Stolen Indigenous Holidays and Practices

[ravan]

Some people like to whine about cultural appropriation, how anglo western culture has stolen or wiped out indigenous religions wherever it goes. Well, it is true: the western Christian behemoth has eliminated or appropriated the cultures of every people it has come into contact with - starting with the Romans! How many Christian holidays are swiped from pre-christian indigenous religions? Lots!

Let's start with Christmas. Lambing season in Palestine isn't in December, but the heathen festival of Yule sure was. The tree, the presents, the candles? Yep, all cultural appropriation. Easter, has many of the spring fertility rites of the prechristian Europeans grafted on to it, many not even barely disguised, plus stealing a chunk from Passover itself. Lots of "saints" used to be indigenous deities - like Brigid, for example.

I could dig up more examples.

So, when I get accused of "cultural appropriation" by people who celebrate things like Christmas and Easter (mostly stolen holidays and wholesale cultural appropriation), I have to laugh. My bloodlines are European, AFAIK, so if anything I should be screaming about "How dare you take my holidays and rituals and practice them!! They're only for people of *my* bloodline!!" - I'm entitled by blood to celebrate Yule, and other German, Danish, French, Welsh, and Irish indigenous holidays - and arguably new world "natives" *aren't*, regardless of how they're dressed up as "Christian".

Now, I don't approve of wholesale cultural appropriation from indigenous people. After all, my people were the victims of it first, as well as being the first to suffer the missionaries and the political or forced conversions. Don't believe me? Do a little research on the Christianization of Denmark and Ireland. I really am insulted by people who assume that since I'm not new world indigenous, I'm a tool of the Christian machine. Just because Europeans got borged first doesn't mean we like it (if we become aware of how much has been lost.) Some of us feel that we've lost so much we have to reinvent our religion out of whole cloth for the modern era, adding back in the little pieces of our past that we can find. At least it's honest in its newness, and it makes no claim on blood and bone.

But I have to ask: which is the greater loss -
a) a few idiots misappropriating a few rituals, but the general culture and religion surviving mostly intact by respectful sharing and documentation that says "we do it this way, and this is why, this is how you respect our land", or
b) what happened in europe, the indigenous religions being stolen wholesale, mangled beyond casual recognition, or slaughtered, demonized and forgotten, leaving its descendents to try to piece it back together from archaeological finds and distorted accounts by outsiders?

I would say to native americans, whatever else you do, make a history now! Record your verbal knowledge, language and rituals for your descendents. Yes, some doofus will probably get ahold of it and cherry pick a little. But the corpus of knowledge and culture will be preserved for those who come thousands of years after you. It's better to have things recorded/written in your words, from your perspective, than as the observations of an outsider who is clueless about the real meaning. As someone whose "native" religion is buried under centuries of distortion, elimination and misappropriation by the domianant culture, I beg you to not condemn your descendents to the same thing.

BTW, I consider that the Christian behemoth's generification of so much of Europe and elimination of knowledge of our indigenous gods and culture is part and parcel of the social malaise that simmers under the surface of our society.

Yes, people will get annoyed with this, but it's my journal and I'll call it like I see it. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy, regardless of how politically correct it is. If you don't want teenage fluffies stealing your deities and rites, don't be a hypocrite and celebrate Christmas, Yule, or Easter (unless you have european blood).

Comments

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

Well put. Had a minor disagreement with a NA friend once, over the sweat lodge thing. I solved that argument with one word .... "sauna". Him, shuffling feet and stammering a bit, "Oh, yeah, I guess I'll have to give you that one." I agree that it's extremely important for indiginous people everywhere to put stuff down in writing, tape, whatever media, in their own words, before it's lost, distorted, misappropriated, whatever. And I resent like hel, the fact that our own northern European culture was pretty much destroyed by xianity, and that the dregs are, to this day, put down by scholars as being somehow inferior to the culture of the Mediterranean peoples. I'd add a rant but you've pretty well said it all.

[ravan.livejournal.com]

And I resent like hel, the fact that our own northern European culture was pretty much destroyed by xianity, and that the dregs are, to this day, put down by scholars as being somehow inferior to the culture of the Mediterranean peoples.

Very true. In a way, my current interest in NA affairs is partly driven by the facts of what happened to the northern European cultures, and not wanting others to pay as steep a price. Europeans have been mostly Christianized since the 12th century. The North American peoples didn't start to be missionaried until the 15th century, and the printing press was invented in the same decade.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Christian_missions, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press