of Gods or God. A feast and a festival are historically interchangeable, the Sed festival, for example, celebrated the thirtieth year of an Egyptian pharaohs rule and then every three years after that
5.
Modern Paganism
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Although they do share similarities, contemporary Pagan religious movements are diverse and no single set of beliefs, practices, or texts are shared by them all. Not all members of faiths or beliefs regarded as Neopagan self-identify as Pagan, academic research has placed the Pagan movement along a spectrum, with Eclecticism on one end and Polytheistic Reconstructionism on the other. Polytheism, animism, and pantheism are common features in Pagan theology, rituals take place in both public and in private domestic settings. The Pagan relationship with Christianity is often strained, contemporary Paganism has sometimes been associated with the New Age movement, with scholars highlighting both similarities and differences. From the 1990s onward, scholars studying the modern Pagan movement have established the field of Pagan studies. There is considerable disagreement as to the definition and proper usage of the term modern Paganism. Even within the field of Pagan studies, there is no consensus regarding how contemporary Paganism can best be defined. Most scholars describe modern Paganism as an array of different religions rather than a singular religion in itself. Thus, he expressed the view that although a diverse phenomenon. However, while viewing different forms of Paganism as distinct religions in their own right, the various Pagan religions have been academically classified as new religious movements, with the anthropologist Kathryn Rountree describing Paganism as a whole as a new religious phenomenon. A number of academics, particularly in North America, have considered modern Paganism to be a form of nature religion. Some practitioners eschew the term Pagan altogether, choosing not to themselves as such. This is because the term Pagan has its origins in Christian terminology, alternately, many practitioners within these regions view Native Faith as a category that exists within modern Paganism but which does not encompass all Pagan religions. Other terms sometimes favored by Pagans are traditional religion, indigenous religion, nativist religion, Further, they have suggested that all of these could be defined under the banner of paganism or Paganism. This approach has received critically by many specialists in religious studies. Many scholars have favored the use of Neopaganism to describe this phenomenon, with the prefix neo- serving to distinguish the modern religions from their ancient. Some Pagan practitioners also prefer Neopaganism, believing that the prefix conveys the nature of the religion, including for instance its rejection of superstition. Accordingly, to avoid causing offense many scholars in the English-speaking world have begun using the modern or contemporary rather than neo
6.
Solstice
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The Solstice occurs twice each year as the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. The seasons of the year are directly connected to both the solstices and the equinoxes, the term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of the solstice has either the most sunlight of the year or the least sunlight of the year for any other than the equator. Alternative terms, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context, are June solstice and December solstice, at latitudes outside the tropics, the summer solstice marks the day when the sun appears highest in the sky. Within the tropics, the sun directly overhead from days to months before the solstice and again after the solstice. For an observer on the North Pole, the sun reaches the highest position in the sky once a year in June, the day this occurs is called the June solstice day. Similarly, for an observer on the South Pole, the sun reaches the highest position on December solstice day, when it is the summer solstice at one Pole, it is the winter solstice on the other. The suns westerly motion never ceases as the Earth is continually in rotation, however, the suns motion in declination comes to a stop at the moment of solstice. In that sense, solstice means sun-standing and this modern scientific word descends from a Latin scientific word in use in the late Roman republic of the 1st century BC, solstitium. Pliny uses it a number of times in his Natural History with a meaning that it has today. It contains two Latin-language morphemes, sol, sun, and -stitium, stoppage, the Romans used standing to refer to a component of the relative velocity of the Sun as it is observed in the sky. Relative velocity is the motion of an object from the point of view of an observer in a frame of reference, from a fixed position on the ground, the sun appears to orbit around the Earth. To an observer in a frame of reference, the planet Earth is seen to rotate about an axis. The Earths axis is tilted with respect to the plane of the Earths orbit, an observer on Earth therefore sees a solar path that is the result of both rotation and revolution. At maximum or minimum elevation, the relative motion of the Sun perpendicular to the horizon stops. Outside of the tropics, the maximum occurs at the summer solstice. The path of the Sun, or ecliptic, sweeps north and south between the northern and southern hemispheres, the days are longer around the summer solstice and shorter around the winter solstice. When the Suns path crosses the equator, the length of the nights at latitudes +L° and -L° are of equal length and this is known as an equinox
7.
Equinox
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An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. On an equinox, day and night are of equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the size of the sun. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equilux is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light, see Length of equinoctial day and night for further discussion. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus and nox, the equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated, the word comes from Latin equi or equal and nox meaning night. In other words, the equinoxes are the times when the subsolar point is on the equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox, the equinoxes, along with solstices, are directly related to the seasons of the year. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs in September. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year. By 1500 AD, it had drifted backwards to 11 March and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. However, the leap year intervals in his calendar were not smooth and this causes the equinox to oscillate by about 53 hours around its mean position. This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, the astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on the 22nd. Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox, these names are direct derivatives of Latin. The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are even more ambiguous, March equinox and September equinox, names referring to the months of the year they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context. They are still not universal, however, as not all use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Northward equinox and southward equinox, names referring to the apparent direction of motion of the Sun
8.
Wicca
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Wicca, also termed Pagan Witchcraft, is a contemporary Pagan new religious movement. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. There are many variations on the structure, and the religion grows. It is divided into a number of lineages, sects and denominations, referred to as traditions, each with its own organizational structure. Due to its nature, there is some disagreement over what actually constitutes Wicca. Wicca is typically duotheistic, worshipping a Goddess and a God and these are traditionally viewed as the Moon Goddess and the Horned God, respectively. These deities may be regarded in a way, as having many different divine aspects which can in turn be identified with many diverse pagan deities from different historical pantheons. For this reason, they are referred to as the Great Goddess. These two deities are viewed as facets of a greater pantheistic divinity, which is regarded as an impersonal force or process rather than a personal deity. While duotheism or bitheism is traditional in Wicca, broader Wiccan beliefs range from polytheism to pantheism or monism, an unattributed statement known as the Wiccan Rede is a popular expression of Wiccan morality, although it is not accepted by all Wiccans. Wicca often involves the practice of magic, though it is not always necessary. Scholars of religious studies classify Wicca as a new religious movement, several academics have also categorised Wicca as a form of nature religion, a term that is also embraced by many of the faiths practitioners. However, given that Wicca also incorporates the practice of magic, Wicca is also a form of Western esotericism, and more specifically a part of the esoteric current known as occultism. The terms wizard and warlock are generally discouraged in the community, in Wicca, denominations are referred to as traditions, while non-Wiccans are often termed cowans. When the religion first came to attention, it was commonly called Witchcraft. For instance, Gerald Gardner—the man regarded as the Father of Wicca—referred to it as the Craft of the Wise, witchcraft, there is no evidence that he ever called it Wicca, although he did refer to the collective community of Pagan Witches as the Wica. As a name for the religion, Wicca developed in Britain during the 1960s, the first recorded use of the word Wicca appears in 1962, and it had been popularised to the extent that several British practitioners founded a newsletter called The Wiccan in 1968. In early sources Wicca referred to the entirety of the rather than specific traditions
9.
Folk religion
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The precise definition of folk religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of a religion, the term folk religion is generally held to encompass two related but separate subjects. The first is the dimension of folk culture, or the folk-cultural dimensions of religion. Chinese folk religion, Folk Christianity, Folk Hinduism, and Folk Islam are examples of religion associated with major religions. Don Yoder argued that there were five separate ways of defining folk religion and this definition would view folk religion in Catholic Europe as the survivals of pre-Christian religion and the folk religion in Protestant Europe as the survivals of Medieval Catholicism. The fourth definition provided by Yoder stated that folk religion represented the folk interpretation and expression of religion and his fifth and final definition represented a practical working definition that combined elements from these various other definitions. Yoder described folk religion as existing in a society in relation to. Its relatively unorganized character differentiates it from organized religion and this term was first employed by a German Lutheran preacher, Paul Drews, in a 1901 article that he published which was titled Religiöse Volkskunde, eine Aufgabe der praktischen Theologie. Although developing within an environment, the term came to be adopted by German academics in the field of folkloristics. Over the coming decades, Georg Schreiber established an Institut für religiöse Volkskund in Munich while a department was established in Salzburg by Hanns Koren. Throughout the 20th century, many studies were made of folk religion in Europe, paying attention to such subjects as pilgrimage. In the Americas, the study of folk religion developed among cultural anthropologists studying the syncretistic cultures of the Caribbean and Latin America. The pioneer in this field was Redfield, whose 1930 book Tepoztlán, Yoder later noted that although the earliest known usage of the term folk religion in the English language was unknown, it probably developed as a translation of the German Volksreligion. One of the earliest prominent usages of the term was in the title of Joshua Trachtenbergs 1939 work Jewish Magic and Superstition, A Study in Folk Religion. Courses on the study of religion came to be taught at various universities in the United States, such as John Messengers at Indiana University. Although the subject of folk religion fell within the remit of scholars operating in both folkloristics and religious studies, by 1974 Yoder noted that U. S. He also lamented that many U. S. -based folklorists also neglected the subject of religion because it did not fit within the standard genre-based system for cataloguing folklore, the term folk religion came to be increasingly rejected in the 1990s and 2000s by scholars seeking more precise terminology. Yoder noted that one problem with the use of the folk religion was that it did not fit into the work of those scholars who used the term religion in reference solely to organized religion
10.
Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)
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Gerald Brosseau Gardner, also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca to public attention, writing some of its religious texts. Born into a family in Blundellsands, Lancashire, Gardner spent much of his childhood abroad in Madeira. After his retirement in 1936, he travelled to Cyprus, penning the novel A Goddess Arrives before returning to England. Involved for a time with Cecil Williamson, Gardner also became director of the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft on the Isle of Man, Gardner is internationally recognised as the Father of Wicca among the Pagan and occult communities. Gardners family was wealthy and upper class, running a family firm, Joseph Gardner and Sons. Specialising in the import of hardwood, the company had founded in the mid-18th century by Edmund Gardner. Geralds father, William Robert Gardner had been the youngest son of Joseph Gardner, after whom the firm had been renamed, in 1867, William had been sent to New York City, in order to further the interests of the family firm. Here, he had met an American, Louise Burguelew Ennis, after a visit to England, the couple returned to the US, where they settled in Mott Haven, Morrisania in New York State. It was here that their first child, Harold Ennis Gardner, was born in 1870 and it was here that their second child, Robert Bob Marshall Gardner, was born in 1874. In 1876 the family moved one of the neighbouring houses, Ingle Lodge. A fourth child, Francis Douglas Gardner, was born in 1886. Gerald would rarely see Harold, who went on to study Law at the University of Oxford, but saw more of Bob, who drew pictures for him, Gardner suffered with asthma from a young age, having particular difficulty in the cold Lancashire winters. His nursemaid offered to him to warmer climates abroad at his fathers expense in the hope that this condition would not be so badly affected. Subsequently, in summer 1888, Gerald and Com travelled via London to Nice in the south of France, after several more years spent in the Mediterranean, in 1891 they went to the Canary Islands, and it was here that Gardner first developed his lifelong interest in weaponry. From there, they went on to Accra in the Gold Coast. According to Gardners first biographer, Jack Bracelin, Com was very flirtatious and clearly looked on these trips as mainly manhunts, as a result, he was largely left to his own devices, which he spent going out, meeting new people and learning about foreign cultures. In Madeira, he began collecting weapons, many of which were remnants from the Napoleonic Wars
11.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
12.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
13.
Shabbat
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Shabbat observance entails refraining from work activities, often with great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Judaisms traditional position is that unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution, variations upon Shabbat are widespread in Judaism and, with adaptations, throughout the Abrahamic and many other religions. According to halakha, Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night, Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. Traditionally, three meals are eaten, in the evening, in the early afternoon, and late in the afternoon. The evening meal begins with a blessing called kiddush and another blessing recited over two loaves of challah. Shabbat is closed the evening with a havdalah blessing. Shabbat is a day when Jews exercise their freedom from the regular labors of everyday life. It offers an opportunity to contemplate the spiritual aspects of life, the word Shabbat derives from the Hebrew verb shavat. Although frequently translated as rest, another translation of these words is ceasing. The related modern Hebrew word shevita, has the implication of active rather than passive abstinence from work. The notion of active cessation from labor is also regarded as consistent with an omnipotent Gods activity on the seventh day of Creation according to Genesis. Sabbath is given status as a holy day at the very beginning of the Torah in Genesis 2. It is first commanded after the Exodus from Egypt, in Exodus 16,26 and in Exodus 20, Sabbath is commanded and commended many more times in the Torah and Tanakh, double the normal number of animal sacrifices are to be offered on the day. Sabbath is also described by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, the longstanding traditional Jewish position is that unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution. The Mosaic tradition quotes an origin from the Bible of special creation, though some suggest a later, naturalistic origin. Seventh-day Shabbat did not originate with the Egyptians, to whom it was unknown, the first non-Biblical reference to Sabbath is in an ostracon found in excavations at Mesad Hashavyahu, which is dated 630 BCE. The prohibitions on these days, spaced seven days apart, include abstaining from chariot riding, on these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to make a wish, and at least the 28th was known as a rest-day. The difficulties of this theory include reconciling the differences between a week and a lunar week, and explaining the absence of texts naming the lunar week as Sabbath in any language
14.
Heresy
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Heresy /hār ə sē/ is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. A heretic is a proponent of such claims or beliefs, the term is usually used to refer to violations of important religious teachings, but is used also of views strongly opposed to any generally accepted ideas. It is used in particular in reference to Christianity, Judaism, the word heresy is usually used within a Christian, Jewish, or Islamic context, and implies slightly different meanings in each. The founder or leader of a movement is called a heresiarch. Heresiology is the study of heresy, according to Titus 3,10 a divisive person should be warned two times before separating from him. The Greek for the phrase divisive person became a term in the early Church for a type of heretic who promoted dissension. In contrast correct teaching is called not only because it builds up the faith. The Church Fathers identified Jews and Judaism with heresy and they saw deviations from orthodox Christianity as heresies that were essentially Jewish in spirit. The use of the word heresy was given currency by Irenaeus in his 2nd century tract Contra Haereses to describe. He described the beliefs and doctrines as orthodox and the Gnostics teachings as heretical. He also pointed out the concept of succession to support his arguments. By Roman law the Emperor was Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs of all recognized religions in ancient Rome. To put an end to the doctrinal debate initiated by Arius, Constantine called the first of what would afterwards be called the ecumenical councils and then enforced orthodoxy by Imperial authority. The first known usage of the term in a context was in AD380 by the Edict of Thessalonica of Theodosius I. Prior to the issuance of this edict, the Church had no state-sponsored support for any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as heresy, by this edict the states authority and that of the Church became somewhat overlapping. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and state was the sharing of state powers of legal enforcement with church authorities and this reinforcement of the Churchs authority gave church leaders the power to, in effect, pronounce the death sentence upon those whom the church considered heretical. The edict of Theodosius II provided severe punishments for those who had or spread writings of Nestorius and those who possessed writings of Arius were sentenced to death. For some years after the Reformation, Protestant churches were known to execute those they considered heretics
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Sun cross
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A sun cross is the term for a symbol consisting of an equilateral cross inside a circle when considered as a solar symbol. The design is found in the symbolism of prehistoric cultures. The symbols ubiquity and apparent importance in prehistoric religion have given rise to its interpretation as a solar symbol, the same symbol is in use as a modern astronomical symbol representing the Earth rather than the Sun. The symbol can be depicted using Unicode as U+1F728, U+2295 or as U+2A01, the interpretation of the simple equilateral cross as a solar symbol in Bronze Age religion was widespread in 19th-century scholarship. The cross-in-a-circle was interpreted as a solar symbol derived from the interpretation of the disc of the Sun as the wheel of the chariot of the Sun god. Wieseler postulated an Gothic rune hvel representing the deity by the wheel symbol of a cross-in-a-circle. The English term Sun-Cross, on the hand, is comparatively recent, apparently loaned from German Sonnenkreuz. The German term Sonnenkreuz was used in 19th-century scholarly literature of any cross symbol interpreted as a solar symbol, Sonnenkreuz was used of the flag design of the Paneuropean Union in the 1920s. In the 1930s, a version of the symbol with broken arms was popular as a link between Christianity and Germanic paganism in the völkisch German Faith Movement. Popular legend in Ireland says that the Celtic Christian cross was introduced by Saint Patrick or possibly Saint Declan and it has often been claimed that Patrick combined the symbol of Christianity with the sun cross to give pagan followers an idea of the importance of the cross. By linking it with the idea of the properties of the sun. Other interpretations claim that placing the cross on top of the circle represents Christs supremacy over the pagan sun, the original Coptic cross often includes a circle that is derived from the ankh, as the circles represent the sun god, Ra. Early Gnostic sects also used a circle cross, the Bronze Age symbol has also been connected with the spoked chariot wheel, which at the time was four-spoked. In the context of a culture that celebrated the Sun chariot, the same symbol represents the Earth in astronomical symbols, while the Sun is represented by a circle with a center point. The Native Americans and other indigenous peoples using the solar cross on their symbolic. In modern music tablature, the solar cross denotes a change of a guitar tone distortion. The Sassanian Empire in Persia used a similar solar cross on their banner, the Norwegian party Nasjonal Samling used a golden sun cross on a red background as an official symbol from 1933 to 1945. The cross with the circle was attached to Olaf II of Norway, patron saint of Norway, several neo-Nazi groups use the solar cross to represent white supremacy
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Bricket Wood coven
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The Bricket Wood coven, or Hertfordshire coven was a coven of Gardnerian witches founded in the 1940s by Gerald Gardner. It was notable for being the first coven in the Gardnerian line, the coven formed after Gardner bought the Fiveacres Country Club, a naturist club in the village of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, southern England, and met within the clubs grounds. It played a significant part in the history of the religion of Wicca. Many important and influential figures in Wicca were members of the coven, including Dafo, Doreen Valiente, Jack Bracelin, Frederic Lamond, Dayonis, Eleanor Bone, the coven is still active today, though it maintains secrecy and its history is only known up until the 1970s. Gardner founded the coven around the year 1946 after moving to the area from the New Forest with his wife Donna, in the New Forest, Gardner claimed to have been initiated into the New Forest coven, where he learned the mysteries and practices of the witchcraft religion. Gardner, fearing that the Old Religion as he called it would die out, decided to form a new coven near to his new home, Gardner acted as the covens High Priest, with Dafo acting as High Priestess. She had also been a member of the New Forest coven, Dafo remained a member of the coven until she left it by late 1952, annoyed at Gardners publicity seeking. They held their meetings on the grounds of the local wooded Fiveacres nudist club and he was himself not interested in running the club, and as such appointed an administrator to take on the job. Gardner re-assembled what he called the The Witches Cottage on a plot of land which he owned in the club grounds, the small cottage was decorated with magical sigils on the inside. He had purchased this building from a friend of his, the Freemason John S. M, Ward, who was a pioneer of the restoration of historical buildings. It was within this 16th-century cottage that Ward had found near to Ledbury, Doreen Valiente, whom Gardner had initiated into the craft at Midsummer 1953 at the home of Dafo in the New Forest, joined the coven, and rose to become High Priestess. In 1956, Jack Bracelin was initiated into the coven by Valiente, hoping to help Jack and Gardners club out, the coven performed a ritual, and the situation was resolved. In the mid-1950s, Gardner began to more publicity, something which annoyed many coven members. In 1957, Valiente and several other coven members confronted Gardner over this, Gardner, in response, brought about the Wiccan Laws, which offended Valiente, and in 1957 she and many of the groups older members left to form their own coven. Gardner was left with a much younger coven, composed of Dayonis, her then partner Jack Bracelin, Fred Lamond, a hospital anaesthetist, with Valiente gone, Dayonis took over as the High Priestess of the coven, in January 1958. One such of these new fast-tracked initiates was Fred Lamond, who was initiated only four months after meeting the coven for the first time. Gardner also insisted on the initiation of Eleanor Bone, despite the fact that the members felt that they simply couldnt circle with her because of differences in exuberance. Within a month, Gardner had brought about her 2nd and 3rd initiations, at the same time, the group decided that they wanted to celebrate the solstices and the equinoxes as well as the cross-quarter days
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Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
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The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic organisation based in England, but based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards. It has grown to become a dynamic druid organisation, with members in all parts of the world, nonetheless, Strabos accuracy has been called into question, as he was not actually well acquainted with Gaul and was likely relying on earlier sources whose accuracy is also disputed. OBOD was founded in 1964 as a split from the Ancient Druid Order with Ross Nichols as its leader. In 1988, more than a decade after Nichols passing, and after study in the Order and helping to further its reaches, the OBOD teachings are available principally in the form of a distance-learning course mailed to members around the world. There is a network of tutors, many using email, to support the students’ progress through the grades of Bard, Ovate, members meet at camps, at workshops and assemblies in various parts of the world, and a network of groves and seedgroups also exists. There are a number of forums, a private members’ website in addition to OBOD’s public-access site. The teachings of the Order could be seen as typical of Neo-druidism today, in that it teaches its followers the belief of the sanctity of nature and a belief in the Otherworld. Although its teaching draws upon Celtic sources, it also incorporates ideas from psychology and the Human Potential movement. Many members of the Order prefer to learn at home, solitary, members are sent course information and materials, and may be assigned a tutor if they wish to have someone to communicate with. Individual Druids and the groups that practice with are allowed to decide their own pantheons. Many OBOD Druids identify as Pagan, but others identify as Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or many other religions, while some follow Druidry as their primary or only spiritual path. The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids Outline of how the Order is structured Druidcast - A Druid podcast by the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids
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Anglo-Saxons
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The Anglo-Saxons are a people who have inhabited Great Britain from the 5th century. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their settlement and up until the Norman conquest. The early Anglo-Saxon period includes the creation of an English nation, with many of the aspects that survive today, including government of shires. During this period, Christianity was re-established and there was a flowering of literature, charters and law were also established. The term Anglo-Saxon is popularly used for the language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England, in scholarly use, it is more commonly called Old English. The history of the Anglo-Saxons is the history of a cultural identity and it developed from divergent groups in association with the peoples adoption of Christianity, and was integral to the establishment of various kingdoms. Threatened by extended Danish invasions and occupation of eastern England, this identity was re-established, the visible Anglo-Saxon culture can be seen in the material culture of buildings, dress styles, illuminated texts and grave goods. Behind the symbolic nature of these emblems, there are strong elements of tribal. The elite declared themselves as kings who developed burhs, and identified their roles and peoples in Biblical terms, above all, as Helena Hamerow has observed, local and extended kin groups remained. the essential unit of production throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Use of the term Anglo-Saxon assumes that the words Angles, Saxons or Anglo-Saxon have the meaning in all the sources. Assigning ethnic labels such as Anglo-Saxon is fraught with difficulties and this term began to be used only in the 8th century to distinguish the Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent. The Old English ethnonym Angul-Seaxan comes from the Latin Angli-Saxones and became the name of the peoples Bede calls Anglorum, Anglo-Saxon is a term that was rarely used by Anglo-Saxons themselves, it is not an autonym. It is likely they identified as ængli, Seaxe or, more probably, also, the use of Anglo-Saxon disguises the extent to which people identified as Anglo-Scandinavian after the Viking age or the conquest of 1016, or as Anglo-Norman after the Norman conquest. The earliest historical references using this term are from outside Britain, referring to piratical Germanic raiders, Saxones who attacked the shores of Britain, procopius states that Britain was settled by three races, the Angiloi, Frisones, and Britons. The term Angli Saxones seems to have first been used in writing of the 8th century. The name therefore seemed to mean English Saxons, the Christian church seems to have used the word Angli, for example in the story of Pope Gregory I and his remark, Non Angli sed angeli. The terms ænglisc and Angelcynn were also used by West Saxon King Alfred to refer to the people, at other times he uses the term rex Anglorum, which presumably meant both Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Alfred the Great used Anglosaxonum Rex, the term Engla cyningc is used by Æthelred
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Celts
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The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic, religious and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities. By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and also uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed. Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region
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Celtic languages
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The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. Modern Celtic languages are spoken on the north-western edge of Europe, notably in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall. There are also a number of Welsh speakers in the Patagonia area of Argentina. Some people speak Celtic languages in the other Celtic diaspora areas of the United States, Canada, Australia, in all these areas, the Celtic languages are now only spoken by minorities though there are continuing efforts at revitalisation. Welsh is the only Celtic language not classified as endangered by UNESCO, the spread to Cape Breton and Patagonia occurred in modern times. SIL Ethnologue lists six living Celtic languages, of four have retained a substantial number of native speakers. These are the Goidelic languages and the Brittonic languages, the other two, Cornish and Manx, died in modern times with their presumed last native speakers in 1777 and 1974 respectively. For both these languages, however, revitalisation movements have led to the adoption of these languages by adults and children, taken together, there were roughly one million native speakers of Celtic languages as of the 2000s. In 2010, there were more than 1.4 million speakers of Celtic languages, shelta, based largely on Irish with influence from an undocumented source. Some forms of Welsh-Romani or Kååle also combined Romany itself with Welsh language, beurla-reagaird, Highland travellers language Celtic divided into various branches, Lepontic, the oldest attested Celtic language. Anciently spoken in Switzerland and in Northern-Central Italy, from the Alps to Umbria, coins with Lepontic inscriptions have been found in Noricum and Gallia Narbonensis. Celtiberian, anciently spoken in the Iberian peninsula, in parts of modern Galicia, Asturias, La Rioja, Aragón, Cantabria, Old Castile, the relationship of Celtiberian with Gallaecian, in the northwest of the peninsula, is uncertain. Gallaecian, anciently spoken in the former Gallaecia, northwest of the peninsula, Gaulish languages, including Galatian and possibly Noric. These languages were spoken in a wide arc from Belgium to Turkey. Brittonic, including the living languages Breton, Cornish, and Welsh, before the arrival of Scotti on the Isle of Man in the 9th century, there may have been a Brittonic language in the Isle of Man. Goidelic, including the living languages Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, scholarly handling of the Celtic languages has been rather argumentative owing to scarceness of primary source data. Other scholars distinguish between P-Celtic and Q-Celtic, putting most of the Gaulish and Brittonic languages in the former group, the P-Celtic languages are sometimes seen as a central innovating area as opposed to the more conservative peripheral Q-Celtic languages. In the P/Q classification schema, the first language to split off from Proto-Celtic was Gaelic and it has characteristics that some scholars see as archaic, but others see as also being in the Brittonic languages
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Germanic languages
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It is the third most spoken Indo-European subdivision, behind Italic and Indo-Iranian, and ahead of Balto-Slavic languages. Limburgish varieties have roughly 1.3 million speakers along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, the main North Germanic languages are Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Faroese, which have a combined total of about 20 million speakers. The East Germanic branch included Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic, the last to die off was Crimean Gothic, spoken in the late 18th century in some isolated areas of Crimea. The total number of Germanic languages throughout history is unknown, as some of them—especially East Germanic languages—disappeared during or after the Migration Period. Proto-Germanic, along all of its descendants, is characterized by a number of unique linguistic features. Early varieties of Germanic enter history with the Germanic tribes moving south from Scandinavia in the 2nd century BC, to settle in the area of todays northern Germany, furthermore, it is the de facto language of the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It is also a language in Nicaragua and Malaysia. German is a language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland and has regional status in Italy, Poland, Namibia. German also continues to be spoken as a minority language by immigrant communities in North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, a German dialect, Pennsylvania Dutch, is still present amongst Anabaptist populations in Pennsylvania in the United States. Dutch is a language of Aruba, Belgium, Curaçao. The Netherlands also colonised Indonesia, but Dutch was scrapped as a language after Indonesian independence. Dutch was until 1925 an official language in South Africa, but evolved in and was replaced by Afrikaans, Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages in South Africa and is a lingua franca of Namibia. It is used in other Southern African nations as well, low German is a collection of sometimes very diverse dialects spoken in the northeast of the Netherlands and northern Germany. Scots is spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, frisian is spoken among half a million people who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Luxembourgish is mainly spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, though it extends into small parts of Belgium, France. Limburgish varieties are spoken in the Limburg and Rhineland regions, along the Dutch–Belgian–German border, Swedish is also one of the two official languages in Finland, along with Finnish, and the only official language in the Åland Islands. Danish is also spoken natively by the Danish minority in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Norwegian is the official language of Norway. Icelandic is the language of Iceland, and is spoken by a significant minority in the Faroe Islands
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Heathenry in the United States
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Heathenry is a modern Pagan new religious movement that has been active in the United States since at least the early 1970s. Although the term Heathenry is often employed to cover the religious movement, different Heathen groups within the United States often prefer the term Ásatrú or Odinism as self-designations. Heathenry appeared in the United States during the 1960s, at the time as the wider emergence of modern Paganism in the United States. Among the earliest American group was the Odinist Fellowship, founded by Danish migrant Else Christensen in 1969, Ásatrú grew steadily in the United States during the 1960s. In 1969, the Danish Odinist Else Christensen established the Odinist Fellowship from her home in Florida, in the 1990s, McNallen founded the Ásatrú Folk Assembly, an ethnically oriented Heathen group headquartered in California. Meanwhile, Valgard Murray and his kindred in Arizona founded the Ásatrú Alliance in the late 1980s, which shared the AFAs perspectives on race, in 1987, Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm founded The Troth, which was incorporated in Texas. Taking an inclusive, non-racialist view, it grew into an international organisation. In English usage, the genitive Ásatrúar of Æsir faith is used on its own to denote adherents. Other practitioners term their religion Vanatrú, meaning those who honour the Vanir or Dísitrú, meaning those who honour the Goddesses, depending on their particular theological emphasis. Within the community it is stated that the term Ásatrú pertains to groups which are not racially focused. However, in practice, there is no such neat division in terminology, there are notable differences of emphasis between Ásatrú as practiced in the US and in Scandinavia. He noted that the majority of individuals in the movement were white, male. Most had at least a degree, and worked in a mix of white collar. The majority had an education, but were generally less well educated than the wider Pagan community. Subsequent assessments have suggested a larger base,10,000 to 20,000 according to McNallen. Ásatrú organizations have memberships which span the political and spiritual spectrum. In May 2013, the Hammer of Thor was added to the list of United States Department of Veterans Affairs emblems for headstones and markers. Historically, the dispute between the national organizations has generally centered on the interpretation of Nordic heritage as either something cultural
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Saga
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They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland. The tales are usually realistic, except legendary sagas, sagas of saints, sagas of bishops and they are sometimes romanticised and fantastic, but always dealing with human beings one can understand. The term saga originates from the Norse saga, and refers to what is said, statement or story, tale and it is cognate with the English word saw, and the German Sage. Icelandic sagas are based on traditions and much research has focused on what is real. The accuracy of the sagas is often hotly disputed, most of the manuscripts in which the sagas are preserved were taken to Denmark and Sweden in the 17th century, but later returned to Iceland. Classic sagas were composed in the 13th century, scholars once believed that these sagas were transmitted orally from generation to generation until scribes wrote them down in the 13th century. However, most scholars now believe the sagas were conscious artistic creations, however, this clothing is not contemporary with the events of the saga as it is a closer match to the clothing worn in the 12th century. There are plenty of tales of kings, everyday people and larger than life characters, the sagas describe a part of the history of some of the Nordic countries. The British Isles, northern France and North America are also mentioned and it was only recently that the tales of the voyages to North America were authenticated. Most sagas of Icelanders take place in the period 930–1030, which is called söguöld in Icelandic history, the sagas of kings, bishops, contemporary sagas have their own time frame. Norse sagas are generally classified as, the Kings sagas, sagas of Icelanders, Short tales of Icelanders, Contemporary sagas, Legendary sagas, Chivalric sagas, Saints sagas, Kings sagas are of the lives of Scandinavian kings. They were composed in the 12th to 14th centuries, family Sagas, are stories of real events, passed in oral form till they eventually were recorded, mostly in the 13th century. These are the highest form of the classical Icelandic saga writing, some well-known examples include Njáls saga, Laxdæla saga and Grettis saga. The material of the Short tales of Icelanders sagas is similar to Íslendinga sögur, the narratives of the Contemporary Sagas are set in 12th- and 13th-century Iceland, and were written soon after the events they describe. Most are preserved in the compilation Sturlunga saga, though some, Legendary Sagas blend remote history with myth or legend. The aim is on a narrative and entertainment. Scandinavias pagan past was a proud and heroic history for the Icelanders, Chivalric sagas are translations of Latin pseudo-historical works and French chansons de geste as well as native creations in the same style. While sagas are generally anonymous, a literary movement in the 14th century involves sagas, mostly on religious topics, with identifiable authors
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Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
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Leif Erikson
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Leif Erikson or Leif Ericson was an Icelandic explorer and the first known European to have discovered North America, before Christopher Columbus. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the LAnse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station. Leif was the son of Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland and he was likely born in Iceland, and grew up in the family estate Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement in Greenland. Leif had two sons, Thorgils, born to noblewoman Thorgunna in the Hebrides, and Thorkell. Leif was the son of Erik the Red and his wife Þjóðhildur, and the grandson of Thorvaldr Ásvaldsson, and distant relative of Naddodd and he was a Viking in the early days. His year of birth is most often given as c.970 or c, Leif had two brothers, whose names were Thorsteinn and Thorvaldr, and a sister, Freydís. Thorvald Asvaldsson was banished from Norway for manslaughter and went into exile in Iceland accompanied by young Erik, when Erik was himself banished from Iceland, he travelled further west to an area he named Greenland, where he established the first permanent settlement in 986. Tyrker, one of Eriks thralls, had been trusted to keep in charge of Eriks children. Leif and his crew travelled from Greenland to Norway in 999 AD, blown off course to the Hebrides and staying for much of the summer, he arrived in Norway and became a hirdman of King Olaf Tryggvason. He also converted to Christianity and was given the mission of introducing the religion to Greenland, the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, both thought to have been written around 1200, contain different accounts of the voyages to Vinland. The two only known strictly historical mentions of Vinland are found in the work of Adam of Bremen c.1075 and in the Book of Icelanders compiled c.1122 by Ari the Wise. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif apparently saw Vinland for the first time after being blown off course on his way to introduce Christianity to Greenland, Bjarni reportedly never made landfall there, however. Later, when travelling from Norway to Greenland, Leif was also blown off course, to a land that he did not expect to see and he next rescued two men who were shipwrecked in this country and went back to Greenland. Leif then approached Bjarni, purchased his ship, gathered a crew of thirty-five men and his father Erik was set to join him but dropped out after he fell from his horse on his way to set sail, an incident he interpreted as a bad omen. Leif followed Bjarnis route in reverse and landed first in a rocky, after venturing further by sea, he landed the second time in a forested place he named Markland. Finally, after two days at sea, he landed in a verdant area with a mild climate. As winter approached, he decided to encamp there and broke his party into two groups - one to remain at camp and the other to explore the country, during one of these explorations, Tyrker discovered that the land was full of vines and grapes. Leif therefore named the land Vinland, there, he and his crew built a small settlement, which was called Leifsbúðir by later visitors from Greenland
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Vinland
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Vinland, Vineland or Winland is the area of coastal North America explored by Norse Vikings, where Leif Erikson first landed in ca. 1000, approximately five centuries prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Vinland was the name given to North America as far as it was explored by the Vikings, presumably including both Newfoundland and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as far as northeastern New Brunswick. In 1960, archaeological evidence of a Norse settlement in North America was found at LAnse aux Meadows on the tip of the island of Newfoundland. Before the discovery of evidence, Vinland was known only from Old Norse sagas. The 1960 discovery conclusively proved the pre-Columbian Norse colonization of the Americas, LAnse aux Meadows may correspond to the camp Straumfjörð mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red. Vinland or Winland was the given to part of North America by the Icelandic Norseman Leif Eiríksson. The exact meaning of this Norse toponym has not been established, to write it he visited the King of Denmark, Sweyn II Estridsson who had knowledge of the northern lands. The name contains Old Norse vin which means meadow, there is a long-standing Scandinavian tradition of fermenting berries into wine. The question whether the name refers to actual grapevines or just to berries was addressed in a 2010 excavation report on L’Anse aux Meadows, another proposal for the names etymology, was brought up by Sven Söderberg in 1898. This suggestion involves interpreting the Old Norse name not as vín-land but as vin-land, Old Norse vin has a meaning of meadow, pasture. It was rejected by Einar Haugen, who argued that the vin element had changed its meaning from pasture to farm long before the Old Norse period, names in vin were given in the Proto-Norse period, and they are absent from places colonized in the Viking Age. Haugens basis for rejection has since been challenged, there is a runestone which may have contained a record of the Old Norse name slightly predating Adam of Bremens Winland. The Hønen Runestone was discovered in Norderhov, Norway shortly before 1817 and its assessment depends on a sketch made by antiquarian L. D. Klüwer, now also lost but in turn copied by Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie. The Younger Futhark inscription was dated to c. The stone had been erected in memory of a Norwegian, sophus Bugge read part of the inscription as ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᛆᛁᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin aią isa Vínlandi á ísa from Vinland over ice. This is highly uncertain, the sequence is read by Magnus Olsen as ᚢᛁᚿ᛫ᚴᛆᚭ᛫ᛁᛌᛆ uin kaą isa vindkalda á ísa over the wind-cold ice. The main sources of information about the Norse voyages to Vinland are two Icelandic sagas, the Saga of Eric the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders and these stories were preserved by oral tradition until they were written down some 250 years after the events they describe. The existence of two versions of the shows some of the challenges of using traditional sources for history, because they share a large number of story elements. A possible example is the reference to two different men named Bjarni who are blown off course, a brief summary of the plots of the two sagas, given at the end of this article, shows other examples
27.
Religious cosmology
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A religious cosmology is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the cosmos or universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a deity or a larger pantheon. The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below. In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the centre of a number of concentric heavens. Around the time of Jesus or an earlier, the Greek idea that God had actually created matter replaced the older idea that matter had always existed. This concept, called creatio ex nihilo, is now the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism, most denominations of Christianity and Judaism claim that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos. The Earths creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, according to the King Follett discourse, God the Father himself once passed through mortality like Jesus did, but how, when, or where that took place is unclear. The prevailing view among Mormons is that God once lived on a planet, in Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions of its inhabitants. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, a world comes into existence when the first being in it is born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are planes of existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into. Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earths physical environment, below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology. And the heavens We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are expander,51,47 Sahih International Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder. We made from water every living thing, the Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in, Neither being nor non-being was as yet. And in whose protection. …Who really knows, whence was it born, and whence came this creation. The devas were born later than this worlds creation, so who knows from where it came into existence, none can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know. The Rig Vedas view of the cosmos also sees one true divine principle self-projecting as the word, Vaak, birthing the cosmos that we know. The Hiranyagarbha is alternatively viewed as Brahma, the creator who was in turn created by God, the creation begins anew after billions of years of non-existence
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Sun
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The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99. 86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Suns mass consists of hydrogen, the rest is mostly helium, with smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star based on its spectral class and it formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into a disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core and it is thought that almost all stars form by this process. The Sun is roughly middle-aged, it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years and it is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large enough to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth. The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, the synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today. The English proper name Sun developed from Old English sunne and may be related to south, all Germanic terms for the Sun stem from Proto-Germanic *sunnōn. The English weekday name Sunday stems from Old English and is ultimately a result of a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis, the Latin name for the Sun, Sol, is not common in general English language use, the adjectival form is the related word solar. The term sol is used by planetary astronomers to refer to the duration of a solar day on another planet. A mean Earth solar day is approximately 24 hours, whereas a mean Martian sol is 24 hours,39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Sun was worshipped as the god Ra, portrayed as a falcon-headed divinity surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. In the New Empire period, the Sun became identified with the dung beetle, in the form of the Sun disc Aten, the Sun had a brief resurgence during the Amarna Period when it again became the preeminent, if not only, divinity for the Pharaoh Akhenaton. The Sun is viewed as a goddess in Germanic paganism, Sól/Sunna, in ancient Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. It was adopted as the Sabbath day by Christians who did not have a Jewish background, the symbol of light was a pagan device adopted by Christians, and perhaps the most important one that did not come from Jewish traditions
29.
Dying-and-rising god
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A dying-and-rising, death-rebirth, or resurrection deity is a religious motif in which a god dies and is resurrected. Death or departure of the gods is motif A192 in Stith Thompsons Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, the concept of a dying-and-rising god was first proposed in comparative mythology by James Frazers seminal The Golden Bough. Frazer associated the motif with fertility rites surrounding the yearly cycle of vegetation, Frazer cited the examples of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, Dionysus and Jesus Christ. These examples range from Baldr in Norse mythology to the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl in Aztec mythology to the Japanese Izanami. The methods of death vary, e. g. Baldr does not come back to life because not all living creatures shed tears for him, and his death then leads to the doom of the gods. In contrast, in most variations of his story, Quetzalcoatl is tricked by Tezcatlipoca to over-drink, hawaiian deities can die and depart the world in a number of ways, e. g. some gods who were killed on Lanai by Lanikuala departed for the skies. In contrast, Kaili leaves the world by a canoe which is never seen again, examples include Ishtar and Persephone, who die every year. The yearly death of Ishtar when she goes underground represents the lack of growth, the term dying god is associated with the works of James Frazer, Jane Ellen Harrison, and their fellow Cambridge Ritualists. Early in the 20th century, Gerald Massey argued that there are similarities between the Egyptian dying-and-rising god myths and Jesus and he also proposed that the myths of the pagan gods who symbolically died and resurrected foreshadowed Christs literal/physical death and resurrection. The overall view of Jung regarding religious themes and stories is that they are expressions of events occurring in the unconscious of the individuals - regardless of their historicity. In Jungs view, a story such as the resurrection of Jesus may be true or not, but that has no relevance to the psychological analysis of the process. The analysis of Osiris permeates the later religious psychology of Carl Jung more than any other element, Jung believed that Christianity itself derived its significance from the archetypal relationship between Osiris and Horus versus God the Father and Jesus, his son. However, Jung also postulated that the applied to Osiris, and not Horus. The cutting down of barley and wheat was related to the death of Osiris, in general rebirth analogies based on the vegetation cycle are viewed as the weakest elements in the death-rebirth analogies. In Greek mythology Dionysus, the son of Zeus was a child who was torn to pieces by Titans who lured him with toys, then boiled. Zeus then destroyed the Titans by thunderbolt as a result of their action against Dionysus, however, Dionysus grandmother Rhea managed to put some of his pieces back together and brought him back to life. Scholars such as Barry Powell have suggested Dionysus as an example of resurrection, the category dying-and-rising-god was debated throughout the 20th century, most modern scholars questioning its ubiquity in the worlds mythologies. By the end of the 20th century the scholarly consensus had emerged against the category, given its limited applicability outside of Ancient Near Eastern religions
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Macrocosm and microcosm
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Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a vision of cosmos where the part reflects the whole and vice versa. It is a present in all esoteric schools of thinking, according to scholar Pierre A. Riffard. It is closely associated with Hermeticism and underlies practices such as astrology, alchemy, §435, pg 151 Theories of Macrocosms and Microcosms in the History of Philosophy, G. P. Conger, NY,1922, which includes a survey of critical discussions up to 1922. Cosmos - an Illustrated Dimensional Journey from microcosmos to macrocosmos - from Digital Nature Agency
31.
Recursion
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Recursion occurs when a thing is defined in terms of itself or of its type. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic, the most common application of recursion is in mathematics and computer science, where a function being defined is applied within its own definition. While this apparently defines a number of instances, it is often done in such a way that no loop or infinite chain of references can occur. The ancestors of ones ancestors are also ones ancestors, the Fibonacci sequence is a classic example of recursion, Fib =0 as base case 1, Fib =1 as base case 2, For all integers n >1, Fib, = Fib + Fib. Many mathematical axioms are based upon recursive rules, for example, the formal definition of the natural numbers by the Peano axioms can be described as,0 is a natural number, and each natural number has a successor, which is also a natural number. By this base case and recursive rule, one can generate the set of all natural numbers, recursively defined mathematical objects include functions, sets, and especially fractals. There are various more tongue-in-cheek definitions of recursion, see recursive humor, Recursion is the process a procedure goes through when one of the steps of the procedure involves invoking the procedure itself. A procedure that goes through recursion is said to be recursive, to understand recursion, one must recognize the distinction between a procedure and the running of a procedure. A procedure is a set of steps based on a set of rules, the running of a procedure involves actually following the rules and performing the steps. An analogy, a procedure is like a recipe, running a procedure is like actually preparing the meal. Recursion is related to, but not the same as, a reference within the specification of a procedure to the execution of some other procedure. For instance, a recipe might refer to cooking vegetables, which is another procedure that in turn requires heating water, for this reason recursive definitions are very rare in everyday situations. An example could be the procedure to find a way through a maze. Proceed forward until reaching either an exit or a branching point, If the point reached is an exit, terminate. Otherwise try each branch in turn, using the procedure recursively, if every trial fails by reaching only dead ends, return on the path led to this branching point. Whether this actually defines a terminating procedure depends on the nature of the maze, in any case, executing the procedure requires carefully recording all currently explored branching points, and which of their branches have already been exhaustively tried. This can be understood in terms of a definition of a syntactic category. A sentence can have a structure in which what follows the verb is another sentence, Dorothy thinks witches are dangerous, so a sentence can be defined recursively as something with a structure that includes a noun phrase, a verb, and optionally another sentence
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Polytheistic reconstructionism
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Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to paganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, which gathered momentum starting in the 1990s. I wish the Teutonic world would once more think in terms of Thor and Wotan, and I wish the Druidic world would see, honestly, that in the mistletoe is their mystery, and that they themselves are the Tuatha De Danaan, alive, but submerged. And a new Hermes should come back to the Mediterranean, and a new Ashtaroth to Tunis, and Mithras again to Persia, and Brahma unbroken to India, the term Reconstructionist Paganism was likely coined by Isaac Bonewits in the late 1970s. Bonewits has said that he is not sure whether he got this use of the term from one or more of the other culturally focused Neopagan movements of the time, or if just applied it in a novel fashion. Margot Adler later used the term Pagan Reconstructionists in the 1979 edition of Drawing Down the Moon to refer to those who claimed to adhere to some sort of historical religion. This emphasis on reconstruction is in ostensible contrast to more fanciful approaches to paganism in Romanticism, linzie enumerates the difference between modern reconstructionist polytheism, with classical paganism as found in eighteenth to mid-twentieth century movements. Aspects of the former, not found in the latter, are as follows, researchers attempt to stay within research guidelines developed over the course of the past century for handling documentation generated in the time periods that they are studying. With an overt attempt to avoid pseudo-sciences, There are serious attempts to recreate culture, politics, science and art of the period in order to better understand the environment within which the religious beliefs were practiced. The use of the terms Pagan and Neopagan to apply to polytheistic reconstructionists is controversial, uncovering the Effects of Cultural Background on the Reconstruction of Ancient Worldviews. Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon, Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, the Recons The CR FAQ - An Introduction to Celtic Reconstructionism A consensus document, co-authored by representatives
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Ethnic religion
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Ethnic religion, alongside indigenous religion, is a term used within religious studies to describe various expressions of religion associated with a particular ethnic group. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from religions which claim to not be limited in ethnic or national scope, ethnic religions do not have to be excluded to independent religions. A number of terms have been used instead of ethnic or indigenous religions. The term primal religion was coined by Andrew Walls in the University of Aberdeen in the 1970s to provide a focus on forms of religion as found in Africa, Asia. Cox prefers to use the indigenous religion. Another term that is used is folk religion. While ethnic religion and folk religion have overlapping uses, the term implies the appropriation of religious beliefs. Ethnic religions are distinctive in their relationship with an ethnic group. Some ethnic religions can be strong, for instance Hinduism of the Indians, Judaism of the Jews, Shenism of the Han Chinese. Some ancient ethnic religions, such as those found in pre-modern Europe, have found new vitality in neopaganism. Moreover, non-ethnic religions such as Christianity have been known to assume ethnic traits to an extent that they serve a role as an important ethnic identity marker, animism Ancestor worship Endogamy List of ethnic religions List of Neopagan movements National god Shamanism Totemism
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Mythology
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Mythology refers variously to the collected myths of a group of people or to the study of such myths. Myths are the people tell to explain nature, history. Myth is a feature of every culture, mythologizing continues, as shown in contemporary mythopoeia such as urban legends and the expansive fictional mythoi created by fantasy novels and comics. A cultures collective mythology helps convey belonging, shared and religious experiences, behavioral models, the study of myth began in ancient history. Rival classes of the Greek myths by Euhemerus, Plato and Sallustius were developed by the Neoplatonists, the nineteenth-century comparative mythology reinterpreted myth as a primitive and failed counterpart of science, a disease of language, or a misinterpretation of magical ritual. Recent approaches often view myths as manifestations of psychological, cultural, or societal truths, the term mythology predates the word myth by centuries. It first appeared in the fifteenth-century, borrowed from the Middle French term mythologie, the word mythology, comes from Middle French mythologie, from Late Latin mythologia, from Greek μυθολογία mythología from μῦθος mythos and -λογία -logia. The word mythología appears in Plato, but was used as a term for fiction or story-telling of any kind, combining mỹthos. From Lydgate until the seventeenth or eighteenth-century, mythology was similarly used to mean a moral, fable, from its earliest use in reference to a collection of traditional stories or beliefs, mythology implied the falsehood of the stories being described. It came to be applied by analogy with similar bodies of traditional stories among other cultures around the world. The Greek loanword mythos and Latinate mythus both appeared in English before the first example of myth in 1830, in present use, mythology usually refers to the collected myths of a group of people, but may also mean the study of such myths. For example, Greek mythology, Roman mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of myths retold among those cultures, dundes defined myth as a sacred narrative that explains how the world and humanity evolved into their present form. Lincoln defined myth as ideology in narrative form, scholars in other fields use the term myth in varied ways. In a broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story, due to this pejorative sense, some scholars opted for the term mythos. Its use was similarly pejorative and now commonly refers to its Aristotelian sense as a plot point or to a collective mythology. The term is distinguished from didactic literature such as fables. Main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans, however, many exceptions or combinations exist, as in the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid. Myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and are linked to religion or spirituality
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Symbol
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A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences, all communication is achieved through the use of symbols. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas or visual images and are used to other ideas. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for STOP, on a map, a blue line might represent a river. Alphabetic letters may be symbols for sounds, personal names are symbols representing individuals. A red rose may symbolize love and compassion, the variable x, in a mathematical equation, may symbolize the position of a particle in space. In cartography, a collection of symbols forms a legend for a map The word derives from the Greek symbolon meaning token or watchword. It is an amalgam of syn- together + bole a throwing, a casting, the sense evolution in Greek is from throwing things together to contrasting to comparing to token used in comparisons to determine if something is genuine. The meaning something which stands for something else was first recorded in 1590, later, expanding on what he means by this definition Campbell says, a symbol, like everything else, shows a double aspect. We must distinguish, therefore between the sense and the meaning of the symbol. The term meaning can only to the first two but these, today, are in the charge of science – which is the province as we have said, not of symbols. The ineffable, the unknowable, can be only sensed. Heinrich Zimmer gives an overview of the nature, and perennial relevance. Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, through all of these a transcendent reality is mirrored. They are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed, is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own, in the book Signs and Symbols, it is stated that A symbol. Is a visual image or sign representing an idea -- a deeper indicator of a universal truth, Symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. This separates symbols from signs, as signs have only one meaning, human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture
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Esbats
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An esbat /ˈɛsbæt/ is a coven meeting of other than one the Sabbats within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of contemporary Paganism. Janet and Stewart Farrar describe esbats as an opportunity for a love feast, healing work, psychic training, the term esbat is derived from Old French sesbattre, meaning to frolic and amuse oneself, diversion. It was a borrowing by 20th century anthropologist Margaret Murrays use of French witch trial sources on supposed Witches Sabbaths in her attempts to reconstruct a Witch Cult in Western Europe, an esbat is commonly understood to be a ritual observance on the night of a full moon. However, the high priestess Doreen Valiente distinguished between full moon Esbat and other esbatic occasions. The term esbat in this sense was described by Margaret Murray, the Esbat differed from the Sabbat by being primarily for business. Very often the Esbat was for sheer enjoyment only Full moon Lunar calendar Wheel of the Year Lunar effect List of lunar deities
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Witchcraft
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Witchcraft broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is present within societies. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have existed throughout recorded history and it posits a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. Christian views in the day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition to non-belief. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs – became the name of a branch of modern paganism and it is most notably practiced in the Wiccan and modern witchcraft traditions, and no longer practices in secrecy. The Western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft, Beliefs related to witchcraft and magic in these cultures were at times influenced by the prevailing Western concepts. Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in countries to this day. HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus disease are two examples of infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and containment has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include tuberculosis, leprosy, epilepsy, the word witchcraft derives from the Old English wiccecræft, a compound of wicce and cræft. This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, European witchcraft is seen by historians and anthropologists as an ideology for explaining misfortune, however, this ideology has manifested in diverse ways, as described below. Some modern commentators believe the malefic nature of witchcraft is a Christian projection, many examples appear in early texts, such as those from ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Malicious magic users can become a cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence. Witchcraft of a benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside. The folk magic used to identify or protect against malicious magic users is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves, there has also existed in popular belief the concept of white witches and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess ethical codes that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request. Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, spell being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Strictly speaking, necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy – although the term has also applied to raising the dead for other purposes
38.
Yule
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Yule or Yuletide is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected the celebration to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and it later underwent Christianised reformulation resulting in the term Christmastide. Terms with an equivalent to Yule are used in the Nordic countries for Christmas with its religious rites. Today Yule is also used to an extent in the English-speaking world as a synonym for Christmas. Present day Christmas customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, today the event is celebrated in Heathenry and some other forms of Modern Paganism. Both words are thought to be derived from Common Germanic *jeχʷla-, and are cognate with Gothic jiuleis, Old Norse, Icelandic, and Faroese jól, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian jul, jol and ýlir. The etymological pedigree of the word, however, remains uncertain, though numerous attempts have been made to find Indo-European cognates outside the Germanic group. The noun Yuletide is first attested from around 1475, the word is attested in an explicitly pre-Christian context primarily in Old Norse. Among many others, the long-bearded god Odin bears the names jólfaðr, in plural may refer to the Norse gods in general. In Old Norse poetry, the word is employed as a synonym for feast. Jolly may share the etymology, but was borrowed from Old French jolif. The word was first mentioned by the Anglo-Norman chronicler Geoffrey Gaimar in his Estoire des Engleis, or History of the English People, Yule was an indigenous midwinter festival celebrated by the Germanic peoples. While the Old Norse month name ýlir is similarly attested, the Old Norse corpus also contains references to an event by the Old Norse form of the name. In chapter 55 of the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, different names for the gods are given, one of the names provided is Yule-beings. A work by the skald Eyvindr Skáldaspillir that uses the term is then quoted, in addition, one of the numerous names of Odin is Jólnir, referring to the event. The Saga of Hákon the Good credits King Haakon I of Norway with the Christianisation of Norway as well as rescheduling the date of Yule to coincide with Christian celebrations held at the time, Yule had previously been celebrated for three nights from midwinter night, according to the saga. Haakon planned that when he had established himself and held power over the whole country. According to the saga, the result was that his popularity caused many to allow themselves to be baptised, Haakon spent most of this time in Trondheim
39.
Winter solstice
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The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is an astronomical phenomenon marking the day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the December solstice and in the Southern Hemisphere this is the June solstice. The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of its daily rotation mean that the two points in the sky to which the Earths axis of rotation points change very slowly. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun. This is because the two hemispheres face opposite directions along Earths axis, and so as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment in time, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are midwinter, the extreme of winter, or the shortest day, in some cultures it is seen as the middle of winter, while in others it is seen as the beginning of winter. In meteorology, winter in the Northern Hemisphere spans the period of December through February. The seasonal significance of the solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights. The solstice may have been a moment of the annual cycle for some cultures even during neolithic times. Astronomical events were used to guide activities such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops. Many cultural mythologies and traditions are derived from this and this is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise. It is significant that at Stonehenge the Great Trilithon was erected outwards from the middle of the monument, the winter solstice was immensely important because the people were economically dependent on monitoring the progress of the seasons. Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April or July to October, in temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, the majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but at the beginning of the pagan day, also reversal is yet another frequent theme, as in Saturnalias slave and master reversals. Iranian people celebrate the night of the Northern Hemispheres winter solstice as, Yalda night, in this night all the family gather together, usually at the house of the oldest, and celebrate it by eating, drinking and reading poems. Nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are particularly served during this festival, the pagan Scandinavian and Germanic people of northern Europe celebrated a twelve-day midwinter holiday called Yule
40.
Saturnalia
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Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honour of deity Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar and later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The poet Catullus called it the best of days, the revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia, although probably the best-known Roman holiday, Saturnalia as a whole is not described from beginning to end in any single ancient source. Modern understanding of the festival is pieced together from several accounts dealing with various aspects, the Saturnalia was the dramatic setting of the multivolume work of that name by Macrobius, a Latin writer from late antiquity who is the major source for information about the holiday. The renewal of light and the coming of the new year was celebrated in the later Roman Empire at the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun, on 23 December. The statue of Saturn at his main temple normally had its feet bound in wool, the official rituals were carried out according to Greek rite. The sacrifice was officiated by a priest, whose head was uncovered, in Roman rite, priests sacrificed capite velato, the day was supposed to be a holiday from all forms of work. Schools were closed, and exercise regimens were suspended, courts were not in session, so no justice was administered, and no declaration of war could be made. After the public rituals, observances continued at home, on 18 and 19 December, which were also holidays from public business, families conducted domestic rituals. They bathed early, and those with means sacrificed a suckling pig, the phrase io Saturnalia was the characteristic shout or salutation of the festival, originally commencing after the public banquet on the single day of 17 December. The interjection io is pronounced either with two syllables or as a single syllable and it was a strongly emotive ritual exclamation or invocation, used for instance in announcing triumph or celebrating Bacchus, but also to punctuate a joke. Saturnalia is the best-known of several festivals in the Greco-Roman world characterized by role reversals, slaves were treated to a banquet of the kind usually enjoyed by their masters. Ancient sources differ on the circumstances, some suggest that master and slave dined together, while others indicate that the slaves feasted first, the practice might have varied over time, and in any case slaves would still have prepared the meal. Saturnalian license also permitted slaves to disrespect their masters without the threat of a punishment and it was a time for free speech, the Augustan poet Horace calls it December liberty. In two satires set during the Saturnalia, Horace has a slave offer sharp criticism to his master, everyone knew, however, that the leveling of the social hierarchy was temporary and had limits, no social norms were ultimately threatened, because the holiday would end. The toga, the garment of the male Roman citizen, was set aside in favor of the Greek synthesis. Romans of citizen status normally went about bare-headed, but for the Saturnalia donned the pilleus, slaves, who ordinarily were not entitled to wear the pilleus, wore it as well, so that everyone was pilleated without distinction. Female entertainers were certainly present at some otherwise all-male gatherings, role-playing was implicit in the Saturnalias status reversals, and there are hints of mask-wearing or guising
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Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
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Megalith
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A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For later periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith also denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g. at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, foxes, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Israel, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have also been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side. They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
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Newgrange
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Newgrange is a prehistoric monument in County Meath, Ireland, located eight kilometers west of Drogheda on the north side of the River Boyne. It was built during the Neolithic period, around 3200 BC, making it older than Stonehenge, the site consists of a large circular mound with an inner stone passageway and chambers. Human bones and possible grave goods or votive offerings were found in these chambers, the mound has a retaining wall at the front, made mostly of white quartz cobblestones, and is ringed by engraved kerbstones. Many of the stones of Newgrange are covered in megalithic art. The mound is also ringed by a stone circle, some of the material that makes up the monument came from as far away as the Mournes and Wicklow Mountains. There is no agreement about what the site was used for and its entrance is aligned with the rising sun on the winter solstice, when sunlight shines through a roofbox and floods the inner chamber. Several other passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with solstices and equinoxes, Newgrange also shares many similarities with other Neolithic constructions in Western Europe, such as Maeshowe in Orkney, Scotland and Bryn Celli Ddu in Wales. After its initial use, Newgrange was sealed for several millennia, however, it featured prominently in Irish mythology and folklore, in which it is said to be a dwelling of the gods, particularly The Dagda and his son Aengus. Antiquarians first began its study in the 17th century, and archaeological excavations took place at the site in the years that followed. Archaeologist Michael J. OKelly led the most extensive of these and also reconstructed the frontage of the site in the 1970s, the mound is 76 metres across and 12 metres high, and covers 4,500 square metres of ground. Within the mound is a passage, which can be accessed by an entrance on the southeastern side of the monument. The passage stretches for 19 metres, or about a third of the way into the centre of the structure, at the end of the passage are three small chambers off a larger central chamber, with a high corbelled vault roof. Each of the chambers has a large flat basin stone. The ceiling shows no evidence of smoke, situated around the perimeter of the mound is a circle of standing stones. Twelve standing-stones survive out of a possible original thirty-five or thereabouts, most archaeologists say they would have been added later, during the Bronze Age, centuries after the original monument had been abandoned as a tomb. Newgrange contains various examples of abstract Neolithic rock art carved onto it which provide decoration and these carvings fit into ten categories, five of which are curvilinear and the other five of which are rectilinear. They are also marked by differences in style, the skill-level that would have been needed to produce them. One of the most notable examples of art at Newgrange are the features found on the entrance stone
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Stonehenge
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Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England,2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury. Stonehenge consists of ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 4.1 metres high,2.1 metres wide and weighing around 25 tons. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC, one of the most famous landmarks in the UK, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected Scheduled Ancient Monument since 1882 when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain, the site and its surroundings were added to UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage, Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, William Stukeley in 1740 notes, Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire. I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Like Stonehenges trilithons, medieval gallows consisted of two uprights with a lintel joining them, rather than the inverted L-shape more familiar today, the henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use, Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1500 years. There is evidence of construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscapes time frame to 6500 years. The modern phasing most generally agreed to by archaeologists is detailed below, features mentioned in the text are numbered and shown on the plan, right. Archaeologists have found four, or possibly five, large Mesolithic postholes and these held pine posts around 0.75 metres in diameter, which were erected and eventually rotted in situ. Three of the posts were in an east-west alignment which may have had significance, no parallels are known from Britain at the time. A settlement that may have been contemporaneous with the posts has been found at Blick Mead, a reliable year round spring 1 mile from Stonehenge. Salisbury Plain was then still wooded but 4,000 years later, during the earlier Neolithic, people built an enclosure at Robin Hoods Ball. In approximately 3500 BC, a Stonehenge Cursus was built 700 metres north of the site as the first farmers began to clear the trees, a number of other adjacent stone and wooden structures and burial mounds, previously overlooked, may date as far back as 4000 BC
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