Ingegerd - could we have your references for the saintly ancestors,
please? Also the type of evidence for ancestor worship? I can think of
a few scandinavian tales from which ancestor worship (and/or belief in
reincarnation) might be deduced, but have never seen a full treatment of
this question. It doesn't matter if the references are in Norwegian.
Meg
> Dear List,
> Seeing the postings on 'saintly gardeners', I was reminded that in a couple
> of works I have read, saints and saints cults are interpreted as a sort of
> Christian version of or disguise for pagan ancestor worship. That is not to
> say that the saints themselves were regarded as ancestors, but that they
> fulfilled the same role as the ancestors had in the past, as a protective
> force that could be relied upon to look after you and your family, if they
> were treated and revered in the right way.
> It always seemed strange to me that people converting to Christianity could
> accept and understand the concept of a number of holy men and women with
> supernatural abilities, while at the same time being told that it was
> totally wrong to have more than one god. Transferring some of the beliefs
> connected with ancestors, who everybody knew were people, to the saints,
> seemed to me a sensible explanation of how they understood the concept of
> saints, as well as filling what must have been a void in their belief: being
> able to communicate with people 'on the other side', so to speak.
> If anyone has any comments, I would be very interested to know.
> Ingegerd H.
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Margaret Cormack [log in to unmask]
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion fax: 843-953-6388
College of Charleston tel: 843-953-8033
Charleston, SC 29424-0001
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