St. Patrick's Day (was Re: SC - OT - For Our Inverted Friends inLochac)

[Ann Sasahara]

On Sat, 18 Mar 2000, Michael Newton wrote:
> You have to remember also that the Catholic missionaries to Ireland, England
> and the Frontier, allowed the Pagan converts to celebrate there feast days
> as Christian holy days Only they would give them a Christian spin, Christmas
> is one such Holy day, as is Easter.  Jesus was born in April according to a
> lot of Scholars.

I also had read the same thing.  The shepherds were out w/ the flocks at
night, because it was spring lambing season.  I had been told that the
Church capitalized on the celebration of Yule/Solstice to start their
church year cycle at the start of the Pagan Wheel of the Year. I agreed
this is fusion. Very convenient too.

One interesting coincidence about the celebration of Yule/Christmas:
Pagan: Birth of the Sun
Christian: Birth of the Son

Another thing of interest relates to the SW in general.  The fusion of
Christian and native religion can be seen most widely at Easter.  In
Tucson (Neuva Pasqua) the Yaqui will be performing their dances.  Here in
the Rio Grande valley, the Pueblos will start the Matachines and other
dances.  I don't think the Church fathers ever envisioned deer dancers and
matachines, but it was expedient to spreading their religion in the SW.

Due to the isolation of the pueblos, the fusion is not complete. The 
religious performances are scheduled by the Roman Catholic Church year
with a marked native flavour.  Public attendance is tolerated.  It's my
experience that certain parts of the pueblo will be sectioned off for
private purposes.  There was a sawhorse  in the middle of the path w/ a
sign "no non-indians". I asked my feast sponsor what was happening in
those closed off parts. He said various ceremonies were taking place. For
example, he said, here (Acoma Sky City) the national Thanksgiving Holiday
is celebrated, and then Acoma has their "own" traditional Thanksgiving.
He did not discuss any of the religious ceremony analogies, which was
fine. 
 
aside:
It's interesting to note that Hopi and Zuni, the most isolated of
the pueblos, have the least influence catholic influence over their cycle
of dances.  The Hopi Home Dance in July and Snake Dance in August and
Zuni Shalako have no Roman Catholic analogies that I know and are
restricted to Indians only (no catholic priests and usually no public).
Non-Indians can attend the final days of the 16-day Home dance (starts at
Midsummer).  Sometimes Shalako is public, sometimes it isn't.

Oh yes, this is a cooking list - the gourd stew and the feast cookies are
excellent.

Ariann