Pagan Ireland Was Not the Shire
The romantic fantasy of pre-Christian Ireland ignores the blood, slavery, and brutality that Christianity actually ended.
I’ve met too many folks from Ireland who talk about reclaiming Ireland’s pagan past. It’s not even a rare thing anymore, it seems to be weaving its way throughout modern Irish human culture. They practically celebrate the decline of Catholicism in Ireland, and in Irish culture while speaking romantically about Ireland’s ancient pagan past—as if it was more Irish.
When they describe those old ways, you’d think they were describing life in the Shire in a Tokien story. Stone cottages in green valleys. Communal fires and shared bread. Pipe smoke and fairytale songs. Wise druids in harmony with nature. A people unburdened by Rome’s hierarchy or the Church’s guilt. Just mist, memory, and ancient Celtic wisdom.
It’s a beautiful picture except that it’s a lie.
The problem isn’t so much that people remember pagan Ireland fondly. The problem is that they’re remembering something that never existed. They’ve swapped history for fantasy, and they don’t even realize it.
Let me tell you what pagan Ireland actually was.
