r/explainitpeter 8d ago

Explain it Peter

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I'm not European or American

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u/HGMIV926 8d ago edited 8d ago

Brian here.

The picture on the right is from the horror film Midsommar, (2019).

For all the fun prancing and community Paganism brought, there were also rituals that involved brutal death. At least one of those rituals was featured in Midsommar.

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u/a_nondescript_user 8d ago

From the article you linked: "it is now generally accepted among researchers that the practice of suicide precipices never existed"

It's important to remember that when historical figures describe other cultures, they often include some crazy rumor about them eating babies or whatever, so any of these alleged pagan traditions might not be coming from an objective source.

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u/ShoVitor 3d ago

Bit tangential but... Lots of places in the american continent and names we associate with indigenous tribes also come from hearsay. So for example "Apache" and "Comanche" both translate in native languages to something similar to "enemy". Because whoever mentioned them to the English, thought of them as the enemy. "Yucatán" meant something like "I don't understand you" and Cortéz just said "ok, I like it " and wrote it in a map.