Druids reburial appeal rebuffed

[trainedchimp]

In principle I have no personal objection to this happening under the right circumstances.

which would be?

[trainedchimp]

In case that seems a bit flippant...

It's all very well being sincere in your belief that you live in an eternal present with your ancestors,or that your beliefs are in accord with those practised by said ancestors, but the issue is that the bones are our culturalproperty, that which we all spend every working day seeking to protect,record and generally get a bit protective over. In this case, a neo-pagan group (never clear how large it was, nor how representative it was either, though from the *debate* last time, not very) made very specific and completely spurious claims to a) direct ancestral lineage, b) continuity of belief and c) ownership of a heritage that actually belongs to a much wider group (or set of groups) based on their recently constructed system of belief. Which is basically the same level of skewing the evidence (if not truth) as practiced by other people about 'indigenous British populations', if to different religio-political ends.

Not pretty. If you're going to appropriate the past for your own sense of self-worth, you need to be prepared to defend it from the likes of those what actually attempt to understand it so that we can all appreciate our shared heritage for what it is...

[BAJR]

Well chimp thats about where I stand.. I am a pagan.. no hiding that ... however.. I don't pretend that I know what my ancestors believed or felt or saw as a truth.. therefore I pratice a certain amount of respect ... but remember I am an archaeologist. the wifle waffle .. has no credence for me..

(note... when I say pagan.. I will confess it is a religion of one..

[trainedchimp]

I will confess it is a religion of one

that if I remember right is the whole point of most neopaganism - to be in touch with yourself and the world around you, and to understand the connections on a personal level.

Can't say it's my cup of tea, but as long as you don't go claiming my past as exclusively yours, I'm sure we can co-exist without the need for any witch-burning. I've always felt that the most important thing about religious belief is not so much believing that you are right, but accepting that you might be wrong. (Easy to do with my religion as it seems to be shredding itself into more little pieces every day, fewer and fewer of which I can accept as what I believe and is probably even more fragmented than neopaganism...)

[BAJR]

not so much believing that you are right, but accepting that you might be wrong.

If we can all repeat that one to ourselves on a daily basis, things might go better with the world. Indeed it should be an archaeologists mantra when they step onto a site or open a book.

Like the previous edit have now found myself searching for Whitney song on google.. aaaaaarg!

[Dinosaur]

If the 'pagans' win this one, can we go back to merry stuff like excarnation, drowning people in bogs and having head-on-a-stick displays outside the local shopping centre?

[BAJR]

... hmmm tempting... seriously though... quite like the idea of excarnation :face-approve:

[Windbag]

... hmmm tempting... seriously though... quite like the idea of excarnation :face-approve:

It would smell a bit though, and probably need some sort of planning permission. "Planning application to erect temporary excarnation platform" could raise some eyebrows.

[kevin wooldridge]

On the subject of excarnation...there are plenty of uninhabited islands around the UK coast that could be utilised for excarnation (not in itself illegal other than the environmental health question of causing a nuisance....). Uninhabited meaning that no neighbours to complain and as in effect the excarnation is really only 'putting out food for the birds' an excarnation platform is little more that an oversized bird table which probably wouldn't require planning permission....

My own personal preference is to be excarnated on one of the Palmerston forts in Portsmouth harbour (perhaps the one recently bought by a Brickwood with the intention of opening a micro-brewery......) Could be one of the great archaeological funerals of our generation.....

[Dinosaur]

Presumably this is all going to be a bit tricky to mix in with the blazing ship.....oh well, back to the drawing board... :face-crying:

....do 'sky burials' involve a machete?