He Brought You Up To Be A Pagan!
BBC News reports on the 3rd annual Wickerman Festival.
“The festival, which was inspired by the horror film of the same name, featured Alabama 3, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Dreadzone and The Stranglers. The event’s finale was the burning of a 25ft tall wicker man. Created by Trevor Leat and Alex Rigg, it was constructed over a period of weeks by volunteers. The burning of the wicker man echoes the most famous scene from the 1972 film of the same name, which stars Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee and was shot at the nearby Isle of Whithorn.”
What is interesting about the festival is that in America it would most likely have become a part of counter-culture. A Pagan or Burner type event. In Scotland it is billed as an evening of family fun and seems to be quite mainstream. Proof perhaps that the UK isn’t as worried/obsessed about the effects of appropriating Pagan-influenced ritual in the name of a good party.
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Didn’t Robin Williams say that America’s problem was that the Puritans were so uptight that even the British couldn’t stand them??? Haha!
Perhaps this event might seem more mainstream because it’s a commercial concert, while Burning Man is more of a DIY event? And it should also be noted that Burning Man is itself becomming more and more “family friendly.” See, for example, http://www.burningkids.com.