What exactly do you mean when you say you are pagan?

Question

Technically and historically pagans were anyone that was not christian. It was a deragotary term given to the heathens that didnt practice the same way the early church felt they should. There wasnt a group called the pagans that all worshipped the same set of ideas. Pagans from one country might have had totally diff beliefs and traditions from pagans in another country.
So when you say you practice the old traditions of the pagans or that you are a pagan, a pagan of what culture or country are you talking about?

Answer 1

Not of the Abrahamic religions. That includes Islam and Judaism.

And some people still use the word as derogatory term. Other's have chosen to take it back.

No, pagans don't all warship the same sets of ideas, because Pagan isn't s single religion. it's an umbrella term for a lot of religions, beliefs and paths, many of which only share the fact that the aren't Abrahamic in focus.

When someone identifies as "pagan" to me, I smile and ask, "which tradition?"

Answer 2

From a similar post....

Yes, according to the dictionary, pagan is a non-Christian (or non-Abrahamic based religion). In the times of old, pagan was a derogatory term. Anyone not Christian was considered a barbarian - almost in-human - pagan. Now, today, those of us that follow those old religions or new religions based on the old religions, consider ourselves Pagan in order to place distinction between ourselves and the Abrahamic religions. But like the Abrahamic religions, the Pagan religious trunk has many branches each with many leaves. They are each very different from the others, but what connects us Pagans is that we tend to believe in many gods and goddesses - or at least aspects of such (as some Pagans do). We are also nature based. This doesn't necessarily mean they worship nature, but they revere it and consider us humans apart of it. We are not above nature.

Besides this, different Pagan beliefs are so different that you'll have to research them as individuals. Every mythological group has a present day religion, and I can't pretend to know what the modern terms are for them. There are Egyptian, Greek, Celtic, Roman, Native American, Norse/Germanic (Asatru or Heathenism), and many more! Wicca tends to worship one or a combo of different pantheons in a more modern way. Other Pagans try to worship their gods as our ancestors did.

Answer 3

I don't say that I practice the old traditions. I make up my traditions as I go. And I plagiarize from other pagans heavily. (Imitation is the best form of flatter guys. I love you, don't hate me.)

As an eclectic, I represent no culture or country. I only represent me. And I'd like to think I do a darned good job of it. :-P

However, there are many types of pagan, so to say one is pagan does not actually define anything beyond following a religion that is not Abrahamic, and is usually earth-centric. If you want more information than that, you have to go to the Tradition level or the individual level. It may not make us easy to label, but it's the only way to get accuracy.

Answer 4

When I call myself Pagan, I mean that I follow a religion commonly identified as part of the modern Pagan community, also called the NeoPagan community. I capitalize it to indicate I'm meaning something more specific than the dictionary definition of "pagan." I'm not a huge fan of the term (for the reasons you already give), but the community has chosen to identify itself as such.

The religion I follow is Wicca. I do not say that I follow "the old traditions" because my traditions started in the 20th century, even though they are influenced by various older ideas and beliefs. Wicca is not rooted in a single culture, although its very Western European oriented, and I am personally influenced most strongly by Celtic influences.

Answer 5

I agree with what was said, but I need to add something. You said:
"It was a deragotary term given to the heathens that didnt practice the same way the early church felt they should"

Heathen is yet another word like pagan. Heathen means "people of the Heath", and nowadays it is used to signify pagans that follow one of the norse/germanic pagan paths, often focused on ancestor worship, for example Asatru, Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, Irminsweg (Germanic Heathenry) and others from this group.

Answer 6

when i say that i'm pagan, it is because of a lack of a better word. i mean that i am not christian, muslim, or jewish. my beliefs could go under a slightly different label, but i do not feel that i know enough to take up that label.
for me, pagan is just a label i use. i'm more than happy to explain what i believe if a person wants to know. if they just want to draw their own conclusions, so be it.

Answer 7

I am Asatru/Heathen first, pagan sencond, UU third
Christian used to be a derogitory term as well, but they claimed it justlike we have.
There are those who practice one path, there are those who are eclectic who practice many.
There are Recons (of which I consider myself) who study the culture AND the gods and practice both.
Asatru/Heathen is the Norse Germanic pantheon as well as our ancestors

edit: I would like to add Heathen wasn't a derogitory term in the beginning. It BECAME an "insult", but it was orginally used by Northern Eurpeans far before Christians got a hold of it

Answer 8

paganism today is still totally different from one tradtion to another, so asatru follow the Norse gods, there are many who follow Roman, Greek, Indian, African, Egyptian gods. To me, being a druidic pagan means honouring the celtic gods of my own lands (Britain)
I don't think it really matters where the word originated from though, it is how we identify ourselves now Most language is arbitrary anyway and is constantly evolving so that words change their meaning all the time, so I don't get hung up on what the word used to mean.

Answer 9

I'm Scots Celtic Recon Pagan. It's kind of a mixture between Irish pagan with the tuatha de danaan, with a splash of the Norse Aesir.

Answer 10

"pagan" is an historic be conscious meaning farmer. It suggested people who lives on farms exterior the city partitions, and have been subsequently removed from the cultural midsection. as a result, they have been the final to be "reached" with the aid of regardless of recent faith got here to city (in the event that they ever heard of it in any respect). They tended to have self assurance in some variety of pantheon that ruled the rural cycle - harvest gods, fertility gods, and so on. it fairly is a submission to the tactics of nature greater advantageous than a worship paradigm. at present, the be conscious is utilized to any of countless nature-based theory structures.