Elizabethan Era Presentation
Elizabethan Era Presentation: Pagan Beliefs in Roman Catholicism
Outline |
During the Elizabethan era, the years were broken up by annual holidays just as they are in the present age. People looked forward to each and every holiday because their opportunities for leisure were limited. Time away from hard work was restricted to periods after church on Sundays, and so for the most part, leisure and festivities took place on a public church holy day. Every month had its own holiday, some of which are listed below:
I’m sure some of you have heard about there being Pagan and Celtic backgrounds to Christian religions. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, she changed the national religion to Protestant, and separated England from the Roman Catholic Church. She also prosecuted all Pagans, as many Christians had in the past. Even as she celebrated Christianized Pagan holidays such as Valentine's Day, May Day, and Christmas (or Yule). Pagan beliefs and Celtic ideas were used to enrich the life of Elizabethans, with an added Christian gloss. The healing methods of the two were used, and prosecuted. “Wise women who healed with herbs and worked closely with the rhythms of nature were revered in European pagan cultures and were central figures in their communities. But times had changed by the reign of Elizabeth I. Gutenberg's press made the Bible widely available. The "Malleus Maleficarum," a witch-hunt manual used to identify and decide punishment for witches, was also broadly circulated. Accusations of malfeasance against the pagan herbalists took on religious overtones -- "devil worship," "heresy" and "dark magic" were terms used to describe women, and a few men, who ran afoul of neighbors or curates. In 1562, early in Elizabeth's reign, "An Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcrafts" was passed that specified penalties for the crime of witchcraft. Pagans who believed in the divinity of nature could be regarded as suspect on a whim.” -Benna Crawford Skills in healing that were once revered, now are a death sentence. Under the reign of Queen ELizabeth, people began to fear the Pagans and Celts, thinking they were devil worshippers. Sympathizers still believed that being in tune with nature, or having more than one God was not a bad thing, and they were prosecuted because of this. Saying such as “bless you” became Christian, where it was once considered Celtic “sympathetic magic”. Burning scented firewood in the streets, and carrying sweet scented flowers in one’s pockets to ward off disease, are also considered Sympathetic magic. Under Queen Elizabeth’s reign, people prosecuted many things that could be tied directly to Pagans or the Celts, and couldn’t be converted to a form for Christianity. So what ideas did the Roman Catholic Church, and later Queen Elizabeth’s Protestant Church of England borrow from these older religions? One such item is holidays. “February 14th was Valentine's Day. Sending gifts to one another was a Pagan tradition that was still carried on under a Christian guise.” It's important to know that St. Valentine is a Christian saint, and everything but the name associated with the saint, is Pagan. “The first day of May was May Day. This was a big and much appreciated festival. It was one of the few Pagan festivals that really had nothing to do with the Church. It was celebrated by sending the youth into the woods for a nighttime party. They did not return until the next morning, bringing with them a large tree trunk, which was put up as the phallic “maypole.” The maypole was decorated and people danced around it for the entire festival.” The 31st of October was Hallowmas of Halloween (All-hallow's Eve). This was a Celtic festival celebrating the end of the Celtic year. The souls of the dead supposedly returned to walk the earth. Various masks were worn and bonfires lit to ward off evil spirits. These three big holidays, in addition to sayings such as “bless you”, the names for days of the week and months, carrying scented flowers, or perfume, burning scented logs, sending gifts to one another, bonfires and masks to ward off the dead and for celebrations, and the use of some herbs as medicines are all ideas borrowed from the Celts, the Pagans (specifically Saxon, Greek, and Roman), and nomadic tribes from the past. So now we know that Christians borrowed ideas and holidays, and they integrated those ideas and holidays into their own belief systems, with a glossed coat of course. We also know what some of those ideas and holidays are. But what are Pagans and the Celts. “Paganism describes a group of contemporary religions based on a reverence for nature. These faiths draw on the traditional religions of indigenous peoples throughout the world” -BBC The term Paganism encompasses a large and diverse community. Some more specific groups include Wiccans, Druids, Shamans, Sacred Ecologists, Odinists and Heathens. Polytheistic groups such as early Saxons, the Norse, Greek and Roman, and early Nomadic Celts are also included for the European term. BBC also states “Due to persecution and misrepresentation it is necessary to define what Pagans are not as well as what they are. Pagans are not sexual deviants, do not worship the devil, are not evil, do not practice 'black magic' and their practices do not involve harming people or animals.” As a recap, Pagan ideas, holidays, festivals, and superstitions were integrated into the Church of England with a glossy coat after Queen Elizabeth changed England’s religion to Protestant from Roman Catholic. The three main holidays still celebrated without much Christian interference are Valentine’s Day, May Day, and Halloween. Christmas and other holidays are also new and improved Pagan holidays made Christian over time. The term Paganism does not always mean polytheistic and it does not mean“devil-worshippers”, instead Paganism is a term used to describe peoples in tune with nature, over a variety of religions. The term is also used to describe some of the oldest religions still known to history and present day man. Compared to religions such as early Catholic, Hebrew, Jewish, and new forms of Buddhism and Hindu, Pagan religions are ancient. Comparing their ages is similar to comparing your age to your great-grandparents age. |
Works Cited: |
MLA Formatted Works Cited for Shakespeare Presentation
Digital image. Web. 1 Mar. 2016. "Elizabethan Age." - New World Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. "Elizabethans and Pagan Beliefs." Elizabethans and Pagan Beliefs. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. "Elizabethan England Life." Role of Religion in Elizabethan England,Elizabethan Era Religions. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. Roman Catholic Cross Designs. Digital image. Clipartpanda.com. Web. 1 Mar. 2016. Celtic Knot. Digital image. Pixabay.com. Web. 1 Mar. 2016. Foss, Richard. Superstitions of the Elizabethan Era. 1992. Pdf. "The History of Paganism." BBC News. BBC. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. "Paganism At A Glance." BBC. BBC, 29 Aug. 2006. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. |