Quote:
Originally Posted by Monolith
Thank you for the detailed reply.
Judging from what you wrote, is seems that the reason why Swedes don't have a firm bond to their church lies in a fact that there were so many turmoils and corruption in the history of their Christianity. I guess that Church had lost its confidence in the eyes of the people through centuries because of that. But what about the pre-Christian religion in Sweden? I've read somewhere that the Christianization of Sweden wasn't exactly received with enthusiasm, since Norse paganism was forbidden in the eleventh century. Was there any impact because of that?
|
Norse and generally pagan traditions survived all the way - and I mean outside the church now - up until modern times of the 20th century. There is proof for it. It is in the SAP era that everyone has gone completely mad and forgotten about everything they knew. I swear.
And still today, with no signs of waning, the things relatively constant in the way people celebrate their holidays are pagan. Our Easter celebration is chuck full of pagan fertility symbolism, for example. We even have the pagan word for Christmas - Jul - and there is no other word for it.