Comments for The Modern Heathen http://www.modernheathen.com For Northern European Pagans of all bents Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:45:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Comment on On Honoring our Ancestors by Hans Thorsen http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=167#comment-45 Hans Thorsen Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:45:30 +0000 http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=167#comment-45 As a Heathen, I find the honoring of ancestors to be problematic. My ancestral line did not end when my ancestors embraced Christianity several centuries ago. Christian ancestors as well as Heathen ones, toiled, bled, sweated, and made sacrifices, to my benefit. I find it odd to honor my Christian forebears with religiously “neutral” words, (their God was Christ, after all, and their faith shaped and informed them and contributed to the legacy that they bequeathed) but I find it equally odd to honor them when I am also honoring Norse deities, the spirits of the land, etc. How do other Heathens approach this?

In addition to honoring Christian ancestors, I continue to regard SOME aspects of Christianity (not its theological teachings) as being part of my cultural heritage. Art, music, architecture, even celebrations like Christmas, (which I observe in conjunction with Yule) connect me to my ancestors as well. I can look at a church in Norway and know that my great grandfather helped build it. I have rosemaling painted prayer that my grandmother made years ago. Christmas carols connect me to my parents. I know that some Heathens make “clean breaks” with all of this, but don’t understand how. The word “religion” means to re-bind or reconnect. One of the things that it connects us to is those who came before. How do we, as non-Christians, honor Christian ancestors?

]]> Comment on Honoring our Ancestors – ancestry.com – Types of links by mohnkern http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=185#comment-6 mohnkern Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:15:37 +0000 http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=185#comment-6 I’ve been using it as well, What I do is research members in the tree, then when I’ve got enough information, I go to find a grave and see what pictures I can find.

]]> Comment on Honoring our Ancestors – ancestry.com – Types of links by Charles Butler http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=185#comment-5 Charles Butler Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:12:48 +0000 http://www.modernheathen.com/?p=185#comment-5 You might want to consider Find-A-Grave site as well. This has more than 1,000,000 actual gravestones and cross-references posted by relatives with cross-checks. I was able to find many cross-counsins this way.

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