Confessions of a Hedge Witch

on my mind…

“Even in milder forms, the Christianity Europeans attempted to export to the world frowned on anything that looked to them like ’emotionalism.'” (Ehrenreich,156)

“The mature fruit of the spirit is not the subliminal uprush, the ecstatic inflow of emotion, the rhapsody, the lapse of inhibition, but RATIONAL [emphasis mine] love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness – self-control.” (Davenport, 323)

The distinction between ritual and festival “evolved as a consequence of modern religious systems’ attempts to obliterate native religions.” (Stoeltje, “Festival”, in Bauman, 262)

Bauman, Richard, ed. Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments.

Davenport, Frederick Morgan. Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals, A Study in Mental and Social Evolution.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Dancing in the Streets, A History of Collective Joy.