Remnants of Paganism in English Folklore
In common with most other regions of Europe, some aspects of past Pagan religions survive in English Folklore.
Examples are this include the Wild Hunt and Herne the Hunter which relate to the Germanic deity Woden.
There is also the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance which may represent a pre-Christian festival and the practice of Well dressing in the Peak District which may date back to Anglo-Saxon or even Celtic times.
May Day celebrations such as the Maypole survive across much of England and Northern Europe.
Many parts of English and British folklore still contain evidence of Europe’s pre-Christian past.
Read more about this topic: English Folklore
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“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
““If she belongs to any besides the present, it is to the next world which artists want to see, when paganism will come again and we can give a divinity to every waterfall.””
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“English audiences of working people are like an instrument that responds to the player. Thought ripples up and down them, and if in some heart the speaker strikes a dissonance there is a swift answer. Always the voice speaks from gallery or pit, the terrible voice which detaches itself in every English crowd, full of caustic wit, full of irony or, maybe, approval.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)
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—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)