Evening With A Pagan

Term Paper Title	Evening With A Pagan
# of Words	871
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.48

Evening With A Pagan

  An Evening with the Pagans~
A brief history of paganism~

Over 25,000 years ago, our ancestors across the continent
practiced an ancient form of religion known as paganism. During the
Neolithic and Paleolithic time era, our ancestors were in awe of the
great manifestations of nature. Due to lack of scientific thought, they
were riddled with ignorance and superstition. Everything had a supernatural
explanation.
They associated each naturalistic phenomena with a type
of god, inscribing inanimate objects with life -like characteristics .This
practice is referred to as animism. Every element ,be it thunder ,rain or
the sun ,was thought to be a god (or goddess) within it.
Eventually their gods became an object of worship      known as polytheism.
Eventually many forms of polytheism evolved to what is known as paganism.

Modern Paganism
Now defined as :The worship of a god or goddess whose roots
are in pre-Christian Western Europe. Modern paganism is alive and well
today. It consists of many sub-divisions .These include ~Wicca ,druidism
Santeria and many others. Wicca focuses on the worship of a god and
goddess .In Wicca ,there  is a plethora of pantheon of deities that one
can choose from including: Greek, Norse ,roman etc......
Focusing on a Greek Wiccan tradition ,this will be describing
the pagan festival of Hectare.

The Festival of Hecate
The festival of Hecate  is celebrated between the 3rd and 4th
Saturday of August. (which ever is closest to the new moon)
It is in honor of the Greek goddess Hecate. She was first worshipped
in ancient Greece -called the triple goddess of magic. She is often
represented in triple form ; maiden (youth) ,mother (fertility)
and crone (the wise woman). In ancient Rome ,she was known as
trevia ,the cross road with three paths.
Hecate is symbolized by the phases of the moon.
Each attribute correlates with a particular phase of the moon.
The waxing moon (maiden),the full moon (mother) and the
new moon( crone).
The Ceremony~
Upon arrival at the festival in Georgetown Delaware,
everyone gathers for the lecture. This is to educate the newcomers
as to what the ceremony entails. The ceremony is always rehearsed
before it is performed. After the lecture ,there is a large potluck
feast to keep everyone energized for the evenings festivities.
The processional~
When the sun sets, the processional begins. With everyone
in their appropriate magical attire,(consisting of a robe and jewelry)
everyone lines up proceeds with the first phase.
This is called consecration- each person is consecrated . This is done
by covering the body in incense smoke and sprinkling of water.
This is a purification process that cleanses the body of negative
energy prior to the ritual.
Next each p...

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