Friday, September 20, 2013

What Is With You Freakin' Pagans?

Still-Practiced Pagan Ritual Costumes

These are not your average Halloween costumes. For two years, French photographer Charles Fréger has been traveling throughout European countries, trying to capture the spirit of what he calls “tribal Europe” in his Wilder Mann series. What he found was a huge array of pagan rituals, mainly related to the winter solstice and spring renewal, focusing on the common myth of the “wild man.”

It appears that the tradition of men dressing up as wild animals and monsters, which dates back to neolithic times and shamanism, is still very alive. The mythological figure of a “wild man” represents the complicated relationship humans have with nature and life and death cycles. His series explores the different interpretations of such figures – while some cultures depict him as covered in flowers or straws, others possess the features of bears, goats, or horned and hairy beasts.






 
It's all the Yak meat you eat, isn't it?
That's what makes you so nuts.
Relax.
Stop dressing like Chewbacca's relatives and go indoors.
Have a bath
  Drink of whatever your distill in your part of the world.
Then vow never to continue these horrifying festivals.
Because something like this is bound to catch on and ruin something like Christmas.
Opps...Never Mind.
Carry On
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
 

3 comments:

Tempo said...

Pass me the Shotgun...

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Makes me think of Krampus!

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

They look more like extras for a live action "Samurai Jack" movie.