Pagan Tama
Top stories in Paganism and Shinto this week:
- Girls wrestle way to sumo inclusion in Japan despite religious taboos
- Bid to return skull taken from Scotland’s only witch grave launched
- Vodou priest sues Christian university for discrimination
Read more below…
Pagan News
Houngan sues Christian university for discrimination
The Wild Hunt
A Vodou houngan and “practitioner of witchcraft” is suing a Christian university for discrimination in the U.S. territory of Northern Mariana Islands…
Salem’s Witchcraft Temple Looks To Build New Community Center
Patch
The Witchcraft Temple in Salem hopes to build a new assembly space, as Planning Board questions traffic issues on North Policy Street…
Update on Boleskine House arson
The Wild Hunt
Boleskine has been in the news again: with reports of another fire breaking out at the property…
Come to Hexenfest ~ A Witchy Love-Fest of Art, Myth, and Magick
Patheos Pagan: Jenya T. Beachy
Hexenfest was originally envisioned as a hybrid between the Ancient Ways Festival and a music festival, but it has become so much more…
Pagan Priests, Laity, and “Playgans”
Patheos Pagan: Molly Khan
In every major religion that I know of, there are those who are more devoted, who spend a great deal of their time practicing religion…
Shinto News
Girls wrestle way to sumo inclusion in Japan
The Times
Sumo is a sport that traditionally excludes women on the ground that they are “unclean” but in a sign of changing times Japanese girls have been allowed to compete in a national championship…
Stone wall at Mt. Fuji shrine roped off in wake of woman’s death
The Mainichi
A stonemasonry wall at a shrine near the summit of Mt. Fuji was roped off on Tuesday, a day after a falling rock hit and killed a Russian climber…
Tanabata Festival’s Prize-Winning Kazari
The Rafu Shimpo
The Los Angeles Tanabata Festival celebrated its 11th anniversary as part of the Nisei Week Japanese Festival on Aug. 10 and 11 in Little Tokyo…
Yaegaki Shrine: A Legendary Site in Matsue for Seekers of Love
Nippon.com
Yaegaki Shrine in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, is the setting of a famous Japanese myth, and is also popular with people seeking their perfect match…
Other News
Bid to return skull taken from Scotland’s only witch grave launched
Scotsman
Campaigners have launched a search for the missing skull of a 18th century woman accused of having sex with the devil…
Fire near Rome threatened Tusculum
The Wild Hunt
A recent fire threatened the excavation of the ancient Roman city of Tusculum in the Alban Hills. The site is part of the Colle di Corne a location sacred to Diana and founded by Circe’s son…
Greece offers sculpture swap in bid for Parthenon marbles
The Guardian
Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis makes pitch for pragmatic deal to end historic battle over Elgin treasures…
France sends its Parthenon marble back to Greece
The Times
A marble piece of the Parthenon, displayed at the Louvre for more than 200 years, will be lent to Athens in exchange for unseen ancient Greek treasures that have never left the country, according to officials…
Nigeria festival celebrates Yoruba fertility goddess Osun Osogbo
BBC
The Osun Osogbo festival, a traditional celebration that is thought to be 600 years old, is under way in Nigeria’s south-western Osun state…
Witch’s Yew casts its spell on voters to scoop Irish Tree of the Year Award
Irish Times
Legend has it that the area is the home of the Blarney Witch, who first told mortals of the Blarney Stone’s magic power of giving those who kiss it the gift of eloquence…
Singapore: ‘Moon goddess’ lantern gets a facelift for Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown
Straits Times
A lantern in Chinatown received a facelift for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival following complaints from netizens…
Ancient Greeks built temples with an intricate system of ropes and levers
Mail Online
The Ancient Greeks may have invented an intricate pulley system of ropes and levers to lift vast blocks weighing up to 900 lbs when building their enormous structures…
Iwami-kagura: The changing face of a Shimane theatrical tradition
The Japan Times
Taking an in-depth look at the meticulous work that goes into the lavish costumes and masks worn by Iwami-kagura troupes…
Lavish traditional hearses grow popular overseas amid falling use in Japan
The Mainichi
Japanese “miyagata” hearses, lavishly decorated to resemble Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, are undergoing something of a boom overseas even as they become increasingly rare sights in their home country…
That bolted-down Bible should go
The Wild Hunt
Mike Pence’s declaration to the American Legion referenced a specific, physical Bible, one on display at the New Hampshire Veterans Administration medical center…
Masako Miki’s Shapeshifters Tell a Story of Cultural Survival and Adaptation
KQED
More recently, her practice includes abstract felted shapes inspired by Shinto traditions—a Japanese religion that believes everything in the universe is imbued with kami, or spirits…
Zimbabwe: Children accuse mother of witchcraft
Zimbabwe Daily
A woman from Jahana Village under Chief Njelele has approached Chief Njelele’s traditional court after her children accused her of bewitching them…
Kenya: Families feuding over land claim witchcraft to burn rivals homes
The Star
Families in Rongo engaged in land battles have been using witchcraft as a ruse to attack and burn homes of rivals, an activist has said…
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