Sacrilege or No Sense of Humor?
Two recent stories from the UK highlight outraged Pagans in regards to two different media promotions (one for a movie, and one for a television show) that have altered or added to famous chalk figures in England. The first for a British television show entitled “Trinny And Susannah Undress The Nation” in which a group of white-garbed folks perform a temporary sex-change on the Long Man of Wilmington.
“TV fashion gurus Trinny and Susannah clashed with the county’s Pagan chiefs after they gave the Long Man of Wilmington a sex change. About 22 Pagans gathered beside the historical and religious site to protest against filming by ITV … Pagans are angry people have trampled across the religious site to decorate it with breasts, pigtails and rounded hips … Druid battle chieftain Arthur Pendragon, 53, who is nomadic, said: ‘We are very angry because this is so disrespectful. We, the Pagans, would not in our wildest dreams consider putting female breasts and clothing on effigies of any of the Holy Prophets, be it Jesus Christ, Buddha or any other revered figure of another faith. Why, then, does ITV commission Trinny and Susannah to do so at the Long Man of Wilmington?’”
Altered chalk: the long “woman” of Wilmington and the Cerne Abbas Homer.
The second instance was a promotion for The Simpsons Movie in which a faux-chalk Homer holding a donut was placed next to the fabled Cerne Abbas giant.
“Indeed, so potent is the Giant’s chalky mojo, that couples struggling to conceive are still said to visit his hillside home for a grassy liaison. But yesterday there was a new alpha male in North Dorset. He wields a doughnut instead of a club. He has four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. Only three hairs sprout from his bulbous head. And his unmentionables are, mercifully, covered by the world’s largest pair of Y-Fronts. His name is Homer Simpson … Pagans, who believe the Giant is a spiritual icon, are dismayed by this bold new artwork, and, in particular, the accompanying encouragement for young couples to “do it in the doughnut”. ‘It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing,’ said Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation. ‘I’m amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.’”
So is this a sacrilege that modern Pagans should get worked up over, or are these simply harmless (albeit capitalistic) pranks that local Pagans are taking too seriously? Are protests and threats of rain magic really necessary? Since I’m an American I don’t have the emotional connection to these artifacts that I’m sure a British Pagan might have, so perhaps I’m missing the point of these perceived insults?
3 responses so far
I saw the youtube video of the protesters (by the protesters), and the entire time I was very curious about the actual alteration. Thank you for posting the picture.
As for the Homer – I laughed heartily when I saw it. Thanks for that picture too.
Now, on to the issue. I would say that if these people actually do consider these devine items, I can accept their dismay. They are, after all, expressions of divinity, I think. On the other hand, I don’t know the history of these pictures.
I also believe the response should depend upon the intent of the action. Are they mocking our (or more accurately, their) beliefs? Are they doing permanent harm?
One of the things I treasure about my experience and belief in paganism is the fact that most of us are quite laid back, quite willing to laugh at ourselves, and quite cognizant of the importance of living life to the fullest, rather than “sweating the small stuff”.
In a nutshell – we like to have fun, and we love a good laugh even at our own expense (if it isn’t hateful). I think these two things are rather amusing, and highlight the importance of not taking life too seriously.
I also don’t appreciate corporate entities taking advantage of such artifacts for their own gain. This aspect, I can get behind being a bit ticked off. I would expect the Homer to go away after a relatively short period of time and not become an implicit insult to the ancestors. If this stuff becomes common, I will become extremely annoyed.
There’s my not-so-simple point of view!
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David
I think it is a case of Pagans lacking a sense of humour – and also trying to claim too much of ancient Britain that they weren’t even responsible for constructing in the first place. I refer, slighly off topic, to the demand by Druids for the reburial of a Neolithic infant currently exhibited in a museum context, NEOLITHIC? Are these Druids saying that they have any sort of claim as “Pagans” to a Neolithic infant in the same way as currently existing indigenous cultures whose ancestors are in museums might? I hope not. Or the fuss made over Seahenge where Pagans and Druids claimed that it was a sacred site and therefore the archaeologists excavating it should stop. If it was a Pagan sacred site, then those Pagans should have been able to tell the archaeologists what it was, to explain it, and then perhaps it wouldn’t have needed to have been excavated. In the case of the Cerne Abbas Giant, while it looks like Herakles or The Daghda, apparently it may not even be that old – may not even be “Pagan”. According to Ronald Hutton in his book “The Ancient Pagan Religions of the British Isles” pp. 162-3, the Cerne Abbas Giant may not have even existed until the 17th century CE.
I’m a big fan of landscape art, so I personally can’t get huffy about the treatment of the Long (wo)man of Wilmington either. I think it is an interesting feminist statement. And I don’t think Trinny and Susannah would be too worried if someone did put breasts and clothing on statues of Christian deities. I wouldn’t think Trinny and Susannah are that interested in religion.
Can you explain to me why the burials of Neolithic, pre-christian, people deserve to be treated with any less respect than a burial from the Christian era?
Do we display christian burials in museums? No. We could. But we don’t.
This is a blatant double-standard and modern Pagans seem to be the only people pointing this out, since it is only they who seem to advocate respect for our pre-christian ancestors, rather than just regarding them as godless heathens or ignorant barbarians.