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Comment by tellarin | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting to see how much Christianity changed Scandinavia by suppressing parts of the culture, while at the same time so many symbols remains. From the maypole to wishing my relatives God Jul. :)

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Interesting that you mention the maypole. In the Caribbean the tinier islands(The Grenadines) that still follow some older European customs burst out the maypole for weddings and in other festival seasons.

Fun fact, in Slovenia we also use maypoles for weddings. Mostly in rural areas though.

I had no idea the use of the maypole was quite so widespread - I thought it was a particularly English thing. I've never encountered any reference to them here in Scotland.

It's a thing even in Northern Germany, which usually isn't very traditional.

And it's even bigger in the more Catholic parts (ex-pagan symbols often didn't sure survive the Reformation and its sola scriptura ideal). Although there's more larceny and alcohol involved than dancing with ribbons.

But while we're talking about stealing things, I think this went in several directions, with lots of Norse views and figures being influenced by other religions, including Christianity. Vikings and their sagas aren't exactly ancient.

Speaking about Vikings and ancient stuff, the Maeshowe tomb on Orkney has a lot of entertaining Viking graffiti left after a group of warriors sheltered there from a snowstorm:

http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm

[At almost 5000 years old Maeshowe definitely qualifies as ancient.]

Me neither, and its my last name!

A maypole is a tradition in several countries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole#Germany_and_Austria

Actually, pagans (at least some) celebrate jól during the solstice (december 21). Christianity plus the Gregorian calendar moved it 4 days to late.

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