Winter Solstice Play/Pageant

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: LadyJean
Date: 21 Aug 15 - 10:15 PM

If you can contact my friend AnimaX, she might still have the script of the solstice show I wrote for her. You certainly have my permission to use it.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 04:22 PM

The word 'pagan' is derived from the Latin term pagus, meaning 'country district.' It was used to describe people who were not Christian, Jew nor Muslim. It equates to the word heathen, which came into English via the Germanic route and means the same thing. Pagan has recently acquired a capital 'P' and seems to be a quite respectable handle nowadays.

So I would say your pageant is on safe ground if it makes no reference to any of the Big Three religions.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: CapriUni
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 02:18 PM

Who on earth are these "pagans" though? I know there are a few people calling themselves this nowadsys

Well, it's true. Speaking for myself only, technically, I am Neo-Pagan -- I made a conscious and deliberate decision, 23 years ago, to recognize that the spiritual connection I'd felt with nature my whole life is, in fact, as valid as any other religion active in the world today. It was never a faith nor tradition that was handed down over several generations.

I tend to drop the prefix, though, because "Pagan" trips more easily off my tongue and fingers, and I trust that people know I am not really 5,000 years old. The one thing I do share with people from way back then is that I am polytheistic, and Nature and the physical world are my source of my beliefs, rather than a text.

(oh, and as for "a few"... I did some digging around on that very topic the other day. There are no questions regarding religion on the U.S. Census, but the nearest estimates I could find of people self-identifying themselves as "Pagan" is about 1 in a 1,000, or over 700,000 in America).

but who and where were they 2000 years ago. And did they really have some kind of common culture and theatre?

(2,000 years is recent history, man. Try going back at least another 3,000 if you want to dip your toes in some real mystery)

It's true that "Pagan" is an umbrella term -- like "Monotheisitic." It describes a kind of religion, rather than being the name of any particular one. So, of course, there was no common culture for all ancient Pagans all over the world. But each society did have its own culture and theater. The plays of Euripedes, Sophocles and Aristophones, for example, were all part of religious festivals honoring the god Dionyses. And the most ancient Sanskrit plays go back another 600 years, or so, before that.

Not all cultures have a formal theater tradition that we would recognize, of course, but I can't think of any culture that doesn't have a strong storytelling tradition of some kind. Plays and pageants are only one form of that.

There are plenty of splendid actual traditions to draw from, but by all means invent new ones if you like.

I'll second that!!

(Heck, I might even write that... wouldn't be done in time for this year's celebration. But you could check back with me next year)

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: greg stephens
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 12:16 PM

The old mumming play with George nd the Turkish knight has always been fine by me. Death and resurrection, but no baby Jesus, if that's the sort of thing you are looking for.
Who on earth are these "pagans" though? I know there are a few people calling themselves this nowadsys, but who and where were they 2000 years ago. And did they really have some kind o f common culture and theatre? Sounds a bit speculative to me.There are plenty of splendid actual traditions to draw from, but by all means invent new ones if you like.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: CapriUni
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 11:31 AM

Heh. I remember the night that episode of Northern Exposure first aired. We had just come back from a Wiccan Winter Solstice ritual where that myth had been told -- one of the reasons the story has remained in my memory so strongly!

*grin*

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 10:10 AM

omg I didn't know you had a 'Favourite Northern Exposure Character' thread.
I shall have to go and find it now.
Best TV programme ever.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 09:40 AM

CapriUni, if you'll look in this post to the "Favorite Northern Exposure Character" thread, you'll find that the "How the Raven Stole the Sun" myth is actually in the forum! It was recited in that show by by Marilyn Whirlwind as the Cicely, Alaska town "Christmas Pageant."

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: Mrs_Annie
Date: 15 Dec 05 - 09:27 AM

Animaterra - I have the book The Winter Solstice!

So do I - it's absolutely gorgeous.
And it's dedicated to Martin Simpson

Thanks for the reminder - I shall find it and enjoy it again.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 06:44 PM

Animaterra - I have the book The Winter Solstice! The first play in it contains saints as characters and the second play is about the birth of a magical child. But then the subtitle of the book is "Sacred Traditions of Christmas" so I guess the Christian/pagan mix is intentional.

Subject: RE: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: CapriUni
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 03:30 PM

You may want to check out Native American myths for retelling, such as the myth of how Raven stole the sun from the Sky God (I did a quick search of Google for this, but though I found numerous references to it, I have yet to find the myth itself). You might also try retelling more well-known (to a mainstream American audience, anyway) appropriate Greek or Roman myths, such as the one about Demeter and Kore (aka Perephone), or a story about how the God Saturn returns to Earth every year at Saturnalia (which is today, btw).

Also, as an aside, Phyllis Siefker makes a very strong argument for the pre-Christian origins of Santa Claus, in her book Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas, Spanning 50,000 Years (McFarland & Company, 1997). Hint: The European Winter Gift-giver has been nicknamed "Nicholas" and "Claus" far longer than he's been called "Saint" Nick.

I know I should not even acknowledge GUEST's existance, but I'm a Neo-Pagan and a teetotaler. Just saying.

Subject: RE: non-music: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 12:53 PM

The book The Winter Solstice has a few little play/pageants that might work!

And there's always mummers plays!

Subject: RE: non-music: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 12:45 PM

Good stuff, Ian, thanks.

I should have put "some would say" before my statement about pagans celebrating nativity before Christmas came along - I'm just trying to prevent this thread from becoming a debate on that topic (a fruitless attempt, I'm sure..) ;-)

Subject: RE: non-music: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: IanC
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 10:23 AM

Susan-Marie

Try THIS traditional Winter Solstice play, collected in 1924 at Greatham, Yorks by the EFDSS.

BTW what evidence do you have that "I know, the pagans had the nativity story first" ... and who do you mean exactly by "The Pagans" anyway?

;-)
Ian

Subject: RE: non-music: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 09:30 AM

write one

just make up any old mystical pagan bollox

whatever you put on stage,

the hippies will all be too stoned to know whats going on

Subject: non-music: Winter Solstice Play/Pageant
From: GUEST,Susan-Marie
Date: 14 Dec 05 - 09:24 AM

Anyone know where I can find a short winter solstice play/pageant that contains no references to Christmas? The few I've found in books have, suprisingly, all contained St Nicholas and other saints as characters, or a magical child being born as the plot, or other elements that are too quasi-Christmas for my taste. Yes, yes, I know, the pagans had the nativity story first, but there are other stories about the solstice, and I'd rather act out one of them. Any ideas?

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This thread had been titled "Non-music," and so it is. However, it has a direct bearing on what musicians do, so it fits in our "music" section.
-Joe Offer-