ANST - Post Goes Pagan: Odin Retires, Puzzled

[Dennis and/or Dory Grace]

Hi all, Aquilanne here.

Just received this from another, non-SCA list we subscribe to. This is a
bit off-subject, but does carry *some* historical appeal. ;-> Thought I'd
share.


>From: "Sherwood, Harrison" <hsherwood at btg.com>
>To: "'Pynchon-L'" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Post Goes Pagan: Odin Retires, Puzzled
>Date: 	Wed, 10 Sep 1997 16:07:55 -0400
>Sender: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org
>
>Today's Washington Post had a front-pager that had a decided Masonic &
>Dixonian bent. See it at
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/10/082l-091097-idx.h
>tml. (_Real_ slow news day--above the fold: Love Conquers What Ails
>Teens, Study Finds.)
>
>     HEAD: Pagans, Tribes, Scientists Battle Over Ancient Bones: Court
>to Decide 
>     Who Holds Claim to Kennewick Man
>
>     KENNEWICK, Wash.-Dressed in cloak and buckled tunic, his voice
>rumbling with 
>     conviction, the leader of a pre-Christian pagan sect summons
>ancient Norse 
>     gods to a site where a wounded man died 90 centuries ago. "O-thin!
>O-thin!" 
>     booms Asatru Folk Assembly leader Stephen McNallen, using the old 
>     pronunciation to address Odin, one-eyed god of war, poetry, wisdom
>and death.     McNallen's altar, in a park overlooking the mighty
>Columbia River, is only a 
>     few hundred yards from where the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as
>Kennewick 
>     Man was discovered last summer.     Since his discovery, the
>Kennewick Man has become embroiled in a bitter 
>     dispute involving scientists who want to study him, Native
>Americans who want 
>     him laid to rest and McNallen's group, which claims him as their
>forefather.     All those involved say the stakes are enormous.
>
>It's a pity that the web edition of the Post doesn't show the print
>edition's  photographs of the hirsute Mr. McNallen, resplendent in robes
>and chunky Runic jewelry, brandishing Thor's hammer aloft and declaiming
>no doubt impeccably authentic Norse incantations (voice rumbling with
>conviction, or, or...something) while surrounded by excruciatingly
>earnest-looking acolytes. Makes a fella sorta rethink his perhaps too
>hasty and youthful dismissal of religion, organized or not.
>
>Another exerpt:
>
>     What scientists can learn from Kennewick Man could very well
>shatter 
>     conventional wisdom, said [local anthropological consultant] Jim
>Chatters, one 
>     of only three scientists to examine the skeleton before it was
>boxed up.     He describes the man he calls "The Ultimate Elder" as a
>tall, thin man of 
>     about 45 to 50 years, with a long, narrow face, a slight overbite,
>a prominent 
>     Kirk Douglas chin and a square jaw. "He could slip into most major
>cities of 
>     the modern world and not appear unusual."
>
>(Presumably Dr. Chatters is employing the present historical tense here.
>The thought that a 9,300-year-old moldered skeleton could wander the
>streets of Rome or Riyadh without exciting comment is simply more than
>even my jaded imagination can encompass--extravagantly dimpled chin
>notwithstanding. And perhaps someone can enlighten me: How does one
>become an "anthropological consultant"? Register with ManPower?)
>Other tidbits:
>
>1) The division head for physical anthropology of the Smithsonian
>Institution's National Museum of Natural History is named Douglas
>Owsley.
>
>2) The Asatru Folk Assembly has a lawyer.
>
>Harrison
>
>P.S. I know we're not supposed to encourage him or anything, but the
>RealDoll FAQ is nothing shy of a major bladder-strainer.
>
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