Here's an interesting thing.
By way of background, let me just briefly explain that I've been researching a bunch of old stuff--old as in iron-age to medieval--for the next book. (A book I'll write, should I ever actually finish the current rewrite, but that's another blog entry.)
Now, if I had any sense, I'd be a bit daunted, seeing as how it's a great whack of history--
2000 years-ish. I sort of figured, "hey, how much could there really be, still extant?" Quite a lot, as it turns out. Not that much of it written down. Hardly any of it written in any language I can actually read. Yet.
Heh.
Months later, I'm doodling
bog-bodies in the margins of notes while I'm on the telephone, and referencing
Celtic saints in everyday conversation. My housemates are starting to give me strange and searching looks. I think that's probably due to the bog-body-noose doodles
I've noticed an interesting thing, however--wherever there's a lack of solid information or recorded facts, people are more than willing to make up something imaginative. If that bit of speculation is particularly fun and nifty, other people pick up the idea, quote it, and even cite it sometimes. Presto, we have something more-or-less accepted--at least by the interested layman--that's quite simply never really been established as true or real. Fun, eh?
My background is in Lit Crit. We're supposed to make creative-but-plausible shit up. That's what we get paid for. So this doesn't bother me as much as it might bother a
real scholar. I do find I'm losing patience for the more outrageous crap out there masquerading as information.
A case in point:
The Cult of the Severed Head.
Various sites suggest that everything from public beheadings to the portraits on modern coins can be attributed to this
ancient cult. The Inquisition's
prosecution of the Templars has been blamed this whole meme of severed heads, as well. Even the excellent
Wikipedia takes the fact of an actual cult as given, even if the details are a bit foggy.
Some of the stuff that can be found is...urm...
quite odd.
The more
conservative speculation runs along the lines of, "look, they used all these heads in art, and architecture, and decoration; severed heads that speak show up in so many
stories of heroes and saints; they took the heads of their enemies in battle--it all seems to suggest that human heads were quite important."
Some of this stuff seems to come from a Greek historian named
Diodorus Siculus, who recorded the Celtic battle practice of collecting the heads of enemies, buying and selling various heads, methods of preserving them, and so on.
The more wild speculation suggests that the Celts closely followed some specific neolithic religion--traces of which can still be found on Easter Island and elsewhere--specifically involving bizarre rituals expressing actual worship of these heads, which may or may not have actually spoken. And probably had something to do with UFOs, too.
John Billingsley had this rather common-sense approach to the whole thing, "Any serious investigation of the subject reveals the cultic significance of the head to not only pre- and postdate the Celts, but also that the kind of stylisation encountered in Celtic circles has much wider currency. There are several reasons to question the modern understanding of the 'Celtic head' . As I have mentioned, the human head quite obviously had mystical meaning in cultures other than the Celts, occurring the world over, including pre-Celtic Europe. Thus, the religious perception of the head was not unique to the Celts, although it can be argues that they gave more intense concrete expression to the motif than it had ever had before."
Anyhoo--I think it's all terribly cool, and I haven't had such a fabulous time reading in years. It's like reading was when I was a kid, and everything was trackless and just waiting for me. For any of you feeling a bit jaded with whatever new things you're reading, I highly recommend looking for very old stuff, too.
It all goes to show, I think, that we just can't resist a good story. If the story's already got heroes, saints, and cannibals; then a few zombies and UFOs just make it all the better, right?
> You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the
> phrase, "One nation, under God."
You might be a liberal if: You respect Americans of all cultures.
> You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10
> Commandments posted in public places.
You might be a liberal if: You believe passionately in your own faith, but would never dream of pushing it on someone else.
> You might be a redneck if: You still say "Christmas" instead of "Winter
> Festival."
You might be a liberal if: You know that it doesn't matter what you call it, it's about love, family and giving.
You might be a liberal if: You bow your head when a Christian prays, you turn to face Mecca when a Muslim prays, and you respect people who don't want to pray at all.
> You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart
> when they play the National Anthem.
You might be a liberal if: You have such a strong sense of pride in your country that you don't get upset if people don't do things your way.
> You might be a redneck if: You treat Viet Nam vets with great respect, and
> always have.
You might be a liberal if: You are proud of the men and women who fought for America, and allow yourself to question whether they needed to die.
> You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag.
You might be a liberal if: You believe the part in the Bible about idol worship, and understand that the flag is just a symbol.
> You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid
> to say so, no matter who is listening.
You might be a liberal if: You have enough humility to listen to other people's opinions and aren't afraid when they're different from yours.
> You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and expect your
> kids to do the same.
You might be a liberal if: You respect people of all ages and expect your kids to do the same.
> You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.
You might be a liberal if: You actually have given money to a friend in the last week.