"...I like to imagine that something of Nehalennia lingered on.'
"Everard nodded. 'Me too, from what you say. It could well have. A lot of medieval saints were pagan gods in disguise, and those that were historical often took on attributes of the gods, in folklore or in the Church itself. Midsummer fires were still lighted, though it was now the Eve of Saint John. Saint Olaf fought trolls and monsters like Thor before him. Even the Virgin Mary has aspects of Isis, and I daresay quite a few legends about her were originally local myths...'"
-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 467-640 AT 20, p. 635.
We can light a Midsummer fire without believing in either the gods or Saint John. Indeed, unbelievers can argue as to whether gods and saints are dangerous delusions or powerful personifications but only a very sectarian atheist would refuse to join a circle around a fire.
"Star of the Sea" builds toward the realization that the star and sea imagery of the Virgin Mary derives from the goddess, Nehalennia.
"Ave Stella Maris!" (p. 640) (Hail, Star of the Sea!)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
While I agree with Manse Everard about how popular legends and outright superstitions affected how the BVM and the other saints were venerated, that was not the wish or desire of the Church herself. There was a constant struggle to guard against both de facto paganism creeping back in and to eliminate such things from due and proper veneration of the saints. So, while certain naive customs were tolerated, it was only because they were considered harmless.
Sean
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