4 December 1997 Edition
Television: Would you believe?
By Sean O'Donaile
It was with a degree of trepidation that I tuned into ``Everyman; Pagan's Progress'', BBC 1, Sunday.
I always assumed you'd be set up for eternal damnation for associating with these people. Pagans were people who lived in cities far away, with long hair and golden cows in their bedrooms, and they took lots of drugs.
They never told us that Paganism was in vogue in Ireland long before St Patrick set foot here and was rooted in the land. These days Witchcraft is making a comeback, although the fact they don't get boiled in oil or tarred might be a factor. They do dress in black, though this is a form of camouflage when they worship in the forest.
High Priest Steve and Priestess Kate seem like a very ordinary couple, who shop for baby clothes by day and meet in the woods at night to use ancient magic to divine the sex of their child. There was no sign of a magic broom, and Kate explained the significance of fire as representing our passions, water symbolising our emotions and air our bodies. We also met Dave, an ex-glam rocker who ``discovered the spiritual traditional and family values'' in Paganism, and decided to become a Druid, men who held great power and influence in pre-Christian Ireland. Dave spurns the opportunity to read the racing pages at the back of chapel so he can play his harp in the forest, which he feels ``roots'' him to the land and ``blows his mind''!
Gordon ``the Toad'' McLellan, the Shaman of Old Trafford, is a bit of an odd fish and takes us to the top of a hill to communicate with the spirits through his ghetto blaster, where he dons a false beak and leathers.
The pagans take affairs seriously and we visited a Marriage/Karmic link where Steve and Kate tied the knot with flowers in their hair. There was no wedding cake with 39 tiers and not a sign of anyone falling on the floor after 79 pints.
The newly weds must then celebrate together the eight festivals of the year. Beltane (May Day), seems like the most appealing, as you must find your lover and celebrate your vitality in the woods - I once spent beltane in The Mourne Mountains, though the only vitality I got was from South Armagh Poitin.
Another certainty for Lucifer's fires were the Communists. BBC 2 (Tuesday) did a considerable hatchet job on one of its pioneers in Lenin; The Secret Files. These files have been stored in an underground bunker for eighty odd years. They allege he had an affair with a beautiful French revolutionary Inessa, which he continued throughout his marriage. His wife on hearing of this, decided to stay with him and ``for the sake of the party remain comrades''. He also turned his back on pleasures such as chess, skating (somehow I couldn't imagine Len on rollerblades), and Beethoven, which made him forget the reality of revolution.
Revolt he did, and similar to Pearse and Connolly used the opportunity of World War I to strike, travelling to Petrograd by train, where ``he insisted the Bolsheviks seize power by force''.
Trotsky acknowledged Len as ``the engine of the October revolution'', though the unearthed files reveal he was living on borrowed time and was playing politics against the clock. This was speeded up by an assassination attempt in 1917, and what followed was a series of strokes, leading to his demise in 1924, when he lost the power of movement and speech.
The academics assert Len ``deceived'' people about this health, though this was hardly surprising with Stalin waiting in the wings. The professors also tell us of his great cruelty, through acknowledging it was done as ``dictatorship of the proletariat''. First agin the wall were the clergy, followed by an assortment of bourgeoisie and landed gentry. Despite all the guff there was little new information unearthed, and it will hardly stop his preserved body being sold to someone like Michael Jackson for his private collection.
On the subject of guff, ex-head Peeler and newly crowned Sir Jack Hermon told us little or nothing on The Vincent Browne Interview on RTE 1. Apart from the tragic death of his wife in 1985, which touched a raw chord, he seems intent on avoiding answers and being nice to his old adversaries (that didn't include us!). Shoot to kill was ``backed up by the highest Courts'', which is hardly new, the Stalker Inquiry was ``the Prime Minister's responsbility - not mine'', MI5 was ``not my business'', and ``what could I do?'' about leaks to loyalists from the RUC.
He seems to act stupid or give law and order type responses when it suits although his politics are easily spotted. Some people ``are prejudiced against the RUC'', and he obviously didn't favour the Anglo-Irish Agreement. He has great time for Garret Fitzgerald and John Brutal (wow!), and believes Thatcher ``behaved admirably during the Hunger Strikes'' - tell that to Julie Livingstone's family, but then again they might be prejudiced aginst his ``police force'' (sic).
S'é Léargas ceann de na cláranna is fearr ar an teilifís faoi láthair, agus ar an Mháirt seo chaite bhí ceathrar iar-cimí ag amharc siar ar a saoil.
Níor dhúirt John White on UDP mórán ach go raibh brón air agus go bhfuair se dhá chéim.
Bhí níos mó suim i scéal Eddie Kinner a chaith tréimhse fada sa Cheis Fhada ag ceistiú é féin, agus atá anois ag déanamh an rud céanna le déagoiri ina phobal féin.
Bhí Eoghain ``Gino'' McCormaic suimiúl mar is gnáth agus bhí brón air mar chaill sé seans clann a bheith aige, de dheasca an tearma fada i ngéibheann. Lean se ar aghaidh leis an obair nuair a scoileadh saor é - bhí sé ina Uachtarán ar Aontas na Micléinn in Ollscoil na Gailimhe agus tá sé gafa leis an feachtas ``Saoirse'' ag an bomaite seo.
Chuala muid Gary Roberts ag caint faoin slí a d'fhás Sinn Féin agus na pobail Phoblachtanach as na stailc ocrais agus bhi cuma sasúil ar a shaol agus é ag múineadh sa mhéanscoil. Clár spéisiúil a bhí ann agus níl sé ró-dhéanach go fóill a Eoghain!
It was with a degree of trepidation that I tuned into ``Everyman; Pagan's Progress'', BBC 1, Sunday.
I always assumed you'd be set up for eternal damnation for associating with these people. Pagans were people who lived in cities far away, with long hair and golden cows in their bedrooms, and they took lots of drugs.
They never told us that Paganism was in vogue in Ireland long before St Patrick set foot here and was rooted in the land. These days Witchcraft is making a comeback, although the fact they don't get boiled in oil or tarred might be a factor. They do dress in black, though this is a form of camouflage when they worship in the forest.
High Priest Steve and Priestess Kate seem like a very ordinary couple, who shop for baby clothes by day and meet in the woods at night to use ancient magic to divine the sex of their child. There was no sign of a magic broom, and Kate explained the significance of fire as representing our passions, water symbolising our emotions and air our bodies. We also met Dave, an ex-glam rocker who ``discovered the spiritual traditional and family values'' in Paganism, and decided to become a Druid, men who held great power and influence in pre-Christian Ireland. Dave spurns the opportunity to read the racing pages at the back of chapel so he can play his harp in the forest, which he feels ``roots'' him to the land and ``blows his mind''!
Gordon ``the Toad'' McLellan, the Shaman of Old Trafford, is a bit of an odd fish and takes us to the top of a hill to communicate with the spirits through his ghetto blaster, where he dons a false beak and leathers.
The pagans take affairs seriously and we visited a Marriage/Karmic link where Steve and Kate tied the knot with flowers in their hair. There was no wedding cake with 39 tiers and not a sign of anyone falling on the floor after 79 pints.
The newly weds must then celebrate together the eight festivals of the year. Beltane (May Day), seems like the most appealing, as you must find your lover and celebrate your vitality in the woods - I once spent beltane in The Mourne Mountains, though the only vitality I got was from South Armagh Poitin.
Another certainty for Lucifer's fires were the Communists. BBC 2 (Tuesday) did a considerable hatchet job on one of its pioneers in Lenin; The Secret Files. These files have been stored in an underground bunker for eighty odd years. They allege he had an affair with a beautiful French revolutionary Inessa, which he continued throughout his marriage. His wife on hearing of this, decided to stay with him and ``for the sake of the party remain comrades''. He also turned his back on pleasures such as chess, skating (somehow I couldn't imagine Len on rollerblades), and Beethoven, which made him forget the reality of revolution.
Revolt he did, and similar to Pearse and Connolly used the opportunity of World War I to strike, travelling to Petrograd by train, where ``he insisted the Bolsheviks seize power by force''.
Trotsky acknowledged Len as ``the engine of the October revolution'', though the unearthed files reveal he was living on borrowed time and was playing politics against the clock. This was speeded up by an assassination attempt in 1917, and what followed was a series of strokes, leading to his demise in 1924, when he lost the power of movement and speech.
The academics assert Len ``deceived'' people about this health, though this was hardly surprising with Stalin waiting in the wings. The professors also tell us of his great cruelty, through acknowledging it was done as ``dictatorship of the proletariat''. First agin the wall were the clergy, followed by an assortment of bourgeoisie and landed gentry. Despite all the guff there was little new information unearthed, and it will hardly stop his preserved body being sold to someone like Michael Jackson for his private collection.
On the subject of guff, ex-head Peeler and newly crowned Sir Jack Hermon told us little or nothing on The Vincent Browne Interview on RTE 1. Apart from the tragic death of his wife in 1985, which touched a raw chord, he seems intent on avoiding answers and being nice to his old adversaries (that didn't include us!). Shoot to kill was ``backed up by the highest Courts'', which is hardly new, the Stalker Inquiry was ``the Prime Minister's responsbility - not mine'', MI5 was ``not my business'', and ``what could I do?'' about leaks to loyalists from the RUC.
He seems to act stupid or give law and order type responses when it suits although his politics are easily spotted. Some people ``are prejudiced against the RUC'', and he obviously didn't favour the Anglo-Irish Agreement. He has great time for Garret Fitzgerald and John Brutal (wow!), and believes Thatcher ``behaved admirably during the Hunger Strikes'' - tell that to Julie Livingstone's family, but then again they might be prejudiced aginst his ``police force'' (sic).
S'é Léargas ceann de na cláranna is fearr ar an teilifís faoi láthair, agus ar an Mháirt seo chaite bhí ceathrar iar-cimí ag amharc siar ar a saoil.
Níor dhúirt John White on UDP mórán ach go raibh brón air agus go bhfuair se dhá chéim.
Bhí níos mó suim i scéal Eddie Kinner a chaith tréimhse fada sa Cheis Fhada ag ceistiú é féin, agus atá anois ag déanamh an rud céanna le déagoiri ina phobal féin.
Bhí Eoghain ``Gino'' McCormaic suimiúl mar is gnáth agus bhí brón air mar chaill sé seans clann a bheith aige, de dheasca an tearma fada i ngéibheann. Lean se ar aghaidh leis an obair nuair a scoileadh saor é - bhí sé ina Uachtarán ar Aontas na Micléinn in Ollscoil na Gailimhe agus tá sé gafa leis an feachtas ``Saoirse'' ag an bomaite seo.
Chuala muid Gary Roberts ag caint faoin slí a d'fhás Sinn Féin agus na pobail Phoblachtanach as na stailc ocrais agus bhi cuma sasúil ar a shaol agus é ag múineadh sa mhéanscoil. Clár spéisiúil a bhí ann agus níl sé ró-dhéanach go fóill a Eoghain!