Celebrating May Day the pagan way

WE need to realise that Paganism is really a modern invention, I don't mean that there never was paganism, simply that what takes the name nowadays was invented essentially from the 1930's onwards as a response to various cultural developments and interests. One of the effects of the way that it was developed is that the myth has become well-established in the popular mind that lot of folk sustoms are remnants of pagan rites. Nah. Tkae this article for example, puts things nicely into perspective. "I order a pint from the landlord, which he serves up, frothy and warm. I get chatting to a morris man called Tony, who is leaning on the bar. 'Some say your dance is linked to ancient fertility rites,' I say. Tony looks into his beer and, after due consideration, says: 'I think that's a load of bollocks.'" That's from one of the Morris men themselves. The May pole is only a 13th century thing ...
Of course the big thing in Wicca nowadays is people admitting that Paganism is a modern invention, now they don't feel the need to grab at historical respectability or even verisimilitude [perhaps having discovered that they really don't want to be too associated with anceint pagansim -it really wasn't very nice a lot of the time]. Of course that does undercut the victimhood card; not only were the numbers of women burnt as 'witches' not as high as some writers tried to make out, but in many cases church people tried to dissuade superstitious lynch mobs; then to cap it all it is doubtful that these peopel were, in any case, recognisably 'Pagan' in the sense that modern Pagans use the term.
The Observer | Travel | Celebrating May Day the pagan way: