How school destryoed paganism

[Mantis]

Talking with a norwegian some times ago about norwegian black metal lyrics he said that was a pain in the ass to translate them for me because all the language, the myths etc. were similar to those he had to study to school so he was bored about Odin and co. and literature language for they remembered him interrogation and homeworks, and I thought it was for me the same as when I see all those groups that use latin titles or lyrics I remember that 95% of people here in Italy hate latin because we were obliged to study it and it was very hard, so when I see people that use latin I think they are crazy then I tried to see their point and I like very much norse myth and maybe a sweden/norwegian could say what I said before about me. What u think about it? Have you been also pushed by school to hate myths, literary language.....?

 

[Nivalis]

My first reflection must be that if you get bored with something you probably were not that interested from the beginning? For me the interest in our (swedish) history, it´s myths, legends etc has just continued to grow since the day that i first came in contact with them. Then again you can get bored with some parts of an interest and focus more on others. School may not be the ideal place to expand a special interest, often you´re just told to read certain parts of a book and memorize it for the test, but that´s what universitys are for, there you can choose what to study and what to focuse on..so to answer the question: what i learned in school made me interested and has been interested ever since (approx. 8 years and counting)

 

[Karldin]

I pretty much think the same as Nivalis on this question. Maybe the guy you talked to wasn't that much interested in Norse mythology to start with. And learning something you are not interested in is much harder than studying something you think is fun.
Myself, I find mythology and other folky stuff interesting, and thought we did not do much of the interesting parts of it...
But then again, I also find some of the lyrics quite hard to translate into something a foreigner would understand. There is just too much background stuff you have to know about.

 

[Nordabrand]

Anyone else find paganism EXTREMLY fascinating ? I'm from Abraur, far up north in sweden...and yeah they do lecture you about it in school, got bored about it for a few years...but 2 years ago my interest awoke and I love it!!! Cant stop reading it! Anyone else ?

 

[MetalMarianne]

find paganism fascinating?
... since I was 10!

 

[Nivalis]

Count me in : )

 

[Far Dareis Mai]

I wouldn't mind reading more about it.

 

[Melancholia]

As some people mentioned,i also think that it's not really the school's fault.Of course studying sth just because you have to it's not so fun,but if you are really interested in something it's a bit difficult that school will destroy that interest. So, people who don't give a damn abotu mythology,latin,ancient greek or whatever it may be are just not so interested in it.....

I'm very interested in mythology, especially greek and nordic one and i read/study some stuff from time to time,although lately there's no time for that
from nothern stuff,i've read a couple of books,browsed through interested sites and read some poems from edda... interesting stuff......I found mythology and the meanings behind myths quite fascinating...

/troll

 

[Salix]

I hate this server - everything lost
Ok, once again...
___

I can´t remember that I have ever learned anything about paganism in school. I think this I because paganism seems to be not important for Germany (there are many customs that are still celebrated, but the people don´t know about the pagan tradition) und of course because of the nazis ( in the past and today - fucking nazis!). Often paganism is associated with nazi stuff.

Personally I´m not that much interessted in paganism. I learned something in the internet or in books but the nature itself is much more interessting for me.
But i think that paganism can be a key to fascination for nature.

P.S.: I have studied latin in school for six years and i liked it

 

[MetalMarianne]

I got interested in studying languages 'cause one of my teachers. She was always bringing cool stuff to school about vikings, pagans, old germanic words, aurora borealis *sigh*

@Salix: I hate to say you're right. Most ppl confuse paganism with nazi... damned! And when you try to explain the svastika is an ancient hindi (from India) sign, they just don't believe it! - damned -

 

[Salix]

@ metalmarianne

ok, svastika is very extreme. Of course it is an symbol from india, but i would not use it, because this has become the most important symbol for the (german) nazis.

But the thing is, that especially in Germany many nazis consider themselves as pagans. But I learned in the internet, that nazis often want to be pagans, but the ones who have the knowledge are not nazis.

Why do people confuse nazis and pagans?
In Germany you read nearly every year, that there was a police action at a nazi wintersonnenwende-patry (i think this is jul), where the police conficates many CDs with illegal nazi music.
You nearly never hear something about non-nazi pagans in the news.

--
2. @ metalmarianne
Are you immigrant or born in chile? Do you learn in Chile about Vikings and old Germans in school???

 

[MetalMarianne]

Yes, I know it is an extreme example, that's why I mentioned it. (I hope this thread not to become a mess 'cause we mentioned nazi...) I don't use it either, I rather prefer the "triskelo" (?english) that is like svastika but only with 3 arms.

Here in Chile nazis are most beer-drinking fellows, that have this idyllic idea about WWII and the "old homeland Germany". There is also a political party and they normally give the high note on the news, but they're not using the paganism as propaganda.

Here paganism is asociated (by common ppl) with satanism, black masses, and heavy-metal music. Just 'cause there are some weed-headed ppl that ripp black cats and draw upside down crosses...

It's right, you nearly never hear about real pagans on the news, cause they don't do anything interesting for them. Pagans are just normal people that pray in a slightly different way to different gods.

2. I am descendant of inmigrants, but from 152 years ago! All the area where I live was colonised by german ppl. So, we have german schools, lutheran churches w/mass in german, Deutscher Verein (?english), german firemen headquarters, and so on.
It's not normal to learn that much about vikings in school. Just the normal stuff about - terrible seamen, put Paris in flames, robbed and pirated the whole mediterranean. But I had a teacher in 4th grade (called Annegret Kastendyk) that was always telling us norse myths, swedish words - which I realized when I started to study swedish this year and stepped into good known words.
She is in some level responsible for awakening the heathen that was sleeping deep within my heart.

 

[corrado]

@ metalmarianne


Why do people confuse nazis and pagans?
In Germany you read nearly every year, that there was a police action at a nazi wintersonnenwende-patry (i think this is jul), where the police conficates many CDs with illegal nazi music.
You nearly never hear something about non-nazi pagans in the news.

-

Hitler has created his own version of paganism, a mixture of german and nothern myths, a bit of mis-interpreted nietzsche and a lot of his own fucking thoughts. As example, in my village, an oaken tree was planted, where all gatherings of nazis took place. (unfortunately, the tree was cut down in a dark and foggy night, hehehe).

Obviously, most people gather their knowledge about paganism and northern mythology not from reading books or from school. They just know fragments of what is still left from that nazi aera, so in people´s mind pagans and nazis are the same. The most nazi-like political party in austria organizes jul-partys and "sonnwendfeuer".

PS: I can´t remember having heard about vikings at school....